The Political Floods [rant]
The media has been flooded with politics regarded flooding. The new Prime Minister has been flying around in a helicopter and taking tours of the flooded areas - inflicting her whims on the local elected representatives as she sees fit to the chagrin of just about anyone who wants to be chagrined. The rains come, Acts of God as any Insurance company would have in their legal documents, but I'll note that there doesn't seem to be a large proportion of people going to their respective places of worship and discussing rain with their Creator. Maybe that helicopter is getting in the way.
I've driven through quite a bit of flooding - especially in areas that have been under the control of the UNC for quite some time. And from my own experience, there is some truth to what Patrick Manning, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (and perhaps the man to usurp the usurper in the PNM) once said. Paraphrased, bad planning causes flooding. And in areas that I have been to - that I have intimate knowledge of - such lack of planning has been encouraged by UNC representatives who seem quite content to get votes at the cost of poor planning. You know who you are.
South Trinidad, very strong in the UNC force that is the backbone of the People's Partnership, has seen a lot of flooding. And while it's good politics to blame the last political regime, one has to wonder why UNC strongholds are seeing the most flooding. I don't wonder. Private landowners who have tenants and try to plan appropriately get stuck in the quagmire of UNC candidates wanting to be re-elected... in my experience. And Town and Country planning approvals that are lacking are not being acted upon by Town and Country Planning - which seems peculiar since the former Prime Minister's party, the PNM, complained about the lack of planning in many areas but seemed unable to enforce it. I know that there are letters into Town and Country planning from at least 2003 that have not been acted upon.
And without Town and Country planning approval, drainage remains an issue since no one seems to want to do it right - they want to do it for free.
So lets be clear: the flooding, while partly falling under 'Act of God' because of the rains, is largely government inspired - and that government does include politicians from both the PNM and UNC. The same faces that were in Opposition are responsible as well - so making this a political issue where it really boils down to 'He says she says' is a continuation of the catastrophe we call government in Trinidad and Tobago. Fixing the issues involves Town and Country planning enforcing the Law - we do have an attorney as Prime Minister, yes? - and also doing appropriate dredging, fining for littering, assuring that proper disposal of rubbish is available, and so on.
The flooding isn't political. It's a demonstration of how ineffective many of the same faces we've seen over the years as MPs have been. The flooding didn't happen overnight. It took at least a decade of lack of effectiveness of everyone playing musical chairs in the Trinidad and Tobago Westminster system.
Wave at the helicopter as it passes. And make sure to offer all politicians a glass of water when they come by. You can get rid of some of the flooding that way.
Don't even get me started on the Office of Disaster Preparedness - an office which seems to live up to its name, being prepared for a disaster. Not being prepared for the recovery of the disaster.
Incidentally, since all water in Trinidad and Tobago belongs to WASA, shouldn't flood victims be able to sue WASA? Hmm. Maybe they should fix that too while they are at it.
- Taran Rampersad's blog
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Comments
The floods over the past
The floods over the past weekend, stepped up a notch from what has become an annual phenomenon. From captain to cook, all have spewed a plethora of excuses packaged as reasons for this. Coming in at the top of the list is “an act of god” others include; littering, poor/no development planning, inadequate drainage, clogged drains, altered water courses, illegal dumping of refuse (white waste), high tide/low tide and on and on and on.
Each of us must accept our share of blame, to put it nicely, we are nasty people. It has become part of our culture, for example, to dump our old appliances in a river, and empty lots, cane fields etc. Sometimes we do this out of necessity, not that it’s an excuse, but had the authorities done what they are supposed to do and provide means of disposal of such items, people would not have to practice this part of our culture.
With respect to development, roads, houses/communities, business centres etc we have failed miserable in ensuring that all is done according to the strictest of guidelines for reasons unknown to me. However I can offer some reasonable assumptions and all begins with politics. It’s about garnering support and retaining it. In an interview recently, former Minister of Works, Colm Imbert said the laws related to development are very weak, that people (my words) do what they want, and that the existing laws are difficult to implement.
· Why haven’t we fixed those laws?
· Is it because there is enough influence by particular interest’s groups/persons that blocks any attempts to update our laws?
I am not sure that our flooding is “random act of nature”. The annual flooding experienced here is a direct result of what we do or not do.
· What would happen if we were to experience a category five hurricane?
· Could we then say it was “an act of god”?
But we have already used that excuse every time the streets of Port of Spain floods after 30 minutes of rainfall.
Whatever the reasons for our annual phenomenon, one thing remain critical, we must act so as to prevent this and no amount of rhetoric will ease the pain and discomfort of those affected. Every visit by government official, wearing of boots, handing out of mattresses, hampers, free pizzas or any of the other piece meal gestures would come to zero, if when the rain ends all go back to business as usual.
Immediate plans must be implemented in the short term to ensure minimal damage to property via floods. De-silting/widening of rivers, clearing of drains, removal of illegal dump sites, immediate stop to all illegal development (put some teeth in the EMA, town and country). Simultaneously, medium and long term plans must also be drawn up so as to eliminate this problem of flooding. There must be action now, rather than reaction. The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) needs restructuring, they should be given powers to monitor and hold persons responsible for engaging in acts that contribute to flooding.
Serious action must be a priority, lip service does no one any good, leave lip service for the bedroom.
Takeaway
'Leave Lip Service for the Bedroom'. Good takeaway. (And you're in as a blogger).
Unavoidable
Flooding in Trinidad is unavoidable, if we could access some topological data we would surely see how many areas are below or just barely above sea level. Obviously though the damage could be mitigated if all the inadequacies and public irresponsibility are addressed.
Law/policy enforcement must go hand in hand with competent administration, and what we have in the public service is a collapse of any kind of effective administration capable of addressing the entitlement-ism that is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago.
If we throw our minds back to the drought the general thoughts being put out by those (supposedly) in the know indicated that the rainy season would be harsh. They also regarded that one of the consequences of the drought would be increased flooding. So it's not as if we weren't warned.
I doubt anything much could be done in the short term but if the ODPM is to follow its mandate then education is key. Those who live on the banks of rivers and sloping hillsides must be made to understand the risks they incur and do what could be done to prevent the tragedy that occurred in Santa Cruz yesterday.