Legends of Corruption...

For those who do not know, the Eric Williams PNM was a corrupt and dictatorial regime that used brute force and State largesse to keep the people in line. When Basdeo Panday speaks about the days of 'the struggle' he is not making grand talk of trivialities, he is alluding to a time when political dissent could have cost you your life.

Many a historian is loathe to touch that era in the Country's development, because most of what one wants to give Williams credit for one also has to despise him. His death led to a national relief of such proportions that regardless of who was appointed his successor they were bound to fail, if only as some measure of after the fact 'payback.' I firmly believe that even if George Chambers had found the cure for cancer he was still going to lose at the polls because of old PNM scores that people wanted settled, and the formation of the NAR emboldened many to come out and kick the now bobolee PNM while it was seen to be down.

Whether you think it rIght or wrong, the people wanted their say and their day and would not have been denied. That day came in the form of the National Alliance for Reconstruction, a Party with all the right ideas but little understanding of the level of collective dysfunction the Eric years left on the national psyche.

Freedom coupled with austerity measures were a conflicting mix, and the newly unchained people were ready to protest any and everything that drew their ire. The failed 1990 attempted coup may have been a 'misread' by the powers behind Bakr, because in their acceptance of the above fact, gave Trini's credit for more than they deserved. Yes people were going to wine and march around the Red House and beat drums and chant, but participation in uprising was something else entirely and Trinis weren't ready for that. Picking up arms against the State was seen as akin to fighting with your father, and regardless of how deserving for a 'come-uppance' he was, we just weren't brought up that way.

Think what you want about the Robinson term in Office and say what you want about the measures employed to right size the then economy, that Administration was a break with the corruption years of O'Hallaron, Wallce and the boys and the country should have at least been grateful for that.

Manning's first term post Robbie was a return to the pilfering time and credited with some questionable dealings by men like Saith and the Chinese Mafia, but nothing prepared the country for the wholesale assault on the treasury (and every system put in place to protect it) by Brian Kuie Tung, Steve Ferguson and their leader, Ishwar Galbaransingh.

If Ohallaron was a medicine man Ish was a surgeon, and his focus and drive to pilfer in broad daylight became quick legend and attracted other men of the greed faith to the feast. Men like Karamath, Gillette, Ganga, Carlos and Duprey quickly became household names, but no one before or since were as able as Ish. Being East Indian had its privelages and he was allowed into the inner circles of a UNC that none of the others could fully join. This was no world for pretend hindus, not when the real thing was rampant and flying high.

That this country owes a forever debt of gratitude to Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj for pulling down this band of thieves (regardless of his personal motives) need to be said over and over and over. Not only was Ish removed from the feeding trough, the then UNC's removal from Public Office saved us from losing (among other things) Petrotrin, the Caroni rum stocks and the pitch lake to this band of ruthless thieves.

Following Ramesh's lead, Manning went on to disembowel the UNC in a full 'all fours' styled sweep by (high) attacking the Party all of its financiers and bringing them before the Courts; (low) by shutting down Caroni Limited to remove the Indians' URP; (hang jack) had Basdeo Panday himself brought up on charges and jailed and (game) took Basdeo out of jail and kept him in power in the UNC 'at his pleasure' to keep the UNC perpetually hobbled.

Were it not for a cruel twist of fate, a woman from Siparia, the aspirations of men of great self image and little self respect and a church in Guanapo, men like Hunt and Hart would still be feeding at the same trough Ish built, but the PNM, in outdoing the same UNC through the corrupt enrichment of some of it's own members and the dictatorial megalomania of its then leader, drank the very poison the Party poured for the UNC.

Where do we go from here? Stay tuned...