With the loss of Ken Valley, a PNM stalwart and icon, it was expected we would see all and sundry of the PNM elite coming out in their numbers to pay their last respects to a man whose legacy would definitely include the distinction of bringing the middle class into the fold of the party. Valley is one of those PNM faces that is indelibly etched on the national psyche as being hardcore, cornerstone, foundation-block PNM. I can still vividly recall the Valley entourage on election campaign warpaths flooding into Port-of-Spain from the Vale, buses, music truck, flag bearers, motorcade and all. Valley's posse was always the biggest, largest and brightest, and Diego Martin Central was a nightmare for any political opponent of Valley. But with all that is not taking place within the party these days, and the fact that the house of the PNM seems to be all locked up with its gates shut and its doors double-bolted, no lights in the window, no doorbell to ring, many who still love the party are now wondering if the PNM is dead.
If that is the case, then the presence of the PNM at Ken's funeral may be aptly described as "death at a funeral," the name of a recent movie starring comedians Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock. For many die-hard PNM supporters there was a false expectation that Kamla's fete match PP side would burn out before half time and the great PNM would prevail and just slide right back into the corridors of power. With the expectation of an early and massive political coronary for the Partnership, the PNM never crafted a proper plan to retake power. In the delusional estimation of the PNM, the electorate's choice of the Partnership was supposed to be a political "horn," a one-night stand designed to punish Manning for his political infidelity with Calder Hart. The relationship was not supposed to last this long. It's almost one year now and the people have not yet come back home.
This new lover must be really sweet because many are wondering now, even if they go back to the PNM, what are they going back to. There is very little evidence to show that the PNM has any idea that on the ground many PNM supporters have changed their minds for good about the party and have settled in quite well with their new lover, the Partnership. It's now much more difficult to criticise Kamla Persad-Bissessar since, in the perception of many, she and her party are doing quite well and might well make full-time. The PNM has to stop hanging around and waiting for the Partnership to fail. Change the face of the party, do things to attract new young blood, be more visible on audio and visual media, make the people believe you are still alive and relevant and, for heaven's sake, those who are hell bent on dividing the party, already in a state of political rigormortis, take them out to sea and, after a short political interment there, like Bin Laden, bury them. If the PNM does not awake out of its sleep then the face of the political leader at Valley's funeral might well be likened unto looking into the face of "death at a funeral."
Dave Mckenzie
La Resource, D'Abadie