Dr Kirk Meighoo’s claim that “all Government policies are party policies” is not merely wrong — it is a dangerous distortion of how a constitutional democracy is supposed to function.
His attempt to justify Government ministers briefing the nation from the headquarters of a political party betrays either a shocking ignorance of democratic norms or a wilful contempt for them. In either case, the argument deserves not polite disagreement, but outright rejection.
Political parties contest elections. Governments govern. The distinction is not cosmetic but foundational. Once elected, ministers are not agents of a party executive; they are office holders sworn to serve the entire Republic. Government authority flows from the Constitution, not from a party headquarters, manifesto committee, or back-room caucus.
To suggest that national policy is legitimately “created” at a party office, and therefore properly announced from there, is to reduce the State to a partisan appendage. By that logic, taxpayers are merely funding a victorious party’s private enterprise, and public office is nothing more than an extension of party machinery. That is not democracy; it is patronage politics dressed up as theory.
Equally alarming is the spectacle of Government ministers holding portfolios entrusted to them by the State and using party facilities to disseminate information on national security, culture, or public administration. These are not UNC matters. They are public matters. They belong in Parliament, at Whitehall, at official ministry offices, or at State press briefings, not beneath party logos or on partisan platforms.
Dr Meighoo’s declaration that the party “is not dead” misses the point entirely. No one suggested it was. But neither is the Government supposed to be absorbed into it. For this reason, I urge media houses in Trinidad and Tobago to consider refusing coverage of any so-called Government news conference at a party headquarters or any party-affiliated venue. If a minister, the Prime Minister, the Attorney General or a Government senator wishes to speak in an official capacity, let them do so from an official Government facility — or not at all.
The press has a duty not merely to report power, but avoid normalising its abuse.
The business of the Government belongs to the State. The business of political parties belongs to themselves. When the two are deliberately conflated, democracy is the casualty.
Read more on Trinidad Express Newspapers
