Patrick Manning is a very successful Prime Minister

Guest column by Garvin Edward T. Nicholas
Political Leader, the Movement for National Development
http://www.mndtt.com/

When many citizens look around at:

• the skyrocketing murder rate
• the high level of inflation
• the wastage of resources on non-priority projects
• the corruption allegations at Udecott
• the misuse of the Integrity Commission
• the misuse of forensic accountants for witch hunts
• the lack of monitoring of financial institutions by the Central Bank until it is too late and very expensive to bail out
• the perceived inequitable treatment of citizens by the government
• the collapse of almost every public national institution
• the failing police service bedevilled by consistent allegations of corruption
• the deterioration of the national infrastructure; the filth on the nation’s main streets; the high level of homelessness and vagrancy
• the crumbling health-care, the unavailability of basic drugs for the sick and aged at health institutions
• the deteriorating education system
• the horrendous traffic situation
• the flooding that occurs every time a rain drop falls
• the obvious breakdown of the family structure due to societal pressures
• the lack of effective social services
• the inefficient water supply
• the expensive electricity supply
• the destruction of the environment
• the destruction of the farming industry
• the carnage on the roads
• the lack of community facilities for the nation's youth
• and, the systematic destruction of our culture

...one might be tempted to say that the Prime Minister and his administration are an unmitigated disaster and should be removed post haste.

BUT, to judge Prime Minister Manning’s performance by our own expectations, is to miss the point completely. We assume that this Prime Minister shares our aims and objectives for this country. We assume he is interested in providing security, public services or accountability to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and as such we use these outcomes as the yardstick by which he is judged to have performed.

INSTEAD, we need to understand that this Prime Minister is more interested in the control of every agency of the State. He is intent on becoming the supreme leader of Trinidad and Tobago by way of constitutional reform. He is interested in being not just Father of the Nation but Father of the Caribbean, and it does not matter what kind of father either.

He is content to be like the many fathers right here in Trinidad and Tobago who have abandoned their children or who beat their children into submission when challenged.

This Prime Minister is interested in providing opportunities for his elite band of friends to become billionaires even if that is facilitated by breaking all the rules set up for accountability and good governance or by facilitating the growth and development of foreign construction firms and consultants to the detriment of the local construction industry.

He strives to be the master of deception and secrecy.

In order to measure the success of someone, we must measure their goals against their achievements. In the case of this Prime Minister, he is succeeding on every front, he has even managed to cause to be erected, a multi-billion dollar hotel and conference centre and convince the population that it belongs to them even as 99% of the population cannot even afford to buy lunch there and the income from the project is managed by a man who appears to be a law unto himself.

If our goals and expectations are different from those of this Prime Minister, then it is we who have failed. We as a nation have failed because by voting in Prime Minister Manning we could never achieve our goals for our nation. We have consistently given him the opportunity to fulfil the empty promises he makes year after year and for us to continue to fall for the broken promise rhetoric reflects badly not on him but on us.

We need to understand that we are in a bad relationship with Mr. Manning and his administration and the only way to sanity is to get out of this relationship. It is only then will we be able to move on as a nation. Prime Minister Patrick Manning is not going to change. Tobago came close to showing that it understands.

We have a responsibility to our nation and too ourselves to show that we are not a bunch of mad people. Insanity is after-all described as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.