CARIBBEAN INSIDER BLOG

Elections have been on the mind recently. There was the recent calling of elections by the Trinidad and Tobago government for May 24, two years earlier than expected - resulting in a major upheaval in the ICC cricket schedule, with the much berated Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua now hosting two twenty 20 matches and two one day International matches in the West Indies versus South Africa series (but more on that in a later post!)

Also, with a shocking legal decision on Antigua and Barbuda’s election held last year whereby three election results were said to be invalid and those seats were determined null and void due to discrepancies in the polling procedures (but more on that later!). This has resulted in three Government Ministers including the Prime Minister himself facing a possible by-election or even calling a general election, all pending the appeal decision. Similar petitions, although on different grounds, have been filed in Dominica and St. Kitts.

With all of these shenanigans in the Caribbean, many of us were looking to the United Kingdom for their well organised, free and fair elections. In our condescending way, those of us who have lived abroad and especially those who have lived in the UK – I am the biggest culprit – tend to say “that could only happen in the Caribbean, never in the UK, America, Australia….insert any large developed country of your choice”.

The inefficiencies, the less than ideal customer service, the poorly planned and disorganised systems of the Caribbean. Wrong!  More and more I am beginning to realise that the Caribbean is making great strides and is meeting and indeed surpassing the standards of large developed countries in many areas, and there is an unfair assumption that things are better in these bigger countries compared to the small, less developed, Third World Caribbean countries.

I recently returned from the UK where a soldier who had returned intact from the Afghanistan war, was killed on his bicycle as a result of a swerving to avoid a large pothole. As another example, I am awaiting a response from a UK private hospital no less, on important information having telephoned and emailed them several times to no avail – so much for superior customer service.

But the icing on the cake has been the reports of disenfranchised voters in London, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester who were not allowed to vote in the recent UK elections. They arrived during the scheduled polling hours at polling stations, but polling staff were unable to cope with the numbers prior to the close of the poll, electoral rolls not being updated and also reports of inadequate numbers of ballot papers. The Electoral Commission is due to undertake a thorough investigation. This is déjà vu – almost the same situation that we thought could only occur in Antigua resulting in the three Ministers losing their seats – due to polling stations opening late and disenfranchising voters.

Not to pick on the UK, I am reminded of hanging chads in the US 2000 elections and that drama.

Although we have much more progress to make, the Caribbean given its size, income, capacity, populations and natural endowments is doing extremely well. There must be a reason why many of us who live in the “Third World” never return to the “First World” in a hurry. It’s time for a visit so you can make up your own mind.