Trinidad and Tobago – Proof of Development

It is election time in Trinidad and Tobago, the country that nearly became developed using a couple tall buildings, two Summits and one NAPA, thus there is a spate of road paving taking place in mostly the marginal constituencies just as it is done in the developed countries.  Around election time, the garbage collectors, on a contracted political high, hardly leave any scattered mango skin, plum seeds or empty Pringle’s containers behind thinking that is how ruling parties do it in developed foreign lands to win votes and show intelligence. Around election time CEPEP and URP workers become very visible with new reflector vests and signs that say “We only look First World.”

These poor-use-of-manpower workers work overtime by trying to cut  what is left of the burnt dry season bush and striding through the crowds during opposition meetings holding placards most of the contracted protesters can’t read or understand but say they voting for the Government because of free tertiary education. I suppose that is how it also is in developed countries and I can only imagine how the in-power Republicans must have given the US CEPEP people extra work and placard duty in the run up to the last US general elections, especially in Florida. I wonder how much roads Gordon Brown ordered to be paved in order to sway British voters to vote for him today.  I suppose 1^st world leaders, like the wannabe 1^st world leaders, also go on political platforms and behave like true wajangs just to create the impression in the minds of loyalist that aggression is not only a good substitute for brains and integrity, but the answer. The amount of taxpayer’s money used in developed countries to assist the ruling parties in retaining power via a media advertisement blitz must also be shamelessly mindboggling so we still have a lot to learn.

The election results on May 24th, regardless of who wins, will be interesting as it will show what the country isn’t willing to tolerate and what it treasures more than anything in the whole wide world.