Political Advice...

To the consternation of my friends who want a 'hook up' for a Government house or a 'contract' based on who I know, I believe the activist's role is to keep the Government honest and not to personally gain by access. We are to be a mirror of true reaction to policies, promises and even behavior of members to the Leadership who, having many around already willing to call their farts perfume, need a dose of honesty to adjust their governance to suit.

In other words, we serve the people.

The times of absolute power has left with Patos and Bas. The people have the power now, and they are free to use it for their collective good or against themselves entirely, but either way no Administration can believe they have jobs for life under the new dispensation, especially in a world where your comments this morning do not wait for tomorrow's editorial to hang you, news media being augmented by the 'new' media of social networking and smart phones.

Many current Members of Parliament and Ministers need to be told that their permanent grasp on a temporary job could be funny if they do not in fact serve the people.

For example:

Minister of the People Glen Ramadhar Singh has made a fool's use of the media, and is now so over exposed that should he not desist from his personal campaign of self glorification he may find himself having to look for another job that allows him to smile and pose. His aura of smarminess is off putting and one wonders for how much longer will the Prime Minister foist this immature approach to governance on the people. 

He is now the butt of jokes on the internet, and I fully expect to see his smiling image appear on everything from wheel of fortune promos to ads for comfortable feminine hygiene products. 

Errol McCleod is the Minister of Labor, not because he has insights that would allow him to beat the natives into submission, but because he has insights that would allow the Government to once and for all create negotiation models for wage, salary and other increases sensibly in touch with reality and end this continuous cycle of demonstration and protest. His Ministry should be hard at work together with the unions to craft these models that must be applied equitably and built on realistic current economic projections as well as future trends. First year mathematicians can build options into any formula that allows for upswings or downturns, and I strongly recommend this approach.

Errol, it is time to sit down and talk.

Regardless of how you feel about Herbert Volney, if we were to get this loose canon properly tethered and aimed we could in fact make some in roads into the nagging problems where judicial and legal oversight is concerned. While I fully support and endorse a complete separation of powers, man being man and prone to sin since Adam, we must establish a system where the people are not abused by men who by virtue of their personality should not have power over them. Simply put, because of his knowledge of the system, he is the perfect man for the job to change it for the better and we may never get this opportunity again.

Herbert, breathe, focus.

Anil Roberts has so far demonstrated the promise of effectiveness while delivering nothing but talk. An excellent member of a raucous campaign, he is slowly being isolated as people get enough of the talk and are now looking for action. There were many abuses that took place through the special purpose sport company that he is now responsible for that need investigating with a view toward prosecution and a return of the people's money. Enough with the National Enquirer styled expose and 'bussing' files. The people want results for the limited resources, and might I add, paying an untried and untested football coach three million plus per year for the spectacular failing that is the senior team is a waste of the people's money in these lean times.

Cool it Anil.

Most of the people that love Jack Warner love him for his bad ways. ALL of the comments by lay people on Jack have a 'but' in the descriptive sentence, and his handling of the AATT is a prime example of autocratic leadership destabilizing a bureaucratic  one. While some would say we already have too many rules and regulations, others argue that based on the abuses and wholesale looting that has gone on in the past we obviously don't have enough.

If you do wrong for the right reasons, did you do wrong or right?

In other words, how do we gauge behavior, on observation of rules or on results?

I would like to suggest that it is both. Lawrence Duprey and Calder Hart fooled people with results while robbing them blind, and Mr. Warner needs to be terminated for his open flouting of the same rules, which ostensibly was the reason for firing the last Administration.

Hit the road Jack.

From the very start we have correctly highlighted the obvious firecrackers, from the Minister of Health and her public display of looniness to Garvin Nicholas and his attempts to fit into a demanding job he is not trained or qualified for. The new Administration can still win over those of us who judge on action and not on sound bytes by simply delivering.

Serve the people.

Use the interactivity of the internet to find out what the people want. Put aside the expensive pollsters and just put your ideas out there.

The people will clearly let you know how they feel good or bad, and if you take your cues from the people, you wont need multi million dollar campaigns provided by smart-men in exchange for a cut. You would have that rarest of things in Trinidad & Tobago, and election victory based on what the people support, not who they are against.

Something to think about...