The euphoria of the current election moment has Tobago on its feet. Its mobilised - everyone is out there supporting somebody. The scene is pretty much the same for Trinidad, though folks there are less prone to leave the comfort (and safety) of their homes. The overall concern of the electorate is putting somebody ’there’ to ably represent. This will happen, no doubt sans hiccup on April 28th. The problems though, will continue unabated from the 29th. Do we truly understand our situation?
Our politicians are able, in a sense. They’re pretty cute at delivering spin and promise with passion. Just as we too are conditioned to buy into spin and promise delivered with emotion. But the endemic issues, the things that colour (taint) our daily lives are only truly fixable by us - the wider population. We are the ones who choose political representatives, holding the belief that anointing a political appointee will bring reprieve (to the endemic issues). When in fact the true power to change things lie with us the public. Are we ready? (Note th strident podium call)
Our point is; the people’s voice doesn’t actually reside in a select politician. Its embedded in civicus, that local group whose mission is to imbue, enable and monitor the politician’s performance in the rarefied halls of upper government. However this is not what actually transpires, explaining why the system breaks and delivery goes awry. Ironically, other paths to Delivery have long been explored, which are doomed to failure for any amount of reasons, e.g constitutional reform, as offered in the Tobago Autonomy narrative.
Generalisations aside, and taking advantage now of the current high state of national excitement (euphoria) Environment Tobago, your humble long-serving civil society representative would like to discuss this parallel (to the election madness) event on-island. And we’re talking big hotel development here. In a previous post we implied that there is some likelihood that Tobago actually might give more than it gets - should the government ‘permission’ Sandals® et al into the Bon Accord/Golden Grove Estate. The central administration has already paved the proverbial road for Marriot® at Rocky Point, and there’s been talk of underwriting a marina somewhere in the south-west.
Our civil concern is not as grand but it is legacy class. Let’s focus on developing the local people to truly benefit from a tourism industry - which should be developed along lines of acceptance and compatibility with local taste, palates, and personal capabilities. In other words, do we want to transplant other cultures, tastes and (expensive) infrastructure? We might. But that, ladies and gentlemen (note subliminal call to boost listener ego) is a reality past it prime. Trinidad and Tobago no longer has the means.
What we do have is natural environment, second to none for it beauty, diversity and proximity. Proximity? Well now that we [almost] have a good airport we may as well use it to improve our outlook. Thing is, these natural assets do have value - though they will require a bit of fixing. They also require stewardship to keep them valuable over the long term. The take-home here is; Buy into the big hotel dream, but let the people explore the full range of their own potential first. That is ‘just’ development.
Why would this NGO recommend taking it slow when times are already tight? There are several scenarios, but the one that interests us presently is the alleged feeling out of the market by Sandals for a buyout. If Tobago endorses, contributes to Sandals value prior to sale, and then the thing gets sold, we’d literally be contributing to an unstable, even more elusive and expensive future. With no clear gateway to local inclusion in that future.