‘Eat ah food’ Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

THE EDITOR: You always hear the saying “Trinidad sweet too bad,” but we can all remember times when we had too much sugar causing our stomach to feel sick.

These days, this is more often the feeling I get when I look on at the nation’s headlines.

True to the title of this piece, these days integrity is often sold for a state brief, board position, contract or other forms of financial enrichment. When a loaf of bread costs more than the hourly minimum wage, can you really blame them?

But how did we get here? Politics surely is a nasty game regardless of the side you choose. At any given point in time, you can be chewed up and spit out to protect agendas, secrets, blackmail. Trust me, I know better than most what even your own can do to you.

But the dirty politics has led to the current and constant stomachache that TT faces. In some countries, members of the sitting government would be fired and facing charges of misbehaviour in public office by now for involvement in this Vincent Nelson saga.

Prime Minister Rowley continues to look foolish, and all this in the midst of a PNM leadership election but the reality is nothing will change. Politics is rotting this country and it is easier for many to turn a blind eye and “eat ah food” while Rome burns. Trinidad really sweet.

This mentality has even infiltrated bodies and associations formed to protect certain professions and the general public. Where is the Law Association of TT (LATT) in all this? Definitely something I will write on soon. Its pin-drop silence (at the time of writing) is a great cause for concern. If not LATT, who is entrusted to safeguard the integrity of the profession?

In this entire fiasco between Young, al-Rawi, Scotland and clueless Rowley, the only glimmer of hope as a legal practitioner has been the conduct of DPP Roger Gaspard, SC and his office. The immediate distancing of the Office of the DPP from this indemnity train wreck is commendable and preserves the independence of one of our most important institutions. Today, as a former student of Gaspard’s, I stand proud and hope that this continues to be the case.

Another of my former lecturers, this time ironically in the course of ethics and the legal profession, President Paula-Mae Weekes, ought to give the entire Government a failing grade for bringing the profession and the country as a whole into disrepute. Should Weekes remain silent in all this, she may fail herself. Madam President, remember your teachings.

It takes fortitude to stand against a government in the wrong, it takes even more to stand against your own. I encourage all right-thinking citizens to think TT first and politics after. Secure your families, your future and your well-being. Let’s make TT sweet again.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.

“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”

– Martin Niemöller

RISHI ND TRIPATHI

attorney and former

UNC temporary senator