Government trapped on the back foot:Tackle the blockages
An Express editorial's portrayal of the People's Partnership governing from its back foot reminded me of the lead-up to the 1986 distress which produced "Vote Dem Out". In the calypso Tyrone "Deple" Hernandez chronicled what puts governments first on the back foot and then on the backside. If the Partnership lets itself get to that point, not even a million-dollar elevator will lift it.
Challenged from its decision to place a sitting judge in a safe
political seat, the Partnership has been hemmed-in and probed since. But
it is more important that the Partnership is not trapped by ideological
or any differences with the country or itself. It is trapped in its own
rhetoric, captured in a compact made in pursuit of power and quickly
abandoned. Problems have followed.
Inside the trouble, the Partnership needs to listen for words and expressions which allowed Deple's "Vote Dem Out" to find comfortable space in the minds of the 1986 electorate, some voting outside their traditional parties for the first and last time. Words and expressions like government in "doubt" and "full of mouth"; "promising roads and giving you potholes"; unable to "cope"; "policies and fallacies"; "frustration"; "misuse" and "thief out" of resources; "avarice" and "pappyshow".
Of course it is an unfortunate reality of the politics that governments remain accountable for every blocked drain, artery and promotion. In fact as a measure of electability, political parties tout their expertise in solving every problem of every community, only to be trapped on the back foot by their inability to resolve them.
As it is, the country does not make frivolous and emotive demands on the Partnership but shows up at the seat of Government every day, foraging for signs of a forward-agenda. When the country shows up, what it finds is a similarity, already well-understood and written-up. It demonstrates the failure of the Partnership and a line of political parties to produce a design for the future which replaces politics with policy and people.
An Express editorial's portrayal of the People's Partnership governing from its back foot reminded me of the lead-up to the 1986 distress which produced "Vote Dem Out". In the calypso Tyrone "Deple" Hernandez chronicled what puts governments first on the back foot and then on the backside. If the Partnership lets itself get to that point, not even a million-dollar elevator will lift it.
Inside the trouble, the Partnership needs to listen for words and expressions which allowed Deple's "Vote Dem Out" to find comfortable space in the minds of the 1986 electorate, some voting outside their traditional parties for the first and last time. Words and expressions like government in "doubt" and "full of mouth"; "promising roads and giving you potholes"; unable to "cope"; "policies and fallacies"; "frustration"; "misuse" and "thief out" of resources; "avarice" and "pappyshow".
Of course it is an unfortunate reality of the politics that governments remain accountable for every blocked drain, artery and promotion. In fact as a measure of electability, political parties tout their expertise in solving every problem of every community, only to be trapped on the back foot by their inability to resolve them.
As it is, the country does not make frivolous and emotive demands on the Partnership but shows up at the seat of Government every day, foraging for signs of a forward-agenda. When the country shows up, what it finds is a similarity, already well-understood and written-up. It demonstrates the failure of the Partnership and a line of political parties to produce a design for the future which replaces politics with policy and people.
No comments:
Post a Comment