It is very difficult to write about the Petrotrin saga due to the limited information that is made available to the public. We live in a corrupt nation that is always changing and we have little choice but to find a way to deal with that change. The Petrotrin issue and the recent acts of sabotage against the oil refinery further highlight the fact that people are resistant to change. Change interferes with autonomy and makes people feel that they’ve lost control over their 'so-called' territory. Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget led hundreds of Petrotrin workers on a historic "Mother of All Marches" to save the jobs of 4,800 oil workers. Led by their attorney Douglas Mendes SC, they presented their case to the Industrial Court and they have been successful in halting Petrotrin’s retrenchment exercise.
The popular bestselling book entitled Who moved my cheese, is a must-read in this rapidly developing world which is constantly bombarded with changing circumstances. Change is inevitable and, therefore, how we deal with that change will determine whether we succeed or fail as an independent nation. The story that the book tells involves four characters, two mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two "little people" named Hem and Haw. All of them are in a maze looking for cheese, which they need to survive and thrive.
Petrotrin has found itself in a precarious position and as a result, thousands may soon find themselves in a position where they will no longer be able to depend on the once successful oil refinery for cheese unless alternative arrangements are made. It has been reported that Petrotrin's current predicament was caused by high debt due in part to massive project failures, an outdated refinery that needs upgrading and over-staffing with highly paid operatives. I could be proven wrong based on my limited knowledge, but the Prime Minister, I think, was left with little choice but to announce a shut down of operations and find alternative ways to run this failed organisation. As I write this article, we wait to see the outcome of the allegations made by MP Roodal Moonilal against the Prime Minister and the A&V oil scandal.
T&T is an independent nation. Independence means freedom, but in T&T, we are not yet experiencing true freedom. There is lots of division. Unfortunately, we are not free from ourselves nor from the powers of the decision-makers. In a democracy, the people are supposed to be first and not the politicians. I have noticed that in this country it is the other way around. We have the rights, but we do not exercise them in the most appropriate way. T&T gained its independence from Great Britain on August 31, 1962, but now we have to get free from a whole lot of social evils, (such as an out-of-control crime situation) and many other problems that have their stronghold in T&T. The most recent problem with no easy solution going forward being the Petrotrin fiasco. There is no more Petrotrin-dependence.
T&T needs to free itself from corruption which has to be wiped off from the grassroot level. In whichever sector we go, starting from the clerk level to the higher officials, everyone is corrupt. They openly demand money in order to get work done. Even to get a child admitted to a certain school without having to put in the hard work necessary to get there, we can pay a certain amount of money at these various levels, from the receptionist to the principal. To get our driver's licence we can pay a licensing officer to award us one without having to do the exams. Corruption is rampant. We are independent, but we must make a decision to not allow the failures of the past to negatively affect the nation's future and begin looking for solutions to gain our freedom from the social evils that continue to plague this great nation of T&T.
SIMON WRIGHT
CHAGUANAS