The world is in euphoria over the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the United States. And for good reason. This is an event that few thought possible in a nation that had defined itself just a few decades ago as one based on racism and hate. Obama’s rise to the highest elected office is the realization of part of the dream of which Martin Luther King junior spoke.In the celebration taking place in Trinidad and Tobago even the media seem to have lost sight of our own political situation and the re-election of Patrick Manning one year ago.
On Nov. 5, 2007 the people of Trinidad and Tobago voted for a change but instead handed Manning and his People’s National Movement (PNM) a commanding majority, which he has used to advance his personal agenda while showing disdain for the people.
A majority of the electorate voted against the PNM, but because of the nature of the country’s electoral system Manning was returned to office with a 26-seat majority with the alliance of the United Nation Congress (UNC) and a few smaller parties winning the other 15.
Indeed although it was officially a UNC-Alliance victory, it was the resurrection of Basdeo Panday and the UNC, aided by Jack Warner. For all the sound and fury, the new Congress of the People (COP) of Winston Dookeran, failed to make a parliamentary breakthrough.
Today, one year later, it is still chasing the dream of taking on Manning and winning. And Panday is doing the same. But beating Manning any time soon is not on the horizon even if all the opposition forces unite.
There are many reasons for this but perhaps the most fundamental one is the cynicism that exists today based on past experiences, particularly the quick collapse of the NAR one-love movement that swept the PNM out of office in 1986.
In a way 1986 had a tinge of the Obama rise to power. In 30 years, the PNM under Eric Williams and later, George Chambers, had come to believe that it was invincible. Divide and rule politics in our first-past-the-post, winner take all electoral system had worked well up to then.
But the grand coalition formed out of political necessity coupled with the bust from the oil boom changed the dynamics and while Arthur Robinson was no Obama, he offered the nation the simple message of hope and change. The people responded and the rest, as we know, is history.
Five years and a short-lived coup later, the PNM was back in office with Patrick Manning as prime minister. He was clearly not up to the task, making blunders and missteps that pulled down his government within four years.
That sent Basdeo Panday and his UNC to Whitehall in a coalition with Robinson. Panday and Robinson got along only out of political expediency. And Panday tried to pull himself out of he political quicksand by making his coalition partner president, a move that Manning in opposition rejected outright.
By 2001, after a feud in the UNC forced fresh elections within a year of winning a majority, Robinson had his revenge and handed the government to Manning in breach of all commonwealth parliamentary conventions. He justified his presidential coup by saying the country needed change so he made a decision based on “morality and spirituality.
It was the opening that returned a PNM government to office with a clear majority after Manning governed for nine months without convening the 2001 Parliament. Five years later on Nov. 5, 2007 Manning won a second majority.
So how have we fared in the past year?
Manning campaigned on a platform of continuity, presenting himself as a caring leader who put people’s concerns first. He would take the country forward, he pledged, making his vision 2020 a reality.
Even before he launched the campaign it was clear that something was wrong in the house of the PNM. Manning dumped some of his party’s stalwarts, most notably Ken Valley, who went on to accuse Manning of working hard to set up a dictatorship. He kept his nemesis, Keith Rowley, out of necessity, but held him on a tight leash.
The opposition latched on to the fear of am impending dictatorship and mounted a strong campaign. In the end the system favoured Manning and he returned to government determined to do things his way with his fresh team.
His first signal to the nation that he would follow his own agenda happened in Woodford Square, the PNM sacred ground where Eric Williams “put down his bucket” and launched the party in 1956.
Manning took his oath of office in a public ceremony, ostensibly to allow the people to participate. But the people were really his people. The sea of PNM red that flooded the square had no room for the rest of the nation.
It was the first of many issues in the first year of Manning’s administration that sent a clear message that Manning would pave a new political path according to an agenda that put him and his agenda first.
That first act was a breach of the constitution, which states that a cabinet comprises the prime minister and an attorney general. Manning took the oath alone, and for a few hours the country technically did not have a legally constituted cabinet.
Manning ignored and dismissed all criticism. And he continues to do it everyday. The most glaring example was his recent personal visit to a radio station to complain about two broadcasters who had dared to criticize him and his policies. While he has a right to complain, his commanding presence at the station with his full security detail sent a message intended to intimidate the media.
But Manning doesn't seem to care about public opinion when he controls all the apparatus of state and a treasury overflowing with windfall energy revenues.
Over the past year Manning has treated the opposition with contempt and ignored the people’s concerns on crime, social services, health and public expenditure to name a few. And as the world struggles with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression Manning and his government refuse to heed calls by the private sector and the Central Bank to show restraint.
His predecessors showed the same contempt for economic advice and drove the nation to near bankruptcy following the end of the 1980's oil boom. But Manning is intent on having his way.
He refused to appoint a police commissioner selected through a rigorous recruitment process. Crime continues to plague the nation with more than 450 homicides so far in 2008 and government’s latest response is to join with evangelical preachers to cuddle criminals who choose God and pledge to give up crime.
And there's more:
- He refuses to take commercial flights and travels by private jet. He even toyed with the idea of buying his own jet for half a billion dollars, backing down under public pressure although the purchase is still on the agenda
- He is creating a political and economic union with Eastern Caribbean nations and refuses to give the people a say in the matter
- He has built a mansion for himself for $140 million, has put aside $13 million for his personal entertainment budget while poverty climbs and families have no food and shelter
- Inflation is running into double digits and he continues with business as usual
- He is trying to impose a constitution on the nation that no one takes responsibility for writing, yet he says it’s not his. Some of the measures appear to threaten the independence of the judiciary
- He refuses to take responsibility for escalating food prices, blaming farmers and grocers. His agriculture minister went as far as saying formers plant crops in flood-prone areas to fleece the treasury when crops are washed out
- He refuses to address concerns about high levels of corruption under his watch and kicked out senior government minister Keith Rowley from cabinet for asking questions about government expenditure
That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. There’s more. Much more. But perhaps “we like it so”.
And what is the opposition doing? That’s a subject for another day.
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