Deja Vue

I am sitting here, Friday evening thinking about what music do I want to listen to. Being a child of the sixties I figured nice quiet cool evening so how about some good old hippie music. I put on Crosby Stills Nash and Young, I think this is the only album they made together, Deja Vue. Strangely enough, this is exactly where I am and what I am experiencing.

My mood takes me back to 1986 where as a 34-year-old, nine years married, 3 children, recently built our house, looking forward to whatever the world had in store for us. Early in that year my life partner and I had this very serious conversation. With the impending election by year-end, what would we do if the PNM won? This was a scary time for us, we did not have the where with all to pack bags and head out to anywhere? With me having a limited formal education where would we go, who would accept us?  The NAR was formed and the decision made. We would work very hard to help our NAR candidate Anthony Smart win his seat, Diego Martin East. Mr. Smart was successful, the NAR had a landslide victory and it seemed that all was well. The following year, 1987, deep into the recession, I started my own company and be put down our proverbial bucket at home, Trinidad and Tobago.

The situation was not easy at all, EC1 foreign exchange controls, businesses going into bankruptcy, people losing their jobs, homes, not an easy time. We persevered because we had hope, we had a vision, we believed in the then leadership. The Government did not have it easy, things were extremely difficult all around but the hope was there. The Government never hid the truth from the people. Everyone was asked to contribute in some way. The cost of living allowance was removed and public servants were given a 10% cut in salary. That was the start of the demise of the NAR Government, an administration that held huge promise for the country. I believed, like the other hundreds of thousands of people, that this was the solution, we had to adjust to reality but the sacrifice would be worth it.  Others had a different take on the situation and of course we ended with 1990.
So why the deja vue? We are right back where we were in 1987. The economy has tanked, funds are just not available but there is one big difference, the hope does not exist. This Rowley Administration has not given the population one ounce of hope. His government goes from blunder to blunder, he accepts zero responsibility for anything, he blames everyone else for the errors of his own Cabinet including the decisions he himself has made. His Cabinet instills fear in the people because the majority of us know that they are totally incapable of running anything. We are in dire straits with our economy. When you see people stop buying KFC resulting in a drop of more than 17% revenue for the franchise holder then things are becoming grim. This administration has not uttered a single word, any policy statement, nothing regarding the way forward for the country.

Are we heading down the 1990 road, only different? Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that the PPG lost the 2015 election and it will take the PNM to keep it together, at least we may be spared the horrors of the attempted coup. I am not sure because of the 2000 armed gang members, the people are very different today. The streets are armed whilst the general population is not. I remember seeing police officers putting on civilian clothing for fear of being recognized by the Muslimeen. The next civil unrest might prove to be very different.

What will be our position, the ordinary people? This is not good.

And the deja vue continues, we can only hope for the best for our country. This country needs a new political system and new, strong, non-partisan political leadership!

I am not normally like this but I am very concerned about our country. The change has to come from the people and if we as a country make the same mistake as many did in 1987 where we were not prepared to sacrifice today for tomorrow then 'crapaud smoke we pipe'. If we had a new political system it would not be an 'us and them'. We are all responsible for the country Trinidad and Tobago!

People of the Rock, we have been through a lot many times before and this current situation will not simply disappear, we have to make it happen!

Good night people of the Rock, keep safe and good luck!

Trade unions and public servants staged solidarity marches in 1987 around the Red House and through Port-of-Spain during the National Alliance for Reconstruction’s term in office in protest of a ten per cent wage cut and the suspension of the cost of living allowance.