With all the hullabaloo in the US press about Tiger Woods and his alleged ‘nine-hole’ fetish, (who cares anyway – except Americans?) it reminded me about our own local bacchanal recently regarding a certain beauty queen contestant and a camera…

Ladies, please… no matter what the guy says about ‘all for fun’, etc., etc.,etc., remember what your mothers told you – all men are dogs. If he wants something on tape/digital media, tell him buy an adult DVD or go get another girl who’s into that kinky stuff. Having seen the video clip (yeah, yeah, I know…) it shows the real side of the other party – a man whose intention was to humiliate and show male dominance over a wannabe third-world ‘beauty queen’. For those who can look past the porn and see what it really was, hope that it is a lesson well learnt.

And for those who enjoy the exhibitionist side, well, disregard the above.

Anyway, it cracked me up – for days – thinking how I would have paid to see Sampson Nanton read a news bit about the Ayoung-Chee sex tapes. That would have been the funniest ever

(I’m always surprised at how time flies when there’s a post I started but just can’t seem to complete… This one I started since February 11th)

Ralph Nader had said that, “a basic function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not followers“. In the business world they speak about “freely giving away authority” (George Brymer), but politics is a more exciting arena to discuss the concept. This post was started since the ‘war’ in the UNC-A became full-blown, and as a COP supporter in the 2007 general election, I revelled in my vindication that they couldn’t last a year… But as they are the official opposition to a rampant PNM, I also have to feel ashamed that they make the government look much better than they really are.

Basdeo Panday has led his current party (UNC post Club 88) to three election defeats – 1991, 2002 and 2007. Prior to that I guess I can only check 1976 and 1981, so that’s five. Owen Arthur led his party to a loss in Barbados and he resigned. How many men and women before have done that? Quite a bit, but not Bas… In management theory, it is said that rewards are generally given for achievement rather than for effort alone or trying hard. In that context it is easy to see why he harps so much on the ’struggle’, because his achievements are rather limited.

But the purpose of the subject line is to show that at the core, even though the Indo vote has been described as more transient than the Afro one, when it comes down to the wire, Felicity votes the same way as Laventee. Imagine a loser of elections like Bas who never paid any attention to them when he was in power for six years and yet they will vote for him until either they slide into the swamp, or it is drained dry.

Similarly, the most depressed part of the East-West corridor will vote PNM until they die – which by the looks of things is getting quite early. And for their unwavering loyalty, they are treated with scant regard – almost contempt. The politicians are like abusive ‘men’ who think that they can do what they like because the woman ‘not going anywhere’.

So we are on the threshold of a watershed event – a UNC internal election where the fox has been deemed by many as old and ready for retirement. Will the status quo change, or will Felicity do what it is expected to do?

Originally posted as ‘Kamla The Coward’ (and with a caveat hoping that I’m proven wrong) it is now history that KPB is contesting to be the political leader of the UNC. Not only that, but vying to be the first female political leader of a party that has seats in Parliament and is the official Opposition.

Now while I congratulate her on her decision (too many people crying out for a hero – or heroine – to lead them to the promised land) just like the great betrayer, I have concerns about her leadership qualities. The only thing I hold against her was her unwavering loyalty to Bas. The question is, and it will come out in the campaign, if she wins the post, what level of deference will she extend to the Fox? I honestly wish her all the best. With her at the helm of the UNC, opposition unity is once more possible …

In April 2008 I wrote this piece about Kamla Persad-Bissessar who continues to defy common-sense. (Not UNC sense, mind you. We all know that with UNC sense applied, no one contests an election against Bas or the ‘political graveyard’ is your eventual destination).

http://nastylittletruths.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/an-enigma-called-kamla/

As of today, notwithstanding calls from all quarters for her to vie for the leadership of the UNC, Kamla remains ‘undecided’. And my bet is that there will be no contest. Kam will just fade into the infamous graveyard by her own inaction. Who in their right mind will want a leader that is so obviously afraid to go against Bas wishes anyway? Not me.

Kamla has done herself, and all those who support her – especially women – a great disservice by taking the coward’s way out. The longer she stays silent the more she destroys whatever credibility she has as a leader. I understand the fear of battling it out with Bas as he fights dirty, but at least let people know not to waste their time by playing coy.

I was right 20 months ago and I hope that I am proven wrong this week. The UNC will die with Basdeo Panday, as it deserves to, simply due to inaction by its members and gratuitous fawning by the inner circle. I won’t even waste time to talk about the great betrayer since he gets enough air time on IETV… Anyone else ever notice that? It’s as if they are on retainer to cover any statement by Ramesh – even if he’s talking to five people…

Whenever the final count is made public (ha!) of all that was spent on CHOGM,  all we can say is that is the price Patrick paid for the ‘lavish praise’ heaped upon him by the idiots who came for the all-expenses paid junket. And the best part was when he got to drink from a golden goblet owned by the Queen herself! I can bet that some craftsman has already been commissioned to make a similar set for the Emperor and his Court at La Fantasie…

And what about French President Nicolas Sarkozy? How hypocritical can you get from a man who is the president of one of the cleanest countries in Europe? They have nuclear energy and rank in the 20’s for carbon dioxide emissions per capita. They are low down in any list of industrialised nations with regard to pollution but he can come here and flippantly say that aluminium smelters are safe. I tell you…

But, ask Patrick what was the real deal for Sarkozy being in Trinidad. Okay, hold up… I can figure this out by myself… Vinci (the people who built the overpass)… French; Bouygues (the people who built the waterfront and now nine police stations)…  French; Alstom (the key partner in the consortium to build the rapid rail, but whose other core business is power generation)… French; Sappel (a water meter company that ‘gave’ WASA 2,500 ‘free’ meters and probably has nothing to do with the push for universal metering)… French.

Oh yes, way before the Chinese, the French knew ‘how to do business’ in foreign territories… So don’t get carried away by the pappyshow. Brown and Rudd were here to talk about football and Sarkozy was here to talk about business. I saw the best description of the acronym CHOGM by a letter writer to one of the newspapers and it was “Caribbean Holiday on Government Money” – sounds like that, aye?

After a four-week absence from posting anything here, I had to give some reason, aye?

But seriously, even though it’s old news, the fact that Neil Parsanlal took three journalists before the Privileges Committee of Parliament (one actually just reading the news with, I suppose, no input in the actual content) and then brave enough to take on Dana Seetahal, what about lil ole me typing away on an old keyboard stating my discontent with his government? I guess if Neil is after me, I should be afraid… very afraid…

And that gets me to the other part of this post – what is wrong with us as a nation when everything seems to be falling apart, but propped up by Chinese money, and we refuse to do anything about it? Saturday’s Red Day was a washout and on Sunday I was one a of the few hundreds in Woodford Square supporting the People’s Democracy. Like my better half said – fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves, but what do you do when no one even understands, or interested, in what the fight is about?  Heading to Central on Monday morning from the city and there were more cars than usual on the road so it assumes there will be none to negligible support for the call to shut down the country for two days. I am out of the city for the week – who cares about CHOGM and the HOGs that do attend?

(As a side note  – I was invited to a Caura River lime on Monday and my lord, if you see people! Minutes to seven I am heading out of that dark and dismal place and the two bars were filled and people were also parked on the side of the roads drinking. When I commented to my host that it looks like some support for the shut-down, he laughed and said that it was like this every Monday in Caura! Every Monday… My word, but Trini like to fete boy).

But our continued interest in making people aware (unrewarded as it seems by the disinterest of the majority of my people) can be summed up in my favourite publication’s (The Economist) raison d’être – “to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress”.

I have a solution to get better support for a country-wide strike – don’t advertise the date. I think that people go out to work so as not to be stigmatised as a ’supporter’ and therefore not in the gun sights of their employer. If everyone stays home tomorrow Wednesday there’s not one employer in the country who can do anything about it as it was  not advertised as a day of srike or to stay home and ‘reflect’.

A few weeks ago one of the regular scenes of ‘burning debris in the road’ to highlight community ills took place at Gandhi Village in Debe. The usual talk about neglect by the various ministries was standard fare, but what caught my attention were the choice words some villagers had to say about their parliamentary representative - UNC MP Roodal Moonilal and by extension UNC MP Mikela Panday.

My usual retort (similar to complaints emanating from PNM constituencies) is, “and if elections were called tomorrow morning – yuh go still vote XXX”. And it’s true… no matter what the hardships, people in TnT have to be really down on their luck – ‘catching dey arse’ as we say to replicate a 1986. But, there is hope my fellow citizens of Gandhi Village and it lies only with you…

Jump high or jump low, Keith Rowley and UdeCoTT kangkalang notwithstanding, the PNM will get their 300,000 votes next elections. I’ll explain a little more later, but working on pure numbers from the last election alone, the PNM is a minority government that can lose an election in Trinidad if the ‘transient’ opposition votes can be consolidated into one. (Yes Bas, unfortunately I agree with your statement that you have to die first, but contrary to popular ‘UNC till ah dead’ opinion, you are mortal like all of us).

The UNC, or whatever coalition/new party comes into being next election will take back the five seats lost to split votes – Barataria/San Juan, Chaguanas East, Pointe-a-Pierre, Princes Town South and St. Joseph - but that’s only 20 seats. Two prime seats for the PNM’s downfall will be San Fernando West and Tunapuna and it will be 1995 all over again…

The lesson for Gandhi Village and all the UNC strongholds is simple – change your paradigm or stay in opposition forever. Bas not going anywhere and the sycophants surrounding him are not worth elevating to replace him. If he is alive he will still be calling the shots and if dead they will hold seances to get his advice on what to do. Imagine nearly all hands shot up in the air yesterday when a motion was tabled asking him to step down (wow… reflect on that for a moment… there really can be change…) and let Kamla take the reins and yet he dismissively talks about who wants to go can go.

And what about Kamla? The woman who showed a niggling of a spine last elections when Jack Warner led the charge to knock her out of a ‘co-leader’ post but went back to her groveling mode soon thereafter. I know, as most people do, that she can’t lead that party as she has too many skeletons in the closet. The personal attacks will be vicious and incontestable..

So Bas can say we are naive, provocative and insulting how much he wants, we know the reality – he is at the helm of a party that is unelectable to government and once people like you in Gandhi Village understands that, there will be no need to dissolve any party… it will die on its own.

There is a general perception that as soon as government, or anyone in government, say something about our sportsmen/sportswomen/teams, they ‘get blight’…

Why, oh why didn’t Gary Hunt  just shut up? Wear red today my rass… Even if I did have intention of doing that, I’ll look for something else! Even the PM and the ole Bas is sending congratulations to the team. When it really mattered, and the record will show it, the government wasn’t interested in showing support for this T20 team. And don’t forget Petrotrin who didn’t want to give Ganga leave to go in the first place! Fair weather supporters – all of them.

But let’s forget about that and support the most successful Trinidad captain Daren Ganga, his most able all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and the rest of the TnT squad who has made us immeasurably proud by convincingly winning their matches and reaching the finals. We’ve played New South Wales before and posted the highest total which means in typical Aussie style they will be doing their homework… It’s not going to be easy, but with 1.3m (less the politicians) embattled souls vying for heroes, we have what it takes to win this thing!!

The Acting CoP said on Tuesday that “we (the Police Service) must show the criminals who are in charge” after a murder accused was assassinated in the precincts of the Rio Claro courthouse while being escorted by two policemen. A summary of the event in the Express read as follows:

“Peter Garcia was in handcuffs, police officers at his side, on the compound of a court, with dozens of officers nearby, when he was shot dead by men mocking the State’s ability to protect. Garcia had no chance to defend himself, and no one to defend him. The police constables escorting him to the police station next door released their prisoner and ran after the first gunshot. The policemen who responded to the shooting came long after the suspects were gone“

Four sentences, but what a story… Look at the key phrases – ‘mocking the State’s ability to protect’, ‘no one to defend him’, ‘ran after the first gunshot’, ‘came long after’… Yes, I know it was a murder accused but the sheer brazenness of the act even had James jumping.

But here is the source of my question: was the Acting CoP direct involvement in the investigation and apprehension of two suspects Wednesday driven out of his concern about the murder, the act or trying, albeit way too late, to save some face? You see, I am leaning towards the last because with an abysmally low detection rate for the 400+ murders in TnT, this one was personal. His men couldn’t protect the victim, they ran and they came back later when they were sure it was safe…

Any surprises here? Absolutely none because that’s the response we get when we call the police from our homes… They never have a vehicle in the station to respond to your desperate calls for help, they are never on site while an act could be prevented.

(As a side story, a friend of mine had some questions that stumped me recently. She said every morning on her way to work - Monday to Friday – she passes the same police vehicle at around the same part of her route at around the same time so she has to assume that it’s a policeman/woman on their way to some specific location. How is this possible? Does the officer have the vehicle go home and back to work the next day effectively parking a valuable asset for the night? Is the vehicle being used to drop someone off at school or work in the morning? I have got to get the vehicle number from her and see where it leads to…)

But back to the Acting CoP’s comment about showing who is in charge. Mr. James, the criminals are in charge – whether white-collar, blue or no collar. You abdicated your duty in not initiating criminal inquiries into massive allegations, and subsequent sworn testimony, of fraud and corruption. The perception is that you defer to the political power of the day so then it can be deduced that you are not in charge of the Police Service… And if politicians bow to money, or who has it, as their god and behind every wealth is a crime, what does that say about who’s in charge?

Ding, ding, ding… I can see the light go on in your head, but as usual, you can’t/won’t do anything about it… But I have to give you this – you can certainly talk the talk… You sound sincere, motivational - you don’t read from a piece of paper – say the right things, but still no action.

The Economist had an interesting article today, “Someone to watch over them” and I quoted one paragraph below to give a gist of it:

“The case for separation is based on the simple principle of the separation of powers. How can boards discharge their basic duty—monitoring the boss—if the boss is chairing its meetings and setting its agenda? How can a board act as a safeguard against corruption or incompetence when the possible source of that corruption and incompetence is sitting at the head of the table?”

The entire story can be accessed here:

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14637626&Fsrc=mgttkgnwl

In a country where talent is so exceedingly difficult to get, sorry… ‘friends who can be trusted’… what could we possibly say to support our argument of having the same jokers in multiple boards? And not only as chairmen, but ‘executive’ as well… Shafeek Sultan Khan is chairman of WASA and CLICO, but acts as the de facto CEO of WASA. Anyone notice that after Errol Grimes departure the new guy is still acting?

Calder Hart is executive chairman, chairman and director of so many boards it can make your head spin! ( pre=”">TV6 – they are going to sue your rass after that 1/2 hour special last night, “Hart of the matter”)

A company that I worked with some time ago recently asked their MD to resign amid allegations of abuse of fiduciary duty – not stealing or anything like that but going against the grain of what the company stood for. Imagine that… just on principle. Made me proud that the Chairman – for whom I worked when he was MD but left when he vacated that chair - still held the values that made him a good boss. That we certainly won’t see it in any State boards because they answer to a different set of ‘values’.

In Sunday’s Express Raoul Pantin asked Mariano Browne about his experiences as a relative newcomer to Trinidad politics and he ended up his answer by saying that the “institutions were fractious”. Questioned further about what he meant by that, Mariano started to talk about MPATT and Bandleaders’ Association and then flipped to saying we need more analysis of a practical kind, more examination and a greater degree of reflection of what we do and how we react.

Of course I was stunned at the replies, but dismissively so – what do you expect from a politician? Why didn’t Mariano talk about the failures of government institutions rather than others? How can he not see that most of them don’t work and those that do are so riddled with corruption it will be like Hercules cleaning the Aegean Stables. A few that come to mind – Licensing Office and Town and Country… (Now the Police Service who can;t protect a prisoner in the precincts of a courthouse).

What about the Electrical Inspectorate and the Public Health Inspectorate? The common joke when the PHI makes a raid on an establishment and shuts it down it’s because the owner missed his ‘monthly instalment’. (I saw one of them whom I know personally measuring the size of the ‘bedroom’ for the Chinese workers in the newspapers and I couldn’t help but laugh aloud. Knowing the character’s modus operandi – he either knows nothing about how to solve a problem or find the most likely suspect who will pay him to watch the other way).

Practical analysis? Reflection and reaction? Please… don’t get me started on this track! If we disagree with the government on any issue, it is because we have not ‘analysed’ it properly. We get ‘emotional’ and react negatively because we are ‘ignorant’. You go Mariano… you are after all a minister of government and we are nothing but buffoons? The old saying about monkey can’t see their own tail, eh?

And what about your boss, the PM? Out of all the projects in Trinidad – and we will only mention the Tsunami Shelter – why is only Cleaver Heights a “matter of concern to the prime minister”? Do you think we really don’t know why? Pulling the wool over people’s eyes seem to be too easy so you guys are now pushing bull tata all over the airwaves.