Cleansing Fire.... (or whither goes the COP?)

There are two ways for the Congress of the People to 'win' in this Local Government Elections, and the Party and its supporters need to be made aware of this.

The first win would be for the COP to win more of their seats than its partner in the Coalition (the UNC), thereby giving it a renewed power base in the coalition and increased respect in the Partnership.
If the allocation percentages reflect what already obtains, the COP will continue to be marginalized in the Government, and hope for a crucial resurgence (some say deliberately) effectively stymied.

That the parties within the Party are still wrangling for position is clear, and members of the Congress of the People are questioning the obvious 'anti COP' policy within the Partnership and a media policy that seems to shut up and shut out the Congress of the People's members entirely.
This is resulting in the only Ministers getting nightly news 'face time' being neophyte UNC Ministers over their more experienced COP counterparts, with the glaring problem being many who are under-qualified to speak in public being over exposed to their own and the Partnership's detriment, while those within the Government that have a calming and true Leadership influence are being effectively silenced.

The second way the Congress of the People can win is if the Partnership were to lose, or was resoundingly beaten by the PNM in the LGE.
Were that to occur, the rampant UNC would have no choice but to revisit its policies, the public's perception of it (the UNC) in particular and the workings of the Partnership in general, and would be forced to take steps to strengthen the Partnership and to begin the process of aligning its policies and behavior more in line with the expectations of the voting public.

The UNC, and by extension the COP, in following the behavior of the UNC's Jack Warner in continuing to paint the PNM as the enemy of the people (yet failing miserably to lead in Government or to enact substantial policies of their own) despite a comfortable two thirds majority in the Parliament is being seen by the public as weak and a reactive outfit despite its majority in the House of Representatives and some serious heavy hitters on board.

This failure to perform is systemic and seems to stem from a lot of marginalization and strict controls within the Partnership, forcing members to toe a Party line that has not been enunciated clearly.

In the absence of clear internal policy, the members are playing a grown up version of follow the leader resulting in the Party adopting a reactionary position to the demands of the voters and failing in its public relating more than in any other way. The Partnership was advised to take a small vacation away from the Public and rightsize itself so that real leadership may yet be obtained. This is very good advice and should be heeded if the coalition intends to survive the rigors of Governance.

The irony in all of this is that the coalition was supposed to be the People's voice in Government, yet the stifling and other abuses suffered by the voters within the past six weeks (the beginning of its term in Office) have all been at the hands of the very same People's Partnership.

In many instances the members of the Partnership (and the UNC in particular), would be best advised to stop contributing to the suspicions that for the most part they are not qualified to occupy the Offices they hold.

Killing the messenger as a policy is not being as effective as envisioned, and the people are starting to question publicly the practicality of a Partnership long on talk yet woefully short on real change.

In many ways, the greatest benefit of the last General Election to the people is that it has freed them and has helped them mature politically to the point where they are not so much interested in what you are saying but in what you are doing.

Something to think about...