HOPE THAT TRINIDAD DOES NOT KETCH THE CAIRO COLD By David A.M. Fraser

HOPE THAT TRINIDAD DOES NOT KETCH THE CAIRO COLD

By David A.M. Fraser

It is difficult to call a state of emergency. Banks drop the country's rating immediately, and no one lends money, since a state of emergency will normally lead in underdeveloped third world countries to social cleansing, purges, expropriation, and sometimes civil war or struggles between the Police and the Military.

Extirpations also occur as old scores are settled. I do not think the Government is properly advised that the country overnight is reclassified by all the international agencies in a negative way, and it takes years to remove or repair this stigma.

Every time a country assessment is done by a foreign investment firm, it will flag in the situational analysis, the country's political, social and other issues and also the fact that the Government calls states of emergencies etc.

(I Hope that the comment made by the good Doctor about calling a state of emergency was not advice he gave to the Government?)

I also hope that the messenger was not trying to test the waters by throwing it out for public comment to gauge reaction so that they can craft messages in consonance with public perception as cause justification for a premeditated and intended course of action. If this is in fact the case, the Government ought to get better advice.

More importantly, to declare a state of emergency with the calibre of Police Officers presently in the employ of the Police Service will give rise to unfettered abuse of citizens, and not to mention the mass graft that will occur. If one finds it difficult to cull tem in normal times, imagine during a state of emergency what will happen?

The Government needs to understand that it cannot get elected to power with a wide mandate and then forget your partners in the process and fragment to about 23% popular support, granted, if everyone in your base is counted as in the bag.

This puts the government in an untenable position of governing with 77% of the population not in support of what they are doing. This is why so many governments collapse in the past ten years, and things have been tremendously difficult to implement.

It cannot work that you could play tricks to get elected, and then forget the rest, while the real government does their thing and implement or force their agenda, which is normally different from the elected mandate, on a powerless society. It is tantamount to political bullying. This simply cannot work anymore. I do not think that model can continue to hold in Trinidad and Tobago, and eventually it will lead to anarchy.

Most importantly, Mugabe Manning got the same advice and chose to ignore it at his own peril. The country became ungovernable. The PP is going the same route and the society is moving away from its dictates.

The system and model of governance cannot be spin and mama guy, it has to be grounded by a policy framework that sets out specific timelines for change and is awash with new ideas. I see Politicians from the 60's and 70's now struggling to cope with the 21st century and the new people awareness.

Most importantly, people recognise that they can recall a government, so that awareness has moved now to a successful model of action, which is precedented in Egypt and in many other states coming soon. I hope for the government sake Trinidad does not ketch the CAIRO cold.

David A.M. Fraser
fafaltd.gmail.com