Free ourselves from corruption

THE EDITOR: It is very difficult to write about the Petrotrin saga due to the limited information available to the public. We live in a corrupt nation that is always changing and we have little choice but to find a way to deal with that change.

The Petrotrin issue and recent acts of sabotage against the oil refinery further highlights the fact that people are resistant to change. Change interferes with autonomy and makes people feel that they’ve lost control over their ‘so called’ territory. ‘Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget led hundreds of Petrotrin workers on a historic “Mother of All Marches” to save the jobs of 4800 oil workers.”

Led by their attorney Douglas Mendes, SC, they presented their case to the Industrial Court and they have been successful in halting Petrotrin’s retrenchment exercise, however, in recent developments this decision was quickly overturned and Petrotrin has been allowed to continue with retrenching of staff.

The popular best-selling book entitled “Who moved my cheese,” is a must read in this rapidly developing world which is constantly bombarded with changing circumstances. Change is inevitable and therefore how we deal with that change will determine whether we succeed or fail as an independent nation.

It has been reported that Petrotrin’s current predicament was caused by high debt due in part to massive project failures, an outdated refinery that needs upgrading and over-staffing with highly paid operatives.

I could be proven wrong, but the Prime Minister I think, was left with little choice but to announce a shut down of operations and find alternative ways to run this failed organisation. Trinidad and Tobago is an independent nation. Independence means freedom, but in Trinidad and Tobago we are not yet experiencing true freedom. There are lots of division. Unfortunately, we are not free from ourselves nor from the powers of the decision-makers. In a democracy, the people are supposed to be first and not the politicians. I have noticed that in this country it is the other way around. We have the rights, but we do not exercise them in the most appropriate way.

What I feel is that T&T needs to free itself from corruption which has to be wiped off from the grass root level. In whichever sector we go, starting from the clerk level to the higher officials, almost everyone is corrupt. They openly demand money in order to get work done. Even to get a child admitted to a certain school, without that child putting in the hard work, can be done if we pay a certain sum money.

We are independent, but we must make a decision to not allow the failures of the past to negatively affect the nation’s future and begin looking for solutions to gain our freedom from the social evils that continue to plague this great nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

SIMON WRIGHT
, Chaguanas