Who is popular today?

THE EDITOR: The charade that is local government elections heats up as the Government and the Opposition tear at each other’s throat, with the tribes caught helplessly in the middle following suit, as the country lies in ruins from unchecked murders, floods – you name it.
The Government has already started on the wrong note by seeking, through legislation, to counter the Privy Council’s ruling of its illegal extension of the tenure of officers whose time had expired, so that they can continue “to do their jobs,” as part of its highly-hyped “reform” programme.
But the talk of local government reform as a national effort to improve the lives of all the burgesses, everywhere in the country, has been just that, mere "talk,” for it has been mired in an enduring geo/ethno/political approach to funding in which government-held local government bodies have been given priority and those in opposition remain perennially starved for funds.
The reason for this blatant discrimination is no mystery. This reflects a trait in our system of governance emerging from our traditional race-based politics in which the tribes are rewarded for their unquestioning loyalty to their respective leaders to sustain them in office, both Government and Opposition, with the concomitant antagonism arising.
Currently, however, that antagonism has taken a singularly vicious turn with the leadership in government demonstrating absolutely no interest or concern for what the Opposition says or thinks, treating its leader with the utmost disdain and contempt, her vassals no exception.
And the latter is appearing to reciprocate so as to save face in front of her own tribe, engaging in name-calling and threats, even to the point of suing, with her own vassals doing likewise, all “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (Macbeth on life “as a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets upon the stage/And then is heard no more” – Act 5, Sc 5, 23-26).
And the rest is history with the tribe in government enjoying all the perks of office in their own local government terrain, while those in Opposition-held bodies languishing as they are.
Just look to the shiny new community centres, swimming pools, basketball courts, housing, et al, for the former as the woman in Penal cries out for her cesspit to be cleaned or the family in Woodland forced to move out of their dream home and the audacity of the powers that be threatening Moodie, et al, just trying to save their homes from the continuous flooding of the new-cut channel in Woodland.
So, with all the sound and fury on the podium, all the hype about reform, even the accompanying fanfare of neemakharams jumping ship and being lauded by their new masters, all for the camera, it’s all farce at its best, nothing but political gamesmanship, for no matter how the seats are distributed in the final count, with our pattern of governance the central government would be still in control, with the Opposition having to accept the crumbs as its government-sponsored counterparts enjoy the perks of office, win or lose.
Noam Chomsky, American linguist, intellectual and visionary par excellence, says that the two most pressing problems in the world are the threat of nuclear war and the oncoming ravages of climate change. For me, the fallout from identity politics ranks third. But identity as “difference” does not have to be divisive. Like the colours of the rainbow, each can retain its own equal status yet be part of a collective whose beauty is unmatched.
But that would take enlightened leadership which puts the greed for power behind and finds solace in the rainbow country that Desmond Tutu said we are. And this applies especially to the Opposition, for the leadership in the current government and its tribe can only be too happy with our ethnically divisive politics because of the reciprocal benefits of office to be had, as the Opposition languishes.
But the Opposition Leader and her vassals can show the character associated with enlightened thinking by relinquishing their evidently failed leadership to bring relief as a first step to their suffering tribe and, with equity established, to pave the way in the long term for the rainbow nation where every creed and race can truly find an equal place.
DR ERROL NARINE BENJAMIN
via e-mail
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