By Pat Brown
Regarding my article on the 11 million dollar bridge, as a diehard Labour Party supporter, my adulation was expected. But my comments were not directed at anyone but at the Labour Party, whose habitual performance is to isolate its supporters, and go about its merry ways as soon as an election is won.
Historically, the Labour Party leadership cannot, as deceased Sir John Compton could, claim to have led the Party into its first election victory without the support of professionals and technicians in their several fields of endeavour, and the red mealy bugs whom the Labour Party discarded immediately after the election victory. After the 16-1 landslide victory, instead of uniting a Party which remained in the wilderness for over fifteen years, they divided it in twain with the introduction of New Labour. They discarded Old Labour, and did not extend a hand to the youth, the “red mealy bugs”, or Rastafarians, but kept UWPees in senior positions in the civil service, which contributed to the Party’s decline, culminating in the loss of one seat in the following general elections.
In the next, Labour Party, even with a cadre of Doctors of Philosophy, legal and economic experts, were put to route by a sickly octogenarian who passed away some nine months later.
What followed was a government whose leader was appointed by the octogenarian, and whose accomplishment was overshadowed by the troika who controlled his Cabinet. The rest is a subject of history. But even with a weak and not entirely honest government fighting the following general elections, the Labour Party, with their “An’ rouge, en’ rouge” chants, managed to edge through with an 11-6 victory, with two seats still being contested.
It may be said that the “en rouge” chant, coupled with assistance of Party faithful and the relentless efforts of the Party’s secretary had a lot to do with this last election victory. Yet, after almost mid term, no Labour stalwart has been seen to be enjoying the spoils of victory, except for a single UWP civil engineering firm, and a single contractor whose allegiance is doubtful, who is singled out for civil and structural engineering consultancy, and a single contractor who is handed all contract work.
On the other hand, this is where Sir John has to be remembered. He led the UWP into every election victory; his last effort was as an octogenarian, when he defeated the Labour Party. Additionally, Sir John always rewarded his supporters, even to the extent of him calling Mr.Lubin from retirement and appointing him Deputy Governor General after his last election victory.
The present state of the economy and unemployment do not guarantee the Labour Party a smooth ride into the next general elections. Doubt as to its leadership was created by the frequency of the absence of the prime minister from the State immediately after the election victory. His preference in meeting President Rawool Castro in Cuba instead of Vice President Biden in Trinidad, the present decline in assistance to our police by the United States as a result of human rights violations, the aired choice of Dr.Hilaire in preference to Deputy Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre as our next Leader by Jeff Stewart on prime time television, notwithstanding that Mr. Stewart no longer carries any weight; but these signs cannot be ignored while the new UWP junta is busy undermining the government.
Politics today relies more on a “modus operandi” which generates public confidence in the administration, the slightest decline of which must be arrested. Hence, a massive public relations mechanism must be put in motion at once, to revert the present trend. The Labour Party cannot continue with business as usual when the electorate is showing signs of distrust and lack of confidence in the government.
The prime minister, and by extension, the Labour government, has enemies, the primary ones being the troika, voicing their non-stop destructive crusade in weekly articles in the Voice and the Star news papers for the past twenty years.
Coming back to the 11 million dollar 61’0 span bridge, notwithstanding the circumstances which required that the Eastern Division Corps of Engineers vet that project, the powers that be should always secure the input of the University of the West Indies, through its engineering faculties at Mona, Kingston, Jamaica, St Augustine, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. and the University of Guyana in any such endeavour. The university has trained and graduated enough engineers to engage in any possible engineering exercise. No external firm will export their senior engineers to the colonies.
With personal experience as structural engineer on record at the Jalousie Plantation Resorts development, I recommended that the roads throughout the Resort be of a rigid pavement type, whereas Wallace Evans and Partners, the consulting engineers for the project required a flexible pavement. The Resort accepted my recommendation, but Wallace Evans insisted that their engineer be sent from London to supervise my work. The only engineer with my qualification as a Fellow was Wallace Evans himself, so the engineer the firm sent at a salary of $20,000.00 per month compared to my $7,500.00 was one with no idea of the mix of a grade B concrete. I had him deported.
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