Symbol of Hope -The Light of the Flame - We are the people - The Movement

COMMENTARY BY JUSTICE HERBERT VOLNEY

Herbert Volney talks politics with Jack Warner

I cannot vouch for longevity in life. I wish for it but that belongs in the domain of the Creator. While I am around I figure, much as most seniors of my age do, that time is of the essence if still to continue making a difference.

As we approach the next General Election, which the Prime Minister can call at any time, and win if he does, I work in my own world of make belief - on the cusp of virtual reality. My life theme is of awakening those who can believe that better for us as a nation is there still to be had. Let us all envision greatness as Patrick Manning once did.

Political Choices

The political choices being offered us by a failed political system will likely see to voter apathy and a low turnout at the polls. This defeats the notional concept of democracy in which each vote counts to elect a government by the people of the people for the people. The fact is that participatory democracy does not flourish in this country. The best choice candidates are mostly denied at the hands of electors motivated by selfish self-centered interests, race, and stuck in traditional voting patterns.

Unacceptable Voting Patterns

Everyone in Trinidad and Tobago knows that by and large, the black people vote PNM. The Indian people vote UNC. The Red and rest of us decide which of the above shall form the government. Why does it have to be like this? Surely, educated people are expected to vote educated.

NACTA

Recent polls suggest dissatisfaction with the governance of the nation. While fairness dictates that we credit the ruling PNM government with steadying the ship of State given the rough waters it found in 2015, it has nonetheless failed to improve the quality and security of the Trini way of life. Clearly, we can do better. We can reasonably expect the government do that better. There can be no doubt that the voters want better. There is, however, and sadly, so, a plurality of the voting electors who will vote blindly without any interest in addressing issues afflicting us. It is as though the choice of candidates on the ballot paper means little or nothing.

Disconcerting trends

What is even the more disconcerting is that this pattern of voting has over the years delivered Governments that have been partial to one side of the population in violation of the constitutional injunction to serve all without exception. As a former parliamentarian, I served all my constituents equally. They are all people counting on being helped. Mr Warner was legendary for serving all the people of Chaguanas West.

Eric Eustace Williams

For many years of the regime of Eric Williams, vast swaths of the country remained underdeveloped. It was as though the areas that were predominantly Hindu did not belong.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar

In the one term of the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration, this was the flip side with feeding ‘eat a food’ frenzy for three years by UNC henchmen when the price of oil was on the rise. The poor UNC supporters were ignored while the big boys enriched themselves. HDC apartments were being handed out to supporters while for the public viewing, a lottery system was suggested. It is small wonder that no PNM voter will ever vote for her in La Horquetta or anywhere along the Corridor. Contracts were given out to favoured ones and contractors from Tabaquite and Siparia were brought in with their workers while work was being denied locals along the East/West Corridor. Kamla knew of it for Jack Warner and I argued passionately for it to be stopped. In the end, Warner and I both resigned from the UNC rather than be scathed for it and the wanton abuse of power and corruption that had become evident for all to see.

The Rowley PNM

The governance of the PNM under Dr Keith Rowley leaves us none the better for it. Rank arrogance that marked the beginning of the end and the end itself in the Manning era has returned. Ineptitude and downright incompetence of the PNM brand have offered nothing beyond mediocrity. It was bad enough to have had to fathom Tim Gopeesingh and his statistical boasts of nothing but to have ‘halfdead’ Garcia glueing our children’s future to a historical past is self-defeating.

A failed PNM government

Any objective viewer can point to any number of reasons where the Rowley PNM has failed us the voters. We were sold on a plan that never was. Crime is the same and we live in the hope that the new Commissioner of Police can deliver us. The Judiciary is collapsing while the Chief Justice hangs on to a thread as the Prime Minister fails to trigger a constitutional provision to have him investigated for problematic conduct. The government has shut down Petrotrin and sent home hundreds of workers at TSTT. No new jobs have been created.

Time for change

It is time to dismiss both the PNM in government and the UNC in Opposition for they are both more of the same. They both have to be dismissed from our Parliament.

The Alternative

We must replace this spent order by a cadre of new faces chosen by the voters in the constituencies by the people to represent them. Party politics has proven itself the nemesis of parliamentary democracy. The rule of the people over its representative has given way to the rule of the party whip. The MP tows the party line and not the dictates of the voters. We must break the back of this failed political party system. This is happening the world over. We must elect people we know from our constituencies. We must elect power candidates of the people to put up by the people for the people. Have faith. The We Are The People Movement is working to offer one candidate for each constituency on a common platform, common symbol - the flame of hope, proposing a common agenda for change. It will matter not if a voter is UNC, PNM, ILP, COP, MSJ, PDP, FORWARDS, or PEP for we shall work to find common ground to place one good and the acceptable candidate on each ballot to shift the balance of power decidedly back to the people.