We 'Did So' - Now What?

As a boy growing up in Woodbrook, summertime called for imagination games, and one of the games we loved to play the most was Cowboys & Indians.

In true 'Shoot Em Up' style, all the boys would be divided into two teams, with one boy appointed Sheriff of the cowboys, and another appointed Chief of the indians.

To be either Sheriff or Chief was the best, because not only did you get to decide what your team did, you got to be the boss and every body else had to do what you said.

Looking on at the current Administration, one gets the impression that they either never had boy days, or they never played Cowboys & Indians.

I have serious concerns with what I am observing with the current Government who promised much on the hustings but are failing to deliver on that promise, and I am worried for my country and its people.

How do you explain the breakdown in Leadership despite the abundance of would be leaders?

The complete lack of policy framework taking shape on anything and the constant politicking and campaigning led Independent Senator Ramkellawan (who obviously had boy days) to remark to the Government that, not only were they already in, they were throwing stones from INSIDE the fort.

Requiring much spin doctoring, the People's Partnership's love affair is starting to strain under the demands of Office and the conflicting ideologies in trying to live up to those demands.

Rumors abound and notes and emails are delivered almost daily that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that all is not well in the coalition, despite the public face trying to be applied to a breaking arrangement heavy on promise but short on delivery.

I had cause to say on another topic that the UNC, having achieved Governance, is treating the COP like just another devil it had to sleep with to get there, with the Leadership of the COP being left with a fool's choice; stay in the land of power and plenty, or join Rowley in the desert of Opposition.

I have asked the question many times, if the Partnership is so successful, why not just consummate the marriage and leave the COP garb on the honeymoon floor?

There is no more Panday (well until the Presidential appointment, but that is another story), so the justification is now moot.

Why stay as two separate Parties when they are now indivisible and apparently bound by a similar ideology (power at all costs)?

Why remain a Partnership and not become an Alliance or better yet, one Party now?

It would seem that for all the spin doctoring and misdirecting, the reasons are quite pathetic and are driven from both sides.

I was of the opinion that the Congress of the People, built on the rock of integrity could not be fully integrated with the UNC because that Party could not find its way up that particular rock with a sherpa guide and a map.

Apparently this is but half the truth.

Another significant reason for the resistance is (allegedly) Kamla's (and her controller's) distrust of the Leader of the COP, Winston Dookeran and his popularity with the electorate in general and among East Indians specifically, most of whom voted for him as Panday's 'Heir Apparent', and whom most still hold in high esteem.

His threat to her security of tenure pulls at a thread that could unravel a complicated web and see the whole thing collapse in a heap.

It is no secret that Austin Jack Warner is the de facto owner of the UNC and Kamla Persad Bissessar is his hold on that investment.

There is no room in that equation for things like integrity and ethics, and Winston Dookeran must be kept at arm's length or marginalized altogether.

As they say in Mafia movies, nothing personal, just business.

The very idea of the Congress of the People is an irritant to the power brokers in the UNC, and while some of the COP Leaders are holding true to the Party and its separate identity, others have already changed sides and are only wearing a COP shirt for appearances at this point.

Mark my words, there are powers at work dedicated to the dissolution of the Congress of the People and unless the real Leadership and rank and file membership takes a stand, said dissolution may already be a foregone conclusion.

As it stands, the planned blurring of the two Parties has left the only difference between them being the COP's Westmoorings contingent, who, while finacially strong, is politically irrelevant and whose true political identity is diametrically opposed to the plight of the sugar workers and their Party anyway.

This was always a reaction, a statement and a convenience, and at some point everyone fully expects them to return home to the PNM, whose political ideology is more in line with theirs.

How long does love last in a relationship in which there is no trust?

Moving on.

Another point of concern for the entire population is the racist undercurrent permeating the People's Partnership, and which spilled out of the mouth of the GOPIO Vice President at one of its make believe national functions.

No one from the Government has as yet distanced either the COP or the UNC from those remarks, and one can only assume that Mr. Bisnath was not only speaking to the East Indians in the crowd and in the Government, but for them.

I would like to remind the powers that be that they are no longer campaigning but are in fact the Government of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago. The tone they set on top reverberates on the ground, and racism, the ultimate zero sum game, leaves everyone a loser. The Prime Minister needs to pull her Party and her supporters in line, because that is a job only the Prime Minister can do.

Finally, does Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar have a plan for Governance?

Since the ascension to power we have been treated to reactionary politics and a never ending blame game.

Do they have a plan past the removal of Manning from power?

Many middle classed 'contributors' who joined the 'Do So' craze for the promise of a better day, now find themselves worse off as the economy slowly grinds to what is looking like a looming halt, and are wondering if they in fact cut their own throats in the exchange.

Worse, with expats from foreign Companies (whose projects have either come to an end or have been stopped) leaving, the trickle-down economic impact is hurting the small businessman in his pocket in sharp contrast to the brighter tomorrow promised.

Worse still, the apparent 'Government by Vapse' is having an unplanned side effect, in that this Administration's failure to Govern is making people reminisce of better days under Patrick Manning a mere three months after removing him from office.

To the rank and file, the country is falling apart. The anti crime Government is failing miserably at controlling crime, and the other negative indicators are rising while the national mood is falling.

On the heels of a televised clean up, the country is experiencing the worst flooding in its history and the last Administration is being blamed for not cleaning the drains and rivers which this Administration had to clean.

If after all the applause (and back patting and bowing for the cameras) for the excellent clean up job you did, why are we still experiencing flooding of disaster proportions, what exactly did you clean?

Social Services has been reduced to the Minister giving hand outs to the poor and the desperate, complete with press corps for coverage, and one wonders whose grand idea is this? How is shaming people helping them? How much exposure is enough?

Why the need for adulation and attention but little to show in the form of macro policy for the alleviation of the plight of ALL the poor? Can this not be done with the left hand not caring if the right hand sees?

I have applauded young Dr. Ramadhar Singh enough times to know that he gets it, I get it, we all get it, and he should now move on to more policy less posture or risk being over exposed.

Following Jack Warner's apparent battle with 'foot in mouth' disease and Therese Baptiste-Cornelis public meltdown, it is starting to appear that at least on one front the Administration is getting its act together and apparently someone is directing the media glare so as to control public opinion.

Only three months into Governance, the People's Partnership is floundering.

As I have no reason to lie to them, they can use this to their benefit or to their dismay.

Either way I consider myself, the last true independent, as having done my duty.

With Court Judgements and lawsuits tearing at its main investor and Party Chairman, an Attorney General who can't seem to make the simplest, most obvious judgements without convening the entire legal fraternity and a Prime Minister long on posture and eloquence but short on policy and leadership, it seems that this Administration has a lot of Indians but not enough Chiefs.

Something to think about...