Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 04:45

Lessons of democracy: ‘The voice of the people’

DIANA MAHABIR-WYATT There is a wise Latin phrase, Vox populi vox Dei, translated as "the voice of the people is the voice of God," and we keep hearing it quoted as we convince ourselves that we live in a democracy where "people power" rules. The industrial-relations issues in many businesses at this time of year are affected by workers reflecting the published decisions of government wage and salary determinations. There are those who, having noted the state-determined increases, will claim the PM’s endorsement of the Salaries Review Commission-recommended increases is what the rest of the population should also be granted, and that the voice of a single government department has become the voice of the people. It is all a fantasy, of course. There will always be people who try to convince you that the 1970s Makandal Daaga students' rallying call of "power to the people" has been realised. That's proof that if you say it often enough, people will believe it. The actual quotation in full was by an 8th-century scholar called Alcuin. It went like this: Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, 'vox populi, vox Dei,' quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insanitae proxima sit, which, in English, means: "Do not listen to those who say, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God,' for the riotousness of the crowd is always close to insanity." Look it up. History has proven it right. Words change facts for those who are easily led. Politicians depend on it. And most citizens do want to be told what to think, preferably by someone in authority, rather than to figure out sensitive political issues by themselves. Who has time to read and check out every political manifesto? That is why politicians often do not want even to listen to people whose politics differ from their own. They are afraid they might change their minds about something important. They might even learn something. Caribbean Airlines, WASA and the Port Authority have all been affected by this approach over the past months. Has it worked? I will never forget learning the lesson of TT democracy from the saga of Robert Le Hunte, a Trinidadian-born and bred former minister of public utilities and banker, who had "more degrees than a thermometer" as one political commentator observed. Martin Daly, for whom I have the deepest respect, in a published statement recently referred to him as the currently high-profile Robert Le Hunte, a former minister who, because he stood on principle, resigned from cabinet in 2020 rather than succumb to a dysfunctional and rumoured corrupt system. If I remember correctly, after graduating from university he joined Republic Bank in Port of Spain and subsequently emigrated from TT to Ghana to pursue his banking career internationally, as career-minded men often do. He even adopted Ghanaian citizenship to really understand his Republic Bank clients in that country and to be part of their culture. He was building his life there when he was lured back home and approached to run for political office by the PNM. He agreed and entered the political system. As everybody knows, it is not that straightforward; there is a procedure to these things. You have to join a party group in your constituency, be accepted by the group and work with them towards their objectives. In order to be nominated by that group, you get to work with them and prove yourself able to represent them. Then, if your nomination is accepted by a majority of that group, which is the standard of democracy, that nomination is forwarded to the selection committee at party headquarters. If the selection committee accepts your nomination you run during national elections as the democratically chosen candidate standing as MP for that constituency. So said, so done. He joined the PNM, where he worked and was nominated as a representative. It was a system that worked all over the Commonwealth. [caption id="attachment_1128803" align="alignnone" width="962"] VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Finger stained in red ink from voting. FILE PHOTO -[/caption] But the next day there was a notice in the national press that Mr Le Hunte had not been accepted by the chairman of the selection committee, who, of course, was the Prime Minister. People looked in puzzlement at each other. What? Was that allowed? Didn’t the burgesses in that constituency get to choose for themselves in those days? Well, "there is many a slip between cup and lip," as the old folk say. You don’t know what went wrong. Someone probably submitted some document on the wrong date or something. Procedural hiccups happen. I don’t live in that constituency, so I was not voting there, I don’t even belong to a political party. Like Winston Churchill, I am a fervent believer in the potential of democracy. To be more exact, Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other forms that have been tried from time to time." Seems he was right. In this case, once Mr Le Hunte’s candidacy was denied, another candidate was chosen and approved by the head of the selection committee. Democratically chosen, of course. This is a "democratic" country. Democracy was redefined. And not a dog barked.   The post Lessons of democracy: ‘The voice of the people’ appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.