1 week Ago By F Laurenco
I think the Minister of Health heralded the beginning of the circus with the first parade. Flanked by musicians, drummers and moko jumbies, it appeared that unlike most decent citizens, he could not simply go quietly and file his nomination. Upending and annoying schools, a learning centre and residents, he signalled the introduction to the Circus of Lies and Promises that promises to entertain and bamboozle the populace until the results of the next general election are released.
Bring in the clowns. Every five years, the population is amused by the antics. Promises of new houses, distribution of paltry amounts of money to the families of the divers, while paying ten times the amount to the man in charge of the commission of enquiry.
I can only hope that the families sue the company once again to get their just compensation. Promises of new houses, new roads, the lowering of crime, virtual doctors for the elderly, all of which, as I look at the crystal ball in previous years, have never ever come to pass and will never materialise. Every single time the circus comes to town, after the events, the performers pack up and leave, and the crowd never sees them again.
All contact information has been discontinued. Nobody reads the flyers, the so-called manifestos, that are distributed at the door when the customers enter the big tent. They are tossed aside, because they are indeed, promises written and unfulfilled, year after year.
The circus had not brought into the country any new acts, just the same recycled performers year after year. I am hoping that the crowds attending these circuses for the past 20 years would have matured and realised that nothing will be done, since we hold no-one accountable for these promises. Otherwise, the potholes in the roads would not kill cyclists, elderly people would not be robbed or mistreated whenever they go to withdraw money or sit in a bank waiting for hours.
Noise legislation would be in place to stop small bar owners and other noisemakers from disturbing the peace and quiet of those living nearby. Instead, the circus coming to Trinidad and Tobago consists only of clowns, acrobats (twisting themselves to escape the due process of law), and aerialists suspended so far above the regular citizens that they’re able to balance carefully on their tightrope, escaping prosecution and fulfilment of promises; and escaping trying to make the country a better place—with some seeking desperately to exit, to live in other countries. But year after year we are fooled by the performers.
And every five years, there is the Grand Circus, which as we know, has come to town. It will be interesting to observe just how the crowd reacts this time. After all the years of disappointing and failed performances, with clowns, inflexible acrobats, and wobbling tightrope walkers led by incompetent Grand Masters, I will not be attending.
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