An Attack of Denial....

An epic awakening of disastrous proportions seems to be barreling down the tracks like a bullet train in a tunnel directly at Ashworth Jack and his Tobago Organization of the People, with a countdown to a scheduled collision at the Tobago House of Assembly election on Monday January 21st. Even people who could not pick Tobago out on a map seem to know that the TOP are going to lose very badly in that election, and for many who do not understand why they are going to be so soundly beaten the results may be far too graphic to watch. What is sad though, is that, for the most part that party (the Tobago Organization of the People) seem to genuinely have Tobago's interest at heart and may even have been a refreshing change if nothing other than for change sake. Hoping for a 'pull along' success at the polls by throwing their lot in with the ruling party, the TOP may have gambled badly and could well suffer from a 'push away' instead based on the same association. Now with any chance of ever seeing Government fading fast the members of that party (TOP) need to be asking themselves some very searching questions if they want to survive, chief among these being where should they go from here.

That 'pull along' factor only works when the incumbent is well liked, but like the abuser  in a violent relationship Kamla's presence on the campaign trail complete with flowers and candy is doing nothing to mask the scars and the fractures between the government and the governed and her presence might actually be working for the PNM, not against. “We will give you internal self government, land titles, more money, you will make your own laws...” all seem to fall flat with the onlookers and I wonder, do these people really think that Tobagonians are not aware of what has taken place in Trinidad since May 2010?  Who do they think they hold responsible for the string of broken promises, the still unanswered state of emergency, the questionable detention of persons with no regard for due process or the madness that was Section 34? Do they think that the racist fiasco played out on the Divali Nagar stage was not seen or understood in Tobago?

With none of their proven 'bribe and buy' techniques working, the desperation on the faces and in the voices of the Partnership's side is disturbing to watch or listen to.

The fact of the matter is  that Kamla and her government are widely regarded as untrustworthy, deceitful, duplicitous, agenda driven and dishonest and, as far as the TOP are concerned, that may be the most damning thing of all. I remember saying of Patrick Manning three weeks before the 2010 election that if the PNM wanted to remain in power he had to step down. His power mad arrogance kept him from seeing the truth in my words of course, but had he stepped back and allowed Dr. Keith Rowley to lead the party, the People's National Movement would have won seats all in Antigua and Grenada, so sure were the people that they did not want the UNC but would settle for it over a Manning led PNM. Now the TOP and Ashworth face the opposite situation, and may need reminding that in politics he who hesitates is truly lost.

The ONLY way Ashworth Jack and the TOP will have any chance at all in this election is if they cut their losses and leave the People's Partnership.

They need to 're-negotiate' their deal with the devil, pay back their pound of flesh, and leave. If they do not then (ironically) the TOP would be almost single-handedly responsible for putting the PNM back in control of the THA. The hard part of all of this is that none of the licks that the TOP is about to get they actually deserve but the people of this country seems excitedly eager to register a defeat against the UNC and cannot wait; They want to send a message to Kamla and crew and don't seem to care if they have to go through TOP to do it.