Is that so, Mr Manning?

Ken Valley would have been dismayed to hear how some of his constituents were responding on Friday morning to his Prime Minister’s post-Cabinet boast. You know the brag — and I’m almost too superstitious to repeat it; it’s like tempting fate — that there had been no kidnappings in two weeks. No, Valley would not have enjoyed witnessing the reaction to his PM, of his middle class Afro-Trini, Diego Martin Central residents.

There they were, doing their Emancipation Day grocery shopping in colourful robes that they would probably never wear on other days, when the early morning news filtered through the supermarket speakers, interrupting their buying. The first item on the agenda, Patrick Manning’s crowing on Thursday about the achievements of PNM anti-crime measures, never mind the implications of his statement on the question of innocent before proven guilty: “Prime Minister Patrick Manning noted yesterday that there had been no kidnappings in two weeks, and said that his Government was optimistic that this would be a new trend. Manning also pointed out that two ‘masterminds’ behind the recent spate of kidnappings had been arrested, another behind bars. He labelled all this a ‘spectacular success’.” I don’t know what the second news piece was. It’s difficult to pay attention to the radio announcer when everyone in an aisle as innocuous as the soft drink one, is steupsing. Loudly.

“Two weeks? Two kidnappers?” One woman remarked dryly: “We feel much safer now.” “What’s wrong with Manning?” a man asked. “Why he can’t keep his mouth shut?” More steupsing and people moved on, away from the temporary irritation of a prime ministerial communication that was never meant to comfort or reassure them, but to appease an agitated business class. The Prime Minister was fortunate indeed —the NACTA poll confirming what we already knew — that the Opposition UNC leader was Basdeo Panday. He was also lucky that for many in TT, involvement in politics had come down to the cynical choice of  “who tief less or who spread State largesse more.” Were there a third option — and here I speak not of Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj or anyone in particular — Manning would not, could not, afford to lose the affection he gained and would never say the things he did. Were there an alternative, he and Diego Martin Central’s representative Ken Valley would really have to worry about such open displays of disgust in Balisier heartland.

These new “emancipated” residents of Diego Martin were not the Doc worshippers they were in the sixties and seventies. No hopeless promises, no premature boasts would serve these. And even if the Prime Minister’s bragging became a reality, only a relatively small number of high profile crimes, which is what these kidnappings were, would go away. Then what about them, the everyday, regular folk? They didn’t have the influence of any special interest group. Who would listen to their “average” crime concerns? Who cared that they would never be able to sit at home and leave their doors wide open again, abandon their car without switching on their alarms. Or that the police service, bogged down in its antiquity and bureaucracy, would never be capable of maintaining law and order anywhere, consistently, on a daily basis. Where were the much needed neighbourhood foot patrols to deter the regular petty thieves that came into their homes? Calls to police stations were still a waste of time, as they neither had vehicles or if they did, they had no drivers for these. In the meantime, someone was robbed or raped.

Unable to depend on the protection of the law, and unable as the rich and powerful or the criminals to obtain firearms, they burglar-proofed themselves in and had as many big, bad dogs as their yards and pockets would permit. They abandoned their middle-class independence by closing the distance between neighbours and forming watch groups. Some went to their churches and prayed for their children, their friends, for their houses, for everyone and everything. They also said a word or two on behalf of their country, which had somehow gone off course. They asked their God to guide the politicians, help them to stem the increasing crime, start the implementation of long-term plans and solutions simultaneously with the launch of these various “Operations.” They also wondered if their God could not do something about bridging the chasm between “the have Mercedes and three houses and the have not the next meal.” No wonder people were painting signs on beaches that sought to sanctify work programmes such as  CEPEP. Soon, some would be ending the anthem on a different note, “And may God bless our nation. And CEPEP.” However, even with CEPEP, in their view, if God did not put a biblical hand and do some real mathematical, loaf magic, their own extinction as a group, a class, was certain. Because CEPEP could never employ enough. Or, save enough souls for that matter.

As for the Prime Minister, he could boast of success, spectacular, sensational or sterling if he wanted, in the battle against alleged kidnappers. If he was correct, then good for him. In the meanwhile, they, the constituents of Diego Martin Central, would be on guard for the everyday menaces with which they resided. Oh, and they would greet Manning’s rhetoric with a tablespoon of cynicism, expressed neatly in Trini, that is, a steups. Suzanne Mills is the Editor of the daily Newsday.