IF the anti-People’s National Movement (PNM) forces know how much Trinidad and Tobago depends on them, they would end their political showboating.
If the leaders of the opposition parties are fully conscious of the critical state of our beloved land, they would leave their egos at the door and negotiate an effective and sustainable agreement.
That watertight deal will encompass shared principles, an electoral pact, a conflict resolution mechanism, and a power-sharing accord.
There is a greater responsibility on Kamla Persad-Bissessar, as leader of the largest anti-PNM party, a political veteran and a former prime minister.
But there is also a crucial duty on Gary Griffith, Phillip Alexander and other aspirants to end their grandstanding, and to come to the negotiating table in a spirit of political conciliation and patriotic fervour.
They are currently divided by personality conflicts, not policy differences.
Time is running out for a purposeful and foolproof political alliance, not just because the PNM is busily campaigning in San Juan-Barataria, Chaguanas West, Moruga-Tableland and other tenuous opposition backyards.
Political coalitions have collapsed in office, and a fire-breathing Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley would hammer that point on the canvassing circuit.
It is overdue, therefore, that anti-PNM contenders cement a treaty that bears traction with a wary electorate and withstands Rowley’s huffing and puffing.
The dissolution of the People’s Partnership ideal of 2010 still disturbs the nation, especially the 409,000 voters (58 per cent of the votes cast) who stained their fingers for inspired and enlightened governance.
The diligent Jack Warner, along with Errol McLeod, David Abdulah and the inspirational Makandal Daaga offered a diverse T&T the promise that their interests would be protected and the quality of their lives enhanced.
The reckless collapse was precipitated by a festering and narrow-minded position that the People’s Partnership was comfortably secured in national office.
That view was peddled by extremists, many of whom, along with a new generation of like-minded separatists, are hovering around the United National Congress.
But Ms. Persad-Bissessar is more liberal, savvy and forward-thinking to surrender to those who whisper that, on its own, the UNC could torpedo the PNM behemoth.
The UNC boss must be conscious that Rowley will use every last scrap of the power of incumbency, in the same way he is blatantly preaching divisive identity politics.
The national treasury may be empty (Finance Minister Colm Imbert is lugging the begging bowl to balance the upcoming budget), but the PNM’s coffers are liquid, not least because of an incoming investor.
Ms. Persad-Bissessar’s place in history is on the line.
More than that, T&T future is at stake.
The crime epidemic is becoming ever more explosive, and now Venezuelan mercenaries have the lay of the land.
A budget with a $20 billion hole means more nuisance taxes, whittling of social support, collapse of roads and bridges, and further declines in healthcare and education.
The re-election of the inept and unfeeling Rowley would inevitably see a return of the hard times of the 1980s, when the bottom fell out of the economy, and unemployment and malnutrition soared.
There is no magic bullet from Persad-Bissessar, Griffith, Alexander et al, but there is comfort that they offer a marketplace of ideas that could lead to relative social peace and a revamped economy.
The energy sector is waning faster than ever, and, hopefully, Ms, Persad-Bissessar’s private sector background and qualified advisors would kick-start the long-overdue diversification.
But none of this will be possible unless anti-PNM leaders moderate their political prance for the greater good of saving a country on the fast track to social chaos and economic freefall.
The clock is ticking for a crucial Save T&T political unity.
