Trinidad and Tobago will always live on.

Colonialism gone, our nation is born. Everybody

We go follow our leaders, they always do their best, oh yes,

 We want achieve, we going to aspire

We bound to be a success” –

Mighty Sparrow “Model Nation” 1962.

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Blame it on the nostalgia of my generation at about this time of the year – but as another independence anniversary rolled around this week-end, my mind wandered back to Sparrow’s independence anthem, so filled with hope and boundless faith in his dream of a “model nation”. I asked myself, forty-six years ago- is this where we expected to land forty-six years later? And as we look around, do we see a flawed independence mission or a mission accomplished?  I thought I would put the question to others in a random though admittedly unscientific poll. Of several 18 to 30-year olds- the largest grouping in our population. -  I posed the question - what does Independence mean to you?  Not surprising, for the vast majority; Independence meant nothing beyond another public holiday.  It confirmed my view that we are no closer to our aspiration of a model nation than we were in 1962.  In fact, if anything, we may have regressed since the end of the first independence decade. On this 46th anniversary of the end of colonial rule, therefore, let us not limit our responses to another yawn over another dull predictable and cliché laden Independence messages from the usual suspects.  Instead, let us spend time in somber reflection on the state of the independence mission, where we have stumbled, the root causes of such failure and the possible solutions.

 

The response of the youth to my question is just one a manifestation of our collective failure to build a nation. There is abundant evidence of our shortcomings in the economy, politics, culture, sport, society and community to name a few. Some of the more glaring examples are worth repeating as we take collective stock of the situation. We have made good of our hydrocarbon resources, successfully monetizing our natural gas reserves to create the world’s first gas economy.  Today natural gas and oil continue to fuel unprecedented economic expansion. But our strength has been our major weakness. Notwithstanding the roaring success of the energy sector the national enterprise has failed to emerge.  At the end of the first decade of independence, we sort to “take control of the commanding heights of the economy”-. The oil wealth of the 1970’s provided the funds to create the national enterprises in the energy sector.  Moreover, direct state investment was the principal driver behind the expansion at Point Lisas. But a combination of early failures, economic recession and change in economic ideology led to the near complete withdrawal of the state from “the commanding heights” Those that remain – Petrotrin, NGC, NP and NEC still represents a significant stake in the national context but are inconsequential when compared with their former peers, global giants like Petronas and Sabic which began with the same mandate at the same time. In the absence of active state involvement, we have witnessed the return in full force of the multinational corporation as the dominant firm, with the well know consequences for profit repatriation, limited technology transfer and strategic skills development.

 With a few exceptions, the domestic private sector has also stagnated in the role of merchants and property developers. Hopes for a striving manufacturing sector flourished for a while in the late eighties and nineties but have since evaporated. Trade liberalization, easily convertible and available foreign exchange has created new low risks profit centers that have rendered manufacturing at best, a marginally attractive option.  Domestic agriculture continues to struggle against the odds as successive policy initiatives go unimplemented, while long standing complaints- larceny and floods-persist.  In sum our economic prosperity remains wedded to hydrocarbon wealth and the economy has not achieved desired transformation

 Education plays a central role in molding minds in an emerging nation. Very early in the game Sparrow recognized both the irrelevance of the inherited colonial model. (Dan is the Man1963) and the importance of education as the foundation (Education 1967). The detachment of youth from the Independence mission owes much to the system of education they have had to endure.  Ours is an education system that focuses on exams and certification from primary to tertiary. Attempts at reforming the system have resulted in changes in form rather than substance e.g. common entrance to SEA, while quantity (school places for all) seems to have superseded quality as the benchmark of progress. Although policy documents acknowledge that education is fundamental to the development of Trinidad and Tobago” little,  if any, emphasis is placed on nation building  Education planning have been so myopic that we were caught and are still completely unprepared for the ICT revolution, including internet mobile phones and web based video,  now the  most powerful influence on young minds. It is not surprising therefore that the failure and dropout rate among secondary schools is still unacceptably high.

 

A third area of concern is the fragmentation of the society.  Once upon a time, Bro Valentino sang “the only thing that brings us together is MAS!” Today not even that holds.  Few can deny that Trinidad and Tobago society is fragmented by class, race, ethnicity, religion and geography. The causes of the growing chasm and mounting tensions are varied but the contribution of politics, overt wealth and media cannot be underestimated. 

Surely, there have been occasions and advancement that have made us proud.  In the 11 Olympic Games since 1962 we have won ten medals, including Crawford’s solitary gold. Brian Lara (Cricket) and Dwight Yorke (football) stamped their class and left their mark on the international game. The Soca Warriors made it to Germany after two near misses in 1974 and 1979. Our netballers were joint World Champions in 1979, Kitchener immortalizing Captain Jean Pierre in song.  A few outstanding entrepreneurs are taking on the world: CL Financial, Angostura, Associated Brands and SM Jaleel are among the most outstanding. Our petrochemical industry leads the world, in terms of volume exports. National scholars and skilled professionals have advanced to key positions in renowned international universities and firms. Medical researchers have assisted the world in the fight against HIV Aids. SERVOL’s Life Centre model has been adopted by UN agencies and is being used in other parts of the developing world. We could go on. The salient point I wish to make however is that most individual milestones have been the result of personal, family and or institutional sacrifice sometimes in spite of the negatives from officialdom.

 

So why have we come to this state. I wish to advance three reasons.   The first is that as a society we have never truly mapped out what was required to take the nation forward from the post-colonial period.  As useful as they may appear, our watchwords of discipline, production and tolerance were equally relevant to both pre and post-colonial society, and said nothing to signal the required change in attitudes and behaviour.  Something more was required to let every citizen know that, now that we were in charge, each one had an obligation to contribute to the national effort to build an economy, society and nation.  The fact that we did not go to war for our independence made it even more important that we spared no effort to instilling that spirit of nationalism in our people. Moreover, we accepted all the colonial institutions with the honest intention of changing them over time. Notwithstanding the largely cosmetic move to Republican status, such good intention has rarely been matched with the political will.

A second reason for failure has been the absence of independent thought. It is a weakness of most Caribbean society that is strongly reinforced by the education system, the church and even the corporate world. The colonial rooted education teaches us to read and or listen to instructions and follow. Within the corporate world, evidence suggests that it pays handsomely to say yes and look the other way. With such training it is difficult for problem solvers /innovators to emerge. The mis-education   also contributes to an erosion of self-confidence and a penchant for seeking foreign help for local problems. This is one of the factors behind Jamaica’s success in athletics, a belief in self; we can beat the world with home grown talent!!

 

A third reason is the paucity of national leadership.  Here I refer to leaders in every sphere of the society.  Let’s face it; our leaders have not been up to the task of nation building.  Politicians are perhaps the greatest offenders. It is widely acknowledged that Dr.  Eric Williams, was superb in leading the anti-colonial struggle but was found wanting in the post-colonial era.  Yet he was “Bolt” lengths ahead of his successors with respect to his views on building the new nation.  The four Prime Ministers in the post Williams’s era all embraced his style of leadership but none, least of all the incumbent, possess the intellect or concern for nation to be Williams. Both Robinson and Panday gave priority to securing a share of the pie for their power base, while Manning appears to be focused on building a personal legacy. What is worse is that we have perpetuated political and institutional structures that entrench leaders for life, thereby stifling new blood and fresh thinking.  It is almost impossible for a Barack Obama to emerge in our institutions.  The selfishness is perhaps most evident outside the political sphere.  In the 1970s and today, economic prosperity has been accompanied by the growth of the “grab and go” elite.  I refer specifically to those for whom Trinidad and Tobago is simply a profit haven. Despite their wealth and influence, they bear no allegiance to this place and make no contribution to nation building.  “Trinidad is nice” as long as it spawns profits.

So how do we get out of this muddle and resume the task of nation building?  What we require first is a redefinition of the future state to which we aspire. What will our model nation look like?  This is NOT Vision 2020 -that concept of “developed nation status” which seeks to create a Trinidad that is defined by norms institutions architecture etc of other societies. It is this misconception that lies behind the current effort at rapid development, with all its negative consequences.  The model nation should be defined from our own perspective beginning with those things that make us proud to be Trinbagonian.

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Secondly, we need to build national pride.  It is a process that must start with the school with serious curriculum reform to meet the needs of modern world without losing sight of the nation. Nationalism must be the mantra of the faculty.

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Thirdly, there must be a systematic and deliberate effort to build conscious leadership at all level of the society. This calls for greater direct involvement of citizens either individually or through an NGO   in community building events sans Government.   They have neither the time nor will nor capacity to do it. Nation Building is a people responsibility. We are in charge now it is up to us to act!!!