Commentary
Paolo Kernahan
Paolo Kernahan
Faris Al-Rawi white-knuckled a microphone, addressing a sparsely populated room so small there wasn’t any need for a microphone. Reflecting on his defeat, he grasped at all sorts of narratives to explain the loss.
“I can tell you the UNC will implode in 12 months,” he declared.
This son of PNM privilege could muster neither grace nor emotional maturity. That’s the quality of detachment that cost the incumbent the elections – a deafness to the ground that ran like a seam of coal through the government’s consecutive terms.
It was an affliction echoed on Monday night at Balisier House by Keith Rowley, whose task it was, as political leader, to concede. Rowley implied voters were swayed by a “package of promises.” Both major parties were peddling promises, some more outrageous than others.
This is par for the course with electoral politics. Rowley’s suggestion that voters were seduced by gilded inducements is a deflection from the oppressive conditions many citizens have been enduring – unchallenged crime and a necrotic economy.
Defeat can be partly traced back to Rowley’s clumsy exit gambit at the start of this year.
The party was coerced into rubber-stamping his anointed successor in a move that would undoubtedly cause convulsions among supporters. An eager pawn in these machinations, Stuart Young, intoxicated with the promise of power, swore in a paper cabinet only to call the elections right after having done so.
The belief, presumably, was that the government could catch an opposition in apparent disarray, on the back foot. A move the most devout PNM supporters described as 3-D chess turned out to be 1-D wappie. If the PNM is to rebuild, its members must understand the mistakes that sowed the seeds of April 28 rout.
Surely there was significant disaffection among PNM voters.
It makes more sense, however, to understand why the flock strayed rather than spin the UNC victory as inauthentic – strictly a product of voter apathy. Ordinary citizens struggle to cope with constantly rising food prices, a trend which started before the pandemic.
Eye-watering grocery bills were coupled with increased gas prices, transportation costs, and utility bills – all while wages stayed put.
A PNM in pursuit of reform must appreciate that gas-lighting the public into believing their complaints aren’t legitimate, all while securing wage increases and benefits for themselves, was a path to political ruin. Additionally, the mantra that “it have crime all over” was cold comfort to people living and dying under the gun every day.
When citizens criticise governance, leaders need to develop the discernment and intelligence to sort vacuous attacks from legitimate grievances, and learn from the latter.
Forex woes, murderous crime, the Petrotrin closure, spiralling living costs, Paria diving tragedy, etc – these are all case studies in how not to manage crises and critical events that hammer the public.
The PNM must discard its own myth of exceptionalism and omniscience and defer to citizens with the knowledge and expertise to effect the change the country needs, even if those people aren’t PNM loyalists.
For the UNC, congratulations and condolences.
I wrote last year that I wouldn’t want to be part of a new government in this country. It should go without saying that the party should be vigilant against repeating the mistakes of the PP’s term in office, 15 years ago.
Acknowledging mistakes is one thing. Avoiding them in future takes awareness and discipline not easily mastered.
Everyone will be microscoping cabinet picks and early moves with giddy anticipation of failure; forget the honeymoon and go straight to the divorce proceedings.
Perhaps the most important lesson the incoming government can take away from the last nine-plus years is this – the UNC will not be extended any of the grace showered on the PNM.
The general silence, absence of protests and acquiescence from the public and civil society groups lavished on the outgoing administration have been revoked. The failures of Rowley’s PNM are now yours; the expectation is that they will be remedied immediately.
Work must be seen to be done in the short term to lighten the crushing economic conditions burdening the most vulnerable.
Policies must be pursued with manic determination to diversify the economy and create hope for the business sector to be a dynamic engine of growth. A dramatic reordering of the nation’s approach to crime will have to be rolled out quickly.
The road ahead was always going to be difficult, regardless of who prevailed at the polls. Just how difficult will be determined by the lessons both parties are prepared to learn.
