The idiom “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” is a warning to be careful of an enemy who comes disguised as a friend. One should not trust anyone simply because they appear friendly and kind, or alternatively, one must beware of those who proclaim their integrity and good standing which might simply be a cover for their misdeeds. The symbolism of a wolf pretending to be a sheep is also biblical. In Matthew 7:15-20 it is written “beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves”.
The metaphor is appropriate to this election season. Many will promise much to win office, but those promises will comfort fools. Similarly, we ought to have learnt that because people look like us, or belong to our racial grouping, does not mean that they will perform in office. Yet these are precisely the tactics employed. Fear of the “other” is a powerful weapon as it can suspend rationality or cloud one’s judgement.
For the last five years we have heard the UNC was corrupt and spendthrift or the PNM inadequate. The one constant throughout this administration’s tenure has been its ability to celebrate failure and pass it off as success. We have been reminded, repeatedly, that we are in safe hands even though all the game changers have failed and that the “successfully” renegotiated gas contracts at higher prices have led to plant closures before Covid 19. Or the economy turned around when it continued to decline. It could have been worse instead of what could have been done to make it better?
This Saturday, it was said that a UNC government would carry T&T to the IMF implying that IMF type policies would bring penury and hardship to citizens.
The TT economy was already in shambles before Covid 19 arrived. Pt Lisas plants were closing and energy prices falling as economy declined for four years. Oil production has continued its downward slide falling by 27 per cent since 2015. Natural gas production declined in 2019 and average production to May 2020 is -4.2 per cent lower than 2019 with lower energy prices. Indeed, Professor Theodore in his newspaper interview after the initial presentation of the Recovery Committee in May 2020, noted that it was inevitable that T&T would have to adopt IMF type austerity measures after the lock down. But aren’t Barbados and Jamaica in IMF programmes and on the road to improvement?
After five years of OJT experience, and with the benefit of the Recovery Committee’s report in hand we should be hearing the plans to overcome the challenges before us. Instead, the “natural party” of government has begun its campaign focused on the rearview mirror.
Speaking in Parliament on the Uff commission of Inquiry in November 2009, Dr. Rowley outlined how corruption works…” there are very few Ministers who find themselves in a situation to influence government expenditure directly… it is the functionaries in the system that do it. In Africa, Asia, and South America, it is the functionaries in cahoots with their partners in government…No Minister can sign a cheque.” And in T&T? Dr Rowley continued, focusing on state enterprises…” if we are not clear as to the role of the Minister in managing these enterprises, what we are going to create is a situation where the state enterprises, special purpose or otherwise, determine the country’s future. That is not what the electoral system was meant to deliver.”
These are issues on which Dr. Rowley staked his reputation.
Eleven years later, five of them as prime minister, not much has changed. The Procurement Act is stymied, campaign finance reform an empty promise. How is systemic corruption being addressed? We have ministerial committees to buy ferries and administrative errors to explain HDC sweet-heart housing deals? Are the Uff Commission of Inquiry recommendations being followed? Or the award of contracts to gangsters, or firms controlled by gangsters, stopped? Where are the policies and programmes, as distinct from handouts, to depressed communities? What action has been taken either to amend the Companies Act or to develop a State Enterprises Act? Where is the local government reform programme?
Corruption allegations by all sides continue, relying on the court of public opinion for adjudication. The institutions are in decline; the Judiciary is overburdened, the DPP under resourced, the PCA and the Integrity Commission underpowered, the public service in decline, crime unabated, whilst we celebrate the opening of more buildings, evidence of a misplaced emphasis on form over function. Is it that political leaders fear that if the institutions work, there will be no need for their intervention (housing?), rendering politicians powerless?
T&T will not improve until citizens demand performance.