I find myself thinking this morning of Vision 2020. The lofty goal that Papa-tricks has imposed upon the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago. I use the word impose deliberately. I cannot recall seeing anywhere that Vision 2020 was anyone else's idea. I cannot recall anyone else having input into its planning and structure.
I can't recall Vision 2020 having planning and structure. You may find it strange, but think about it. Here we have a Prime Minister, arguably leading one of the wealthier nations of the Western Hemisphere, touting a vision, a goal, for several years, and yet no one can define what that goal is, to any reasonable degree.
I know it involves tall buildings, which I suspect (and stated before) is a salve to failing manhood. Other than that, I cannot see any definite goals or targets. Okay, I am out of the loop; I am not one of Papa-tricks confidantes or assistants. Still, I pride myself on being observant to a certain degree, and yet - Vision 2020 eludes me.
Perhaps I am being cynical. I get the impression that Vision 2020 is all about being 'developed'. Maybe I can go further and say it is about being progressive.
But who defines what that development or progress is? Papa-tricks of course. It is the ideal of one man with a national treasury at his beck and call. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. So would I, especially if that man was of the mould of Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Barack Obama. These are men who outwardly demonstrated that they were fighting for betterment of their people, that they wanted more for their countries than for themselves. I can't say the same for Papa-tricks.
I tried thinking what may be Papa-tricks idea of development. Is it similar to that found in Nordic countries? That found in European countries? In Canada? USA? Mexico? Australia? Cuba? I include the last because I know he is a regular visitor there, and despite American hindrance, Cuba has done remarkably well in certain areas of development e.g. medicine.
Is it a blend of all of the above?
Vision 2020 at the moment is as solid as the fog on a cold morning. Essentially, it is there, you have a vague idea and a vague picture, but try to hold it, to meet it and it constantly eludes and slips away.
I think he means well. Maybe Papa-tricks wants better infrastructure, manageable traffic, less graft and corruption in public office, better health care, better education, less crime, better utilities, efficient communications, advance technology; things of that nature. So would I.
Still, one may conclude that his current actions, his present route, does not give us the idea that these things are even near the horizon.
Crime is out of control. That is not a statement I make lightly. I have monitored the crime situation for nearly 2 years on this blog. I was the first to reveal that despite the dunceys claiming a 20% crime solve rate, the figure was actually closer to 8%. This figure was later revealed by the Express to be more accurate than the dunceys statistics. We have nearly 7000 dunceys making about 5000 arrests per year, which really means that we have less than 1 arrest per duncey per year. The solve rate for major crime is maybe (thinking positively here) about 1%.
The country with the largest pitch lake in the world has some of the worst roads you can imagine. I see corruption, cronyism and grafts in every contract handed out. I see shoddy workmanship. Heck, we even had the nation's best pavers f**king up the airport runway, where planes take off and land at high speeds every few minutes.
Government offices are still centralised in the capital 'city' which is prone to many feet of very dirty and muddy flood water every few months. This means we have thousands of workers and clients from every part of the country going to create horrendous traffic jams daily. No thought of decentralising or setting up phone or Internet services to help the situation, neither anything about staggered working hours, or an appointment system in the vision 2020 plan.
We have an idiot in the insurance business running the health sector, one of many currently under a corruption probe. An Imbert-cile in the Works ministry. What appears to be a sexual deviant playing with cucumbers in the Agriculture ministry. I can go on and on, but these are examples at how ill prepared we are to visualise, or achieve, Vision anything.
Here's a further thought. At his age and with his medical condition, do you think Papa-tricks will be around when 2020 comes?
