Now that the date for Local Government Elections has been announced, in the lead-up to the August 14 poll, we are hopeful of much more than the usual mudslinging and character assassination that has come to characterize our recent campaigns.
In fact, our political leaders would do well to heed the call of an enlightened electorate for more substance than levity and to run clean and professional campaigns in the weeks ahead.
While Trinbagonians love our fair share of ole talk, given the times we live in and the obvious challenges confronting the ordinary man in the street, it is clear that more meaningful action from our politicians must be the order of the day.
No matter the topic of discussion, the undeniable desire of the populace is for creative and workable solutions to be found to recurring governance issues. We are, therefore, tired of the sweet-talking, second-rate, mediocre candidates with warmed-over, ineffective ideas who are simply wasting time on the platforms.
In this regard, it is noteworthy that yesterday’s election announcement by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was not made in any dramatic fashion on a political platform, but rather in a to-the-point press release from the Office of the Prime Minister.
As the campaign progresses, it will be interesting to see what other tactics are employed not only by the People’s National Movement but the Opposition United National Congress and the other contenders, new and not so new, seeking to win the hearts and minds of voters.
Coming on the heels of the now infamous ‘leaked audio tape out of Tobago’, about which we have still heard nothing from the usually outspoken Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, but which received strong condemnation from the Prime Minister and other stakeholders, we would urge Dr Rowley to ensure he and his party representatives not only ‘talk the talk’ but ‘walk the walk’ in terms of ensuring their campaign meets a high-quality threshold.
Put more forcefully, there should be no reason for concern, as is the case in Tobago at present, that taxpayers’ money could be used to fund propaganda machinery in support of the PNM’s partisan election mission.
Equally, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, for whom there is just as much at stake in this LGE, given the current 7-7 tie in the corporations, must assure this country that she and her UNC will rise above the political gutter and that all party broadcasts will never again descend to the level which forced the Telecommunications Authority of T&T and Radio and TV Jaagriti to step in recently to protect the population from the bark of MP Barry Padarath.
We would have hoped that by now too, that Mr Padarath would have learnt politics does not need to be a deadly blood sport.
And certainly, with more than enough blame to share between the PNM and UNC for the dysfunctional and ineffective elements of our governance system, as evidenced by bad roads, inadequate drainage, and poor community infrastructure, not to mention wastage and bad spending, our hope is that they will focus over the next two months on real solutions to citizens’ issues and also present themselves as people committed to meaningful change and worthy of citizens’ votes.