A Corridor Conversation

COMMENTARY BY JUSTICE HERBERT VOLNEY

Edwin ‘Crazy’ Ayoung, and I, Herbert Volney, are both Corridor men. In fact, we both live and vote in the constituency of St Joseph.

Corridor voters are very different. We have always elected the better candidate to represent us. ‘Better’ is not necessarily best, because the ballot puts in office a candidate who we believe will be accessible to us to listen and represent our interests. St Joseph, like Tunapuna, and Barataria/San Juan, is also very Catholic. There are enough Catholics in these three constituencies to swing the seat one way or another. In other words, without the support of the Catholic vote, a candidate will not win. These three constituencies have dismissed the PNM/UNC political parties more than any other, and have voted for the NAR in 1986.

In the next General Election, the voters in these three constituencies will likely vote for a strong independent non/aligned candidate. It is not that a candidate has to be a ‘Moses’ but he/she must be free of the shackles of these two established political parties. The political mood the world over is to reject established parties and to elect candidates in whom the public can repose TRUST. Just yesterday, this played true in Turkey, and in the Ukraine where a comedian with no government experience is set to lead that country after run-off elections. Change has come to the USA with outsider Donald Trump upsetting the apple cart, France, and in so many capitals of the world.

A satisfied electorate will defend a government

The people have awakened to the power vested in them and the power of the vote. Unless a government holds the trust of the electorate, it is endangered in free and fair elections. Caribbean voters have short tethers for corruption, ineptitude and abuse in governance. A satisfied electorate will defend a government by reelecting it. Just look at Antigua/Barbuda, and Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Government changes are forecast in Guyana and St Lucia. But the very popular government in Dominica will be reelected with an increased majority because it has performed well in its last five years.

I bet that no political party crosses the majority mark in Trinidad and Tobago in the upcoming General Elections. Trinidad and Tobago yearn for better government. The Opposition United National Congress continues to be deviled by leadership and trust issues. Any last minute changes of direction will be seen as opportunistic. In the last forty months in Opposition, the UNC has done little to position itself for government by rebuilding leadership and trust. Wade Mark, discredited as Speaker, remains at the helm in the Senate. The unelectable Khadijah Ameen remains ensconced in that line up adding little of substance to parliamentary debates. She and Kamla surrogates make up the Opposition in the Senate. Not one of them can point to a corridor seat outside of St Augustine and with even a most generous assessment claim a likely victory in the next poll. The situation in the House is even more telling for the line up there much resembles living dinosaurs saved over from the Jurassic era. If voters follow world trends, even the Opposition UNC could find itself scratching for a space of significance in the Parliament.

The affable and graceful Kamla Persad-Bissessar is also beyond her time. Her parliamentary contributions touch chord only for her rabid supporters to be found week after week warming seats at their Monday Night Forums. Sadly, the UNC will not win in 2020 and a vote cast in its favor will be a vote for Opposition. The PNM has governed in difficult circumstances. Our way of life, save for the thousands who have lost jobs in public sec tor institutions such as Petrotrin and TSTT, have changed little. The public was always prepared to accept the burden of subsidy adjustments in the cost of petrol. The price of cooking gas has not changed. Our way of life has not been much affected along the corridor. In the recent Carnival, expensive shows and fetes were rammed out. Costumes for the street revelry were sold out. Cars and consumer items continue to be sold. The economy has been relatively stable. That’s always good news for a government in power.

Are we as electors prepared to settle for five more years of the same, or do we wish to strive for better? With the UNC not being a real option, or a dangerous one, a Parliament comprised of minority interests to offer a plural party constructive support will watch the interests of those unrepresented and guard against Executive excesses. I advocate this course, and the search is on. I have some ideas.