Vernansi Stories

Verna St Rose Greaves swearing in as a Senator and Government Minister.

 

I really worried about the image of female leadership in this place you know.

 

Last week Saturday, on its premium news page, page 3, the Trinidad Guardian announced a special in-depth interview from a former government minister. Even though we swimming in former government ministers after just 2.5 years of The PPs term in office – Sandy, Cornelis-Baptiste, Ramgoolam, King, Partap, Volney – female instinct told me that the interview had to be with Verna St Rose Greaves. Here was a chance for the public to get eye witness accounts of the inner workings of the Cabinet on issues like the SoE, the Cheryl Miller Affair and even the gender policy that is quietly making its way through Parliament. Though Greaves’s term in office lasted just shy of a year, she is known to be bold and outspoken. Finally, clarity.

 

Instead what we got sounded like the script to a Lifetime Movie. A female PM surrounded by oppressive men, with both mental and physical health problems fighting to be the leader we all hopes she can be. The victim narrative is back!

 

Rumors of the PMs alcohol problem are probably greatly exaggerated, but the public may never know because no one has ever commented on it authoritatively. It remains in the realm of gossip and conjecture. Her weaknesses as a leader however are played out in the public sphere daily. Greaves took the opportunity this weekend to link the two, without any solid evidence. It was my deepest hope that St Rose Greaves’ lengthy interview would shed light on these things. Only to read for two days a column that dwelt firmly in the realm of hearsay and conjecture. Not even fully fleshed out anecdotes about instances during her tenure as the Gender Minister. Instead what we get only adds fuel to the rumour mill.

 

 

A major feature of this PMs tenure is a lack of personal responsibility and accountability. Any mistakes and missteps are always the fault of the overwhelmingly male Cabinet around her. If the public is lied to or there is evidence of corruption or nepotism these actions are cleverly re-worded to be misspeaks, missteps and good family values.

 

 

The column starts melodramatically, ” There are elements within the Cabinet of the People’s Partnership Government that are trying to engineer a national crisis in order to sideline Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and ‘slip in and do what they want’.”

 

So, if Kamla wasn’t there as PM, things would be worse? She is the only thing saving us from chaos? Say it ain’t so! The entire time I thought Persad-Bissessar’s leadership was part of the problem, it is actually the solution to our issues? In that one opening sentence we are once again fed the image of a beleaguered Prime Minister. Poor Kamla. Surrounded by sinister people who only want to do her in. Mind you, this is a Cabinet that from all appearances the Prime Minister chose. And if Greaves is suggesting that Persad-Bissessar didn’t chose her Cabinet, then she should come out and tell the public who are the people calling the shots behind the scenes. But bandying about words like “elements within the Cabinet” without supporting evidence really should remain on the pages of Tom Clancy’s novels.

 

Later on in the interview, Greaves calls for the PM to “stand up and step up”, another suggestion that Persad- Bissessar is weak willed and not doing her job. When Greaves is asked who is in charge she responds, ” It depends on what is being discussed….At any time it’s a group of people who is in charge.” No names. Nothing. So the myth of the secret, shadow cabal persists. Then Greaves goes on to say that the PM is not charge and fearful, but fearful of whom or what, Greaves cannot say. So, then you ask yourself after reading the entire Sunday column, if you don’t know, why exactly are you repeating mere conjecture? To what end?

 

Greaves refers to the uproar over Vidwattie Newton as, ” all the drama about money…” Perhaps conveniently forgetting that the money in question was State funds and that no one objected to Ms Newton accompanying her sister whenever she travelled, we objected to it being done at state expense, especially since a travel companion isn’t covered by the PMs budget. In overlooking this crucial fact, Greaves belittles the public’s very real concerns about state nepotism.

 

She then discusses the flawed processes in Cabinet. The fact that no minutes are taken and the general lack of transparency even within the structure of the Cabinet. Again, Greaves does not speak as if Persad-Bissessar is actually culpable here. Instead the talk is about collective responsibility.

 

Imagine the head of the Cabinet and Government is not ultimately responsible for the flawed processes within it? Greaves is quick to point out that the PM must have strengths and skills, because she has survived in the very masculine world of politics for so long. Again a quiet plug for the poor beleaguered female unable to perform because she is surrounded by men.

 

Ironically, by the second part of the interview St Rose Greaves is saying that it is time to move beyond gossip and whispers about the PMs and treat with it. What the “it” is she never specifies. and the article heads right back down conjecture cul-de-sac.

 

Hundreds of words later we know that there is a conspiracy against the PM within her own government…but we don’t know who the conspirators are. The PM hasn’t been able to lead her government because of these ‘elements’; however she has great people skills…but has not been given the chance to lead. Nepotism really isn’t that big a deal when compared to having family around. And if the PM would only give St Rose Greaves a chance, she could help her.

 

The entire 2-day column becomes a study in weak female leadership using the same shadowy rumors and scandals already in the public’s consciousness to explain, and even justify, why Persad-Bissessar’s tenure has been so spectacularly poor. And from a minster who was present for a year and could easily name names and describe events we instead get the subtle message that it is a shadowy cabal, no doubt male, coupled with frail health won’t let the PM run her government as she sees fit. If what Greaves says is true, then Persad- Bissessar should step down. If what Greaves says is true, female leadership is down for the count.

 

I can say this though, the Cheryl Miller conspiracy might be a trilogy!

I Out On De Road: Section 34 Style!

No, not lemmings, just right thinking Trinbagonians defending their democracy!

 

I’m marching today. And happily so. When I marched weeks ago I was told by people who consider themselves thinkers, humanists and buddhists that to march meant I was Pro PNM…..and even better, marching meant I was a lemming. If Rowley was so against Section 34 why he vote for it. At that point in time no one was willing to listen to the details of the story. That Cabinet had promised to implement certain conditions and further that the early proclamation was a breach of trust.

Today, as more and more details of the section 34 issue has been revealed and more and more people realise the extent of the conspiracy perpetrated against the country all of a sudden marching has become the fashionable thing. The people who wanted to make this about Keith Rowley and the PNM a few weeks ago are going to be out on the street en masse today because that’s how bandwagonists function. They diss an action that they are not in favour of in its early phases and then when they see the direction the wind shifts in all of a sudden their intellect kicks in and they find a plausible reason for joining and become even louder and more vociferous than the original members of a movement. It’s all good, once they pulling their weight. I guess the Lemmings have company today.

But there are people who are still detractors to the march. We’ve seen the government throw up distraction after distraction where Section 34 is concerned. Pre-Budget Rallies, Post-Budget Rallies, random attacks on the media from Jack Warner and Jamal Mohammed, Warner trying to block crime statistics….all in an effort to distract the electorate from the issue of Section 34 and what it means that an entire Cabinet conspired to mislead the Parliament….and now pretending they did nothing wrong.

Last night there was a last ditch effort on the part of UNC apologists. People arguing that the issue has already aired publicly, so let’s move on. Well neither Kamla nor the AG have answered my questions on this matter satisfactorily so I can’t move on. And apparently the launch of TSTT’s 4G that was meant to thin out the protest crowds has been put off as well. So it’s just lemmings in Woodford Square at noon today.

Another argument is that this March today is about causing political destabilisation….uhhh….YES….we don’t trust the Government. No electorate should have to be saddled with a Government it doesn’t trust, and to argue that we must put up with an untrustworthy government for five years is to play smart with foolishness. That’s why it’s called a democracy….we have the right to show our displeasure and I am going to show it.

And Section 34 isn’t the only reason. There are at least a hundred…but let me refresh your memory with a few reason why I will be out on the road.

1. Reshmi

2. Gopaul

3. Mary King

4. Cheryl Miller

5. Nizam Mohammed

6. Dwayne Gibbs

7. Gary Griffith

8. The Crop Duster

9. Raids on TV6, Newsday, Crime Watch and attacks on Asha Javeed and Denyse Renne

10. Chandresh Sharma’s London Taxi fare

11. Shoppin Toppin and Fuad Card!

12. The Soca Warriors $$$$

13. Jack as a Minister, Jack as a member of the National Security Council, Jack as Minister of National Security (this alone is a march in itself)

14. The bungling incompetence of the AG

15. Silk Gate

16. The dismantling of all of our border and coastal surveillance,

17. the deployment of national security helicopters as air taxis for the PM and her friends and family.

18. Vidwattie Newton

19. Janice Thomas/Marcia/Sasha Mohammed

20. The mess that is healthcare

21. The mess that is education

22. Fucking up our energy sector

23. Three massive budgets that have put us into deficit and saddling us with a debt my grandchildren will be paying.

24. Insulting our Caricom Neighbours with the ATM statement

25. Kamla being the most incompetent and ineffective, self absorbed, nepotistic and corrupt leader this Caribbean has ever seen.

 

I could go on for days…but I’ll stop there. See you on the road!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

 

100 Missteps in 2.5 years by Xavi Silva

I had to share this list with you guys. FB blogger Xavi Silva tagged me in this post and I thought maybe you’d want to take a read and add whatever you think is missing:

2 1/2 years 100 bad decisions here is our government:

1) Reshmi
2) Sasha
3) Jack multiple FIFA bribery scandals(Bin Hamman, TTFF, Haiti)
4) Vasant Cayanne
5) Farmers without crops
6) A RedBull Flugtag Plane for 900k to replace a blimp sold for 50k how? What? Why?
7) Diversification what how where?
8) SOE
9) Assassination Plot
10) NP friends and family contract
11) Anand proposing to monitor social media and emails
12) Raiding media houses for sources
13) Verna locking up Cheryl Miller
14) Seizing guns/drugs locking up nobody and saying we on top of crime!
15) Frequent flyer trips with no solid results
16) 20% voter turnout in local elections called a success!
17) 0% Economic growth for 3 years!
18) Jack the unlimited bank account!
19) Dismissing the Transparency International Corruption Report
20) Vetoing the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit(FIU)
21) 2.5 million for 3 farmers to cut the Airport grass(I in the wrong field who have a whacker?)
22) Anand and Kamla say SILK wrong but still wearing them own.
23) Gift wrapping oil for India
24) Alutrint board appointed something smelting bad.
25) How come race talk so prevalent now? It was ever so?
26) Paid bloggers sound off how the Blackberry wokking?
27) What going on with the probe on Ish, Steve and Jack AG? We ever hearing that again?
28) Wait Verna doin the Back Peddle dance and welcoming back Ms. Miller but I thought she commit her?
29) so 48 million barrels is the answer to we economic problems? Well Barbados 2.5 billion find will make them richer than Apple Corp then!
30) Why Anand eh lock up Caulder Hart yet? That is a nex probe up somebody eh hem!
31) Protests by TCL and Unions watch out for a SOE jus now
32) Sunway! Whichway? Caulder Hart Way $300 million quarrying contract thanks Kamla we always knew your “Hart” was good.
33) Ag Superintendent Bisnath Maharaj is the new SSA director that name sounding familiar hmmm.
34) Omar Khan resign cause he unqualified! Why this sounding familiar?
35) “I hired my sister with taxpayer dollars that’s good family values” say it frequently an wine!
36) Before elections: “I will never move into the PM’s residence” After elections: “Put the elevator from the HDC building in my bedroom”
38) Aye! How I could forget Sat! Anybody know if he still seeing pantylines? He still like black people?
39) COP members say they fed up of the poor governance an they not settling so! COP have a backbone then?
40) Somebody pay me TT$1.5 million to paint a small building nah gosh boy look how much people getting handouts.
41) Oil Sands/Highway Re-Route
42) All files on Jack, Ish an Steve stolen from the SIA
43) Giving India a stake hold in Petrotrin
44) Hiring workers from China to pick coconuts
45) New CONCACAF president slams Warner for financial impropriety
46) Dwayne Gibbs find no evidence against Warner so the DPP can’t prosecute that’s a shocker…
47) Reducing NIS pensioners to $1,000 per month and less in some cases.
48) The purposeful allowing of taxpayer dollars going to waste from assets e.g. The Brian Lara stadium and the 4 water taxi’s simply because it was a PNM one.
49) Jack National Security? How?
50) Why no consultation on the SEA curriculum change?

51) Jack has no authority to command the armed forces and police
52) Why were environmentalists consulted on the destruction of the turtles nest?
53) Why is the gov’t considering a Tar Sands Mine?
54) New Central Bank Governor was on India trip too hmmm guess he real “independent”
55) Property Tax on or off on or off?
56) T&T Embassy, Washington, DC
Veterinarian, turned diplomat, Dr. Neil Parsan, nephew of Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma, has been using millions of dollars of taxpayers money to transform the Trinidad and Tobago Embassy in Washington to capture a piece of the “sunlit Caribbean.”
57) How much to renovate the US embassy here again??
58) Bobol at NLCB
59) Bobol at EMA Staff quitting and workers wearing red to protest!
60) New Traffic plan destroying business in St. James.
61) Four members of the Estate Management Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD) resigned from the board after raising concerns over transactions involving senior company officials.
62) Mt. Hope storing cancer patients tissue in water containers.
63) Why did Jack influence the firing of the COP and deputy COP?
64) How come exactly 50 to be released for our 50th Independence? 50 no more no less!
65) Flags that not really flags just modified 90 degrees.
66) Gov’t official under FIU probe ah wonder who hmmmm,
67) Sect. 34 sounds like a horror movie only worse.
68) The National Security helicopters is the new shopping car.
69) Shaq get $10 million to help crime go up!
70) Machel make more money that the T&T economy thanks Kamla!
71) Keshorngate everybody get even if yuh finish second to last. Oh wait Nijsane eh get nuttin.
72) Partap drunk nuff said…
73) Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reports suspicious activity in the amount of $500 million from Jan to Jun 2012
74) But wait crime back up I thought the SOE fix that? Where Steven Williams two crime plans? And Jack phantom one?
75) 21 workers responsible for the regularization of 4,500 cane farmers fired Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj denied such claimed. Unions have letters for all 21.
76) Wait we still giving out laptops to schools when the one laptop per child experiment proved no marked increase in test scores?
77) I feel iPads for all MP’s will fix all the nation problems.
78) Why the discrepancies in the auditor general report? http://www.auditorgeneral.gov.tt/documentlibrary/downloads/9/Vol%20%204%20-%20AG%20REPORT%202011.pdf
79) Jack new crime plan to outline how people dress…
80) How did we achieve developed country status in a negative economy again?
81) AUSTERITY MEASURES!
82) 50 criminals to be released coinciding with 50th Anniversary Independence.
83) Hubert Volney became the fall guy for Anand Ramlogan.
84) Pre-Budget Rally!
85) Post Budget Rally!
86) Attiba Phillips pay $1,335. to a taxi from his home to Mid Centre Mall in Chaguanas sample eh it have plenty more.
87) No drill in a major hospital that is all.
88) Jack Warner begins another job program in place of proper economic development ala color me orange, hoop of life.
89) The DPP states that that Section 34 “cannot stand on its own without absurdity” http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Breaking-News—Gaspard-Breaks-Silence-169487316.html
90) The AG, PM continue the rash of lawsuits in place of debating with the AG proudly compiling a list of those he has sued.
91) $1.3 billion requested for arbitration with BAE for the OPV’s
92) Reshmi! No wait Reshmi mommy and Anand Ramlogan creating a position of Clerk IV that does not exist.
93) The new tool to attack the opposition is race! Everybody saying they was racially discriminated even Jack say Rowley racial cause he focusing on Anand but Anand doing poor I think.
94) The Minister of Communications show his inferiority complex on paper writing claiming bias against reporters and finally the head of an independent news agency and oh yeah using racial slurs in referring to himself as a “Muslim Coolie”
95) The ink on the 2012/2013 budget still wet and the Ministry of Works done want to borrow $2.7 billion! Who say massive debt and IMF?!
96) Massive hirings an firings at our embassies overseas that bound to happen less attention http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/_I_will_take_you_to_the_PM_-176132371.html
97) Paid bloggers being recruited the usual suspects all there slithering around.
98) The same NAMDEVCO that giving Reshmi mommy a fake position fire the whole board real bachannal Among them are irregular hiring practices that have landed five board members before the Integrity Commission.
99) How come people so silent about how FIFA stop funding Trinidad & Tobago? Must be how Jack Warner still interfering in FIFA business when that was the condition of his being fired/resigning(same difference) that he dont interfer?!! http://www.wired868.com/2012/10/06/warners-controversial-letter-to-sport-minister-anil-roberts/
100) After all the Section 34 bachannal Anand still ent remove serious fraud from the statute of limitations look at that.

Tim the Toolman….and tales of other handymen!

I want to recommend Grim Tim Doopeesingh for canonisation. Why? Because he has to be the best thing to happen to the Catholic religion here since the Nicene Council.

Anybody with half a working synapse will tell you that where you might get through with blatant corruption, nepotism and racism, the minute you start to touch people religion….their get out of jail free card with immor(t)ality….your ass is grass.

Doopeesingh’s attempted merger of a Catholic school with a Government school was tantamount to the man killing a bull and carrying it for Sat Maharaj yesterday. And as I watched the story and kuchoor unfold I wondered at the obtuseness and stupidity of Grim Tim. Even Eric the First (… Prime Minister, folks) with all the public support he had in the early years of his political career had to kowtow and concede to the Catholic Church. The details of that concession are enshrined in The Concordat, a document so powerful that even the other religious denominations for all their hatred of Catholicism hold on to it like a lifeline! we offer up a Te Deum to Dom Basil, because it was he who took on The Eric and triumphed….but I digress.

I fear Doopeesingh has never read the Concordat….indeed, I am beginning to wonder generally about his literacy and common sense. In a country where education is revered as the escape route from poverty of the working class surely Grim and his cohorts understand what religious-run schools mean to this country. There is a reason that Doopeesingh and his generation were sent to certain religious board schools, and tried to pass their Common Entrance or SEA or whatever for certain religious board schools….because in Trinidad and Tobago we have a healthy and profound belief that a religious-based education is the only path to success. Blame the missionaries who brought the idea here….our blame our society that cannot get out of its mimic men phase of existence, but government schools, whether primary or secondary, are always thought to be inferior to a religious board school. As such, these schools  possess a level of immunity that you just don’t touch!

The Concordat states quite plainly that the physical property of these schools are owned by the religious body….what it doesn’t quite state is who is responsible for building and maintenance…but if we just look at what happens around us it becomes pretty obvious. Since 1962 the Ministry of Education has undertaken to build and maintain both state and recognised religious board schools. While Facebook threads yesterday quibbled about who was responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the schools, it was eventually revealed that maintenance and upkeep actually falls under the State’s remit…..that is, the Ministry of Education….and right now the person at the helm of that ministry is none other than Grim Tim! But Town and Country has refused approval to raise another structure on the property ( i didn’t even realise we actually needed their approval to build a thing….look at Grand Bazaar…Regents Tower etc), so Grim Tim has to find an alternative…..Enter his bright idea!

This past Monday the Doopeesingh called a meeting between the parents of the Pt Cumana Govt School, the Pt Cumana RC School, the MP for Diego Martin West, aka The Keith and the Archbishop of the Catholic Church….a veritable Council of Trent!  The Archbishop maintains that he was never told all of these people would be present at the meeting….in short he was misled and waylaid by the Minister’s people, and so he declined to participate in the meeting. After listening to the concerns of the stakeholders, Doopeesingh, in his inimitably aggressive, boorish and dictatorial style, then condescended to tell the parents what would be done. Up until the Grim spoke the general idea was that there would be two schools co-existing on one compound….then it turns out that what Doopeesingh really meant was that he was going to merge and mix the two schools. The sacred and the profane…..as one school…..Tim feel he is Minsh? He was trying to make ah mas?

No, Tim, no! Do not be a martyr for your stupidity. Take it from a person who went to a Presbyterian Primary School and a Catholic Secondary School…..do not interfere with the rights and entitlements of these religious boards. Is not only Sat Maharaj and the Maha Sabha that can benefit from the Concordat. It have a reason the document name in Latin meh boy!

To merge a state and a denominational school has implications for the curricula taught as well as staffing and budget. After a merger, who decides the curricula? Who decides which teachers stay? Tim…the Concordat specifically says that the board retains rights over these areas….you forget that? Your advisers didn’t read the document at all? Not even the first 2-3 bulleted points?

And further, to tell parents that you not building a new school because you don’t want to waste tax payers dollars was pretty insulting in light of all the squandermania that has happened under this govt…let me list a few: The Arima Prison Facility to house 1 inmate, $60m; The PM’s Travel Assistant $800,000; The Crop Duster, $.9m; Fuad and Vernella’s Credit cards US$20,000; the last Budget extension $1.5bn…..the budget extension before that, do I need to go on? More money has been spent on silly frivolous things than have been spent on educating our children….and their parents are tax payers….so what shit you really coming with?

The Archbishop’s decision to seek legal advice and further, to reject the Minister’s offer, if Tim aint realise it, was a slap in the face and a tossing down of the gauntlet (a la Fluellen and Gower in Henry V). In the course of one stupidly aggressive and condescending speech Grim Tim Doopeesingh has riled up more than 300,000 people….at least that’s around how many Roman Catholics we have in Trinidad at the 2000 census. The other thing Doopeesingh forgets is this, a significant portion of non-Catholics were educated at these schools and have a soft spot for their alma maters. He has no choice but to back down on this matter and boil down like a pot of young bhagi!

Catholics will turn a blind eye to corruption, genocide and paedophilia…..but don’t touch their churches and schools!  And blaming  Keith Rowley for your hoof-in-mouth-disease is embarassing and tasteless. As Minister of Education the buck stops with you. You are the final decision maker.

Now the School has been moved to a Church Hall in Constabulary Street, and Tim, your tenure as Minister won’t be remembered for the clear cronyism going on within your ministry…..it won’t even be remembered for how you trying to screw over SEA students….it will be remembered for how you tried to mess with the Concordat and in one fell swoop got the nation’s Catholics pissed off at your highhanded ways!

You skilled Tim…You blessed and talented…I can’t remember the last time I see a man bend over AND screw himself at the same time….

In other news, the COP, who never took Anil Roberts (for his loud mouthed boorish ways) or Prakash Ramadhar (for generally letting down of the party and not upholding principles) to task now want to cruficy Nalini Dial, a woman who made a tasteless comment on her private Facebook wall. Ms Dial, who faced much public condemnation for her comments, is basically being punished for exercising her freedom of expression. Or maybe she’s being punished for her stupidity, because since the leak of the comment from her wall to the media Dial has refused to apologise (well within he right), but further to that is now making the rounds of television and radio shows to defend her comments. Really Nalini? Who on earth advising you?I sense a pre-action protocol letter in someone’s future. It’s a pity that the COP more interested in public perception over an issue that will blow away in 9 days, than in putting their political house in order….more and more they remind me of the UNC!

Oh, by the way, Marlene Coudray has stopped posing with the Prime Minister for photo ops and 48 hours after news broke of her daughter’s disappearance and possible death has arrived in Jamaica!

The HCU Enquiry continues to heat up. The most recent update is how a handyman went from rags to riches. The story today outlines for us some recurrent themes in Trinbagonian social history…our love of mimicry, penchant for corruption and predisposition for ethnic discimination. Some interesting details come out in the course of  George James’ testimony. We see his meteoric rise from being a handyman to owning a contruction and home repair company. We learn that his business was a consortium, and used as a “clearing house” for the HCU’s other businesses. We learn that James planned to build a Disneyland styled water park. That his success at the company had people wondering if Harnarine was trying to douglarise the HCU…..why contact with Afro-Trinbagonians does frighten some people so? We learn too that “the unspoken policy in the HCU is to make money off of stupid niggers”.

In short we learn many things that we already know. Ours is a corrupt, depraved, racist society on all sides of the fence…..and we like it so!
All yuh feeling Kamla’s wind of change?

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 2yrs 4dys: Parasitic Relationships

The original partners steering the eat ah food coalition….photo courtesy Jyoti Communications website.

I’m sitting in one of my favourite spots in Tobago…it’s not a beach…just a secluded area with family and we just had a very heated discussion about the politics these days.

We looked at the newspapers and one relative asked, “What is Moonilal problem? Why he interfering with Rowley wife?” I had to tell him that Sharon Rowley, married to the Leader of the Opposition, was now a public figure and open to questions and queries as is Greg Bissessar and Vidwattie Newton. What we need to question is why does Moonilal and indeed the entire People’s Panchayat need to play games of deflection and mud slinging when it comes to Calder Hart and UDECOTT? If there is so much evidence to show coruption and abuse of state funds why hasn’t the AG charged and arrested Hart yet?

I also pointed that at every level of criminal activity in this country it’s only the small fries that the police are detecting and arresting. So the police got 6 welders in a mangrove chop shop….great stuff….now riddle me this….you think those fellas responsible for buying the scrap iron on the black market? Seriously? Who are the dealers in the black market that buying all of this scrap iron? And why aren’t they being arrested? The trade in metals is a world wide phenomenon now; it’s not just Trinidad, so apart from the 6 welders, who else involved and is there a sting operation being set up to catch all levels of the organisation? Or are we still only catching the little fry dry and them while the big fish swim along merrily getting fatter and fatter?

But the major issue that we argued about under that tree today was the nature of partnership. Things got very heated because there were all the obvious wounds of Trini doh like Tobago etc etc. And it doesn’t matter that my mother born and grow here, or that I spend considerable time here and have a deep affinity for the place…..to my Tobago relatives I’m the Trini half-breed…which makes me suspect!

So as we argued under the tree a couple questions rose to mind about relationships and partnerships. Prakash Ramadhar in a story yesterday or today expressed the hope that he will be consulted before the Royal Rani re-configures the Cabinet. These days everytime Prakash talks I does have to suppress the urge to snort and I will explain why. Prakash reminds me of the man in that old Swamp Dogg song “Take Time To Know Her”. Because with every new thing the UNC government throws at him he keeps acting all brand new and surprised. Almost as if he expected better from the UNC under Kamla. I am beginning to wonder what exactly was in the Pre-Nuptual Agreement signed in Fyzabad. No, seriously Prakash, can you tell me what was in the Fyzabad Accord? Can we, the people, get details?

You see folks, this is my assumption, plain and simple. I thought that Accord detailed the rules and guidelines by which the partnership was supposed to function. I assumed that the Accord laid out the structure for how this Panchayat would govern the country, how they would meet, how they would negotiate, how they would make decisions….in short I thought the Fyzabad Accord laid out the terms, vision and mission of the Partnership. What I am understanding now is that the Fyzabad Accord resembled that 1870 Scramble for Africa….5 parties met, with a map of Trinidad and Tobago and like a flock of vultures or a pack of hyenas they agreed who would get what…..the Fyzabad Accord was actually the official Eat Ah Food Agreement. You get 2 leg and a breast, we go take the neck and a wing etc etc….oh, and supersize my fries with that order please!

For Prakash to now come and say that he is hoping to be consulted means that as a group this coalition government never agreed on mutual consultations. And if they never agreed on group consultations then we don’t have a partnership or coalition government what we have is a dictatorship. We have the UNC dictating to the other members of the Coalition, who, instead of looking out for our best interests merely nod and accept the dictates, whether they are legal or not. How else does Ramadhar et al explain all the questionable decisions this government has made in the interests of the “NAYSHUN” that smack of corruption, nepotism, abuse and treachery while he has sat in the Cabinet and the Parliament? I for one will not forget his first bit of treachery….endorsing and defending the hiring of Reshmi Ramnarine! Were you consulted on that Prakash? Did you agree to stand in Parliament and defend what was from the start a slap in the nation’s face? You have stood side by side with Kamla in Parliament and spat in our faces daily and now you wish to talk principles? Are you really a partner in this coalition? Or the Trojan Horse that got the UNC into power?

Now, let me ask you this question, Prakash; if in the last 2 years the UNC has shown no real desire to have mutual consultations with its coalition partners on matters of national interests, what makes you think it will happen now?

Prakash, you jump into a marriage without checking out the nature of your partner and you expect her to change her ways now? Considering how you have waffled on other party and coalition issues, why should Kamla even bother to consult with you?

And on your insistence that  a coalition government is the only way for this country to go….come again?
Prakash, from 1956 to the present coalitions have come together for no other goal than to remove the PNM from power….there is no coalition party or government to date that has had a proper development plan in place for Trinidad and Tobago beyond removing the PNM. And don’t cite the issue of the NAR to me because early on their coalition showed cracks as well that centred on leadership and squabbling who got the choicest cuts of T&T. Since your coalition govt has gotten into power all the country is seeing is a feeding frenzy…no ideas for development or taking the country forward….so how on earth is this coalition working for us?

I know you won’t answer me…because deep down you too busy eating ah food to really care….but if you still have a shred of dignity left in you Prakash, I challenge you to an open debate about the COP, it’s role in Government thus far and how exactly it’s going to apologise to the people of this country and really and truly forge a way forward.

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 2yrs, 2dys: A Right Royal Mess!

So, I’ve given myself a day or so to ponder a few things and ask a few questions and I’m going to weigh in on the Eat Ah Food Fete.

I am advised that Ernie Ross and Ross Advertising were responsible for putting on the spectacle, or was it debacle, that took place on Thursday night. Now, the thing with media is this, things must be posed and staged. A few days before the event I drove down to Mid-Centre Mall to check out the space that was being prepped for this “Accountability Rally” aka the Eat Ah Food Fete and looked at how the space was being managed. Because management of the space at an event like this is crucial. Why? Simple. The point of the rally is to show the people that you have their love and undying support. Look at all the public military parades in distatorships around the world. Always there are huge crowds lining the streets, waving flags and smiling cheerily for the cameras as the Government puts on its show of might, power and popularity. Kamla’s Eat Ah Food Fete was no different from these parades.

The stage itself, took up 25 per cent of the car park area, then there was a huge pavilion tent for people who would need to sit, that took up another 15-20 per cent, then there was the concession area at the back, and then the audience space. There were several cameras at the venue, even one with a crane….but the crane was never actually used. So the television audience only got panned shots of the audience, that way you couldn’t see how loosely filled the back of the crowd area was. Only 25% of the audience area was lit as well. So in short, in a space that’s probably 2 acres in size, the audience took up half an acre. The audience size on some blogs was being touted as 20-30,000. The audience size, which was at its largest during Machel Montano’s performance (after the bull shit speeches) was actually closer to 15000 – 17000 maximum. And a couple thousand of this flooded the carpark specifically for the fete and not the rally. How do I know this? I just looked at footage from a camera man who was at the event. The other thing I noticed was the pre-dominance of Afro-Trinbagonian faces at the front of the audience. And this, again, was carefully constructed and staged, like most of this show.

The People’s Partnership was making sure to send a particular message with this crowd. With panned shots, the majority of the small crowd forced into a smaller space, and a pre-dominance of black faces in the audience, this was Ernie Ross’s way of saying on behalf of Kamla to a television audience, “Look! See! We have the support of the people and further to that, look how much black people supporting us and our government.” Whether the audience was there willingly or not is hardly my concern. I’m not too intrigued with the electorate at this point. We  are 3 years away from an election and their minds change. What I am interested in is, why, does a government that won a landslide victory two years ago still need to campaign and market itself so hard? And if they have so much of the electorate’s support, why are they struggling to fill a limited space like Mid-Centre Mall car park….and even further, if they have such a large and massive mandate, why are they still so heavily reliant on their Central voter base? Surely a government that won as large a victory as the People’s Partnership did in 2010 could easily go back to the Aranguez Savannah, the large one in front of those villas, and fill that up again as they did in May 2010? Yet in the last 2 years their rallies  are in small, contained spaces.

The speeches at the event didn’t much surprise or perturb me in any way. Prakash Ramadhar’s speech, while subversive, was lost to many because of how he was placed in the line-up. His speech, is in my opinion, too little too late. All the corruption he’s talking about, he has been part of. Vidwattie’s travel expenses was approved by a Cabinet he sat on…as was Vernella’s credit card over spending and Reshmi Ramnarine’s appointment to the SIA. So what morals and principles you returning to COP? Wipe your own ass before you instructing others that they have lint in theirs, son!

I expected no one from the UNC government to make any startling revelations. I didn’t expect any of them to address the issues that really concern the country: the nepotism, corruption, abuse of public funds, CAL, CLICO, crime, the economy, the drug economy, the creeping murder rate, the failed SoE. I didn’t expect any of these to be addressed, and I did expect to hear the PM say that there was no money in the treasury, and then point out all the new projects there were going to do with the “no money in the treasury”. I also expected to hear the PM continue to blame the PNM…..and this my friends is where we get to the crux of the matter about how desperate the PPG has become.

A significant percentage of the population are against these rallies. The dissent is beginning to make its way through even on media polls that might be manipulated. Go online and listen in on FB groups, look at the Twittersphere, or read the Jahaji Desi group posts. You can’t miss the dissatisfaction and disaffection that’s become palpable and obvious within the electorate. For Abdullah and Ramadhar to feel ok to oppose Kamla before and on the day of the rally tells you that they and all are aware that the winds of change are shifting….ever so imperceptibly.

While PNM till ah Dead people might be frothing over Sugar Aloes’ performance, I can only smile. Because it further emphasises just how desperate and de-based this government has become. Aloes needs a permanent place for his Calypso Tent…and Kamla willing to get in bed with him, just to prove a point. She has, like many of her rabid supporters and apologists, conveniently forgotten Aloes’ career. Anyone remember his advice to Panday in 2008 to “Look in De Mirror”?

Think back and study your head good. One of the things that has constantly plagued the UNC as a political entity is the in-fighting and political back stabbing that happens in the party. How many times have Panday and Ramesh fallen out with each other, and then fallen back in love again? Or Panday and Ramnath? Indeed, the many fallouts between Panday and Ramesh led to the UNC’s defeat in the early part of this millennia. Then Panday accepted Ramesh back into the fold, at a point in time when Dookeran was the party’s political leader and that led to the split that launched the COP……anyone remember any of this? This image of a dog returning to its own vomit is something the UNC as a party struggles with. It’s one of the reasons the party is seen as corrupt and untrustworthy. It’s the main reason they had to partner with the COP….to give the impression of being less corrupt and having principles.

Then, the party brings Sugar Aloes onto the stage this year and prove to the electorate, that COP presence or not, this party will stoop as low as it needs to in order to impress the electorate. Now, again, explain to me as if I am a 6-year-old, why a party with a massive mandate and the ability to hire whichever entertainer it wants would go the route of Sugar Aloes? A calypsonian who has insulted and vilified Oma Panday, Indian women and the Indian population generally? Why would Kamla feel that she needed to have Sugar Aloes honour her onstage that night? To make a point, folks. To say, “Look, see. Even die-hard PNMites supporting we.” So, in order for Kamla to prove her popularity with the masses she had to pay Sugar Aloes to sing to her and kiss her onstage. Talk is there are breakfast chats scheduled to give the Revue Tent a permanent home.

Why on earth would a party that has such a massive mandate need to continue to pull tricks from an obviously shallow magician’s hat to wow the population….unless they have already realised that they don’t have the same level of popularity that brought them to power in 2010?

No amount of silly quips from Roodal Moonilal is going to get me to see the debacle on Thursday night in any other light than as a sure sign that this party is hitting rock bottom and scraping around for ideas. Couple the Aloes performance with Kamla’s speech that still relied heavily on summoning the Manning Jumbie, Calder Hart and words like Squandermania. Kamla delivered a particularly luke warm 2010 campaign speech all over again….and the numerous journalists that have become media advisers and speech writers to this government have clearly run out of ideas.

What’s going to happen in 2015 when there is no Manning Bobolee to beat like a drum because it is now The Keith who is leader and his brother isn’t his nurse and travel assistant? What use will it be to call Calder Hart’s name in 2015 when your AG has made no real effort to arrest or charge Calder Hart because there are no charges to be laid against Hart? What’s going to be the point of mentioning Manning’s Squandermania in 2015, when your Squandermania, Kamla is all that’s going to be at the forefront of the voters’ mind?

This government has become desperate, 2 years into their term, they are still campaigning, never started ruling and their campaign has run out of steam. The population already seeing them for the naked plunderers of the treasury that they are. And it becomes glaringly apparent every day that every government Ministry and state board has simply become CEPEP positions for their friends and family members. We elected a CEPEP Government!

Kamla has promised a Cabinet reconfiguration…..a new word for Cabinet Reshuffle….and she is hoping that this re-shuffle is going to magically make her government perform better. Mark my words, Kamla has until May 24th 2013 to turn the performance of her Government around. If she doesn’t manage to turn her government around in 1 year, then no amount of short term projects whether it orange, green or yellow and wildspending in 2014/2015 will help her. Her underperformance will spell doom for the COP, the UNC and any woman wanting to be leader within the foreseeable future. If Kamla doesn’t stop campaigning and start really governing within the next year, then I foresee a PNM return to power in 2015 that could last for a long, long time.

This country actually needs healthy political parties and governments to move forward. Trust me folks, a Balisier Reichenstag is not a good thing for this country….look at what it did to Manning’s term in office. But until the 5 parties that make up this pappy show government get their act in order, that may be precisely what we are looking at!

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 23mts, 22dys: Pappy Shows and Fetes!

5 more days to the annual Eat Ah Food Fete at Rienzi and people still making up their mind if they should RSVP or not! While The Rani insisting that the Partnership “Stronger Than Ever!” Joseph Tony and David Abdullah not in the mood to parrrrtttyyy! And of course we boy Prakash aint going to miss an opportunity to be on his feet in front of a crowd paid to adore him, while they guzzle free food and drink…look out for his Baptist Minister impersonation. Tony, in trying to make Prakash’s adherence to camp Eat Ah Food look good trying to imply that Prakash might have something important to say at the Fete….in my experience, the only important things that does get said at fetes is Heh HAAAA! and Yeah Yeah! So, unless Prakash walking with HD and a Boddle of Rum, he have nothing important to say and the Eat Ah Food Fete is certainly not the venue!

PRakash has so squandered whatever good will he has with his party and this nation it not funny. Trust me Prakash, the only important thing you could have to say to this country cannot and shouldn’t be said on a Rienzi stage on May 24th. So the mere fact that you might be saying something important there at that time means, well, it not really important at all. A word to the wise…you getting little plump, watch how much of the UNC 2nds and 3rds you taking!

The next piece of mark that buss is that the issue of Vidwattie Newton’s role as travel assistant and unregistered nurse to the PM has gone before the Intergrity Commission. If I am not mistaken, this is the same Integrity Commission that the Prime Minister’s sister-in-law sits on, not so? So, is the PM’s sister-in-law going to recuse herself or remain and be a part of the entire process? Further, will Papa Ken Gordon, the chairman appointed by this government (and who, according to Devant has no common sense) be independent minded in his investigations? Is this investigation likely to be another Pappy Show on a grand scale? Is the box office selling tickets and pop corn? Coming soon to a tv near you folks, sit tight.

Then I see Harry Harnarine singing an aria at his Commission of Enquiry. According to Harnarine, the same man that answering questions for stealing and misallocating millions of Hindu Credit Union dollars, he and Mr Panday plotted the rise and fall of the COP at the 2007 elections. The story in today’s Express makes for riveting reading. Harnarine explains how he and former UNC Leader Panday lulled Dookeran into forming COP and then orchestrated the party’s loss at the 2007 elections. The COP’s Wikipedia page, apparently written by a founding member of the party gives a version that never mentions Harnarine’s name. The HCU building gets named though…so kudos to Harry. Now, Mr Harnarine, apart from being a perpertrator of fraud, a thug, a thief, a businessman, can add conspirator to his many lists of achievements. Look at that! Here’s a UNC member who doesn’t need to pad his resume to get a job!

There were two murders this week…but you won’t hear Kamla talk about that next week at the Eat Ah Food Fete. She’ll talk about 21st century policing, also known as police patrols in other sensible countries of the world. She’ll talk about the new anti-gang unit that has been set up, which used to be known as SAUTT under the PNM administration. But she won’t talk about how the figures are edging up steadily. She won’t talk about a daughter coming home from school to find her father tied up and dead in their family home, or a little boy of two being in his father’s arms while the Dad is shot dead! No, you don’t talk about those things when you wasting public money having a fete to celebrate 2 years of being in Government….not running a government….not practicing good governance…..just being in government…..this People’s Partnership aint beg it like to fete!

We have at least one piece of good news today. Cheryl Miller is back at work and suing the government for illegal detainment to the tune of TT$10m…..she deserves more than this, and I hope that she gets EVERY LAST CENT!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 23mts, 17dys: The Delinquent Mother

The National Mother. Photo courtesy Jyoti Communications website.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. A day that I associate with anyone, regardless of gender, who nurtures, rears, and gives care to a child. And while I thought about the men and women that have functioned as mothers in my life, I thought too about the people in charge of our government and in fact our country.

Let’s start with the National Mother and Grandmother, who, I am sure, considers herself to be a Mothering Worker!

VS Naipaul wrote a story called Maternal Instinct in his highly satirical and highly acclaimed novel Miguel Street. In it, Laura, the heroine, was a women with many children fathered by many men.

There are days I get the impression the National Mother had the country with several Child Fathers or Baby Daddies, hence the reason  the buck passing can never end with her. She doesn’t answer questions of national concern, it’s always one of the men, even when the questions are about issues that are directly linked to her, like her sister Vidwattie Newton.

Between January to May this country like it get caught in an undertow at Maracas Bay and every time we stand up to ketch weself a next wave of nonsense lick us down. In fact, I daresay that since The Keith’s Motion of No Confidence this govt has been mired in bacchanal after bacchanal, conflict after conflict… and the men who the National Mother keeps hiding behind are abusing her offspring and Kamla, typical of the mother who turns a blind eye to the abuse of her children because “the man helping out” remains silent.

Tell me on what issue has the National Mother actually spoken out on or taken a leadership role on?

Dwayne Gibbs rented a plane for $.9m, money that he had no right to use or disburse, tell me what has become of that and why, the PM hasn’t insisted that the AG put his foot down where that probe and Gibbs’ Commissionership is concerned? She is after all the head of the National Security Council so this should be an issue that concerns her and concerns her deeply. What the Crop Duster rental told us was that this government, led by Persad-Bissessar, didn’t have a crime plan in place, didn’t know procedure and protocol and were quite happy with public officials abusing public funds without being held accountable. This impression of the National Mother and her heads of household haven’t changed.

The Minister with common sense in spades!

Let’s look at Devant Maharaj, who reminds me of the surrepitiously lecherous uncle. You know, the one who always wants to hold you in that uncomfortable position on his lap for an inordinate length of time….riiiiiight! There have been a number of shitstorm clouds hovering over Maharaj’s tenure as  Minister of Transport, none more ominous than Caribbean Airlines Limited. Devant has been involved in misstep after misstep with CAL: under him a financially crippled CAL announced a profit of $200m ( a figure I was immediately sceptical about and the PP die hards called my scepticism racism); under Devant, CAL donated US$5m to the PM’s Life Fund; under Devant, previous CAL chairmen have been accused of having no common sense when it came to managing an airline; under Devant the PTSC has been accused of running a courier service for high priced prostitutes, and it is alleged that a member of the PTSC Board is running the ring…investigations still being conducted.  These are just a handful of the issues plaguing Devant; but by the 3rd or 4th complaint about Uncle Devant, shouldn’t Kamla…as mother and leader have started to ask some pointed questions herself? How exactly did she let it slide when he accused past chairmen of having no commonsense? How exactly has she managed to ignore the fact that mismanagement of CAL has happened under her government’s watch. Arthur Lok Jack, a former CAL Chairman who (according to Devant) lacked common sense, good frig up the government last week when he revealed that  more than US$100m that his board had left intact at the end of his tenure in June 2010 was now missing. A former board member, Allan Clovis, corroborated Lok Jack’s statement. Now Devant is calling for a report on the missing millions and I guess we should believe that he doesn’t know what’s going on with the airline under his purview, and further to that, that Rabindranath Moonan, who was appointed chairman because he possessed common sense by the tonne, also knows nothing about the missing millions? And in all of this the PM is silent and invisible. This isn’t buses and cars….this is the national airline, something that is crucial not just to Trinidad and Tobago but to the wider Caribbean….and not one word from the National Mother….maybe if we gave her a fleet of CAL jets to aid her constant travel she’d have more to say.

Prakash Ramadhar is another parent in this partnership who has me concerned. Most voters in 2010 had hoped that the COP would be the partner that maintained reason, honour, integrity and credibility in this political marriage. In short, we hoped the COP would be the sort of parent we could run to for sane judgement in a time of crisis. Yet we have the COP supporting the UNC in all kinds of questionable decisions Reshmi, SoE, Vidwattie…notice the rhyme scheme), but then getting their panties tied up in knots over a Mayorship.  Prakash has turned out to be just as wobbly and weak a leader as Winston Dookeran. He blows hot and cold at the same time and seems prone to telling either side, whether it’s Kamla or his supporters, precisely what they want to hear. Praksh is precisely the sort of fence sitter that I like to avoid….because he’ll see abuse and justify it as necessary for the child’s  development!

Tim “the tool man”…..i’ll stop there….

Then there’s Tim…..what to not say about Tim Goopeesingh boy? This is a man who spent his previous term in office with the UNC under a fog of suspicion for many things: ghost gang doctors; RHA monies missing; heart and dialysis machines missing and ending up in private hospitals; RHA budget being used to pay for his family’s regular restaurant bills….all of these accusations were being levelled at Goopeesingh, yet Kamla, in her wisdom, as National Mother felt that this is precisely the sort of man she wanted to expose to the nation all over again and this time in education.

He has turned out to be abrasive, aggressive and exclusive in his approach to much of what he is doing at the Ministry. Stakeholders are complaining that they are not a part of the decision making process as regards the SEA exam….a crucial part of our education system. Further, Tim has taken to antagonising teachers now. Openly complaining about perks and benefits that teachers, their union and the Ministry of Education would have collectively agreed on and adding fuel to already tense situations. The latest furore is that the format of the SEA exam is about to change in 2013. 1 year’s notice to change an exam that makes or breaks the future of most children and citizens here. If this transition isn’t handled properly this current government could be damaging the future of the nation’s education system…and I am once again reminded of Kamla’s tenure as Education minister when secondary education for all was instituted and the government she served rushed to rent unventilated buildings to put children in. It was under her tenure as minister that knives, forks and flatware went missing from the ministry and had to be returned.

When the UNC described Kamla as the mother of the nation in 2010, the images conjured was of a responsible caregiver, here to nurture, not boof; encourage, not dictate. Instead the type of mother we have gotten smacks of someone who got pregnant too young. We got a National Mother who more interested in shopping, travelling and dressing up….we got a National mother who lies, abuses state funds and when caught sleeping on the job puts the responsibility on the men around her.

I think we should award Kamla as Delinquent National Mother of the Year! Party hard, grandma….you rock on with yuh bad self!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

 

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 23mts, 6dys: Rumours and Realities

 

Rumours of Prakash Ramadhar’s demise have been greatly exaggerated….but yes, the COP is dead! Long Live the Partnership!

The nation was hot with the rumour yesterday, since about midday, that the Rani call an emergency Cabinet meeting to fire COP leader Prakash. Local media fed and fuelled a rumour all the way into a full fledged story yesterday long before the PM ever gave a public statement. By 3pm, when I was becoming aware of the rumour Twitter and Facebook was already alive. By 6pm TV6 had tweeted Prakash’s firing as fact it seemed and CNC 3’s Sampson Nanton, on watch at the Diplomatic Centre, had all but confirmed it, then hours later had to tweet that it was confirmed that it was all a rumour. Yesterday evening made me pause and take stock of the media and its roll in fuelling  public speculation yesterday. Because by news time it became clear that while everyone had the rumour in hand, no one had a clue as to its root or veracity. It’s one thing to post comments and tweets about a possible rumour and quite another to post in so authoritative a manner as to make the rumour appear to be a confirmed story….yes Express, is you I fingering. Especially since you have become a repository for pre-action protocol letters in a rage from this government…..

But to me the real issue this week is not the weakness of the PPG….we all know they weak. For Kamla to tell the media she called an emergency cabinet meeting to plan for the year ahead is laughably weak….since there is no evidence that this government has ever had a plan beyond winning the elections, who would actually believe that they do any planning. It easier to believe that the PPG fete committee was meeting to discuss what colour balloons they using for May 24th…because you know we stronger than ever! Kamla’s only strategy for this term in office is to survive for 5 years intact. It is clear to me that her campaign speeches for 2015 will centre around “We Will Survive!”

Mark what I have said here often….Prakash and the COP aint going anywhere…..the eat ah food urge is strong….this man who talks about principles is the same man who supported Reshmi’s appointment as director of the SIA, the same man who lent his voice to the endorsement of the SoE, the same man who sits on a Cabinet that would have approved funding for Vidwattie Newton’s travel expenses……Principles FTW??????

The bigger stories this week are really the Auditor General’s report that I outlined in yesterday’s blog post, that shows abuse and misuse of state funds in at least 5 Ministries. The abuse is so bad that the Integrity Commission wants in on the action…..

The other really important story as well is this alleged probe or investigation into Calder Hart. The AG is yet to convince me that this latest announcement is anything but PR. Calder Hart remains thousands of miles away in the US, after having answered questions here 2 years ago under the Manning regime. Unless this the US extradites Hart (snicker snicker) and our Constitution has laws that make overspending , waste of public money, and mismanagement crimes….then Calder Hart (or the CLICO Board) going to have to be accountable to anyone for what happened at UDECOTT. Already members of the UDECOTT Board saying they were in the dark on decisions taken…doesn’t this remind you of CLICOGATE?????

Even Vernon de Lima, one of the men responsible for retrieving Sherrine Hart’s birthpaper from Malaysia, is unconvinced that Hart can be forced to come to Trinidad to answer questions….and while the Calder Hart Capers continue, with no visible end in sight, the public pocket still jumping up with loans for UDECOTT projects.

And now the latest story is that members of the construction community are alleging that not one recommendation from the UFF Commission has been put in place so tendering and procurement procedures on construction projects remain as dubious and prone to corruption as ever…..This is the type of Govt that Prakash and the COP continue to remain a part of and still want to talk about Principles in the Coudray affair…..

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$K/Political Pantomime 23mts, 5 dys: A Hart-Less Govt!

Photo courtesy Jyoti Publications website.

22 more days to the PPG’s 2nd anniversary in Govt!
If me was Brian Lara,  I woulda pre-action protocol myself at this stage and remove my name from the Cancer Centre and Tarouba stadium because things only going to get nastier and it’s his name that going to suffer and get muddied every single time. The government still trying to keep the lid on the over-radiation scandal of patients at the Cancer Centre named after you, and an Independent Senator has labelled it “one of the greatest scandals in medical history”. Trust me Brian, you don’t want your name continually mixed up with either of these structures/institutions…get out!

The AG smelling the 2-year anniversary coming up too and the coalition need legitimate things to celebrate…because how it go look that since The Keith bring that Motion of No Confidence that they in a constant tailspin….credit cards, Cheryl Miller, police brutality, escalating murder rate, crimes against women and children, 21st century non-policing, Vidwattie….Vidwattie….Anand hiring his nephew….Marlene Coudray….Vidwattie…Devant hiring Dookeran cousin….Jack winning internal elections….Vidwattie…Kamla carrying her nephew and niece to India and possibly the public paid for that too….nationwide protests in villages….Vidwattie…..TCL strike…..did I mention Kamla’s sister Vidwattie Newton having access to public funds without being an employee of the state?

Right, so in light of the many fiascos that plagues this government and by proxy our nation daily, the government had to try and appear to be doing something…how else to justify the government being a success and stronger than ever 2 years later than….bringing a civil case against Calder Hart? Now let me tell you why after reading the story this immediately became a non-issue for me….the case the state is bringing against Hart hinges on two crucial issues….mismanagement of public funds when it came to building the BC Lara Stadium (aka the Billion Dollar Tsunami Shelter) and the Legal Towers…..and failure to declare family ties….so, now, the Pantomime going to ask all yuh, when last anybody in this country pay a fine or make a jail for bad spending public money or for not declaring that the business they offering a tender to is really them and their family own? Anybody? study all yuh head good? If we used to jail people for bad spending and mismanaging people’s money then Duprey, Monteil and Bhoe Tewarie woulda make ah jail by now….so would Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson for what went on with the billion dollar airport….And….when last was it wrong in this government for you and your family to benefit from government contracts?

Calder and Sherrine Hart. Photo courtesy Jyoti Communications website.

Folks, since 2010 Prakash Ramadhar and Vernon de Lima wave Sherrine Hart birth paper and imply that they have real info on Calder Hart….info that would prove he and Manning conspire to abuse and misuse UDECOTT funds…..and I waited patiently and eagerly for the information that would prove to me that Manning’s squandermania (remember that buzz word) would be proven beyond a doubt and I’d be able to wine back on PNM cronies…..to date ah cyah even do like Lyndira Ouditt and Timothy Hamel-Smith and take privileges and wine on Faris Al Rawi (sighhhh)!!! It is now 23 months later and the best this govt can come up with is a weak civil case that their supporters will slaver over in the hopes that the rest of the country will see that they performing! This civil case going to draw out….watch and see…..I giving it 15 years before it get thrown out for lack of evidence. And as for the criminal case the AG says the state is building with Malaysian authorities, keep your eyes and ears out for it….see if you hear anything about it again by the end of the year. If 23 months later they now dealing with it…you don’t think Hart had more than enough time to clean up anything that might be laying around to incriminate him? Study all yuh head good nah?

This government’s failure to adequately deal with the Calder Hart bogey, one of the biggest jumbies they waved for the people in May 2010 going to haunt them…watch and see.

And as per Hart’s link to his wife Sherrine and Sunway Construction…..look how much government minister have family who own companies that getting government contract….on the basis of its prevalence under this regime it not illegal at all….Hart simply practising Good Family Values KPB style!

For me, the biggest story in today’s papers is not Calder Hart, or Faris al Rawi, or the union threat to destabilise the coalition or Anil Roberts behaving like a disrespectful lout to his political leader…..rather it is a story almost buried in the Guardian that synopsising the Auditor General’s Report for 2011.

Folks read this report closely, because it is listing a number discrepancies in several ministries such as:

• The Ministry of Education overpaying on 931 occasions to the tune of  $8.5m…..so after the first 5 times they couldn’t get it right? And according to the report this rend of overpaying happening since under Manning’s regime….over $41 million from 2005 – 2011….Hazel, Esthe and Tim, comments please?  The report also indicated a disturbing increase in the number of overpayments in the past year….whereas in 2010 there were 643 cases in 2011 it rose to 5280 times the Ministry over paid….that is more than a 100% increase. What Tim really doing with the Min of Ed budget?
• In the Office of the Prime Minister (listed as Vidwattie Newton’s address for check collection and where the PM works…it is alleged) “signed formal service agreements were not produced for 50 per cent of the sample of contract officers. As a result, terms and conditions of employment for these officers were not determined, the report stated.” I hope all yuh reading!
• In the ministry of Finance (Dooks ministry, eh), “the required cabinet minute approving posts were not seen for six people. Formal contracts were not produced for 31 of the 32 contract employees in the sample selected.”
•  In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “contracts were not produced for audit for two contractors for refurbishment works in which expenditure totalled $1.9 million.”
• In the Ministry of Works, “only one of the 30 Overpayment Registers from the Pay Sections was produced for audit examination and therefore the number of cases of overpayments for the year in this sector, and other details could not have been verified”
•  from a sample of 12 contract officers at Parliament, signed contract  agreements were not seen for 11, the report stated. Approved terms and conditions were not seen for seven officers. Approval from the Speaker of the House of Representatives was not seen for one officer. The report noted 44 cases of theft and losses of state property in 2011 totalling $1.3 million

Listen, is best all yuh go and read the full story and maybe find a copy of the Auditor General’s report, because what this pointing to is gross incompetence, breaches of protocol and mismanagement of public funds in at least 5 ministries…And this has led to wastage of public monies and if that is not Squandermania then I don’t know what is!

De Vice Cyah Done!