Dear Editor,
Once I get the tape and study it, I shall write something about what, from excerpts in the media, appears to have been a most remarkable address by the political leader of the PNM to a Special Convention of his party on June 21. Even the Gleaner in far-off Jamaica found his speech “to be almost condescending, capable, despite his claim to the contrary, of fuelling those who ascribe to Mr. Manning imperial ambitions.” But I shall come to that in due course. For the moment, I should like to touch on one aspect of the Prime Minister’s statement of June 24 to Parliament on what he called the “contribution [that Trinidad and Tobago] can make at this time to [the] economic wellbeing [of some Caricom countries].” In this connection, he spoke of possible collaborative efforts with Jamaica, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica.
But now President Jagdeo of Guyana has used the same word as the Gleaner – “condescending” – to describe this latest foray of Mr Manning’s into regional diplomacy. And when I read the penultimate paragraph of his remarks I have to agree. This is what the paragraph says: “Mr. Speaker, these are initiatives being contemplated by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and we propose to enter into appropriate discussions with the governments concerned to see if these approaches are acceptable to them” (my emphasis). Only one logical construction can be put upon those words: Manning is publicly suggesting projects in Caricom countries which have not yet been discussed with, let alone approved by, the governments of those countries. And in making the suggestions in Parliament, he is seeking to provide a patina of governmental respectability. Elementary courtesy aside, isn’t it in any case for the governments concerned to take the lead in indicating what their priorities for development are? Can you imagine Gordon Brown announcing in the House of Commons projects for France or Germany that Nicolas Sarkozy or Angela Merkel don’t know about?
Manning’s approach is more than condescending; indeed, it verges on the colonial. But then, who knows, perhaps this is what “political and economic union,” as seen by him, really entails.
Yours faithfully,
Reginald Dumas
