Strong Medicine...

In the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the titular mariner unwittingly shoots an albatross that was following the boat (considered then a sign of good luck) with a crossbow, an act which was believed would curse them and the ship.

In keeping with that premise (so the poem goes) the ship goes on to suffer terrible mishaps and, to punish him for his stupidity and to hopefully ward off any future hazards, his companions induce him to wear the dead albatross around his neck indefinitely as penance or until they all die from the curse, which eventually happens.

(This is where the metaphor that I am about to use comes from and I explain it here so that readers get my point.)

Almost single handedly responsible for the tidal wave of defeat that hit the People's National Movement in the recently concluded General and Local Government Elections, Patrick Manning is now the albatross that hangs around Dr. Keith Rowley's neck, and his presence in the Parliament is a curse to his (Rowley's) Leadership and is threatening his legacy by consigning him to irrelevance and ridicule perpetually.

Most die hard PNM supporters have already stopped reading at this point and are probably registering their fervent disagreement but denial does nothing to change the facts. Where 'Non Aligned' political observers see a rejection of a Government, the People's Partnership supporters see an overwhelming endorsement of the policies and promises of their coalition, while the PNM camp continues to see nothing but their defeat as being at the hands of 'Dark Forces' bent on destroying the Great PNM.

Stubborn thing history though, it almost wants to write itself.

My question for the Leadership of the People's National Movement, do they not wish Dr. Rowley well?

When asked why the Party does not ask him (Manning) to step aside, I am told that Patrick Manning had been elected by the people (as in the people want him there), but I have also been told that (in some constituencies), a 'crapaud' in a balisier tie would be elected by the people so I think the point is moot.

Patrick Manning, in his own deliberate judgement took some strange decisions during his term as Prime Minister that alienated the population and vexed them to near riot. That is not to say that he did not have good ideas or that he did not institute some very sound policies, but along the way he either went mad or became possessed.

How else do you explain the craziness surrounding the Church at Guanapo, his defense of his Prophetess, Benny Hinn (of all people), his 'war' with Dr. Rowley (then his most effective and popular minister), his refusal to see the pain etched in people's faces as the runaway crime wave tore into families and was ripping the society asunder, his unrelenting support of Calder Hart in the face of overwhelming evidence that the man was a thief, his lies on the meaning of PM, his insistence on his need for a private jet, his ridiculous treatment of Penelope Beckles (and the five Eastern Seats this cost the Party), and others?

In his defense his apologists insist on listing only the good he did while ignoring the bad, but his successes do nothing to ameliorate his disasters, and in fact the contrast only serves to highlight them.

Until the leadership of that Party faces the fact that the people simply want nothing more of him and his madness and convinces the gentleman to ride off into the sunset, the Party will continue to be rejected at the polls and will continue to waste limited campaign resources preaching to the choir in an otherwise empty church.

The overwhelming defeat at the polls in both the General and the Local Government elections represented nothing else but the people of Trinidad & Tobago firing a Government for mismanagement and wrong doing while in Office.

Nothing more.

Trying to paint it as something else only delays the inevitable and wastes a lot of time.

There is a saying - "No one raindrop ever thinks of itself as having caused the flood."

In this case, Mr. Manning, for the sake of the Party, for the sake of the country and on behalf of what's left of your dignity, please do the right thing for everybody.

Move on.