TNN 92
Hello folks…an’ welcome again to we broadcast…(deep voice)…This Is TNN…… Why everybody jus’ ignorin’ de highway code….dem young drivers runnin’ races on de road…….. (background music, ah forget who sing dat)
Jumpstation: Democrac(k)y; Football frenzy.
Yeah, dat is how we spelling it now…. because party split, man split from de party an’ now man tryin’ to fuse wit’ anodder party to mash up de place (an’ de House …of Representatives, that is ….also!).
My word, t’ing does happen…. what eh meet yuh eh pass yuh… night run till day ketch him… if alyuh getting’ meh drift….
What we need is ah voice of reason… an’ tah-dah! …de Cobra comin’ wit’ he fangs extended….!Yes, man, ah have to say somet’ing… but ah go have to do it lookin’ at it from democratic systems and principles, so dat it eh have no personality to damage or anything…. anybody who get lick up in meh analysis, dat is incidental, or as de US say, dat is “collateral damage!” Ah go use ah little English to help meh out…..
Now in a democratic system such as ours, the President selects the person who “in his opinion, commands the majority support in the House of Representatives” Thus PM Panday was appointed based on the fact that he controlled 19 of the 38 seats. The President has since received letters from three MP’s stating that they do not support the Prime Minister. This means that he is sure of the support of 16 members in the house. Thus the a priori reason why he was appointed, that is, having a majority, has now been removed. Therefore he should do what any normal democratically selected PM should do….RESIGN IMMEDIATELY or call an ELECTION!
There is no need for the President or anybody else to intervene and try to hire or fire anyone. The continued refusal of the PM to resign may be compared to this scenario: you are given a job, but every year, you have to take an exam (have a majority in the house). Once you pass the exam, it is agreed that you keep your job (Prime Minister) and you agree. Now you have failed the exam (lost the majority) but you still want to keep your job. That is untenable! But since the PM has opted neither for resignation nor election thus far, the country is now being governed by a government with a minority support in the house, which is a contradiction of the first tenet of democratic representation. Proof that the government has lost its majority is evidenced by what happened on Friday last.
The government was defeated on three pieces of legislation that it sought to pass. Thus the government cannot pass laws, which makes it a lame duck or sitting duck government, depending on how you look at it! I for one fail to see the reason for any crisis….. it is quite clear what should be done.
Now if the PM resigns (Ha! Ha! Ha!.. Sorry, couldn’t help dat!), then the President will ask if anyone else in the house can command the majority in the house. In a real state, another person from the party would step forward, the other MPs would rally behind the person and the country gets a new PM, but the same party stays in power. In other cases, the Opposition will be able to solicit votes and therefore come to power, which seems likely in this case. But it does not necessarily have to be that way. Since the majority is so slim in the case of Trinidad, the Opposition now has a chance to take over governance.
From the above, it is clear that this is not about Panday or Manning, it has everything to do with proper democratic governance.
The legal aspects and talks on Constitution have only served to obfuscate the issue. There is no need to quibble over the meaning of words. Apply the rules of democratic representation. But because we haven’t we have the irrelevant coming to the fore: whether the President can fire the PM whom he has appointed? Apparently it seems that he can appoint but not revoke… a thing most strange, since he appointed the PM based on a condition (commanding the majority). Taken to its logical conclusion, it means that the Constitution supports a minority government, which is a dictatorship!
The other question of the no confidence motion is now getting much airplay. If a no confidence motion is brought in the House and the PM fails to secure a majority, he has one week to resign or call an election. Why then does the Opposition not call a vote of no confidence? Ask Manning, not me. My guess is, he does not want to go back to the polls, because even with the UNC torn down the middle, it is still possible for Pathos to lose an election because of his political ineptitude. This is a man who would find enough water in a desert to drown himself!
Should we go for a general election? Usually that is the very last option to be considered in any state, since many government functions and projects go into abeyance for a couple months, in addition to which, the entire country is forced to undergo a rather traumatic experience. Consider also if the election comes 18-18. What then? Somebody will have to jump to make a government anyway!. And again, carried to its logical conclusion, if two people in the new government jumped after 3 months to the Opposition, would you go to another general election? Then you would end up having 3 general elections every year. A reality we have to understand is that people in a free society may change their association
A point which the present PM recognises: he has been part of 3 accommodations over the last 15 years, in order to obtain/remain in power. The most recent was when he took two members of the Opposition and put them in the government as Ministers. His problem is that now, it has happened to his disbenefit! Therein lies all the talk about Judases and jackasses etc…
To turn now to the characters who have jumped ship….what do I think of them? Regardless of the reasons why they have stopped supporting the Prime Minister, personal gain, disagreements, power, etc… I must say that these men are the BRAVEST politicians this country has seen.
They have clearly voiced their grievances, stood up to the leader and seem willing to take their medicine, come what may. I can think of no others that have so clearly enunciated a policy of independence from mindlessly supporting a party or leader. They will pay a high price, I imagine, but if only for showing how politicians should take a stand, I applaud them. When they had their problems, they called meetings in their constituencies and informed the people. In the last internal elections, the slate put up by them to screen candidates for the constituencies were all endorsed, showing that they had the support of the party members in their constituencies. Their language has been for the most part guarded and dignified. Compare the rantings of the leader who have accused them of all manner of evil, villified, denegrated their characters, lampooned and even threatened them.
Of course the trump card is, these fellows have control of the executive of the party, so it should be interesting to see how this pans out, since to dismiss anyone from the party, the executive has an indispensable part to play. So will himself fire himself or will they give in to pressure and resign?
And what of Pathos (…one minute while I shake my head in despair….). This man will miss de Red House from inside! He has two petitions before the courts seeking to invalidate two candidates from the government benches. He seems likely to win them, so if in fact he gets two seats extra, plus the lone NAR vote, he will automatically get the majority.
Rather than wait, he has quickly jumped in with the so called dissidents….. this of course makes you look power hungry, greedy, grasping and avaricious, especially since one month ago, you were demonising at least one of them! If he had just allowed the bacchanal to continue, his part to the PM’s Office would have been virtually assured, since he would have to fight a split party. He could then tell the dissidents that he would accommodate them, but on certain terms and not as members of the PNM. Just associates in Parliament. In that manner, you remain uncontaminated by the fallout.
That is the way to go in my book, rather than the pathetic manner in which he has gone about grabbing anyone who disagrees with Panday. Now instead of fighting the PNM and the dissidents separately, Bas can now just lump them together and use one bullet. He can now claim that they were always working with the PNM to undermine his party because they could not have their way within the UNC. Pathos must have failed Politics 101!
Anyway, we wait to see the outcome of these battles for political turf and the minds of the proletariat (ah soundin’ like Marx, eh?).
Personally, I believe this is probably one of the few times we are actually seeing democracy at work in the political system. Views being expressed, challenged, party leaders being forced to compromise their egos, real PUBLIC discussions bout the inadequacy of the Constitution to address certain issues, etc…
What is democracy and freedom if not the ability to express differing views and opinions and the compromises, creativity and initiatives that these generate? Those who object (and we are seeing them clearly!) are trying to sit on the backs of progress, a most uncomfortable, dangerous and ultimately short lived ride.
Well, now dat ah get dat off meh chest, lemme tel alyuh about de Under 17 World Youth Cup we had in TnT. It finish on de 30th September.
Man, dat was football….. de only unfortunate t’ing was that some of dem fellas would put blows on we Senior Football team! Man, we have some real ways to go…… TnT squad was only dey because we host de games, odderwise, eh-eh! Man, we went out in de first round, we eh win one match. The consolation was dat we real fight against Brazil in we las’ match (even though we get 6 goals!). Too little, too late.
But talk about niceness….! Who could forget the quickness and short passing of de Costa Ricans, but dat was only for ah time. Den came de famous Brazilians, goal hungry, nippy, skilful, but alas stumbled, in the second round and fell out of favor wit’ de football gods. Lost to de “gettin’ better by every game” French team in de quarterfinals. What a blow to all Trinis who if dey eh back dey home team, dey does back Brazil.
Den we had the sturdy and stalwart Australians. Not too pretty in de footwork, but effective. But dey were eliminated also. An’ surprise of surprises, the lowly rated, not talked about Burkino Faso suddenly became one of de darlins of de tournament. No setta skill, but steady and oh Loooorddddd! Dem boys had fitness, dey run dong everything dat move. Dey run de odder teams into de ground, ask Argentina!
Speakin’ of which, dem Argentines eh play nice atall, real rough, some cynical fouls, but paid for it wit’ red cards…… Burkino Faso went to take 3rd place in de competition. No excuse for discipline and fitness, eh?!
But ah save de bes’ two for las’… What could we say about de Nigerians.. dem fellas won over TnT. De glorious African eagles dey were called.. an’ soar dey did. On de wings of excellence… dey trapped, dribbled, scored (Australia eat 5, yes 5 goals from dem!). De fellas were clinical, de crowd even start to dress in Nigerian colours, whole combo sides come out to watch dem play an’ cheer dem on… an’ of course de fitness, dem fellas like dey drinkin’ sugar water, only energy. Only Burkino Faso actually face up to dem in fitness.
Man, de sheer joy of watchin’ dem fellas celebrate. Every commentator had dem dong to beat France in de Finals…… France…France….. Oh la la! Vive la France! Look nah, de French had been steadily climbing de mountain an’ like dey reach de top dat night of de Finals… we shoulda take ah warnin’ when dey beat Brazil….
Dem French boys was like de fine champagnes of Europe.. bubbly, sparklin’, refreshing, inebriatin’….. yuh couldn’t get enough! Most of de crowd came to back Nigeria, but maybe de eagle had soared to high and its wings were getting tired..
At de end of de game, France had given we an education in football! Nobody went home feeling vex France win.. dey convert we! Hear nah, man, if yuh see dem goals! Dey had meh bawlin’… dey striker Sinama Pongolle, he eh from here, boy… dat man lan’ on earth… a record number of goals in de tournament (either 9 or 10) and de boy doh miss… he is ah ghost, because all how dey try to mark him, de man breakin’ free….
De blue and white of France dulled the green of Nigeria. An’ not for want of tryin’ by Nigeria, dey play ball too, but sometimes yuh just have to be happy to come second, when such excellence is on display.. even de Nigerian coach say afterwards dat de team dey meet out dey dat night, dey couldn’t beat dem!
Dat wasn’t France, dat was angels dressed in French uniforms…. No jokin’, because rest assured, dat Final is immortalised in the annals of football! Congratulations mon amie!
Dat’s all for dis week folks… remember any queries, questions, comments, hail outs etc… jus’ write to we anchorman Cobra at ttcobra1@hotmail.com an’ we go get back to yuh… Take care care, alyuh, ah gone….Peace….. If de priest could play, who is we…? (an’ we from D’arbadie)…If de priest could play, who is we…/ We doh care bout nobody…y……. (background music, Cipher)
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