One of the old saws your Eyewitness has (ruefully) conceded to have more than just the usual grain of truth is that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions!” Think about it…and he’s sure each of you, Dear Reader, will concur. As far as politics goes, he’s sure the US had the best of intentions when they used the CIA to use their Labour Unions to help oust the PPP Government back in the sixties. But look how THAT turned out: the hell of a 28-year PNC dictatorship that corrupted our State so deeply we’re still to extricate ourselves from its tentacles.
So your Eyewitness was very wary when he read a report from USAID that advised “shared governance” for us again!! “The major parties need to devise a way to form a functioning democracy based on power-sharing rather than a `winner takes all’ mentality”. Wasn’t this the reason they advised Proportional Representation (PR) back then, so we could get “shared governance” between the PNC and the UF? Have they forgotten how THAT arrangement turned out??
And in case they lapsed since they’d stopped using their labour unions to “encourage” regime change, did they also forget how the “shared governance” they engineered – and then lauded between the PNC and the AFC – worked out between 2015 and 2020?? So let’s remind them. In both cases – even with five decades between them – THE PNC KICKED THEIR PARTNER THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SHARING POWER WITH, TO THE CURB!!!
It’s not only that the PNC’s never believed in. and will never practise, sharing power, it’s because they know they can get away with it!! Because ALL the organs of State are dominated by their supporters!! So, whenever they’re supposed to be SHARING POWER, they are supremely confident that the institutions through which power is exercised will support THEM and NOT the other partner!! The latter become simply a token to fool the world. If there’s any doubt, since D’Aguiar passed on, why not ask Ramjattan??
But USAID placed their finger on the solution to our (admittedly) intractable problem yet ignored it for their facile suggestion!! They noted, “The inability to achieve consensus is often seen as originating from post-colonial ethnic divisions and the politics of grievance, although key youth informants (under 35 years old) did not dwell on the identity politics of their parents’ generation.”
They should read that again. The youthful population don’t “dwell” on the old political cleavages. And combined with the point your Eyewitness has been stressing – there are no ethnic majorities any longer – any government has cross-ethnic support!!
Why push “shared governance” when this will solidify the old ethnic cleavages?
…on Barbados
While Barbados treated us very badly after Burnham had brought us low with his cockamamie economic and political policies, we’ve gotta move beyond that. If for nothing else than Barbados PM Mia Mottley saving us from going down the black hole of rigged elections by the PNC once again. And yes…it was Mia Mottley more than the US that did the job. It was she who cobbled together the second recount team – after the PNC had effectively kicked out the first!
And it was the Recount team that provided scientific evidence that the elections were free and fair! And the hocus pocus the PNC was pulling with Mingo and his spreadsheets and (stained) bedsheets stank! The clincher was then Caricom Chair Mottley’s firm pronouncements: “It is clear that there are forces that do not want to see the votes recounted for whatever reason. Any Government which is sworn in without a credible and fully transparent vote count process would lack legitimacy”.
That carried the day.
…on Oil and Gas
Those hoping that the ongoing O&G Conference will be working for the benefit of “we the people” explains why we’re still where we are.
The goal of business is profits for shareholders. We gotta work for our piece of the pie!
