Devolution.... (Going Backwards)

I really wanted my Christmas column to be upbeat and full of good feelings but circumstances cut me off. Perhaps it is just my need to stay true to form or that I know my readers expect nothing but truth in this space, but whatever; check out a few of the top stories in the public domain and tell me, if we're not a banana republic then what, pray tell, are we?

The President of the Republic has been called upon by the leader of the Opposition to question the Prime Minister on events surrounding the surreptitious proclamation and hasty repeal of a section of a law that turned out to be poisoned at the conception stage, a section of law to which he already had a first hand knowledge and for which she has refused, based solely on the reasons that she does not have to answer and an interpretation of the Constitution that says 'shall' does not mean 'must.' Putting that aside for a moment I want to ask, what does the Leader of the Opposition hope that she can possibly tell him (the President of the Republic) that he does not already now know? Is it that he (the President) does not read what is put before him for proclamation or is it that it does not matter whether he reads it or not? I asked early on when the fiasco broke why did he (His Excellency) agree to be part of the whole event in the first place, to provide the power of his Office to facilitate this highly irregular entreaty? Did it not strike him then as strange as it does us now, this request that a bit of a law be proclaimed in the dead of night in the middle of a long weekend on the very evening the entire country was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary of independence? Or has this been done before on other occasions to pass other laws that remain cloistered and secret? I put to you that only in a banana republic of the highest banana-ness can something like this occur, but it goes on. The Prime Minister as head of government, who along with her entire Cabinet finds herself suspect in the events leading up to and including the  early proclamation of the very section of law insists on the right to investigate herself and, having found herself above reproach and having no questions to answer to any organ of state or government, assumes the right to consider the matter closed. Where else but in a banana republic can an entire Cabinet of Ministers smeared by the stink of a conspiracy alleged to have been designed to hijack the very legislature that they are sworn to uphold and protect find themselves on the high ground because they decide themselves so?

Where else but in a banana republic would the Minister of Justice take his Ministry's staff on a retreat to a hotel owned by individuals who also stood to benefit from the very section of law that he was piloting? Where? Where else but in a banana republic can a man under investigation by local, regional and international law enforcement authorities be put in charge of the country's protective services and be made the head of the very authorities that are charged with investigating him? Where? Where else can family members of Government Ministers be awarded contracts to build controversial and dubious public works projects at ridiculously inflated prices paid for straight out of the treasury? Where else can former board members of a looted financial institution find themselves in the government that bails out said institution with public funds? Where? Where else would the Prime Minister think pictures of her smiling face are appropriate Christmas presents for the nation's children? Where?

Perhaps we should change the colors of our national flag to black and bright yellow and remove our coat of arms to be replaced with a new more apt symbol emblazoned with these words - “All hail the Royal, Imperial, Majestic Banana.” Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Followed closely by “Welcome to Trinidad & Tobago.” Sounds about right - Merry Christmas everybody....