Now to governance

Just two months after their landslide victory in the General Election, the Partnership announced and held the long-postponed Local Elections, and while still trying to establish themselves as the new government, went back out on the hustings to rally support for their cause. It was a courageous decision because the Partnership was viewed by many to be fragile and disorganised, even as they won the National Poll. However, they rode with this perception, and even though issues of disunity and who should contest which seats were reported, wise counsel prevailed, and the Partnership shored up their apparent weaknesses and went out and trounced the supposedly “organised” PNM once again.

It was mostly under the “heady” atmosphere of campaigning that key members of government made statements and issued challenges which drew criticism, not just from the PNM, but from many neutral commentators. And it was under these same campaign conditions that Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley issued his own challenges and criticisms, not on the Local Government theme, but on how the Partnership was handling national issues. Indeed, the Local Government Elections had very little to do with Local Government issues, and became a vote of confidence in the People’s Partnership running start to national governance.

And the result was clearly a vote of approval for the work being done so far. However, we must acknowledge that there would have been some hangover among PNM supporters, caused by Manning’s irrelevant spending spree and the allegations of corruption against his regime. But even allowing for that, we must commend the Partnership for the way they campaigned and for how they carried the day on Monday. When one recalls that at the start of the campaign, the two key partners —UNC and COP — were still unable to run joint advertisements as they sought to share out the constituencies, it is a credit to all involved that they were able to resolve their issues and to fight, and win, as a full partnership.

And we believe that most of the credit for this must go to Kamla. It has been a tremendous year for her, as she rose to challenge, first her own Party Leadership, then the might of the governing PNM, to become Prime Minister of our country. And instead of sitting on her laurels, she took her team straight back to the Local Elections to smash the remnants of the once-proud PNM. And she has done all of this with an air of graciousness and charm, although she has shown that she can unsheathe her daggers when required!

Her victory speech on Monday night reflected the graciousness and charm to which we are becoming accustomed, and we might add, which we appreciate! She pledged that the Partnership would be working for all of us, and that the three remaining PNM Councils (Port-of-Spain, Laventille and Point Fortin) would not be neglected by her government. This was a statement which was required, and the promise now needs to be fulfilled, for the Partnership had announced, during the campaign, that PNM constituencies might try to sabotage the new government and therefore might not get their due.

But for now, the elections are over. The rhetoric can be put to rest, and the Government, both Central and Local, must get on with the task of bringing governance to the people. For this is what we voted for!