The recent scrutiny surrounding the
health of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has raised some very important
national questions. Like, should the public know the full condition of the
Prime Minister’s health? How much privacy should he be expected to have? And
has anyone heard any juicy gossip of what might be ailing him? Of course the
Prime Minister hasn’t suggested he may be seriously ill, saying only that he is
having a medical abroad before he embarks on his holiday. This sounds entirely
reasonable. A little bit too reasonable. As all Trinbagonians know, sounding
reasonable is a sure-fire way to tell that a politician is hiding something.
All Prime Ministers have had to deal
with public speculation over their health. During her premiership Kamla Persad-Bissessar
faced constant questions about her health which revolved around her diabetes,
alleged drinking and whether or not she burns it. In 1998 while Leader of the
Opposition, the late Mr. Patrick Manning returned from a supposed month long
vacation in Venezuela only to inform the public that - psyke; he was actually
in Cuba having surgery. In his book, ‘Eric Williams: The Myth and the Man’, Dr.
Selwyn Ryan suggests that Dr. Eric Williams suffered from undiagnosed Bipolar
disorder, which, says Ryan, would explain his erratic behavior. Bipolar
disorder is a form of manic depression, which was better known in the 1950’s
simply as “being crazy”.
Dr. Rowley may feel he is entitled to
his privacy with regards to his health, like any citizen of T&T should. And
he may be right. But he should also accept that as Prime Minister, he isn’t
just any other citizen of T&T. Unlike the rest of us, he doesn’t have to
sit through traffic, has his own personal security team and can afford to go
abroad for good health care. Most of us can’t tell Colm Imbert to fill in for
us when we need a break from work. The price of public life is a life under the
public microscope. No one is suggesting that the Prime Minister needs to inform
the nation every time he has indigestion, a runny nose or an inflamed
hemorrhoid. But if Dr. Rowley has a serious illness that jeopardizes his
ability to work, he should disclose it.
What has been truly sickening is the
way government spin doctors and others have arrogantly dismissed any questions
about the Prime Minister’s health as being nobody’s business. Education Minister
Anthony Garcia called it “disrespectful”, apparently unware that asking
questions politicians find ‘disrespectful’ is kind of the role of the media. Minister
of Rural Development Franklyn Khan said the public should respect Dr. Rowley’s privacy,
stopping short of calling everyone a bunch of macos. But most bizarrely Office
of the Prime Minister spokesman Stuart Young said there was no need for concern
over the Prime Minister’s health while also saying everyone should pray for Dr.
Rowley. Which is reminiscent of what the stewards on the Titanic were telling passengers;
“everything is fine but I would start praying if I were you”.
The only countries where people are
told they should not ask disrespectful or intrusive questions of their leaders
are also those where people have no freedom to ask any questions at all. Take
for example Cuba, where the identities of Fidel Castro’s numerous wives and
children are a state secret and where people are too respectful to make
enquires about them. And by “respectful”, I mean “totally scared of being
locked up”. Or North Korea, where the dear leader Kim Jong Un can disappear
from the public eye for months, under the suspicion of being ill, but where
people respect his privacy to not ask questions. Because if they don’t, they
will get gunned down in a very public execution.
Trinbagonians may love to speculate
about the health of their Prime Ministers, but they have a tendency to disregard
the health of their democracy. In a free and open society there are no
questions that are deemed off limits from public officials. Even if those
questions are about their health, their personal beliefs or whether or not they
are really a mosquito disguised as a human. Incidentally I’m still waiting on a
response from Minister Terrance Deyalsingh on that last one. Dr. Rowley is
under no obligation to discuss his health, but it is the obligation of the
press to try and find out. The day the press decides to stop doing that, is the
day we’ll know our democracy is sick.
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