Noble: Who will we put? Does T&T have competent, charismatic leader for these difficult times?

Noble Philip Sunday 12 January 2025 Guest Columns, View Point 1 Comment

The next five years ahead for the country will be tough. What is terrible now has every chance of worsening: this is the future facing us.

We quickly forget that we have a country to run when we read about the various leadership struggles in the two major political parties. We focus on who we like rather than their ability to manage and lead us through the crises.

The world is a more dangerous place than it was five years ago. We are witnessing three global leaders, Russia, China and the USA, exhibiting territorial ambitions involving land acquisition. The rise of the BRICS coalition is threatening the long-unrivalled supremacy of the US dollar.

Donald Trump now proposes to impose tariffs on longstanding allies: Canada, Japan, the UK, the EU and South Korea. President Xi Jinping described the present period as “defined by turbulence and transformation”.

In hailing the new Trump presidency, Putin declared: “Before our eyes, an entirely new world order is emerging.”

Will Trump’s tariffs depress economic growth? Will the uncertainty created by military ambitions weaken the United Nations?

China president Xi Jinping (left) and USA president elect Donald Trump.
Photo: Getty Images

How will we navigate these perils as a country dependent on export earnings? If our export earnings continue to decline, what will happen to our country’s crime situation? Will it turn into violent anarchy?

Our foreign exchange situation will worsen, facing food shortages and soaring inflation. Where will our jobs come from? How will we maintain our roads, hospitals or even schools?

In short, we will have many difficult decisions and a desperate need for wise leadership.

Against this background, we should consider the shenanigans in both political parties. Desiring power is an old need. They wish to dominate. They are never satisfied with what they have. Mankind always wants more.

They seek power to achieve personal goals or to help build others. The former is more often the case. The tragedy is that we, the people, give them the power. Sometimes, they use that power to create havoc in our lives. Nations can rise or fall because of the wrong leaders.

The would-be leaders attempt to leverage special interest groups to acquire that power. In our country, these groups include business groups and, possibly, criminals.

Other non-governmental organisations and grassroots activists may lack the financial clout to impact their decision-making. We have seen the sums of money that are spent at election times.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley (right) and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
(via Newsday)

What we do not know are the agendas that are being funded. However, we are conscious that our national needs can be ignored to benefit these special-interest groups. We should not be swayed by sentiment since the road ahead demands that we be laser-focused.

Different ministers are jockeying for positions as the Prime Minister prepares to leave office. We are witnessing ‘leaks’ at a previously unseen level. We should recognise that Cabinet or party discipline is lax when leaks occur.

While a politician may seek to influence a journalist via a ‘leak’, we should never assume this is for our benefit. He may be doing this to gain future favourable coverage or to influence public opinion.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley (left) and his preferred successor Stuart Young.
Photo: OPM

The politician may be seeking to undermine a rival or build a favourable public image. The leak tells us that the particular politician sees his interests above the national ones.

There are times when a leak is in the national interest. It could come from people inside the government who believe an injustice is being done.

We are dreadfully misled if we seek a lily-white politician to lead our nation. Accommodating the various interest groups requires moral flexibility.

The Communist leader Hoerderer in Sartre’s play, Dirty Hands, cried out: “I have dirty hands right up to the elbows. I’ve plunged them in filth and blood. Do you think you can govern innocently?”

That is the question that all our political leaders face. This posture is similar to Basdeo Panday’s “Politics has a morality of its own”.

But how do we expect to rein in crime when our leaders lack ethics, and some are sometimes allegedly engaged in criminal acts?

However, our country’s leaders must possess charisma. They must be able to persuade others to join them in the journey ahead.

PNM members contemplate issues relevant to the selection of their new leader during a General Council Meeting at Balisier House on 11 January 2025.
Photo: PNM

Which of our candidates can connect with the people and voice their aspirations? They also must have the intellectual capacity to wrestle with the problems we face.

The country faces complex challenges: which of the leaders can competently manage the country’s affairs in the complex and changing international environment? Which can build a front-line bench of competent leaders who can analyse and chart the way forward?

What does our country’s future look like?

We are currently stuck between a rock and a hard place. There is no easy answer. But choose a leader we must.

A reluctant voter…
Photo: Deposit Photos

Let us not opt for someone who turns up at our functions and is ‘nice’. Without us succeeding at the national and international levels, there would be no functions to attend. But we can make the change needed if we try a little bit harder.

We will get nothing easy.