Today, on the way to buy newspapers, I was entertained by Bro Valentino singing one of his classics: Dis place nice. For those of us who still love vintage calypso, the words to this song are as close as you would get to a perfect description of our society. It is a lyrical version of Naipaul's take on who we are as a people.
I told myself surely we must have evolved from the people Brother Valentino described in song so many years ago. We are generally a congenial and friendly people–still amenable to casual off-the-cuff conversation. So as I got to the cashier to pay for my newspapers I overheard her telling the customer in front of me who handed her a $100 bill that she wanted "change." In typical Trini style, another customer chimed in: "If yuh want change go an' vote." Well, I had to laugh yes! I love the light-heartedness of our people.
I must confess that I love our local music. So, on my way home I drove to the strains of more contemporary soca and one in particular, in which the chorus is: "Make a ring and follow the leader, leader, leader...." Comparing these lyrics with those of the bard Valentino, I thought to myself, if we followed a leader after forming a ring we would end up going around in a never-ending circle! So much for "modern" lyrics!
I opened one of the dailies to the headliner: Fuad claims drug crisis. Dr Khan suggests that the health sector is on the verge of a drug crisis principally because of a reversion by the present government to re-centralising the purchase and distribution of pharmaceuticals for the health sector to Nipdec. I thought that cannot be right. Having been a hospital consultant at the San Fernando General Hospital for some 26 years, I know that all five Commissions of Enquiry into the health sector since the 1960s had recommended decentralising that process. The RHAs were created in part to accomplish this. Hence, over the past couple of years, to Dr Khan's credit, the daily cry of drug shortages had become a thing of the past. In fact, most of the very newest drugs had become routinely available and easily accessible at public hospitals. Whatever he had done was working and working well for the patients.
Well it seems that Mr Deyalsingh is also nostalgic about the days of yore. At a time when the country needs the right policy choices so as to realise novel revenue streams, he advised Dr Khan to return to his private practice, to the "oodles" of money he makes there. Ironically the country needs to make "oodles of money" as it did under the guidance of the previous government. Perhaps he should return the reins of his ministry to Dr Khan.
We have forgotten Valentino's wisdom and have formed a ring to "follow the leader, leader, leader..."
Mr Deyalsingh will surely know in time, who created "the perfect storm of stupidity" as he calls it. Until then we sing: Trinidad is nice, Trinidad is a paradise!
Steve Smith