THE EDITOR: The wife of the Minority Leader of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is fired by the new Chief Secretary. Two well educated close family members with a famous Tobagonian name are given important roles in a new company that will rake in good profit margins. And the cry, suddenly, is about nepotism going mad.

But is it madness? We live in a tiny democracy where everybody is family, friend, neighbour, enemy since school days and where political jealousy runs rife. With 60,000 citizens living in Tobago, dolly-house politics will inevitably come under heavy scrutiny.

I have said it before, with only 1.4 million people, acute shortages regarding positions on boards will always be a reality. Fact is fact. TT does not have the intellectual capacity at hand to say who should sit or not sit on any board, whether it be government or the private sector.

Tobago is far more vulnerable than Trinidad in this regard. Image is everything and fact remains fact. Certain appointments or dismissals are just going to look plain bad. Using any words about what previous governments did will not change the evidence.

There can be no holier-than-thou behaviour in our brand of Third World politics. There is no shoe on the other foot. Both feet thrive on opportunity.

It is the deliberate part of the firing of qualified people where jobs are scarce that sticks in the craw.

We need to properly define the words 'political mischief.' Deliberate political mischief is just plain sickening.

LYNETTE JOSEPH

Diego Martin

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