Think about the question carefully. The best definition I heard was from a preacher that I saw on the internet (and whose name I cannot remember) who said that the difference was that a politician only thinks about the next election while a leader thinks about the next generation! So? How many of our political leaders really think about the next generation? Forget whether you support the UNC or the PNM. Do you believe that either Dr. Rowley or Mrs. Persad- Bissessar, for example really care about the next generation? Why do you think that?
Let's take Mrs. Persad-Bissessar first. What evidence do YOU have that she cares? What has she said or done, for example, about those children who are still being abused in State run facilities? And I know that she is not in power, but she doesn't talk about it, or at least not every day. So? where is the evidence that she cares more bout the future of the next generation than the next election?
Now let's take Dr. Rowley. He IS in power and therefore can do something about it. The Judith Jones report was submitted in December LAST year. But all that has happened is that several committees have been established and everyone (including the Cabinet of the country) is waiting for the reports. In the meantime, nobody has been fired or even suspended while the "investigations" are going on and one gets the most uncomfortable feeling that abuses against the children are still going on. But nobody really seems to care! So? Where is the evidence that Dr. Rowley really cares about the next generation more than he cares about winning the next election? Why hasn't he at the very least caused certain people to have been suspended since he got the Judith Jones report?
Look: there is only one reason for government - only one reason for politics : TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THE PEOPLE!! Full stop! There is no other reason. And the reason for government is certainly not to make life better for the politicians! But that thinking is what seems to prevail in this country. Certainly, if you are in a high office in Government the perquisites are fantastic. Its no wonder that all sorts of people are attracted to politics. But the vast majority of them seem to display more an attachment to themselves and their bank accounts than to the people whom they are meant to serve.
Emancipation Day was originally intended to honour those African slaves that had suffered terribly under the simply awful bondage of slavery. But perhaps the time has come to add a new meaning to this historic day (without, of course, forgetting or minimizing the original intention) which is to emancipate ourselves from selfish politicians. Maybe that is our way forward.
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