In order for
a democracy, any democracy to function in the best interest of all its’
citizens the basic facts surrounding the
fundamental issues that shape the hopes, aspirations, and vision of the people
must first be communicated within the body politic. There must be real public debate
of these issues. Citizens may disagree as to which policies must prevail and
take priority for the implementation of the resolution of these issues to move
the country forward, but they neither posses the right to remain uninformed, nor can they choose to be ignorant of what is happening in their own country.
Knowledge of the political issues in a democratic society eventually
crystallizes into public sentiment, and thus gives rise to the unified voice that
is representative of the will of the people. In essence knowledge of political
issues is the very currency of citizenship, and a governmental parliamentary
process that is both transparent and accountable is the market place where this
currency is traded.
Patrick Manning as holder of the office of
Prime minister and head of the People’s National Movement articulated a
particular vision for Trinidad and Tobago, Vision 2020 was communicated to the
body politic, but there was never any relevant and spirited public debate that
resulted in a public consensus, therefore the Manning government never had nor
does it now have an overwhelming popular mandate to implement vision 2020. As a
citizen who happens to be a progressive liberal there are large swathes of this
document with which I personally disagree. There are also several social and
economic issues which I think it should immediately address; such as
privatization of state owned corporations, the separation of church and state,
a woman’s right to abortion and homosexual and transgender rights, clearly it
does not now do so. Even so I gave it my guarded support and waited for its’
implementation thinking there would be much more consultation on line items to
help shore up support for something that did not have the approval of the
majority of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. My hope was that this document
was the beginning of a work in progress that would somehow be expanded to
include the hopes, dreams, and aspiration of the vast majority of the people of
Trinidad and Tobago. Needless to say I have been extremely disappointed by the
display of arrogance by the Manning administration towards any criticism of
vision 2020 which has reviled a very autocratic, uncompromising style of management
quite out of step with the political ideals expressed in our constitution. He
has taken every criticism of the implementation of line items of vision 2020
and transformed them into a referendum of his own performance. So I would now like to take the opportunity
to add to Mr. Manning’s distress by highlighting some of the areas where in my
opinion this document has fallen short or has been found wanting for substance.
Land and
other property reform which for the first time would allow every citizen the
equal right and opportunity to own or hold land, home, business, and part of our natural
resources, is by far the single most important issue that directly affects the
prosperity of everyone who lives in Trinidad and Tobago. Yet after seven years it
still has not been addressed by the Manning government. One would think since
vision 2020 is an outline to get us to developed country status this would be a
leading issue for which legistration would be enacted. Instead they have placed
the cart before the horse by attempting to pass property tax reform first. They
have failed to divest themselves of state owned properties, and commercial and
industrial investments via the Trinidad and Tobago stock Market which would
have the effect of transferring billions of dollars of wealth from the state to
their rightful owners, the citizens of this country. They have also failed to
rewrite the tax code for the oil and gas industry, and the oil and gas subsidy
remains biased in favor of corporations and the wealthy. Land and other
property reform who am I kidding not in my lifetime.
I guess I could explain that every home that
is built on land for which the homeowner does not have a valid deed or leasehold
contract is for all intent and purpose a zero sum asset that not only arrests
prosperity but wastes it. Or that a gas subsidy that is paid at the pump rather
than an oil and gas royalty that is paid directly to families perpetuates
citizen inequality and so is both unfair and unjust, but why bother.
Crime what
else is there to say? It appears that the Manning government has taken the same
hands off, laissez faire approach to this as they have taken with so much of
everything else. We needed to at least double the size of the police force
seven years ago, to date this has not yet been undertaken far less accomplished,
and as a matter of fact the head of our national police force is still acting
in a temporary capacity after several years. The construction of modern police
stations still needs to be seriously addressed. Even after the expenditure of
several hundred millions of dollars that may well run into the billions of
dollars by now for an Island wide radar system, helicopters, and fast gun
boats, the importation of Canada’s and England’s finest, as well as expensive
consultants from the USA crime continues
to rise unabated.
Our criminal
justice system is now a joke. Anyone who commits murder in this country has a
ninety eight percent chance of not being caught by the police. That needs
repeating, yes anyone who commits a murder in Trinidad and Tobago has a ninety
eight percent chance of not being caught by the police, and the two percent
that do get apprehended can rest assured that the conviction rate is less than
fifty percent. Look at it this way a woman taking birth control pills in
Trinidad and Tobago who meticulously and scrupulously follows all her doctors’ instructions
and recommendations runs a greater risk of becoming pregnant than a murderer
has of being convicted for killing someone. To say that things have gone
horribly wrong would be an understatement, and yet the minister still has a job
he goes to every morning while citizens are dying by the hundreds each year, are
you kidding me.
The paradox
of the existence of both Municipal Corporations, cepep and the urp. Municipal Corporations
exist to manage the capital assets of a community or county such as public
buildings, playgrounds, and parks. They also manage and maintain the
infrastructure such as roads, bridges, sewage, drainage, and garbage removal.
These corporations are generally funded by property taxes.
If for
example the Diego Martin Municipal Corporation is fully staffed and so has all
the management, manpower, equipment,
machinery, and the building and road supplies it needs to properly maintain the
county’s infrastructure why are there cepep and urp gangs in Diego martin
county? What are they doing that cannot be done by the full time employees of
the Municipal Corporation? What unique set of expertise do they posses that
cannot be passed on to the workers at the Municipal Corporation? Why are they getting paid? Is it that the
Municipal Corporation is not fully staffed or perhaps it’s’ managers and administrators
are incompetent in some way as to make them unfit to fulfill their
responsibility to the citizens of Diego Martin county? If so rather than create
a whole new shadow bureaucracy of part time workers, managers, and
administrators at an annual cost of billions of dollars wouldn’t it make more
sense to simply have the Corporation hire the full time workers it needed and
fire and replace the incompetent ones or maybe train the employees to the skill
level that is required.
Why would
the Manning administration saddle the citizens of Diego Martin or any other
county for that matter with a shadow bureaucracy to their existing Municipal Corporation?
What would make this a necessary course of action when it has been public
knowledge for sometime that these same bureaucracies over the last seven years
have not contributed in any significant way towards eliminating the poor road
conditions, or the flooding problems experienced by the people of Diego Martin
or any other county? Rather they have proven themselves to be violently
criminal in nature and responsible in part for increasing the murder rate in
these very communities. Is this also part of vision 2020?
This
election has provided the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago with an opportunity
that has long eluded them. Not since the first general election between the PNM
and the DLP have I been so hopeful. Now as then there is a true coalition of
progressives, liberals, and labor, united in its’ purpose which is to stop the
slide into the conservative abyss and reset the balance between the public
interest and capitalism. I know there are some who would say they don’t have a
plan beyond getting rid of the PNM, but that is exactly why this is an
opportunity so full of promise. History informs us when governments as well as the
citizens expectations of the role of government are in transition, this is
precisely when the knowledge of political issues are most widely disseminated
throughout the body politic .This is precisely when the most important
conversations that encompasses the hopes and aspirations of the people are at
their most engaging. This is precisely when politicians are most unconstrained
in allowing citizens to direct the course of such debates. This is precisely
when transparency and accountability are made resolute. This is when real
nation building is forged.
