2025 silly season is in full swing

THE EDITOR: With hardly any political deep breathing, we have morphed from silly season #2020 to silly season #2025. Our image is everything. Labels are attached to the usual headline-grabbing candidates: the Prime Minister, the Commissioner of Police, the Leader of the Opposition.

The PM has only to frown and he is top of the news. If he speaks, anything he says, good, bad or indifferent, goes viral. Hard on his heels is the Opposition Leader who appears to still have time to cast aspersions on the Elections and Boundaries Commission for her 2020 electoral loss. All the EBC did was report the loss.

The UNC leader is today treading political water as high-profile UNC life members appear to advocate vociferously for drowning. How many non-UNC supporters truly care? That is family business.

TT continues to be a small Third World democracy, where we can literally say what we want. That applies, genuinely, to everybody. It is my unpaid, personal view that CoP Gary Griffith has managed to get ahead of Prime Minister Dr Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the headline-grabbing statistics.

Like him or not, Griffith is the man who has improved the overall image of the police. The crime statistics, in all categories, continue to improve. While the political pundits weep and cringe at his sometimes bombastic statements, he is getting the job done.

Ask yourself this: Do we have any other senior, attention-grabbing member of the Police Service suitable of replacing Griffith? Anybody else with the capacity to engage not only our imagination but to ruthlessly attack our woeful crime statistics? Crapaud says the political truth may offend some very high-profile citizens.

I am one of those “farse” people who will buy newspapers and listen to the news just to hear what Griffith has to say on any given day. Some of it makes sense and some of it is nonsense talk. You either smile or you steups.

Here in TT we are all hung up on image. Image is everything. Confident people do not resign without a fight. One must rely on the truth that surrounds genuine performance.

Whether stick break in his ear or not, and apparently with no cover for his mouth, the vast majority of police like Griffith. The people in the street like him. The bandits know that he is not joking.

Political crapaud says, end of story.

LYNETTE JOSEPH

Diego Martin