Discussing my Sunday Commentary with friends last weekend, two comments stood out: The first was that while the person agreed with what I have been writing recently, he preferred when I wrote about Brasso Seco, Asa Wright Nature Centre and the beauty of our country.
This was countered by the statement that “You must never forget that the PNM, not once, but twice in our lifetime, squandered away all of our wealth in orgies of corruption and incompetence.”
Now, that is a strong and stark statement! And so true.
And, as our country continues to be under attack from within, we simply cannot accept the luxury of ignoring the fact that the ongoing attempts to bring down the elected government—and this is what is happening before our eyes—are reckless and dangerous to our lives and livelihood and our country.
Quite frankly, I find the level and tenor of the ongoing attacks against the government to be very worrying, and must wonder what are serious, non-protesting people (if we have any of those left!) thinking about it all? And wondering where they think it might lead, and for what purpose?
I was dismayed at the bulldozing of the farmlands in Arouca and elsewhere. However, I cannot elevate this incident to one of critical national importance.
No one is “in the right” here: certainly not the handful of farmers. I thought that the government was wrong, in terms of public relations more than in law or even justice, in what they had done. For me, although I know that some farmers may disagree, the mistake was in not properly preparing the government case for the public to understand.
But the escalation of the presumed injustice is astonishing!
Imagine, the Medical Practitioners suddenly, and noisily jumping in to this issue.
They have recently claimed that no doctor should be suspended or disciplined for leaving a mother’s veins unsutured following surgery, so she bled to death almost in their presence. But they are joining calls for the dismissal of the Minister of Housing and the Chairman of the HDC!
Before our country erupts into the needless anarchy and violence which is being fomented, we really do need to take some stock and ask where we are going these days.
What, for instance, has the PP government done so wrong in their governance over the past year?
Yes, they took a very long time to name all the government and state agency boards. But they wanted to avoid putting six important state entities under the chairmanship of one Calder Hart.
Yes, they created problems for themselves with poor procedural arrangements in appointments and dismissals. And yes, they seemed to be lacking in internal communication within cabinet.
But, are these equal to the sins of the previous government, against whom we did not protest: The total wastage of our money on all those buildings which remain empty to this day, the use of state funds (hidden in Diplomatic Centre accounts) to construct Manning’s Church on agricultural lands in Guanapo?
For all the pretended outrage we are observing, everyone knows, including Rowley, Manning, Imbert and new PNM Poster Boy Fitzgerald Hinds, that every single minister in the current government has outperformed their PNM predecessors in every way that can be measured.
So, as I watched the outrage which the protesting farmers perpetrated upon Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Persad last Wednesday, I tried to remember if any similar near-atrocity had been directed against the NAR government and Prime Minister in 1990.
I recall none. So I wonder now about “The Fire Next Time”.
It is extremely important, in my view, that the Inquiry in July 1990 is taking place now, as similar events are being fomented against a government elected to save a sinking ship.
But the events today are harsher and more violent than those leading up to 1990. We would do well to observe these parallel roads, one of which we have traversed already, with dreadful consequences.
Twice in our lifetime the PNM has squandered our country’s wealth, wealth which they did not produce. Twice in our lives they have brought us economically to our knees.
Once in our lifetime, so far, they have encouraged and supported insurrection, murder, treason and destruction to our country. We must not allow this to happen a second time, while we are now forewarned.
So my topic stays with the politics, because it must, for the time being.
And when we take a stand against the people who appear to be once again trying to bring violence into our lives, and eventually save our country from the incompetence and corruption of the PNM, then I will write and sing about the rivers and the hills, and “about Dorothy” with Black Stalin.
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