MSJ leader: Our republic is in need of major reform – Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
Kathy Ramdeen
THE Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), in its Republic Day message, said Trinidad and Tobago is in need of major reform.
TT marks the 49th anniversary of Republic Day on September 24.
In a news release on September 23, MSJ political leader David Abdulah said we have much to celebrate.
But, Abdulah said, there is also another reality.
“This other reality is that too many of our citizens are not doing well.
“In our schools half of our students do not pass the key exam milestones – SEA; CSEC – and the structure of the system does not provide them with knowledge of who we are as a people, where we have come from, what have been our struggles and who led them from the genocide of the First Peoples, then out of enslavement, through indentureship and up to independence.“
This, he said, speaks to a failed education system.
“We are losing our human resources or allowing our youth to waste away: some are migrating; others are unemployed either because the school system failed them or because there are no jobs for them even though they are qualified; and the majority of jobs are either short-term contracts or in low pay, low-skilled service activity which does not do justice to their talents. This speaks to a labour market that is inappropriate.”
“Our economic system is still essentially the colonial plantation of pre-independence,” Abdulah said.
“We made some gains in the lead up to and just after our becoming a Republic as we sought to take control of “the commanding heights of the economy.
“These gains have been reversed through the decades of neo-liberal policies implemented by successive governments. Control of the ‘commanding heights’ has almost totally reverted to foreign capital while the local private sector in retail, services and real estate is dominated by a few conglomerates. We continue to massively produce what we do not consume and consume what we do not produce.“
Given the decline in what we produce (natural gas, oil, petrochemicals) and the increase in our options to consume (credit cards, more and more malls selling imported goods) we have found ourselves in a crisis of forex.
He said we must deal with the inequality of income and wealth where the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.
“For a very few it’s a life of luxury, for the many it’s ketch your tail. Too many citizens can’t make ends meet, can hardly make it to the next pay day and very many don’t have money to put food on the table in the morning. Poverty is not only measured in terms of no money in the pocket, it is also the lack of hope in the future as many do not see opportunities for better living. This is a key driver of crime.
“The institutions and systems of power – economic and political – established in the First Republic of 1976 have failed. This is why our systems and institutions need to evolve. After 49 years it’s time to evolve to the Second Republic!“
That, he said, is the MSJ’s unique vision for TT.