On Monday, Trinidad and Tobago will celebrate 64 years of Independence. Flags will fly. The anthem will play. Politicians will speak about how far we have come.
And we should celebrate. Independence represented the belief that the people of Trinidad and Tobago had the right to determine their own destiny.
But before we congratulate ourselves too loudly, perhaps we should ask a more uncomfortable question, “After 64 years of Independence, how independent are we really?”
Because independence is more than lowering one flag and raising another. It is about whether a people can stand on their own feet. Whether a country can build its own future. Whether its citizens can live with dignity and opportunity without constantly waiting for someone else to decide their fate.
And increasingly, Trinidad and Tobago looks like a country that is waiting.
Waiting for foreign exchange. Waiting for land and housing. Waiting for approvals. Waiting to be paid. Waiting for basic services to work. Waiting for the next government to deliver what the last one promised.
We have become a country of applications, committees, announcements and excuses. Somewhere along the way, we began to accept this as normal.
Our economic dependence is perhaps the most obvious example. For decades, we have spoken about diversification while remaining tied to oil and gas. We import what we could produce. We borrow to cover what we cannot afford. And we celebrate plans and announcements as though they are achievements.
That is not economic independence. That is dependence with a national flag.
When the economy falters, it is the small business owner struggling to access foreign exchange, the family facing rising prices and the young person wondering whether there is a future here who pay the price. A country that cannot create opportunity beyond the fortunes of a single sector is not truly in control of its own destiny.
And if we are going to speak honestly about 64 years of Independence, we must also speak honestly about responsibility.
The PNM led Trinidad and Tobago into Independence and has governed for the greater part of our independent history. It had more opportunity than any other political party to shape the country we became. But that history also demands accountability for what we failed to become.
The PNM was not merely a government that came and went. It was the original architect of much of the Trinidad and Tobago we know today. The political culture, the institutions and too often, the systems of dependence that have kept too much power in the hands of those at the top.
After decades in office, its record cannot be separated from the waste, mismanagement and failures that have held this country back. The party that had the greatest opportunity to build an independent nation must also carry the greatest responsibility for the foundations it left behind.
So after all that time, why are we still so dependent?
But history also teaches us that changing governments can make a difference. The original UNC government under Basdeo Panday demonstrated that political change could bring tangible results. Between 1995 and 2001, Trinidad and Tobago experienced a significant economic turnaround, while murders fell sharply in the years following its election, declining from 143 in 1994 to 93 by 1999.
It did not solve every problem. No government has. But it proved something important, change is possible when governments are prepared to govern differently.
That is precisely why changing governments, by itself, is not enough. Progress must be built upon. Mistakes must be corrected. And institutions and systems must be strong enough to outlive the governments that introduce them.
Instead, we have become accustomed to exchanging governments and calling it change.
The current UNC Government must understand that distinction better than anyone. It was elected with an opportunity to change how this country is governed, not simply to inherit its problems, blame why they exist and ask citizens to wait. At some point, announcements must become delivery. Promises must become results.
And that brings us to perhaps the most dangerous form of dependence, dependence of the mind. The belief that nothing will ever change. “That is just how Trinidad is.” “That is politics.” “We will see.”
Those words lower our expectations and excuse failure. They teach us to accept what should make us angry. Governments will respond to the standards we set for them. If we accept excuses, we will get more excuses. If we demand only that our side wins, rather than that our country works, we should not be surprised when the cycle continues.
The PNM cannot escape responsibility for the country it helped shape. The UNC cannot escape responsibility for what it does with the opportunity to change it. And citizens cannot keep accepting an exchange of governments as a substitute for real change.
So on Monday, by all means celebrate Trinidad and Tobago. Wear the colours. Sing the anthem. But do not confuse celebration with achievement.
Independence was the beginning. It was never supposed to be the finish line. Sixty-four years later, the question is no longer whether Trinidad and Tobago is independent. It is whether we have become too comfortable with dependence.
Mickela Panday
Political Leader of the Patriotic Front and Attorney at Law
e-mail-patriotic.front.tt@gmail.com
