What do annual motor vehicle inspections and annual flu shots have in common?
1. Both are actions, that responsible adult citizens are legally required to, or expected to take, and which if not taken, have serious negative consequences for those defaulting citizens as well as the whole society.
2. Recent history has exposed the harsh reality that in Trinidad and Tobago, voluntarily performing these two civil and legal duties by citizens are the exceptions, rather than the rule.
3. Enforcement of the motor vehicle inspection law from January 1, 2019, has resulted in hardships, inconvenience, delays and additional expenses to large sections of the population, vehicle owners and passengers alike. And the public safety risk is not removed. And there are likely to be thousands of uninspected defective vehicles on our roads.
On the other hand, by not accepting responsibility to get their FREE flu shots large sections of the population remain at risk of infection during the current flu season, at a time when there is evidence that the dreaded and deadly Swine Flu H1NI virus has gained a foothold in T&T.
The Motor vehicle inspection story in a nutshell.
Annual inspection of all motor vehicles over 5 years old is not a recent law. It was introduced as far as I remember* by former finance minister Brian Kuei Tung in the presentation of his budget many years ago. It replaced the annual license fee. While it was presented by the minister as a revenue earning measure, its underlying purpose was to ensure public safety by requiring that all active motor vehicles were road worthy. Previously only commercial vehicles and taxis were required to be inspected annually.
The history of the intervening years has been marked by massive non-compliance by citizens and limited enforcement by the licensing authority and the police service, except for sporadic half-hearted road checks and warnings until about a year ago when a cash strapped administration discovered that full enforcement was not possible because the management systems, including sufficient operating private inspection stations. certificates of inspection and windshield stickers were not available. The government responded in 2 ways. The penalty for noncompliance was increased to a punitive $5000 plus 9 penalty points, and citizens were given a five-month moratorium to comply, while the licensing authority tried to put its house in order.
In spite of constant reminders by the authorities of the imminent December 31, 2018, moratorium deadline, we have witnessed not only the utter national confusion of long lines at vehicle inspections but complaints of unavailability of windshield stickers, one of the proofs of compliance. Drivers employed in various government services are also refusing to drive uninspected government vehicles, denying citizens such important services as their daily commute to work and school and emptying of their septic systems, while trade unions, managements, police and licensing authority argue about whether government vehicles have a ' noncompliance bligh' and the exposure or non-exposure of the government employed drivers to the $5000 fine and 9 penalty points. All this accompanied by impassioned public pleas from affected citizens and others for a further moratorium supported by claims of inefficiency and poor management of the process by the responsible authorities. Commentators of every hue and political persuasion have joined the brouhaha.
The simple truth about Annual Flu injections and the new fear of a Swine Flu epidemic.
The Ministry of Health has run annual FREE flu vaccination programmes* around the time of the year that is known to be the annual flu season. From inception, these programmes have been heavily promoted in public media and onsite at the various Public health centres and medical facilities. It would be an interesting revelation for the Ministry to reveal how many citizens especially from the high-risk population groups have taken advantage of this free service over the years. But last weekend news has surfaced of 3 confirmed deaths as a result of swine flu infection and evidence of panic in media and the public has begun to appear. The question of our preparedness for a possible swine flu epidemic has been raised in parliament.
But in this case, there still are no reports of long lines at our 109 health centres and other medical institutions. It seems that at-risk citizens have not reacted with any sense of urgency to the risk, despite the repeated warnings by The Minister of Health and other Health Ministry personnel. We shouldn’t be surprised. The Ministry of Health has boasted that its stockpile of 75,000 flu shots is adequate to meet any emergency in our population of 1.4 million. I hope they are right.
The 2 factors in these two examples of our national life that are common to our culture are:
(1) that we are not living in a society that guarantees or even promises a 'disciplined and ordered existence", and
(2) our irresponsible/unresponsible culture continues to thwart many of our efforts at growth and development.
David Brooks in a New York Times OPED of August 13, 2005, wrote:
"Walter Lippmann got to the crux of the matter in a speech 65 years ago. People don’t become happy by satisfying their desires, he said. They become happy by living within a belief system that restrains and gives coherence to their desires:
“Above all the other necessities of human nature, above the satisfaction of any other need, above hunger, love, pleasure, fame — even life itself — what a man most needs is the conviction that he is contained within the discipline of an ordered existence.”
In the preface to his latest book "WE LIKE IT SO?" [note the question mark], economist Dr. Terrence Farrell wrote: "I concluded we had not performed as well as we ought because of: (1) several policy mistakes (2) serious weaknesses in implementation (3) perverse ethnic influence on decision making and (4) the culture factor which I termed 'We Like It So'. I suggest it will be impossible to correct the first three unless we confront the fourth: who we are as a people, how we think, what we value and how we behave. t(T)his is not at all easy. Can a society's culture be altered? And if it can how do you go about it?”
I suggest that the priority task of current and future generations of Trinbagonians is to direct the society on a path towards cultural transformation. I suggest a study of the last sentence of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s observation: “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.” It may provide the answer to Dr Farrell’s question. “Can a society's culture be altered? And if it can how do you go about it?”
In the immediate pre-independence years, the labour movement paraphrased a biblical quotation to focus the struggle on the core strategic objective. I don’t remember the exact words, but the gist was ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of political independence’. We did seek and we did win, or rather it was given to us gift wrapped in a constitutional clone of the Westminster parliamentary system, which paradoxically does not have a written constitution. But that right to self-government has not delivered on our hopes for,”happiness…within the discipline of an ordered existence”. Perhaps we now need our own new paraphrase of the biblical quote. We must now seek ye first the transformation of our culture. Because the truth is, the answer to Dr Farrell’s question is — We Do Not Like It So. The air is filled with our complaints and dissatisfactions.
But “how do you go about it?” Many citizens are hoping and praying for new leaders and new political parties. But Mother Teresa’s sage advice may be more suited to our present need, “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” The change, therefore, must start with; WE the citizens accepting that IT’S UP TO ME to be the change I want to happen. A civilization that operates within the rules of a responsible culture will produce the leaders and the systems that will guarantee its citizens,”happiness…within the discipline of an ordered existence”.
Ends
Culture disclosure statement: I am a senior citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. On the topic of vehicle inspection, I claim the Fifth Amendment. I know it’s an American thing. In any case, the subject may be statute barred. I have not driven a vehicle for more than five years. But I am on the Ministry’s list of citizens at-risk for flu infection. I walk past the Health Centre in my district an average of 6 times per week. But as I write this, I have not gone for my FREE flu shot as yet. Yuh tink is because I is a Trini to de bone? You are supposed to laugh or at least smile at this culture revelation.
*Subject to fact check
#itsuptomett