WE have been talking and talking, but how enlightened are we now to test the why and the wherefore of the recently concluded local government election? We still need answers. So what if I tempt you with, what does local government mean to we, the people, apart from the politicians who felt impelled to fight another fight, to show who a di boss?

While some citizens showed no interest and kept clear of the voting booths, other individuals defended their right to vote. It has been said that the spoils from the general election were not enough, so let us roll the dice once more. That was done and it was a good re-match day to settle arguments about who a rule! An outsider looking in might question if there was need to reinforce who rule things

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In the party centres, it might have been so, but out in the streets many treated it like no big thing. That might be so in a certain context, but there was a winner and a loser, as befits an election. What concerns me most is how the people at grass roots took it.

I cannot recall hearing the issue of local government being fully discussed in the electioneering, and what are the conclusions which were reached?

Yes, we know by now who crossed the tape first and now has the right to claim victory. The losers have yet to let us in on how they are regarding the “also ran” designation left to them to answer the question of the meaning and value of local government. I have yet to hear fully how that was articulated. What really is local government? What does it mean to citizens, urban and rural?

What did they vote for and what assurances have they received about improvements ahead? Something would have been said on the election platform, but how many candid answers were given in response to questions on what can communities look forward to from now on? What about the roads? It appears that everybody should be getting a car for Christmas, thanks to the Santa Claus, financial system, anxious to lend money. The flood of vehicles is everywhere, which means that there has to be some serious thinking on the question of the state of the island’s roads. Are we concerned? Will the local government system get truly involved in lifting our nation’s roads to a more advanced level? After all, the vehicles shouldn’t be destroyed before being paid for. How many aspiring candidates in the local government showdown were able to placate voters who questioned, “How it go wid di road?” Did some candidates win, some lose, because of their answers?

Then, there were the issues like water supply. An advertisement by one of the contenders depicted lush vegetation beneath a clear, blue sky and water flowing in abundance from a well-polished pipe. By contrast, another picture gave us a less than efficient pipe, with water dripping.

Question: Did voters buy the pitch that it was their side who will have the clear, blue sky, the flowing water and the flowers in abundance? Does that mean that water will flow to one side but not the other?

Coming back to the hope that roads will become highways of efficiency from now on, no more potholes, no more “drop inna gully”. The time has come. We will be riding on clouds from now on. Really? Did people go for that? Will there be no more potholes? Will flowers bloom across the land? Wait and see, nuh!

QUESTION: How many of the candidates have had time to notice the level of decay which is overpowering the environment in so many constituencies?

In the matter of garbage collection, what are the expectations, especially in fashionable apartment blocks, multiplying Uptown these days? Will local government be making provision to deal with the consequences of clogged living spaces and the growing appetites for such residential attractions?

We turn now to the business of climate change. How many of our current, successful candidates have begun giving thought to what this means to the people, now and even more in time already at our door? How many candidates have assured the faithful that there will be every effort to take care of roadways, to ensure that they are less subject to accidents, not only because drivers are careless but because many roads are inadequate and insufficient?

These are questions we hope were asked during the electioneering and will continue to be asked. In hillside areas, like the one known to me, what plans are there to protect and nurture the terrain and the rivers and streams which are the gifts of nature, but which, deprived of proper treatment, are gradually disintegrating via pollution? How much do some candidates know of the value of these priceless gifts of nature in the area, which they represent? There’s a whole list of other challenges which will have to be faced, win or lose.

Local government must mean more than simplistic comments about whose side who is on — and who is not. What are the people’s expectations? It would be interesting to hear the feedback at this stage. The call should not only be to the candidates, it has to be to “all a we the people”. Some won, some lost in the race but can we be satisfied that this is the only song to be sung by way of progress? If local government is to be interpreted as only pleasing the community, depending only on the winners and locking out others from the conversation at election time, then what’s the point? Have we forgotten that “one hand cyaan clap”?

Requiem for Fidel

“The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.” Yes, Shakespeare is at it again. As usual, his thoughts can facilitate extension of his words if we want. The foregoing closed with: “So, let it be with Caesar.” Today, the addition calls us: “So, let it be with Fidel Castro,” not that all of us want to hear that the Cuban leader had done anything in his lifetime which could be called “good”, such as teaching his people useful skills, lifting the quality of education in many areas.

To most Cubans, there is no such word as evil when it comes to the Cuban leader now deceased, at age 90. Those who would call him “good” speak of his contribution to the development of the people of the country which he led. Those who object to the “good” adjective saw no value in a dictator. That he fought for people of colour in South Africa, that he helped in the battle towards freedom from Apartheid, that he shared the bounty of education and could share learning with other human beings (Jamaican included), earned him respect — even if others disapproved.

He opted for cremation following his passing. His people now gather to pay respect as the ashes of his body tours the land of his birth. The Castro story will long be remembered.

It was a journalist’s privilege to have been cordially received by Fidel Castro when media representatives had the opportunity to go on a boat, anchored in the Kingston Harbour, where he received guests in 1977. Twenty years later, in 1997, as a radio commentator, I was assigned to cover the farewell to Michael Manley, deceased prime minister.

I was stationed at a vantage point outside the Holy Trinity Cathedral at North Street to watch Fidel Castro climb its steps, accompanied by the great Jamaican-born creative artist and revolutionary Harry Belafonte, who did not deny his friendship with Castro at a time when to have such a friend could have had serious implications. Harry never cowered in fear, nor did the Jamaican doctors and other health professionals who studied in Cuba. They still hear the call to bravery: “A luta continua!”

Barbara Gloudon is a journalist, playwright and commentator. Send comments to the Observer or gloudonb@yahoo.com.