Dennise Demming Friday 29 April 2022 originally published in @wired868

Public transportation is a quality-of-life issue.

Sometime in 2015, this statement caught my attention and gave me hope that Trinidad and Tobago was finally beginning to take action to bring our country out of the doldrums of the 20th Century.

Seven years later, transportation continues to be chaotic, dangerous, and energy-draining—both mental and physical energy as well as fossil fuel. We have disregarded the fact that our almost completely unplanned and very disorganised transit systems result in significant social and economic challenges for all citizens, from toddlers to the elderly.

It is noteworthy that in the western peninsula, there is an increased presence of buses on the routes into Diego Martin and Chaguaramas. But without easily accessible information about their expected times of arrival, very few persons will be attracted to hop on a bus.

Meanwhile, the region is beginning to act on transforming its transportation systems and exploring private/public sector arrangements. Audley Shaw, Jamaica’s Minister of Transport & Mining, recently indicated that his government is actively contemplating an arrangement to lease railway lines in the Montego Bay area for the transportation of tourists.

If this is successful, it will be an addition to the current arrangement that now obtains with the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC) and the bauxite companies that utilise the railway lines to transport bauxite.

Saint Lucia recently invited companies to tender for the formulation of an ‘Integrated, Sustainable Road Transport Policy and Strategic Roadmap for Implementation’.

The Barbados-based Caribbean Transit Solutions is working hard to provide real-time and on-demand information on public transport vehicles as well as private fleets of vehicles for citizens as well as tourists.

In Trinidad and Tobago, we are ignoring the bigger problem and focusing on fuel subsidies and the allocation of scarce foreign exchange for the importation of more cars.

The politicians know the problem and, in their manifestos, they have outlined several solutions. But when they occupy the corridors of power, something happens that causes amnesia.

In 2015, we knew that our road network was clogged with over 750,000 motor vehicles, crawling in endless bumper-to-bumper traffic. We knew that thousands of productive man-hours were being wasted every day in non-stop, grinding traffic jams, even at non-peak hours. We knew that there were neither traffic management plans nor mass-transit national transportation.

In 2019, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert commented that “Vehicle sales continue to charge along at an average rate of over 25,000 new registrations per year, with the total number of vehicles now well over the one million mark.”

Now, seven years after the revelation about the quality-of-life nature of the public transportation issue, we are still stuck with no clear direction regarding the future prospects for transportation. There is one recurrent recommendation urging that we establish a Transit Authority to regulate all forms of public transportation.

The PNM manifesto of 2015 boasted thus:

It is a matter of record that virtually every institution in this country was created, nurtured and developed by the PNM. Our education system, our manufacturing, industrial and energy sectors, our road network, transportation systems, primary infrastructure, social services, public sector, state enterprise sector, creative industries, health services, public housing, and system of governance, among so many other things, were all given life by the PNM …

I note that ‘transportation systems’ was included in this proud boast about PNM accomplishments. So I wonder why, with the same party holding the reins of power since 2015, there has been no significant improvement in the system in all of seven years.

The recent protests over the hike in the price of gasoline may just be the tip of the iceberg. It is my considered view that, in order to move forward as a society, we have little or no choice.

We—read Government—have to act now to ensure that the transportation system has no major negative impact on our quality of life.

Originally published in @wired868 on Monday 11 April 2022

The perception that if you are within the inner circle of the government, you can get anything you want was solidified in my mind with the recent announcement by the Prime Minister.

Clarence Rambharat, former agriculture, lands, and fisheries minister, we were told, is coming back into government and will take up a position in the yet-to-be-created Single Point Land Management Authority (SPMA) and his terms and conditions of employment will be determined by the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO).

In other words, the Prime Minister is seeking Cabinet’s support in forming a company while simultaneously instructing the CPO to determine the terms and conditions of employment of his nominee for the leadership role. In one announcement, we have thrown out any idea that there is a process to form a company and that the hiring procedure is fair and transparent and allows all suitably qualified citizens to access the opportunity.

In the normal course of things, forming a company, state enterprise or entity requires a clear articulation of the problem to be solved or the service to be offered followed by a careful definition of the core values and the mission of the organisation, development of the job description of the leaders before engaging the hiring process.

If the Prime Minister publicly throws all the rules of engagement out of the window, what are we to expect of the public servant when his friend asks a favour? What will motivate a junior person to feel a commitment to following the rules?

Successful organisations seek to recruit persons who can advance the mission of the organisation and often use a transparent process to invite persons who are inspired to help solve the problem. The failure of the SPMA is almost written on the cards because of the way the company was introduced to the public.

The SPMA is envisioned as solving a critical problem where state lands often end up being occupied without authorisation by persons who are bold and savvy enough to outfox the system. The entity is intended to eliminate corruption associated with the management of state lands.

A reasonable person cannot deny the need for regularisation and management of what happens with state lands. And given the historical inequity in the distribution of state lands, this issue must be managed transparently.

How will the SPMA differ in its role and responsibilities from the Land Management Division?

According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s website:

“The Office of the Commissioner of State Lands (COSL) is charged with the overall management, distribution, and allocation of all State Lands, which includes all shoreline below the high water mark and the seabed within the waters of Trinidad and Tobago.”

If this is not working and you have found corrupt practices, we should be investing time and effort in fixing the system, not creating another bureaucratic structure. The message of repair can be deeply fulfilling and will necessitate hard work and dedication.

Instead of engaging in the hard work, our government has once again thrown up its hands and looked for a shining new entity in the hope that it will solve the problem.

We have not yet learned that workarounds have not worked and that, to regain the trust that people outside of the inner circle will be considered, what is needed is deep systemic change.