Why third-party politics will not work in Trinidad and Tobago

THE EDITOR: Do we need a change from the PNM and UNC? Both parties have dedicated supporters numbering in the hundreds of thousands, making it difficult, if not downright impossible, to be ignored.

It has been impossible to ignore the fact that the colonial masters left us married to divide-and-rule politics. An Afro-based PNM and an Indo-based UNC struggling to strike out each other. But what is the reality?

The reality is that any third political party is hamstrung to decapitate either the PNM or the UNC. Plus, of course, over the past 30 years both parties have poached significant numbers of each other's base supporters.

So, who are the third-party people if not those who have previously been members of both parties? There is absolutely nothing wrong with that except what they accuse the PNM and the UNC of haggling over – who has control of the Treasury.

TT is not only a democracy but is also as successful as can be for a struggling Third World country. Like it or not, the truth of the matter is that we are the most attractive country in Caricom for several good reasons.

Despite the side effects of covid19 and the war in Ukraine, we are strategically poised to continue excelling if a spoke is not being deliberately placed in the wheels of the PNM and the UNC.

And what is that spoke/impediment? Who are the people who wish to control the treasury? Are their leaders eminently suited to decide what is best for the PNM/UNC base supporters? Is the prize still not really the treasury?

Do we have aspirants who want to govern TT based on minority rule? Certain people want to decide what is best for the descendants of the previously enslaved and indentured?

Will race and religious hate be encouraged because it pleases the descendants of the colonial masters to turn back the racial and religious clocks? We may squabble but we are a true little democracy.

We are not Singapore. You could be put in jail over there if you flout their rules. Dissenting voices are not tolerated.

Let us deal with what we have because climate change – the hurricanes and the earthquakes – plus the covid19 virus, will have the global last word.

Succumbing to deliberate poleaxing political intervention will leave us all politically naked.

LYNETTE JOSEPH

Diego Martin