Pay attention to the cries of the ‘Sufferers’ among us

The scourges of the old year began visiting us in the New Year when, in spite of our pledges and noble intentions, we had two more murders in the first two days. It is a grim situation that we need to face up to collectively in 2025. It is a situation that has led to the government of Trinidad and Tobago, confronted with impending general elections, taking the extreme step of imposing a State of Emergency to deal with an intolerable crime situation which resulted in more than 600 murders last year.

We too face possible national elections this year with the murder rate, one of the highest in the region,sure to be a contentious issue. Even though it is legally possible that elections may not be held until 2026, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has ensured that partisan political issues will dominate the local landscape by publicly indicating that he will pull the plug this year.

However, politics or no politics, life must go on and, like it or not, we must all play our part in finding solutions to the challenges before us. The context is going to be set in the upcoming two weeks with the opening of a new session of Parliament, followed by the presentation of the 2025 Budget. Predictably, this Budget, already indicated by a top official in the Ministry of Finance as being the largest in our history, is being described in opposition circles as an “election budget”.

One can only expect therefore that the Parliamentary debate and the contributions of parliamentarians on both sides of the House will be heavily influenced by such approaches. But partisan perspectives aside, we must all face the same challenges, murder, rising cost of living, and a seeming alienation of a sizeable segment of our people.

It is true that on a national scale, there has been remarkable progress in our recovery efforts from the succession of natural disasters of which Hurricane Beryl was the latest. To be truthful, our partisanship and apparent failings in implementation have exposed many shortcomings in delivery so much so that the valiant efforts made are not fully appreciated and thus considered as partisan exclusion. How can these impressions be corrected?

Overall, there seems to be an emphasis by the incumbent administration on what one would call the “Big Ticket” items, the major infrastructural projects. But in the process in many communities, in both rural and urban areas, the cries of the underprivileged appear not to be adequately taken into consideration, leading to much alienation. It may be late, politically, but socially and economically- better late than never. Even as both sides crank up their election machinery, we must find time for collective approaches to the pressing problems we are faced with daily at the local and national level. As the government boasts of the millions being spent on necessary, major projects, it must remember the old adage, “take care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves”. In other words, take care of the pressing needs of the poor and working people amongst us.