The Angry Man

I am angry, very angry, at what the politicians are doing to our lovely country. God gave us everything to make this place a paradise — two jewel-like Caribbean islands washed by warm Atlantic and Caribbean waters, forested mountain ranges topped by foliage of every shade of green, watered plains, natural resources to ensure that every citizen lives above the poverty line and most important of all, an enchanting and easy-going people of nearly every race on earth. But what have the politicians done and are doing with us and to us! The country is falling apart under their leadership. They are promoting racism and discrimination and dividing our peoples. They are corrupt in their greed for power and money. They are arrogant in their pride and “know it all” attitude. They are contemptuous of us. They are taking us for fools. They ignore the cry of the people for good, honest and open government.

And I am very angry. And you should be too. There comes a time when we must refuse to accept the unacceptable; and many things are unacceptable right now. You don’t believe me? Take a look around you. Oil is selling on the world market at $50 per barrel and the Prime Minister bases his Budget on $28 per barrel. Why? Let him in plain language, tell us why. Were we outsmarted by the oil companies? And if we were, who is responsible for that? We want the transparency which the Prime Minister so sanctimoniously promised. To add insult to injury, with the shortfall in oil revenue, with not enough money to buy simple things like enough dialysis machines for the hundreds of suffering kidney patients; with hundreds of suffering patients waiting years and years for surgery and many dying while waiting; with drug shortages at the hospitals; with the mess that is our hospitals and health service; with the traffic nightmare that is slowly driving us crazy; with over twenty percent of our people living below the poverty line, etc, etc, etc, our esteemed Prime Minister insists on constructing a new building for Parliament so that he can take over the Red House, the historical seat of our Parliament, for his office; and this, against the wishes of the majority of the people. What arrogance!

We should all join Suzanne Mills’ battle-cry of anger — “No Red House for Manning.” Crime is killing us. And all we have been hearing about is “Anaconda” and other “conders” while the criminals stalk the land killing people, kidnapping people, robbing people, taking people at gun point to the ATMs, forcing people to run home before dark and making us frightened to go to bed at night even in our own homes. The Police Service seem unable to solve crimes. It can only beat confessions out of people and when the courts disallow these confessions, the cases fall apart. And now the police has become a law unto itself. It is shooting and killing more people, and more people are even being killed while in police custody. And there are no effective investigations. The sad thing is that there are many good and efficient police officers in the Service but they are helpless in a Police Service which has lost its direction and gotten out of hand.

What is amazing is that after all the grand charges by Government of one plan after another to solve the crime crisis, the Prime Minister was eloquently brief on the issue of crime in his recent Budget. “Race” is now taking on a frightening turn. After decades of racial discrimination Mr Ken Gordon and his group have confirmed that racial discrimination does in fact exist and that if something is not done, it can lead to societal chaos. Racial discrimination has always been the policy of the PNM. The Police Service is in the trouble it is in today because of that policy. The Public Service likewise. The PNM’s mantra is that the Government of this country by some kind of magical right, belongs to the negro. That was clearly spelt out in Dr Williams’ infamous “The recalcitrant Indian minority” which is still being mouthed, recently by a PNM Parliamentarian. Today however, it must be “The recalcitrant Indian majority” according to the latest statistics. Despite the several reports stating that there is racial discrimination, the Prime Minister says nothing and does nothing on this vexing issue. Instead of strengthening and enforcing the Equal Opportunities Act, the policy of the Government is to shut it out and ignore it. Why? We want to know. We cannot wait until the country goes up in flames.

And there is more. Corruption brought the UNC to its knees. The PNM got into power on the promise of honest and transparent government. From day one corruption began rearing its ugly head in the new PNM as it did in the old. The new PNM has not really changed. It follows the twin towers of racial discrimination and corruption. But it has added another tower — crime. It sups with the devil and has opened the gates of hell. A new politics is founded on the idea that politics is spirituality demonstrated and that there are more than enough good and decent people in TT to make the idea work. It sees and understands that there can be no progress in the country unless every citizen can pursue his quest for happiness in an environment of peace, security and equal opportunity. It has a plan for corruption — Not only total transparency in all public transactions but visibility of public leaders. It will open up the Public Information Act with the only exception being matters of sensitive national security.

It has a plan for crime — The PNM cannot fight crime effectively because it is imprisoned by its policies and limited by its ineptitude. The Police Service: The thrust of a new politics will be the transformation of the Police Service into a modern crime prevention and crime detection organisation. This means among other things, a review of recruitment policy to ensure that new recruits have the ability and the aptitude for police work; implementing a code of behaviour for all Police Officers, both while on-duty and off-duty; putting in place a system which ensures fast and effective disciplinary procedures for getting rid of the bad eggs; immediate and continuous training of suitable officers in scientific crime detection and recruiting new officers with crime-fighting know-how; providing the suitable and needed equipment for the job with accountability for the proper use and maintenance of such equipment; and training of all police officers in public relations with emphasis on the cardinal principle that police officers are servants of the public with quick, no-nonsense disciplinary action against any officer who violate this principle.

The Prison Services: Establishing the rehabilitation of prisoners as the guiding policy and in pursuance of this, among other things, keeping first offenders separate from hardened criminals; differentiating between “hard labour,” “simple imprisonment” and “community service” and ensuring that each is effectively carried out; establishing a parole system to encourage hope and a desire for rehabilitation; training in useful skills and academic subjects where there is a willingness and aptitude for such; proper selection and training of prison officers with an aptitude for such work and emphasising that prisoners are human beings and should be treated as such. Establishing a front-line ministry of crime prevention and detection so that the issue of crime is always on the front burner. The fight against crime will be holistic and this ministry will spearhead it effectively liaising with other ministries and departments of Government.

Communities: Vibrant communities are necessary for the peace and well-being of people and a powerful weapon against crime. A new politics will empower communities by, among other things, giving its Elders adequate power to look after the children of the community — seeing to it that they are properly nurtured and that they go to school and through school — and to work closely with the community police. The guiding principle will be that the community knows what is best for its members in matters affecting the community.