COUNTRY UNDER SIEGE

Lamenting that talk of discrimination was being heard “up and down,” President George Maxwell Richards said the country was now “under siege as far as national unity was concerned.” Richards, who is an amalgam of many of the races that make up this multi-cultural society, stated that as the “so-called major groups” adopted positions of confrontation, he was forced to ask himself,  “What about me? What about my own children and countless others like us. “What about others of Syrian/Lebanese origin, of Chinese, Caucasian and Amerindian origin? Do we count? Do we have a say or must we stand helplessly by while others of the more dominant groups ignite attitudes that can mash up the country?”

These personal questions brought smiles to the faces of many of his listeners, including Prime Minister Patrick Manning. The President was delivering the inaugural address at the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament at the Red House yesterday. Looking from right, towards the Government, and left, towards the Opposition, as he spoke, Richards said he was not “so sure” that all was being done by every single one who occupied a place of privilege in the leadership of the country “to preserve the harmony to which we have become accustomed.” He also slammed ethnic stereotyping and cultural prejudices which led to certain people being described as “lazy, rowdy or irresponsible,” others as “covetous and stingy” and yet others as “exploitative.”

Citing the experiences of Bosnia, Herzogovina, Rwanda, Sudan and India, Richards said while these instances seemed to be far removed from Trinidad and Tobago, “we are dangerously close to adopting positions in this country that could, if we are not careful, suppress and ultimately destroy the gains that we have accomplished over several years, dating back to the pre-independence era.” The President, a retired UWI principal, also focussed on his pet topics of education and poverty. While praising the Government for supporting the expansion of the UWI, he pointed out that a world class education system and a literate population did not begin at the tertiary level.

On the issue of poverty and income distribution, President Richards said poverty eradication, (as opposed to poverty reduction) should be the goal. And using all of the country’s resources towards this objective “should be regarded as a fiat,” he added. In this light, he said the country could not escape dealing with the issue of income distribution. “Hard decisions will have to be made and it may well be that some form of affirmative action may be part of the mix, for a time, at least,” he said. However, the President pointed out that he was not convinced that poverty inevitably led to crime. “We in this country know of poverty existing side by side with honesty,” he said. He added, “But some of us have become so caught up in the evil of lust for things and power.”

Richards said, “We must and we need to take whatever steps are possible, at the policy level, to curb the greed that inevitably rears its head when there is news of an ameloriation in the income of our citizens, public servants and otherwise. They receive with one hand and others snatch from the same hand.” Richards also lamented that the country had to contend with crime, saying it was pointless to allocate blame at this stage and “facile and a trifle dishonest to point fingers.” 

“Those who lead the nation, at whatever side of the political divide, as well as outside of the formal seats of governance, must pull us back from the edge,” he said. He pointed out, however, that while the national landscape had given cause for “great alarm,” the country had occasion to be encouraged by the deeds and endeavour of many of the young citizens. The President concluded by expressing his concern for all of the families that had been affected by Hurricane Ivan and expressed his condolences to the surviving relatives of Ursula Jordan and her unborn child (who died in Tobago.)