Daily Express
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER FOR TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
WHAT an enviable few days the prime minister has been having, sauntering along the greens playing golf with the great Sir Viv, then retiring afterwards to long cool drinks and elevated discussion about the state of West Indies cricket. Inspired and energised about this great West Indian topic, the PM felt suitably moved to engage the wider public via social media on the deeply philosophical question: 'What is it about us that after demonstrating our superior playing skills in these colonial and post-colonial islands we cannot now find it within our populations, the business, coaching and management skills to halt the decline of an activity where we dominated the world for a record-breaking almost two decades?'
We truly hope Dr Rowley will crack this great puzzle of our time and that when he does, he will share the answer with the rest of us who are in need of answers to the other great questions of our times, such as: What is it about us that after being blessed with the superior asphalt of the La Brea Pitch Lake, our road surfaces have more potholes than paving?
What is it about us that having been among those at the very forefront of engineering innovation and technology as far back as Walter Darwent's successful oil well in 1866, we still cannot solve the problems of flooding that now overwhelm entire communities?
What is it about us that the communities that showed the ingenuity and innovativeness that created the steelband remain among the most deprived?
What is it about us that make us content to be spectators to our own demise as small-time criminals rise to the power of taking control of our lives?
What is it about us that with all the fertile land we still cannot feed ourselves?
What is it about us that there's water, water everywhere except in a lot of our people's taps?
What is it about us that with the money to afford a free health service so many must still mortgage their families' lives to pay for private health care at home or abroad?
What is it about us that with the wealth to afford free education for all, so many children do not reach an acceptable level of academic performance?
What is it about us that we cannot solve the problem of low civil service productivity?
What is it about us that we cannot fix the justice system with its backlog of cases that deny justice to hundreds presumed innocent but imprisoned for years in Remand Yard?
What is it about is that we cannot clean up corruption in public life? What is it about us that we cannot reduce the gap between rich and poor?
What is it about us that makes us perceive destruction of the natural environment as progress?
What is it about us that we interpret representation as power and not responsibility?
What is about us that we do not know how to evaluate fitness to lead?
What is it about us that makes us mistake cheap personal potshots as brilliance?
What is it about us, eh?
