The Mouse that Roared... (TOP-less in Tobago)

What is it they say about the well laid plans of mice and men? Well if the voice of the people is truly the voice of God then clearly God was in a shouting mood on Monday. No one, not me nor any other serious political analyst worth his or her salt would have dared contemplated a defeat so devastating, an upset so catastrophic that nothing of value from the other side would have been left standing, but make no mistake, that is exactly what took place. For the Tobago Organization of the People, Monday was a disaster of Biblical proportions, of fire, brimstone and pestilence all rolled into one, a loss so unimaginable even words such as epic and unprecedented strain to convey the sheer magnitude of the humiliation and one wonders, could there even be a TOP after this? It would be extremely difficult to envision a scenario that sees the TOP surviving, and if (as some surmise) the Prime Minister throws one or two of them a bone by way of State Board or even Senatorial appointments (so as not to lose another Partnership partner) it would still eventually be for nought and the sad part is they all already know it.

No, for all intents and purposes the TOP is dead, and, after the administration of proper burial rights what the jury needs to deliberate is who is responsible for killing it. Yes the people drove nail by nail into its coffin one red stained finger at a time, kicked the body to the ground and spat on the corpse, but they were not acting alone, they were agents, acting on the prompting of others, but who?  Who killed the TOP? The PNM will claim victory of course, and gladly reap the spoils, but even they know that this was not of their doing. No, in the final analysis it was the United National Congress that killed the TOP and they need to be given all the credit for it, and they need to accept it - The obscene and dehumanizing campaign that tried to paint proud Tobagonians as 'pipers' looking for a hit, the nonsensical and sometimes foolish drivel spoken ad nauseam by a Prime Minister well past her 'campaign by' date, the obscene and tiring Jack Warner/Anil Roberts double shot of indecency, the 'bussing' of marks and the telling of blatant lies all gave Tobagonians a first hand look at what Trinidad was dealing with and they rejected it with an almost prejudiced precision.

Now all that are left are lessons for the government, lessons such as do not dare call a Local Government Election anytime soon or be prepared to be soundly beaten, again; that ANY seat surrendered to a by-election will be lost, so no Presidency for the COP and Dooks; that the people are still angry over the attempted 'sleight of hand' that was the Reshmi Ramnarine appointment and that no one was held responsible or fired for, not even the Legal Affairs Minister who championed her cause in the Parliament only to apologize for deceiving the nation after; angry over the Section 34 fiasco, that indelible stain on our legislature for which we are yet to get a proper accounting; angry over Ish and Steve and the fact that this entire Government are seen as having conspired to pervert the course of justice to set them free; angry over an ignoble state of emergency based on reasons that turned out to be nothing but a pack of contradictory lies; angry that fellow countrymen were robbed of their rights and imprisoned without process; and angry at having to deal with a government seemingly gone rogue and capable of anything, of India trips for friends and cell phone bills for lovers, of National Security Ministers threatening media workers for doing their jobs. The people of this country are angry with a government that is proving increasingly impossible to trust, of being trapped between a rock, a hard place, the devil and the whole damn deep blue sea.

On Monday the people of Tobago were given an opportunity to send a message and they took it. And what a message it was....