Transforming Political Culture Hamid Ghany Published: Sunday, October 19, 2014 In his column in the Guardian last Wednesday, Tony Fraser raised the issue of the transformation of political culture in relation to the activities of the Highway Re-route Movement (HRM). While he made the stand-off between the HRM and the Government the focus of his argument, there is a deeper transformation of political culture that is under way in our society. That transformation has to do with the emergence of the desire for other voices to be heard in the political sphere besides the dominant ones of the major political parties. This is the formula that coalition politics has attempted to deliver. The fact that our political culture has operated since independence on the basis of a single dominant hegemonic political party becoming the natural party of government and its longevity in power mean that any alteration brings with it new growing pains. There have been allegations made against this Government that its rural development programmes are an undercover way of spending large amounts of public money to favour its supporters. That is an old paradigm that has its genesis in the 1960s and 1970s when the shoe was on the other foot. The fact that rural neglect is now greatly diminished has brought some equality to public expenditure patterns when compared over the decades. The highway controversy has opened many wounds in the society which go to the heart of a debate about the urban-rural dichotomy. The decision to build a major highway to alleviate the problems of traffic congestion in the South has been pending for some time and action has been taken. Quite apart from the quarrels over science, environmentalism and policy, there is the politics of the highway. The human-science challenges of fasting without a drop of water or an ounce of food for more than three weeks, as part of the lobbying for the highway to be stopped, comes up against the use of science to articulate a position that is anti-highway. The recent statements that have revealed that the highway is not passing through the Oropouche Lagoon but rather is skirting the lagoon is a major information development, together with the recent statement that the Banwari site will not be affected either. With the science and heritage issues being diminished alongside a refusal of Minister Rambachan’s offer of an aerial tour of the entire project, many questions are now being asked. The Armstrong Report is a policy document that is advisory and not directory. The Government has taken a policy decision, and the Armstrong report is only further proof that the Government has taken on wide consultation and advice as its policy position has emerged along the way. Now it is being clearly stated that at no time did the Government give any undertaking to halt the work on the highway. There seems to be a not-so-subtle superiority complex at work here in which some urban elites have adopted a position that they know what is best for the rural southland in respect of their road development and overall environmental challenges. Another area of controversy is what appears to be a deep mistrust about the ability of the Transparency Institute to play the role of an honest broker to mediate the dispute. A fair amount of this distrust comes from the fact that there was no response from that group when the secret meeting between Ken Gordon, as chairman of the Integrity Commission, and Dr Keith Rowley, as leader of the Opposition, was exposed last year. The fact that Gordon had to subsequently recuse himself from the E-mailgate investigation was proof positive that the Transparency Institute missed a golden opportunity to demonstrate its effectiveness as an honest broker in cases of ethical challenges at all levels. Their deafening silence did not do it any favours and rendered its image somewhat suspect in cases like this, where it might otherwise have been seen as a natural mediator. The naming of David Abdulah by Kublalsingh as his successor in the event of his demise raised questions about whether the HRM is a pressure group that has morphed into a political entity. Abdulah is the political leader of the MSJ and is a sworn enemy of the PP Government. One of the areas of controversy that has arisen is whether the Government will accept all of the provisions of the Armstrong Report. This report had its genesis in the first hunger strike by Dr Kublalsingh. There was never any expectation that the report would represent the final word on the highway and that work would be stopped. Whether or not the Government abides by all of the provisions of the report does not create a policy deficit. The collective responsibility of the Cabinet has clearly been arrived at after due consideration of many facts. There has been a transformation of political culture in the direction of greater transparency for the future. We have the HRM to thank for that, in creating space for independent technical advice in policy-making, but not for any hunger strike. The highway must continue. Columnist Source:: Trinidad Guardian The post Transforming Political Culture appeared first on Trinidad & Tobago Online. #trinidad
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 06:55:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015