OUR BACKSEAT DRIVER

MONTHS before his death in March 1981, Dr. Eric Williams had pronounced himself a “backseat driver” and as being “in hibernation.” 

It was the Prime Minister’s response to an empty treasury after the energy boom of the mid-1970s, and to debilitating diabetes that eventually took his life. 

After his final attendance in the House of Representatives, Williams awkwardly ducked into the backseat of a vehicle to avoid noisy protesting nurses around the Red House. 

Even though he was sweating profusely and in obviously ill health, his senior ministers and close aides were mortally afraid of intervening, according to Professor Selwyn Ryan and others. 

He died that weekend. 

Williams was “more eccentric and secretive as the years passed,” New York Times wrote, and was “reclusive.” 

 And, of course, arrogant! 

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, who at 72 is three years older than the age at which Williams died, appears physically fit, as evidenced by his chipping to pan and regular presence on the golf course. 

The Prime Minister’s work schedule does not seem to be crammed, leading Professor Selwyn Cudjoe to wonder which other leader “would be seen playing golf on a workday.” 

But “Rowley does not possess a coherent view of the society,” according to Cudjoe. 

“He has failed to apply himself to the tasks and get the job done,” the professor said. 

He “needs to attend to his duties in a humble manner.” 

Also, “with leadership come distinct obligations.” 

The Express newspaper last week editorialised that the current state “demands more from him as leader of the country.” 

Even in the midst of the 60^th anniversary of nationhood, the newspaper lamented: “The island feels like two different places right now.” 

The Express was commenting mainly on the condition of roads, bridges, and drains, declaring: “We have to wonder if the government is even aware of the state of South Trinidad.” 

For his part, Rowley – with the energetic support of ever-ready lackeys – paints all public outrage as the idle handiwork of reckless political opponents and miscreants. 

He has casually dismissed road protests, reasoning that the government has instead spent “on saving your lives.” 

He has not explained the use of more than $12 billion allocated for infrastructure works over the past three years alone, including $9 billion in three loans from the Development Bank of Latin America, also called CAF. 

Public demonstrations have taken place up and down the land, including Point Fortin, historically loyal to Rowley’s party except for the 1986 term. 

The electoral district has a balisier elected representative, but he is as passive as government ministers were while Williams battled to stay alive.   

“Residents complain of being barely able to walk along some major roadways, much less drive,” the Express correctly sums up the crisis. 

There are also ever-worsening floods and destruction of crops even as the government touts a belated food production plan. 

With the crippling of the energy and chemicals sectors, there is high joblessness, the shutdown of small businesses, and a growing sense of hopelessness. 

In a cruel joke, Rowley is the first national leader to set up a Ministry of Rural Development.  

Then, there is Monday’s blockage of a major highway in sympathy with the senseless export ban of scrap iron. 

Now that is an act of lawlessness, which deserves the attention of the police service. 

But Rowley’s knee-jerk response gives further validity to Cudjoe’s analysis of him being consumed “with hubris” or that “he can’t be bothered to devote the sustained time and attention that the job requires.” 

The cold fact is that the export restriction is illogical and stupid. 

The theft of cable is a matter for the protective services, not for trade policymakers. 

By the government’s logic, if thieves strike fields of baigan (eggplant, for my urban readers), there would be a ban on the sale of this food item. 

In his new vein of leading-by-social media, Rowley made inflammatory allegations about the highway protest, sending his minions into overdrive with nasty claims of their own. 

In the meantime, the displaced scrap-iron operators are on the breadline as schools reopen and they – like hundreds of thousands – struggle to buy necessities and put food on the table. 

A $260 million annual export business has been reduced to, well, the scrap heap. 

Raging issues demand Rowley’s “personal attention and engagement,” Express has properly advocated. 

Instead, the Prime Minister feeds his flatters even as crime has put the entire nation on the run while society’s elites blissfully celebrate six decades of independence. 

Over the weekend, a 12-year-old was sexually assaulted at Rio Claro, a previous preserve of peace, while the town’s police station is without a working telephone and patrolling lawmen have been reassigned to Sangre Grande. 

Rowley does not have similar symptoms to Williams, but his detached, indifferent style makes him our current backseat driver