Recently I have been reading of Basdeo Panday’s promise/threat/ hope of returning to the UNC in some official capacity, and people praising him for what he has been. And surprisingly, these are people whose opinions I usually respect.
They place laurels upon Mr. Panday for his work as a trade union leader and politician.
He was, after all, the founder of both the United Labour Front and then of the United National Congress, from which he became Prime Minister in 1995, not out of an election victory, but because of a deal he cut with NAR leader ANR Robinson. Robinson was subsequently “elected” President by Panday who years earlier had walked out of Robinson’s NAR government.
But let us not visit all those betrayals and counter betrayals between “Club ‘88” and Robinson’s “appointment” of Manning as Prime Minister in 2001.
After all, it is Heroes we are trying to find, and while people have suggested at various times, that some of these Machiavellian characters might be worthy of such appellation, I wish to disabuse all of that possibility without delving too deeply into that astonishing period (1988 to 2001) of our history.
We seem to bestow the laurel of Hero very casually in our land. Possibly because we really know that we have none worthy of this title in our recent history, save possibly Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler, who at least never publicly disgraced himself following the successes of his mission, and Mandakal Daaga, who likewise remains unsullied so far following the changes he brought to our society in 1970.
Eric Williams? Well, Dr. Williams certainly had the opportunity to be acknowledged as a “National Hero”.
A brilliant scholar, he brought “mature politics” to our society in 1956. He secured our Independence from Great Britain, though that was hardly the equivalent of the struggles of Gandhi in India, Kenyetta in Kenya, or Nkrumah in Ghana.
But, truth be told, Eric Williams, like every Prime Minister since, was a monumental failure in terms of developing the society he promised us: “Together we Aspire: Together we Achieve”, and “Discipline, Production and Tolerance” are totally wasted mottos and watchwords.
Oh yes! Williams “gave us” education! Well, thanks a lot, but education was our right, as was, and is, water, health care and security. But the truth is, under Williams we became lazy, expectant of handouts for everything and cloaked in the “victimhood” of a people sympathetically embracing failure.
With the oil boom of the mid-seventies, Eric Williams had the opportunity to develop an infrastructure similar to Barbados, but he donated all the development contracts to foreign governments who chose the contractors to build the Twin Towers, Hall of Justice, Mount Hope Hospital, and the Solomon Hochoy Highway.
He “gave” Johnny O’Halloran the freedom of the purse to build the Caroni Horse Racing Complex. When the oil money finally ran out through the pockets of these favored contractors and Johnny, we still had no water in our taps, Mount Hope Hospital is still not fully utilized, and Dr. Williams died for want of proper medical attention!
Poor George Chambers was appointed Prime Minister on Williams’ death. It is said that our President at the time felt that we “were not ready for an Indian Prime Minister”, so the two obvious candidates, Errol Mahabir and Kamaluddin Mohammed were bypassed. And we all accepted that? To their eternal credit, they both served Chambers and the country loyally until 1986.
The PNM was swept out of office in 1986. ANR Robinson, the least undesirable leader of the three coalition parties forming the NAR, was the new Prime Minister. Robinson enjoyed a moment of high valour in 1990 when he shouted into a telephone, while rebels held a gun to his head “…….Attack with full force!”
That act helped save the nation from a terrorist coup, but Robinson went on to sully any “hero credentials” when he cut the deal which gave him the presidency (and a Trinity Cross!), and later “dismissed” an elected government on the grounds of “no moral values”.
After Robinson, we had Patrick Manning, twice. Need I elaborate? We are looking for National Heroes here!
So we come right back to ‘Bas!
First, do you believe that his proposed “comeback” is in response to some popular demand? I do not! Then look at the man’s history.
He who referred to the “parasitic oligarchy” when he was in opposition, became one of them as soon as he became Prime Minister. His time in office saw corruption rise to new heights (albeit exceeded subsequently by Manning’s PNM), and he himself is before the courts for corruption.
They place laurels upon Mr. Panday for his work as a trade union leader and politician.
He was, after all, the founder of both the United Labour Front and then of the United National Congress, from which he became Prime Minister in 1995, not out of an election victory, but because of a deal he cut with NAR leader ANR Robinson. Robinson was subsequently “elected” President by Panday who years earlier had walked out of Robinson’s NAR government.
But let us not visit all those betrayals and counter betrayals between “Club ‘88” and Robinson’s “appointment” of Manning as Prime Minister in 2001.
After all, it is Heroes we are trying to find, and while people have suggested at various times, that some of these Machiavellian characters might be worthy of such appellation, I wish to disabuse all of that possibility without delving too deeply into that astonishing period (1988 to 2001) of our history.
We seem to bestow the laurel of Hero very casually in our land. Possibly because we really know that we have none worthy of this title in our recent history, save possibly Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler, who at least never publicly disgraced himself following the successes of his mission, and Mandakal Daaga, who likewise remains unsullied so far following the changes he brought to our society in 1970.
Eric Williams? Well, Dr. Williams certainly had the opportunity to be acknowledged as a “National Hero”.
A brilliant scholar, he brought “mature politics” to our society in 1956. He secured our Independence from Great Britain, though that was hardly the equivalent of the struggles of Gandhi in India, Kenyetta in Kenya, or Nkrumah in Ghana.
But, truth be told, Eric Williams, like every Prime Minister since, was a monumental failure in terms of developing the society he promised us: “Together we Aspire: Together we Achieve”, and “Discipline, Production and Tolerance” are totally wasted mottos and watchwords.
Oh yes! Williams “gave us” education! Well, thanks a lot, but education was our right, as was, and is, water, health care and security. But the truth is, under Williams we became lazy, expectant of handouts for everything and cloaked in the “victimhood” of a people sympathetically embracing failure.
With the oil boom of the mid-seventies, Eric Williams had the opportunity to develop an infrastructure similar to Barbados, but he donated all the development contracts to foreign governments who chose the contractors to build the Twin Towers, Hall of Justice, Mount Hope Hospital, and the Solomon Hochoy Highway.
He “gave” Johnny O’Halloran the freedom of the purse to build the Caroni Horse Racing Complex. When the oil money finally ran out through the pockets of these favored contractors and Johnny, we still had no water in our taps, Mount Hope Hospital is still not fully utilized, and Dr. Williams died for want of proper medical attention!
Poor George Chambers was appointed Prime Minister on Williams’ death. It is said that our President at the time felt that we “were not ready for an Indian Prime Minister”, so the two obvious candidates, Errol Mahabir and Kamaluddin Mohammed were bypassed. And we all accepted that? To their eternal credit, they both served Chambers and the country loyally until 1986.
The PNM was swept out of office in 1986. ANR Robinson, the least undesirable leader of the three coalition parties forming the NAR, was the new Prime Minister. Robinson enjoyed a moment of high valour in 1990 when he shouted into a telephone, while rebels held a gun to his head “…….Attack with full force!”
That act helped save the nation from a terrorist coup, but Robinson went on to sully any “hero credentials” when he cut the deal which gave him the presidency (and a Trinity Cross!), and later “dismissed” an elected government on the grounds of “no moral values”.
After Robinson, we had Patrick Manning, twice. Need I elaborate? We are looking for National Heroes here!
So we come right back to ‘Bas!
First, do you believe that his proposed “comeback” is in response to some popular demand? I do not! Then look at the man’s history.
He who referred to the “parasitic oligarchy” when he was in opposition, became one of them as soon as he became Prime Minister. His time in office saw corruption rise to new heights (albeit exceeded subsequently by Manning’s PNM), and he himself is before the courts for corruption.
Heroes and Leaders, we have none. And indeed it is incumbent upon us help create the society from which such persons might emerge. More to come on this….. 
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