The electors in Tobago will be going to the polls tomorrow – Monday January 23rd – to decide who will be members of the Tobago House of Assembly. For the very first time in the history of elections to the THA, however, there was a major error in the setting of the dates for nomination and election days. This error required first the House of Representatives and then the Senate to meet in emergency session on Friday last and yesterday respectively to pass a Bill to “validate” the dates. So, an error was made that meant the dates were not in keeping with the law and then the Parliament – the law makers – had to meet in extraordinary sessions – to pass a law to validate the breaking of the law.

Two major issues arise from this error. Firstly, the issue of accountability. Someone or somebodies made the error. Yet nobody has owned up for making the mistake. So, the Parliament is summoned, a law is passed to validate the law that was broken and nobody is being held accountable. This is totally unacceptable! A respected attorney at law, Independent Senator Sophia Chote S.C., is reported to have said in the Senate debate that even the decision of the Parliament may not be sufficient to stop a legal challenge to the THA election. If this is the case many thousands of dollars – perhaps even millions of dollars – will be spent on legal fees, considerable judicial time will be allocated to hearing the challenge and much uncertainty will prevail over the legality of those elected to the Assembly. In such a scenario will anybody be held to account?

The second issue is that of the collapse of the institutions of State. In this fiasco of not getting right the 21 days between nomination day and election day; several offices/institutions of the Republic had to be involved: the Chief Secretary of the THA; the Elections and Boundaries Commission; the Office of the President and the Office of the Prime Minister. Is it that the holders of high public office do not have sound professional and technical support in the form of legal and administrative advice that would ensure that such a simple error – but one which has far reaching consequences – was not made? What is there in our system of governance today that is missing in action?

For the MSJ there are many lessons to be learnt. There must be accountability by those who hold positions of responsibility. Without accountability, anything and everything becomes the norm and acceptable. The lack of accountability in turn leads to institutional breakdown as things go from bad to worse. In the context of institutions of state that are by their very nature old colonial institutions and thus unable to perform in the interest of all; the breakdown becomes complete. This is where Trinidad and Tobago now stands. The apparently simple mistake in counting days is a symptom of a much deeper problem.