WAYNE KUBLALSINGH
ENTRENCHED political classes hardly ever willingly give up power, share power. And within those classes, likewise, entrenched political parties, entrenched boards and executives, entrenched leaders. They hold on to power, win, lose or draw. It is the gambler’s addiction. Even against the odds, the numbers, poor or addicted gamblers still hunger for the Russian roulette, the black jack, the fruit slot machine. To the detriment of their group, themselves, the common good.
Look to the Caribbean and Latin American plantation system imported from Europe in the 16th century. The plantation was not born in the Western Hemisphere. It was born out of feudalism. Millions of serfs, slaves, vassals, in Russia, Western Europe, serving dukes, barons, lords; hoeing and toting corn to the mills. It took over 1,500 years to be reduced and wither.
Look to our plantation constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. It was written by jurists trained in British history, Latin, jurisprudence and law. It is a stingy, unsharing command and control document. It defines the role of the instruments of control, order, jail for you. The Prime Minister, the police, the judiciary, the service commissions, the Elections and Boundaries Commission, etc. It anoints them with legitimacy, formal authority; or to put it picturesquely, gold dust.
Now look carefully. Where does it define the roles, the responsibilities of the ordinary Trinidadian and Tobagonian? It defines a series of specific and broad rights. Other than this, their presence is invisible. A diss to them. Where do they get to share, employ power? Participate in the process of governance, nation-building, development? With their tails between their legs. Voting once every five years. And in the intervening years, well, protest, activism, jail for you, and complaint on our talk shows!
Look to the long-promised local government reform plan. Where are the ordinary citizens in the polling divisions? It is stinginess itself. It is run by the customary bureaucrats, technocrats, officers from the entrenched political parties. It is through them that your potential property tax dollars will be filtered, through the net of salaries, ill-founded projects; and, hopefully not, collusion and bribery.
Rushton Paray’s recent action – fundamentally, he thinks that it is improper to use the current UNC national executive to screen people for the national elections, due in August 2025 or within 90 days thereafter, on the brink of elections for a new executive in June – is symptomatic of slippage within the ranks of the party. And this slippage might augur well for the party.
What appears to be a deft move to make dead sure that the Opposition Leader and a preferred group continue the party leadership has precipitated a promising move for change. Stinginess again; by the entrenched. The UNC is in dire need of reforms. It needs a strong ethical hand to train its executive and membership for the demands of political power.
Those who stick to the skirts of the political leader will
