We toting, we not voting.
If ever there was a time for a no-vote campaign it is now. Voting in this local government election is simply to endorse the people who seek your vote and nothing else. Local Government after the 14th of August will remain a child of the Central Government, begging for resources, while the parties boast of their political prowess.
The call by the Opposition Leader to “Don’t tote, just vote” is perhaps one of the most difficult campaign slogans for a population to swallow. It speaks to a total disregard for the feelings of the electorate. Although the PNM has not publicly said don’t tote just vote, the message is the same. Almost every political party contesting the August 14th local government election is asking the population to just vote.
Politicians whose character is being questioned by the population and the courts are to be seen as ok. One must not tote feelings or questions about whether they have changed from the ways of their past. As a matter of fact, none of them has come to the population expressing regret or seeking forgiveness. There has been no explanation for the charges and or allegations of impropriety that hang over their heads. Yesterday they were ill speaking of each other in the vilest of ways. Today without any explanation about whether they have seen a new light, no attempt to explain their newly found sanctimonious character, the population is simply told don’t tote, just vote.
When I think of my own life, I recall a life of struggle, where no one ever came to my rescue. When I had no books for school, no meal for lunch, no place to call home, no one offered me a helping hand. I faced the world with two O’-level subjects and a desire for a better life. Throughout my life I struggled, to educate myself and the children and give my family a place to call home. My struggle is not solitary. I recall a lecturer showing the class a picture of his childhood class. When he panned out the picture, we were shocked to see that every student in the class from South Trinidad was bare feet.
We are people who know about struggle, from picking up “gobar” to pave our kitchen floor and “Chula” to walking the hills of Laventille as we rush to some service job in the city, we have struggled. We have done what we felt we must do for our survival and that of our family. Few of us can point to any improvement in our lives that was the result of some politician showing compassion. We have always relied on to support and vote despite our circumstances.
Now that call is as blatant and bold as ever, forget the nonsense we have done, forget the pain we have caused, don’t tote. Perhaps now is the time to respond with we are toting, we are not voting. The time has come to hope for honest government.
God Bless Our Nation.
Steve Alvarez
