Getting the Politics Right... (Political Accountability)

Why is it that we as a people are unable to hold more than one thought in our head at a time where political deviancy is concerned, or better yet, why do we think jurisprudence and the dispensation of law and order is an 'either or' position where errant Office holders are the focus?

I ask these questions because whenever the discussion of abuse by persons on the State payroll comes up, die hard Party hacks are the first to deflect the conversation by pointing to a similar or worse abuse alleged to have occurred under the 'other side' which to me only serves one purpose, to hijack the conversation from its original trajectory and by extension let the offender being discussed off the hook.

Why do we do this?

We as a people must never become complicit in wrongdoing or give it a bligh simply because of who we support politically and who we're against. After the election is over we should all revert to being one people with every public servant from the airport janitor to the Prime Minister responsible to and for us all regardless of their Party of origin. There can be no give and take on this one, and I daresay it is this misguided Party loyalty, this misunderstood Party support that has allowed for big fish to swim free who would have been caught, prosecuted and jailed for their crimes in other countries.  

Regardless of whatever excesses, illegalities or failures that may occur under Kamla, it does not excuse those that occurred under Manning and, to further the idea where redress is concerned, what occurred under Manning does not prevent us and should not distract us from prosecuting Basdeo Panday and friends for the abuses that were perpetrated when they were in power.

Party members, loyalists and supporters ought to be the first to spit out wrongdoers in their organization rather than protect them, and it amazes me the way they instead circle the wagons and protect 'their' bandit. How does that work in the national interest?

The constitution does not recognize Members of Parliament or Government Ministers as anything but that, and this even handedness in law that wants to treat with each individual based on his or her contribution needs to translate to the street.

The fact that I am a member of the Congress of the People does not preclude me in any way from highlighting that Party's failures, in fact it motivates me to. I cannot in good conscience excuse for my team what i despise in others and call myself patriotic as that would be foolish to a fault and compromise every shred of integrity I possess. Because of this unwillingness to toe Party or Partnership positions where outright wrong was seen to occur I have been shunned from being offered any position from which to contribute despite my multitude of social and current political involvements but so be it. I am not disillusioned in any way as I knew the rules of the game that we were trying to change when I got in and I daresay we should all approach national service this way. The ends do not justify the means once the means are wrong and we must not be willing to negotiate this away for anything.

The substantial point of this piece is that 'this' could never be 'about' Manning if it isn't 'about' Kamla, Bas, Robbie, George and Eric, and we cannot 'hunt down' Calder Hart as the new villain in the piece while giving Ish, Steve, Brian, Russell, Lawrence, Andre and others a bligh. We as one people need to demand that our systems of law enforcement and of law and order be blind to Parties of origin and should instead be focused on protecting the people and the national treasure. Wrong must be wrong no matter who, and when we start to approach national service from this position we will shake loose those with devious intentions from the pack.

When we learn what it means to be a patriotic citizen of Trinidad & Tobago and when we see all the other citizens of this country as our brothers and sisters regardless of their affiliations or ancestry will we begin to address this sorry state of affairs. Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism, neither is total support regardless of action. There can be no greater level of national service than that of 'first man on watch,' and should we be able to muster one point three million watchmen, our oil and gas will translate into hospitals that work, roads that last and systems the protect and serve all of the people all of the time in quick time.