Skip to main content

Adios!





Back in the sister isle. I wonder if the residents of Tobago like to be referred as 'the sister isle' or prefer to be called 'Tobago' or 'the twin island state' or it really does not matter. The issue of Tobago and its call for self government is on the parliamentary agenda and I would think that having a PMOTT from Tobago and a commitment to have this issue dealt with we will be seeing something happening shortly.
Can Tobago get self government, be able to raise its own revenues to the tune of $2.5 BN TT on an annual basis, have its own laws, it's own economic zone, ownership of mineral rights and a host of other issues dealing with self government? Of course who determines this? Is this a Tobago only decision or does a resident of Maraval have equal say as to the future of Trinidad and Tobago?
There are many different views and I don't think that it's going to be that simple, by any means.

I may not be able to boast of being a descendent of the Holy Prophet but recent findings into my ancestry show that on my father's side I am a direct descendant of Ramon Garcia de Cadiz. Ramon just happened to be the guy that framed the then Declaration of Independence of Venezuela from Spain in the early 1800's. He was a lawyer. He is a signatory to the original document, one of ten persons. I am still doing my research on his coming to Trinidad for a period, in very early 1800, and leaving his son here and returning to Venezuela. We can only speculate. The goings on in Venezuela are indeed very troubling. You have a country that fought a war for their independence from Spain, ended up with military rule, dictatorships, oligarchy rule, populists leadership and what you have now. A country rich beyond imagination with natural resources and its people yet currently living in turmoil all because of one thing, politicians.

What is going to be our future? It's very difficult to look at a country like T&T and see the huge potential facing you and yet because of the politics you see the opportunities being shoved aside and wasted. The young, bright brains being told that you have no future here because the politics will not allow you to participate and contribute to the building of a real nation. Go somewhere else, we don't want you and your 'gung ho' attitude because you live on the wrong side of a river. I have never heard nor seen the level of racial divide as I see today. The politicians are having a field day dividing the country. North versus south versus the sister isle! It's on all sides make no mistake.

The two leaders of our great nation are set to meet tomorrow. I welcome, always, discussion and discourse especially when it comes to governance. Can these two leaders make it happen, I doubt it because of the history of the two people. A lot has been said over the years, the venom coming from the various quarters, that have nothing to do with ordinary people trying to survive on a daily basis, will make any meaningful result impossible.
Once again the politicians make a holy mess of things.

I see that the Ag Commissioner of Police is being appointed yet again, for the tenth time, to act as the Commish. And we want to present ourselves to the world as a country that is serious about being a leader in matters of Caricom and steelband and LNG and Bourdain. The sooner we wake up to the fact that nobody is waiting on us to become anything, the better for Trinidad and Tobago, we have it in us, the people, to be an example to the world of what a real country can be.
We have one slight problem, the politicians.

I am enjoying a lovely calm 'sister isle' night and really believe that we have it in us to build a real country, together. The old dividing politics, and politicians, are no longer relevant and will die a natural death because the new generations can see way beyond them and want nothing to do with them.

Sleep well people, tomorrow we have a nation to see about! I have no words of wisdom or direct quotes from Ramon but I am sure in 1800 he had the same desire to see and live in a country that he wanted to be proud of.

Adios!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Peace and quiet

When you hear the words 'perfect' or 'the best' it makes you feel like a million dollars. Human nature is weird, a simple compliment can turn a whole story into a week of joy! And, yes, I am speaking about the Sunday night popcorn! Apparently, tonight was exceptional. I hope the rest of the week translates into 'perfect'. The horrible news of the deaths of two cyclists over the weekend came as a real shock. We both know a number of people who cycle for good weekend sport and to hear of Joe Brown being killed in an accident was truly heart-rending. When we heard of the accident we started to think of all the people we know who cycle and just hoped it might be somebody we did not know. Is this how it works, you hope that it's not someone you know, what about all the people who actually know the person? Truly a sad day! RIP Joe and Joanna! The issue of cycling and motorists is one that every country I am sure goes through. Is it that the main roads are for...

Keith Noel RIP

Today will always be remembered, as it is the anniversary of the last time I saw my good friend Keith Noel. On this day in 2005 at around 8.00pm, we told Keith goodbye after we had a lime at a local bar, the following day was Corpus Christi, a public holiday. The next morning at around 4.00am I received a phone call informing me of Keith's murder. My life changed, our lives changed as my life partner and I became heavily involved in trying to make a meaningful change as to how we lived here on the Rock. Our children were involved, our eldest son was Keith's good friend as were many co-workers and friends of Keith Noel. Keith's murder was classed as no. 136 on the police files. During our awareness and petition campaign, we were called names by many people who obviously disagreed with what we were doing. I guess the success of the movement, then called the Keith Noel 136 Cmt, created quite a concern amongst those who should have been concerned. Keith would have been 55 ye...

R&R

We had two of the four grands spend the weekend with us whilst the parents went off to the North Coast for some rest and relaxation. From all reports, the sojourn was well spent with both singing the praises of our North Coast, no beach, just R&R. We are ten minutes from the coast and I hate to admit it but it is rare that we venture north. One of the selling points of coming to live in the wilds of Maraval in 1983 was the fact that Maracas Bay was a mere 30 mins away. Maracas could have been next door it did not matter, we just do not do it. Having grandchildren I think puts you in a very different place. When our kids were growing up we were struggling with building a business from scratch, living off of a teachers salary, impossible then as it is now, and generally ketching. But as it is with all things in life we survived. Looking back at those years it was difficult, kids, dogs, mortgage and other loans, but you knew why you were putting yourself through all this hard...