The announcement by one of the Party Group’s senior officials was greeted with loud applause.
Her fund-raising project to raise finances for construction of the party’s new headquarters had generated such a whopping sum that even the Political Leader had sent a personal message of congratulations.
This was also a special triumph for the Group’s chairman since the people here had defied the rules of the party which specifically stated that members of a party group must be resident in the immediate surroundings.
In the case of this PG, the members comprise a number of elitist individuals with deep-pockets drawn from various surroundings – also from across the Gulf of Paria – who position themselves as champions coming together to help the financially weaker constituencies, as needed.
These kinds of maneuverings can be very beneficial for the party, especially in times of tragedy in the communities where there have been a number of fires resulting in families losing all their belongings.
It’s in these times of immediate distress when government machinery can be slow to respond because of its bureaucratic constraints, that groups such as the one in this PG could respond with lightning speed to stage rescue missions that make the MP, the Party, the Prime Minister and the government look good.
Since in the screams of celebrations, no one asks where all this money was coming from in the first place, it’s understandable that voices will be well muted on this topic.
Or as Patrice Roberts advised: Drink water and mind my business!
Which brings us to the burning question of what kind of authority can a government really wield when it knows the source of its election campaign funding?
As one political analyst responded to WESN interviewer Andy Johnson this week :We all know that all party leaders will have to pay back several times over for the generous donations they receive on the way into office.
In other words: Who have more corn will feed more fowl!
This explains why the south-Trinidad based oil drilling contractor who came under fire for allegedly inflating his production figures, appeared to have been let off the hook for some time when PM Rowley was revealed to have phoned him as a ‘friend’.
Interestingly, it’s only after a female party senator was summarily removed without any explanation in the following week that the public realized that this woman was also the daughter of the same contractor.
That is how the real world works in politics.
Like the contractor on the highway project who spoke in a demeaning manner to the Ministry of Works engineer in charge as if he had him in his pocket;
Or the ease with which the official in the Ministry of Housing promised me some extra houses on my building contract, provided I gave him some kickback on each extra house.
And the big construction engineering consultant who, full of experience, did not fall for my sales pitch about my company having won the massive contract to maintain a major government building,
Laughing loudly in my face, he said “You mean the bid given by (he called the Minister’s name) to his brother ‘ who is now sitting like a fat cat after that great gift form the government!’’
Then there were allegations about the Prime Minister’s wife’s land project plus his own closed gate.
As they say: Cockroaches have no place in fowl business.
So it was not long before I left my job of marketing the minister’s brother’s
construction company to go off on my own writing journey to look, listen and learn as much as I could in order to become a better person who could be a source of enlightenment for my people and my country.
So much for ambition as I now find myself getting giddy in the drinks flying past political wind-talkers who all have high office and enjoy waving the flag in their party jersey in every convention.
Which may help explain why the party can stage a very successful internal election where young leaders can emerge to tell opponents Rock So! and old soldiers –male and female – are lavishly praised with love, care and appreciation.
As the Lord Nelson sang:
All ah we is one Famalay!
