15 June 1999, 936 words
Brother Resistance can stop worrying about our oral traditions. The art of story-telling is alive and well and being practised everywhere in Trinidad and Tobago. But the people who are doing the most to preserve this ancient art are not the rapso artists, the midnight robbers, the pierrot grenades or even Paul Keens Douglas and his Talk Tent. No indeedy. Thankfully, story-telling is being practised most assiduously these days by people with real influence and power and large incomes: politicians in the Lower House and the THA, ethnic activists from the Maha Sabha and Emancipation Support Committee, doctors in the San Fernando General Hospital, and lawyers everywhere. But, best of all, the prime exponents of story-telling are the country's two most prominent citizens: Prime Minister Basdeo Panday and Opposition Leader Patrick Manning.
Mr Panday has been working tirelessly to preserve - and indeed develop - the art of story-telling. Take his well-known tale about the Julian Rogers issue. Before Rogers was finally denied his work permit, reporters had asked Mr Panday if Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur had raised the issue on their Chile trip. Mr Panday did not simply say no. To have done so would have made him a mere liar, and Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister is no mere liar. Indeed, I would say that Mr Panday's lying, far from being mere, is definitely superior.
Consider how Mr Panday went into fine detail about his trip with the Bajan PM was: nine hours one way, nine back, so that's a total of 18 hours, plus the two days in Chile and Mr Arthur didn't bring up the issue at all, said Mr Panday, in order to demonstrate to journalists how much of a non-issue the Rogers issue was. This is the very essence of good story-telling; and that Arthur later contradicted Mr Panday does not change the fact that it was a good story.
But citizens need not worry that, if Mr Panday is defeated at the next general election, the art of story-telling will vacate office with him. Opposition Leader Patrick Manning, while not so facile with a phrase as Mr Panday, is clearly his equal in the matter of pure invention. Heading for heart surgery in Cuba, Mr Manning was not content to simply say he was off on private business. Uh-uh. He explained, both to his own party executive and the general public, that he and his wife were taking a well-deserved vacation. Later, he embellished further, saying that the death of his mother-in-law had given additional reason for he and his family to make a retreat. And, when he returned and told the truth, Mr Manning invented yet another story: to wit, that the reason he lied was to avoid traumatising the people of the country.
It is the details which make story-telling an art and, in this incredible little addition, I must say Manning trumped Panday. Moreover, a good storyteller spreads his stories around, like manure. Thus, Manning now has his party executives saying that they aren't embarrassed and that the PNM hasn't been further damaged by Manning's storytelling. A good liar always has to invent more lies to back up his initial untruth, but a great liar gets other people to do this for him.
But what I find most impressive about the story-telling abilities of these two national exemplars is their complete disregard for the facts. Indeed, so committed are they to the clear untruth that, since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Panday has said six times that his highest commitment is to the truth. He has repeated this statement even while defending Agriculture Minister Reeza Mohammed over Susan Harrysingh, saying nothing about Brian Keui Tung in respect to the fudged Maritime report to Cabinet, attacking NFM Chairman Anthony Elias for revealing questionable practices at the company, and speaking up for Ken Soodhoo in Parliament.
Mr Panday also talks continually about being committed to total quality, meritocracy, democracy and - best story of all - freedom of expression. He has made all these statements while his administration keeps Adesh Nanan in Education, throws support behind Ish Galbaransingh, excuses Vasant Bharath, extends the time required and penalities imposed for permission for public demonstrations, withdraws from human rights organizations, tries to pass laws to prevent media criticism of the Government, public statements about race and religion, and bypass Parliament to remove murder appeals to human rights bodies and the Privy Council.
In fact, Mr Panday probably needs to be careful about his stories. The best storytellers usually mix fact and fiction judiciously, but Mr Panday has begun to lie so regularly that there is a real danger of him becoming honest, since you can usually assume that the truth is the exact opposite of what he says. Yet, though Mr Panday surpasses Manning in sheer quantity of stories, I have to give the latter an edge for bold-facedness. At Manning's press conference after returning from Cuba, for example, the PNM leader stated that, in admitting that he had lied, he was telling the truth. Roy Cape's entire band doesn't have more brass than that.
But story-telling does not make life easy for politicians, despite the expensive accommodations and gratuitous overseas trips. When you tell stories habitually, you attract much public opprobrium, especially from newspaper columnists like Kevin Baldeosingh. You might wonder how politicians manage to live with themselves. This, I admit puzzles me tremendously. The only conclusion I can come to is that, while the truth may set you free, lying gives you a much better opinion of yourself.
Copyright ©1998 Kevin Baldeosingh