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.

Live and direct from TnT Parliament – The PM said Rowley was dismissed because of his ‘behaviour’. Keith was on fire today and nothing Patrick can say in his condescending manner could have saved him…

So you be the judge:

Misappropriate money, cut deals and spend as if there’s no tomorrow – but be genteel and civil about it – versus being passionate about the future of the country and it’s wealth, but if someone dares to stonewall you, ‘cuss they rass up’ like a true wajang…

I guess for Patrick ‘behaviour’ is more important than money. This is the man who wants the youth to take up ballroom dancing instead of a gun, eh. We really reach the bottom of the pit boy…

This is a lazyman post… Every single topic could fill a 500 word post easily, but a tired body and soul needs to get this weekend started.

First up we had the protest by the Chinese workers who live in conditions that the news reporter aptly described as what you would expect in a refugee camp. If anyone saw this on the news and can trace their origin as a Trinidadian back to slavery and indentureship, it had to have an impact on you. If not, then you have no concept of history and have dismissed the suffering and inhumane treatment meted out to our ancestors who experienced worse.

Kudos to Ancil Roget, President of the OWTU, who was at the forefront of protest about imported labour,but understands that at the end of the day people are people – no matter their ethnic origin or economic condition – and must be treated as such. How many  of you remembered that the same company the workers were protesting against (Beijing Liujian) was awarded the TT$233 million contract to upgrade Maracas Beach? To quote Joseph Ross when he made the announcement – “the company was chosen out of an international tender and it was one of the largest construction enterprises in the world. Their experience, their history, their financial structure was the best”. Yeah, and UdeCoTT is the project manager…

Next – At the post Cabinet meeting my two favourite Ministers were cementing their positions with regard to UdeCoTT and Hart. Dik-Fud said that she has absolutely no intention of asking the board to resign and expressed her full confidence in them to continue the excellent work they’ve been doing. And Im-blah was warning the media about slandering the po’ Calder Hart. Talk in town is that this rape and robbery will continue until the eve of the next election and then Patrick will fire the board and appeal to his masses (palms facing upwards) that he ‘did what he had to do’ and begs for their support and votes. By that time we’ll probably be over TT$100 billion in deficit and loans to be paid by about three generations.

And then the riots in Beetham. We reach, boy… A stereotypical ‘plannings’ community rose up against what they saw as police tyranny and ‘injustice’ against two of their ‘brethren’. The astute legal minds amongst them said that when the police killed the two men after a shoot out it was unjustified. Really? Did they have all the facts and the merits of the case was fully ventilated, or just pure mob behaviour? Assaulting innocent drivers on the highway and pelting stones and bottles at their cars and you want our sympathy? Just vote PNM next time and maybe they’ll pass a law for us to pay you a toll to use the highway…

Finally, as I was fleeing Port of Spain to go to Enterprise for the weekend – it’s Divali tomorrow (food from people I’ve been eating by like forever on this day ) I had to take a deotour into Aranjuez – a road I hate just like Pasea because of the bad parking – and was looking for a bull pistle for Im-blah, his engineering clowns, and Junior Sammy for the piece of caca they did on the merging lane from Aranjuez to get back onto the highway. I remembered it used to be bad with potholes and I thought with the upgrade they would have fixed it. There is no merging lane!! The piece of asphalt with the dirt on one side and whiteline on the next can barely hold a Chevy Spark!! Lord, put a hand on these people who make it their business to suffer people needlessly. I mean, what perverted idiot could approve this?

With that, my greetings to the Hindu community for a Happy and Holy Divali on Saturday. For my part I pray and hope that some of this spiritual light will illuminate our way forward as a nation. I mean if Obama can take five minutes off and do the right political thing by expressing greetings and symbolically lighting a deya, who’s Patrick? I mean every year the man does blank the people… But then again I know that Patrick’s base also includes Christian fundamentalists.

I’ve always liked Reginald Dumas… (How many years ago was it when he and Diana Mahabir-Wyatt had one of the first local talk shows? Jeez, I’m getting old…) Anyway, I differ in opinion when it comes to his stance on the Privy Council – see his column in last Saturday’s Express, “A question of independence”. Now before you think otherwise, I still like Reggie, eh, we can have diverse opinions without being brutish

Now Reggie made a compelling argument about ‘holding on to the coattails of people who plainly find us a nuisance’ and quoted extensively on the opinions of Lords Phillips and Browne-Wilkinson who thinks that too  much of their time is taken up with cases from this part of the world. Now firstly, I would say that this is the opinion of only two men and if there are more reservations about us using them as our final court of appeal, then just tell us. But two grumbles in 10 years? Maybe we can be the unwanted guests a bit longer…

And whereas Reggie is correct in dismissing an irrelevant Opposition, I don’t think it is that simple to put forward a case only about self-respect or self-confidence. We all have some measure of both, but what does that have to do with ensuring the wheels of justice moves in the right direction? Remember the SDMS and the famous radio licence? The State lied to the courts here – at all levels – and the courts believed them. It took objective minds and a separation of 7,000 kms for the truth to finally come out and a judgment made without fear and reservation.

All dictators have had their supporters and democracy in our country means majority wins. Who is going to protect me when this elected majority undermines the very justice system that is meant for my protection and not theirs? The insidious threats this administration is known for - private security, private army, spy equipment, attacks on the judiciary and persons who are not ‘with them, but against them’, overhaul of a constitution to place more power in the hands of one man - is enough to make me want a godfather/godmother outside their reach – even if I have to pay in sterling.

I’ve quoted this before in one of my old posts and I’ll repeat it here – “the law resides in the hearts of the people rather than in the mouth of the king” and what else is a constitution but the ultimate law of the land? In our case out of the mouth of not a king, but a man who wants to be president… This wish for our own final court of appeal will eventually come to pass, but at the proclamation of one man, not the people…

But to the more pertinent point in my case – while everyone is worried about political influence on judges, I worry about the financial influence. Jurisdictions the world over has had a dim view of ‘poor’ people taking food off a grocery shelf or defending their pitiful properties in favour of the monied elite.

We have had our share of a desperate father getting two years for stealing a can of Milo off a grocery shelf to feed his child and victims of accidents waiting decades for insurance money, but a man who killed another outside an infamous whorehouse in PoS was told by a judge that ‘the clang of a prison door behind you was enough punishment’ and a judge who acted more like a defence lawyer cross-examining a forensic pathologist during a murder trial where a white boy killed a black boy.

And what about the learned judge who said the Jamaat’s amnesty was valid and that Emmanuel Carter wasn’t under duress? Another judgment called into question by the Law Lords of the Privy Council… Be careful what you wish for Reggie, your dream may be someone else’s nightmare.

The subject line has no intention of being disrespectful – it just looks and sounds better – but the correct salutation is Professor John Uff CBE QC

Of course the title of the post comes from an old movie, “Being John Malkovich”, but more importantly, the plot of the movie where other characters in the movie could enter the mind of John Malkovich and ‘observe and sense’ what the host was doing. Ah, the works of fiction that makes one dream… Can you imagine being able to, if not observe, but sense what Professor John Uff must think of us here in Trinidad?

Here is a man whose work in public inquiries and alternative dispute resolutions have taken him from the UK to North Africa, from East Europe to Middle East to Far East and he gets his wicket stumped in lil ole Trinidad… My word, can you imagine his thoughts that he must keep repressed until he gets out of the business? Professor Uff, please do us a favour and write your memoirs! I can see this chapter aptly labelled “The Circus That Is Trinidad”…

I wonder where else in the world will you have a Commission of Enquiry that was:

clamoured  for specifically to investigate UdeCott,

then reluctantly set up by government,

spitefully widened to include all construction activities,

further widened to include one specific project to pin Rowley even though  preliminary investigations indicated that there was nothing to investigate,

asked for funds to hire specialist investigators in a project of interest but got none,

wasn’t gazzeted – still waiting for someone to say why and how – and no one was fired,

hauled before the courts,

persons of interest in the Inquiry being praised by the prime minister and his lackey ministers,

and in the worst twist of words you can get – “Is Uff on or off?”

Ken Ali had an excellent commentary in the Guardian and you get the feeling that the shame can’t go away…

http://guardian.co.tt/commentary/columnist/2009/10/08/whos-looking-out-us

I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the news this morning, so I left the house to get the newspaper earlier than usual, but there it was… Could I doubt my eyes now?

144 non-nationals out of 215 approved applicants for gun licences this year? That’s a whopping 67% or 2/3 of approvals who were deemed by the ACTING Commissioner of Police to warrant greater protection than citizens of UdeCoTT land? Where do I put the WTF! in this post?

So please Martin, say you made a mistake in the numbers you presented to the House…

How can one justify those numbers? The Chinese pay well? (We haven’t forgotten the Chinese woman who couldn’t speak English but was in possession of a valid firearm user’s licence). Are the expatriates lives more valuable than your own people? How are the investigations conducted when the local area police station (where the applicant lives) tries to get information about someone who is probably not well known in his neighbourhood? Does a Minister call and says that he knows the applicant personally?

And the killer question, how much investigation is done in the jurisdiction where the applicant was domiciled for at least 18 months prior to his current address in TnT? This is a standard policy by most law enforcement agencies as it is easy to be a law-breaker in one territory and move to another to ’start a clean slate’. Sir, I humbly suggest that the above may sound like Greek to the ACOP, but we in UdeCoTT land knows that a lil bribe goes a long way…