Tony Fraser said it best

THE EDITOR: In any profession, there are people who are good, not so good and exceptional.

I am pleased to say Tony Rakhal-Fraser is A-class and exceptional where journalism is concerned.

The standard criteria of journalistic excellence are accuracy, clarity and impact, and I can safely say that Tony ticks all the boxes.

I choose one of his articles written in 2018 and titled, Politics with hurricane force winds rules, to prove that what he then wrote four years ago is as valid now – more than ever – in 2022. Nothing has changed.

In his piece, Tony said TT politics is as destructive as the hurricanes which annually blow through the Caribbean.

TT politics, he continued, is the search for and acquisition of power, and politics as practised in this country damages and distorts the social, economic and political capital of TT.

In his article Tony itemised a few of the destructive and obstructive elements of the political culture, and I picked out a few to highlight the gravity of our baseless political culture.

* The underutilisation of our best human talents because of political partisanship.

* Our politics of nepotism and its concomitant corruption, which facilitates destructive outcomes, inclusive of antagonism between and amongst the citizenry.

* Obstructionist politics which blocks initiatives that can achieve good. The party in opposition condemns legislation and policy measures, often measures which it would have initiated had it been in power.

* Political considerations take precedence over sound economic thinking and planning and implementation.

* Partisan racial and obstructionist politics which locks the legal system into colonial hankering after the Privy Council while the CCJ remains underutilised.

* Cabinet as a decision-making body is hobbled by political bias.

* Fictitious political campaigns which major in bacchanal and avoid real societal issues.

As the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr once said: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” I dare say the political winds of change are neither hurricane, typhoon or cyclone – not even a drizzle.

CUTHBERT SANDY

Point Fortin