Something wrong with developmental model

What does development mean to us as Trinbagonians? Are we really using up our resources and borrowing resources from others to meet the developmental indicators of our former colonial masters in the western world? We have funded free tertiary education in fields of study where there are little to no job opportunities and we now have an educated poor living amongst us with nowhere to turn. We have met a developmental indicator with percentages of the population possessing tertiary education qualifications but yet we see a dwindling middle-class.

Can you imagine a middle income family with both parties working cannot afford a home today? Things have not progressed because a family with one bread winner thirty years ago was able to purchase a home.

It is impossible to develop infrastructure and hope that people will develop along with the roads they drive or walk on and the buildings they work in or pass by.

Development cannot be for a few when we see so many being left behind.

We need to focus on development in our Trinidad and Tobago context and base our decisions, channel our resources and educate our citizens based on the needs of our people in their current circumstances. Shifting our thinking to becoming more strategic towards a shared vision properly communicated will help to create a society where all can progress.

Let’s allow for more wider participation in our developmental process because we are clearly missing the mark. Political polarization, lack of continuity of government programmes from successive administrations along with high levels of corruption are forces damaging our economy and regressing the standard of living of a majority of our people.

Ronald Huggins St Joseph