Trin | Surviving life in Trinidad and Tobago

The Selwyns - Drs in Denial? Drs Ignoramus?

Dr Selwyn Ryan wrote a piece in the August 16th Sunday Express entitled "A gaseous mixture of racial hyperconsciousness". Ryan is notorious for writing in such a superfluous style that only he and a select few other Doctors can fully comprehend (though Dr Cudjoe wins first prize in that arena), but the title of his article last week take the cake papa!

Below is the Sunday Express Letter of the Day entitled "Defend Other Ethnic Groups too" - a response to Dr Ryan's article:

Defend other ethnic groups too
Letter of the day
Sunday, August 23rd 2009
 
I write in response to Dr Selwyn Ryan's column in last week's Sunday Express (August 16) entitled "A gaseous mixture of racial hyperconsciousness".

Dr Ryan lamented the obvious racial imbalance in favour of Indo-Trinidadians in the medical profession and concluded that the lack of trust and discomfort of the Afro-Trinidadian community was a "very good reason why, in a society such as this, it was inadvisable to have a health system in which 80-plus per cent of the doctors are of one ethnicity".

The Indo-Trinbago Equality Council (ITEC) wishes to make the following observations/comments:

1. The preponderance of Indian doctors is not limited to Trinidad and Tobago. A similar phenomenon exists in North America and the United Kingdom where a disproportionate number of doctors are Indian.

2. There is merit in the state having as a policy objective, the need for racial diversity in the medical profession. However, Ryan admitted that the ethnic imbalance is reversed in the nursing profession but made no similar call for an increase in the number of Indo-Trinidadian nurses.

3. Dr Ryan supports the call by Dr Courtenay Bartholomew and Dr Selwyn Cudjoe for the internationally accepted entry requirements to be varied to allow Afro-Trinidadian students to study medicine but remains silent about the similar call made by the Indo-Trinidadian community for inclusion in the army, police service, prison service, fire service, coast guard and the public service in general.

4. Dr Ryan has never commented about the inequitable and biased distribution of state housing to Afro-Trinis to the virtual exclusion of Indo-Trinis. Such inequitable distribution of state resources cannot be right and violates the right to equality of treatment in our constitution.

5. Dr Ryan never commented on the fact that Indian students' entry in the medical school is based not on affirmative action, or secret scholarship but academic achievement. [Trin does not understand why this simple fact seems to be so difficult for so many to comprehend]

Should the nation's security services not reflect the ethnic composition of the society it intends to protect and serve? The sight of fully armed Afro-Trinidadian police officers and soldiers bullying Indo-Trinidadians protesters is a common one. One needs only to recall Prime Minister Manning's famous response to the Caroni protest that he will beef up the riot squad.

At present, the hierarchy of the security services and the entire public service is over 90 per cent African and not even a beep is heard about this fact from Dr Ryan despite several successful legal cases of proven discrimination.

The CEO's and chairman of all state enterprises and the special multi-purpose companies are also 90 per cent non-Indian.

Dr. Ryan's voice of reason is far too important to be one-sided and he should resist the temptation to jump out in defence of one ethnic group alone. ITEC therefore looks forward to his piece on "racial hyperconsciousness" of the PNM and Afro-Trinidadians when it comes to these other areas where the racial imbalance is reversed and the shoe is on the other foot.

Devant Maharaj
Chairman, ITEC

Dr. Ryan's article:

A gaseous mixture of racial hyperconsciousness
Selwyn Ryan
Sunday, August 16th 2009  

In recent days, we have had several statements on the "race question" from Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Dr Fuad Khan, Dr Courtenay Bartholomew, Dana Seetahal, the Maha Sabha, Gopio, the Indo Trinidadian Equality Council, Prof Selwyn Cudjoe, Israel Khan and Marion O'Callaghan, to identify a few of the better known commentators. The trigger for the talkfest was the emotive statement made in Parliament by Dr Gopeesingh that "there has been an issue of ethnic cleansing at the Port of Spain Hospital as far as the doctors are concerned. I understand that most of the East Indian doctors have had to leave Port of Spain Hospital".

Dr Gopeesingh's statement was savaged by numerous citizens. I too advised him that he should apologise to the public for misspeaking as Obama had done. I suggested that his use of the term was making it difficult for the public to focus on the substantive issues raised in his statement.

I have read his subsequent statement with care, and if anything, his use of the phrase was retained and even amplified, notwithstanding the fact that some of the senior doctors involved had publicly disassociated themselves from his remarks. Dr Goopeesingh might have felt that he had to shout "wolf" to get attention, but my own assessment is that he has lost a significant amount of credibility among some observers, as well as the opportunity to have his allegations discussed in a dispassionate manner.

I have myself made some preliminary inquiries and have concluded there is need for some kind of investigative report to verify the truth or otherwise of his claim. What we seem to have is a gaseous mixture of racial hyperconsciousness, professional greed, jealousy and frustration, xenophobia, bureaucratic incompetence and bungling, institutional rivalry, political jostling, and much else. The mixture is toxic, but does not nearly deserve the label, "ethnic cleansing" or "ethnic dirtying" for that matter, which is perhaps what we are left with.

The matter is complex and of long gestation. There was indeed a time when similar allegations were made in respect of Mount Hope. These allegations were investigated by the Centre for Ethnic Studies which had the following to say in its 1994 report:

"With regard to Afro-Trinidadian doctors, the views expressed indicate a perception that the medical profession had become or is fast becoming a closed shop controlled by Indo-Trinidadians, in which the choicest training and clerkships are reserved by Indo-Trinidadians for other Indo-Trinidadians.

Afro-Trinidadians doctors lament that those Afro-Trinidadian who are in senior positions and thus able to sponsor the careers of junior Afro-Trinidadian doctors seldom do so, preferring to appear even-handed or else remain aloof. Some junior African doctors go on to argue that their seniors effectively suppress their careers. The argument was repeatedly made, "if the Indians can do it for their kind, why can't our own people?"

When questions were raised about reports that certain doctors were tying the tubes of Afro women without medical justification, there was reticence on the part of persons questioned. The report thus concluded as follows:

"The most disturbing part of all this was the suspicion which some nurses (and doctors and medical students) had of the integrity of the care delivered by Indian doctors to Africans. Some were very sceptical, especially of gynaecologists and obstetricians (names called); there were even allegations of a concerted plot of genocide in which Indian doctors were supposed to be sabotaging the reproductive functions of African women. No evidence was advanced to support these allegations, but they were instructive as a measure of the suspicion and paranoia that exist in this critical area of the government service."

The paranoia remains even after the death or departure of some of the principals in that preceding set of events. This is perhaps one very good reason why in a society such as this, it is inadvisable to have a health system in which 80-plus per cent of the doctors are of one ethnicity and most of the nurses are of another ethnicity. As the researchers found in the 1994 study, "it is possible to discern among these two groups something approximating a siege mentality." Were Dr Gopeesingh and his colleagues witnessing the by- product of that siege mentality, or were they simply crying "wolf"? The public needs to know. Does the Gafoor Report throw any light on that matter?

Equally problematic was the Emancipation Day Address given by Dr Selwyn Cudjoe in which he claimed that the Trinidad news media did not give appropriate attention to the concerns and achievements of black people. As the other Selwyn moaned, "no black person who expresses a view contrary to the dominant ideology is ever given space in the newspapers or on television ...Nothing of importance to the black community is given space in the media. If one were to look at our newspaper on daily basis, one would be led to believe that black people do is kill and maim one another."

Dr Cudjoe went on to unleash a savage attack on those who might be termed "pseudo blacks" (aka the black Brahmins [Trin believes it is incredibly unacceptable for Dr Ryan to be denigrating the term Brahmin in such a manner - such inflammatory terminology by Dr Ryan is unfortunate ]or the black bourgeoisie) who live in gated suburban communities and who believe that they were more privileged than the uneducated blacks who live in the ghetto and who ignore the fact in the final analysis, the tribe is scarified not on the basis of who is the brightest and the best but by the worst performers. As he warned blacks, "our community is founded more on our culture than our colour; on our social and cultural capital than on our financial capital." In sum, we need to be a resource for the black community at large, whatever we do as citizens.

[Trin has repeatedly called out the PNM on their policy to keep their followers as uneducated as possible. Why is Dr Cudjoe pointing the finger at the "pseudo blacks" - is a black person who achieves financial sucess now an outcast of the black community, to be grouped with the evil Brahmins? So now Brahmins and rich black people are to blame for the poverty and lack of education in the black community?
How typical - as usual blaming anybody who achieves any measure of success for the problems of the black community... carry on with your denial - isn't King patos still in power? Why Dr Cudjoe don't ask PNM who run tings for decades how the Doctrine of Soca might explain this? ]

As was the case in respect of Dr Gopeesingh, Dr Cudjoe exaggerated his accusations about the media, and most people dismissed them as an ethnic rant which had no empirical foundation. Unfortunately, his attack on the media served to mute the positive and relevant injunctions and messages which he directed to the black middle class,viz, that individually and, collectively, we no longer serve as motivators and mentors for black youth who are venting their rage on their communities and the society at large which is paying the price for our negligence.

The same message was being sent to the black middle class by Marion O'Callaghan (Newsday). Callaghan was concerned about the fact that the black community was no longer producing the outstanding doctors as it did in the late 19th and 20th century. Is it because a bunch of doctors and administrators rig the system in favour of their coethnics? Hardly.

The "social reality" which led to those astonishing performances no longer obtains.

In sum, the ingredients of "merit"are not fixed or determined by brain alone, but also by social, cultural and economic circumstances. In Callaghan's judgement, in contemporary Trinidad and Tobago, "In every one of those areas, while there are highly placed Africans, as a group Africans rank considerably lower than any other group in the population."

-To be concluded

Obamania in Trinidad!

Obama is coming! I wonder what fumble Manning will make in the presence of the great One to remind Obama that Trinidad, despite Manning’s best efforts to clean up for the Summit, Trinidad is just a banana republic after all.

I have gotten some slack from some PNM haters for being too harsh on Manning. Imagine that! The say he is not really a bad man, he is actually a Godly man, opposes gambling, is a pastor, and they want to know why I can't see Manning's good side.

What do trinis hope Obama's visit to Trinidad will accomplish? I'd be thrilled if Obama's commitment to serving the people of his country, his intelligence, his ideas about sustainable development and his sense of justice would rub off on our own power-grubbing Prime Minister and his pack of fools.

What type of leader sees about his house, land, car, wife and health before taking care of those who elected him? Seems like a very smart leader, right? I know Manning can't be too smart, or else is simply blinded by religious ignorance, when he tells a nation to "watch TV instead" when asked about possible action to combat the spread of AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago.

I want Obama to know that despite the big pappy show that’s about to commence for his benefit, our Prime Minister Manning has dipped his oppressive fingers into every aspect of our tiny society from:

•Angrily bursting into a radio station to confront broadcasters that dared to speak out against his policies and leadership skills (how scary!)
•Meddling in the Police Services Commission - having members of the police force dismissed for “being disrespectful” when they were doing their jobs, ignoring extensive research conducted to find a replacement Police Commissioner at a time when criminals are running our country
•Falsely accusing his own party members of being corrupt (Rowley), or flat out firing them (Valley) when they dare to question him
•Having his administration wage and lose a long and costly legal battle to remove the Chief Justice in order to gain more control over the judiciary
•That like a true nepotistic dictator he placed his wife into office without any explanation
•He has been written up by the Speaker of the House for being a delinquent participant in Parliament •That he repeatedly denied requests from the Opposition for an inquiry into one of the most unsettling and frightful events in our National history - the 1990 Coup
•Year after year he manipulates our Nation's highest merit ceremony - the Order of T&T awards – dismissing recommendations, so that his personal favourites win the majority of the awards year after year, while the contributions of one of the major ethnic groups in our society are consistently ignored •He seeks medical care abroad at our expense while we are left here with hospitals that are understaffed, badly equipped and falling apart.

Manning sounds like a real monster, doesn’t he? And allyuh think I too harsh.

I don’t know how everyday people will benefit from Obama meeting Manning but as the leader of the free world I really hope Obama’s influence will inspire the next leader of our country to step up and bring us the change we so badly need.

Integrity Commission Members EPIC FAIL; Kidnappers granted bail!

What would you think about the processes established to investigate corruption and promote transparency in T&T, after reading the article below? Why on earth would the Integrity Commission, of all bodies, deny a man appearing before the Commission on charges of corruption the full right to be heard?! This is madness, no wait, this is Trinidad. Makes you wonder whose Integrity the Commission really exists to preserve, ent? Who appointed them? I hope it wasn't Richards because he's beginning to look like the #2 EPIC FAIL - A.N.R Robinson when he appointed Manning as Prime Minister in 2001. Boy we never recovered! When are the dumb asses gonna get the frig our of politics and let some sensible people win?!

Richards to present nominees soon

Richard Lord | 8:27 pm

Published: April 6th, 2009
The Trinidad Guardian

In the next 24 hours, President George Maxwell Richards is expected to submit the names of prospective nominees for appointment to the Integrity Commission. The former commission—John Martin (chairman), Justice Monica Barnes (deputy chairman) and members Peter Clarke and Vindar Dean-Maharaj—resigned on February 6, after losing a High Court matter against sacked government minister Dr Keith Rowley.

They admitted they were wrong in not giving Rowley a “full opportunity to be heard before the Commission” in the said matter. The court ruled that the Commission acted in bad faith by not giving the Diego Martin West MP the right to be heard. There have been increasing calls for the new members of the commission to be appointed. Last Friday in Parliament, Opposition MP and former attorney general Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she wrote to the President asking that the commission be appointed.

She said, “If we don’t get a response, we may have to issue a pre-action letter and file for judicial review on this issue. Yesterday, a release stated, “The Office of President is well aware of the imperatives of ensuring the due appointment of members of the Integrity Commission. Selection of members of the Commission is not a matter to be rushed, as these persons must be of the highest calibre and integrity.” Member of the Crime Commission, Gillian Lucky said yesterday - before the President’s release, “It was critical that the commission be appointed with rapid dispatch.”

Aside, below is blast from the past articles about the IC, just a remember when since trinis have such short memories.

On an even more unbelievable note, Jonathan Moonsammy, one of the four accused in the 2004 kidnapping of then 4 year old Sadaa Singh has been granted bail again. I can't decide which is worse - the fact that the case is almost 6 years old or that kidnappers are getting bail. WhyTF are criminals running our country, you ask? There you have it - our justice system is a backlogged waste of time laughing stock. Let's blow millions of dollars on luxury vehicles instead, why not!

Moonsammy, his cousin Kimberly Moonsammy, Coleen Osbourne and Keston Franklin all of San Fernando are charged with the kidnapping of Saada Singh, who was four-year-old when she was taken from Giselle Montessori in 2004. She was found wandering in Siparia days later.

"Stuck in traffic" was the excuse given by kidnap accused Jonathan Moonsammy when he surrendered to police and was brought to court yesterday, after failing to show up for his case two months ago.

His excuse was accepted. Moonsammy got bail again. The enquiry has been twice aborted because State witnesses were found sitting in court during the hearing of other State witness evidence.

Yesterday, it almost happened again. Two police witnesses were asked to leave the San Fernando Traffic Court when Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan began the enquiry for a third time.

Moonsammy did not show up for court on February 20-Carnival Friday-and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Transition

I once read that it is a waste of time to read about crime, poverty, hunger and injustice. You should stop reading about it and instead just start doing something about it.

This year I’m going to try to do more and say less. I'll ask myself every single day – Did I make progress today? If the answer is no, I will try harder tomorrow.

Speaking of progress, doesn’t the election of President Barack Obama make you think that Americans are cool again? Journalists and political pundits the world over said that President Obama’s inaugural speech was even better the second time around – meaning that when you heard it the first time it was good, but when you read it a second time you felt the power of his words, you believed in his vision.(Some amazing pictures from that day can be found here.)

In his speech, Barack Obama said “America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.”
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

I empathized with the older community of African Americans who shed tears when Obama was elected - honestly, I don’t think I will see a Trinbagonian leader that says he will fulfill our “God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness”, and lead by example to boot anytime soon.

Evidently, with enough hope miracles can happen.

What was the vision of Trinidad and Tobago’s forefathers, and has that vision served us well? I sometimes think that Eric Williams was misguided when he urged us to forget Mother Africa and Mother India  - how can you can pursue your future without careful examination of your past? Yes, we have created a rich and wonderful culture that is unique to Trinidad and Tobago, a culture that unites us all in our diversity, but sometimes I wonder if we are just waiting for the bottom to drop out – if the right approach to our dark history isn’t there, if we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes generation after generation as it seems we’re doing still with education, crime and government policy. I wish that my children would not have to ask the same unanswered questions that I asked my parents, that we would know with certainty all the details, all the answers, but in a society like ours, one that is not part of the center of the world, perhaps that is asking for too much and we just need to move forward as best as we can.

Speaking of miracles - I still can’t believe that at long last, Robert Mugabe is sharing the reigns of power with Morgan Tsvangirai. Zimbabwe’s new Prime Minister spoke out against the political violence that destroyed Zimbabwe under the leadership of that demonic bastard Mugabe. Tsvangirai's speech can be found here. Obama’s magic fairy dust must be hanging in the air over Harare as MDC supporters quietly thank the Lord for a day they never thought would come. That’ll be me when the PNM has a leader that is not an utter egotistical moran with a religious agenda, when COP party executives care less about who has the bigger BMW and the biggest degree and can show some respect for the not-so-educated and for tradition, and when the UNC can sort itself out.

I’ve said enough, so my lovely readers, I wish you all a year of great progress in whatever you strive to do. Peace.

Dengue demands action

Today's Trinidad Guardian Editorial rightly says "Far more effective than treatment is prevention and efforts at managing dengue outbreaks have been pathetic in 2008." Yet our loser Health Minister Narace gets to stay on the payroll! I think the PNM's new slogan should be something like:

PNM: Ministers Guaranteed Payroll no matter how spectacularly we fail! The best job security in T&T! Absolutely no accountability!

Dengue demands aggressive action

Efforts at managing dengue outbreaks have been pathetic in 2008. The crucial vector for dengue transmission is the aedes aegypti mosquito, and efforts at controlling this insect have been poorly implemented even in areas known to be at risk.

The viruses that cause dengue haemorrhagic fever are notorious for their subtle diversity and the complexities of diagnosis and treatment.

For that reason, the precise identification of dengue has proven to be a challenging matter and misdiagnosis is one of the issues that make identification of an outbreak challenging. It is also possible for multiple variations of the virus family responsible for dengue to be active in a single outbreak, each of which responds differently to treatment.

The fugitive nature of these flavivirus serotypes has made it possible for successive Ministers of Health to argue with passion that dengue is not a problem in T&T.

Health Minister Jerry Narace argued for long weeks that eight-year-old Sasha Bickram did not die of dengue fever until a blood report showed unequivocally that she had tested positive for dengue antibodies.

The residents of Frederick Settlement, Caroni, were certainly furious after the recent death of UWI student Camille Ramcharan and the positive diagnosis of Ramcharan’s parents and two other residents of the area. Camille’s father, Freddy Ramcharan, claims that 50 other people have been diagnosed with dengue in the area for the year. The community was finally sprayed to suppress mosquitoes last week.

It is one of the curiosities of the disease that it cannot be positively identified until the suspected victim’s body responds to the flavivirus with antibodies, which takes time and sometimes repeated testing to confirm.

There is no vaccine for the variations on flavivirus and long before formal confirmation through blood testing can confirm its presence, patients are put through a physical wringer, suffering fevers, bladder problems, potentially fatal loss of blood platelets, bleeding and plasma leakage. Dengue attacks human blood to devastating effect and early, decisive treatment is critical.

Far more effective than treatment is prevention and efforts at managing dengue outbreaks have been pathetic in 2008.

There have been reports that the Insect Vector Control Division has been poorly supplied with insecticides and has been unable to respond to the need to suppress mosquito breeding.

In place of decisive action on the part of the Government, the nation has, instead, been treated to an ancient television advertisement encouraging citizens to clean up their environment. While the sentiment and advice are legitimate, the ad itself is so weather-beaten and overused that it is, to all intents and purposes, invisible.

Surely, the Government’s information services can find the time to update this useful bit of information when it isn’t working on public relations newscasts.

The Ministry of Health should further be mindful that even one death attributable to the spread of dengue fever is one fatality too many in a nation that hopes to deliver on its goals for 2020.

Decisive action on insect vector suppression, refreshed public information and more open acknowledgement of the real status of dengue infection in T&T are long overdue.

Editorial 
The Trinidad Guardian
Tuesday 23rd December, 2008   

Another death - Caroni residents implore Health Ministry to admit there's a Dengue outbreak!

'Admit dengue outbreak'...Caroni residents protest latest death.

In mourning: Freddy Ramcharan displays his daughter's death certificate yesterday at Frederick Settlement in Caroni. -Photo: DEXTER PHILIP

RESIDENTS of Frederick Settlement in Caroni want the Health Ministry to admit that there is a dengue outbreak in the country, and vow that they are willing to do whatever it takes to make their case.

They erected several banners at the entrance to their community, off the Southern Main Road, to highlight the latest dengue fatality, Camille Ramcharan, a promising 22-year-old engineering student who died last week.

Her father, Freddy Ramcharan, says his family would spend the Christmas holidays mourning the death of his daughter, who died after losing the battle with dengue haemorrhagic fever. But that loss is not all he has to bear, as his wife, Shakera Mohammed, is now in hospital also stricken with the illness.

Now, Ramcharan and other residents say they are prepared to go to whatever lengths in order to get the authorities to tackle what they describe as a "deadly dengue outbreak" in their community.

The residents also charged that Health Minister Jerry Narace should not keep denying that there was a dengue outbreak in the country when, in reality, scores of persons in the community and neighbouring areas, and others around the country, were being admitted to hospitals for treatment of the disease almost on a daily basis.

The residents also cast blame on the authorities for the situation, saying that they have failed to clean the drains in and around their communities for several years now and, as a result, they have now become the breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Residents said most of the drains in the area were filled with silt and stagnant water due to years of neglect, and claimed the Insect Vector Control Unit of the Ministry of Health has not responded to their requests to spray the area.

Following the death of the UWI student, the residents say they have decided that "enough is enough", and were now determined to get the authorities to do something about the situation. One banner at the entrance leading into Frederick Settlement stated: "Help, dengue killing meh family". Another read: "Who's next in line for dengue?".

Ramcharan said his wife had also tested positive for dengue and is now warded at the Mt Hope Hospital where she is being treated. "I am hoping she pulls through. She was in hospital when my daughter took in, so I had both of them in the hospital at one time."

He also said that there were more that 50 persons in the village who have tested positive for dengue for the year.

Ramcharan said his daughter, who up to the time of death was a student at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine campus, had initially been misdiagnosed by doctors at a private health institution. He described his daughter as a vibrant, promising, young woman who had a bright future ahead of her.

"Right now, our hearts mash up like cabbage because of what happened with her. We want the authorities to deal with this situation," he said.

Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences at UWI St Augustine, John Agard, said recently there was an increase in dengue fever throughout the region because of climate change.
Rohandra John rohjohn@trinidadexpress.com
Thursday, December 18th 2008

Our National Shame: Cuban doctors for the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister's gone to Cuba to get a tumor removed. He surveyed the length and breadth of our islands and decided there was neither a well equipped hospital nor one single suitably trained Trinbagonian surgeon in our entire country that could perform the procedure. He ditched us all and went to Cuba with his expense account, while we disbelievingly watched him go, choosing to put his life in the hands of Cubans instead of any of our own.

Unlike the Prime Minister we ordinary people are trapped with no expense accounts to fly overseas to treat a medical emergency. Heaven help us! We are left to deal with the evidently inferior medical services provided by our local health care professionals. I wonder what our local nurses, doctors and surgeons must think after being so snubbed by the man responsible for overseeing the development of our country, including our health care system and our hospitals.

This move is truly a defining low on the part of our Prime Minister; indeed it is a National Shame. I wish him everything he deserves during his recovery.

As Manning’s expense accounts grow our standards of living deteriorate. Obscene amounts of money are spent to maintain his life of luxury, while for us nothing changes.

This weekend 16 year old Tony Jaggan was beaten, stabbed through the heart and murdered by six men. Jaggan’s mother told the Trinidad Express “While walking towards MovieTowne, [his friend] Nicholas was struck by a car, and in retaliation he slapped the car's driver side window. The car stopped and its occupants, six in all, came out of the car, she related.

At the time of the incident Jaggan was some metres ahead of Nicholas, she said. When Jaggan saw what was going on, he ran to his friend's assistance. At this time the men in the car began taking out several weapons out of the vehicle, including at least one knife and an ice pick, she said.

When Jaggan and Nicholas saw the weapons they ran off. But in the attempt to escape injury, Jaggan tripped and fell, she said. Some of the men started to stab and hit Jaggan all over his body. Jaggan sustained a broken arm along with several stab wounds about the body, she said. Nicholas was also stabbed in his arm during the incident.

Jaggan's other friends stopped a van and the teenager was rushed to the Port of Spain General Hospital. Trinidad Express December 15th 2008

Someone’s child was senselessly murdered, but the Prime Minister is safe in Cuba with his sons and our tax money. Childhoods are lost, billions are spent but our young people are not any safer.

"$42 million will be spent on 200 luxury vehicles for use during the Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings."

$42 million that could instead be put toward buying ambulances, improving our emergency response services or upgrading our police patrol teams. A rapid response ambulance or the arrival of police on regular patrol might have saved the life of Tony Jaggan. Obscene amounts of money are squandered but lawless savages seem to be winning day after day.

"Manning’s travel expenditure for 2009 is $3.5 million, one million more than last year, even without his private jet.

Manning budgeted $1 million for medical expenses in 2009.

The Prime Minister's Establishment in the 2009 budget has $16 million to spend in the new year.

Manning has fired his army and police guards and is now paying the Executive Security Service $14 million of taxpayers’ money for private security.”
Richard Charan - Trinidad Express Investigative Desk Sunday, December 14th 2008

In 2007 “$1.6 billion was spent to keep 5,000 CEPEP people wastefully engaged in non-productive employment at a cost of $300 million. The other $1.3 billion went into the coffers of the PNM contractors and agents. When the URP criminality funding war chest is added to CEPEP it will turn out to be a $2.5 billion bonanza. That windfall was neither subject to accountability nor transparency. It, however certainly transformed Laventille and Morvant into killing fields.

$1.6 billion was spent under the UNC Administration and Trinidad got a new airport to show for it, large deposits secretly stashed away in foreign bank accounts and supporters facing the courts and in jail for alleged theft.” Shame and Scandal in CEPEP by Stephen Kangal February 24, 2007

In 1986 the PNM was defeated by the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). The PNM won 3 of 36 seats with 32%.  But Trinis have amnesia or else they are incredibly masochistic. There is no difference between our country 22 years ago and today except that many innocent people must die in order for us to remember that the PNM’s legacy is failed development, mismanagement of funds, criminality, and “all a we tief”.

Nelson Mandela called Robert Mugabe a 'Tragic Failure of Leadership' for while Mugabe lives in his palace in Harare the people of his country continue to live in a state of humanitarian crisis - they cannot afford food, are dying because of poor medical care and are brutalized by Mugabe's private army; any political opposition to Mugabe is met with intimidation and harassment. (Manning instructed one of the nation's security agencies to investigate Opposition MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar. "I have monitored the relationship between the Member for Siparia and the individual concerned for years," Manning told the Parliament in December.) In this regard I believe the term "Tragic Failure of Leadership" applies to Manning as well

Jack Warner questions Opposition leadership; the Prime Minister announces project cutbacks

In other news, Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced the cutbacks needed to contain spending in light of the anticipated loss of nearly $6-billion in revenue. Manning made cuts in three areas that directly affect us plebian people: Education Health and Housing, while continuing with mega projects such as the $15-billion rapid rail system. (Manning flies off to Cuba for his medical checkup on December 4th - part of his ongoing refusal to tighten his own belt.(Edit: he flew to Cuba sin private jet so the man is apparently making some sacrifices).

Manning told the nation:
There will be a slowdown in construction of new schools but all programs of the Ministry of Education will continue. We will continue the pursuit of the best health care system for the people of this country, but  some major infrastructural projects, like the new hospitals planned for Couva and Port of Spain will have to be deferred.
There continues to be an urgent need for affordable housing in Trinidad and Tobago. Regrettably, we will start no new housing units at this time. However all housing units under construction will be completed as well as preparatory works for projects already on the drawing board. We will also expedite the distribution of those houses already completed.

Responding to Manning's moves Panday said the measures are unfair and unfortunate, noting that "our rural communities, our children, the sick and the poor are to be made the casualties of this government's callousness and indifference and their relentless pursuit of corruption-riddled mega-projects.

The former prime minister said, "There are communities that have been waiting for schools for five and ten years. They have received promises after promises.
They have tightened their belts over and over, waiting their turn. And now, those children are not getting any school and they have no idea if and when they will ever get one." - HotLikePepperRadio December 4th, 2008.

Regarding Basdeo Panday, TG Mendes wrote in a letter to the Trinidad Guardian: “Ironically,[Panday] provided T&T with its most enlightened and equitable administration from 1995-2001. It is encouraging to see that Warner apparently now recognizes the fact that the party with which he is involved will be denied governance so long as Panday retains a leading role in it.

I do not for one moment advocate, after his contribution as PM in the period referred to above, that Panday simply be cast aside and forgotten. I am convinced he still has very much to contribute—in an advisory capacity.”  Letters to the Trinidad Guardian, Dec 2nd, 2008

Trinidad Guardian columnist Denzil Mohammed discussed the Obama phenomenon in his recent d Guardian commentary entitled "Grimm fairy tale paradox". He wrote:

    "John F Kennedy, in whose name the largest central space on the UWI campus is appropriately titled, represented hope for a generation and its offspring not merely looking to pay less for gas and get higher prices on their houses. They were looking for a way of escaping centuries-old imprisonment of mind and institution that ran farther and firmer than financial woes and a farcical “war.”  Then that hope was shot to death. For months now there’s been the same speculation—if they elect him [Barack Obama], someone will kill him. At least one plot already has been uncovered. I rub my eyes. Obama is still there.

I was ashamed, yes, for not believing... I had truly given up on people, especially so many people in a land whose quintessential characteristic is paradox. ...I will continue to watch from the audience. But, unlike before, I will watch with deliberate expectation, with hope and conviction and belief, no matter how pointless they may seem, no matter how implausible my desires, no matter how fanciful the fairy tale. Trinidad Guardian Sunday 23rd November, 2008

Is it this Obama effect - the audacity of hope - that prompted Denzil to resurrect his expectation, hope and conviction? Is it the Obama effect - that change we all need - that prompted Jack Warner to make public his thoughts about the UNC leadership, recognizing what we trinis all know - that political change in Trinidad and Tobago lies in mobilizing and unifying the fragmented opposition forces?

Warner bluntly declared “I think we have to put ourselves in order. Before we fix the country, we have to fix ourselves.” Mr Warner is calling for internal elections as the first “fix” needed by the party. It’s not enough for Mr Panday to invoke “discipline” against airing “internal matters” as a means of silencing unhappiness felt by members.

“I would expect people to be disciplined and follow the rules and the constitution of the party,” he scolded. Party rules also call for elections at regular intervals. If they aren’t held, Mr Panday himself should show serious concern.

"The readiness and the integrity as a democratic entity of the party that offers itself as an alternative to the PNM are legitimate matters of national concern.  Mayaro MP Winston “Gypsy” Peters agreed with Warner’s recent sentiments that serious changes were needed within the UNC. Peters said he would support Warner for leadership if the opportunity ever arose." Trinidad Guardian Editorial Nov 30th, 2008.

After years of political inertia, the intellectual decay of our leaders and the continuing degeneration of our society's values, it is possible that Jack Warner could be the spark needed to mobilize the oppsition forces, preventing the inevitable death of our nation if Patrick Manning is allowed to continue holding the reigns of power?  Maybe it's a long shot, but can Jack Warner do for Trinidad what Barack Obama has done for America?

Trinidad's financial endgame; are you enraged yet?

Manning in an address to the nation, warned that Government’s revenue would suffer a $6 billion shortfall for the year and that unemployment was likely to rise. “I would urge restraint at all levels since this is a period when we must all tighten our belts,” Manning said. Asked by reporters if he too was prepared to “tighten his belt”, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning replied, “I do no live an extravagant lifestyle by any means. I do not drink alcohol. If I was to tighten my belt anymore what will happen to me.” - Guardian Nov 21, 2008

The ignorance of our Prime Minister enrages me. Extravagance, as defined by our erudite Prime Minister entails the consumption of alcohol, and solely the consumption of alcohol. Upon stern reflection, when asked by reporters, to ascertain if our Man-in-Charge would be leading by example, a self-righteous Manning said that he found nothing about his lifestyle to be extravagant and there was nothing he was willing to give up, as a matter of sacrificial symbolism, to show solidarity with his financially-strained citizens. I am so angry at his excessive arrogant self righteousness. He will continue to feed off of our sweat while we adjust our consumption accordingly. Absolutely unforgivably sickening.

Another sickening incident was that like Sleeping Beauty awakening after years of slumber the Prime Minister has finally clued in to the vicious financial crisis that has been engulfing North America and the rest of the world since 2007. Considering the barrage of advice being thrown at his cabinet since last year warning him that he needs to cut Government spending, ask yourself, is his  response too little too late? Our recent National Budget was based on crude at $70 per barrel. Today it is trading at $51 per barrel.

Why has the price of oil fallen? The price of crude has fallen in response to the global recession. Oil is expected to trade at $45 per barrel in the near short-term. "The declining demand due to recession in Eurozone, the US and Japan may pull down crude from 45 dollar per barrel  level; the US witnessed seven per cent decline in oil consumption on week on week basis."-NDTV Profit

Trinidad is not immune to the global recession as the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister imagined. All either had to do was pick up a financial newspaper anytime since early 2007 when the mortgage crisis ballooned, to have an inkling of what the economy might be like in 2008. But no; in Trinidad ignorance and self righteousness prevail in leadership while intelligence and good judgment are told to fuck off.

In September Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Mariano Browne, announced that Trinidad and Tobago's financial sector was safe as it had little exposure to the global financial system.

Since December 2007 Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams has warned that the Government must cut public spending. He said "Trinidad & Tobago must cut public spending and invest more in agriculture to lower food prices and stem rising inflation"  - Associated Press report on Dec. 23, 2007.

Annual inflation jumped from 7.3% in October 2007 to 8.1% in November 2007 and one year later inflation is 15.4% in November 2008. What's your inflation forecast for November 2009? (I ask this as visions of Zimbabwe dance in my head).

Did the Prime Minister wait too long to make cutbacks? What measures are in place to help our citizens deal with the impending financial fallout? Given the wealth of expertise and advice given to the Prime Minister over the last year regarding our economic future, it is an outrage that he waited this long to take action. Our time, our stress and our livelihoods are of no importance to the Prime Minister.I am seething with proletarian despair. Until next week, Trin.

Patrick Manning has a media meltdown and storms a Trinidad radio station!

Well boy. Patrick Manning's behaviour is just getting crazier and crazier by the week. What de mudder the man really think people will say when he decide to storm the radio station of 94.1FM on October 25th ? Manning say , “If the spirit moves me,” he will visit media houses to complain if he disapproves of the content they produce. Maybe the spirit should tell him to stop talkin and actin so friggin crazy. Well now everybody have an opinion about this storming business. I'll give ya the wrap.

Well first things first, really almost everybody agree that it was wrong and came across as intimidation on the part of the Prime Minister. Manning say it have no pro-government agenda media. I guess he ain't get the message yet that people up to they arse with stress from crime, food, inflation and the public doh really like him too much anymore. Media houses, how dare you complain about crime and wasteful spending on the part of the PNM! Why are you trying to make the PNM look bad?!

Energy Minister Conrad Enill (apparently singing for his supper?) gone and declare to all how "nowhere in the world is news reporting as bad as here in T&T.” I guess Mr. Enill didn't realize that when he makes such a dumbass biased statement all by he-self, losing all his integrity as an impartial and intelligent man, the media ain't have to even try to make up something bad to say about he! They just have to keep his comments on repeat in the public eye and we will all realize what a jackass we have for an Energy Minister.

Louis Lee Sing say how  “I commend him (Manning) for finally bringing his concerns to our attention, in a manner that must force all of us to stop and think—that is, if you can think—about your roles as media practitioners in a plural society.” and how “This single action by the prime minister has been, in my view, most fortuitous as it has brought centre stage the burning issues of professionalism within the media.”  - Trinidad Guardian Nov 12th, 2008

Lee Sing is a man who know a ting or two about burning issues of professionalism - his own radio station I95 FM employs one of the most unprofessional broadcasters in the history of Trini media. George "Umbala" Joseph instigated what eventually turned out to be a landmark libel case started because of comments Umbala made during his talk show on Lee Sing's i95 FM radio station. 

"Radio talk show host George “Umbala” Joseph sued Partap and Newsday for libel arising out of Partap’s letter to the Editor, published on December 11, 2004 in response to Joseph who had described UNC’s parliamentarians on his I95 FM Radio programme as “malicious”.

It was a landmark judgment in the High Court regarding the right of an individual to respond to a public attack and the responsibility of a newspaper to make available to the public the reply to such attack. High Court Justice Peter Jamadar, presiding in the San Fernando High
Court, threw out Joseph's libel claim and said Joseph criticized the UNC "in the most disrespectful and demeaning manner when he mocked the UNC in tone, attitude and content, by repeatedly referring to the UNC as “United Nasty Canesuckers.”

Justice Jamadar said that he found Joseph to have been “deliberately evasive and unhelpful if not untruthful” when questioned about the  comments. The judge ordered the Umbala Joseph to pay Partap and Newsday’s legal costs in the matter. George‘Umbala’ Joseph was ordered to pay $70,000 in costs.
- Newsday April 3rd, 2007

Lee Sing also make it clear that he doh agree with what Enill say. Apparently Lee Sing don't want to look like he is a dumbass too. I really cannot understand how Lee Sing can run a station that employs a talk show host as unprofessional and biased as George Umbala Joseph, yet be complaining about lack of media professionalism in a plural society. I guess the man really mean do as I say, not as I do?

Ken Gordon say it was clearly intimidation on the part of the Prime Minister and that Manning was wrong. He even went as far as to say "to go to the extent of suspending people on the basis of what was clearly a misguided and unqualified attempt to intimidate them was wrong.” He also said “an even greater crime” than the visit of the PM to the station was “ the fact that they have allowed so many stations to go unbridled without any attempt to pull them in when the behaved excessively.” Broadcasters have to conform to professional standards else face the penalty. In Trinidad we know how impossible it is to follow though on penalizing misconduct!

94.1 - The Station - suspend the two broadcasters - well I dunno what would have happened to that station manager if he didn't do something to appease the Prime Minister.

The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago condemned the actions of Prime Minister Manning. In response to MATT's statement Lee Sing say  "I am aghast that the Media Association has seen this purely as an opportunity to fight in the media with the prime minister!" Seriously, yuh getting closer and closer to doing the Enill with that statement eh Lee Sing.

The Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) say it is unacceptable for an organization or person “who is of the view that he has been wronged” to “enter the premises of a broadcaster to have the incorrect information corrected.” “In a democracy, to have a prime minister do so is unacceptable as it can be interpreted as an abuse of power and a threat to freedom of the press, because such action may be perceived as intimidatory,”  - Trinidad Guardian  Nov 8th 2008

The Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT) say how if Manning lodges a complaint with them, they could not do anything because of the absence of a broadcast code. What?! What yuh mean we doh have a broadcast code? Say what?! Isn't that the same thing like running a country without havin any laws to follow as guidelines? Oh stupid me, is so the country really being run yes - running just like the media - without any standards.

(Gordon, Lee Sing and Manning pics are copyright the Trinidad Guardian. Enill's pic is copyright the NGC. Umbala Joseph's pic is copyright the TrinidadandTobago news blog).

Building the Wall

I could not believe my eyes when I read about it in the paper. What sort of perverse plan made its way into the head of our high and mighty leader?

Of all the manner of strategies that our PNM Government could have cooked up to deal with the Beetham and Laventille, I sighed, when I realized how truly fucked not just people like me who detest Manning for his mafia politics, slave master tactics and megalomania are under this man's leadership. He is building a wall to imprison his own PNM-till-ah-dead faithful followers, to remove them from sight, to wish them away so they can't embarrass him when the foreigners arrive next year, to hope these poor suffering people somehow will cease to exist. This was the best the PNM could come up with to improve the quality of life of their most die-hard supporters after the success of CEPEP and election year raises and payouts.

Here is a Prime Minister, who given any choice, is hellbent on choosing the worst, most expensive most unpopular option every single time, whether it involves burning millions of dollars on useless white elephant projects like Tarouba, dismissing all research done to choose the best candidate for the job of Commissioner of Police, charting private planes and island hopping to build a new personal regional alliance without consulting a single person, making sure his rose garden is up to his impeccably fine standards. Watching Trinidad and Tobago self-destruct under Patrick Manning's leadership is a veritable case study in Murphy's Law! Wait, it have anything worse than Murphy's Law?

Attillah Springer's article "Build your great wall" says it well:

"Build a wall around your failures, like you paint circles around potholes. So that people know that it’s there and that you’re not doing something about it.

Build it higher than your determination to be more than just a random collection of shacks. Build it higher than the shame you feel about your black skin that makes you look like one of those lesser people.Build it for your protection. Build it to protect you from yourself.

Build it because this is us and them time. This is after we is weevil time. This is survival of the fittest time and concrete blocks are the way to solve the problems of the people who give you power every five years. Every five years, for 50 years.

Build the wall and lock it and throw away the key. Throw it far, but not too far.

Throw it so that you can find it in another five years when you need to sentence them to five years behind the wall, because Golden Grove is not wall enough and State Prison is not wall enough. And the La Basse’s pollution is not wall enough.

And after the five years of neglect, remember them behind the wall. Take all the buses and all the rum and all the roti and make them jump and wave for your glory. And then send them back behind the wall again with full bellies full of nothing and minds full of your eloquent promises.

Forget proper drainage. Forget penalising the polluting industries. Forget regulating the waste that goes into the dump or at least legislating on the proper disposal or recycling of plastics or electronic waste.

Build your wall because this is the best plaster for this huge, massive, festering, pus-filled sore of a community. Build it and they will sing your praises, because yours is the only name they know and the only one that matters.

Build it to show the world how forward thinking you are. Show the world that even third world people can be hateful and suspicious and racist. Build it and show that colour is no reason for solidarity or sympathy or interest in consultation for the creating of solutions.

Build it weak like the levees in Louisiana. And when the storms come and the people start to try to escape, maybe you’ll also have people waiting to shoot them as they try to break free of your wall. Better build it so that they cannot escape.

Build it better than the mind walls you build when they’re in your failing education system.

Build it better than the walls in their minds that keep youth men on the blocks, their anger looking for any opportunity to manifest and young girls desperate for somebody to mind them.

Build it so that you can escape to your fantasies of civilisation borne out of your obsession to be less like yourself whoever it is that you are.

Build it like you built your own palace as a statement to your absolute contempt for babies dying in under-equipped, inefficiently-run hospitals.

Build it so that you cannot hear their children wheeze or see their young men’s eyes glaze more with anger. Build it because they are the problem to which you have no solution."

Attilah Springer
Trinidad Guardian, October 25th, 2008

Welcome to the new slavery. Meet your new Master.

PNM Gov't has Money To Burn, Report #1,000, 434.

The budget estimates are based on oil at US $70 per barrel. This Government is spending half-a-BILLION dollars hosting two conferences in 2009. Evidently once tings lookin' nice when the dignitaries arrive in 2009, then by PNM logic, f*ck anybody else 'cuz  tings officially nice.

There will be 50 dignitaries visiting for the Fifth Annual Summit of the Americas, but according to Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, we need 200 luxury vehicles.

Keisha Alfred wants to know* "Is this conference the raison d’etre of our country?" 
"For what purpose do we in Trinidad really need such vehicles? Do we get healthcare in such a vehicle?" 

David Subran, writes* "Having read of Government’s intention to import 200 luxury cars for the Summit of the Americas, and afterwards to distribute these cars to government ministries, I am compelled to reflect on the drastic reversal of the value system that now guides the development of T&T." 

"When the Government engages in such conspicuous consumption, the expectations of the masses will also rise, to the extent that some will commit crime to satisfy their wants. 

"The Government cannot ask people to restrain their spending and to “eat cassava” when the Government itself seems to be preoccupied with the acquisition of showy gadgetry and the trappings of office. Furthermore, this wanton waste of taxpayers’ money without the people’s consent... seems to be tantamount to a crime." 

Under slavery the masters were in complete control of their slaves. If the master chose to abuse his power there was no one to stop him.

Under the Manning administration Patrick Manning, a teflon man, is above the law - when the Opposition raised the issue of nepotistic practices within his administration (Manning appointed wife Hazel as an unelected minister), he hurled insults and chose to attack the character of the opposition members, avoiding the question. There is evidently no one to keep him in check. 

Trin believes that if we are not a part of the solution, we are a part of the problem. If you choose to engage in illegal or immoral behaviour, then we say you bloody well deserve what is coming to you in this life or the next. 

Former Prime Minister Panday was investigated for charges of failing to declare assets to the Integrity Commission, and was subsequently charged. A leader should not be above the law. Our young people need to see and understand that there are consequences for criminal behaviour, even for those in high places. 

It is an outrage that Patrick Manning seems to be above the law - no one better dare to investigate any action or statement of his, such as wondering what happen to some ten million dollars that disappeared under his watch, wondering how he could brazenly add his wife to the payroll just so (and who knows which other members of his family are also on the payroll). Welcome to the great PNM. Their divine leader appointed by God just as the slave masters believed they were doing God's will. Their leader's actions are above the law; we lowly people work to pay taxes to fund his extravagant lifestyle, to fulfill his every costly fancy, and the law is used only for lowly common slave workers and people that need to feel the wrath of God like the Oppositon members. 

Welcome to the new slavery, where we Trinbagonians exist to work to support the lavish lifestyles of our Prime Minister/Slave Master, his family and his elected officials; the elected officials no longer work to serve us.

In April 2008 World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick estimated that 100 Million people in low-income countries would be impoverished by the rising cost of food. I hope yuh enjoy yuh cassava. 

*Letters from the Guardian, Monday October 13, 2008
Photo 1 - monstersandcritics.com Photo 2- usinfo.state.gov

 

‘Blatant abuse of power’ -illegal PNM rally

On Friday the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council (ITEC) faxed a written a letter of complaint to the Integrity Commission, claiming there was an abuse of power by acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) James Philbert, during a People’s National Movement (PNM) political rally while a no-confidence motion in Prime Minister Patrick Manning was being debated in Parliament on September 12th, 2008.

The letter stated "It is clear that the present acting Commissioner of Police did not exercise his powers in a fair and impartial manner and demonstrated and afforded preferential treatment to the supporters of the ruling party,"  and that CoP Philbert  "revealed a clear political bias in favour of the ruling party and failed to uphold the rule of law," .

It is public knowledge that no permission was granted by the CoP for this rally.

"The acting Commissioner of Police has thus far not charged anyone for the several violations and criminal offences committed," Maharaj wrote.

 Maharaj said no attempts were made by Philbert to disperse the crowd, in compliance with Section 3 of the Summary Offences Act, which deals with illegal meetings held without the CoP’s permission.

 Maharaj, in his letter, said the inaction and glaring omission on Philbert’s part was conspicuous because there was   much controversy over the manner in which he was appointed to act as Commissioner of Police.

 Contacted yesterday, Maharaj said he hoped that the commission would “unshackle itself from its political master and call a spade a spade.”

 “If the commission claims they are fair then this is one way of testing it. And I ask that my complaint be dealt with expeditiously,” he said.

 Maharaj added that he hoped the commission would launch an investigation to determine if Philbert abused his powers. He also threatened that if the Commission failed to take the necessary action, “we would have no choice but to sue.”

Trinidad Guardian, Sunday 5th October, 2008

Editorial on parliament: "Parliament must enlighten"

"As in the instance of the Woodford Square fiasco over the no-confidence motion, Prime Minister Manning is demonstrating his extreme irritation with criticism and his preparedness to do whatever it takes to get even with his enemies, both real and perceived. "

"It is too often the case that what should be an engaging, enlightening and uplifting debate in the House of Representatives on fundamental issues, such as the national budget, degenerates into personal attacks.
These attacks are sometimes against people not able to defend themselves with such freedom as the parliamentarians enjoy against mauvais langue and partisan party politics. 
The end result is blissful ignorance of the issues involved in the debate by the national community and the continuing slide in the credibility of the Parliament."

It is clear that both sides in the verbal duel between the Prime Minister and his former colleague, Dr Keith Rowley, must share some of the blame for the fact that much of the debate got side-tracked.

On Tuesday night, what Prime Minister Patrick Manning had to “reveal,” using what he described as documentary evidence, amounted in the instance of his contentions against his former colleague of 20 years, no more than weak circumstantial evidence of alleged corruption.

If the Prime Minister really thinks he has evidence of one of his ministers feeding at the public trough, why did he not place the matter in the hands of the investigating authorities to pursue?

Why engage the Parliament in such an unsubstantiated allegation and, more than that, why trade on a privileged position in the chamber to insinuate in such a manner—surely no one was fooled by his pretence of not making an allegation—without presenting the evidence?

Moreover, it stretches credibility for the Prime Minister to come months, perhaps even years, after an event involving, as he claims, $10 million of public funds gone missing, to “discover” it in a document that one has to assume was always available to him. This discovery is also an indictment of the scrutiny by Cabinet before approval is granted for the expenditure of large sums of taxpayers’ dollars.

How could Cabinet have allowed such a simple arithmetical error, as indicated by the Prime Minister, to get by it?

Is it that the Cabinet gives the green light to any document that comes before it without the appropriate scrutiny?

The Prime Minister is therefore demonstrating the shortcomings of his own administration more than supporting the possibility of alleged corruption by a former member of the Cabinet.

How many other instances of discrepancy and possible outright corruption have got past the Cabinet? That is a question that requires an answer from Mr Manning.

In the instance of the Prime Minister’s allegations against UNC MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her alleged links to a member of the Integrity Commission, here again is an instance of the potential commission of a crime as it is illegal for a member of the commission to engage in the business of the institution with others outside.

Armed with such information, as he claims he has, why has the Prime Minister not put the information in the hands of the police for further investigation? Why has he kept it to use as political ammunition against his opponents? 

Questions might also be raised about how the Prime Minister came upon the information about the alleged link between Mrs Persad-Bissessar and someone associated with the Integrity Commission. Is it that the country’s intelligence services were instructed to monitor the private activities of an Opposition MP and her association with the Integrity Commission, an institution that is supposed to be free of the taint of partisan politics?

Would it not have been the preferred course of action for the Prime Minister to pass on his suspicions to the chairman of the Integrity Commission for him to order the investigations required?

As in the instance of the Woodford Square fiasco over the no-confidence motion, Prime Minister Manning is demonstrating his extreme irritation with criticism and his preparedness to do whatever it takes to get even with his enemies, both real and perceived.
Editorial, Thur Oct 2nd, 2008

Letters: Shame on us for not yet being angry.

Are we angry yet? The Prime Minister told Parliament on Tuesday that $10 million has been missing for years and is pointing a finger at his former deputy and Cabinet colleague, Keith Rowley.

So how come Patrick Manning sat on this “corruption” for years and is only now talking about it?

By his own admission Manning has indicted his PNM administration in corruption. “Where it gone?” he asked Rowley. But shouldn’t the nation be asking Manning the same question?

Manning stated clearly that there was a $10 million discrepancy in a housing contract while Rowley was in charge of housing and he is hoping that the former minister could shed some light on the matter and clarify things.

Well, what’s to clarify? Why didn’t he ask when Rowley was sitting in Cabinet? And why is he now asking after so many years? Is it because he now wants to paint Rowley as corrupt?

As captain of the ship, Manning must take responsibility for it. Manning should be asking himself “where it gone?” Because in the final analysis, $10 million of taxpayers’ money just vanished and Manning is still making like a saint.

And the tragedy of it is that we are not angry yet. Shame on us!

Capil Bissoon
Letters, Guardian Thur Oct 2nd, 2008

Rowley: Manning's boasting is not the PNM"s way!

Prime Minister Patrick Manning found himself at the receiving end, yesterday, of the political wrath of the minister he fired in April, Keith Rowley.

In fact, Rowley condemned the statement made by Manning, two weeks ago, in Woodford Square that "if the leader falls, all fall down." Manning made the statement while addressing scores of PNMites who journeyed from various constituencies to show support for Manning while the Opposition's no-confidence motion against him was being debated. But Rowley was not impressed.

"I took careful note of a comment by our Prime Minister last week Friday in Woodford Square, where he told the people gathered there among them the least fortunate of the country, Cepep and similar types all took careful note of the statement that "If the leader falls, all fall."

"That is not the PNM way, and it should never be like that!"

Rowley reflected on when his grandfather became a PNM supporter "because of the policies and programmes that Dr Eric Williams put in place , that converted me from a barefoot schoolboy in Mason Hall, creating the opportunity for mobility from the backwaters of a village to where I am in the Parliament of T&T."

"So PNM must not tell people that your future, your meal depends on me being in office. It can''t be that."

On the issue of inflation, "which has ballooned to 13.5 per cent," Rowley said it "bothered" him that government officials were discounting the issue as trivial.

"Approaching 10 per cent inflation and you get a comment from the top of the Government that the sky is not going to fall, it doesn't do anything for the confidence of those who hire you to do their jobs and it causes concern with people like me who are about to enter retirement.

"Because 15 per cent inflation is the biggest enemy to my quality of life and for the thousands of people in this country who live on fixed income," Rowley said.

Guardian, Tuesday 30th September, 2008

Privileges Committee to probe harassment of Opposition MPs

Parliament’s Privileges Committee will investigate alleged harassment of Opposition MPs by PNM supporters in Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain, on September 12, House Speaker Barendra Sinanan ruled yesterday.
Sinanan ruled in the Opposition’s favour on the matter during yesterday’s Lower House sitting. 

Two weeks ago, Opposition chief whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj wrote for the alleged harassment issue to be referred to the Privileges Committee. 

Sinanan said a prima facie case of breach of privilege had been made out by Maharaj on the issue and referred the matter to the Privileges Committee. 

Maharaj sought to make the case that one of the most basic privileges of MPs was infringed that day: the right to freely go to and come unhindered from the precincts of the Parliament. 

Sinanan said the House of Representatives Act prescribes a penalty of summary conviction for “any person who assaults, obstructs, molests or insults any member coming to, being within or going from the precincts of the House, or endeavours to compel any member by force, insult or menace to declare himself in favour of or against any proposition or matter pending or expected to be brought before the Hour or committee.” 

He noted that Maharaj claimed Opposition MPs were verbally abused, molested, insulted and even blocked by persons in Woodford Square. 

Sinanan said: “Although the Tabaquite MP did not provide any specific examples in raising this matter of privilege, if indeed MPs were in any way harassed, on their way to the precincts of this Parliament, then undeniably a breach of parliamentary privilege may have occurred.” (GA)

Guardian, Tuesday 30th September, 2008

A letter from a legendary writer - Merle Hodge on the PNM's rally

Every Trinbagonian child has had an encounter with the work of Merle Hodge. Her notorious book Crick, Crack Monkey is a permanent fixture in the childhood memories of people throughout our country. We were extremely happy to find a letter from Merle in the recent newspapers. Her letter brought tears of relief to our eyes. We no longer needed to write our commentary about the ridiculous behaviour of the PNM leaders on September 12th 2008 during the Motion of No Confidence against Prime Minister Patrick Manning, or our grief at the way the PNM continues to use and abuse those poor destitute Cepep and URP workers for their demented political whims. She eloquently said everything we wanted to convey, and so here is the letter by our legendary writer Merle Hodge. She truly is one of Trinidad's great thinkers, one of our great leaders.

Govt cannot be trusted after Friday’s PNM rally

.

How can we ever again trust anything that comes out of the mouths of those who govern us? What confidence can we now place in their utterances? 

For days we had government ministers and high public officials looking us in the eye and denying that there was a mass event planned for Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain, on September 12. 

One minister swore blind that it was a “spontaneous” response from PNM supporters, angry that their leader was under attack. It was the same minister who swore blind for weeks that there was no dengue outbreak. 

How edifying this has been for our young people, especially the members of the PNM Youth League who might have been directly involved in the mobilisation taking place for three weeks before the event—the printing and distribution of jerseys, flags and banners; the expensive structures going up in Woodford Square; then on the day, the Prime Minister stepping out of the Parliament, wearing a Bible, to hype up the non-existent rally.

 How inspired our children must be when they match up all of this with the bare-faced denials of significant public figures.

 Officials in charge of giving permission for mass public demonstrations, and for the use of Woodford Square, could not remember any application for a PNM rally to be held in the square that day.

 So now any group can spontaneously do its thing in the square, on any day of the year, including Fridays when Parliament is sitting, without asking anybody’s permission. If the ruling party could break the law, who is we?

 Then the Cepep and URP workers who, innocently, in front of television cameras, spoke the truth—that they had been ordered to come to the square, and would be paid for the day.

 No wonder the Government is not interested in any ideas about developing sustainable employment.

Unstable, off-and-on employment, doled out as patronage, allows you to keep people on a short tether, beholden to you for their precarious livelihood.

Then you can call them up whenever you need a show of force to deal with those who don’t agree with you. This is the way to build a private army of potential Tonton (and Tantan) Macoutes.

 Nobody won in that vote of confidence exercise.

 The opposition lost, as it fully expected to, inside the Parliament.

 Across the road, with the spectacle in the square after days of strong denial, the ruling party lost the respect of even more citizens, including some PNM supporters.

 But the biggest loser is the country. The “little rivers” spoken of by ANR Robinson have become a mighty dirty flood, and we are drowning in it, sinking lower and lower.

 Merle Hodge, St Augustine

Manning on Motion of No Confidence - "Tell them leave me alone"

"Referring to the Opposition in a fighting mood (The Prime Minister didn't care to give any truthful contribution to the debate, instead choosing to assemble an army in the Square, deflect any questions aimed at his performance by instead referring to the UNC administration from almost 7 years ago and generally carrying on like a circus clown while perform his war speech) in Woodford Square in Port-of-Spain yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Patrick Manning told hundreds of his supporters, “Tell them leave me alone.”

Answering the accusation of nepotism  on the basis of appointing his wife to the Cabinet, the Prime Minister pointed to the presence on the opposition side of the House of three Pandays. Incredibly, and unbecomingly, he failed to note that, unlike Mrs Hazel Manning, all three Pandays had individually contested and won election to Parliament."  - The Trinidad Guardian - September 13th, 2008.

Patrick Manning appointed his wife Hazel as Minister of Education after the 2001 election (and during the debate justified this by tallying up the last names of the opposition members, all of whom were fairly elected in a democratic manner). Nepotism in politics occurs when the relative of a powerful figure ascends to similar power seemingly without appropriate qualifications.

When Manning says "Tell them leave me alone" is he implying that we ordinary citizens have no right whatsoever to dare ask him for some accountability? Is our government turning into a dictatorship? Wait a minute, is he (or his army of supporters).... threatening us? 

 The people of Trinidad and Tobago desperately want some answers, Mr. Prime Minister, answers to a few questions about corruption in your administration, to "charges of failure to perform, maladministration, lack of transparency and questionable dealings" and maybe some information on how you plan to fix our country's inflation, crime and education problems. We are not a nation of idiots and we would like some truthful and intelligent answers.

We were aware that the motion of no confidence was not guaranteed to remove the Prime Minister because of the obvious reason that his ruling PNM party has 26 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives (won with 299,813 votes) while the UNC-A only has 15 seats (won with 194,425 votes, while the COP won not a single seat but received 148,041 votes).

Caribbean political union?

Here are two letters - thoughts from our citizens about Manning's regional integration crusade. Why can't just a few of these intelligent people that send letters into the newspaper every day ever end up in Government??

REACHING THE POINT OF NO RETURN ON POLITICAL UNION 

It should dawn on any reasonable citizen that PM Manning has pre-empted the yet-to-be-determined verdict of the people of T&T. He has now taken T&T, at enormous public expense, diplomatic hype and great bravado, beyond the political point of no return on his proposed union with at least three other Caricom states. 

He justifies this cart-before-the-horse modus operandi on the basis that a private club of which he is the jefe, that is to say the PNM, some 52 years ago invoked political integration as one of its bye-laws.

 At the legal level, PM Manning has no authority and has acted outside of his political and constitutional remit to have entered into contractual arrangements (MOU), the implementation of which will lead to the dissolution of the current state of T&T, abandonment of its Constitution and jeopardise the viability of the CSME. Any contract that violates the existing Constitution is void.

 This is a clear case not of the coalition of the willing but of the foolish sub-regional unilateralists bent on repeating the mistakes of the political history of the Caribbean of 1958.

 At the political and diplomatic level, PM Manning has assumed such a high and determined leadership profile, evidenced by the frenetic pace of his shuttle diplomacy up and down the Caribbean, that were Trinidadians/Tobagonians to say or allowed to say “no,” there would result such a catastrophic blow to our political reputation and diplomatic credibility in the Caribbean that we will want to seek shelter in shame and ignominy. That is the potential route that Manning is now taking T&T down.

 PM Manning has staked so much of his personal political legacy, presumption and sub-regional standing on the realisation of this fait accompli union initiative that it is likely to undermine, contaminate and detract from the genuineness of his proposed consultative process. That process should in fact have preceded the current multilateral discussions.

 Creeping dictators can under these political challenges degenerate into full-blown tyrants in order to have their political ways, having already dismissed the value of co-operation with the Opposition and committed T&T to ratifying the MOU by year-end. And this while the electorate and Parliament are still to decide.

 The CCJ in fulfilling its original jurisdiction function should be approached, based on the legitimate reservations for Caricom expressed by PM Bruce Golding of Jamaica, to give a legal opinion on whether the MOU infringes or is likely to infringe and retard the commitments already undertaken by the four countries within the ambit of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caricom Single Market and Economy.

 Will not all of these potential developments make T&T look like having dollars but no political and diplomatic sense once again?

 Stephen Kangal, Caroni, Letters to the Guardian Sep 8th, 2008

 
PM putting cart before donkey

 It is somewhat ironic that our Prime Minister is rambling on about a Caribbean political union at this time when we celebrate our 46th year of independence.

 Prof Vaughn Lewis and Dr Cuthbert Joseph were given a mandate to prepare a road map by the end of this year that would hash out the details and offer concrete models.

 In response to questions from the Trinidadian public regarding what exactly this is all about, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said, with typical arrogance, that “until such time as the report is received, then really it would be premature to be talking about the exact form it will take and so on.”

 Is this not putting the cart before the donkey? Would it not have been more sensible to review what is proposed before flying all over the place talking about political union?

 Those three small island states must be smacking their chops at what their new fairy godfather can bring to their woeful economies, while we Trinidadians are left wondering what are the priorities of our Prime Minister.

 F Khan, St Augustine, Letters to the Guardian Sep 8th, 2008