TnT is almost a failed state, as Ira Mathur writes.
...(in) the Failed States Index 2007 compiled by the Fund for Peace, an NGO that surveyed 177 countries. T&T is one of 96 countries “in danger of becoming a failed state.”
Failed states are defined as “countries that can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance, usually due to fractious violence or extreme poverty.”
What? The richest islands in the Caribbean? Dripping in oil? Failing? From what? Not poverty.
Then it must have to do with security (a collapsed rule of law), education (40 per cent are functionally illiterate) and governance (what governance?).
This paints a damning picture, not entirely on the population at large, but also on the sitting government who has the job of utilising the resources of the country for the benefit and progress of the people. Obviously, this is not happening.
Much work is needed in 4 areas, work that should not be delayed in any manner whatsoever. These areas are, security, health, education, and in the judicial system. Money has to be spent in providing resources for the personnel in these ministries to do their jobs with a high measure of effectiveness, but also there must be some effort to arrest the rampant corruption and weed out the non-performers.
For far too long, the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago have suffered, and suffered greatly, from incompetence and outright corruption. The result is that there are layers of society that do not receive benefits, and become increasingly disgruntled.
Now that disgruntlement has translated to downright un-acceptance of the situation, and a failing state. Whither do we go next?
