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Election 2010 Media Release
2010-05-21  THE BURDEN OF LEADERSHIP
My friends, my people of Trinidad and Tobago, tonight I want to be sober and reflective. I want to do my duty to my nation. Victory may be near, but it is not yet in our hands. Our nation is in danger and we must be fearless. So tonight, I want you to become fearless, sitting in the midst of the danger that could befall our land. I want you to remember that great nations and great people do have defining moments, and if the people as a whole do not capture the essence and energy of those defining moments, the danger can continue.
We talk about victory. We talk about victory as if it is the celebration of power. So they say. And that is how we have viewed politics. Victory to me is really about the celebration of leadership and what we must focus on is the burden of leadership at this time in our nation's life.
What do I mean by the burden of leadership? How do we connect with the pain, the real pain of our mothers, our daughters, our sons and our fathers. How do we hold faith with the enormous desire of our people to live, work and cling together as one people? How do we converse with ourselves to engender real trust between the leaders and the people?
It is a burden that those of us who started the Congress of the People endured. And we endured it well. Because in our short life, we endured because we felt the pain; we held the faith; and we had many conversions with our people to build the trust that we hopefully now enjoy.
It started by calling on this nation to get the politics right. Recently the new Prime Minister of United Kingdom said that his assumption of political office and leadership was the result of a search for new politics. Tonight when I was saw the youths walk on this platform with their silent messages, I knew that we now have new politics in Trinidad and Tobago from now on and it shall never be removed any more from the political landscape of this land.
Now that pain, that faith, that conversation, those burdens of leadership shall fall on the shoulders of The People's Partnership and on all of us; on the new government in the new politics that this nation is about to embrace.
There are many who remain apprehensive but the burden of leadership is to give them comfort, real comfort. Removing those fears is the burden of new leadership, in this time in our nation's life. So what we are about to do in Trinidad and Tobago is much less to do with power and more now to do with values - shared values anchored in truth, justice and freedom.
An example of the burden of leadership was displayed by two eminent lawyers, mention of whom has been made here tonight. Members of the legal team - Timothy Hamel Smith and Vernon De Lima in exposing the UDECOTT scandal for all of Trinidad and Tobago to see, when the Attorney General and Prime Minister, now called the Project Manager, was concealing all this from the nation.
So my friends let us reflect on the burden of the leadership ahead of us, and let us look very briefly at some of the concrete issues. Do we have the money to pay for the promises of a better tomorrow? To answer that we need to find out how much money there is. We need to find out how much money needs is be repaid to our lenders and our creditors, many of whom are the people of Trinidad and Tobago themselves. We need to find out how much is left and we need to find out how much we will get in the present system.
This indeed was a critical issue as we prepared to be fearless about the dangers ahead of us. As we embarked on the immediate challenge, the People's Partnership established an Economics team headed by Dr. Patrick Watson, Professor of Applied Economics to ascertain the state of our economy - facts not myths about our economy, we need to know.
Clearly, we are not in a recovery. Clearly, our wealth is not being redistributed to the poor people. Our revenues are falling short of our expectations. The accumulation of our reserves is moving in the wrong direction and will soon place the value of the Trinidad and Tobago exchange rate at risk. The debt is getting to a threshold point, and sooner rather than later, will become a burden to our next generation. That is the danger which we must face fearlessly. So what shall we do?
Immediately our next budget, due in September 2010, will require a drastic reordering our priorities to meet the basic needs of our people, as has been reflected in the first pillar of Manifesto 2010, in which we spoke about a philosophy of people-centred development.
People-centred development means that for the landless, we shall within the existing laws, regularize their tenure. And this I have found to be a problem throughout my own constituency Tunapuna - from Caura Village to almost every part of the constituency, there are those whose tenure within the law have not been regularized.
For vendors both here in Tunapuna market and elsewhere, we shall initiate a special programme to simply clean up the markets, so that we can buy and sell food in hygienic conditions.
For our patients, we shall enforce a patient's bill of rights and put them at the centre of a new health care programme.
For our property owners we shall not pursue Manning's programme for property tax, as we have so successfully objected to in the past.
For single mothers, we shall initiate new programmes for family support, with civil society encouragement. When I was in Laventille two weeks ago, celebrating Mother's Day, it thrilled me to see the reaction of our people in Trinidad and Tobago, when we said a civilized society cannot abandon our single mothers to fend for themselves.
These programmes which I have outlined, and it is only but a few, cost little or nothing in money terms, but now become one of the burdens of new leadership. But we must do more than that. Yes, we need to enhance self sufficiency so that people can build up their own ability to sustain their lives.
Yes, we need public education which will have an enormous role in ensuring that that public survival is not only a public responsibility, but also a responsibility of each one of us, and we cannot rely on Goverment and the public sector to make it happen alone.
The colonial order under which we now live has been brainwashed, as the PNM government is no different to the colonial government of 50 years ago. Now we must enter into a new era of true independence, anchored in our own sweat, our own tears, and our own joys. That is how we shall build our land.
Leadership is not only about power but it is about work. Creating a government that will work for the people. No more corruption! No more waste! Performance and accountability are the burdens of the leadership.
Our priorities will also change in a new realignment of our development goals. A development strategy premised on the maxim that development cannot be imported, that development cannot be symbolic, that development cannot be illusionary. You cannot look at the skyline of Port-of-Spain and say it resembles New York and call that development. But development must be anchored on our own shoulders, in our own sweat, in our own work and in our own joys.
Hence we shall give support to the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce in their effort to initiate a new level of diversification, which they have brought to a diversification round table. This move will promote export agriculture. That is what the farmers in Caura who have worked and toiled hard to feed this nation need. As indeed the farmers throughout our nation are longing for a new opening to build their own lives. A new opening to get control of their own destiny, and an environment supported by the government that will make it happen.
Our cultural tourism which we have given lip service to and for which we have never unearthed the energy of the diversity and richness of our cultures of many peoples, many heritages, rather we have attempted to suppress one culture for another. The burdens of leadership will now require that no cultural expression from any heritage, from any group, from any tradition shall ever the suppressed in Trinidad and Tobago from now on.
We shall access the global education market which is changing rapidly and which is allowing small countries like ours to become the centres of world education. And we shall seek such opportunities in a growing industry.
We will not rely simply on giving our people false hopes that are based on promises that cannot be realized and expect them in return to vote for us. From now on there shall be no more false promises to people in exchange for their votes. That is the civilisation from which we have come, that is not the politics to which we must go.
We shall also seek advantages worldwide arising from the global information and communication technology, to grasp the prospect to offer our young people opportunities to make a living in a competitive global world. Those are the issues engaging the attention of the diversification round table of the Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago and I say to you that the burden of leadership will require us to embrace and further that effort so that we can have real diversification of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago.
The hype, and sometimes the malice, that has characterised this campaign must not be a substitute for the hard work ahead of us, for building the pillars of the new society which must be constructed.
On the energy front, we heard Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan last Thursday in San Fernando. She spoke eloquently on how the off-shore sector of our economy could finance the on-shore sector, small and micro business incubators and new industries like waste re-cycling that would address the environmental needs of the country as well. And so my friends, the burdens of leadership cannot fall prey to the myth of success. All we are doing on May 24th is asking the people of Trinidad and Tobago for an opportunity to make government work for the people.
The People's Partnership offers an opportunity in this defining moment of our politics. A moment of choice between the symbols of development and the substance of development; a moment of choice between the politics of inclusion versus the politics of exclusion. This is what Mr. Manning is offering his people.
We have brought together the peoples of this land. We have brought together the Tobago Organisation of People, the Movement for Social Change, the National Joint Action Committee, the United National Congress and the Congress of the People in the first step of bringing our peoples together in a formidable attack on the issue of unity in Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Manning says he shall win alone and he shall lose alone. Thank goodness, this time around, he shall lose alone.
This is a moment of choice between a society imprisoned by fear or one that can be energised as you are here today by a new freedom. An ordinary citizen of this country sent me a written message this morning. His name is Michael Abraham. He has a formula for fixing the failing state of Trinidad and Tobago. It was a simple formula, not complex. One that anyone could understand and he said the following to me, "Get the best people to lead, frontally attack corruption and crime, and build our nation with our workers". My friend, you do not need any complex science to tell you that if we can do that we shall build that future that we are offering and the promise of tomorrow could at least begin to see itself emerging.
It comes from the little people of our country. I don't know if Mr. Michael Abraham recognised that he was echoing the words of a very famous president of the United States of America in his inaugural speech on March 4th, 1933. He told his American citizens that, "our greatest primary task is to put our people to work". That is as relevant to us in Trinidad and Tobago. And when I say work I mean real work; I mean productive work; I mean work that can build the self-esteem of our people; I mean work that people could be proud of; I mean work that is sustainable in the long run; I mean work that people can go home and build themselves and build their families and build their communities and in so doing shall build our nation.
That is why this election is not about power. This election is about a change in the philosophy of how a nation lives, works, and plays. And I want the entire nation to reflect and to soberly access what is at stake. It is not a matter of burying Mr. Manning. He has already buried himself. It is a matter of embracing a new philosophy of governance and new solutions to solve our problems. It is a matter of using the energy that is here today and the energy that is here throughout the country, to bring creative solutions to our peoples' problems. This is my sober and reflective moment of where we are and what this election means.
For us in the Congress of the People this is the last or final national meeting that we shall have. I think that you will agree with me that the national meetings that have been organised, have been organised with great focus, with great interest in solving the country's problems and with a great sense of bringing the personalities who remain today totally loyal to this country, untainted by any of the problems of the past, ready to roll up their sleeves and work; loyal, dedicated patriots of Trinidad and Tobago are coming forth now in these meetings.
But it did not happen all by itself. We had a wonderful campaign team. And I must take the opportunity to say to the chairperson of the Congress of the People campaign team what a great job she has done and we commend Hulsie Bhaggan for the work she has done over the last weeks. Of course, she has been supported by many, and I think that they know who they are. So as we move on now for the next four days, I say to you let us simply be cool about the provocation that is likely to come our way. The campaign has now taken on a psychological dimension. All the canvassing may be over or nearly over. All the efforts to sell our ideas and our solutions are already before the people.
Manifesto 2010 has outlined a program far superior to the other party and shown vision 2020 to be blind now in Trinidad & Tobago. So as one friend said judgement day is near and so we must ask the question as citizens of little Trinidad & Tobago as the world moves on, as other countries move into high plains of development and civilization - why can't little Trinidad & Tobago with 1.3million people get its act in order? Why can't little Trinidad & Tobago, our nation, our society put her house in order? Why can't little Trinidad & Tobago bring our peoples together and generate the energy and the richness that the diversity provides us? Why? My friends you know why. We know why. The society knows why. The PNM supporters know why. And unless and until we vote out Patrick Manning from office, we shall not get the opportunity to put our country right and to get our politics right.
But you have started. You have started here in St. Augustine as we did throughout Trinidad & Tobago. As we did in Diego Martin last night and before that in Arouca - Maloney and in Arima and what we shall be doing in Tunapuna. You have started because you know you want a society that is truly free. Not one in which the Prime Minister can hound out the Chief Justice from office and not even apologize. Not one in which a Prime Minister can hide the facts of corruption in this country and does not have to account. And I call all those, Mr. Rowley and others who have stood up with their mouths to stand up with their feet now and bring this country to a new level of morality.
There is no contradiction in one's words and actions, if there is, there will be no civilization to which we can be proud of. So when Mr. Rowley and Mr. Manning keep complaining about each other and shadow boxing it's because they do not want to stand up to the principle of truth in public life. Both of them together and both of them shall go and my good friend in Diego Martin, Rocky Garcia, I tell you here today shall bring the torch of Diego Martin West and Carol Cuffy-Dowlat in San Fernando East, shall become the worthy symbol of the bringing down of the last set of gate-keepers in Trinidad & Tobago so that we can be free and free indeed.
And that is the country we want to be, in which we can walk all the time with our heads held high; where we can meet those who have opposing political views and speak freely about them and argue freely about them without animosity or malice. That is the society of the 21st century ahead of us in the People's Partnership. As we embrace the burden of leadership understands the challenge of this moment.
It is a society that cannot be divided by the narrow domestic walls that have kept us apart. Those are the thoughts of a poet and philosopher Rubindranath Tagore when he joined with the leaders of India to fight for independence not only of India but for the independence of the free world as it has turned out to be.
So my friends what is at stake in the 2010 election? The time is now. Let this election be a referendum on Mr. Manning's imposition of a new constitution in our land. We shall have none of that and if you are serious about the future of democracy in this country you shall treat this election as a referendum on Mr. Manning's constitution. And I know there are many people in the PNM who object to his constitution and I call on them to stand up for Trinidad & Tobago. Stand up for the future so that we can reject Manning's constitution which he wants to impose on the people of our land. The moment is here and as I have told you and others have told you the very emergence of The People's Partnership is a response of people coming from hopelessness into a stage of hope. We didn't happen by chance. The situation in this country was about to collapse, as indeed the government has collapsed, as indeed the President's roof has collapsed. As indeed the center could not hold any more and you have come up as citizens of this country to create a Peoples Partnership that will take you across the bridge to better times. It is your creation, it is your wishes, it is what you have been yearning for it is the new politics that I myself have been looking out for. And I am happy to be here in St. Augustine and to declare with you that you have created what this country has been yearning for in The People's Partnership.
The energy is in the air. Wherever we go, our flags always in the sky. The people are ready. What is the national call? Election 2010 is really about the choice between what is right and what is wrong. Simple as that. You cannot make a wrong right by voting the wrong people back into office because they will keep it wrong. You cannot fall for simple promises that will evaporate in the months and years ahead and leave you helpless.
You cannot allow a colonial power to impose itself on this land. This is the 21st century. This is a new land, a new democracy and a new time. This is when the people take back their sovereignty and this is when the people say: "We are moving in a new direction". What is wrong my friends is simply wrong, and what is right must be right. Elections, really is about making your government work for the people.
So my friends this where we are. This in my view is the moment of our times and I want to say before I close that I am deeply humbled by the great support in the first instance that I have received from all those in the Congress of the People who stood up since 2007 and stood up tall and stood up high to keep the light shining.
And in the second instance I am deeply grateful to Kamla Persad-Bissessar for opening those doors to new politics in Trinidad and Tobago, to Makandal Daaga for bringing the historical thrust to this effort, to Ashford Jack for creating a new unity between our islands and indeed to Errol McLeod, that great patriot, for standing up once again to bring Trinidad & Tobago together. Never before have you got leaders with that kind of track record before you in this country, Trinidad & Tobago. Never before have you found the people whose past track record has demonstrated loyalty and commitment to this nation. Never before. This is now the time for this nation to acknowledge that this opportunity, if not taken, will be long in coming again, if ever. The alternative to the freedom and the energy that you are now expressing here, is the constitutional dictatorship and repressive politics.
Listen to me carefully - the alternative for this nation is to go into constitutional dictatorship and repressive politics. And everyone will be subject to the loss of our freedom in Trinidad and Tobago, under that kind of regime. I say that because when a system falters and it is about to fail, it can only survive by curtailing the freedoms of its people.
I say to all who are here today, thank you, thank you for creating The Peoples Partnership. Thank you for having faith in the future. Thank you for standing up on the side of your children and indeed of your selves. Thank you for working over the next four days in coolness and in calmness. It is for you to understand that the victory is not yet here. But our greatest responsibility in relation to this land is embracing the burden of leadership for such a time as this.
Thank you and let us enjoy the victory that we expect on the Monday 24th May as we begin a new era in the politics of our land and a new hope for our people in our country.
Thank you! Thank you very much! |
