Regardless of what the detractors of the People's Partnership administration may shout, democracy is alive and thriving in Trinidad and Tobago. This was the big message, in my opinion, which emerged from Tuesday's large protest demonstration organised by the opposition People's National Movement over the still controversial Clause 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) legislation.
Thousands gathered at the historic Woodford Square under a scorching sun to march to President's House where a petition was delivered calling for among other things, the dismissal of two government ministers for their alleged role in the whole sordid affair. While some, especially members and supporters of the PNM, would boast that the crowd was a large one, I was not surprised because the party collected more than 200,000 votes in the 2010 general election even though some may say Tuesday's crowd could have been many more.
But that is beside the point; the party succeeded in bringing out some of its troops to express their displeasure over the affair and generally to show their unhappiness with the ruling PP regime. And that is what democracy is all about. While the Opposition has all right to vent their anger at what they perceive to be transgressions of whatever nature by the Government I am inclined to believe that the only beneficial result of Tuesday's action was to boost the political ego of the party's political leader Dr Keith Rowley.
I don't know that the President or the acting President of the country in this instance could force the Prime Minister to give the pink slip to any of her ministers. That is the sole prerogative of the Prime Minister. Dr Rowley is also calling on the Prime Minister to break her "intolerable silence" on the matter. I find this position inexplicable in that the matter was properly ventilated in the debate which repealed the proposed legislation.
The Opposition and Government members had their say so why is it necessary for the Prime Minister to say anything at this time? The legislation which all agreed was good law is no longer on the statute books and the relief it sought to bring-easing the backlog of cases in the courts by doing away with preliminary inquiries-is now history.
Government spokespersons are saying the entire parliament is culpable in this unfortunate situation while the Opposition is claiming that it did not know that the clause was being secretly proclaimed at the end of last month. The truth lies somewhere between those two arguments.
During the debate Dr Rowley claimed the two "beneficiaries" of the clause and known as party financiers donated $2 million to the party (presumably UNC) for the 2010 general election campaign. What Dr Rowley and others are not saying is that these two gentlemen were originally financiers of the PNM before switching allegiance to the UNC. During that debate Rowley claimed to have seen a cheque for the amount.
I have a problem with this assertion in that Dr Rowley was free to take to the parliament a copy of the alleged cheque which would have given some credibility to his allegation. Because of the absence of legislation making it mandatory for disclosure of donations to political parties we don't know if the duo also donated to the PNM war chest.
The Leader of the Opposition has this damning piece of evidence against the Government and did not bother to photo copy it for future use in the parliament where he and other legislators have parliamentary privilege? This allegation reminded me of the ridiculous charge made by former Prime Minister Patrick Manning about the cost of the private residence his successor Kamla Persad-Bissessar which turned out to be false.
Rowley also charged that the country's homicide figures were being distorted to make the Government and the police look good. I asked him to bring the evidence which he failed to do. I am in no position to judge whether Rowley's allegation is true or false but he should know that the people are now more than ever politically conscious and as leader of the Opposition he should be more circumspect in making such serious charges without presenting plausible evidence.
To end as I started, democracy is in a healthy state in Trinidad Tobago, and our leaders, politicians and otherwise-must not take the people for granted. They would do so at their own peril.