Sunday, July 22, 2012

Guest commentary: Why is the PNM so opposed to Jwala Rambarran?

By Richard Holder rich_holder75@yahoo.com
(From the UnitedVoice)

A race is a means to an end, and this is clearly the path that you have chosen.

The background of your submission has revolved around and intermittently stepped on the toes of good governance. The arguments are fraught with the belief that what existed is right, and such is the stain of the last administration on society. The PNM has been in office for how many years? Who formulated the public service, inclusive of its human and institutional base? Who had the opportunity to choose where the plants should be planted?

Invariably, the PNM moved to replace Winston Dookeran since it was running a high card in the races. The structure of the bank’s hierarchy reflects the ideal of the Williams legacy. Ewart Williams, Shelton Nichols, Alvin Hilaire, Joan John. What is the common denominator sir? Before his expiration, Williams moved to formalize and approve an organization structure which would secure his plants from any storm. An article such as this came as no surprise, as the PNM is bent on being in “opposition.”

The clear direction of the article demonstrates the PNM’s unwillingness to work with Government for the sake of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The Governor is supported by the management and all of the Bank’s staff. The comments and reservations on the appointment of Jwala Rambarran as Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago is the latest instance of the continuing termitic assault on the institutions of State by the PNM. It is the latest, but it will not be the last. Those of us who were hoping that this appointment would represent a departure from the elitist and oppressive core of the PNM were not disappointed.

The comments, attitude and clear bias in in your choices, has very clearly described why none of them were considered. The old ways must be changed. This PP Government is a new way of doing business. The country was getting nowhere very fast under the PNM, hence its demise in 2010. These ‘candidates' have failed in their capacities, hence the CLICO, HCU and Nunez-Tesheira’s run on the mill. Thinking by colour, under the guise of intelligence, is perhaps one of the world's most self-destructive traits. Why were none of the likes of Nichols, Hilaire or John not appointed by the PNM? Manning appointed Ewart Williams.

He came from humble beginnings in Tobago. He came from humble beginnings in East Port-of-Spain. She came from Laventille. This is the vision of the PNM and executed by Ewart Williams.

Eric Williams denounced the people who opposed his autocratic ways as “a hostile and recalcitrant minority.” This intemperate outburst was directed at the chief minister’s opponents but in its telling and retelling it came to mean for many people, a signifier of his racial ideology, and practice – which has since resonated in the PNM. It was a rhetorical misstep but given Williams’s record, any racially abusive comment would have meant a repudiation of all that he had stood for throughout his life.

His words represented a harsh indictment of those with whom he disagreed, not an indictment of an entire ethnic group. Williams did not retract his criticism; he was too arrogant to do that. Nor did he reveal to the people of Trinidad and Tobago that the Indian Commissioner to his country had been recalled.

The PNM vine is still planted and continues to bear sour grapes. I hope that the people of Trinidad and Tobago understands the degree of entrenchment and strategic exacting that has been unleashed on the populace by these obstructionists and continue to support their removal in both the upcoming local elections, and again in 2015.

There may in fact be no sacred cows, but definitely, snakes in the balisier.

Richard Holder | Via Email


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Commentary: Give Jwala Rambarran a chance to get to work

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Jai & Sero

Jai & Sero

Our family at home in Toronto 2008

Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai