Drunkenness at Democracy's Door (Dr. Ghany, May 2005)

"As T&T witnesses unprecedented scenes in its political evolution, there all kinds of concurrent developments that are beginning to form a powerful and intoxicating cocktail that may cause drunkenness at democracy’s door.The ridiculous mess within the UNC has now become a sick joke, due process and all. The controversy surrounding the Chief Magistrate and the Chief Justice threatens to rip the Judiciary apart with the potential to spread its poison to the Caribbean Court of Justice as a precedent for the future. The public outcry over the President’s Grounds and the aluminum smelter plant underscores the powerlessness of communities in our political system to influence public policy.There were, however, two reinforcing moments last week for democracy, namely the announcement of the possibility of an early general election and the real prospect of constitutional reform.Given the present configuration of political parties and feuds, the current odds seem to favour the PNM being returned to power and Prime Minister Manning having his mandate renewed.With the opposition lampooning itself at the moment, there is no effective watchdog operating in the society. The PNM has an easy pass with the compliments of the UNC who cannot figure out who is their leader (as they have two) from their own rules (as they cannot decide where correspondence should or should not go).