TROTT TALKA CATCH-22…?
In my opinion, neither of the two political parties in Nevis deserves to emerge victorious in the election to be held on July 10th , just three days from now. One of them will, of course, and my vote might actually help the winning side, even though I firmly believe that they don’t deserve my vote.
This election will be something like a “catch-22” situation; a paradox, an absurdity, an enigma, a conundrum, a mind-boggling perplexity as far as I’m concerned. But then, that has often been the pattern around here, hasn’t it.
Someone asked for my prediction on the outcome – huh, as if it mattered. He wondered why I didn’t come right out and state which side I was going to support. He said I might even be able to influence a few people. I said that I didn’t want to influence anybody. I want each individual to make up his own mind about which way to vote. That way they can’t blame me if the person or party they vote for disappoints them later on. I’ve got my own disappointments to deal with, and that’s quite enough, thank you.
For the past month or so, I’ve been throwing out hints and comments that I hoped our Nevis politicians would notice. If any of them have noticed, I can’t say that any of my comments have had any effect. Perhaps I was expecting too much. Perhaps my approach was too light and humorous. Perhaps I should have been more direct, and called a few names, and specified what was needed and suggested courses of action with a lot more detail. Or perhaps I should have just kept quiet – then nobody’d be interested in asking for my prediction on the outcome of the election.
But predicting is not my strong suit anyway. I can’t remember when I last predicted anything that turned out the way I expected. On the other hand, several times things turned out the way I expected even though I did not have the gall to make any predictions. Stranger still though, is the fact that sometimes things turned out in a way that very few had expected and nobody had predicted. So you’ll not get any predictions from me on the outcome of this election. Is that clear?
I will say something about my expectation though, and that is, that The Nevis Island Administration will probably remain in the same hands for another consecutive five year term in office. This expectation is not based on any wishful thinking on my part. I would have wished for something much better than that. No, that doesn’t mean that I would have wished for the current opposition party to win either. I don’t honestly believe they would be one whit better, even though they claim their team would far outshine their opponents in every area that matters.
I would have wished for a new political party to emerge, with bright new personalities, fresh ideas, and new approaches, free from associations with any of the other tiresome political party attitudes, biases , and customary ways of doing things.
“Vote for change”, they say – and to tell the truth, I just might. I believe that change can be a healthy process in the political affairs of a country and its people. Especially after a taciturn regime has managed to stay in power for a lengthy period – a change might bring greater transparency, accountability and fairness in the way the government works. But unfortunately, there is no ironclad guarantee that this will be so. The latest regime for instance, has been no more open and accommodating than the previous regime had been. And even though Nevis has fortunately flourished and prospered during this period, the manner in which those in power seem to have done things, often justifiably meets with greater and greater scrutiny and disapproval.
So IF I vote for change, and please notice that’s a big “if”; I’m fully aware that there is a big chance that I would be no more pleased with the newcomers than with the outgoing administration. And right here I would like to point out to everybody the similarities between the words “change” and “chance”. If you vote for change, you’re really only taking a chance that things might really change to your liking!
If by chance I vote for change, it will only be because I have become convinced that a change in administrations will sooner bring about a satisfactory resolution to the festeri ng problems in the formal relationship between St.Kitts and Nevis. At the moment, neither party seems poised to do this. Neither seems willing to state unequivocally that this is the most pressing item on their agenda, and the one they will most diligently pursue. Even though both political parties have long recognized that this situation needs to be resolved, when push comes to shove, neither has shown the capacity, willingness, or guts, to deal with it in a forthright manner.
As far as I’m concerned, neither party really has an edge in brainpower, or capability, and any attempt to prove this is just illusory. Changing the administration from one party to the other then, should really not seem like a strange and wild idea. We changed before, and it really wasn’t catastrophic at all, like the nay-sayers had pr edicted. And if we change again like some people want, I feel sure we’ll continue to survive and continue on our upward curve from the momentum we’ve achieved thus far.
The one thing that would give me pause at this time about the idea of change however, is the fact that there are so many opposition candidates, spokesmen, and supporters who bear personal grudges against their counterparts. In some cases I can’t say I blame them at all. And truth to tell, I’ve had my own personal grudges and issues to consider too. But I don’t think my conscience could comfortably support change based primarily on personal grudges.
There is too much in the air of the elements of trying to settle old scores, trying to get even, trying to chisel out the other guy in retribution for what he did to you in the past. That sort of thing tends to cloud objectivity and leads to unnecessary distortions, exaggeration, and possibly even fabrication in order to paint a negative view of the other guy or other party. In the process of tarnishing the opponent, often something uncomplimentary is revealed about the self.
So as much as I would like to vote for change, and I still might; but I’d like to see more on the balance scales than what I’ve seen so far from either party. With only three more days to go, there isn’t much time left for either party to convince me to vote in their favour. Perhaps they couldn’t care less. Why should they. I have only one vote, and I’m not likely to influence anybody at this late date. So here I am, struggling to come up with a reasonable answer. But like I said before, It seems like a real “catch-22” to me!
