Should the PNM Govern Us Again?

By Stephen Kangal
June 22, 2010

PNMThe sober question that my favourite T&T electorate must address dispassionately is whether in the face of the sordid and blemished history/culture of widespread, pervasive, repeated corruption, vandalisation and pillaging of the public purse it can ever put God out of its mind and elect the PNM to mis-govern and bleed this country again?

According to Leader of Opposition Rowley the UDECOTT feeding frenzy alone is conservatively put at ten times worse than that of Piarco. After presiding over the financial largesse doled out by two oil and gas bonanzas (last one $300bn and counting) the PNM via former PM’s Williams and Manning has bequeathed to T&T both in 1986 and 2010 a legacy of persistent poverty, squandermania, a ballooning public debt (50% of GDP), militant arrogance and an empty treasury.

The answer to this national challenge is neither the re-engineering nor changing the leadership of the PNM will make it electable again? The problem was not Manning.

The problem is that there are two organizational cultures driving the PNM. There is the 1956 cosmetic and deceptive founding culture and ethical standards written on paper and plastered on banners. Dr. Williams articulated them in his two 1962 Independence addresses to the nation and school children.

But there is another completely antithetical dominating. pervasive and operating PNM culture that is fed by the tribal notion that the rich patrimony of multicultural T&T is the exclusive preserve of the PNM and its 30% share of the electorate. That culture of nepotism, national divisiveness, arrogance, ethno-nationalism, secrecy and feeding frenzy at the Treasury trough geared to promote its electoral security obsession is so deeply ingrained and embedded in the PNM body politic that it will take decades to eradicate and dismantle.

The collective institutional memory of the electorate must give itself the benefit of the doubt and not make the mistake again of electing the PNM again. We must learn from our political history in order not to repeat the political mistakes again.

The meltdowns inflicted in 1986 and 2010 are conclusive evidence of this PNM modus operandi whether it was the Williams PNM or the new Manning purged PNM. Rowley did not save the PNM because he struggled to win his own seat of Diego West by 500 votes from Rocky Garcia. Imbert won by 300 votes.

Neither new faces at the helm of the PNM nor reinvention/re-engineering can change the price we pay for PNM cocoa. Former Chairman Enill does not understand PNM politics saying that the problem of the PNM is no more because Manning was removed from the leadership.

The collectivity of the PNM was all caught up, drawn into and seduced by the centrifugal and irresistible forces of the real vortex culture that is based on the maxim that Magnum est PNM et prevalabit in corruption, nepotism lack of transparency and accountability and mismanagement.

37 thoughts on “Should the PNM Govern Us Again?”

  1. “Neither new faces at the helm of the PNM nor reinvention/re-engineering can change the price we pay for PNM cocoa.”

    Mr. Kangal must think that we have reached the end of history. Arrant nonsense indeed.

  2. Kangal has gone overboard once again. Any political organization can restructure itself, reorganize, learn from its mistakes and present itself to the electorate again.
    To suggest that the PNM should never be elected again is outrageous, and based on the naive assumption that that the PP is going to be infallible.
    A new generation of PNM leaders could change the culture of entitlement and corruption and make the party more multi-cultural and electable.And remember: The people are always right.

  3. Mr. kangal, I hope that the PNM takes another 10 or fifteen yeares to regroup. We must rid this landl of th elack of governance that the PNM bestwed on us for so long. As for Mr. Manning, time will tell. He may resign before you knwo it. His elk likes to be in power. The People’s Partnership is a chance to rebuild our country and set new standards to include all citizens for the distribution of our limited resources. let’s see all citizens put their shoulders to the wheel and assist this government to rebuild our country. We have to love again.

  4. well put. Stephen. well put. I hope that bunch of losers never see power again.
    There are only limited to their own hypocrisy and fooling the black nationals (and non nationals) to vote for then cause they try to convince them that “them Indians will hurt them financially”. But think about it , did the pnm help blacks to become prosperous ?

  5. leh meh try and help allyuh out here.. Ah see allyuh only driving and looking back. I have news fuh allyuh… The UNC-Coalition is the Govt. now..

    Now what allyuh tink bout this?

    McLeod: Changes coming for URP
    Louis B Homer South Bureau
    Sunday, June 20th 2010
    Sweeping changes are contemplated for the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) with workers being given opportunities to be involved in food production for the nation. And several labour laws will be repealed, with the immediate focus being an increase in maternity leave to 14 weeks.

    So said Labour Minister Errol McLeod. Addressing workers at yesterday’s Labour Day celebrations at Fyzabad Mc Leod, who now has responsibility for the URP, said the changes to the URP programme ’are intended to give emphasis to training and the development of food production’.

    ’I propose after collaboration with my colleague, the Minister of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs, and subject to the approval of Cabinet, to develop a new programme patterned after the Ministry’s Commonwealth Caribbean Seasonal programme, to use people from here to develop food for Trinidad and Tobago,’ he said.

    ’This will be germane to the strengthening of the URP and you will be informed as plans progress,’ he told the crowds gathered at Fyzabad.

    http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/nart?id=161701967&weba=NWSNews

  6. Mr. Kangal has good command of the English language and can be trusted to use that command in a twisted and subjective way every time he puts an article for publication. For starters when information is being diseminated you want to make sure that there is some credibility to your story. He stated without contradiction that the PNM left an empty Treasury — Lie? That is LIE!! It is the same information Dookeran tried in a twisted way to impart without actually saying so until he was stand corrected by Browne and Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams. His article is replete with undemocratic thinking because in a democracy the parties fallin favour and out of favour with the electorate. So for him to suggest that the PP should rule nomatter what shows the depth of his ignorance or inability to think outside the box. I think his reasoning is lame and we should not waste time on this discussion.

  7. The irony here is palpable…the PP and its supportors seems to have taken a page from the “dictator” Manning…interesting indeed

  8. Of course not Stephen,according to your twisted, demented logic, we Afro Trinidadians must just sit here and allow Indians to rule and lord it over us from now till time immemorial, I have news for him, not all Afro Trinidadians are idiots like those in the East West corridor who voted for this government you know!!!

    We realise this gov`t is trying to destroy the PNM forever but they can`t…

    You can`t fool all the people all the time, those who made that mistake will slowly see what these people are all about , as you can never hide who or what you really are forever…

    KingofKings…

  9. Point taken , keep it realer,some “dictator” Manning really is, as he is the only one in the Commonwealth, or the history of the world, that would call an early election with two more years to go in power.Mugabe , you are now considered old news, you are known to beat up your Opposition leader , and lock up their followers in the street, in T&T instead, we throw picongs at them during campaigning, then when they win , bow reverentially to them in Parliament.
    I think Kain is correct, this article does not really warrant much of a response, unless you are not more than a day over 16,with little knowledge of history .
    Tell Uncle K that his grouse is not with the PNM ,or African people ,it is with his party head Dooke , who cannot deliver sufficient spoils from the Jack Warner/ Kamla PP dominated hierarchy. You’ve got to give your boss Winston, a ‘lil bit o time,’ uncle K, remember he claimed that after serious assessments of our financial state , he recognize that we were broke?
    It is why this idiot government would choose to renege on every loan , and business deal we entered under the PNM, then pay the fine or address the exorbitant lawsuits down the road.
    Thank goodness, this too shall pass , hopefully it would not take four years before the self destruction of this so call unity party.
    In the interim we the caring few remaining patriots, should wish our country well.

  10. What Kangal is saying behind his hyperbole is that T&T, like Guyana, must never again be governed by an Afro Trinbagonian. Plain and simple, his thesis is that it is the historic right of Indians, especially Hindus, regardless of the facts to govern T&T as if it already is a protectorate of India.

  11. afro trinidadians should beware. indo-trinis have always had this rhetoric of victimhood. that is because they were not in power. now they have the power, they are more educated, they have a greater share of the economy, so what do the afro trinidadians have? the lesson is there to see…ala guyana. those who have eyes should see .

  12. Keeping it even realer, lets talk about how Dooks was caught out frankoment lying about the true state of the economy and the treasury,talk aboout reopening the sugar industry,just now is money for the people in HCU, land to construct temples in Tobago and the list goes on and on…

    And the clincher is that Ish and Steve Ferguson extradition issue, if that AG thinks he can outsmart us on this one, he has another thought coming, he minding them like chicken in a coop, jump high jump low, these two clowns going to the US and make their jail,just like all the others before them who were extradited for various offences…

    We are all for unity, not at the expense of our race though…

    One Love,

    KingofKings…

    1. That was they campaign mantra right…..yet, the ppl vote them in on stupid promises with an “empty” treasury. The treasury will surely be empty soon, as soon as “Uncle” Jack ready for reimbursement.

      Now, that issue with land for Sat in Tobago is very interesting indeed. The government should have no involvement with the establishment of any religious organization. Isn’t that what ppl upset over Manning for? Aren’t they leasing the Tobago land under market value to Sat and he cronies? Are we to believe that no government funds will go into building whatever they decide to build there? Well I eh blind….steupssss!

      I hope ppl stay alert and aare yes, but given trinis proclivity for complacency, I don’t it. We clearly voted for exchange and not change and the signs are clear.

      1. That land was given to the Hindu Society by the PNM-controlled Tobago House of Assembly.

        “The Executive Council of the Tobago House of Assembly in December 2009 agreed to lease half an acre of its land at Signal Hill to the Hindu Society to build a Hindu temple, a cultural centre and related ancillary facilities. The Society received a letter from the THA on May 25 agreeing to this.
        Chief Secretary Orville London confirmed this in a telephone interview with the Tobago News on Tuesday. He said the parcel of land on Old Farm Road, near to the lands leased to the Baptist community was specifically allocated to a particular organisation for a specific purpose.”
        http://www.thetobagonews.com/index.pl/article?id=28649416

        1. The PNM that so racist and hate “indian” ppl grant them land….lawd, the plot thinkens

  13. What Kangal is saying behind his hyperbole is that T&T, like Guyana, must never again be governed by an Afro Trinbagonian. Plain and simple, his thesis is that it is the historic right of Indians, especially Hindus, regardless of the facts to govern T&T as if it already is a protectorate of India

    Black people always need to undergo the most trying ordeals in order to awaken them to their plight. The triumpalist trumpeting of Kangal and the slew of Indianist that inflate the poll question on this forum are indications of the ordeal to come. Throughout his rant against the PNM he conticuously defined it as a black party. So he is in effect saying that African Trinis should never again govern Trinidad and Tobago.

    It is time that we as Africans begin to see the Kangals and Ricky Singhs for what they are. Ethnicists with an agenda that is old as time in this caribbean. What I know is that the Caribbean is not Fiji, and the sun will fall from the sky before Africans will accept the status of dalits in order to masturbate the insufferable racist egos of these nuevo Brahmins.

  14. The PNM will govern T&T again,and when the eyes of those who were led to the plantation of the UNC under new leadership and stratagem are opened, we will be presenting them with these triumphalist rantings in order to demonstrate that, at least, not all of us were fooled. The future and livlihood of Africans in T&T and Guyana have never been in more peril since the days of slavery.

    Already Kamla is in secret talks with Jagdeo of Guyana. This PM who got into power with the aid of black votes is about to hitch her wagon to her ethnic brother who presided over the most proliferate program of black lynching in the Americas in a hundred years.

  15. We could simply say , like you did in South Africa that we are in the majority and majority rules, but that would be as ignorant as your comments ,Ruel Daniels. Once again I repeat, T&T is no Fiji or Guyana, we are the people of T&T. We do not need this divisiviness. Yes, the PNM might one day form government, but no one is threatened by that prospect, because this is T&T, a unique place , different from the rest.And life will go on. Why are some people getting so stressed out by the prospect of what they construe to be an “Indian ” government. Indians have lived with PNM rule for close to 40 years. And , they did quite well, thank you.

  16. What is this T-Man really talking about ,indian lived under PNM rule? Can someone inform him that Indians was the PNM , and the PNM was indians a la Errol Mahabir ,Kamal, Dr Baboolal,CJ/ e[lection and Boundries chief Hayatali, and many others, too numerous to mention.
    If half or less of the country is made up of indians , why do these die hard tribalist not admit that PNM could not survive without the substantial votes of indians, for the same reason that the UNC then in 95 ,and presently UNC/COP/ PP would never see power , without African voters , and not the phantom swing votes that T-Man keep fooling himself exist. Hey buddy, the 10000 or so , Europeans, Chinese , Syrians, Jews,Lebanese, and ‘colonial rape byproducts of Mulatto/ Mestizos,’ have absolutely no interest in hard core politics , but is solely concerned with strengthening their domestic financial cache, and expanding their foreign bank accounts. For all the empty talk against their country of birth , no indians plan to leave this country permanently , for unlike the Jagdeo neo racist crime dungheap, Trini Indians have every reasons to stick around here in Sweet T&T aka Rainbow country, long into the future, and why ? It is called oil , gas,land and freedom to have their political cake and eat it too.We should wish our people well, while attempting to keep the barbarians from overrunning the gates.

  17. NO THE PNM SHOULD NOT GOVERN AGAIN. I DON’T THINK THE PNM HAVE THE CHANCE AGAIN TO BE IN POWER
    ONCE KAMLA IS THERE.

    WE DON’T WANT RACE TO BE AN ISSUE IN OUR SWEET LAND T&T
    WITH THE PNM.

  18. Everyone should have a chance to make the country better. This wouldn’t be an issue if Manning would have done what he was supposed to do.
    Good leaders are hard to find. Bad leaders come in all colors, shapes and sizes. We will have to wait and see what happens before we judge this administration and say that the PNM should or should not govern again. If you have a problem with the new leadership, blame the old. In the future we may be asking if the current party should govern again if they too fail the country.

  19. You should have began denouncing race as an issue long before an Indian became the leader of T&T and you experience your convenient epiphany. Nothing is more evident of your deceitful hypocrisy than this transformation. You talked race throughout the tenure of the PNM, but now want Africans to sing Kumbaya just to pander to your hubristic sense of being “Pon Tap”. Forget it. To the same extent that your indianness determined your perspective of the PNM our African-ness will determine our perspective of the PP. They lied to you when they told you that all of us are stupid and would be taken in by your deceit.

    1. I have denounced race as an issue during the most recent reign of the PNM. You keep talking this African mumbo jumbo and you’re not even culturally African. You born and raised in TNT and speak English as your first language. That sounds like the average Nigerian to me. You’re all Trinidadian and everyone trying to claim something else has a twisted sense of being. That goes for all of you.
      Today as I was watching the World Cup match between England and Germany, I noticed a TNT Flag over the shoulder of the English Goalie after Germany scored their first goal. I did not see a Indian flag or a Pan African flag, but I did see a TNT flag and TNT didn’t even qualify for the World Cup. Why is it that the TNT Flag that represents all of the people of TNT is patriotically displayed abroad, but at home, too many people want to hide behind Indian and Pan African Heritage? It’s shameful for any Trinidadian to try to marginalize society for no other reason but to exclude and hate.
      All of the phonies that can’t stand TNT now that there is a Indian leader need to quiet down and give it a rest until the PP demonstrates an inability to lead the country. It really reflects poorly on the lot of you considering that the PNM under Manning was terrible. Blame Manning for the reason why your blood pressure is through the roof at this moment.

  20. Thank you Ruel, Neal,Kandibe and Vic, I am really proud of you to see that you as my Afro Trini bros and sistren have the intelligence to see through these people and have have the guts to say it as you see it..

    Have anybody noticed that the murder rate has gone sky high and no one is complaining?

    Thay have no plan for anything, only to plant bodi, bhaji and baigan,no industrialization, we are truly back in the dark ages…

    One Love,

    KingofKings…

  21. Mr. Kangal…
    just like back at Hillview, you are still letting your emotions rule your better judgement. It is for certain, that given time, the young people of T&T can reinvent/revamp the PNM. That’s what growth or dare I say, political maturity is all about.
    Until and unless the people of Trinidad & Tobago, come to see the abject futility of the aforementioned for a young Republic our size,and the need to turn away from the politics of race and tribalism…we would continue to be faced with these type of hate filled questions/commentries…not to mention being the “Butt” of jokes from our neighbours.

  22. Curtis, take off that Brahminian racist crown that convinces you that you have the right to define who I am. If my mother had given birth to me in an oven I would not be biscuit. If I was born in India I would not be Indian. I am African as sure as my ancestors survived the middle passage in chains to reach Trinidad and Tobago.

    I suggest that you Concentrate your attention on convincing Kamla and the other Indians in the PP that they are not Indians, rather than focussing it on us who are not in power, but who apparently provide great discomfort to you because we do not confirm to your cultural beliefs that we are human flotsam drifting without direction or point.

    You have never been an objective critic of the PNM. You have always been biased, always basing your positions on whether the circumstance would hurt the image of the PNM. You might have succeeded in fooling some with your cunning art, but I refuse to massage your damn ego.

    You did not give the PNM any rest, why should we give that to the PP. The PP is a formation of two pro Indian parties with a smattering of deluded blacks. You are advocating that we pay lip service to this formation as ideal for T&T. If two pro black political organizations had been formed thus and with a smattering of Indians had captured the Government you would all be screaming blue murder. Again, take that hubrisic reasoning and stage it where the audience genuflect as they did before massa.

    1. Were you or were you not born in Trinidad? If so, then you’re a Trinidadian. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
      If you had direction other than back, you would still be in power. I have made many statements against Manning. Does the Summit of Americas ring a bell? What about the 2million dollar flag pole. We should also mention the mansion, president’s house, cars, and trips to Europe. People were squatting and he couldn’t provide government housing with the money that he wasted. I waited for Manning to start showing his hand before I commented. That’s all that I think that you should do with the PP and Kamla.
      You talk about the Indo Trinidadians without acknowledging that your beloved PNM has not lived up to expectations. There are no hand outs so prepare to earn your way back to power. The only way to do that is to be inclusive. If the PNM was inclusive in the first place, there may not have been a formation of two Indian parties to take control of government. If your worse nightmares about the political landscape of TNT are realized, then let that be a lesson learned. If not, then enjoy a new prosperous, TNT.

      1. My Kangal must be commended for his dramatic style of his use of the english language to express his opinions that sound impressonistic, politically attractive, with illusions of true logical constructs. His creative writing style invites controversy and twisted logic, which he seems to enjoy from his dramatic expressions–sounds impressive but lacks sound rationale. He must be a “dramatist” and mixing with political views really increases controversy and twisted logic-from an emotional and intellectual perspective. A somewhat unique column though-sounds impressive, with no practicality, suitable for a marketing or political sales pitch.

  23. No KB , just another egotistical, disgruntled lawyer , that wasted several decades, living the good life in the T&T public service, that despised his country, and the government, he was forced to serve during most of that period.
    These diatribes as expressed by uncle Kangal , are part of the reason why I believe ,no politician should emerge for this locally shallow profession , ever again in our country.
    90% of them should be arrested and strangled, immediately as they graduate from Hugh Wooding law school. Think about how much mental grief we could have saved this country if that was done, to eradicate most of the many unmentionable , elitist ,legal fancy yappers, that dominated the political landscape over the decades.
    I stand corrected.

  24. Well, Stephen Kangal is a “disgrunted” lawyer – sounds to reason from his twisted logic and dramatic expressions. Agree with you 100%- that the thinking preferences and beliefs of most lawyers are to promote “self-interest” complexities, create excessive administrative bureaucracy with complex Regulations and Laws, and stifle innovations and creativity. The 3 major forces of economic growth in this global and Integrated economy are People, Infrastructure & Materials Stock and Innovations. The next generation of Political Leaders including lawyers will need to change their thinking, beliefs and values, otherwise developing countries will be ruled with 19th century decison makers in the 21st Generation- and “twisted” logic will evolve to become something innovative. Efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility do NOT fit most traditional lawyers thinking preferences and beliefs. Have you heard about eDiscovery? and how about the Y2K scam that some lawyers made a “financial” killing–Where is the “ethics” ? I guess how the Polictical/Legal environments and the legal professions fit with the context of the Social, Technological, Economic, Demograhphic and Physical influences in this Globalized and Integrated economy will make for some real interesting and challenges times-The “sounds impressive”, “politically attrictive” and “illusion of efficiencies and social equity/crime” will evolve to becoming the “norm”, unless real change happens, by gettig rid of those “Traditional Laggers-Lawyers” from decision making powers and influences.

  25. Were you or were you not born in Trinidad? If so, then you’re a Trinidadian. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
    If you had direction other than back, you would still be in power. I have made many statements against Manning. Does the Summit of Americas ring a bell? What about the 2million dollar flag pole. We should also mention the mansion, president’s house, cars, and trips to Europe. People were squatting and he couldn’t provide government housing with the money that he wasted. I waited for Manning to start showing his hand before I commented. That’s all that I think that you should do with the PP and Kamla.
    You talk about the Indo Trinidadians without acknowledging that your beloved PNM has not lived up to expectations. There are no hand outs so prepare to earn your way back to power. The only way to do that is to be inclusive. If the PNM was inclusive in the first place, there may not have been a formation of two Indian parties to take control of government. If your worse nightmares about the political landscape of TNT are realized, then let that be a lesson learned. If not, then enjoy a new prosperous, TNT.

    Absolute Rubbish. In the first place I never denied my T&T Nationality. If you spent more time reading what people write rather than responding from your ethnic pedestal you would get it right.

    What I challenged was your idiotic assertion that Africans should define their existence based on their ancestors arrival in T&T in an enslaved state. Because that is what identifying solely with our nationality amounts to. You might attempt to fool some with this deceitful gambit, but it does not fool me. Indians in T&T, including most of their leaders, belong to a Global Indian Organization that solidifies their attachment to their origin. The campaign of yours and many other under the radar supremacist is to convince African to define their existence from Slavery, thus establishing the caste stratification that masturbate your ethnic egos.

    If the PNM was not inclusive, if they discriminated like the Indian Government in Guyana does, like the one under Panday did, and like this one inevitably will, then Africans would own most of the commercial businesses in T&T. That is the problem with the idiotc claims you bigots make. You are no different than your far right counterparts in the US who define any attempt to treat Africans fairly as discriminatory or reverse racism. You are so accustomed and enculturated in the idea that social imbalances that create Brahmins and dalits in a nation is the standard form of human existence, that anything which does not accomodate that kind of stratification becomes discriminatory.

    Regardless of the side mouthed empty enunciations about inclusiveness, you are what you are Curtis. A Maharaj clone using different strategies towards the same end. So spare us the chest beating and loud proclamations.

    1. You believe that identifying solely with your nationality amounts to enslavement. I disagree. For one second let’s focus on you. You keep comparing yourself to self subscribing Indians. Why is that? The last time that I checked, TNT is not a country that currently endorses or applies slavery. You need to move on. As of right now cannot name the country or tribe of Africa that your ancestors came from. You don’t speak the language or talk the talk. You’re just disgruntled and angry over events and things that had nothing to do with you personally in your lifetime.
      Now, identifying as solely a Trinidadian gives you an opportunity to not forget the past per se, but to move forward and embrace your future. Everyone looking at you can tell through history that you have ancestral roots somewhere else, but that’s not who you are. You are that guy that grew up eating his fair share of roti, salt fish and bake, doubles, sorrel, etc…You are that guy that grew up listening to Kitchener, Stalin, Sparrow etc…While growing up in Trinidad, you were doing all the things that typical Trinidadians did. You were not however in Africa with Africans living as apart of the African people.
      You define your existence from slavery every time you post something about Africa as if that’s where you’re from when you are not a member of any African country or cultural group. You are a part of TNT. Why do you have to be a member of some false Global African Organization? Will that make you feel powerful or more liberated?
      African Slaves were free in TNT way before you were born. Over the years, I speculate when I state that you have had many opportunities to leave and go to Africa. You didn’t go there to live and there is a good reason for that. You are a Trinidadian. That goes for most if not all Trinidadians regardless of race, color, or creed.
      You cannot compare the U.S. to Trinidad and Tobago. There is no comparison. The United States has never had a educated and free majority African population. The African Population in the U.S. was never in control of the government even now.
      It would seem to me that being a member in a nation that I have a powerful voice in would be better than alienating myself and dwelling on slavery and my inability to capture a part of history as a self proclaimed African other than to profess my genetic code. Move on with your life in the present looking forward to your future rather dwelling on the past which you cannot change, or control. My best years aren’t behind me, but rather ahead of me.

  26. You are neither in a position to determine what is best for me, or what is best for any African national of T&T. That you presume the right to so do, again, makes my case. Somehow the political dominance by your preferred segment of the T&T population convinces you that you are now vested with powers to define things for us. Sorry pal, we have had centuries of experience with bigotted twerps like you whos existence would mean zilch if they could not feel better by assuming the power of the slave master.

    It is idiotic to make a comment that African Slaves were free before I was born. The fact that you still describe them as slaves, even after they are free, more than makes my case. You and many more of your kind are uncomfortable relating to Africans from any other historical perspective than their existence as slaves. That is why there is this obsession with persuading them to forget any history of their pr-slavery existence.

    Freudian slips says more about a person’s mental disposition than a thousand words that they might write. Slavery was not the natural status of an African. I suggest that you concentrate your efforts in persuading your kith and kin to practice the same idiocy you are attempting to pawn off on us.

    1. Nit pick my comments all that you want, the fact remains that you and anyone who thinks as you do on the subject are still enslaved in your minds. No one is talking about forgetting history, but the fact that you are not in Africa living as an African is significant to your identity. You want to relate to people who live across the Atlantic in different countries and you cannot even relate to the people who live the next house or town over. That’s idiotic. I can relate to real African no problem without having to pretend that I am from Africa and risk insulting them. If you want to be African, go ahead and go there. The Caribbean is for Caribbean people and Trinidad is for Trinidadians. Nobody is subscribing to this foolishness that hurts the nation. The only thing African about you is your genetics. While you’re off pretending that you’re African, you’re nation is moving forward. One day you will wake up and find that you don’t belong and it’s because you invested so much time in energy into being different when you weren’t. You are just like the rest and that is Trini 2 da bone. If you and your sympathizers spent as much time, energy, and resources into being Trini as you did pursuing a pipe dream of ethnic identity, you wouldn’t be worried about losing power to people who you think identify with India. Perhaps they wouldn’t feel the need to pursue the same pointless identification with India if you and others would have acknowledged them long ago as Trinidadians. India and Africa are not Trinidad and Tobago and neither are the inhabitants. The proof is in the pudding. In most of the western world, when “African Trini’s” and “Indian Trini’s” leave Trinidad and Tobago, they all of the sudden start to subscribe and self identify as Trinibagonians.

      1. You are the only one talking about slavery and the natural state of Africans. How are you going to go back and change any of the past? Europeans, Arabs, and Other Africans bought and sold Africans as slaves. What does that have to do with free men here and now working to improve their conditions and existence where they are now?
        You just want a sense of belonging. Well you belong in TNT. If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t be here or you would move.
        It just doesn’t make any sense. Trinidadians walking around pretending that they are more African than Africans and or more Indian than Indians. You need to take stock of what you have now and place what you lost on the back burner. Apparently you are incapable of securing your future because you are stuck dwelling on the past. Ask any normal person what is more important and I will assure that Tomorrow will trump yesterday any day.

  27. Curtis

    Please,be informed the Pm is hired by the people
    to run the affairs of the people, not to rule over
    them like a monarch.You seem to be an educated man,
    and therefore it is easy for you to see that the majority of the people in Trinidad never vote for what is good for the country.
    They have always voted with racial bias -which is very bad.That is why there is so much corruption and political
    incompetence.
    You seem to passionately hate indian people,like the
    apartheid practioners in SA hated the natives, but don’t
    feel bad there are racist like you in indians and other
    ethnic groups.

    Charlie

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