T&T 'Fire In The Belly' Politics.

There has been plenty of talk regarding Anand Ramlogan's comments on Winston Dookeran as compared to Kamla Persad-Bissessar, where Mr. Ramlogan commented that Winston Dookeran and his lack of charisma and/or passion  would not bring change to Trinidad and Tobago - thus explaining his personal motive for switching from the Congress of the People (COP) to the United National Congress (UNC-A). Some say that it was in poor taste, some say that it was accurate, some say that it was divisive to the Opposition to the ruling party (PNM), and some don't really care.

I'll just say its politics and that, knowing Anand Ramlogan's works for the regular people of Trinidad and Tobago second hand, I do respect him but it doesn't mean I agree with him in all things. With this, I am not certain and I am compelled to explain the principle of why I am uncertain.

And in explaining this, I'm not taking a political stance between COP and UNC-A, or between Winston Dookeran and Kamla Persad-Bissessar. I'm not even disagreeing (or agreeing) with Anand Ramlogan's comments. It all seems pointless to me, but it compels me to write about this in a broader context.

The Principle, The Opinion.

One of the problems with democratic politics is that charisma lends itself to popularity, popularity lends itself to more ears listening and more ears listening can lead to more votes. More votes win elections. Therefore, charisma is an important factor in democracy. Winning elections, however, does not necessarily make a person fit to run a country. This is something that both the UNC-A and COP supporters, as blind, deaf and dumb as they are sometimes, can see in the last election in which both UNC-A and COP were defeated by the PNM - and that the bickering between the UNC-A and COP did cause the PNM to win. I will point out, though, that the UNC-A didn't lose because of the COP. COP arose because of the lack of faith in the UNC-A and PNM.

But COP got plenty of votes despite Dookeran's 'lack of charisma'/passion - and if there were a manner of electing based on popular vote, the results of the last general election would have been much different. Basdeo Panday, whose charisma and passion are matched only by his present notoriety, blamed the COP for splitting the vote - but if Anand Ramlogan's contention about charisma and passion was true, that wouldn't have been a problem.

The PNM won, and there is no doubt that charisma was a key factor.

'Fire in the Belly', you see, can simply mean diarrhea. And that point needs to be remembered when politics makes way for nation-building.

I would like to think that Trinbagonians could tell the difference between having charisma, passion and being able to do something with a nation. With Trinidad and Tobago's resources over unit time, it seems apparent that this is not the case - that elections weren't won based on the ability to produce results for a nation to move forward but rather based on the ability to win elections. It's recursive; it's 'spinning top in mud'. At any point in time, a poll of Trinbagonians would reveal that things could be done better - but somehow these things never seem to coalesce into a version of reality compatible with the reality of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

So lets not confuse 'fire in the belly' with productivity, with ability to run a country much less increase the value of a nation to its own citizens in a fair and balanced manner. Lets move beyond that.

In my mind, charisma and passion are not the issues in Trinidad and Tobago politics - there's more than enough to go around, perhaps enough to export. While there is no denying that charisma and passion are key factors in winning elections, there are members of the populace who want a little more than Carnival campaigns.

They want a nation with a solid infrastructure, with less worries about simple things like water. They want a nation that puts them on equal or better footing with the developed world. To do less than that is to continue the insult to the collective intelligence of the citizenry of Trinidad and Tobago.

Less fire in the belly. More constructive plans and follow through.

Or... more of the same, be it under one political party or another.