Country falling apart

RAMONA RAMDIAL

THESE PAST few weeks have been quite an eventful, confusing, fearful, adventurous period for TT. While I safely enjoyed the Easter vacation with my family, I also closely monitored what was happening nationally. It is no secret that our higher than usual coronavirus positive cases are as a result of an “Easter vacation gone wild.”

At least 50,000 people travelled between Trinidad and Tobago during the preceding two-week period. The scatter-shot protocols coming from the Ministry of Health further compound the problem. The vaccination roll-out has also been marred by delays, forex issues for the private sector to effect purchase and general concerns regarding the efficacy of the vaccines currently available, and only to a small minority of our population at that.

The political front has been an embarrassment and a heavy burden for the people of TT to bear. During a time like this we expected to see the Government and the Opposition come together to work in the best interests of us. Around the world we are seeing the parliaments working for their people. Even in Venezuela we saw Juan Guaidó publicly declare his intention to work with Nicolás Maduro to help the Venezuelan people during this covid19 pandemic.

In TT, however, the Opposition has become an entity that cowers in a corner when faced with hard decisions. Its MPs prefer to run and hide from attending Parliament, for which they are paid from taxpayers dollars, when they are not in support of certain pieces of legislation.

My experience as a former Member of Parliament of ten years is that our most important duty is attending Parliament and representing our constituents who elected us to do so. It is a serious dereliction of duty to abscond from the Parliament using cheap excuses.

Some may conclude that the Opposition Leader did not learn that one of the reasons why she lost a second consecutive general election was her decision to not support anti-crime legislation. A hat-trick of general election losses may very well be in the offing due to the continued non-support for anti-crime measures and ducking Parliament because nothing angers a population as much as politicians running away from the jobs they are paid to do in Parliament.

Eight months after losing the election and declaring themselves the loyal Opposition, I am yet to see them take on the Government and fight for us. One concerned citizen recently opined that the she is convinced the Opposition is being paid to stay silent while another believes they are intentionally being quiet for fear of “lock up.”

The people have become indifferent to the weak Opposition and its machinations. There is no real compassion nor concern for the plight of the people as the trolls promoting the Opposition can be quoted as saying, “Well allyuh vote for that,” “Take b-ll,” “Eat grass.”

My question is: who are the novices advising the Opposition Leader this time around?

The Government on the other hand has gotten its “passport stamped” a second time to continue the poor governance of our affairs. It has dragooned an entire nation into accepting its mismanagement and corruption. After eight months of Prime Minister Dr Rowley winning the general election, are we in a better and safer position? I can tell you that wherever I go, people are lamenting how bad it is and how bold the Government has become in its poor governance.

Our economy is falling apart, families of government officials are beneficiaries of state contracts, the latest being that of the brief to the AG’s wife’s law firm; many see covid19 being used to lock down and control a weary, disenchanted population exclusive of the PNM financiers, a PM that insists on talking down to a population as though he believes we are too scared to think for ourselves.

The arbitrariness of it all has hurt us as a people, terribly. The exemption process has been unfair and slow to the average citizen while the wealthy and connected enjoy getting even their dogs back home. Small and medium businesses such as bars and restaurants have suffered the brunt of lockdowns while friends of the government can enjoy a 200-person wedding reception. The hegemony has gorged and the population has become indifferent to the Government’s tyranny.

Both Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar have grown weary. Rowley has declared his intention to retire as political leader of the PNM during his second term to make way for a new leader while Persad-Bissessar fought tooth and nail to stay as political leader of the UNC with no statement on succession planning.

The tragedy in all of this is as they both stay as our prime leaders, our country is falling apart. Our indifferent population is waiting for something or someone new to genuinely fight for them.

“If we grow weary and give up, the goal remains for someone else to achieve” – Zig Ziglar

Ramona Ramdial is a former minister and MP