“Awesome power resides in these Chambers and citizens are entitled to expect us to work together to give them, not only their constitutional due, but also the blueprint for national conduct. Law and order, truth and justice, morality and decency—these are the values which should be associated with our Parliament.”
These were the words of Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes during her speech on the Re-Opening of the Red House.
These words of wisdom from our President gives the answer to carry our nation forward in these trying times.
We need our Members of Parliament working together for the common good. In a few days time, new Members of Parliament would be gracing our Chambers.
Within the last two weeks crude political attacks have been made on virtual platforms. I would have thought without the need to bring on crowd frenzy, the political speeches would have been more measured. There is no need to attack person’s personal lives.
It is indeed shameful we have to descend to this gutter politics .
Come Monday night only one party will win.
How do we expect persons to cooperate after these slanderous attacks ? Who will do the healing ? Political Change is needed where some are willing to say enough is enough.
We need a paradigm shift in our politics where some of the new MP’s can reach out to the other side in the spirit of cooperation and have the moral conviction to stand up to their leaders who may be ossified in their partisan ways of thinking, contributing to our nation’s and not their party’s well being. Can we for once stop using politics over people.
The well-being of the constituent should be paramount.
A Caucus of parliamentarians from either party willing to break ranks and stand for the principles espoused by her Excellency.
With elections days away citizens are facing the dilemma who to give the responsibility to manage our nation affairs.
We need a government to keep us safe from this pandemic, to provide basic health needs, to give unemployed the social buffer, to reduce crime, to give us affordable food and housing, proper infrastructure and systems that work for us, to raise money to keep things afloat without unnecessary hardships to the ordinary citizen.
We all know we expect difficult times ahead and we need a team to carry us through these trying times, a team we can respect.
Our leaders should be like our parents, providing us with food, education, security, shelter and recreation.
Like good parents, our leaders must set proper examples on how to sacrifice and save, how to behave, virtues like honesty and helping the less fortunate and not treating one sibling (ethnic group) better than the other.
Our Prime Minister with his acerbic style is like an impatient father who would threaten to slap us to get us to do the correct thing.
We need strong leadership to motivate us to work, obey our laws and be more civic minded . He showed courage when he stood up to then Prime Minister Patrick Manning over the Calder Hart issue. He was strong enough to break ranks for what he believed was right. He is an example for young black boys that social mobility through education is possible. He was the first in his family to attend high school. His Tobago Heritage allows him to connect with Tobagonians who may often feel neglected.
Kamla Persad Bissessar showed us she cared for citizens. The grant for single mothers , increase in old age pension and lap tops for children, fixing the rural infrastructure which was neglected for years were some of her high points. Her educational history is very diverse.
Her background in law, education and business, gives her a multidimensional approach to leadership. Her achievement of being the first female Attornney General as well as Prime Minister inspires many young females.
If these leaders with different style and appeals can let greater sense prevail and after Monday just unite for our country’s sake , if not the back benchers from either side can set the stage for a Political revolution.
I think such political entanglements are surely needed in these trying times.
As our national anthem says: Together we aspire, together we achieve.
May the best representatives be elected who can be of service to their constituents and country