Manning’s ego shining brightly

THE EDITOR: It is good that PM Patrick Manning is taking note of the critics of him and his administration with regard to the spending spree his government has embarked on in their quest to “develop the country.” I, as well as every serious thinking Trinbagonian, want the country to develop and prosper. Who in their right mind would want anything less? The questions then becomes: development at what cost, what is being developed and who are the beneficiaries of that development? Another cogent question can be: are there priorities being set in the mad rush toward this development?

I for one believe not. And that is where the “ego” thing comes in I believe. Instead of Mr Manning and his regime working on “fixing” the broken down infrastructure of the country, he is fixated on these grandiose ideas that “look pretty” on the outside, while the core is still rotten as hell. Here are some of the priorities I believe the government should tackle first: Rebuilding, remodelling, repairing all police/fire stations (people don’t work well in an unsafe/unhealthy work environment).

— Purchasing new fire fighting equipment for the fire service (train the fire officers on the use and maintenance of that equipment)
— Revamp the Public Service regulations and personnel management laws of the country to make it easier to discipline, promote, demote and fire a delinquent public servant and hold them to high standards in doing their jobs — customer service being number one.

I do agree with the PM that all great countries and great leaders have bold visions. But those countries and leaders also have supportive personnel who know how to “take care of the little things.” And when they do, in most cases, the big things take care of themselves. Well, in TT, the little things (security, fire hydrants and working hoses, schools, medical care, roads, transportation systems, water, flood control, control on inflation, etc) all seem to be in shambles with no one in charge or willing to step up and assume responsibility when things go wrong. There is no “the buck stops here” take-charge person with the integrity to admit his screw-up, either fix it or resign from his position.

Until these things are “fixed” to the public’s satisfaction, all the grandiose ideas of “changing the PoS skyline” and impressing the rest of the Caribbean with our “vision” will be seen as nothing more than Mr Manning’s ego shining brighter than ever, with nothing of substance to show behind it. So no Mr Manning, we are not against your bold visions for this country. In fact, I and others applaud you for having them. We are just saying that you need to fix the little things first, before you go blowing our money on these exorbitant “ego” projects, while we sit and waste away in the rot and squalor of our decaying society.

Many of my suggestions will take money (of which we have no shortages). But many others will take a political will and an honesty with the people to let them know that they and their attitudes must change if we are to progress as a nation, together; not them or us but we.  No government can do it all. It will take the uniting of all citizens behind your endeavour to fix what is wrong in TT. It is the only way for your Vision 20/20 to succeed. The final question is: do you have what it takes to be that kind of a leader who can deliver such a message and get the people behind you in this united cause? We will wait and see.

KELVIN C JAMES, Sr
Port-of-Spain