Who is popular today?

THE EDITOR: The outcome of general elections held prior to a deadly pandemic may not be identical to the outcome of general elections carried out during or after its devastation.
The political campaign run by the PNM in the lead-up to elections held in August 2020 was vigorous and well orchestrated. At various venues there were powerful speakers who in cogent and eloquent language took turns at rehashing incidents of theft of enormous sums of taxpayers’ money.
In the addresses of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance they quoted estimates for many large projects which were far less than the quotations of their predecessors. Accentuating impropriety while in office and hammering home the quantum of taxpayers’ money that was saved on certain projects when undertaken and completed by the Government of the PNM constituted the core of many of their podium speeches.
When the election bell was rang, however, the narrow margin by which the PNM won was indeed flabbergasting and bore testimony to the fact that there had been something fundamentally unstable.
Political observers have noted that the issues that would create change in the mindset of the electors and bring about some degree of modification in their voting pattern are quite different and diverse.
Two incriminating and damning newspaper reports – “Siu Tong and Lee Lum (not their real names) facing multiple corruption charges” (Express) and (2) “PM: Government has evidence that former UNC ministers accepted bribes” (Loop News) – seemed inadequate to produce a deterrent effect on voters even though the facts were relative to a period during which the people named held high political office.
In this multicultural, multi-ethnic society, statistics have revealed the following:
East Indians – 40.3 per cent, blacks – 40 per cent, mixed – 18 per cent, whites – 0.6vper cent, Chinese and others – 1.2 per cent. Our East Indian brothers and sisters, although clannish in nature, are beautiful and reliable nationals and the inclusion of blacks into their political party has contributed to their blossoming into a strong and formidable entity.
It is worthy of mention that there is nothing, nada, zero which constrains blacks to vote in favour of the PNM but in direct contrast there is an irresistible force which has the capacity to consistently place the UNC in a favourable position at the polls. Some have designated it as tribal allegiance while others have ascribed it to “racial solidarity,” but “a rose by any other name is still a rose.”
Geared toward victory at the polls in the next general election, ministers seeking re-election should regard it requisite to emulate the policy adopted by the late prime minister Patrick Manning and MP Morris Marshall as those two men of honour had never lost their seats.
The secret of their constant triumph resides in the fact that they had set aside one day in each week to attend to the affairs of their constituents but Marshall in his manouvres had exceeded all expectations as he often dipped in his pocket to assist women who did not have the means to purchase baby pampers.
The perspective of political gurus is that general election 2025 would be the grimmest in decades. The economic decline generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the loss of jobs, the loss of lives of citizens and the emergence of adversity and hardship due to covid19 are factors by which their prediction was guided.
It is not unusual for people or organisations to suffer and endure gross punishment for offences which they never committed. In this scenario, politicians vying for re-election in that next election should apply unorthodox methods in defending their seats and capturing fresh ones. Maintaining communication with constituents, donating Christmas and birthday gifts to their children, aiding to restore comfort in their time of distress and grief would contribute to cementing representation and to the opening of new doors.
Currently there are people in the population who do not know who their various parliamentary representatives are. This dilemma must be speedily rectified and ministers, having regard to the grim situations they currently face, should conduct their affairs during this remaining three years in office as though it were three months.
The strong conviction of political advisers that general election 2025 would be “no walk in the park” should not be discarded and the concept of early canvassing should be embraced, as there is no other channel to pursue to evade that exceedingly bitter taste of defeat.

DAVID C O’NEAL

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