Let's commit to better Trinidad and Tobago

THE EDITOR: Recently an alleged UNC supporter found it necessary to berate me for supporting Timothy Hamel-Smith’s invitation to the UNC leader to attend a unity meeting.

I totally understand why one may find it necessary to support one’s party even when common sense would suggest otherwise. Think of our support for the West Indies cricket team. We support them almost blindly because they are our team. That is how political supporters feel about their party. It represents them.

My political position has always been that the team that I support, the team that represents me, is team TT.

It is my country that suffers when there are no strategic plans to improve our water supply, when our youths feel so hopeless that a life of crime with the possibility of an early death seems attractive.

It is my country that suffers when politicians do not understand that hoping for more oil and gas and further investment in the energy sector by foreigners is not a sensible economic option.

When we leave thousands of acres of land abandoned and place our reliance on imported food, using up our limited foreign exchange, it is TT that suffers, not any political party.

There are many who believe that the solution lies with the PNM or the UNC, or some other political entity. The two major political parties have both served and the basic government services remain way below accepted international standards. For example, they both pay for desalinated water despite an abundance of available fresh water throughout TT.

The rebuilding of the country requires the coming together of all our concerned citizens. The task in this changing world is food security, efficient use of foreign exchange, and not paying in US dollars for desalinated water. We must improve agriculture in a structured way, invest in a totally new and attractive tourism package in partnership with international investors.

Talking down to political opponents and making anyone who may not be a supporter of one’s political party an enemy may make one feel good but does nothing to improve the country in which we all live.

Let us commit to a better TT. This election year, let us vote for the change we need.

STEVE ALVAREZ

HOPE chairman