Kei­th An­der­son

I was ly­ing on a couch when I fell in­to a doze. My mind raced to last year's State of Emer­gency (SoE). The last time I was in a state of emer­gency was when I couldn't find a toi­let in Port-of-Spain. Don't laugh, I am se­ri­ous. How­ev­er, I am thrilled by the on­go­ing de­bate about the SoE and what it has achieved. The trade unions said it was an at­tempt to put a spoke in their wheel af­ter they an­nounced plans for a gen­er­al strike, and from hence­forth they will be mark­ing the an­niver­sary of the event every Au­gust 21. This week they staged a silent protest, which is strange for trade unions. They are not known for si­lence, but mak­ing loud nois­es. They had me in stitch­es when they pa­rad­ed in all black with black scarves marked CEN­SORED around their mouths. You got the feel­ing they were in Bur­ma. There is nev­er a dull mo­ment in Trinidad and To­ba­go. Life in Trin­ba­go is re­al kicks I tell you. How­ev­er, the ju­ry is still out on the achieve­ments of the SOE. But one thing I know, was every zan­dolie and ban­dit found a hole.

Crime took a nose­dive-some say a hol­i­day. It was the on­ly time I felt safe in years, nev­er mind I was un­der a cur­few. It was no big thing as I have been un­der a cur­few with crime. I don't go any­where in the night any­more, as I am much more ac­quaint­ed with my bed. Like a fowl, I climb up a tree by six o'clock. I can't stom­ach the idea of be­ing held up by a gun-tot­ing ban­dit. I am sure I will re­lease the con­tents of my stom­ach. I am not sure what per­cent­age will come down. It could be three per cent, or 100 per cent. Dur­ing the SoE there was quite an amount of suf­fer­ing. Mu­si­cians had to pull aside and park, mid­night dou­bles ven­dors and ladies of the night too. Night life took a beat­ing like a bobolee. The pro­tec­tive ser­vices were out in full force. Young men with their pants un­der their bot­toms were ar­rest­ed, or made to pull them up. Cur­few break­ers were hauled be­fore mag­is­trates, and there was no car­nage on the roads. Dur­ing the SoE I slept like a ba­by. When it was lift­ed in De­cem­ber, the coun­try re­vert­ed to the same old, same old. Now as I awake from my doze, I find that noth­ing has changed, not even the crime fig­ures. You see me, I gone!