Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
Julien
Neaves: Interview with the PM :
How
I came to be where I am
YOUNG viewers got to see a bit of the man behind the office when Prime Minister
Patrick Manning shared about the few hours sleep he gets, his dietary habits,
his lack of talking with the youth and his political legacy.
He was being interviewed on the Synergy cable
station youth forum programme which was broadcast
last Wednesday night-the two previous nights featured
Congress of the People political leader Winston
Dookeran and United National Congress Alliance
political leader Basdeo Panday.
Manning told interviewer Jason Williams that he
usually goes to bed at 10.30 p.m. or 11 p.m. and
then awake at about 2 a.m. to either work, exercise
or pray. After that he would usually return to
bed by 5.30 a.m.
He noted that if he does not go back to sleep
he would continue to work for about four hours
and that is when he gets most of his work done.
"Is a lot of stress you know. You really
don't have a life," he said.
Manning recalled that after a recent political
meeting in Tabaquite he arrived home at 1 a.m.,
fell asleep an hour later and then got up at five
to read 96 Cabinet notes in preparation for a Cabinet
meeting later that morning.
Williams
then questioned the Prime Minister about his
favourite food and what makes him "salivate".
Manning responded that it was baigan choka which
he described as "very good food".
He noted that he has been essentially vegetarian
for a few years now, eating fish but no meat except
for a little ox tail very occasionally. He added
that he drinks no alcohol at all, stopped smoking
since 1996 and tries to control his eating of sugar
by substituting honey.
"At
my age you have to pay attention to your health
and I do just that."
He said that he exercises regularly, has lost
weight that he wanted to lose and half-jokingly
challenged Williams to run a mile with him.
He
recalled that he did not take part in sports
in Presentation College but played rugby for
the
University of West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, and was
a "very fast right winger".
On his musical tastes, Manning noted that he likes
inspirational religious music and the dance music
of the 1960s. He noted that back in those years
he would go to a dance every week and he still
does so "every now and again".
On entering into politics Manning recalled that
he grew up in a home where both parents were involved
with the People's National Movement (PNM) and around
1966 his father would return with stories of late
prime minister Dr Eric Williams.
He recalled that with the local young power movement
in 1967, which morphed into the black power movement
following what took place in the 1960s, there was
a call for young people to become involved in the
strengthening of the country.
Manning recalled that after working at an oil
company for a year and a half after university
he was approached to join the PNM but turned down
the offer twice.
But he recalled that after a chat with Dr Williams
he was convinced to join.
"And then eventually I took it because...I
don't know why, because it was not a sensible decision," he
said.
Manning explained that he had just graduated and
worked in a department where he was the only local
person, only black person and had a very great
future ahead. And he realised he was taking a decision
to give up the profession for which he had trained.
"And
I never looked back."
Williams then asked Manning if he speaks with
the young people to find out what they are thinking
and he confessed he had not done enough of that.
He recalled that in his own constituency of San
Fernando East he used to hold chats every Saturday
morning with 20 members of a youth league and he
described it as a very useful exercise.
He
said that the lack of finding the time to talk
with the youth was a mistake which he will try
to correct in the next five-year term. Manning
noted that the country was developing rapidly and
it was for the benefit of the young people "coming
up".
"Therefore
all that is being done today is really being
done for them."
He said that the opportunities today are far greater
than those of years ago and it was up to young
people to take advantage of them, noting that they
are the future leaders.
He recalled that back in primary school he would
laugh when visiting dignitaries would tell the
pupils they are leaders, thinking that is what
older people told young people to make them feel
good. He said that the truth of the statement would
hit him when he got up one morning and realised
he was a politician, then opposition leader and
then prime minister.
He recalled a few years ago telling some young
people in a constituency group who were feeling
ignored that one day they would hold major positions
in the constituency, and time proved his statement
right.
He encouraged young people to prepare themselves
to be future leaders and to take part in the electoral
process and to vote in the November 5 general election
based on the pattern of development they wanted
the country to receive in their own interest.
Responding
on how he wants to be remembered, Manning said
he does not concern himself with his legacy
but recognises that he has been given a mandate
to develop this country and "that I intend
to do to the best of my ability".
"In
other words, by the time I leave public life,
Trinidad and Tobago should have progressed
considerably over and above when I came here in
1971 (as San Fernando East MP) or in 1991 when
I first became Prime Minister and then the legacy
is for everybody else to decide."
Julien
Neaves is
a journalist with Trinidad & Tobago Express
(
jneaves@trinidadexpress.com ) . Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in Trinidad
Express,Sunday, November 4th 2007. Petroleumworld
reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
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Petroleumworld
11/04/07
Copyright ©2006
Julien
Neaves .
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