A ‘POINT’ TOO FAR!

THE EDITOR: “Who Gabby tink he is?”  Chorus of a popular Bajan calypso, with but a name change, he could have been singing about Manning!  

After years of faithfully following in the footsteps of his late political mentor — to the extent of repeating the latter’s more obvious and avoidable mistakes — Manning now clearly feels secure enough to begin making a few of his own. Unfortunately for him Williams is no longer around to protect him from himself.  The circle of sycophants constantly feeding his inflated ego lack either the courage or intelligence to advise their master that autocracy and creeping dictatorship died with Williams and is today neither fashionable nor acceptable in TT. Even Cro Cro could and will probably yet inform him “we pass dat stage”.

His expressed determination to brook no opposition from any quarter on any grounds —be they financial, practical, emotional or political — to appropriating the historic Red House for his offices, is his first venture outside of the Williams blueprint. It may well be his last. He would have been better advised to confine his arrogance to critics of CEPEP and his Caroni adventure. Trinis are by and large a politically apathetic and complacent lot. Up to a point, they will in the interest of ‘Business as Usual” accept significant abuse of political power and incompetence — but only up to a point. What however is neither acceptable, forgivable nor forgettable in our elected leaders is any delusions of grandeur.  In his ambition to acquire accommodations more in keeping with his “new status”, Manning has committed just such a cardinal sin.   As President elect Max could tell him, around the poker table it is called ‘“pushing your luck”.  Who Patrick tink he is?

JOHN VERITY
Port-of-Spain