THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH
DO you see a link between the shocking expose at the Paria probe and the gross neglect of flood victims?
How about the fact that Republic Bank revealed a historic $1.151 billion nine-month profit while the Central Bank says four out of five nationals are struggling to make a living?
They reveal the ruling administration’s insensitivity, even callousness, toward the plight of the struggling masses, whose numbers are swelling in the midst of worsening unemployment and grinding poverty.
The Paria enquiry has laid bare the government’s heartlessness in the midst of the dreadful disaster and toward the plight of lone survivor Christopher Boodram.
In fact, the casual indifference of Paria’s bosses while the divers were gasping for life is almost matched by the mind-boggling reality that no heads have rolled at the taxpayer-owned enterprise.
This is a bitter cocktail of injustice, oppression and abominable corporate governance.
The government’s apathy – almost cold-bloodedness, really – to the flood crisis was cut from the same cloth as its atrocious handling of the Paria emergency.
The chronic neglect of silt-ridden waterways in spite of public pleas was shameful and a disaster waiting to take place.
When that catastrophe inevitably happened, the government was lazy, ineffective, and apathetic.
Of note is that most of the wreckage took place in communities historically represented by opposition politicians.
In a graphic example of absent national leadership, there was no situational analysis or competent management by disaster response and other relevant agencies.
The government was asleep at the wheel while thousands of people saw their treasured valuables float away as they faced perils of personal calamity.
The destruction of acres of vegetable production would again send up the cost of living in a land where inflation has spiked by 75 per cent since 2018 and a quarter of the workforce is job-hunting.
And still, the authorities were unmoved.
It is instructive that when the powers-that-be finally responded, it was to send in showman Faris Al Rawi and his bumbling sidekick Rohan Sinanan.
Al Rawi and Sinanan are walking and talking examples of political flatulence.
Frankly, the country requires no more evidence of an aloof and detached administration with no empathy for the downtrodden or design to improve their abject quality of life.
But the fact that commercial banks are pocketing higher and higher gains while many are unable to honour their debts is another vivid example of disdain from our leaders.
The middle class, which stirs the economy, is being dismantled as the poor is getting poorer and turning hopeless in a turbulent sea of social and economic woes.
Statistics confirm that the tiny business-owning majority is becoming even larger fat cats, creating monopolies, picking up property and real estate at peppercorn rates, and engaging in price-gouging.
These blatant real-world examples tell of an administration that does not feel the small man’s hurt and damn well does not care.
They also reveal the absence of access by the poor and dispossessed to power, equity, and fair play.
It unveils yet again that the common man is expendable and replaceable to the authorities.
It showcases the imbalance of power, exploitation of workers, and the downward spiral of the tortured masses.
It exposes the neglect of the small man, whose electoral franchise the ruling regime would soon seek once more.
But Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley appreciates that in our chicken-and-chips culture, the upcoming mother of all carnivals would divert attention and assuage people’s outrage.
Soca, it seems, erases the pain of starvation.
Mas cancels out malnutrition.
Already, the flood, as universally destructive as it was, has split the nation along tribal lines.
Admittedly, most national administrations become engaged with and bend toward large corporations, but only a ruthless government would permit such flagrant hardship for the downtrodden.
There continue to be no meaningful efforts at stoking various economic industries to success, thus providing jobs and fuelling the floundering small business sector.
There are no measures to ease poverty, boost food production, deal with exorbitant retail pricing, raise the minimum wage, and expand social services to the elderly and single parents.
The government is presiding over and facilitating the collapse of the middle class, which makes investments, drives consumption, and produces professionals.
The inefficient management of the recent crises and derisive remarks of certain government officials tell of apathy toward the welfare of the small man and disinterest in reforming a failed system.
The continued exploitation of the masses is a modern-day version of the wretched of the earth.
The Paria tragedy and the flooding disaster are just two aspects of that oppression.
