Dear Bro. Dooks,

When it come to books, I can’t win you at all, but when it come to common sense, I ahead by ah mile. I could understand yuh strategy in not wanting to continue in the vein of the previous regime, spending the people’s money willy nilly. And the fact that you will need some time to settle in before making your adjustments. But, when yuh saying and doing every thing to convince me that the treasury is empty, and the country don’t have money, please stop it. Like yuh taking we for ah ride to get we giddy headed.

With oil prices fluctuating between $85 and $95 a barrel, and Gas between $4 and $6 dollars, and the last budget some where around $55, doh try that no money thing on we, yuh should come straight out and ask the people, to give you nine months to ah year, to get ah hold on financial matters, and we coulda fall for that. Look at me, I en’t no economist, but I am a realist. Ah hearing some of yuh big people friend and them saying that this en’t no welfare state, so is time to cut back or cut out most of those social programs the people are enjoying.

But my advice to you is to think twice, and then think nice. Study the history of the thing before you chop or stop the thing. Unless yuh know and doh care? Because the perception is, that allyuh only want to cut from the bottom. And that can’t be nice. At the top, yuh capitalist friends will only invest when the Government give them concessions. And when they make bad investments, they look to the government for bailouts. But, is nothing for the small man.

Be very careful this thing en’t backfire and detonate in allyuh face. Stop taking stupid advice. Every body depends on the state for handouts, the big and the small. Even foreign investors depend on the government for hundred years pioneer status to come here and exploit our labor. For years, as far back as I could recall, government and all their capitalist friends keep calling for a higher level of productivity from the poor workers. Workers not producing enough, they keep saying. Yet, every thing in the system is operating as smooth as silk. That says that the workers are highly productive. There is no sign of collapse in the system. The only thing that is cause for concern is the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Who is measuring the level of productivity in the country? And who set the bench mark that tells us how high or how low we are at? This Productivity mantra is being recognized for the ploy that it is. To deny workers of their just rewards. The people are wising up to all these tricks, and the children are becoming very angry. Be careful, lest you take measures that could carry this country to the edge of no return. Everybody knew that the People’s Partnership had no plans for a better Trinidad and Tobago. But, to get rid of the other gang, most people supported an accommodation, thinking that after the elections, there will be consultations in order to find solutions. “What a bird thought?”

After over fifty years as a nation, is same old same old. Remember five years will soon pass, and the people have no intention of going backwards. Jump high or jump low. Is forward we will go. If memory serve me well, I would remember that the people of this twin Island state voted for three parties in the last general and local elections. They are the PNM, the PP and the TOP in Tobago. Think what you will, that is for real. Yet today, politicians within the Partnership, who should be about the People’s business, seems to be preoccupied with maintaining their own identity. Especially in the UNC and the COP. The People eh vote for that. All we want in this country is total unity. No entity in the Partnership could stand alone in government. The people gave Kamla ah chance to lead a united front. United you stand, divided you fall. And at the rate allyuh going, like allyuh heading for a total recall.

So please start consultations, and expand on the social programs to the benefit of all, the have and the have not. Presently, we seem to be going nowhere. Basic infrastructures like roads and drainage all over the country are deplorable, with no signs of improvement. The local representatives and MPs in many areas seem to be invisible. This is not what was promise under the mantra of serve the people, serve the people, serve the people.

Like governing means sitting in parliament, talking crap and passing hash and oppressive legislations? No! People are placed in office to implement policies that would make life more bearable for the short time that we are spending on this earth. And as I’m at it, may I draw your attention to a situation of urgent importance to the Marabella Community. We had a Recreation ground in Battoo Avenue. It never had the best of facilities but, the people both young and old, used to enjoy the playing of Football, Basketball, Rugby, Cricket, Blockos, Parties etc. Over two years ago, some politicians came and mash it down, saying that they want to upgrade and improve the facilities.

To this day the people of Marabella are left with no facilities for recreation, and since then we are experiencing a sharp rise in criminal activities amongst our youths. Allyuh wake up, and understand the POWER of sports and culture in the crime fighting imitative. Remember, the money in the treasury is for all the people to benefit while they are alive, not you and the boys and girls living nice right now, while we wait for ours after we die. Please, serve the people, serve the people, serve the people.

Michael L Joseph
(Bro.Scobie)

Marabella.