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