Tarouba Politics

It is slightly embarrassing to travel into work in London and see the headline “Lara stadium not ready” in the English newspapers. It is even more annoying when one considers that the stadium was not required for the cricket World Cup warm up matches as they are at least two existing sites that are more than capable of hosting the four pre-tournament matches. The government created the fanfare about the stadium being a state of the art project that was required for warm up matches for the World Cup despite the correct protests from all quarters, given the costs of $850 million and the aforementioned fact that other grounds exist to facilitate this requirement.

In light of these facts, I have not read about anyone accepting the responsibility for this billion-dollar farce, but then this should be expected from a project that follows the age old practice of a whimsical decision that is unchallenged, unjustified and steeped in the usual lack of transparency.

The reasons outlined for the stadium have yet to be substantiated to the public. Consider first that the home of local cricket, the Queens Park Oval, has rightfully been chosen as the host of the T&T based World Cup matches: No reason for a new stadium. Then the Prime Minister sought further inane validation by the now infamous remark that the stadium will be used, in times of emergency such as a tsunami, as a shelter for the public. Given the location in Tarouba and the fact that our government cannot even efficiently clear Port of Spain when a potential hurricane approaches, how do they plan to enact the necessary logistics to move people from anywhere to Tarouba? Further gems from Mr. Manning include his comment in August 2005 that his stadium could act as secondary venue should a neighbouring isle not complete their own stadium. Well the International Cricket Council (ICC) has now completed their surveys and it is only one nation that has a stadium that is not ready, T&T. However, it does not matter because that stadium is not hosting any World Cup games anyway!

According to the rhetoric, the Tarouba stadium is meant to enhance our future sporting generations with this state of the art facility. However, in the continuing tradition of spending without thought, the only foundations that will be laid for sporting enhancement are those erected in the soil of Tarouba. The real foundations for enhancing our natural sporting potential lay in investment in our athletes, sports medicine, sports psychology, academies, cohesive coaching programmes and enabling our athletes to compete against the best in the world on a year round basis and not just at major Games. Bricks and mortar never produced world-beaters but we have enough sporting facilities littered around the islands that could be refurbished for a mere fraction of the cost of ‘Lara’. Of course, in the haste to use the Caribbean’s hosting of the World Cup as an excuse for this construction, none of these simple factors were considered.

Since Mr. Manning championed the ‘Lara’ stadium, the responsibility for this billion-dollar debacle lies with him. He has even allocated the name of the world’s greatest batsman to this white elephant, the same name that appears in the international press.

I trust that there will be some tough questioning to the government regarding this matter because $850 million can train/recruit a lot of police, buy more police cars, create running water, fix the roads, improve public healthcare and most importantly put teachers into our classrooms. But I fear that will not be the case when ineffective blimps are grounded, billion dollar rail proposals are shrouded in secrecy and a Transport Minister can insult the intelligence of the nation when questioned about jet purchases. It seems that a new one-sided Constitution is not needed for a dictator to emerge.

Mr. Manning’s ego will be his own undoing but my fervent hope is that those with ambitions of holding his office posses the logic required to not repeat this madness, as well as the intelligence to get the basics right as we move forward and the sincerity to stop ‘mamaguying’ the public by practicing transparency. This is what is required; these are the indicators that we need to look for with an election on the horizon.

Our level of acceptance in this nation is astonishing; it creates the lack of accountability as well as our leaders’ thought process that they can waste our money when it is so badly needed elsewhere. The ‘Lara’ stadium is already halfway completed (we think) but there should be a lesson learnt from this financial fiasco that we demand transparency and public opinion for future projects such as the rail project and the smelter(s). Do not complain at the level of wastage if your protests are not directed where it counts.

Sheldon Waithe