Nothing Further Before Dec. 10...
There is a fortnight to go before the general elections, and it is not difficult to predict that we shall hear no new issue or idea from the hustings... except, perhaps, further disclosures of acts of corruption on the part of officials in Panday's fallen UNC government. What we will be subjected to is repetition of issues and ideas for the twofold purpose of (1) reinforcement of attitude and belief and (2) achievement of the widest spread of influence. Because I find it almost inconceivable that there are people still to make up their minds about whether they will vote and who for, we are in for fifteen days of excess, redundancy, and stultification.
Except, as I said, we are treated to further revelations of misconduct by (officials in) Panday's regime.
The major issues are clear. In Trinidad, the UNC is focused on its performance (actual and prospective), on its claim of extreme betrayal by Team Unity, on denial of provable corruption on its part, and on ethnic inclusion. The PNM is focused on UNC corruption and waste and the consequences of deprivation and impoverishment of the most vulnerable of our citizenry, on EBC insufficiency and contamination in respect of the voters' list, on its claim of being the party that can and will provide decent, safe governance, and on its prospective performance in the wake of an egregious UNC. Team Unity is focused on UNC corruption as well, on the capture of democratically elected government by the parasitic oligarchy, on the rise in crime, and on the need for a cleaner morality in politics and government.
In Tobago, the UNC is focused on the developmental benefits it can bring to the island in the light of its achievements in Trinidad. The PNM is focused on maintenance of the gains of its quieter governance and more rational expenditure, on the NAR's (in particular, Hochoy Charles') self-depleted fund of credibility, and on the greater potential for service of its Tobago East candidate, Eudine Job. The NAR is focused on establishing the truth of its recent stewardship in the light of the PNM's ill-equippedness for governance, as well as on its claim of being better equipped to broker the shape of national government in the event of a 17-17 deadlock in Trinidad.
These issues will be articulated, of course, in terms of theft of public funds, bypassing of tendering in favour of party financiers, taking of bribes, insider trading, sudden extreme enrichment of government ministers and other public officials, voter padding, racism, greater concern for the most vulnerable, infrastructural rehabilitation and development, bankruptcy of ideas, ad infinitum. But we have heard them all already, over and over and over again. Fifteen more days of them, and we run the serious risk of political apathy and burnout.
Unless there are further disclosures.
Is the PNM holding any earthshaking UNC shockers back? Is Team Unity, from whom we have heard some of the most damning revelations of UNC misconduct, biding its time for the right moment to bust a few more deadly marks on Panday's fallen government? Will we hear, close enough to election day, of some dastardly act of misconduct with enough believability to not only stop the UNC's flippant defence of charges of corruption, but to overthrow a tribalism-blind-to-all-improprieties loyalty with an enough-is-enough liberation?
It is extremely optimistic to think that that kind of overthrow will happen. The tribalism is sufficiently intact despite the most damning concentration of onslaughts. What can more damning disclosures do?
But if they do not come, what escape is there for those of us who are beginning to be numbed by the surfeit of rehash and redundancy? We can't hide from the radio, the TV, and the loudspeaker, can we?
And, after December 10, we are not sure, are we?, that we will have produced a better state of affairs.
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