Political Winter...

These are at once the best of times and the worst of times for Trinidad & Tobago. The best of times because, fifty years into our independence the people are maturing politically, finding their voices  and insisting on their opinions and their right to have and express them. The worst of times because this is happening precisely at the time when the country is laboring under the most undemocratic, anti-civil-rights government it has ever had and the ideologies of freedom and oppression seem intent on squaring off for a showdown sometime soon.

How this is handled will decide political futures. The UNC and the PNM are both at pivotal points in their histories because what is done by whom over the Section 34 hijacking of the legislature is going to decide which party thrives and which fails to survive. The all-inclusive opening up of the PNM is precisely what the doctor ordered and it appears that Dr, Keith Rowley is reading the tea leaves correctly. Faris Al Rawi and the rest of the 'new' PNM is a breath of fresh air and are proving to be the correct counterfoil to the now stale and obsolete 'new politics' of the COP, but while Dr. Rowley is enjoying a rejuvenation of sorts make no mistake, Kamla Persad Bissessar still has all the cards to play. What she does here will determine any future elections as they are hers to win or to lose depending on those choices..

The correct plays for her here are not limited to but includes the following:

- Fire Anand Ramlogan - The entire country sees him as the architect of  the whole Section 34 fiasco as well as other abuses and are uniting in their desire to see the back of him. Firing him will at one time raise the PM's political stocks and silence dissent in her Cabinet, and she would be foolish to try and fight what the electorate is prepared to insist on as an inevitability.

- Fire Jack Warner – No one person galvanizes the nation against the government like Jack and as is clear to see, the honeymoon of the illusion of him being effective in any post is over. Short of the gangster politics of bribes and bullying he offers nothing new, and should she fire him she would reclaim her power and consign her opponents to the political cemetery, at least where the east indian vote is concerned. Jack polarizes the community and gives political detractors relevance; firing him will put a decisive end to that.

- Fire Prakash, in fact fire the whole COP – The Congress of the People is irrelevant and can be considered politically dead. Not even Dr. Rowley and his new PNM are interested in them and firing them all would end the sniping and griping coming from that corner of the room. The COP has no financiers, no constituency to claim and very few members any more. They bring nothing to the table but rancour and it is time to put an end to the charade of the Partnership if the UNC and its leader hope to prosper.

If Kamla were to take this advice she would be able to write the next fifty years of our history in her image and likeness. The estimated thirty five per cent (and growing) 'undecided' floating voter bloc will deify her and put her and 'her' UNC in the stratosphere. If she fails to act decisively she would signal the death of the party and rewrite her legacy to the detriment of all who follow in her footsteps and the game would become Dr. Rowley's to win regardless of what elections are called where and when. My advice to the electorate is to reward what best serves the interest of the country as a whole. If Kamla demonstrates the testicular fortitude to do the right thing as outlined above the floating and undecided voter should support the UNC. If she doesn't, they should give their full and unflinching support to the PNM as one so as to fire those political miscreants themselves and send a clear message as to what is expected of government in democratic T&T.