Our squandered promise

Paolo Kernahan

“...THE OIL and gas wealth, multiculturalism, intellectual heritage and Carnival spirit are severely undermined by crime, corruption and race-based politics dating back to British colonialism that have fostered tensions and hindered cross-party co-operation.”

This is an extract from an article accurately capturing the tragedy of this country. Titled Trinidad’s violence blunts its promise: the country’s wealth is stolen or wasted as murder skyrockets, the piece was written in a foreign online publication by Trini-born journalist Hilton Yip, based in Taiwan.

In his analysis, Yip soberly catalogues the succession of failures that define our sorry state – in particular, violent crime. Hilton Yip, an expat of Chinese extraction, is no stranger to the necrotising touch of crime. His father, a Hong Kong native who lived in Trinidad for 45 years, was killed by bandits at the grocery he operated for 25 years.

In his article, the Trini transplant opines that this country is being held back by violence. He also goes into detail about the role race-based politics plays in the perpetuation of corruption, criminality and injustice, both perceived and real.

The underpinning ethos of my column from the dawn of its existence is this: TT has no right being the way it is today. On paper, this nation should be a jewel in the Caribbean, rather than the pumice stone we’ve become.

More than most countries in the region, TT has a confluence of natural resources. We have one of the oldest fossil-fuel industries in the world. Despite the attendant instabilities in the global oil and gas business, countless billions have flowed through this country. TT should be light years ahead of most of our peers in education, healthcare, equality of opportunities, infrastructure, exploitation of current technologies – you name it.

Moreover, due to this nation’s long life in oil and gas exploration and processing, we’ve cultivated a cadre of highly qualified petroleum engineers, economists and other industry specialists. That resource in the ground created a secondary resource on the surface – our people. Many of these minds are sought after all over the world by nations with relatively nascent oil and natural gas industries.

Beyond the black gold, there’s the real treasure – TT is a nature paradise we take for granted. The islands are blessed with tropical rainforests and swamps teeming with wildlife. From Las Cuevas beach on the north coast to Grand Chemin in Moruga on the south coast and everything in between, a visitor to this country could spend months here and still never explore everything this place has under the hood.

As a tourist destination, this country has the most diverse offerings of any location in the region. If you come here and you’re bored, your ex was right – the problem is you. There’s something for every international traveller: eco-adventure, beaches, nightlife, historical sites, etc.

Anyone who regularly visits Maracas Bay is probably familiar with that frigid mountain spring on the North Coast Road – that darkened, dangerous saddle bend where people pause to rid themselves of the tacky salt from their sunburned skin. This is one of the places where you go to be baptised as a Trini.

Perhaps our greatest resource is our people, the diverse mix of ethnicities with unique religious and cultural expressions. Hosay, Carnival, Divali, parang, soca music – it’s all a heady cultural cocktail rounding out the multidimensionality of our society.

When I was producing nature and travel television shows, I was always struck by the extraordinary selflessness of our people. In some of the most remote, practically forgotten rural areas, people who could least afford to be welcoming are.

On a video shoot in Barrackpore, I was invited to a simple meal washed down with a glass of fresh-squeezed cane juice. In Felicity for Divali celebrations, practically every home my crew and I passed in the community, people were tugging at me to come inside to “eat sumting.” There is something about Trinis that compels many to give even when they are themselves in need.

No nation on Earth is perfect, but we should not be this way. It shouldn’t be so easy for politicians to seed division among us; to weaponise and exploit inherent racial, class and religious prejudice to further their perverse objectives. This should never have become a country where criminality and generally venal attitudes have been given enough space and nourishment to devour our hopes entirely.

TT has everything it takes to be more than corruption, widespread fear and insecurity, and insouciant pigs in a pothole.