Promises, Promises... (Referendums and Appeal Courts)

Congress of the People political leader Prakash Ramadhar has triggered the specter of confrontation within the partnership by way of a request for a referendum on the Prime Minister's promotion of the long outstanding adoption of the CCJ as this country's final court of appeal, and, regardless of his motives or his timing, I think specifically because the issue itself is of such magnitude and carries within it so many opportunities for the wrong things to be done for arguably the right reasons the request must still be seen as a reasonable  one. The fact that it is coming across as part of the Marlene-Gate tantrum is unfortunate in the extreme but that ought not to distract from the substantive issue and that is, do we as a people trust our own people to be the final arbiters in our jurisprudence? There are reasons that, despite claims of this being 'in our best interest' it is taking this long to accomplish and, in highly charged issues such as these, patience becomes more important than industry. The old people say it is much better that we measure three times and cut once, but in this regard I think we need to err on the cautious side of caution and measure twenty times twenty before we begin our final cut.

Despite the Prime Minister's almost flippant dismissal of the referendum request, the fact that her own overnight zealous support of the court is almost a complete one hundred and eighty degree turnaround (if not a brazen flip flop) seems to beg certain  questions that should be answered in the best interests of the people and all concerned. I for one refuse to believe that the petty politics of distraction are at the heart of her new position on the matter and I want to go on record as saying I am sure that the issues surrounding her sister and the contorted convolution of confusing explanations for everything regarding her on again/off again maybe/maybe not employment with the state is not the driving force behind her (Kamla's) rush to promote the issue. Something as important as the set up and adoption of a country's final court of appeal could never be used as a red herring and I am almost positive in my estimation that Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar knows better than that. She has to. If you add to this the fact that the leader of the People's National Movement has publicly come out in support of the UNC arm of the government's position (albeit conditionally) on this issue, one is forced to sit up and take notice if not ask questions. To many people who see the UNC and PNM as two sides of the same idealogical coin (or perhaps the lack thereof), anything that they agree upon needs to be properly examined for motive, the unseen hand of special interests and intent.

Back on point though, the overarching fact remains that the resurgence of words like promises and policy on all sides can only be healthy for the politics of this country and the people of this nation, and if this is the end result of  inter-partnership conflict then I say bring it on. Our Constitution does little to address the abuses perpetrated by political parties or even to rein them in once they achieve victory at the polls and for that reason alone a debt is owed to Marlene Coudray for disrupting the comfort zone that has left the people underrepresented for the longest time. Let us all hope that before the sun sets on this other key legislation is forced through, such as term limits for Prime Ministers, fixed election dates, and the ability to fire and recall non performing Members of Parliament. The issue of our final court of appeal must never be politicized or approached from the view of narrow self interests nor should it be rammed down the people's throats but rather it should be promoted through education based on informing and encouraging dialogue so as to encourage national buy in on all levels. That it took a disagreement over a political grasshopper to get us on the road to getting the politics right exposes the idiocy of our confrontational politics for confrontation sake, but irony can be sweet some times; as we are a people accustomed to taking the good with the bad, open both hands - here's a double portion of good for a change.