In 2025, your vote is worth more than a song and dance

THE EDITOR: If one thing has defined this past year, it has been change – some desirable, some not. We have seen the upending of political establishments from Europe to Argentina to the US. And soon, we in TT have the chance to add our voices to the worldwide shout. I speak, of course, of our much-anticipated election, due in a few months.

With that future in mind, I would like to remind our citizens about the most important part of elections: people power, our collective power as voters which drives the democratic process.

In many instances in politics this past year, voters have selected outsiders over traditional candidates. Voters have enthroned Javier Milei in Argentina, Donald Trump in the US, and they contributed to the unexpected gains made by Marine Le Pen’s RF in France.

Whether or not we agree with their choices, we cannot disagree that the driving force is the power of the people. And this is what I would commend to TT. In our system, the voter has real power only every five years. I would like to make sure that all our citizens understand that, and how crucial their use of that power is for the rest of their and everyone else’s lives.

All elections are crucial, but 2025 comes at the end of a decade of economic decline and mismanagement by two PNM administrations headed by Dr Keith Rowley. Further economic decline is all but certain in the near future. More disturbing is the government’s inability to check the spiralling crime.

In one breath, the head of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister, tells us we are blessed to live here. In another he admits “even the significant efforts of the national security agencies have not deterred the criminal minds” as the murder rate passed 600 and continued to climb in the closing days of 2024.

But most disheartening is his solution: More of the same – the Commissioner of Police has a renewal of her contract for a year. I am sure the criminal element is celebrating.

What I want to say to the citizens is that we also have a reason to celebrate. That reason is that the opportunity to fire the ultimate cause of the misery we live through every day is close, just a few months away.

But even those momentous opportunities aside, I would urge citizens to remember that this is their chance to not just change the government. This is an opportunity to change the Commissioner of Police, the heads of state and parastatal agencies, including the President, heads of state-run businesses like NGC, Paria, NP, and many others.

It is a chance to change the decision-makers for the entire public sector apparatus which, in TT, is the most significant single employer and decision-maker. Nothing can change unless the people currently in these positions change.

The tendency during an election is to get caught up in the moment, the songs, the excitement, and the atmosphere of celebration the PNM creates. They do all this to distract the voter from his or her power and responsibility. They manipulate you into trading your vote, your power, for a T-shirt and a catchy song. And with your votes, they do what they have done for ten years – wreck the economy.

As we look from the vantage point of today, with one leg in the old and one in the new year, I would remind our citizens that they ought to make the upcoming decision with not just themselves in mind, but also with the country in mind. Making this choice is the true test of patriotism.

Some people are drawn to political parties for emotional reasons, some by a political or tribal logic. These are the kinds of thinking that have led us to the present moment.

Patriotism requires that we do what is best for the country before ourselves. I have always done this and intend to continue to do so in or out of office. In these early days of the year, as we prepare to launch ourselves into it, I urge our citizens to look around, think of the future, and remember their power, and their responsibility.

DINESH RAMBALLY

UNC MP

Chaguanas West