Let there be end to safe-seat era

THE EDITOR: TV6 replayed a recording that was done on the life of Roy Cape on the day that he was buried. As he spoke of his life I was reminded of my own life.

Many in TT may not have slept under a truck as Roy did, but we understand poverty. His life was that of a struggle, working from one area to the next, from Trinidad to living abroad just to survive.

I used to think that my life was unique, growing up in Moruga and being exceedingly poor, but somehow I survived and am somewhat successful. I now know that many in TT share similar life experiences.

I remember speaking to a very successful Syrian businessman who told to me of going to the outhouse at night in Arima with newspapers to be used for toilet paper. Many of us at my age share similar experiences.

The reality is that the older people of TT did not have it easy. Whether it was walking through the barrack yards of Port of Spain or the hills of Laventille working for a few dollars a week as described by Cape, or walking through the fields of Caroni planting rice or cutting sugar cane, life was difficult.

Few would know about the troubles of getting a fire going on a chula on a cold wet morning to make sada roti for the family.

Whether we are from Laventille or Penal, Toco or Cedros, San Fernando or Mayaro, we have similar stories. We struggled to make the people of this generation the successful bunch they are today. Congratulations, older folks, we educated our children, provided them with a home and today many are qualified and working in jobs that we could have only dreamt.

We did what we had to do without any handouts from politicians. We succeeded because of hard work and determination. It is therefore tremendously insulting when we are faced with political choices of incompetence, laziness and a sense of entitlement simply because one represents a certain ethnicity.

When a group of politicians decided to question the quality of representation within their party, they were labelled as traitors and placed away from others with blind loyalty to a sect that may not be representative of the integrity and competence that their constituents expected.

There is widespread dissatisfaction among the population with the representatives from both sides of the political aisle. And the people must find the strength to support those who dare to say we are better than that.

We know how hard we have worked to get to where we are today. We have done well. Now it is time for us to unite and together rescue our country from the few who feel they can do whatever they want simply because they believe they represent a certain sector of our society.

We must prove them wrong and do all we can, as we did all our lives, to fight against the divisive, self-serving politicians who are confident that they have safe seats. What we want is a safe country with the prosperity we deserve. Let there be no safe seats for those who are not representative of the wonderful people of TT.

STEVE ALVAREZ

via e-mail