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Ten years ago, I out­lined the three fun­da­men­tal prob­lems fac­ing T&T as: the need for eco­nom­ic mod­erni­sa­tion and di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion; deep­en­ing so­cial de­cay spawn­ing myr­i­ad gen­er­a­tional prob­lems, in­clud­ing hor­ren­dous crime; and in­sti­tu­tion­al dys­func­tion, as the state fails in fun­da­men­tal oblig­a­tions and re­spon­si­bil­i­ties to the cit­i­zen­ry.

But the Dr Kei­th Row­ley ad­min­is­tra­tion did vir­tu­al­ly noth­ing. For ten years, it was main­ly per­for­mance pol­i­tics: grand­stand­ing, pos­tur­ing, promis­ing. All the­atre. Per­form­ing in par­lia­ment and on po­lit­i­cal plat­forms. Who can for­get Colm Im­bert’s boast­ful bud­get speech­es or Row­ley’s thun­der­ing at Pig­got’s Cor­ner and else­where? All for ap­plause from par­ti­san au­di­ences. Per­for­mance pol­i­tics! While the de­cline in our econ­o­my, so­ci­ety and in­sti­tu­tions be­came en­trenched.

Thank­ful­ly, the peo­ple sent them pack­ing. Since then, un­der Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, im­por­tant steps have been made to­wards eco­nom­ic mod­erni­sa­tion and so­cial restora­tion. The jour­ney has be­gun. Pro­found change start­ed.