Trinidad and Tobago became an independent country in 1962 and a republic in 1976, in which the people, through their representatives, were supposed to control their affairs.
Such a political arrangement sounded enticing since it promised to place the countryâs destiny in the hands of people they knew, rather than foreigners (white) whom they did not know.
Over the years, citizensâ rule morphed into a Cabinet culture controlled by one or two persons, who demand: âNo damn dog bark.â When one minister tendered his resignation to protest this one-manism, he was removed immediately from the Cabinet and later from a place in the Government. He had not learned to say, âYes, Your Majesty,â in an accommodating manner.