VOTING has evolved into a commercial enterprise within our twin-island republic. Over the past six decades, it has shifted from a genuine act of civic engagement to a mere transactional activity.
My mother-in-law (the late Hannah Demming) and her contemporaries lobbied for universal adult suffrage and for women to be given the right to vote. They understood the true significance of participating in the democratic process. They were also proud champions of women’s rights.
Sadly, our society has transformed and, in today’s world, there are people who promote political parties because they are being paid; some for cash and a T-shirt, while others expect to get a house, or a contract, or a job. Our two race-based political parties are allegedly guilty of purchasing votes.
In 2010, the coalition of the People’s Partnership, made up of five political parties-the United National Congress, the Congress of the People, the Tobago Organisation of the People, the Movement for Social Justice and the National Joint Action Committee-won the general election.
An Express article of July 7, 2015, reported a statement by then-opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley that ‘government ministers are handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to buy votes in the upcoming general election’.
Another disconcerting example of voter purchasing was highlighted in a television interview featuring a woman who openly admitted to attending a protest solely for financial gain.
In these instances, individuals were paid to lend their presence to political events, neither with genuine commitment to the party they support nor an understanding of the value systems to which they ascribe. The disconcerting truth is that our leaders and their close-support circle begin their journey with corruption and expect that when they get into office, they will somehow transform these supporters.
These payments from political parties extend beyond mere cash transactions. The phrase ‘who has more food feeds more fowl’ sadly captures the prevailing sentiment in our society, reflecting a transactional approach to civic engagement.
The deeply disheartening issue is that we do not understand this is an artificially created situation engineered over decades to benefit a few people, among whom are members of the government and opposition alike.
We have been artificially kept in a state of lack for decades. We should have been the most developed Caribbean country, but our income has frequently been diverted to places unknown.
Critical infrastructure has been ignored; major water lines, healthcare services, education systems, even traffic control have not been adequately maintained, even though we made billions of dollars of foreign currency reserves. Because this has happened, politicians now have a condition where they can buy votes to stay in power while delivering nearly nothing to their employers (the general public).
The true impact of voter buying is that it has diminished the fundamental democratic right for citizens to express their civic duty.
As a society, we stand at a crossroads, with an opportunity to redefine our values and practices. Initiating this change at the political level is where we need to begin. We must encourage citizens to vote for a party based on shared principles, rather than inducements. This shift in perspective can pave the way for more genuine and principled democratic participation, restoring the true spirit of voting as a powerful tool for civic expression.
We owe it to ourselves and our children to shift voting from a transactional activity to a genuine act of civic engagement. It is time to take back the power we surrendered (our votes) so that we can, for ourselves, decide how our country should grow.
Dennise Demming 