By Raffique Shah
May 17, 2025

Something positive is coming out of the political and social networks, if I may so refer to them, what with social media having given any such interaction a bad reputation in the past.

Amidst the cheering and other expressions of joy that emanated from the new UNC ministers, and the graceful acceptance of defeat from inside the PNM camp, I heard my call for the new Government to move with quiet authority, grounding with the masses and, more importantly, reaching out to them on the issue of preparing the nation for adverse weather conditions which have become near-normal for us.

Last week, I chided those who were likely to take the PNM and UNC back to basics, in a manner of speaking, using defeat of the oldest party in the country as a signal to whip its members, reminding them of “their” place.

I resurrected the system of “grounding with the masses” from the heady days of revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, coined, I think, from the inside of one of the Caribbean’s most eminent sons, Walter Rodney.

As if they had done it from a script, from one of Walter’s speeches, Khadijah Ameen summoned all the authorities that were important to coping with the rainy season which, almost every year now, leaves us in a mess. Not only did she call out all available forces in the country, but she mobilised the masses that included local government councillors and officers, as well as civil organisations that have training in dealing with disasters, but which may belong to the PNM.

Previously, former ministers such as Marvin Gonzales and Faris Al-Rawi took on that role. It seems that large numbers of personnel who either have already been trained at one level or another in dealing with the devastating effects, particularly of storms, hurricanes and especially floods, are now required almost full-time to deal with such occurrences.

Even as I write this column, there are news reports and calls for preparedness for the rainy season that is threatening to come down in a rush starting this weekend. We’ll need all hands on deck if we are to navigate the changing weather patterns.

The point I make here, however, is that we cannot be seen to come together for the benefit of all only when negative forces are at play. Our politics has been battered, beaten, even raped, by people parading as politicians mostly, who are exploiting every divisive element for as long as the two main ethnicities have been here. Election after election—and we have had these for 100 years—our people have maintained a virtual apartheid when it comes to voting.

Political pundits could accurately predict results based on the ethnic distribution in communities. Their deleterious effects of race in politics have been studied and explored by academics, racists, politicians, parties, but equally there are those who have worked hard at breaking down the barriers created by race and used by politicians to their advantage in elections, or even in commerce, and the awarding of contracts and more.

It took a long time for people to respond positively to breaking down those race barriers. My generation, for example, had all but given up hope of seeing any change of thinking and voting. Still, we fought on, as have many other like-minded people.

We have to factor in the emergence of the mixed races a major force in elections. It is not just their bare numbers but the fact that this, the “red” people as many call them, have emerged as an influential sector.

From a social standpoint, they work at menial jobs all the way through to skilled labour. They are managers, business owners, they can be found in rum shops all the way up to the uppercrust. They are everywhere.

I don’t know if the CSO has classified them as a separate ethnic group, I do know that like the Chinese, who have lived here almost as long as Indians and Africans, they not only claim their space in this country, but they are a major deciding factor when the votes are counted.

Another influencing factor is that the core constituents no longer vote straight on race or, for that matter, vote at all. A cursory example of these core constituents results (Laventille, Cocorite, Barrackpore, Diego Martin), which used to vote heavily in favour of the PNM or DLP/UNC, will show thousands of missing voters.

PNM can no longer rely on people in greater Port of Spain or Diego Martin and the UNC can no longer control parts of the Central and deep South electorate. In fact, the UNC and its coalition party have won 26 seats with just over 300,000 votes—less than half the electorate. The PNM fared worse.

I shall return to this soon.