A Pyrrhic Panday Victory
I have often debated Panday’s irrational behaviour, trying to deny that that it isn’t a serious flaw in his leadership. One the one hand, one cant help but admire his courage and strength in the face of crisis. He has demonstrated nerves and testicular fortitude under pressure like no man. On the other hand, he doesn’t seem to think things through as he should and it is this disregard for consequences that has him where he is.
The laptop incident is symptomatic of this idiosyncrasy. The sudden increase in the price of flour and dhal and the domino effect on food prices presented a fantastic opportunity for the UNC to expose the PNM. The government was against the ropes on this one and this was a one-off opportunity to go on the offensive. Once the price increase took effect, the sting in the criticism would be lost as Trinbagonians are famous for grumblingly accepting and adjusting to change.
The PNM needed a distraction badly. It baited Panday and preyed on his Achilles heel: his ferocious temper. They picked a fight at the right moment and were laughing all the way to Manning’s palace to feast and fete at our expense. They were able to avoid a well-deserved drubbing by outfoxing Panday.
Not a master stroke really, when you consider how easy it was for them to push Panday’s buttons. He was predictable, and easy to manipulate. Once you ignited this dynamite, it was bound to explode. It doesn’t seem to have the power to pause, to stop and think, consider the entire situation in a moment of detached reflection. The hard part is though, this, from a man whose favourite quote is “those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad”.
I’d be surprised if Panday deliberately did this to focus the spotlight on him and create a confrontation because he thrives on victimhood. This would be selfish and stupid and disqualify him from leadership for more obvious reasons. Truth be told, his political career is replete with examples of this kind of unthinking foolishness.
When Panday had to deal with the rift between himself and Ramesh, he poured fuel onto the flame by appointing Kamla to act as PM even though Ramesh had just won the prized position of Deputy Political Leader. It was as clear as daylight to everyone that if this rift widened, the party would crumble and there was no guarantee that the UNC could win an election against the PNM with Ramesh attacking from the flanks riding the horse of morality dressed as the great corruption buster. Panday had the power to heal the rift but irrationally and angrily lashed out at Rienzi, telling Trevor Sudama, Ralph Maraj and Ramesh “who want to leave could blasted leave!”.
Without any regard for the consequences, the UNC administration predictably unraveled. Ramesh was fired; MPs refused to tow the line and fresh elections were called which resulted in the infamous tie.
Panday could have saved the opportunity to impale the PNM on the rising food prices by simply indicating to Barry Sinanan that he intended to speak in the debate. He would have been allowed to keep his laptop open, end of story. Instead, he allowed his anger to control him because he has nothing but contempt for Sinanan whom he thinks is a PNM Indian stooge appointed for cheap window dressing who shouldn’t dare have the audacity to try and wield power over him.
He held and treated Ramesh, Kelvin, Sudama, Dookeran, Kamla and countless others with the same kind of contempt and has paid the price. He is the cause and author of his own political misfortunes. Whilst he thrives on disintegration and reincarnation and reintegration, the fact of the matter is the people are the ones who have to suffer the consequences of his irrational choices. Whilst the PNM is laughing and Panday is basking in the glory of his duel, light bill increase, phlourie is now two for $1, doubles is $5 and flour scarce. A typical pyrrhic Panday victory.
So we agree the man is mad?
...I don't like to get into Panday Bashing, but taking a peek into his history, you can't help but notice that his "unwritten motto" is "power at all cost" no matter what happens...or who gets hurt in the process...!
...So yes, the pyrrhic victory is so very reflective of his actions and mannerisms to date...! Getting into power is one thing, but holding on to it is quite another matter as I have said on a prior occasion, and to this end Panday does not lead me to believe he is a good strategist..!
...His greatest weakness and failure, is the inability to plan ahead and to carry out those plans...! He is prone to "knee jerk" reactions, and these are well known by his "enemies" and to which they take full advantage when those opportunities arise, which incidentally, are quite often and frequent for him...! but to his own detriment...! and the people..!
...having said that, he may be very intelligent and smart in several ways, which he is to his credit, but "dumber than a door-nail" in many many more ways than one...!
...so as they say in this business, "Manning got the book on him" and it is for that very same reason, in order for TnT to really move forward and grow as a mature and prosperous nation, which it can and deserve, both Manning and Panday must go from the political scenery to get any progress...!
...they look at themselves as the "players of the day" and the people are really only pawns in the chess game, nothing more, nothing less...!
...Panday may have started off in the right direction and with all of the best of intentions...but those things got left behind and forgotten on his journey to the land of "power", and to which he is all consumed from within, he just can't see or hear anyone or anything anymore, except his own driven voice from within, .....
....the same as Manning, and everything around them keep falling apart in a swath of destruction, but they keep pluggin onwards towards their individual "doomsday", the problem is that they are also carrying those around, the people, with them on that perilous journey too - like they also say, misery loves company, so they are keen on not going there alone...!
...sad to say, too late for Panday, change is not in the cards for him, but I do give him credit for his stamina and perseverance, even if I don't agree with his "foolishness" all the time...!
...but then there is also another saying, maybe there is indeed "a method to his madness" afterall...who am I to say or criticize...he does make his mark in a strange but odd way....!
...but what a way, go get 'em Panday, time is of the essence, its running out and soon...!
...goodluck...Trini.t.o.o
...
Sometimes we look only at the supposed leader. I suggest it is important to look at the supporters i.e. those who put Panday where he is. And my thoughts here are not restricted to Panday, at all.
Sometimes a leader pulls a following of people together and there is a dynamic exchange that follows thereafter. We can look at Bill Gates for example, or we can consider fatal examples such as Jim Jones.
If we consider all Panday's bad qualities, don't we have to ask whether the rest of his flock see these too? Or another way of looking at it is, in the balance of his good and bad qualities why is he the leader at all? What purpose does his existence hold for his flock in that 'balance' of his qualities.
Yes the man is brave and determined. That is something to admire in all leaders. In fact you cannot be a leader of a political party without those qualities. Does Panday excel in these qualities. Perhaps, relative to Dookeran it might appear so. But compared with leaders on a world stage, I would not say that Panday is exceptionally gifted in those areas.
What about 'balance', 'judgement' and 'vision'? What about seeing the big picture?
The laptop incident displayed a number of things to me. Firstly there were photographs and video of his flock moving close to him in the Parliament - ready for fisty cuffs perhaps with the police. This incident was a load of utter nonsense and showed the whole UNC in a poor light. However, who were the UNC MP's playing too. They were perhaps subconsciously thinking of their supporters in historical cane-fields - not the interests of democracy and the furtherance of benefit for the whole country. Surely, there was a better, equally effecitve way of dealing with their protests about the laptop. But no, they had to lock horns to demonstrate some point to their grass roots.
And who is this grass roots? Well it is dee chupidees who voted them into power. So moving forward on the police was to show courage. Panday was born of the will of strugglers and he continues to operate in that mode. Yes, he is a good show for a bandwagon of strugglers but I cannot see his political modus operandi good for taking the Nation to a promised land.
As long as there are small minded and myopic people willing to give support to the likes of Panday, there will be a very weak Opposition. Manning knows that all too well. The spending of 148M on a mansion is a clear sign that he intends to be there for quite some time. Yes I know he does not own the mansion.
All in all I see Panday's existence as the product of blind hope against an increasingly oppressive and headless regime. A hope that is built on frail foundations and guided by short-sightedness.
Panday is the product of his party faithful who are equally power hungry. Does anybody really believe that collectively they stand for the longer term betterment of T&T, above what they can gain for themselves?
The population needs to distinguish between idiotic bravado and true valiance. A tall order for a people who traditionally cyah see further dan dey nose, who are collectively selfish, don't know the meaning of sacrifice, and want everything to happen magically by 'yesterday'.
When we hold our noses at a stink toilet, scorn also the people who left it in that condition. Likewise when we mock or applaud Panday - ask who are the people who put him where he is. Politically he is a product of the people who support him and his party - and he exists to serve their needs and hopes. The greatest challenge now for Panday and the UNC as a whole is to gain insight. [For the small minded reading this I'm not comparing Panday to a toilet - stretch yuh brain a little, tah].