How qualified are our politicians to run this country? This question is meaningless if one is unaffected by cost of living, crime or un-bothered by quality of life, but… with elections near, quality should matter. Since there is no clear standard about what level of character shall produce the next government we are left to educating our guesses. Which we can only do by consuming news, features, adverts, propaganda and counter propaganda, all of which follows somebody’s agenda .
It would be neat indeed to expect a government made up of people with capacity to think broadly, with ability to act selflessly and keen to hold the interests of country and constituency. But until that day comes we’d probably want to make do with representation that can; understand T&T’s governmental framework and its set policies, how we fit within the region and also, our position on key contemporary issues worldwide. Such ability in our political castle will provide us with intelligence driven leadership. Along these lines other useful skills may arise but this at least ensures T&T isn’t side-lined in the global village or, held hostage by armed teenagers.
The other skill we’d want evident is ability to debate - on topic, not via volume, bluster, lies and slander, as is so much the norm these days. The facility to speak well and on point will serve the country both home and abroad. Who doesn’t want a representative who is aware of his/her binding ties - responsibilities if you will, a minister of government who can openly share problems (and opportunities too) of the day? Moreso the business of a democracy will always drill down to negotiation, where scoring literally means ‘at the expense of’. Further we’d want our politicians to be able to handle verbally proficient sharpshooters coming in with big business proposals.
A very ’nice to have’ in a political representative is understanding the importance of government that pins decision-making on development that can build the economy but at the same time, will not compromise the integrity of the conditions that enhances daily life. To large extent the script for that already exists - in the United Nations Framework, which outlines the desired future in its Sustainable Development Goals.
The other qualification we want from our politicians is appreciation of the importance of communicating with the ordinary public, as technically they are representative of our needs. Thing is, the contemporary flavour of ‘communication’ comes across as sound and video bytes, with content skilfully curated to shape favourable outcomes for the political base. This approach, while an effective mind-shaper in the short term, causes frustration on ground level bringing upheavals that suit no one. Case in point? The Republican party’s recent takeover of power in the USA was based on some fancy messaging, whether the fruits of that labour will fill America’s appetite remains to be seen.
We arrive at the simple issue of integrity in public office. There is nothing ‘future building’ about having unscrupulous people at the helm. The checks and balances system we’ve inherited from the British has carried over into the republic arrangement we now say we use, but to be frank nothing there works. This ties in with the current practice of people seeking to sell themselves as representative of community cause when in fact they are more bent on representing their own interest. Note ‘bent’. Facilitating the mess overall is, many political actors view the arena as a career, a lucrative one where curiously, the more wealth a politician accrues, the less effort s/he makes to communicate transparently.
In closing. It would be nice to package the politician as self-serving and perhaps lacking true moral compass but the real problem may lie closer to home. The average citizen may not do this, but a lot of Trinbagonians encourage or otherwise cajole their representative, openly or covertly to make things happen that benefit the few rather than the many. If that is the majority mindset going into April’s general election, then little will change.
Authors note. The role of civil society is to bring the ills of the wider community to a forum where positive change can be effected. The ultimate change forum is made up of people in government, people in business and ordinary folk who make up the community. Sought for outcomes are then arrived at through negotiation - using good communication. The process works, but only if everyone speaks the truth, believes in the power of strong community (over self interest). That said, here’s to a free and fair election, April 2025.