Guest column: The political challenges ahead

Now that we have arrived at 50, it is useful to reflect on where we are in terms of the political challenges facing us as a people. 

My own view, that I have expressed elsewhere, is that we are a functioning democracy that is gradually dismantling the iron grip of divisive two-party politics and is tasting the potential of coalitions of views that are freer now to be heard than ever before without the levels of fear that previously corralled the public expression of such diverse political views. 

Political evolution over the last 50 years has travelled through the establishment of the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to a place where there is no longer a DLP today, but rather a coalition of political forces, some of whom can trace their evolution to the DLP and others who can trace their evolution to the PNM. 

The political mistake that many entities made over the years was to seek to challenge the PNM on the basis of multiple parties who split the votes in crucial constituencies that allowed the PNM an overall seat majority nationally, while securing a permanent minority of seats for those opposed to the PNM.

After 1986, that fault by the forces opposed to the PNM was fractured for the first time when there was a coalition of interests who formed themselves into a single political entity called the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). 

That experiment failed primarily because it could not be all things to all people and as a single monolithic party, there was insufficient elasticity to permit coalitions of views to co-exist within its ranks. 

The reincarnation of the NAR idea in the People’s Partnership by using individual parties that can maintain their identity has permitted far more elasticity of differing views to the extent that the political substance of the coalition has held together with minimal haemorrhage. 

There are two opposing views of political-party organisation facing the country at this time. The PNM model is one in which that party is not inclined to go the route of seeking a coalition partner as the undisturbed philosophical position of its former political leader, Patrick Manning, that the party will stand alone, win alone and lose alone, still stands.

The position of the United National Congress (UNC), the Congress of the People (COP), the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), and the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) is one of power-sharing among themselves in a coalition. 

That has proven to be successful for them so far. Of course, in a coalition one has to ensure that the ingredients are right for its sustenance. 

The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) decided that the ingredients for staying in the coalition were no longer right for them. They have decided to make their own way in the world as a single monolithic party that will seek power alone without any coalition partners as their vision is one of establishing what they call a true labour party. 

They have already signified their intentions by their public proclamation in public meetings of David Abdullah as the next Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, they have shown no interest in aligning with the PNM.

The PNM finds itself struggling to rebuild after their massive defeat in the 2010 general elections. The divisiveness that prevailed in the party between 2008 and 2010 led to its fall from power and that divisiveness has continued to plague the party in its rebuilding efforts. 

The past levels of discipline whereby party differences are not aired in public has been breached and there are now many occasions where the contradictory views are openly expressed, thereby undermining the official party position. 

The political challenge for all of the parties that present themselves is how do they articulate policy positions that embrace a narrative of unity as opposed to narratives of division. 

Is a single monolithic party capable of being all things to all people without alienation of elements of its membership or elements of those whom they would like to have vote for them? Will the desire to share power become a natural part of our democratic evolution as we move forward into the next 50 years? 

The culture of power sharing is not a panacea for all of the political ills of the society, but holding a coalition together takes a different set of political skills.

Whichever way we want to look at the last 50 years, it appears that we have seen the rise of other political parties to challenge the dominance of the PNM over the last 25 years. 

This period coincides with the demise of Dr Eric Williams and saw the opening up of new political spaces in a manner that did not threaten our democracy, but rather strengthened it. 

As I have said elsewhere, the next 50 years will probably be the era of the coalition of interests as political support for dominant single parties will be difficult to ensure the representation of all interests in the society.

The above column by Dr Hamid Ghany was reproduced from the SUNDAY GUARDIAN with the permission of the author.