The following is an excerpt from an article written by Ralph Maraj a former PNM Minster, but moreso known as in the arts. It is an excellent description of the political parties in the Caribbean and one can replace any two political parties in any country and the same will apply. 

These two parties continue to prevent the development of our politics. They have no structures or culture to hold leadership accountable; fora for genuine analysis and fearless selfexamination; intellectual rigour to banish blindness; curriculum for a depth and nobility in the politics; syllabus for selflessness in leadership. How can courage surface to question anything when you are branded ‘neemakakharam’ and traitor to the tribe? The parties offer no meaningful politics and so even their own enlightened avoid direct engagement, treating them like a shameful past. The political swampland therefore denies the country the participation of its best.

Tragically, the parties hurt those who still love them most. Last year, I lamented : “ poor people and their PNM and UNC: forever ‘young ambition’s ladder’, ‘the base degrees’ by which politicians, friends and family ascend to feast and fatten; and sometimes scatter, from on high, crumbs to the gaping multitudes below. Our political parties have been derailed by their leaders. After noble birth, they became mere machines, revved up for elections, but ‘morgues’ afterwards, footstools of maximum leadership, with no independence; never able to cry halt to 50 years of glaring corruption from Lock Joint to Piarco Airport; or prevent Section 34, or hold accountable, even now, those responsible for its passage and proclamation. Didn’t Kamla and Keith agree to set the accused free? And have we heard a peep from either PNM or UNC? No wonder Balisier House stands sepulchral and Reinzi Complex still has a squatter.” UNC still does not have a home, remember.
So in addition to constitutional reform, we need transformation of our parties. And here too, tinkering will not do. Reformation is the requirement of our time. If not, this society will remain stagnating in its political swampland where it will decay to death whilst scum prevail