WAITING FOR A POLITICAL MIRACLE

Yet there is so much that an objective Trinidad and Tobago society can learn about political culture and the dependency syndrome from studying the relationship between the PNM and the people of Laventille that began in 1956.

Such a study will take us beyond Laventille and into the corridors of power among the financing power brokers within the political system who always ensure that the dependency mentality is maintained throughout the country, manifesting itself in the dependency on the two-party system that has imprisoned our citizenry with racial politics.

To discover who controls the corridors of power and Government policies, society must examine general elections — that sometimes come like a thief in the night — and what it is all about. I was motivated to investigate the system when I heard a so-called activist/community leader from Laventille saying on a radio talk show, that "the black man doh have nottin, all we have is ah Government and we must hold on to it." The statement was a clear indication that not every political activist is a leader, which is a developing problem among grass root leadership in Trinidad and Tobago. Using reality as a guide, I found that general elections, under the existing constitution and the two-party system, are all about electing a Prime Minister, and by extension, the making of a constitutional maximum leader that has little of anything meaningful to do with electing members of parliament to serve constituencies.

The undemocratic process begins with the leader of a contesting political party who has a traditional right to reject the party groups selection of a candidate to represent a constituency, if elected. In reality, that person is selected as a supporting arm of the party leader who may become Prime Minister if the majority of "his candidates" are elected at the polls.

If the party leader does not win his constituency (seat), the party will elect/appoint a leader from among the successful candidates who will be designated party leader/ Prime Minister. Following the party’s victory at the polls, the political leader is anointed Prime Minister.

When that exercise is completed, the elected members of Parliament have no power, all of it is vested in the party leader/ Prime Minister who approved his or her nomination as a candidate in the elections. The result is that representations on behalf of constituencies become a secondary duty subject to the whims and fancies of the Prime Minister. Some of us may recall the demonstration in 2003 held by constituents in Diego Martin Central protesting the "overbearing" neglect by their representative, Cabinet Minister, Ken Valley and his inability to get a booster station to pump water up hill for the people who voted for him.

Today in the absence of MP’s the people of Trinidad and Tobago are forced to turn to radio talk shows for help. On assuming the Office of the Prime Minister, his first important function is to form a Government which he does by appointing a Cabinet from among some of his favoured elected candidates and other people appointed as Senators, based on party support rather than race or ethnicity. However, the appointment of Senators to sit as Cabinet members is the first open door for the entry of the party financing power brokers and their agents to hold controlling positions in Government.

In addition, our outdated constitution allows the Prime Minster to be the only elected member in the Cabinet, if he deems it necessary. In reality however, Cabinet is only a substantial part of the Government that is only complete with the appointment of a Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, more Government Senators, technocrats, board members on State Enterprises and advisors. Collectively, they form a Government under the two-party system, facilitated by our out-dated constitution. At the end of the process, we are governed by a selected government — fronting for the real but invisible Government — headed by a constitutional maximum leader who may be forced to heed the demands of the power brokers who finance the party.

WYCLIFFE MORRIS

Tacarigua