"We need to know what the Prime minister meant when he said that 'he and Mr Panday agreed to work towards the achievement of a new constitution in this term'." That's the question posed by respected political scientist as he concluded his regular column in the the Sunday Express. "Is Mr Panday the providential ’deus ex machina?'", Ryan asked.
(The term literally means "god from the machine" and is used in drama when a person or thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.)
His column, which deals with Prime Minister Patrick Manning's religious zeal and his apparent lust for power, raises several issues, including Manning's own admission of being intoxicated with God.
Manning made the statement in Parliament while chastising his former cabinet colleague Dr Keith Rowley, saying that while Rowley was consumed by acrimony, hate, and animosity, he believed in the power of love. He told Rowley that if he appeared to be drunk, he was "drunk on God".
Ryan raises that issue in his column pointing out, "Whether one is drunk on God, political power, paisa, or some other in toxicant, however, one is still drunk, and those who are drunk should not drive, since they are likely to make a mess of things politically, as Chalkdust reminded ANR Robinson in 1987."Ryan also noted that Adolf Hitler professed to be a man of God.
"One recalls Adolph Hitler telling an assembled German crowd at a Nuremberg rally, in rhetoric borrowed from the New Testament, ’that you have found me... among so many millions is the miracle of our time! And that I have found you: that is Germany’s fortune...Now that we are together, we are with him and he is with us, and now we are Germany...'. How messianic and delusional can one get!" Ryan writes.
"Why do politicians feel it necessary to conceal their lust for power and pretend that their purpose is ’service to the people?’ Why do some feel the need to wave Bible...and declare with mock seriousness that they were the chosen of God or the people when in fact it is they who manipulate symbolic language to seduce the people into choosing them?" He says.
"While some do it cynically to achieve a desired objective, others seem to genuinely believe that God miraculously found them out of the millions through whom he could have chosen to channel his blessings," Ryan says.
Ryan takes his cue from Manning's pronouncements in Tobago recentl that his aim in making proposals relating to an executive presidency was "to find the best governance structure for the glory of Almighty God and for the people of Trinidad and Tobago."
Ryan stops short of calling Manning a liar, but observes that in Tobago he was adamant that he had no interest in becoming president, saying the office "hold no attraction for me" only to renege on it later in San Fernando and admit that he would run if the people asked him.
Ryan says, "One however wondered how many people took Mr Manning’s representations seriously and how many felt that he should perhaps sign up for the next round of Lord Nelson’s mythical and hilarious ’King Liar’ calypso competition?
"Why was such a statement ever made when every body in Trinidad and Tobago knew it was not true? Who was he trying to disarm?
"Was it one of those mindless and meaningless things that Trinis say from time to time?
"What about the double speak that we witnessed in respect of the invitation to Mr Panday. Were they of the same order?"
Ryan is not too sure about how to take Manning's pronouncements. "One does not quite know how seriously to take Mr Manning’s expressed belief that he has been called by providence. How much is hypocrisy, how much is conviction and how much is delusion?" he writes.
Read Ryan's column in the SUNDAY EXPRESS
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