When in the past it was said more as fact than sarcasm that to become a policeman under a PNM government one had to be Big, Black and Ugly, it was a truism reflective of the Baboon politics that prevailed and emanated from Balisier House.
So, when Eric Williams referred to the candidates selected for him as crapauds and millstones, technically he was offended by the jungle drums that resonated from the quality of the persons chosen for him to vie for government.
Obviously, he wanted to surround himself with persons more Oxonian like himself than those who were just too reminiscent of what obtained at the Emperor Valley Zoo just a stone’s throw away from the PM residence.
To counter the primordial instincts of his party and their grassroots’ preference for identification with what mirrored their own image, Williams assembled others like Kamal, Montano, Winston and Errol Mahabir and some others just so the coffee had some milk, albeit only a teaspoon.
So how has that changed? Actually, it hasn’t. When Fitzgerald Hinds publicly said that Rowley was too black (too like a baboon, Hinds?) to be successful as the party leader, he was proven wrong as the party confirmed the proverb, birds of a feather flock together, as his supporters went out on election day and overwhelmingly voted for him. It was a classic example of monkey, er, Baboon see, Baboon do.
On the other hand, while the Indo party (ies) of the past reached out to the Indian intelligentsia of the time, attracting persons who distinguished themselves – internationally – as Dr. Rudranath Capildeo – and nationally, as his brother Simbhoo, the Sinanan brothers (Ashford and Mitra), Stephen Maharaj etc, today, the UNC has been reduced to a lagoon-type party where villagers go and throw their hooks hoping to snare, seduce, a guabin (wabin) which is commonly sneered at as the ho, the hooker, the jamette among the fish species. Coincidence?
So now there is something very fishy in the choice of UNC candidates in this era where the lagoon has dried up and Kamla is fishing in the desert for king fish but is only coming up with cat fish and jhanjee – apparent specialties of hers – complementing the PNM’s Baboon politics.
By L. Siddhartha Orie