Time to end the era of self-importance

STEVE ALVAREZ

I REMEMBER my first day as chairman of the SASC, the security rushing to open the car door, and pressing the button for the elevator for me. Then there was the office attendant making coffee and placing it on a tray for my consumption. I immediately put a stop to those activities, explaining politely that I will open my own door and find my way to the office. I made my own coffee and never accepted the false sense of importance attached to the office.

As the nation struggles with rising commodity prices, declining income, poor infrastructure and challenges to our system of management, there are office holders with heads held high waiting for someone to open their car doors and hold an umbrella over their head, all the while smiling with self-importance.

Mike Bloomberg, one of America’s richest men, as mayor of New York, occasionally travelled to work on the subway. But in this small island struggling with basics like a reliable water supply and an inefficient judicial system that has sunk so low that it is now garnering international attention, there are people walking around like mini-kings and queens too important to drive themselves to work or even open their own doors.

The people must stop supporting those who live off the people’s money, gathering more wealth than they can spend in a lifetime and strutting around with police patrols and support staff like mini-emperors and empresses.

There is way too much work to be done. The many who are seeking to be the next king or queen must find a way to rid themselves of such ambition and allow the people to choose the leader that they think can take them forward. Such people, many with tremendous talents, should rededicate themselves to the service of the people willing to serve as ministers in a government that will transform TT instead of seeking to be Prime Minister.

There are new highways to be built, new water distribution systems to be installed, an electrical grid to be upgraded, new water supply to be identified and put in place to replace desalinated water, a modern mass transit system to allow citizens easy access to and from work, revitalisation of our agricultural sector, transformation of our tourism sector to become a critical aspect of our economic recovery plan, restructuring of our judiciary to allow for expedited conflict resolution, a modern education system to prepare our children to face the challenges of a modern world, and so much more.

Our senior citizens must be cared for, our communities must be better managed through a restructured local government structure and, most importantly, every community in the country must be a safe place for our citizens to exist, regardless of its location.

These are the things that must consume our attention and the things we must work towards now. Not seeing oneself in the media.