Time to wake up and end the divisiveness

Steve Alvarez -
Steve Alvarez -

STEVE ALVAREZ

COME ON people, when are we going to admit that we continue to support two political parties that have lost the desire, commitment or competence to serve the people? By simply making that opening statement the loyal supporters from both sides are already in retort mode, stupesing and ready to defend their party.

Before getting all riled up, let me ask some simple questions. Perhaps one may find that the answers may simply not further the interests of the major political party supporters, thus “to hell with we the people.” Here are the questions:

* Why with so many instances of illegal activities conducted on our waters governments now and in the past disbanded our marine police and continues to find excuses for not reinstating this important protective force in a land surrounded by waters with many adjoining rivers?

* Why are our communities reduced to a local management structure that has no relevance to the communities they serve, especially when we inherited a well organised structure of counties and wards?

* Why did we take productive workers from agriculture and trades and offered them jobs to cut grass along our roadways? Why are they not restructured to do meaningful work like road repairs, signage, bridge repairs and fixing leaking water mains?

* Why, having inherited a water system that equitably distributed water through gravity and a system of pipes that in the dry season refilled the Hollis Reservoir, did we resort to a system of pumps that destroy our domestic plumbing and damage our roads?

* Why continue to make excuses for not replacing our silly system of everyone making licence plates to a state-issued plate with security features?

* Why do we ask our aged, infirmed as well as others to line up in the sun and rain to pay government bills and access services when such transactions can be done online?

* Why leave the island of Chacachacare abandoned when it is equipped with two jetties, beautiful beaches and internal roadway? This island can be an integral part of our tourism development to earn foreign exchange.

* Why with thousands of acres of undulating productive grasslands we are not planting the Moruga hill rice that can do well in such conditions as well as corn to not only supplement our food import bill but to export as well? Why are we not cultivating enough sugar cane for our local sugar supply and molasses to support our run industry?

* Why after I went into detail years ago and indicated to the government that it was impossible under the proposed system to collect property tax has it not abandoned the system and simply increase the tax by a percentage consistent with economic growth?

* Why are there not government incentives to upgrade the La Brea pitch lake visitor facilities, manufacture steel pans, improve cultural activities within the communities and keep our rivers and communities clean?

One can go on and on asking why simple things that are common to almost every developed country in the world is ignored by both the Government and the Opposition. The answer might simply be that their political sustenance is not dependent on performance but on the ability to sow seeds of hate, division, distrust and racial divisiveness among a people lacking a sense of nationhood.

This political climate cannot be allowed to continue. We the people cannot continue to support those who with loud mouths and a penchant to say anything for media attention lead us along a path of hate and divisiveness. We are one people, one nation under one flag. We either unite now or foolishly hope that from among those who thrive on divisiveness a nation would emerge.

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"Time to wake up and end the divisiveness"

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