"rural |ˈroŏrəl| adjective - in, relating to, or characteristic of the countryside rather than the town: remote rural areas."
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| Keith Rowley in friendly territory at a PNM convention |
Keith Rowley continues to amaze me. For a politician who has been around as long as Rowley you would expect that he would put his experience in government and opposition to good use and come up with creative, winning plans to get his party back in government some day.
However, it seems every time the Opposition Leader makes an "important pronouncement" he either confuses the issue further or makes no sense.
His latest idea of dismantling the Ministry of the People and Social Development, which Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar created on assuming office, is a good example of going in the wrong direction.
Rowley promised supporters this week that if the People’s National Movement (PNM) forms the next government of Trinidad and Tobago he would establish a Ministry of Rural Development. (He also said he is confident the party will win the next election. I have to disappoint Dr Rowley, but under his leadership and with his style that is not going to happen!)
The Opposition Leader told a rural gathering of PNM supporters this week that "logistically" rural communities are always left behind.
“In order to ensure that rural communities are not left behind as we progress as a nation there will be in the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago a Minister of Rural Development whose responsibility will be to co-ordinate what the nation has to offer to ensure that rural communities get their fair share and they get it in a timely manner,” he told the gathering. “We will have no Ministry of the People,” he declared.
Well first of all, under the present government the Cabinet makes sure that it coordinates what the nation has and it makes sure through all its ministries and agencies that rural communities get their fair share and they get it in a timely manner. Tell us something that we don't know, Dr. Rowley.
And also ask yourself first why rural communities are "logistically" left behind, as you claim. That is PNM logic and PNM policy.
Times have changed since the PNM left office. The philosophical thrust of the current People's Partnership government is to focus on rural neglect and other areas of underdevelopment. In fact Kamla and her team have been making every effort to reach into rural Trinidad & Tobago to deliver services with the same urgency as in the towns and cities. It's called NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
However, it seems every time the Opposition Leader makes an "important pronouncement" he either confuses the issue further or makes no sense.
His latest idea of dismantling the Ministry of the People and Social Development, which Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar created on assuming office, is a good example of going in the wrong direction.
Rowley promised supporters this week that if the People’s National Movement (PNM) forms the next government of Trinidad and Tobago he would establish a Ministry of Rural Development. (He also said he is confident the party will win the next election. I have to disappoint Dr Rowley, but under his leadership and with his style that is not going to happen!)
The Opposition Leader told a rural gathering of PNM supporters this week that "logistically" rural communities are always left behind.
“In order to ensure that rural communities are not left behind as we progress as a nation there will be in the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago a Minister of Rural Development whose responsibility will be to co-ordinate what the nation has to offer to ensure that rural communities get their fair share and they get it in a timely manner,” he told the gathering. “We will have no Ministry of the People,” he declared.
Well first of all, under the present government the Cabinet makes sure that it coordinates what the nation has and it makes sure through all its ministries and agencies that rural communities get their fair share and they get it in a timely manner. Tell us something that we don't know, Dr. Rowley.
And also ask yourself first why rural communities are "logistically" left behind, as you claim. That is PNM logic and PNM policy.
Times have changed since the PNM left office. The philosophical thrust of the current People's Partnership government is to focus on rural neglect and other areas of underdevelopment. In fact Kamla and her team have been making every effort to reach into rural Trinidad & Tobago to deliver services with the same urgency as in the towns and cities. It's called NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
Development is taking place at a pace that Rowley and the PNM cannot comprehend. And all of it within or below cost. The Kamla government is exploring new areas and going where no government has ever gone before.
For the PNM, rural Trinidad & Tobago has always been the place to go to mamaguy people for votes every five years and then disappear until the next election.
If I understand Rowley right he is suggesting that the poor, dispossessed and destitute only live in rural area so he would create a Rural Development Ministry just to look after their needs. Every ministry in the government is responsible for the welfare of the entire nation - for schools, utilities, roads, amenities.
But in the PNM playbook, rural equals non-traditional PNM constituencies so rural always equalled "neglect". This government - that is the Kamla led government - has dismantled that idea and its whole development thrust includes the rural communities. No one is left behind!
I have heard the PNM complain that the government is only developing UNC and COP areas, which adds credence to the point I am making.
A new road with proper box drains in Papourie Road, Barrackpore became an issue of "biased development" for the PNM. When PM 1 went there, it was the first time a prime minister of T&T had gone so far south. The truth is that the PNM had shamefully neglected ALL the rural areas, which is why Rowley can say unashamedly that "logistically rural communities are always left behind".
Works and Infrastructure, Local Government, Public Utilities, Finance, Trade and Investment, National Security, Education, Tertiary Education, Agriculture, People Ministry, Gender and Youth affairs and the others are all focusing on DEVELOPMENT across the country, regardless of rural or urban classification; for the curent government of Trinidad & Tobago development means a holistic approach to nation building.
It has discarded the PNM style of building white elephants to show off to the world in favour of educating itself on the needs of the people and then developing programmes and projects to help where help is most needed.
You see, for Kamla, hunger and poverty are not reserved for rural communities. Which community in Trinidad & Tobago has been more neglected (by the PNM) than Laventille and its environs? And they certainly don't fit the definition of rural.
The structure of government, even under the PNM, was designed for developing the whole country. However under Patrick Manning and Keith Rowley development meant doing favours for friends and supporters.
Patrick Manning created whole communities of unemployed when in one spiteful political decision he closed an industry that had sustained the nation and kept a community of nearly a quarter million alive and vibrant. And to compound the spite he refused to give the former sugar workers their entitlements and allowed the billion-dollar assets of the company to be plundered.
He had hoped to destroy the base of the opposition but underestimated the resilience of the people. And Rowley is making the same mistake, based on his personal bias and the discriminatory behaviour of his party.
Unless the PNM remakes itself as a truly national party that recognises and accepts the diversity of Trinidad & Tobago and develops a genuine development plan for the entire nation regardless of where people live, it will remain in the political wilderness for the next 40 years. The party is a relic of rum and roti politics of the past and Rowley is not making it any better.
It is time for Rowley to start leading instead of being just a rabble rouser. (Rabble-rouser - noun : a person who speaks with the intention of inflaming the emotions of a crowd of people, typically for political reasons.)
Jai Parasram | 27 January 2012
For the PNM, rural Trinidad & Tobago has always been the place to go to mamaguy people for votes every five years and then disappear until the next election.
If I understand Rowley right he is suggesting that the poor, dispossessed and destitute only live in rural area so he would create a Rural Development Ministry just to look after their needs. Every ministry in the government is responsible for the welfare of the entire nation - for schools, utilities, roads, amenities.
But in the PNM playbook, rural equals non-traditional PNM constituencies so rural always equalled "neglect". This government - that is the Kamla led government - has dismantled that idea and its whole development thrust includes the rural communities. No one is left behind!
I have heard the PNM complain that the government is only developing UNC and COP areas, which adds credence to the point I am making.
A new road with proper box drains in Papourie Road, Barrackpore became an issue of "biased development" for the PNM. When PM 1 went there, it was the first time a prime minister of T&T had gone so far south. The truth is that the PNM had shamefully neglected ALL the rural areas, which is why Rowley can say unashamedly that "logistically rural communities are always left behind".
Works and Infrastructure, Local Government, Public Utilities, Finance, Trade and Investment, National Security, Education, Tertiary Education, Agriculture, People Ministry, Gender and Youth affairs and the others are all focusing on DEVELOPMENT across the country, regardless of rural or urban classification; for the curent government of Trinidad & Tobago development means a holistic approach to nation building.
It has discarded the PNM style of building white elephants to show off to the world in favour of educating itself on the needs of the people and then developing programmes and projects to help where help is most needed.
You see, for Kamla, hunger and poverty are not reserved for rural communities. Which community in Trinidad & Tobago has been more neglected (by the PNM) than Laventille and its environs? And they certainly don't fit the definition of rural.
The structure of government, even under the PNM, was designed for developing the whole country. However under Patrick Manning and Keith Rowley development meant doing favours for friends and supporters.
Patrick Manning created whole communities of unemployed when in one spiteful political decision he closed an industry that had sustained the nation and kept a community of nearly a quarter million alive and vibrant. And to compound the spite he refused to give the former sugar workers their entitlements and allowed the billion-dollar assets of the company to be plundered.
He had hoped to destroy the base of the opposition but underestimated the resilience of the people. And Rowley is making the same mistake, based on his personal bias and the discriminatory behaviour of his party.
Unless the PNM remakes itself as a truly national party that recognises and accepts the diversity of Trinidad & Tobago and develops a genuine development plan for the entire nation regardless of where people live, it will remain in the political wilderness for the next 40 years. The party is a relic of rum and roti politics of the past and Rowley is not making it any better.
It is time for Rowley to start leading instead of being just a rabble rouser. (Rabble-rouser - noun : a person who speaks with the intention of inflaming the emotions of a crowd of people, typically for political reasons.)
Jai Parasram | 27 January 2012
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