Wine, Prakash, Wine Fuh Dem.....

Wine, wine, wine in a circle
When de song done yuh go pay de devil
Wine, wine, wine in a circle
This is not a fete in here but it could be trouble....

What on earth was Prakash Ramadhar thinking when he used the government's anniversary celebration to once again moan on and on about his party's role in the assembly of the partnership? Is it that he does not get how political power works? Seeming to be waiting on someone to hand him authority he is making himself more and more unattractive to the voters with this passive aggressive tantrum over Marlene Coudray, and now, based on the coded speech he delivered at the rally, seems to be content to allow his legacy to be that of someone who, bent on achieving what he thinks is his just desserts, risked everything and got nothing in return. Surely he must see that his political stocks are waning, and that die hards are publicly packing it in, surely, and just as surely you would think he would find a way to extricate himself from this drain that he seems so fond of circling, wouldn't you think? My first boss straight out of school used to tell us (whenever we were stalling to make a decision) either poop (can't use the more colorful word he used here) or get off the pot. Meaning as clear as you can get it, you have two options, and as in this instance Prakash, like David Abdullah in the MSJ and Mikandal Daaga in the NJAC, his choices are clear. Either work to build up his own stocks in the government while keeping his own separate identity or leave. Simple. Personally I am impressed as to the lengths the other partners in the partnership are going with him and this never ending tirade, but surely at some point someone is going to tell him off and then what, does he finally take his marbles and leave? Truth be told every single member of the Congress of the People knows that if Prakash decides to quit the partnership he may well be going alone, because none of the other COP MP's seem interested in giving up the state sponsored juice anytime soon.

Perhaps what Prakash needs is a good dose of reality, and what I would like to suggest to him is that he calls a COP rally to celebrate the party's two years in coalition government and see how many people turn up. That would be a rude awakening of epic proportions and if he takes this advice I would like to further advise him that if he does have an event that he holds it in a Pizza Boys party room so that he could still say they filled the space to overflowing.

The undeniable, inescapablele truth of the matter is that Winston Dookeran and crew made a foolish decision to join with the UNC in Fyzabad, especially as they knew full well the calibre of the power brokers in that party, and, from all reports, made an even more foolish deal for the allocation of power should the coalition succeed. Now like the proverbial frog that was stung by the scorpion he was giving a lift across the river, Dookeran & Co. have only themselves to blame as they begin to drown midstream. Prakash for all his secret messages and coded speeches is not even preaching to the choir anymore and may well be sermonizing in an empty church. The members of the Congress of the People need to wake up and realize that there will be little if anything left to save after Prakash, Tewarie and Toney gets finished with it, and reminiscing over who did what when is not going to help anybody when all that political potential and promise is dissipated on the four winds. Going forward from here requires real leadership, but tell me from where does the COP look to find that? In his trademark work 'The Devil's Dictionary,' Ambrose Bierce referred to politics as strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." — There are no principles left to fight for here, no high watermark, not when the party abandoned the people over a fight for naked power and position.

Abdullah the Butcher... (On the MSJ Play)

With an announcement that may well be responsible for sending Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to the hospital in Barbados, the leader of the Movement for Social Justice David Abdullah did what the entire leadership of the Congress of the People failed to do in their series of marathon meetings, press conferences and talk show appearances and despite having six seats in the Parliament as opposed to the MSJ's zero. Very much like his biblical namesake, David demonstrated with what can only be referred to as a surprise and very sophisticated move that size really does not matter when you know what you and your organization stand for and against, and he succeeded in registering a serious complaint with a government that he and his organization are a part of without sound, fury nor threat of removing himself and his party from the Government. That took some doing, didn't it?

Having returned all the benefits of remaining in government to demonstrate that he and they were there about service to country first and foremost in stark contrast to the COP's fight for position, Abdullah managed to pull all the moral authority of the disenchanted, under-represented center to himself, leaving the (former) party of the moral center (the COP) high and dry and without a map, a paddle or a clear idea between them. Listening to their leader Prakash Ramadhar compare the actions of the MSJ  to what they (the COP) was trying to do caused one onlooker to remark that Prakash was quite possibly suffering from a bad case of testicular envy. Expectedly the sting in all of this has to be felt by the members of the Congress of the People, who must be wondering what they did to find themselves in such a blighted and sorry place leadership wise.

So what happens next? Can the predominantly labor based MSJ becoming politically sexy enough to challenge the established PNM and UNC in a straight up fight? I doubt it. Especially not with wildly unpopular characters like Ancil Roget in its ranks. At best the most that they could hope to be is a spoiler in the race, but as that has no political value in and of itself, the exercise would serve no one, especially not labour. And what of the Congress of the People, what are their fortunes in the growing redevelopment of the center? From my perspective the time of the COP is behind us now and any impression they make in the next election will at best be a protest vote as a swan song. With this in mind I would like to suggest that they put up Carson Charles and Joseph Toney to fight seats on the ground, and bring back Jensen Fox and Tony Smart to round out the return of the NAR, the only real faction left in the now gutted COP. Too harsh? Where are the east indian supporters who, disenchanted with Basdeo Panday were willing to follow Winston Dookeran into the 'promise land' of new politics? Did they not return in droves to their former home in the UNC once their leader Prakash Ramadhar sanitized it for them once again on the no confidence campaign?

Those who want to rewrite history and force facts to fix their version of reality could go right ahead, but some of us prefer to call things as they are. The only reason the electorate are not panicking at the spectre of a revamped and rampant PNM taking advantage of the hiccups in the partnership is that they too are too off balanced due to internal wrangling and power struggles to bother anybody, and until Dr. Rowley can solve simple issues like the public revolt of the balisier tie issue being played out in the Parliament every Friday, they are no threat to anybody. The political play-field remains ripe for real change and one can only hope that somewhere, someone(s) are looking at starting something new, something fresh and devoid of recycled politicians. Until then, simple plays like the MSJ play will seize the electorate's attention, because anything that looks like integrity and morality would be celebrated by a people long jaded by displays of selfish self serving politics regardless of what they promised going in.

Speedy Conclusions... (Speed, Dividers & Death)

In all of the talk surrounding the tragic accident involving the Acting Chief Justice that claimed the lives of four young people, no one is accepting the responsibility that we as a people all bear and I think we need to bring the discussion back to there if we hope to salvage anything from this at all. The stark reality is that that accident could not have occurred as it did were we not so lazy and irresponsible with our governance and our democracy, and the fact that our Ministers turn out to be incompetent after appointment in no way excuses it for continuing to remain so. The thing pivots on the fact that not only do we get the government we deserve, we get the governance we tolerate. It is a sad indictment on all of us that we continue to tolerate this sad state of affairs that only asks so many questions and answers none of them convinvingly. What could be at the heart of this irresponsible abdication of the nation's and its people's interest? Many have said that the required intervention can be manufactured here locally in the form of the globally employed New Jersey concrete dividers utilizing local raw materials and local labour to build as well as install, and in these times of out of work contractors, can someone tell me why we are not going this route?

Yes we need massive re-education as to rights and responsibilities of citizens and road use, but more importantly we need protective enforcement. Speeding happens because speeding is allowed, and while the law of the land can be easily frustrated, in too many instances the cost of the lesson that the laws of physics cannot is being paid for in blood; zero to sixty is one thing, but sixty to zero is something else entirely. The time for us burying our heads in the sand is long past as the simple act of driving from one place to another requires you to risk losing your life over the carelessness of others and the irresponsible mismanagement of others still.

The Ministers of Works, Transport and National Security all have questions to answer over their incompetence here, and the Commissioner of Police and the head of the Traffic Department do as well. Going forward from here MUST require change that begins with the deployment of contractors to divide the highways immediately, and the creation of a very committed highways division in our police service responsible for and committed to enforcing the law. The responses from both Jack Warner and Devant Maharaj leaves a lot to be desired from a leadership position, and it is time we the people start asking more from the people we elect to office, at the very least ask for what we deserve.

Where the rubber meets the road on this and the other issues that continue to plague this nation comes down to management, and it is either as a direct cause of a breakdown in the calibre of the people we hire, or it is deliberately done to for some other sinister purpose. Many speculate that imported items used for these projects come with built in kick backs and profit potential simply because they are channelled through a single source as opposed to multiple suppliers, making what is an evil that is preying on the people into a marked and profitable enterprise. I hope that they are wrong, but the barriers being put forth over the New Jersey dividers do not stand up to scrutiny much less collisions and the results can be seen littering the highways in pieces.

In his collection of articles written during the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine is noted to have said - “ Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

As in everything else of this nature, the simple things are usually the best to work and the people need to insist that they are at least tried before we go the exorbitant and expensive route. Protecting and serving the people is every public official's job and, if they find themselves in a position outside of their abilities we the people can have only ourselves to blame if that situation continues.

Letters to Friends... (Overdue Correspondence)

I just realized how badly I had fallen behind on my correspondence, how many important notes and letters that I had planned to send out that were put aside for other more pressing matters. Now that I have some time I thought I would try to catch up, and as we're all here I thought I'd share it with you.

Dear Mr. Attorney General. Thank you for agreeing to proclaim the Dangerous Dog Bill finally, the only thing I am having difficulty with is the August 1st deadline as for the life of me I cannot see why it cannot start today. I urge you to use your good Office to implement this law now as the draconian measures contained therein are what we need in these 'don't care' times to rein in recalcitrant and irresponsible owners and prevent more innocent people getting bite for no reason.

Dear Verna St. Rose Greaves. I hope this finds you well. As you know I am a big supporter of yours, but find myself hard-pressed to defend your espoused position on legalizing abortion, especially as it contradicts your position on hanging and, coming hot on the heels of this whole sending poor Cheryl to the madhouse, it not looking right.. To many it would appear that you have a serious problem with terminating the life of the guilty but have no qualms with executing the innocent and I need some clarification here. I think you need to reconcile these two divergent and diametrically opposite positions in the soonest, as this is causing many of your supporters some concern.

Dear Mr. Opposition Leader. I have noticed that you have taken a decision to keep quiet this time around and let the chips fall where they may. Good call. Remember last time, when things were going in a certain direction, and you called that dotish vote of no confidence, and inadvertently fixed everything back? Those were fun times weren't they? Use this opportunity to fix the tie issue, the one man one vote issue, the get rid of Patos and his cabal issue and leave them other people alone. Cool? Cool.

Dear Prakash. What to tell you boy? From the start I told you that you weren't cut out for this Political leader thing, but did you listen? No... When I told you that trying to be Minister of Legal Affairs, Member of Parliament and full time husband and father would clash with the demanding post of leading a junior party in a cut throat coalition, did you pay attention? No...... When I warned you that you were surrounded by some agenda men who would lead you  astray, did you pay heed? No..... So now why would I expect you to listen to the best advice I could give you I don't know, but Praks boy, if you care one bit for this country and the COP do the right thing nah, they say admitting the problem is half the battle. Trust me, for the good of all you say you hold dear, relinquish the post of Political Leader and go back to doing what you did best before, whatever that was. And if you really, really care about this country and that party do one thing before you go nah, and fire Joseph 'duck and hide' Toney and Nirad 'Napoleon' Tewarie before they finish mash everything up.

Dear David Abdullah. At some point you have to make up your mind as to what you are all about friend, because you confusing everybody.

Dear Patos. How is the recovery coming along? From all reports I understand that you are well on your way and I am happy. Have you ever considered retiring from active politics? It could be good for you and it would be great for the country, so why not give it a thought? The rest of the cabal will find someone else to suck up to and you could take this opportunity to try out that preacher thing you said you wanted to try. I know you and I haven't been the best of friends but that is not because I didn't like you as a person, I just thought you sucked as a Prime Minister. Who knows, I might come to your church, drop me a line and let me know when and where. Best regards to all, Phillip.

Walk Like an Egyptian.....

The long hot summer of discontent that capitulated a small (at first) group of protesters onto the world stage and into the pages of history has sent shockwaves all across the planet, challenged the established order, pulled down long standing despotic regimes and started major if not full blown wars in their wake. The size of the mountain that was scaled by these few disenchanted has set afire the imaginations of those who dream of a better world and, from all the evidence available, may well be far from over. People power protests are erupting in every hemisphere and everywhere there is talk of the marginalized and disenfranchised flipping the script. The 99% that feels left out is the seed that brought the Wall Street protest to America, and the determination that all men must be treated equal and free is wholly responsible for the fresh eruption of bloodshed and conflict  in Syria.

In these times it would be foolish for any government to take the population for granted, and here more than anywhere it would be equally foolish to assume that the people are going to continue to allow themselves to be abused by a system that seems to have no heart. In this last week alone two prominent social commentators in the persons of retired head of the public service Reginald Dumas and social scientist Professor Ramesh Deosaran have both warned of the spectre of social unrest if citizens continue to feel alienated from the governing process. History has proven decisively that might can only trample right for so long, and those in authority would do well to pay attention to what is taking place on the ground.

The cartoon characters that we keep electing  to Office, from Patrick 'Bob the Builder' Manning to Kamla 'Dora the Explorer' Persad Bissessar are only adding fuel to the disillusionment among the masses by lifting the people high on promises only to disappoint them once elected, and the reneging and strong-arming that is starkly contrasting with the squandermaina and outright looting  is contributing in no small way to the rage that is being played out on the nightly news. The people remain stuck for choice and junior parties like the COP, MSJ, MND and the other minor 'alphabits' offer no respite, no escape from the lack of real leadership or people centered policies required to unite the competing interests and take this country forward. With more murders than days for the year so far, the scariest thing of all is the apathy with which the statistics are being viewed. Killing for hire, gang war, human trafficking and rape are all fighting for media space alongside a sharp increase in child and elder abuse and murder, demonstrating quite conclusively that not only is the situation grossly untenable, it is quite possibly unfixable.

The qualities of character that ought to be displayed by those in leadership as examples to the masses are in too short a supply to make any real difference, with the ridiculously greedy and the perverted few making a mockery of what it means to be a citizen of this beautiful country. We the people need to get the message that we are responsible for our own tomorrows and those of our children, and that we need to vote with conscience for country over party if we ever intend for the right people to offer themselves in service.

Fifty years ago we kicked mammy to the curb and told her 'take yuh Union Jack and go.' We insisted then on our right to self govern without realizing that with those rights came responsibilities. So now Peter is paying for Paul and Paul running scared. Elected and appointed officials conspiring to defraud at every turn knowing full well that consequence does not really apply to the rich, famous or well connected and can be 'managed' if the price is right. In some strange twist of logic this bizarre status quo is kept in place because the people have all agreed to disagree and they do so vehemently. That they can't seem to find a way to agree to agree is at the heart of much of the self inflicted destruction and, with racial conflict stewing just under the surface ready to bubble over at a moment's notice, to paraphrase a longtime calypso, fifty years have gone, how you feel?

So You Think You Could Lie.... (Reality TV, T&T Style)

Once every five years or so (or less if Patrick Manning happens to be Prime Minister) we have an 'event' we call 'elections,' made up of more pageant than politics and from this we 'elect' our leaders. These winners go on to enjoy the best advantages that life in T&T has to offer until the time runs out, when the bell is rung and the whole process starts all over again. Very much like an American reality TV show, ours could just as easily be called -  'So You Think You Could Lie' as from that, more than anything else, is how we choose our leaders.

To succeed in this contest one of the most important tools needed by far is the art of duplicity, the ability to make a thing appear as something else entirely without changing who the public perceives you to be.

Take Stephen Cadiz for example; when Stephen was dragging the memory of Keith Noel's half eaten corpse the length and breadth of this country, did you think for one second that he was auditioning for a job as Minister of Trade? Of course not, so successful was his 'surreptistity' and misdirection that today many believe that he is still working assiduously to reduce the crime that led to poor Keith's untimely death, and I applaud him for his skillful use of misplaced emotion to convince all and sundry that he still has one foot on that coffin. Duplicity is what allows an Errol McLeod to continue on as Minister of Labour while doing absolutely nothing for his former comrades or for labor for that matter yet still retaining a place among them should he find himself removed from the Cabinet. Errol knows that the Prime Minster knows that he retains an extensive repertoire of selections for if he is ejected from the Partnership, guaranteeing him a spot in a government for which the ability to vociferously support a thing today and be totally against it tomorrow is a most essential skill. Members of the Congress of the People seem to have been schooled in this art also, as the distance between what they  campaigned against and what they have stood for since achieving office cannot be measured.

Another important talent for the politically ambitious is 'misdirection,' the art of getting people to  focus only on what you want them to see. Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has an almost Merlin-esque grasp of this skill and continues to deploy 'CCJ's' and 'states of emergency' as needed to distract the electorate from questioning nepotistic appointments, intoxicated bunglings and outright failings of her government. Easily eclipsing Patrick 'PM could also mean Project Manager' Manning in the use of this timeless art, Kamla appears to have a reserve of 'bombs' ready to deploy on an unsuspecting population easily distracted by loud noises and shiny things.

Demonstrated over time though, Magic, the art of illusion remains the most impressive of skill-sets. The ability to bend reality to suit your facts has been heralded since the days of Camelot, and none possess it in more abundance than Jack Warner. I believe that men like Warner or television personality Ian Alleyne only captures people's attention out of a type of morbid curiosity as to what next they could possibly say or do. At Warner rallies and press conferences it is not unusual to see people watching each other with a perplexed expression, almost saying, one to the other, did he REALLY just say that? Even members of the press corps, seasoned journalists accustomed to the smoke and mirrors that our politics has become appear caught off guard at times, and like people hypnotized, stand there too stunned to ask a coherent question. And if you think this applies only to this side of the aisle think again. The ability to rise to his feet and spew rationally sounding nonsense ad-nauseum with sartorial pomp and splendor while simultaneously distancing himself from his own nothing stint as a Minister is what allows Amery Browne to get away the ruse when all he really wants is a job with perks. To the constituents of Diego Martin Central he exists only on TV where he plays their MP.

I ask myself repeatedly who is  more to blame for the  state of our democracy, the  self serving deceivers, or the lazy voters who elect them? Like with the question of the chicken or the egg, I cannot say for sure, but what I DO know with clarity is that as long as what we demand from our leaders is  theatre and entertainment, then that is exactly what we are going to get.

Wrong & More Wrong..... (Roody iz You?)

I have used this saying before but I use it here again because it is most apt -  that while a bulldog could beat a skunk in a a fight anytime, he avoids it most times because he knows it isn't worth the stink. In the same way I find myself wondering at the way the entire Marlene Coudray matter was handled by the UNC, and while I have taken the leadership of the Congress of the People publicly and continuously to task over their clumsy, reactionary handling of the matter, the reality of the situation is, had the UNC handled the matter differently we would not even be here in the first place and all of this stink could have been avoided. What could have been the thinking in that camp after they short listed Marlene as the perfect candidate to throw at whoever the PNM put up to contest the rumored coming soon by election for San Fernando East? Did it not cross Roodal Moonilal's mind (the one to whom the poaching is ascribed) that rather than 'seduce' her from a partner party in the coalition that it might have been better if handled diplomatically? At a meeting of leaders perhaps, where, in exchange for Marlene the COP could have been given senate seats and/or state board appointments as, if not compensation then at least out of respect? Was it that the COP was believed to be already broken and in the pockets of the UNC or worse, based on Prakash's and Anil's unbelievably self destructive support of the UNC during the campaign to defeat the vote of no confidence, completely capitulated and on the way to unification?

All of those questions will have to be answered by others much closer to the events as they unfolded at the time, but looked at dispassionately there is no way to avoid placing responsibility squarely at Moonilal's feet and who, I daresay, for his disrespectful mishandling of the situation and his complete lack of the political sobriety required in delicate matters such as these, if anyone should be fired from the government it should be him. His lack of sophistication if not outright disdain for his coalition partners is at the heart of the entire clusterfiretruck and the Prime Minister owes it to her coalition partners and the country as a whole to fire him outright for the mess she finds herself and her government in.

Make no mistake this is not over, and while many within the UNC would like to consider the matter firmly swept under the rug and moved on from, the other members of the partnership are still smarting from the abrasion and the population as a whole are now looking at Kamla and her government in a whole new and unflattering light. If the partnership breaks over this issue the reaction to the slight cannot be given more precedence than the slight itself and the Prime Minister needs to earn her title now more than ever. To the members of the COP their party is still a party in its own right and deserves respect if nothing else.

Surely she (Kamla) herself is politically astute enough to know that any blowback from here damages her more than anyone else, and she should be the one to insist, if only because it is the decent thing to do, that the squeaky wheel should get the grease. His high handed poaching without consultation of a coalition partner party's member reeks of a dictatorial arrogance that we were assured we were voting out when we voted Patos and his cabal out and I strongly suggest, if only for the stink that this whole fiasco has caused and the threat to the stability of the government, Roodal Moonilal should be fired from the Cabinet immediately.

Rumors, Rumors... (What now Prakash?)

Even though Mark Twain was able to say with some degree of smug satisfaction that the rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated, at some point down the road he did eventually die, making the rumor not so much an inaccurate or even mischievous report but at worst a premature or mistimed bit of news. Similarly, the rumor that gripped the country on Wednesday of the firing of Political Leader of the Congress of the People Prakash Ramadhar from the Cabinet, while being dismissed as wholly false and unfounded, may yet prove to eventually be true. The fact of the matter is the moment he threatened to vote conscience over the Partnership line he set a series of responses in motion that were always going to force a resolution, and I sincerely believe that yesterday's rumor was deliberately spread to both gauge the electorate's response to the eventuality of his political demise and to send a warning to any others who may still be chafing under the political whip; toe the line or leave.

Not even a week since the COP's leadership announced that they were going to continue Marlene-Gate as a tantrum that the Prime Minister demonstrated decisively that she has had enough of it. Cleverly handled from the start, she outfoxed and outplayed the COP leadership at every turn and left them standing in the end with even less power than when they embarked on this foolish crusade. Now the members of the Congress of the People have to be asking themselves what could possibly be the point of remaining members of a party that has so clearly lost its way?

Warned from the start that he was waging a war that he could not win, he  barreled on ignoring good advice and making promises that he had to have known he could not keep. So what now? Now that the campaign launched on righteousness and strong language has ended with a whimper, where does he and the rest of his leadership turn to for political authority? The facts as they exist in reality cannot be denied, and while he can be applauded in some quarters for having the fortitude and gumption to embark upon the campaign in the first place, now that it is over and all the chips are lost, it is he and he alone to pay for his decisions. The Congress of the People could NOT have afforded another blow, especially one this devastating and straight to the body. Now even members who were willing to stick around to the bitter end must be questioning their loyalty when contrasted with their own hopes and political aspirations.

Westminster is tradition more than anything else and the convention in these circumstances demands that the political leader, for bringing shame and ridicule upon the party, resigns or be removed from Office. Had he the courage of his convictions when challenged to either walk or shut up he had walked, this article would have been written of him in glowing terms just for being more than just talk. By being the one to blink first he lost whatever political capital he had left and in failing to walk when read the riot act he sealed his own political fate.

Now the thing is at an end and I strongly suggest that he digs deep in the hope of finding enough character to resign both as Minister and as political leader and make way for those who are truly able to carry the fight. His role was always to bring youthful enthusiasm back to the party, to visit all forty one constituencies carrying a message of hope and establishing the Congress of the People as a viable alternative for when the election bell is next rung. He was supposed to carry the torch of 'new politics,' to stand in the gap for the weak and the dispossessed and keep the government honest, not fight down political posts and patronage for friends and supporters. His failure here is one of both political immaturity and an umbrage built on a successful career in a totally different field. Here the rules of engagement are different, and all appeals goes directly to the people's perception as no one follows a weak leader. Out of compassion for what is left I hope he finds the grace to leave while the decision is still his to make.

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.