‘Big ones’ from PM, CoP

Well, the 6.9 earthquake came, brought people closer, left everyone praising God that no one got killed but still frightened that the “big one” would soon come. Two lesser shocks came but a far cry from the “big one” the earthquake experts are predicting. People are waiting, still on edge, looking around and even “hearing” little rumbles here and there. But I cannot ignore two real “big ones” that occurred around the 6.9 shake-up. One in policing, the other in politics.

The first was Commissioner Gary Griffith’s personal hot-line launch – call me at 482-GARY(4279) he boldly announced last Monday. He pledged a big one: “If you do not trust anyone, trust me. There are many law-abiding citizens who have information on who the criminals are, where the drugs and illegal guns are entering the country.” Leadership from the top. The rest, both in systems and people, will follow – though the boat will rock sometimes. Gary, hold fast, the eight-member Police Manpower Audit Committee Report (now before Parliament) scientifically demonstrates the very low confidence the various sectors (business, public agencies, citizens, police, etc) have in the police. There are reasons for this. Make a change, captain.

The other is Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s equally blunt, timely and now necessary advice to Tobagonians last Thursday evening. In his “PM meets the People” session, he passionately advised them: “Start planting, start growing food, start planting cassava, pumpkin, carrots, etc.” Stop depending on others, they will come instead and do what needs to be done, and then you will complain, Dr Rowley sternly warned his Tobago brethren.

He explained that while driving through Scarborough, he saw a van loaded with provisions and vegetables, all of which, as he found out, came from Trinidad. When the hotel, Sandals, arrives, Tobago must be ready, he instructed Tobago. Admitting his Tobagonian roots, he then dropped the big one. He said: “I am not going to encourage laziness in Tobago.”

So here we have two big ones – one, the Commissioner’s strategy to build public confidence and improve police performance; the other, the Prime Minister’s advice to help Tobago regain its proud place in food and agricultural production, supplemental to fluctuating tourism. The value in my reference to Dr Rowley’s remarks is to suggest that, given the state of the country’s economy, deteriorating civility and over-stretched, ill-advised dependency on Government, it is long overdue that our political and professional leaders talk plainly and robustly about how citizens ought to behave and produce in a fledging, newly independent country.

That is, after demonstrating good examples themselves, and recognising that the “frustration-aggression” hypothesis now self-servingly bandied about from Beetham to Enterprise was triggered not by any one government, but by the “nanny-type” policies of all. Expectations reach unrealistic heights with the Frankenstein around the corner. This must change.

I welcome Dr Rowley’s refreshing commandment for Tobago’s food and agricultural development, hoping that he will do the same, even with stronger emphasis, for Trinidad. After all, it is regrettable we have to pass through Penal, Debe and Caroni now, remembering how the green-leaved rice paddies swung in the breeze, feeding ourselves. Or through Caparo and Tamana, seeing the orange fields glowing in the sun. Thickly-grown cocoa, coffee in Manzanilla, Mayaro, Tamana too. All gone. Today we import even mango juice! I welcome the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s $687,500 (via Research and development facility) to SafetyNet Ltd and Caribbean Sea/Air Marketing to develop Moruga Hill Rice through improved technology. Every little help now counts.

Dr Rowley, wittingly or unwittingly brings a welcome switch to PNM’s ambivalence over agricultural development. Energised by Sir Arthur Lewis’ theories of industrial development, PNM leader Dr Eric Williams had declared: “People dominated by the Colonial Office mentality still babble about agriculture being the basis of our prosperity, in the face of all the evidence that oil and not agriculture is the basis and that agriculture is steadily displacing labour and must continue to do so,” (Woodford Square, September 1955). Niether Sir Arthur in his “surplus labour theory” nor Dr Williams saw URP and CEPEP ahead – creations that distorted labour supply and subverted industrialisation. The country, therefore, needs more big ones. Fresh thinking, like what CoP Griffith and PM Dr Rowley recently launched. Like Bob Marley advised, Stand Up.