Category: Patrick Manning
Sitting at a bar across from Diamond Motors on Royal Road (next to Seon's Beer Garden), I was listening to a long-time friend talk about the run around they have been getting from Guardian Life in cashing out a rather small investment.
Suddenly the blare of loudspeakers could be heard. Listening more carefully, I heard 'PNM'. The first thing I said was, "Did someone not tell the PNM that the election was over?"
Laughter. And then, as I saw the motorcade coming down to Royal Road from Carib Street, I said, "Patrick won't show up." I was corrected by a 7 year old.
'Look him dey!'
I got my camera out of the pickup and proceeded to snap. One must understand that it was prime time traffic on Royal Road and that on that small stretch there isn't that much of an audience. At first, the former Prime Minister seemed to be whistling. Then he seemed fuzzy and haggard - but the fuzzy came from being out of focus. As he neared Royal Road, he seemed to become more composed.
Finally, as he drew near, I shouted, "Come nah man, Patos, smile nah man!"
And he smiled. {Read more}
Democracy has worked. In light of the shows of immaturity during the campaigns, the acceptance of the people’s will was demonstrably admirable.
Globally, the politics of democracy as an evolving dynamic is becoming more and more inclusive and participatory in its nature. A less naïve more politically demanding electorate has decided that what we need is not for “you” to take care of “us” but for the government to function as facilitator and servant of the Republic. What can be determined is that the PNM has once again become irrelevant. Rebranding (one of these neo-catch-phrases cum cliché) of the PNM is what is needed for its revival. This revival, as an absolute necessity for our democracy to grow, is predicated on a critical analysis of the PNM’s machinations.
With a traditional tribal base the PNM will continue, but what is now required is for them to be as vibrant an opposition as the UNC was in order to ensure the checks and balances are brought to the public light so that any missteps are highlighted. As directly ineffectual as an opposition is it’s role in governance as an elucidator to the public is non-partisan and absolutely essential. Without a strong opposition force a stunting of the evolution of our republic is assured.
{Read more}
What a week! Before 24 May 2010, T&T was experiencing a drought in water and cricketing terms, and was racked in this weakened state by election fever. After 25 May 2010, we got both rain and cricket, following a general election result that no professional pundit predicted. So despite the WI senior men's cricket team snatched another defeat from the jaws of victory, the world seems to be unfolding as it should.
The People's Partnership's startling 29-12 election win means the scenario of T&T getting its first unelected Prime Minister has been postponed. Taran Rampersad and BC Pires have each, in their unique ways, already recommended that we manage our expectations. After such a stinging defeat, though, what are the options facing the People's National Movement? {Read more}
According to press reports, the Hon. PM - that's Prime Minister Patrick Manning - claimed he had been pondering general election dates since last year, and that he called a snap election because it was becoming difficult to govern in the current climate of dissent. In fact, the Lower House was due to debate the Opposition's motion of no confidence in the PM on 09 Apr 2010. Like the proverbial thief, at midnight on 08 Apr 2010 to be precise, he advised the President to dissolve Parliament. As if that wasn't strange enough, in an unprecedented break with tradition, he withheld the date of the general election - which by law was due within three months of Parliament's dissolution - and instead announced the election date of 24 May 2010 via press release one week later, on 16 Apr 2010.
Amidst the confusion, commentators initially pondered about the real reasons for Mr Manning's request for a new mandate two and a half years after he got his last one by 26 seats to 15. One article asked the question: did the PM move to pre-empt the debate of no confidence?
After being told recently of a rumour that Mr Manning received reliable information that the no confidence motion would have been carried on 09 Apr 2010, I wish to review his actions against two scenarios: (1) that the rumour is true, and (2) that the rumour is false.
(1) The Hon. PM called a snap election because he would've lost the no confidence debate {Read more}
Every so often, politicians like to paint their actions in the good light of 'Westminster traditions.' However, there are some Westminster shadows that I haven't heard anyone mention. I wish to highlight one which T&T may face soon, depending on the upcoming General Election results.
In the 2005 UK General Elections, the incumbent Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, led his Labour Party back into government with a reduced majority. The result fed growing internal conflict, the seeds of which may have been sown in the 1990s, and eventually caused Mr Blair to step down. Mr Gordon Brown was elected Labour Leader at their Party Conference in 2007 and became Prime Minister as he commanded the support of the majority of the MPs.
This is the dark side of Westminster: Mr Brown became the UK Prime Minister based, primarily, on the results of an internal political party election. The British electorate did not get an opportunity to decide whether they wanted Mr Brown as Prime Minister until this year's General Elections, and they voted him out. Many of his opponents used this to attack him, calling him Britain's unelected Prime Minister even though no law was broken.
Lets examine T&T. A number of PNM supporters, from leadership to ground levels, have publicly declared their displeasure with Mr Patrick Manning as PNM Leader. Suppose the PNM were to win the General Elections on 24 May 2010, but with a reduced majority, i.e. less than the 26 seats they won in 2007. In the immediate aftermath, in keeping with our constitution, Mr Manning would become Prime Minister of T&T.
However, one can then argue that, by winning a reduced public mandate over two years early, Mr Manning's position as PNM Leader would become untenable. Suppose that Dr Keith Rowley also won his seat. {Read more}
People's Partnership Leader, Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar was quoted, in reference to the UK's newly-formed coalition government: '... no-one is saying that the [Lib-Con] coalition is a threat to Britain. In fact what they are saying is that it is a tribute to the strength of the system of parliamentary democracy.'
That is not entirely true. Many folks have openly expressed concerns about the UK coalition, including members of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties. The pound sterling fell on 12 May 2010 based on market fears that the coalition government would struggle to cut the budget deficit (the main economic concern). Also, in some constituencies, the councillors and activists are vehemently opposed to each other, and will be campaigning against each other in upcoming local government elections. So the threat of the coalition collapsing is fully recognised by all. {Read more}
Patrick Manning mentioned a while ago that Kamla Persad Bissessar
“scraped a dustbin”to find Errol Mcleod. Seems as if this dustbin scraping is not only reserved for the UNC. Whilst rummaging his own political dustbin Patrick Manning has pulled out Dr. Keith Rowley, whom he placed there in the first place. Forced in a corner I don’t think Mr. Manning had much of a choice in the matter. Upon seeing his entrance and obvious adoration by the Woodford Square crowd, it became clear that Mr. Manning has pulled out his own successor out of the dustbin.
The sequence of events that followed has predicated a wave of confusion rippling through the (usually well tuned) PNM machinery.
1. Dr. Rowley is confirmed and presented as the candidate for Deigo Martin West at Woodford Square. Although he is listed as a speaker, he unexplainably and mysteriously refuses to accede to the request. Rumor has it that his speech is to be vetted by Mr. Imbert which he finds insulting. According to the Neswday:
{Read more}
"Business or pleasure?" for those of us who have traveled the world are usually the first words we hear upon touching down on foreign shores. After much hand wringing and outrage, Minister Joseph has had a change of heart and with cap in hand is now appealing to Bernie Campbell to return to Trinidad if he so wishes. As has been the case throughout its tenure the government has approached this latest salvo of incompetence with its now trademark policy du jour, reactionism. One is left to wonder if any policy of consequence management is applied to decision-making processes. Is it not obvious that the public perception of highhanded treatment gathers more and more credence as more and more of these types of incidents occur? By underestimating the political awareness of the electorate and the ever-expanding vigilance of the media the government is playing into the hands of its opponents by backing themselves into corners they can't positively mitigate against. With a clearly declining support base Mr. Manning is not only ushering himself out of governance he might very well be predicating his own political expiration.
The ministry's latest release states that Mr. Campbell's declaration indicated that he was here on business when in fact he was here to work according to Mrs. Bissessar's platform assertion. By attempting (feebly at that) to blur the lines of interpretation the ministry (and by extension the minister) have placed culpability for Mr. Campbell's denial of entry squarely on his shoulders for making a false declaration. Notwithstanding that a previous release quoted an immigration statute debarring undesirable individuals entry into the country the current one states something different. The former statute, incidentally, can only be invoked by the minister of National Security. {Read more}
It makes good sense of course. Give the vote to the person who is best placed to make things happen for you and your community, and by extension the country's needs will be served. Not that it was ever that simple in Trinidad and Tobago.
I think of my wife as I say that, I think of her at the racetrack putting her money on a certain horse. She knows her nags, more than the average person I should think, yet she never ever bets on an equine athlete she didn't actually 'like'. She'd find a little something, somewhere in her sensibilities to justify putting out on her favourite.
I think the snap elections we just got wind of are going to be decided by something as elemental as one woman's prerogative at the betting cage. Basic instincts rule people, even to the extent of risking their moolah. It will be more so when voters seek to place a fingerprint on the ballot slip when comes The Day.
There are many arguments otherwise. Statisticians will state PNM has already won by placing voters within boundaries. Social scientists think the larger part of the population has irrevocably embraced a malaise which delivers an easy, if unsustainable lifestyle.
But what of the swing vote? The 'undecideds'? Can they upset the PNM plans to sweep the field? People who know of things like crowd mentality and psychology of the masses, opine that spin artists and others who work the election processes can only effectively impact on the consciousness of the swing vote only in the backstretch, the long haul.
Such folk think the wily Mr. Manning has removed the lengthy campaign period associated with most general elections and in doing so also took away the period needed to cajole the swing and the undecided voters.
{Read more}
The Hon. Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, has been quoted today in the press as saying his government is continuing to create a 'new order' in the construction sector that gives citizens value for money. To quote the Hon. PM ('PM hammers contractors', Trinidad Express, Sat 13 Mar 2010):
'The Government believes that the country has not been getting, for the money spent, a proper return on that investment. We are not getting the projects on time and within cost. And it is not the agencies, it is the construction sector and the way they conduct their business that has led to this in very large measure... As a consequence, the Government is not going to stop until a new order is brought about in the construction sector. That is what we owe the people of Trinidad and Tobago... This country must get value for money and it matters not, how powerful those who are against us are. They spent money, they do all kinds of things I understand, including influencing journalists. They do all kinds of things in trying to get the point of view across that may or may not be correct. The Government subscribes to right and wrong and truth. And the Government is going to continue to pursue a course of action designed to ensure integrity in the construction sector.' {Read more}
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