POLITICAL ‘ANALYSTS’ AND ELECTION OBSERVERS

JUST over a year ago, a Caricom team monitored the general election in Dominica.

The electoral observers were invited by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, no less, “in the interest of transparency.”

The seven-member mission was led by – hear this – Trinidad and Tobago’s Chief Elections Officer Fern Narcis-Scope.

A year earlier, there were non-partisan election observers in the Bahamas, and eight months prior, monitors oversaw the poll in St. Lucia.

In March 2020, an observer team scrutinised the election in Guyana, and three months later, monitors did duty in Suriname.

Through the years, there have been election observer missions throughout the Caricom region, including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada and Antigua-Barbuda.

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley invited Commonwealth and Caricom observers to the August 10, 2020 polls.

The simple purpose is to ensure confidence in the electoral process.

Monitors have functioned around the world, especially in hotly-contested elections.

The Carter Centre, of former United President Jimmy Carter, has monitored 115 elections in 40 countries.

In some cases, the incumbent administration requests observers, who operate independently, with guidelines, and produce public reports.

So, when local political “analysts” dismiss the suggestion of observers for our upcoming general election, it is a stark comment on the lack of knowledge of these “experts.”

Or it is another example of these hot-shots copying an urban political narrative.

When one analyst recently said something so outlandish, I sent a note: “Do you really believe what you were quoted as saying?”

As the local election tempo heats up, the media and other institutions should examine if these “analysts” and “experts” bring value to the national discourse.

Most of these couch doctors lack institutional knowledge, or even basic political know-how and are given legitimacy by media houses hurriedly aiming to fill column inches or airtime.

Most home-grown “experts” are ignorant of political science, and have no understanding of relevant facts or context in which they took place.

The media would better serve the country in interviewing common people, many of whom have a greater sense of recall or framework about important national events.

As a gift to the nation this election season, the media should spare us the diatribe of sham “experts.”