Deconstructing Bhoe... (Or his perspective at least)

Every now and then I stumble upon a piece of writing so remarkable I am pressed to deconstruct it to expose what I believe to be the true  intent of the words or even the spaces between the words. Today I got one of those opportunities when I read  - “Fix Clause 34.  Fix T&T too – A Statement by Senator Dr. the Honourable Bhoendradatt Tewarie, Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development”
Needless to say I am as surprised as you are at the simplicity of our educated class and as dismayed as you are by our leaders.
Be guided that from here on in my views will be the ones in the brackets, the rest Bhoe will have to answer to his country for at some point, his God one day and his own conscience when that time comes.

Phillip Edward Alexander

[Let the games begin....]

As a child I was exposed to a poem the last two lines of which were: “I can easily break in a day or two, / what builders have taken a year to do”.  It stuck in my mind.  And I have always lived, working to build things rather than to break them. Clause 34 was identified by the Media as a problem, the Government moved quickly to fix it in Parliament.  The Opposition and some Independent Senators helped to fix it.  It may be a temporary fix and more fixing may have to be done but as long as there is a will to fix things there will be opportunities for meaningful action.

[Bhoe should have been a gymnast and I think he missed his calling. Watch how deftly he turned a conspiratorial cock up of epic proportions into the spilling of a drop of legislative water that could be easily dabbed with concern and a little patience. Sir based on your opening, if you stick the landing I will give you a 10 out of 10. Moving on....]

The psychological state of most people in the country is that they are disappointed and hurt and they feel that someone has to be held responsible.

 [The people are disappointed? Were you going for understatement of the year? The people vex bro...]

Our Government has to address that.

[The electorate will as well, make no mistake]

It is a governance issue and it is a political issue.

[And a cock up of epic proportions, let's not leave that out....]

Because how our Government deals with this will determine whether space is created to engage the population in a rebuilding of trust which many feel has been breached.

[There will be investigations, lies will be told, others will be blamed...]

But the big issue before us is beyond politics

[And the cock up, why does this keep slipping your mind, age?]

– it has to do with our country Trinidad and Tobago and it has to do with the quality of governance.

[And how exactly do we make sure who has to be charged for the cock up is charged]

And fifty (50) years of Independence demand that we think our way through this.

[Could not agree with you more. I think whomever was responsible should be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows]

I am not for any action that will bring the Government of Trinidad and Tobago down.

[Still eating Bhoe?]

There are some people, in my view a minority, who would like to see that, but that would not be in the best interest of the country – section 34 and its repeal notwithstanding.

 [LOL...yuh good. Take a bow there mih brother, yuh even cause mih to lose mih University accent with that one....]

This country has had five (5) elections in ten (10) years when we should have had two (2).

[Who fault was that?]

And we have had an attempted coup.

[Well we know who fault was that.]

Trinidad and Tobago doesn’t need another election, nor does it need instability.

[Do the two come hand in hand, like bread and butter? Are you saying if we have an election it would be unstable? Are you sure you are not unstable?]

But the tone of governance has to change and that means that the terms of engagement within the Partnership has to change as well to make a change in the tone of governance possible.

[Ahhh the crux of the whole discourse, promotions for the COP? Boy all yuh COP eh have no shame with de begging? All yuh would sell insurance at a wake]

And we need constitution reform and a full discussion with the people to do constitution reform right.
COP leaving the Government will weaken the Government and possibly bring it down.

[Me think you measuring in inches what should be measured in centimeters Brother, COP leaving will cost the governemtn two, maybe three seats at worst, calm down. Anil, Lincoln and Samuel ent going nowhere, and Winston stop playing for your side a long time ago. Maybe Carolyn might go, but Kams done doh like woman round she so Carolyn could go.]

And I may be biased, but I don’t think Dr. Rowley is the solution nor do I think he has the solution.

[Why? Because he not in the PP?]

There are commitments which the Government made in the People’s Partnership Manifesto to constitution reform.  We should honour these in quick time.

[So what all yuh was doing all this time?]

And we should begin the discussion on the wider issues of constitution reform so that we can deepen and strengthen democracy and the power of the people, ensure transparency, demand accountability and build strong independent institutions.

[But first let us get to the bottom of that Section 34 cock up and charge people, how ah talk?]

We need to think, act, build and create.  Not break.  And we must not go backwards.

[I could have sworn you wrote we must not go 'black-wards' yes. Anyway....since when is Jack Warner, Ganga Singh, Carlos John and come to think of it you in a government going forward?]

That is my perspective.

[And based on it we could only assume that you were drinking while writing it. You still get a 10 though, for trying to pass off this as new politics when you know we in a situation when plenty people have questions to answer. It not done and we not moving forward. But thanks for the comic relief. We needed that :).]