No Time to Celebrate for new Gov't

It is great that the people of T&T have demonstrated that democracy is truly alive by letting their vote show that there was a limit to the levels of tolerance that the nation could endure under a delusional, dictatorial and frankly inept government.

Now as the country looks to the new coalition to change the trajectory of the society, it is important to look for the signs than can enable that change, rather than breathe a collective sigh of relief in the hope that the coalition replacing the old regime is enough. We have to recognise that corruption, lack of transparency and accountability, inaction and even race have long been part of our political culture and will have left its residue within the walls of the Red House. The People’s Partnership is after all a hastily put together alliance made up of differing views, with elements of previous regimes that helped create the major problems with our governance. In short, there is no time for celebration when what is required is a unified vision with united policies, that will alleviate the splitting of the party after the honeymoon period is ended and reality takes hold – something that is very possible when many fragments make up the whole. The fervent hope has to be PM Bissesar is strong willed enough to set a precedent that will cast aside the politics of ego; as a nation we have to hope that this government has the courage to radically change the course set by the past by not focusing on it and instead taking a clean slate for the future. The campaign practice of party bashing to the detriment of policy outline has to be put to rest, with clear statements of intent to assure the electorate that they have indeed voted for radical change, not change for change’s sake.

The political blinkers have to be removed with encouragement to the people to be involved in the political process throughout the five year term and not just at the end of it. T&T needs a culture shift to remove the public helplessness that allowed previous regimes to squander and ignore and it now needs this government to enact the constitutional reform to ensure that there is confidence in our political process. The separation of powers, fixed term government, right to recall and referendums are but some of the mechanics to be put into place so that it becomes a case of protection for the people, not protection of the government.

The political involvement did not end on May 24^th, it began on May 25^th. We have to remain involved, seeking the checks and balances from our new government, showing support as they take on the hard task of repair, but also maintaining the reason that we voted them into leadership (given our political past we should perhaps refrain from using the word ‘power’). The reasons are that we want the basic tenets for a society; with this in mind our new government must swiftly address the scourge of murder and crime as its first priority, for nothing else matters if one does not have life.

The fear is that the coalition will succumb to the inevitable split born of the ‘too many man rat in one hole’ scenario and their effect in government is limited. The hope is that the culture of our governance will fundamentally change from the top, with the courage to fulfil its convictions. In that endeavour we have to wish PM Bissesar the very best, along with the strength and courage for the task ahead and the vision born of the potential of all that a stifled Trinidad & Tobago can be.

Sheldon Waithe

Vote with Intelligence

We are constantly aware that each election is considered a cross roads for Trinidad and Tobago for the simple reason that successive governments fail to bring meaningful changes to the basic issues that continue to stifle this nation. Now we are faced with the bonus of a surprisingly early return to the polls with the opportunity to rectify the mistakes of the past 48 years and take a step towards meaningful change. That we have had a general election thrust upon us itself speaks volumes about the current situation and the despair that Patrick Manning is feeling– from the revelations about the PNM’s very questionable activities, the growing disillusion with a dictatorial Prime Minister who’s vision is clouded by his own delusion, the possibility that the money in the Treasury has dried up as a result of ridiculous wastage in the name of ego and the daily murder statistic that leaves the nation an uncivil society.

There is the opinion that this latest election is part of a move by Manning to also stall any progress that the Opposition forces are making; Manning can no longer rely on the divisive nature of the UNC while the Sunway revelations highlight the growing will of the COP. The Prime Minister may see himself as the most political savvy of the nation’s politicians - playing yet another game with the electorate - but this is one game too far; ask yourself why he would rather go to the polls at a time where the PNM is held in such low esteem rather than face the music from the revelations that have put the Govt in that self-same low esteem position?

The next few weeks will comprise the age-old practices of mud-slinging, idle boasts about empty achievements and the usual promises to gain your vote. We have to challenge ourselves to see past the bacchanal performances on the political platform and look for the policies, the intention of the parties to resolve crime, corruption, the economy, the health system, to provide the basic amenities and to ensure that transparency and responsibility are no longer factors that our civil servants continue to dismiss. We have to challenge ourselves to think differently with our vote if we are to have any hope of forcing our politicians to act differently when in power. We have to look past the sheer idiocy of voting on race, on gender, religion or social background and look deep within ourselves to realise that none of this makes one iota of difference, after all, in successive regimes all races and genders continue to suffer. We all belong to this beautiful and blessed soil and have to start looking to what unites us rather than be so quick to look at our differences. We all have a role to play in each other’s life as we attempt to put this nation on the trajectory to realising its true potential. We are faced with claims that we have surpassed our potential because of the ability to host world leaders but anyone can clean the home for visitors, it is the daily living that counts.

Look to your recent history. We have to be willing to accept that we have been duped but also be filled with the hope that there are real, meaningful changes afoot in our political arena and this is the time to take a step towards a new option, because the old regimes will only continue to fail us.

And they have failed us miserably. A nation blessed with all the resources in the world to lay the foundation for its relatively small population to enjoy the basic needs of existence has instead succumbed to taking the cosmetic route, constructing unwarranted buildings while the ailing health system remains a symbol of failure to care for the population. The thought process that a giant and costly flag somehow makes things better shows the mindset of the government; worse, those responsible for such a debacle remain in their positions of power in complete disregard to public opinion that asks who pays $2 million for a pole and a piece of cloth while our people drink water from drains? The electorate have to ask why is it that in almost 50 years of independence we have no political will to provide water to all in a nation surrounded by sea with a heavy rainfall season, the answer is incompetence and mismanagement with a lack of priorities. It is laughable that the Government jumps on the environment bandwagon when visiting leaders make the topic fashionable, yet they construct brand new buildings without exploring powering them with alternative uses of energy. They lack the planning to heed basic Geography lessons, so that we erode the landscape then claim that annual flooding is beyond our control. The basics have to be the focus. Until a party presents itself as being able to think outside the traditional T&T political arena we will be left with the same old khaki pants in the Red House.

If T&T is to have meaningful change politicians have to declare not just the intention to rectify the problems of the island but a logical explanation as to how those problems will be solved. It will require a mammoth exercise in terms of research but better to do it before an election rather than scratch your heads while in power. As an example, the scourge of crime would logically be targeted by a wide reaching cohesive plan to engage social and education forces with strong investment, plans to split our jails for minor and major offences, plans to separate our police from the Police Complaints Authority (police investigating themselves is laughable), plans to invest seriously in sport and the arts so that our youth are given alternatives to crime and plans to ably monitor and equip our police with training and technology (a nation wide CCTV network) in line with the boast of 2020 instead of an officer taking notes on paper like 1920. There has to be a stated goal of murder reduction through these plans with realistic aims that it will take time but also show that the implementation will reduce the loss of life for instance by 20% in the first year, 50% in the second etc. In all that these parties claim to be able to provide we must demand checkpoints so that we know they are serious with these claims and we can hold them accountable at said time. The nation requires no less.

Those that seek to govern us have to show that they are also willing to empower us, give us back the notion that they are our workers, spending our money. Those that seek to govern need to tell us on the campaign trail that they are willing to implement the idea of a recall for underperforming MPs; that they are willing to implement set election dates so we are no longer subjected to the infamy of thrice postponed local elections or the taunting that a general election date is in someone’s back pocket. Taunting is for the school yard, our politicians need to grow up. We need to see the intention to separate powers of the State rather than seek absolute reign via a changed Constitution. There has to be intention that only elected officials can hold posts in Ministries so that relation/nepotism is not the qualification for heading vital Offices and it is the people’s choice that matters. In short T&T, we have to delve deeper than the rum, roti, t-shirt and free fete campaigns to look at the intention to change the mechanics of our governance. We have to confront every promise with “How? What? Why? When?” New politics does not begin with any of those parties seeking power; it begins with the electorate and their level of acceptance.

Finally, we have to vote. People complain daily about the state of the nation yet we are faced with the sad statistic that 35,000 people do not exercise their right to a voice in what affects every facet of their life; they do not exercise a right for which people in other nations die. Quite simply, if you do not vote, then you accept that you are not deserving of better.

This is not a utopian rant; no country will ever achieve perfection, but despite the inevitable die-hards claiming that the nation is fit to call itself a civil society under the present regime, the avoidance of the issues, the despair of the sick and impoverished, the erosion of our land, our people and civil liberties, together with the inability to provide a secure environment all points to the need of a different approach with our vote. By all means vote for your choice but make best use of that vital right and if you do not like what you hear on podiums promising paradise, make your voice heard. It is time to be fed up with divisive politics – lambasting the opposing parties is looking to the past, I want a party that elevates itself away from the race-based politics and lets its policies do the talking. For the sake of T&T fulfilling even an iota of its true potential and ensuring a basic standard of living for all, so should you.

Sheldon Waithe

Dear Ruth

Dear Ruth,

I have been with my man Peter Noel Melville for donkeys years, but to say that things aren’t entirely working out between us is a gross understatement. Things with Peter and I haven’t really been rosy for some time now, but you know how we Trini women like to stand by our men through thick and thin and give them the benefit of the doubt. However, over the last eighteen months or so, things have really come to a boil, and I have now reached the stage where I don’t think I can deal with this any more. Now don’t get me wrong Ruth, because Peter is not a violent man by any stretch. Despite what people say about his controlling nature, I still have the freedom to say what I want, and believe me I does pelt some good cuss in his ass when I’m ready. But what Peter doesn’t do to me physically, he more than makes up for with mental and emotional torment. Honestly Ruth, this man wasn’t always so, but over the years he started liming with a certain crew, and is now almost unrecognisable from the smart, young, dashing man that I fell in love with all those years ago.

Peter had a partner Calder, who came down from Canada and was staying by us for a little while. No word of a lie Ruth, as soon as Calder came into my house, money started going missing. I bit my tongue in the beginning because to be fair, Peter had Calder doing some work fixing up the house, and with Christmas coming and all, I was glad for the little help to make the place look nice. However, when I told Peter what was happening after Christmas, he simply didn’t believe me. Imagine, my own man, after all these years, thinking that I am a liar. Peter had a really good friend called Keith who lives in Diego Martin; the two of them practically grew up together. One day Keith pulled Peter square and told him that Calder was stealing from him too. Peter ketch a vaps one time and started accusing Keith of liking too much bacchanal and wajang thing. To this day, Keith and Peter still don’t speak to each other because of that scene.

But as God would have it Ruth, last week Peter came home from work to see Calder rummaging through the chest-of-drawers in the master bedroom. Ruth girl, is a long time I haven’t seen Peter that angry. He grab up Calder and told him to get the so and so out of his so and so house before he so and so damage him. Girl, I was real scared for Calder yes. But he didn’t say a word; he just packed up his things and left quietly- I heard that he has since gone back to Canada. You wouldn’t believe that after Calder left, Peter’s sister Emily had the temerity to come in front of my gate and tell me that I should be ashamed of the way I treated Calder. My children had to hold me back yes girl...

But it’s not just the whole episode with Calder and Emily that leaves me feeling frustrated Ruth; I just don’t know where Peter’s priorities lie anymore. Sometime last year I came home from work to find that Peter had spruced up the entire front garden; he had cut the lawn, pruned the trees and painted the driveway. I asked Peter what was going on and he told me that he had some friends coming down from foreign, and that he was making the place look presentable for them. Ruth, when I asked Peter if in this guava season we could really afford the expense of having so many people over at once; with the costs involved in showing them a good time, feeding and lodging them, he told me to mind my own business. Some of his friends came from as far away as Africa and Asia, and by all accounts, they had a really good time. But it hurt me like hell to know that as Peter was renting out cars by Kalloos and paying for his partners to have dinner in the Hyatt, we barely had enough water in the house for the children to brush their teeth. Ruth, you feel this man right here.

I mean, all the showing off to the outside world and yet when it rains, those children and I have to be shovelling water out of the living room. I can just imagine how the neighbours laugh and snigger behind their curtains as they look at us. But Peter no longer seems to care. The other day he got a pain in one of his kidneys and we didn’t even have aspirin in the house Ruth...aspirin!!! Peter ended up having to go and beg some from the Cuban fella up the road. Now, I have been inside that Cuban fella’s house on two occasions and you could really see that they ketching they nennen. Imagine that we now having to beg from them! People could say what they want about Raul- about how he does beat his wife and thing, but when it comes to the health of his kids, the man never skylarks. However, while all our children have Blackberries and Iphones, God help them if they should catch so much as a cold!

I think that you may have guessed it by now Ruth because it is often the case in these things- There is somebody else who has caught my eye. It didn’t just happen overnight, but he has been paying me attention [at least it feels that way] while Peter has repeatedly taken me for granted. Truth be told Ruth, I did in fact leave Peter for him quite a while back but things ended up turning sour and I went back to Peter. But now this guy’s back and wants me to leave Peter for good. He says that he’s changed but hasn’t really said how he plans to look after my children and me. Ruth, I really do not know what to do now. I will tell you more about him when I write next week. His name? Umar Nigel Chalsingh...

Fed up but confused...

post by the prophet...

No saviour for T&T, just poor leadership and acceptance

In the wake of last week’s inauguration, the world’s media is awash with the hope born of a world power displaying the maturity to choose, from the campaign trail, the person that appeared the best candidate for the job of President. The world’s populace now anticipate that this maturity will spread to other nations. Of course, given the deplorable state of leadership in T&T, commentaries point to hopes for our nation of an Obama-type leader to emerge and magically rectify matters. This is the result of frustration and despair with what passes as leadership and cannot be scoffed at when there is no true progress regardless of how many buildings we construct or how many international conferences we host.

If we recall that matters became so dire under the previous regime in the US to allow the clarity that led to maturity at the polls, it would certainly appear that T&T, with serious issues in every aspect of its society, bears a mirror image to the American situation. In fact, considering our current circumstances, with for example, the simple fact that nationals cannot enjoy the basic tenet of a secure environment, then we surpass the US situation. Regardless of whether history records the Obama presidency as a success or failure and long after the references to his ethnicity subsides, the step has been taken to choose based upon the character content that has been portrayed along with the clear structure of plans to resolve the nation’s problems. Loathe as I am to encourage mimicry other countries, the best example that we can take from last week’s events is that we stop accepting what passes for leadership in T&T and become a country that moves beyond tribal lines for the sake of our evolution.

We may call for a saviour yet we do not recognise that our astonishing lack of tolerance is what creates the wide parameters of misrule for our government and opposition. Our acceptance and shrugging of shoulders that T&T is just the way it is, shapes our leaders actions and allows them to get away with the nonchalance they display towards the public.

We have become a society based on the aesthetic instead of the mechanic – those fundamentals that form and drive the society that we know T&T has the potential evolve into. We speak of escalating crime rates but hardly baulk at the fact that we all recognize, despite the best efforts of Acting Comm. Philbert, that our Police Force cannot develop into the unit required to dent our horrendous felony rate while their infrastructure keeps our crime fighting techniques in the 1960s. We ‘steupse’ about the ineffectual blimp while reading of the daily crime statistics that erode our own people while a Prime Minister barely utters a word regarding the situation. We believe the tripe of being a rainbow country when true unity would mean proper outrage at the deaths and abduction of our own people.

We are a nation immersed in the gimmick and not the specific – plans for grandiose projects litter the governments agendas while they literally erode the landscape without accountability and cause the same disasters that these Government departments are meant to prevent. We leave matters in the hands of political parties whose approach to critical issues is an endless circle of infantile banter in Parliament yet they attempt to distinguish themselves with the title ‘Honourable’. That self same political landscape has left parties a mirror image of each other so that the major discerning factor is ethnicity. We let our money be thrown into wasteful pits to satisfy egos and then do not demand accountability or even the details as to the amounts spent. What a generous people we are! We up the ante of our complaints in the quiet aftermath of Carnival, then allow ourselves to be distracted by whatever the puppet masters throw into the limelight while crucial documents such as a new constitution that determines our governance sneak through the door. We speak of gangs creating the bulk of our crime then employ their members for voter loyalty rather than rehabilitate them through proper cohesion with our struggling yet commendable NGOs. We pursue the ultimate gimmick of Vision 2020, which is so laughable when we all but eradicate our food self-sufficiency because energy resources are deemed the sole priority. Yet, I write this because the action/inaction is common knowledge to the populace.

We have failed to be honest with ourselves that whatever successes we have achieved are mainly in spite of our various guises of government and not because of it. Our economic prosperity has always been determined by world market forces rather than our own endeavour; yet our current PM in the year 2008, truly expected us to swallow his ego-maniacal statement that we were immune to a global economic crisis. The heads of the main parties believe that the term 'leader' means that power must be absolute, when a true leader of men should be a unifier, getting the best people suited to relevant roles to work together for the common good, with the checks and balances derived from a sound system of accountability. While our people have their lives brutally snuffed out, these so called leaders cannot even bring themselves to unite around a table to attempt tackling the runaway crime issue.

The old analogy "build it and they will come" lends itself to theory that if those that we elect begin laying meaningful foundations then we will be on our way towards formulating a sound and civil society through the knock on effects of a purposeful environment. However currently there is nothing to suggest that any decisions for our nation are anything other than whimsical and if they posses a purpose then we the population are not deemed worthy of that revelation. As such, this is part and parcel of the disrespect with which our elected leaders treat us in the grab for power (we only matter every 5 years).

So T&T, are you ready to grow up as a society or continue the life of constant complaint? Do you remain in the divide nurtured by the leaders and practised by ourselves and not realise that what affects one portion of our society eventually affects us all? Are you going to remain envious of the scenes of US unification last week, by a nation steeped in divide since a civil war, or are you going realise that you are the catalyst that can bring our own form of change to our unique and wonderful nation? Continue the acceptance and we continue to regress, become tolerant and our society’s maturity will grow; it will grow towards your neighbour, boss, employee, child and student. We have to demand purpose in what our leaders do with our lives and we have to begin last week because we are that far gone and by the time you read this another one of your countrymen will have lost their lives. We have to see key realistic indicators in the plans proposed by leaders and simply stop accepting the lack of transparency. And guess what, there is no saviour to resolve T&T. Obama is not the saviour of the US but he is a forward thinking individual that outlined his plans and backed it up with purpose, surrounding himself with the best people suited to the roles they have been given.

The same system that led to the change witnessed last week, also allowed previous years where an unsuitable leader was at the helm, proving that both extremes can make it into leadership; we are now burdened with this regime for at least another 3 years, it’s what we accept while they are governing us that now matters.

Sheldon Waithe

The Audacity of Hope

It is often said that the reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep in order to believe it. And so it was that as Barack Hussein Obama, son of a black Kenyan father and white American mother, stood on the podium in Chicago having just won the elected vote to be the 44^th President of the United States of America, I found that I was indeed pinching myself to ensure that I wasn’t still in a state of reverie. Forty-five years ago, Martin Luther King Jr stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and gave what is regarded by many as one of the greatest speeches of all time. He dreamt of an America that would one day honour the true meaning of the creed “all men are created equal.” He dreamt of an America whereby the sons of slaves and the sons of slave owners could sit at the table of brotherhood. He dreamt of an America whereby his children would be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. He dreamt of one day black boys and girls holding hands with white boys and girls and walking together as brothers and sisters; even in the darkest and deepest racial corners of American society…He was some dreamer that Martin Luther.

Modern-day America isn’t quite yet King’s utopia and one only has to look at the disproportionate numbers of black men languishing in American jails, or better still, examine the US Government’s response (read: lack of) in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to accept this. By the same token however, modern-day America is also almost unrecognisable from the dire place of extreme racial prejudice, segregation and mass civil unrest and disobedience that it had been on that April morning four and a half decades ago. For some blacks however, Barack Obama will forever remain an exception to an otherwise hard and unbending rule. They will state that had he been just another very good black candidate, he wouldn’t have even beaten Hillary Clinton much less clinched the presidential nomination. And so justifiably, they will argue that for black people to succeed and/or gain recognition in traditional white domains, they have to be so exceptionally talented that even the most fervent of racists would be hard-pressed to deny them their rightful accolades. This remains true for now, but I say to them this: Be patient, for Rome wasn’t built in a day! For others still, Barack Obama isn’t black enough. They say that he is as white as he is black. They also say that he was raised and nurtured by his white mother and by his white extended family. I say to them this: Look at the reaction to the Obama victory on the African continent. Many of those Africans dancing on the streets of Nairobi are, to borrow that well-known American phrase, “blacker than a motherfucker!’’ If Barack Obama is black enough for them, then he is black enough for me too!

Obama’s nomination takes us far forward and on towards the culmination of that long march to freedom. His nomination washes away the notion held by many blacks that we can progress only so far and no more. His nomination rubbishes the flawed ideology that poor, black kids from impoverished neighbourhoods growing up in single parenthood are doomed to failure. No longer is the hope of social escapism solely enshrined in becoming the next Tiger Woods or the next 50cent. Some called Obama a terrorist-associating, turban-wearing, hate- sermon loving, non-American. Others still, referred to him as a drug taking, flip-flopping, illegal aunt-having, inexperienced upstart. And that was from those on his own side! In the end it mattered not, because cometh the hour, cometh the man! 

Here in the United Kingdom, we like to pat ourselves on our collective backs and talk about how racially diverse and tolerant we all are. Progress has indeed been made on this side of the Atlantic too but please don’t confuse Aleysha Dixon winning Strictly Come Dancing with genuine racial progress. Have a long hard look within the corridors of influence and power in this country and you will see many a black face. However, they will more likely than not be the ones cooking the food in the canteen, cleaning the office or toiling in the mailroom. I ask myself, where are our Condaleeza Rices, where are our General Colin Powells, where are our Denzil Washingtons, where indeed are our Senator Barack Obamas? It is then that I remind myself that the racial dynamics of the two societies aren’t, if you pardon the pun, so black and white. Black history in America is entrenched in an entire legacy of slavery and spans 400 plus years. For the most part, Black history in Britain can only be traced back to Tantie Merle, dressed to kill in her Sunday best, stepping off the Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948. It seems that London, much like Rome, wasn’t built in a day either.

The presidency of Barack Obama will mean many things to many people and in the end, history alone will be the final arbiter as to whether this was indeed such a landmark achievement. Until then however, we too can have the audacity of Obama’s hope and the dreams of Martin Luther King. We too can dream of a world where the rule of international law applies the same on Capitol Hill as it does in Kigali. We too can dream of a world where the rich and powerful are not always allowed to ride roughshod over the poor and downtrodden. We too can dream of a world whereby those held in detention at least know what crimes they have committed. We too can dream of a world whereby wars are not fought on the basis of lies and whim. We can but dream…

prophet

Dearest Patrick

Dearest Patrick,

I hope that this finds you well, though I must admit that I am very upset by what I have been hearing. The ancient Greek playwright Euripides once opined that ‘‘those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad” so only time will tell whether this latest incident does indeed mark the beginning of the end for you. But surely Patrick, even you must admit that the antics of a democratically elected Prime Minister complete with an entire cavalcade of motorcycle outriders and protective detail, storming or otherwise, into a radio station to complain about an apparently errant broadcast, speak of a man seemingly starting to misplace his marbles. The jesters among us joke that this is the fastest that they have seen you move in some time; with some even suggesting that you should give Usain Bolt a run for his money in 2012.

But this is no laughing matter Patrick, and what is even more perplexing is the fact that you cannot seem to grasp that what you did was wrong; not illegal in any way, but just plain wrong. You are not Mano Manolal from LP#45, Swamp Trace, Caroni. You cannot stumble out of Smokey and Bunty’s at five in the morning and then vomit on the pavement, nor can you be seen to be ‘doing the donkey’ at Flour Mills fete with some scantily clad female wining in your face- what is good enough for the pastor’s daughter isn’t necessarily good enough for you. You are Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the second largest English speaking entity in the region and a major regional player! Is it really too much to ask that you conduct yourself with a standard of decorum befitting your status? Patrick, I know that this Prime Minister thing isn’t all that it’s cranked up to be, and must indeed get a bit difficult and lonely sometimes; especially with you and Keith not pulling so good these days and Martin not really pulling his weight . You don’t have to tell me Patrick, I know– they reel you in with the talk of the big house, the big car, the big motorcade, the endless travel etc. They never mention anything about leadership, hard-work, constant criticism- alas, not even one word about good governance. It’s only when they have you hooked- line and sinker, that they throw in all that bullshit and expect you to be able to deal with it. 

Don’t get me wrong Patrick because I will be one of the first to agree that the general standard of journalism in our country leaves a lot to be desired. Just yesterday I was listening to 96.1FM online and was dismayed by the utter garbage that was supposedly passing for news and entertainment. But you know what I did Patrick, as seemingly strange and far-fetched as the idea might be to you? I switched over and found another station to listen to. I know, I know, a little drastic but hey, sometimes needs must. There are also times when I get fed up with reading the Guardian…so I buy the Express, or the Newsday, or vice versa, or other times, I read none! This concept may seem a bit alien to you at first but I promise that once you get the hang of it, it will soon become second nature. I must also tell you Patrick that pot must be very careful before he starts calling kettle’s bottom black. While this may come as a great surprise to you Patrick, there are many out there who are fed up with the way that you are doing your job. And just as you pine for a more professional media, we too also long for a more accountable government. Just as you pine for more balanced journalism, we too long for a country in which we can live for the most part, free from crime and free from the fear of crime. But Patrick, do you see me standing outside your gate? 

Patrick, the man on the street couldn’t care less about what the media says about you, or anybody else for that matter. People aren’t worried about their finances because of something they heard on 94.1; they are worried because the same chicken that cost $40.00 in Hilo last month is now $50.00 this month. People don’t feel unsafe simply because of something they read in the papers; they feel unsafe because the relatively innocuous task of getting out of the car and opening the gate is now fraught with danger. People aren’t cussing the government because of something they saw on the news; they cuss because they have to drive on some of the worst roads in the entire planet in a country that has an endless supply of asphalt. 

Anyways Patrick, I think I have said enough for now but I promise that I will write to you again soon. Wishing you God’s grace until we speak again- take care and give my love and regards to Hazel.

Yours ever

Kito