When the LOADED DICE was rolled out in the Trinidad elections on August 10, 2020 the UNC led by Kamla Persad Bissessar could not win the elections because it was fighting against the loaded dice of electoral gerrymandering of boundaries since 1961. To place the blame on Mrs. Kamla Persad Bissessar alone on the UNC defeat in the August 10, 2020 elections is plainly unfair.
It was already unfair to the UNC running against the loaded dice politically speaking. The blame has to be placed on the founding fathers of the Indo Trinidadian who fought against the PNM and stood by passively, allowing rigged elections and gerrymandering of boundaries along ethnic lines to prevail.
The UNC or any other opposition to the PNM can hardly win an election ever again in the near future unless the electoral constituencies are changed by some agreed electoral formula that is fair to all political contestants. The reasons behind the UNC not winning the elections is based on its failure to build its own voters’ bank. This is mainly because it does not have goodies to keep its support base intact. Understandably, few will remain loyal to a political party that fails repeatedly at the polls to form government! This phenomenon is now being witnessed in the current revolt of many against the leadership of Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar!
The Opposition must call out to the EBC to give an account for its operation. This must include the compulsory presence of Commonwealth, CARICOM and other international observer teams since all indicators point to the reality that we are unofficially a banana republic. The PNM party has built an ethnic wall by using a flood of other Caribbean immigrants from other islands.
Since the probability of losing another election in Trinidad [2025] is high, the opposition UNC may lose again because the electoral boundaries are constructed, choreographed and designed to defeat the opposition. Given the difficulties getting the PNM to change the electoral boundaries, the UNC and other opposition parties should adopt the Guyanese African logic.
The PNC [African base] party in Guyana in a free and fair elections will always lose the elections in Guyana. This means that elections will not have any meaning for the PNC supporters in Guyana if we constantly elect according to a numerical majority. However, in 2015 the PNC modified itself into APNU and formed a coalition with the AFC which attracted 10% of the PPP base.
So too elections in Trinidad has no meaning to the UNC and its support base. In 1971 the reaction of the opposition parties was to boycott the elections. The constant shifting of electoral district to give the PNM a political advantage continued. The solution to this challenge is to form coalition partners that would bring cross ethnic support. The PNM had always been a minority party and whenever the opposition forces come together it has lost power by huge margins-1986, 1995 and 2010. The victory of 2001 where the UNC singled handedly won 19-17 is a rare feat and unsustainable.
Decentralization through the existing local government arrangement could assist in the sharing of resources across ethnic divides. Communities at the grassroots level are more united and less politically divided. In fact, such allocation of resources should be written into the constitution as was done with the Tobago House of Assembly which is allocated 4.3% of the national budget which amounted to $2.283 B and a further $987.1M in the 2020.
Indo-Trinidadian and Afro- Guyanese cannot always be losers in the political arena who has a fewer % less. However, the option to partition Guyana should not be ruled out as a long term solution for peace and prosperity for both ethnic groups. The Wismar massacre and the looting and burning of Indian businesses have to be brought to a halt and if partition is the answer then so be it.
In Trinidad I recommend decentralization to allow localities to develop and maintain their way of life with less central government inputs.
In the election of a President in the US the electoral college ensures that smaller populations get to have a voice in Washington. If America go by numerical superiority, states with fewer population like Utah would be forgotten and Presidential candidates would only need to campaign and listen to constituents in states with superior numbers such as California, Florida and New York. Each state/locality gets to have its Democrat or Republican majority state ruled by their preferred party elected leaders.
We can no longer entertain central government rule in Trinidad. The UNC must be allowed to take care of their constituents and the PNM theirs.
