Changes coming

IN THIS country’s history the year 2020, which today dawns upon us, has always been freighted with political symbolism. Patrick Manning staked a claim to it more than a decade ago, choosing this moment in history as the end-point for a range of sustainable development goals.

Critics said Vision 2020 was rhetoric, supporters said it showed the PNM had a plan. Today, it is for citizens of all political parties to gauge the extent to which we have been able, as a mature democracy, to realise some of the dreams we have long held. For better or worse, the year 2020, once a sci-fi dream way in the future, is now a reality.

We must all look forward. Change in some form or fashion is guaranteed.

Already, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has rung in the year announcing adjustments to his Cabinet. More may well be on the horizon as we enter the home stretch to a general election due in coming months.

That election raises the prospect of new faces in Parliament: some longstanding UNC figures have already said they are bowing out, while the PNM may opt to re-engineer its slate to regain ground after the results of the local government elections. As such, when Parliament moves from its current home at the International Waterfront Centre and returns to the Red House this month, it will be a fitting encapsulation of the alterations ahead.

Most are already seeing change in their pockets, literally, with the new polymer bills becoming the sole tender for $100. That shift speaks to even wider reforms in the regulation of the financial sector, still reeling from local and global conditions and the Clico fallout.

This year will see new laws take full effect, such as the one abolishing preliminary inquiries. Measures to support the introduction of “drugalysers” in the wake of the decriminalisation of small quantities of marijuana – itself a seismic shift in terms of how we think about criminal justice – are also expected.

In Tobago, the House of Assembly election is on the horizon. But first the PNM’s internal election for the leader of the Tobago wing will determine who will take the party to that poll.

This year will return us to many unresolved matters from 2019. Critically, the fate of Venezuelans who have complied with the State’s registration drive/amnesty will come up for review. That matter of foreign policy will likely continue to test us and the region, especially with uncertainty in relation to dynamics in the US where a presidential election is due and an impeachment trial is looming over Donald Trump.

The Petrotrin matter will press for resolution, as will outstanding wage negotiations. The climate change emergency will continue to bedevil us. But the biggest challenge will be crime. Many will be hoping that in 2020 we’ll have real change, not exchange.