Independence: Celebration or Consternation?

We did not fight for this presumed privilege, indeed Britain seemed quite pleased to shed us and many other colonies. We were bright-eyed and innocent, with our new Flag, Anthem and the Emblems of Nationhood. We were a literate, reasonably industrious, and relatively happy people and our future shone brightly, as indeed it should have. While of course there were naysayers, most of us believed in ourselves and in our prospects as a Nation.

What happened? Who failed us? Or did we just fail ourselves? Of course, I am writing on the strong assumption that most of us overwhelmingly acknowledge that our dreams and visions have not been fulfilled. In 1987, for our 25th anniversary, Lord Funny sang “Twenty-five years have passed. How you feel?” Well, how you feel today? Another oil boom has come and gone. And we still do not get it, do we? So we are going to celebrate on Wednesday, heap accolades on some, the deserving maybe, and others maybe not. We will have our fireworks and make believe that things are going to improve in our country. As a matter of fact, that is what the government of the day is going to tell us: That we need to celebrate and be proud of ourselves because we are still here as a nation. But the truth is, and we all know this, we are in deep trouble as a nation and as a society. And our financial situation should be the least of our concerns. Money has come and money has gone, and we continue to slide into crime, corruption and incompetence. Indeed, we have encouraged these ills to grow like cancers in our society.

Murders and violent crime are the single most attention-grabbing ills we have brought upon ourselves. We have become numb to the children shot dead, the severed heads discovered on restaurant tables, the blood on our streets. And we are numb now to the insipid “grandcharge” statements of a lengthening line of failed Ministers of National Security. Get real folks, there is no one, and nothing on the horizon that is going to overcome our violent crime in the short term.

But the Minister is pleased with his troops’ “commitment”.

If violent crime is our most frightening failure, corruption is the most enduring. Every aspect of almost every government “service” is embedded in graft and corruption. From the simplest transactions like passing a driving test, all the way to the multi-billion construction or purchase contracts, everything is corrupt.

Much of our government “service” is deliberately manipulated to be totally incompetent for the sole purpose of facilitating bribes so that the public can finally “get through”. And people flaunt their corrupt wealth proudly in the faces of the poor and the disadvantaged.

You think this is going to stop? You think changes in government are going to end corruption and fraud in our land? Who is going to stop this corruption? And when? And how? You know better, the best you can hope for is “your turn”, so you can steal too.

Our health service is a chronic disaster. We all know this, but Party comes and Party goes, and the only difference is different people get the riches, but the same old people get the illnesses and die. You know of someone who is going to fix this? Who, when and how? Education is in crisis, from collapsing schools, to the production of illiterate graduates, to children filming themselves copulating in their classrooms. How are you going to fix this? Government buildings and their services are dirty and broken.

Ministers have to decide when to clean toilets. Citizens abuse and damage facilities put in place for their use and comfort.

Our countryside is filthy, and we harbour no shame about this. What is wrong with us that we damage, destroy and litter everything, everywhere? This is our country now, our buildings, our beaches and roads. Why do we hate this place so? What is wrong with us that we have sunk into this slime of corruption and incompetence? It is not that we cannot do better, for in every field we have individuals who rise, like brilliant stars, to international acclaim. We momentarily cheer them on and then return to our crooked, incompetent selves, a condition we proudly acclaim.

And what might be the solution to all of these failings? A Day of Prayer on Republic Day? Give us a break! They say God helps those who help themselves.

A society content to wallow in crime, corruption and filth is not going to attract help from any Deity.

Take up thy bed and w a l k , TT ! C l e a n up the c o u n - tr yside instead.