Real political change, not exchange, is vital

THE EDITOR: There is already political excitement as it seems evident that the population is fed up with the present administration. There are alliance talks aplenty and individuals with political ambition are already seeing themselves in governance. But what roles does the population expect from the next government?

First there must be an undertaking to improve the quality of life of all citizens and not use their position to benefit supporters and financiers.

There must be clear objectives and a realistic path to those objectives. Among the many must be:

* Structured police patrols with modern policing using international best practices.

* Registration of births and deaths in the community where one lives and that information sent to a central location for perusal and the production of official certificates. Those can then be retrieved at the community registration office.

* Paying for the water that one uses. It is punitive to ask citizens to pay for water they do not receive.

* Simplify vehicle registration using international best practices.

* Renewal of driver’s licence online.

* Transfer of vehicle to the new owner by signing over an official certificate of ownership to the new owner who then takes that document to the Licensing Office and collects a new certificate of ownership.

* Issuing of licence identification plates by the Government. Making one’s own plate is unthinkable in a developing country.

* Discontinuance of the long immigration form for entry into TT with the introduction of internationally acceptable machine-readable passports.

* Survey of all lands and the issuance of new certificate of ownership and/or deeds on forms similar to birth certificates for every parcel of land in TT, stating form of ownership – leased, owned, squatter with rights, etc.

* Real local government reform where the local body can raise funds independent of the State. For example, communities should charge for parking of vehicles on the streets, with lower rates for overnight parking.

* Change of water distribution where every community is transitioned to a gravity-fed system that delivers water 24/7.

* Allowing for swift justice in the courts. Separate courts for gun violence and murders. Plea bargaining or dismissal of all cases over 15 years.

* A school bus system operated by the school to address the very high volumes of traffic caused by transporting children to and from school.

* Restructure of tourism package in partnership with local and foreign businesses, with them immediately managing the swamps and tours, caves, the pitch lake, hiking trails, rivers, waterfalls and Chacachacare.

* Restructure agriculture to allow for large-scale production of cocoa, coffee, citrus, sugar cane for rum and molasses, corn, coconuts and rice.

* Encourage farmers to enhance their production of fruits and vegetables.

* Repair all roads to international standards.

* A new roadway from Sangre Grande to Mayaro and one from Port of Spain to Chaguaramas over the sea or mountains.

* Replace complicated medical assistance system with State insurance like the US’s Medicare system.

Unless these and other fundamental changes are made, a change of governance would be useless.

STEVE ALVAREZ

via e-mail