Orville and his stupidness, part 2
By Dr. Winford James
May 15, 2005
'Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.' So wrote the ancient Greek tragedian Euripides in reference to rulers who had become crazed by power. If he were writing in today's political context, he would be referring to people like Orville London who the other day had grown crazy enough to 'delete' ANR Robinson, former DAC member for Tobago East, as the mover of the 1977 motion for internal self-government for Tobago in favour of PNM minister Kamaludin Mohammed. London thought he had seen an opportunity to 'correct history' - read 'correct the historical record' - and he pounced upon it with the recklessness of a man whose reason had deserted him.
The gods seemed to have struck.
The record is clear that on January 14, 1977 Robinson moved the motion and Winston Murray seconded it. The record is clear that the lower house unanimously accepted the motion on February 4, 1977. The record is clear that Kamal moved a different motion after that last date, incorporating Robinson's motion. Kamal's motion was for the setting up of a committee of both houses of parliament to consider two matters, one of them being Robinson's motion that had already been accepted.
But despite these clarities, London was emboldened somehow to replace Robinson by Kamal as the mover of the motion for internal self-government in a factually straightforward motion taken to the House of Assembly by Hochoy Charles. The gods must have made him mad for, incredibly, he allowed himself to think that Kamal had not only moved his procedural motion to give effect to Robinson's historic motion, but that he had also moved the latter motion itself!
Madness!
Oblivious to the fact that his reason had gone, and so believing himself to be still possessed of it, he saw 'Be it resolved', and he saw the motion for internal Tobagonian government, and he saw Kamal's name at the end of the motion, and he said, 'Aha! Robinson fool Tobagonians into believing that it was he who move the motion for internal self-government. But here it says "Kamaludin Mohammed". Clearly, the parliament take over Robinson motion, which is to say, the government take it over, and that is why it in Kamal name.'
Madness as reason! London came to the conclusion that once the parliament had accepted Robinson's motion it was now the government's motion, which was now being moved by government minister Kamaludin Mohammed! Struck mad, he could not see what is as plain as day - that Kamal's motion was for the setting up of a parliamentary committee to give effect to Robinson's motion and that the latter was necessarily a part of Kamal's procedural motion. Could not see!
Why did the gods shut down his reason? Perhaps because they were tired of his fooling? Perhaps because they had had enough of his posturing as a leader concerned about the integrity of Tobagonian development? Perhaps because they took serious objection to his pretence at appreciation of the seminal contribution of ANR Robinson to Tobago's advancement in the governance of Trinidad and Tobago?
The ease with which he moved to switch the internal self-government credits strongly suggests that he never really believed that it was Robinson who was responsible for Tobagonian self-government but that it was instead a PNM government by virtue of the fact that the latter put the procedures in place for the realisation of that self-government. Robinson may have initiated the development by bringing a motion to the house, but it was the PNM that executed. So it must be a PNM person who moved the critical motion.
Craziness!
Charles' motion was focused, not on who executed internal self-government, but on who initiated it! It was concerned with recognizing Robinson's role in pushing the parliament to grant Tobago self-government. It was recalling a landmark historical event. Charles was calling for the Tobago House of Assembly to take steps to have the government of Trinidad and Tobago grant Tobago democratic self-government, and was therefore straightforwardly laying out Robinson's contribution as the basis for that further development, which he (Charles) was now, 25 years later, initiating.
But London would have none of it. He could have amended Charles' motion to read that Kamal had moved the motion to give effect to the decision to grant Tobago self-government. But in his rabid non-appreciation of Robinson's contribution, he contented himself with merely making Kamal move the motion for internal self-government, wiping Robinson clean out of the picture.
It was a crazy, dishonest move - a move which Kamal has since clearly and vehemently contradicted. He says he did not move the relevant motion!
Will the gods show mercy?
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