Indian Ministers are a principled lot.

For a little over three days, the world watched, transfixed, as terror and mayhem reigned supreme in several parts of Mumbai. When the smoke cleared, two hundred persons had been slaughtered, mercilessly, at the hands of madmen hellbent on a suicidal mission of carnage.

Now, mere hours after the last of the heinous perpetrators were sent packing -in body bags- news breaks of the resignation of Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

It is thus safe to say that Indian Ministers are a principled lot: they have no qualms in stepping aside when egg hits their face. Would that their counterparts in Trinidad and Tobago also were.

CBTT's Ewart and his "No Recession! proclamation.

Classically, a country is said to be in recession when it experiences two consecutive quarters of negative growth. "Growth" of what? Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And the rate at which GDP grows is called, naturally, the Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate (GDPGR).

But, maybe it's time to revisit the traditional definition of "negative growth", for "negative", in the context, means negative in relation to some immutable prior date (ipd), rather than in relation to the last measurement date (lmd).

In Trinidad and Tobago's case, the ipd is 2000 -January?. Thus, even if at the lmd of say, December 31, 2007, the GDPGR stood at, say 2.65% -which, according to the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago's (CBTT's) Data Centre Online, it was- and then, at the end of March 2008, it fell to 1.30% -which, again, according to the CBTT's Data Centre Online, it was- traditionalists would agree that, because those figures are positive in relation to the ipd, then, no recession occurred, just a slowdown; never mind the second-quarter slowdown represented a deceleration by more than half the first-quarter speed!

On the other hand, with the suggested tweak, if at the end of June 2008, the figure is less than 1.30%, that spells recession! Which, due to the massive drop in petroleum sector, is what probably occurred, never mind CBTT's Ewart William's wavering and or allyuh-still-feel-good! urgings on the issue.

Photo used by kind permission of hotlikepeper blog

In any event, sadly, except to the uninitiated, the facts aren't available whereby to determine, for, as at the date of this writing -end of November, 2008- the below is all that's available on the CBTT's official web site:

Dec 2007: T&T GDPGR-2.65%
Mar 2008: T&T GDPGR-1.30%
Jun 2008: T&T GDPGR-No presented data yet
Sep 2008: T&T GDPGR-No presented data yet

In the meantime, it's better to think of recession being a decline in GDPGR for six consecutive months, for, at the core of the issue, it's really a matter of whether the CBTT, in its present incarnation, is one blindly to be trusted.

Vehicle insurance: a paradigm shift.

By operation of law, all vehicles on the nation's roads must be insured. But, with the perennially-confused state of affairs at the Motor Vehicle Licensing Department (MVLD), at any given point in time there's no practical way whereby to identify such vehicles. Except when the vehicle is first registered. Or is transferred. Or inspected. And those procedures are listed in their order of efficiency/reliability, okay?

The upshot? Too many vehicles on the nation's roads are uninsured: a major problem, one that bears with it most dire consequences to third parties, as the records will show.

However, with a slight paradigm shift, the vexing problem would be solved. The shift? To place the onus on the insurer to advise the MVLD whenever an insurance contract comes to an end AND IS NOT RENEWED. Simultaneously, to require the insurer to advise the MVLD when a change of policyholder occurs in respect of an insured vehicle.

There! That ought to do it!

Unless things down at the MVLD are worse than one suspects?

No country for old men.

At the last Academy Award Ceremony -the 80th- one movie stood apart from the rest: it won in the Best Picture category; the guys who wrote and directed the script captured the Best Achievement in Directing and the Adapted Screenplay statuettes; and, the villain, an efficiently-ruthless killer, who, in said movie, was never captured, ran away with the Best Supporting Actor -Male- prize.

But, the guy who played the lawman in the same movie, though he gave his sterling best, walked away, poche vide.

Therefrom these now-senior citizens -the suddenly-resurfaced remnant of the "Flying Squad" group- need take heed, since the villains of the Trinidad and Tobago of today are not of the same cloth as the villains of the Trinidad and Tobago of yesterday: their demeanour and capacity to inflict harm are much more callous than of yore.

Thus, alas, for now and for as far as all can see, Trinidad and Tobago is/shall be no country for old men, especially if -as with the movie mentioned in the previous paragraph- the old men are/were law enforcement officers.

"UNC Letter", by Stephen Cadiz, Nov 26, 2008.

Mr.Hosein,

I read the transcript and I think it is necessary that people know something about what had happened in ,07.

Could you send this note out to the people who received the transcript.

regards,

Stephen Cadiz

stephencadiz@hotmail.com

I read with great interest the interview with Mr. Jack Warner on WINTV. I would like to say something about what happened from January, 07 and the events leading up to the '07 election which should shed light on why we are where we are today.

It was obvious that with the formation of the COP the traditional opposition vote would have been split somewhat, making it that much more difficult to win the soon to be called General Election. Regardless of how one felt about the COP the fact was it did exist and would have represented roughly 20% of the electorate.

Seeing this, I decided to have an informal chat with Mr. Basdeo Panday at his office on Caroni Savannah Road, simply because I could not see the UNC being able to "pull the election off", what with The Political Leader of the UNC being in and out of Court in addition to a number of former UNC Cabinet Ministers/officials on corruption charges. There was no way the UNC could have gotten a majority vote.

Mr. Panday confirmed two things at that meeting. One, he agreed that under the current circumstances the UNC could not win and secondly, he assured me that he would not run again. He was tired, he had been the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and therefore had no desire to continue being involved in electoral politics. He was ready to retire and write his memoirs.

I took Mr. Panday at his word and started to speak to the COP hoping that there would be an opening for a pre-electoral accommodation which in my opinion would have been the only way to win the election.

I also had numerous discussions with Mr. Dookeran who stated that Mr.Panday was the only stumbling block to unity and that I did not know the individual, that he could not be trusted and therefore there could be no discussions on a pre-electoral arrangement.

I also spoke with Mr.Panday on two other occasions confirming what I had been told by him in January, that he Mr.Panday, had called it a day and would not run.

At this time I grew frustrated with the COP as there was to be no further discussions on the accommodation issue.

When Mr. Panday had his case thrown out by the Appeal Court I noticed a change in him and he became very protective about his position. He kept on referring to the fact that people give you power and that the people elected you therefore only the people could remove you. The weekly meetings at House of Chan, Tunapuna became very difficult and I realized that we were heading in the wrong direction. The only issue that needed to be settled was the issue of leadership.

Mr. Panday kept on insisting that the leadership issue would be settled after the election, that first you had to win your seat then the Members of Parliament present would vote on who they wanted as leader. On the public platforms Mr. Panday would refer to the COP as the 'corpse' and at the same time call for unity. I became very disenchanted for I saw, where, with the right formula, with the right people, the election could have been won but with all the charade and games being played out we were killing any hope of an accommodation.

The UNC-A was a farce, there was no structure, no give and take, it was all UNC. That I did not have a problem with but it should have been brought to light early on in the campaign and we should have been told you either join the UNC or no deal.

The Thursday night before the massive Chaguanas meeting, November 18th, it all came to a head. Mr. Panday and Mr.Warner decided how this leadership was going to be settled. There would be joint leaders going into the election and that they would be the leaders. We had spent hours that afternoon discussing the issue, I had supported both Mrs. Kamla Bissessar and Mr. Warner not for one minute realizing that the decision had already been taken. A decision on the leadership had to be taken before the Chaguanas mass meeting. The press had been invited and remained outside whilst the meeting was going on.

I had reached this point hoping against hope that Mr. Panday had not changed his decision to not run for office. I felt that even with all that had been said on the platforms about the COP if Mr. Panday had stepped down we could have salvaged the vote and won the election. I had a commitment from Mr. Panday, and that Thursday evening that commitment was broken.

Well, we now know the result of that decision.

There comes a time in every ones life when it is time to say good bye. We all have to be able to read the signs, listen to what our friends and colleagues say, understand that times have changed and that people have gone forward and left us behind. The worst thing is to overstay our welcome.

Leadership in every organization is the same. You spend your life creating and building an institution, something you are very proud of. The best legacy is to be able to stand back and see the institution grow bigger and better without you being there. That shows you built a powerful and strong organization with a structure that can survive anything, it shows that you had great judgement by bringing in the right people who can think for themselves and carry on the legacy that you started. You must have a changing of the guard, if not you and the organization is doomed.

Mr. Panday's last words to me were " You know what your problem is, you know nothing about politics". I replied" Mr. Panday, if ever you told me the truth, that was it".

November 2^nd. 2007. We had a fun bet going on at the office. I bet PNM 25 – UNC 16 – COP 0. I did not think the PNM would have won Chaguanas Central. That I was wrong about.

Stephen Cadiz

stephencadiz@hotmail.com

Sunil Ramdeen's "POLITICAL PULSE" Interview of Austin Jack Warner

Sunil Ramdeen's "POLITICAL PULSE" Interview of Austin Jack Warner

(as shown on WIN TV Nov 26, 2008.)

Sunil:	Welcome back to another edition of Political Pulse everyone, we have in the studio with us UNCA deputy Political Leader Mr. Jack Warner, also the MP for Chaguanas West. Mr. Warner thank you for making it down, I know it took some doing.
Warner:	It did, it did
Sunil	Rough situation out there
Warner:	It did, I mean out there is terrible, you know Port of Spain. All it takes is a drizzle before it floods, but today we had some rain so you could imagine what happened.
Sunil:	We had some serious rain. I understand in Maraval especially, was very hard hit.
Warner:	Absolutely, we seem to be suffering all kinds of problems lately, but I think the rains and the government, those two combine, that's all we need at this time.
Sunil:	Mr. Warner, you had some, over the weekend you had some celebrations in Chaguanas West to mark one year as the Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West, and I want to talk about what you are doing in the constituency a little bit. It is also one year since the PNM has been in government again, their second term of office and we hear all sorts of talk. I want to get straight into the issues. We hear the Opposition talking about high crime levels; you hear the Opposition complaining about inflation; you hear the Opposition complaining about government spending; governments expenditure programmes. After a year in office, what is the Opposition doing, what have you embarked on as a party, to maybe draw attention to this, to maybe to highlight some of your concerns?
Warner:	Well as a Party what we have done, we have brought several of the problems which the country is experiencing, we have brought it into the public domain, we have take the issues into the Parliament itself, and we have been very critical of the government. You recall Mr. Ramesh Maharaj for example, had moved a motion of no confidence in the government. The government had tried to drown us out by bringing their people into Woodford square, contrary to all regulations, all behavior, all kinds of protocol, and we were able still to go to Parliament and prove our case effectively. You also would recall that we had a very spirited attack and defense on the budget, and in fact many of the things we said about the budget are now coming to pass. For example, we said that the price of oil was too high at $70.00 a barrel. We beg them; we urge them to be a bit more prudent. They refused and today we are seeing the results of that. So I think by and large as a Party we did fairly well in Parliament after a year. I must confess however, that for me we have not done enough. We could have done much more, but I guess as a first year, one has to bear in mind that several of us in Parliament are new, and therefore what we have to expect in the second year will be much better.
Sunil:	What can, we have often heard the Opposition Leader himself complain of being in Opposition, and what it limits - the limits you have in opposition to actually effect change, and really at 26 – 15 the Opposition walks a narrow line in Parliament with regards to any sort of majority. How has that impacted on your ability to get your message out, to come out to deal with some of these issues?
Warner:	Let me tell you and let me answer several questions. In the first case I want to make the point to you that I definitely didn't enter into politics to be in Opposition. Ah, far from it. In fact I don't know anybody enters politics to be in Opposition. But I did not do that, and I could tell you that many of those persons in our Party that are in Opposition today, we did not do that, and the fact that we are in Opposition today, and particularly me. We are experiencing a government that is recalcitrant, no listening to reason, to common sense. A government that is discriminating against our constituencies, and our constituents. I mean in my own Chaguanas West for example, I sometime cry inside daily at the kind of neglect. I mean whether it is traffic, whether it is crime, whether it is flooding, whether it is lack of box drains, roads. I mean, I made a drive through Chaguanas West a week ago to thank my constituents after the first year and to give them an account of my stewardship, and I cried inside. And I tell you that the level of neglect in constituencies which are in opposition to the government is a shame, is abominable, and you ask the question, I say to you that we are in a system winner takes all, so to speak, and you have a government that is totally opposed to any kind of reasoning as far as the Opposition is concerned, and that's where we are today.
Sunil:	What sort of challenges do you then face in Opposition? I know you said in your first comment you still think the Party could have done more while it had highlighted some of these issues. It has gone to Parliament; it has talked in Parliament; there have been some meetings throughout the country. What in a winner takes all situation can the Opposition make itself relevant in a situation like that to help treat with some of these issues?
Warner:	We should have, in my humble view, we should have gone out more to our constituents and bond with them. We have to understand that we are in Opposition and at all times we have to become relevant as far as our constituents are concerned. We can't go back to our constituents once every five years and say vote for me. Not me, I intend to bond with my constituents monthly, weekly, yearly; because the problems they experience are real. So the first thing they must do, we must do is to go back to our constituents and let them understand the difficulties we face. It is government that doesn't listen to reason and particularly doesn't listen to us. We should also continually, continually and continuously activate our Party, our Party groups. Have systems whereby the Party can respond to us. We should begin even for instance, a Party newsletter, for example, where the people can articulate, articulate in a sense what their problems are; what their concerns are and we can tell them what we are doing. We should be able to use the media more effectively, to get our messages across today with the kind of technology we have; with the Internet, and so on. Web site. We should be able to use these things. I don't believe that we are doing this enough, and we must bear in mind that the politics of today is not the politics of twenty years ago. The politics of today is not the politics of the sugar industry. Our constituents today are more educated, are more sophisticated, and we have to understand that we can't behave in 2008 as we behaved in 1988. We can't.
Sunil:	What then, Mr. Warner, are the challenges that are preventing your Party from achieving the things you just talked about?
Warner:	One of the things that I know is that we find ourselves locked into a time warp; into believing that we are a sugar cane Party. We are not a sugar cane Party anymore, we are a national Party, that believes seriously that we are an alternative government. That's the first point for me. The second thing is that we have to make sure is that the members who are in Opposition, at least those of us who are there now, at all times must keep the government on their toes, and we must be in a real sense, shadow ministers for every Ministry in the country. We should almost on a weekly basis, talk about the problems in education, in works and transport, in agriculture. How can you have a Minister of Agriculture saying to us that our constituents plant their gardens on the river edge so as to get money? I mean, this is absurd, this is insulting.
Sunil:	I hear the farmers are holding a candle light vigil.
Warner:	And I ask myself what we have said today as a Party? What has been our response? We have not gone on the attack, and if we are a Party and in a sense a rural based Party, a Party that has come through the bosom of agriculture, what are we saying to that kind of insult? Those are the kinds of things that worry me.
Sunil:	Going back to asking you, Mr. Warner, you also carry a position of a Deputy Political Leader of the party. Why are these problems there? When you refer just now to the Party thinking of itself as a sugar cane Party, who is locked into that mind set, is it the MPs? Is it the leadership? Is it the supporters of the party? Who are the ones that really have to break out of that?
Warner:	It's a combination of all. But the fact is that it is we who are in the Party and the Party leadership who must be the first persons to initiate change. Let me tell you this Sunil, I hate to to say this, but change is a form of life, without change we are dead, and therefore we cannot be a Party of the past; we have to be a Party of the present and future; and we have to understand that change is real, we have to therefore be the ones to initiate change. We must be the ones, who in a sense be able to use institutions of the Party more effectively, and make sure that the Party and the Party organs and institutions are functioning effectively to create the change that we need. I hate to say this, but unless we begin to do this, we shall not be relevant as far as the vast majority of our constituents are concerned. We have to be relevant; we have to be relevant and we have to respond to the needs of the people, and they must see us always, always at all times as an alternative government. Sadly I must confess, I don't think people see us in that light.
Sunil:	It's an interesting point that you are raising. It goes back to the fact that you have Parliamentary caucuses the leadership will come together and meet. When you talk about we have to effect that change, you raise these issues within these different fora and what has been the response? What has been the keep-back in effecting the change at that level?
Warner:	I have raised these issues, and I will continue to raise these issues. You have to bear in mind for many people Jack Warner is a Johnny-come-lately, and guys will tell you what they used to do twenty years ago and fifteen years ago, as if that makes it right.
Sunil:	Who tells you that?
Warner:	There are guys in the Party who tell you this and I am telling you they are locked into a time warp. I repeat this to you. They don't understand that change is necessary. We cannot, we cannot be successful as a political party and to obtain Government if we continue to do the things of yesterday. We can't! And far too often for me, our Parliamentary caucus, I go to it and I leave sometimes very frustrated. Our executive committee meetings - I ask myself, I say now after three hours, what have I achieved? I always ask myself this - three hours what have you achieved? What have we done? If I didn't come to this meeting would I have missed something? And always, I get the answers telling me that I have not missed anything. And this has me worried, because unless we begin to do some introspection and ask ourselves questions, we shall be left wanting; we shall become irrelevant. Even with fifteen seats, we shall become irrelevant. PNM is already irrelevant; the PNM is irrelevant to the country and to a vast majority of people. We must not fall into that same situation, and we can avoid it if we of course, embrace change and embrace change quickly.
Sunil:	Mr. Warner you are raising very relevant, yet very important issues. Because there are thousands of people out there; tens of thousands looking at this broadcast, people who have complained about inflation; complained about crime; they are looking for alternatives, and who will be looking to the UNCA as a choice, an alternative government, but you are raising questions of the preparedness of the Party to embrace that and to be ready to service those people.
Warner:	Even as I talk to you tonight, Sunil, I know that I will be stepping on some corns. I know that in some ways that I may be getting some people angry, but I have to do that. I have to say which is the greater danger? To stay quiet and do nothing or of course, begin to talk and articulate, to get people to respond to the issues of the day. I can do two things, I make the point clearly. I said before, I say again; there is nothing that politics has that I don't have. Politics, in no way politics can give me anything that I don't have. Sunil I have not drawn a month's salary for the last twelve months. I have paid myself one dollar a month as I have promised. I have not bought any government tax free or SUV vehicle. I don't need it, and therefore in some ways I didn't come to the Party and the government to make a living. I came to improve the lives of our people; I came to give people a living; and when I walk Endeavour, Felicity and Charlieville and see the suffering, and see the conditions which my people live, it pains me because I know we can do better. I challenge anybody to try to drive through Chaguanas on a Saturday morning, in fact on any morning, or come through the flyover at Price Smart on any morning, and tell yourself it need not be so. We could solve that traffic problem overnight. There are plans there to do this, but to whom do we speak? As I talk to you, the Magistrate's court where they are paying rent for the past two years is still there; rent is still being paid. It is a scandal!! To whom do you speak? Where it is of course, where is the outrage in this country? Where is the outrage and equally in this Party where is the outrage?
Sunil:	You know you have raised an issue, a criticism we have heard because of the many issues and challenges that are facing government and you have outlined some of them. Everything from increasing inflation; to people saying government not listening; to the crime situation. It should strengthen an opposition Party when there is a situation like that and make the Party even stronger; and make the Party seem as an alternative. But you are raising some questions about the Party itself being able to do that. How have you expressed your concerns? Have you not expressed your concerns? What has been the response? What has been the response from the Party leadership?
Warner:	I have expressed my concerns and I will continue to do so, however much I may be disliked in the process, because I will be failing in my duty to my constituents and the people in the country as a whole if I remain quiet. I have remained quiet far too long, and let hasten to tell you it is not only the Party of which I am a member that is a problem. It is the party also of which I am not a member, and I am talking here now about the COP, the COP they are equally, equally as culpable and possible worse than the UNCA. The fact is that we have our two parties, imagine our two parties have a common enemy in a real sense, a common enemy the PNM, and yet the two parties can't get together, and our two parties cannot subordinate their dislikes for this country's remoter interest. We have two parties, one that believes that 150,000 votes that they got a year ago are still there in their in their back pocket waiting for them. They don't understand…Two weeks ago the COP had a fund-raising venture in Port of Spain in Country Club..two weekends ago, they give away 50 tickets, and the whole event had seventy persons. Does that tell you something? It tells you in some ways that people are frustrated, and that the enthusiasm which they had a year ago no longer exist.
Sunil:	Mr. Warner you don't sound too happy
Warner:	I am not happy.
Sunil:	So what are you going to do?
Warner:	I will continue to talk in the Party and out the Party. I'll continue to ask for change and I will continue to articulate the concerns of the people who I meet on the streets every day. Businessmen, young people, middle age, old people. I'll continue to make the point that we have to find the mechanism to bring all our people together, to fight the common enemy, because the common enemy in this country, the common enemy that is against change, against progress, the enemy that is having this country in a sense going in a very backward position, very retrogressive is the PNM.
Sunil:	I am going to ask you direct question, you talk about change. Change is effected by leadership. Is there a concern with the leadership of the Party right now? Several criticisms have been leveled at Mr. Panday as the Leader of the Party, whether he should still be leader and should there be some sort of plan in place. Is that a concern?
Warner:	That's a concern I have heard from people and I have heard the same thing about Mr. Dookeran also from the COP, and I am saying to you this evening here, that if this is the case, let the people decide what they need. For example, even in the UNC, for me where I am, it is time we put our house in order and hold Party elections, and if the Party and the Party membership choose Mr. Panday or anybody else so be it. But we have not had elections in the party for over three to four years.
Sunil:	I was going to ask you about that.
Warner:	And we find all kind of excuses we cannot hold elections - local elections next six months, next six weeks. I mean who is fooling whom? Who is fooling whom? And while all this is happening, the very life blood of our nation is just ebbing away, and who is concerned? What about you as a young man Sunil? What about your children if you have any; what about my grandchildren; what about them? Are we not concerned? Would we allow Mr. Manning to rape and plunder this country, and then of course cry and say we didn't know, when we can make a difference now, when we can bury our egos? And if it means that Mr. Panday and Mr. Dookeran both have to go, then so be it. At the end of the day something or somebody will emerge, but to do this, once again it has to be a cohesive force, a united force that is fighting against the PNM and their excesses.
Sunil:	So you are saying that Party elections are necessary?
Warner:	Oh sure, most definitely.
Sunil:	Have you been lobbying for it, and what has been the response?
Warner:	Well at the last meeting I asked for it, I asked when will they call elections, and I was told by Mr. Panday very soon. He did say also he will go up as political leader. I say fine no problem; that is his democratic right, anybody's right. But let us put our house in order; let us have Party groups; let us have meetings. Look our Monday night meetings now are almost a scandal. We rehash the same arguments, the same old talk, the same people go to all the meetings and they come and tell you what a lovely meeting it is. Fooling the people, fooling ourselves. Sorry to be so emotional. We have to be serious, we have to be objective and balanced and we have to understand we are not doing the country any good, any justice by being unfair, untruthful, untrue with ourselves. We are not doing ourselves any justice, and I hate to take this forum to articulate these points, but believe you me, I am boiling over, I am boiling over.
Sunil:	You are raising a lot of questions about a state of un-preparedness; about a Party which is essentially a Party which is the alternative Government, that is what an opposition seeks to be.
Warner:	That's right.
Sunil:	And if you are raising a state of concern about un-preparedness, that is a serious concern, particularly, you have often said that if you put the votes of the COP and the UNCA together from the last elections they form the majority. So therefore that is a serious concern for those people who ever they may be, because the majority may have voted a party opposing the PNM.
Warner:	Sunil let me tell you something - 26-15 - all the brouhaha of Mr. Manning - 26-15 may seem to be formidable numbers, but that is only based on a result of 3,000 votes. 3,000 votes. 3,000 votes caused 26-15. 3,000 votes and a split between two parties. If there wasn't a split, Mr. Manning would have gone the way of all the political leaders in the Caribbean. Look at the whole world today, from Israel to the US; throughout the Caribbean, except here, is a sea of change. What makes Mr. Manning different? Mr. Manning by his performance is the worse Prime Minister I know that is alive. Worse, don't talk about his Minister of Sport, he is a walking disaster, but having said so, what has given them a breath of life? They have gotten a breath of life because we as the people who oppose them couldn't put our act together, and oppose them as one.
Sunil:	Are there no MP's, Parliamentarians who share your point of view who support you?
Warner;	Very muted, very muted, because for all kinds of reasons, they don't want to rock the boat, they don't want to offend anybody.
Sunil:	But rocking the boat like you say is actually doing more harm.
Warner:	Some people like to know that they are a Member of Parliament. For example, that they have an MP sticker and they could drive on the bus route.
Sunil:	How does that benefit the people, rather than yourself?
Warner:	It doesn't. It does not and that is the tragedy. And we take pot shots at the government, pot shots at the institutions, but we have not done any serious introspection, and we have not sat down and said look guys let's talk openly and frankly and freely without any acrimony; let us analyze ourselves and let us come up with a model that could succeed.
Sunil:	Mr. Warner I have final question for you, we have come to the end of our programme.
Warner:	Already, you can't be serious?
Sunil:	Believe it or not, I've lost six minutes of valuable time. I'll try to thief a couple of minutes. I have to ask you this question. Having said these things, the easy thing to do is to be upset; to be concerned; to feel the emotions that you are feeling; to get up and walk out, that is the easy thing to do.
Warner:	I would not do that. I would not do that either in the Party or in the Government, because that will be in my view a defeatist position. For example, you would have observed, I have come back to my constituents after one year to give an account of my stewardship. I have come back after one year to tell them thanks and to see and to bond with them; to see what their needs are and to tell them what I have done and have failed to do; and to tell them together how we can do it in the second year. Because I intend to bring a different kind of politics into this thing. I have told my constituents that I shall work for them for free for one dollar a month.
Sunil:	You are a Deputy Political Leader. The leadership of the Party is important. Where do you see that going?
Warner:	In the Party I have my grievances. I will continue to fight them inside the Party, not outside. I will continue to make my voice be heard. I will try to impress my colleagues that we should lift all of our voices, because if we don't Sunil, if we don't, it would not only mean the end of the Party as a Party, but trust me the end of this country; the democracy as we see it, because in no other country a Government can get away with what Mr. Manning and they are getting away with today, and that is only because, Mr. Manning besides his arrogance, Mr. Manning believes he can walk on water; he believes he can fly. And I have told you before and I say again, what can fly can fall, and we must make sure collectively, that we help him to fall.
Sunil:	You have a fellow Parliamentarian who might be looking at this as well. How are you going to convince him?
Warner:	Very critically. I tell you they would not be happy with what I am saying, but I sleep very soundly at nights.
Sunil:	So what's your message for them, those who are looking at the program now, who quickly has a tendency to get upset with you initially off the cuff?
Warner:	My advice to them - let us bell the cat, politically. Let us sit down and analyze our Party to see if we are ready to be the alternative government; let us quickly correct the errors and institution in the party and make this Party a Party of the future; a Party of change; let us go out and embrace all the people seriously, not of course by mouthing empty and vacuous phrases, (but) by embracing them seriously, and giving them a reason to believe in what we are doing; but most importantly, most importantly, I ask my colleagues to embrace the ethos of change, because without change, we dead.
Sunil:	Mr. Warner on that note I will have to thank you very much for joining us and sharing what everyone out there would consider some important perspectives.
Warner:	Please call me again.
Sunil:	I will definitely call you again, I will call you very early and I will make sure that you are in Central Trinidad.

The true drop in Budgeted revenue.

It's gonna be close to TT$20 billion!

Where did I get/how did I arrive at such a figure?

I now read it on the paper I just pulled from my back pocket...where my seerperson had tucked it.

"TT$20 billion." it said!

Then, I awoke.

Boys to men! Or, Dr. Ramjohn-Richards preaches.

There's this fable of a bandit, who, having been found guilty of a string of heinous crimes, is sentenced to death and who, while on the way through the crowd of gawkers to the awaiting gibbet, sees his mother and pauses, then leans towards her, as if to whisper his final farewell in her ear. But, ay de mi!, instead of doing that, he viciously, by one bite, removes her earlobe. When upbraided by the crowd for his callousness, calmly he replies, "She is to blame for my present predicament! For, never once did she discourage me from my path of crime! Rather, she encouraged me and enjoyed to the max of the spoils I gathered!"

Then, there's this saying that "The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world."

And, another, that, "Behind every successful man there's a woman."

The above tidbits are here thrown-out, not merely as reminders, but, moreso, in endorsement of the words of advice given by Trinidad and Tobago's First Lady, Dr. Ramjohn-Richards, words, some of which, Trinidad Guardian's Anika Gumbs-Sandiford mentions in her Nov 24, 2008 article, "Spur menfolk to greater heights".

From Anika's report, it seems that Dr. Ramjohn-Richards is deeply-troubled over the modern Trinbagonian woman's non-recognition/abandonment of their vital role in so shaping the lives of this nation’s young men that, tomorrow, they'd become the adult men whom all may adulate. Young men who, presently, from all available empirical evidence, seem lost, outperformed on every worthwhile field by their opposite gender.

The First Lady chided that:

“...Those of us who are conscious of the situation should face it head-on, rather than skirt around it..."

Without fear of Prime Ministerial reprisal à la 94.1FM, my interjectory comment: Her use of the verb "skirt" is most interesting: it invokes the notion that Trinbago has been treating the issue in a very nambee-pambee fashion. Given what next she says, she made an accurate surmise.

ASIDE: did you know that the "FM" in "94.1FM" now signifies "'Fraid Manning!"?

But, enough with the digression! Let Dr. Ramjohn-Richards continue!

"...We need to encourage boys and young men to see themselves as responsible leaders, not having natural superiority over females, but having a duty to become all they can be. ...We must be careful not to use our own success as a whip, but possibly as a spur to our menfolk towards greater achievement on their part without patronising (sic).”

Given the occasion -a Naparima Girls’ High School (NGHS) function, ergo, predominantly female audience- it was a good decision the First Lady made -to view and use run-of-the-mill official ceremony as an opportunity to deliver a stirring topical plea, one that would leave an indelible impression upon a mostly-female crowd- therefore, she needs to be commended for her forthright and poignant remarks.

It would be wonderful, wouldn't it, if her immediate audience took to heart the First-Lady medicine dispensed that Saturday night on Pointe-à-Pierre hill. A NGHS posse! Hell, they probably did! Maybe, if Dr. Jean Ramjohn-Richards's speech is given a bit more prominence by the mainstream media, or posted on YouTube, the audience that most needs such medicine also would.

Plain talk...bad manners...but, really, we fed-up!

It sickens, really sickens, to witness the blame game in full swing over the improper nationwide drainage/flood controls systems, as the public officials in charge -and drawing fat paychecks for getting the job done- engage in passing the buck -wish they truly did...by handing their paychecks back to the taxpayers.

But, then, it's really we, the people, who must be blamed, for we should simply -physically, if necessary- escort them out of office whenever they lapse. Wait! Now remembered that "Time longer than twine!" So! Who knows, maybe, soon, we will?

Where inflation is concerned, headline is not breadline!

The headlines lunge towards you: "Headline inflation Hits 15.4%!" they scream.

Nonplussed, respond I, "Yeah? Tell that to the Marines! For, where inflation is concerned, headline is not breadline!"

For the correcting of the record, to those of us in the breadline -who happen to be the majority of Trinbagonians, the salt-of-the-earth types, the ones who struggle even to eke out a living, and who, thus, only have money for food, if at all- the touted 15% figure under-represents, by more than half, the true state of affairs, that which the latest Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank Monetary Policy Report (MPR) plainly describes:

"...Since the last MPR in April, headline inflation has accelerated, from 9.3 percent (year-on- year) to 14.8 percent in September. Food inflation has risen from an already high 20 percent to a mind-boggling 35 percent in September." (Uncertainty in TT economy: Trinidad Newsday Nov 20, 2008.)

Here's hoping that, the next time, the media gets a better grasp of the meat of the issues that matter most to their audience.

Bless!

Hey, Patrick!

Hey, Patrick! Tell the fella standing behind you dey to tighten he belt fuss before we!

Prime Minister Manning applauds Bernadette Smith - President of Femmes Du Chalet
as she returns a cheque of $200, 000 to UDECOTT Chairman - Calder Hart.
PHOTO? Why, Office of The Prime Minister...we Prime Minister!

Bleak oil sector predicted by government.

Never mind Manning! Pay attention, instead, to a guy named Enill...Conrad Enill!

Conrad's the Minister of Energy. Before that, he occupied the seat which Mariano Browne presently warms: Minister in the Ministry of Finance. While there, Conrad never shirked from levelling with the public about the state of affairs at the Treasury. Or, of the prospects. Or, of what are the best strategies for Trinbago's economic growth and development. For instance, that, when using the price of oil in budgetary planning, a prudent planner would always resist the temptation to use any current and giddily-high current price, preferring, instead, to stick with the long-term historical average.

But, it harks not to that last observation, the purpose of this advisory. Oh no! The true, herein intent is to suggest that something Conrad said -when he was conversing with the Trinidad Newsday's Sean Douglas on Thursday November 13th, last- can only be viewed and or described as an official confession, at last, that, where the discovery of new fossil-fuel deposits are concerned, the future looks bleak for the oil sector. As follows:

...Speaking to this reporter during the Senate tea-break in Parliament on Thursday he admitted that each US$1 drop in oil-prices lasting a year, wipes $100 million off of TT’s revenues, Enill said: “If it drops in any one month, one is really not sure what impact that is going to have. So really what you are going to be doing is waiting and seeing.”

He said the Government is looking at several scenarios. “We know exactly if the price stays low for a particular period of time then we know exactly what we have to do. We have already told Ministries to start looking at non-discretionary spending and develop plans on the basis of contingencies. So that’s where we are. So for example if you had a project you were thinking about, now would not be a good time to look at it. So those are the kinds of proactive steps that are being taken, recognising what we see in the global situation”

Notice how, while Conrad took the pains to describe the extent to which falling oil prices would negatively impact on revenue, never once did he hint at the probability of ramping-up production to counter that threat? Well?

Follow the Man-in-the-street not the Manning in charge!

In making his allyuh-have-to-tighten-allyuh-belts call, the Prime Minister said:

“The budget prices for oil and gas, at $70 per barrel and $4/mmbtu respectively, were therefore based on the best global advice from expert agencies, including the IMF.”

"Best global advice"??? Sigh! If only the Finance Minister had ignored Manning and, instead, listened to the man-in-the-street.

Sorry! Times too hard! Can't afford to buy a belt!

The Manningavellian call for belt-tightening confirms what every member/supporter of the People's National Movement (PNM) -including Valley and Rowley-has been vehemently denying for the past seven years: that PNM's policies were driven by inveterate and unvarnished profligacy.

As to my response to the call? Sorry! But, cannot: haven't been able to afford a belt for a long time.

Kyle giving we ah Jerry! If not, Emily cannot afford to talk the truth!

On Nov 21, 2008, the day after she made certain remarks during the post-Cabinet media briefing, Trinidad Guardian's Kyle Jeremiah wrote what Housing and Planning Minister, Dr Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde, actually said, as follows:

"...the recent landslides, caused by heavy rainfall, which resulted in at least two deaths and the destruction of at least two houses, are a direct result of previous housing ministers not “upholding the law” and “not maintaining planning standards over the years...”

Planning standards? What "planning standards"? For donkey years, that agency has been putting up public housing without regard for the aftermath of local or national emergencies/disasters! So, how dare she thus try to extricate herself from culpability, without providing evidence of what she has done since overtaking Dr. Rowley as Minister of Housing and Planning? Know what? Maybe, Kyle giving we ah Jerry? If not, Emily cannot afford to talk the truth!

And, what is the truth? That the overwhelming majority of these predecessor-Ministers whom, so glibly, she tarnishes, belong to the same political dustbin -scratch that!- moribund grouping as she does: the People's National Movement (PNM)! And that, over the last seven (7) years, the PNM had had full rein and freely-flowing petro-dollars, during which time, it did nothing, that is, nothing where flood prevention and law enforcement are concerned.

So! Come on, Emily! If you want to gain our respect, not just forthright, but an honest woman also be!

The heavens have let loose! Hell next?

The Manning administration's McCainical behaviour -where our economy is concerned- is cause, by and of itself, that it be dismissed from office without a second thought.

John McCain, remember, despite knowing the truth, vigourously supported and defended America's invasion of Iraq and the Bushy rationale behind it, only to walk-back upon realizing that it was politically-necessary for him so to do -he was trying to become the 44th US President. The American voters were on to him though, hence, in a tsunami, they rejected him and ushered Obama to the Oval Office.

Were Trinbago to learn from those recent American events, henceforth, every votive -silent or spoken- would be for the removing of Manning, his seerwoman and his cronies from office, lest all hell lets loose, as, of late, have the heavens.

Amen!

Manning's court hi-Jacked!

Yet again, though, always steadfastly refusing to acknowledge it, the Prime Minister, by his actions, makes it plain that what His Excellency, Austin Jack Warner, has been bellowing from the rooftops, day in day out, is absolutely, unequivocally correct:

"There's nothing that fires up this nation more than sport!"

Oops! Sorry for omitting the preamble! It was supposed to be:

"So! Manning postpones his all-important address to the nation, not because floods wreaking havoc all over the place, but because it have football in Hasley Crawford Stadium."

My bad!

Well! If that is not proof that Manning should hand over the steering-wheel to Jack, don't know what is.

Forgive me, Father John, if I am wrong!

I've known Brother John -as we, of Five Rivers, Arouca, still fondly call him- from the time I was a little boy. In fact, his Dad -after whom he's named and upon whose soul may The Boss bestow mercy- was one of those who helped shape me, he being a strict adherent of the African maxim and practice of it takes a village to raise the child, plus the fact that Daddy would send us to John Sr.'s home for evening and lessons. Damn! Were they both strict!

Now! What many may not know is that, from even before he was born, Brother John, was destined -don't wanna say "earmarked, that term's quite unpopular since the Obama campaign- for the priesthood, a life's path on which, as a young adult, despite his outstanding academic accomplishments, he deliberately chose to persevere.

And so, Brother John was ordained a priest, of the Congregatio Sanctus Spiritu (CSSp), the same Roman Catholic priesthood fraternity of which two Pantin brothers and Valdez brothers and Arthur "Jap" Lai Fook, all renowned, were/are members. And all Arouca of him was proud. And, to today, of him remains proud, very proud. Eventually, he became the Father Superior of the CSSp, a position which, still, he holds.

But, there one thing that, suddenly, has me puzzled, very puzzled. And it's this:

Didn't Father John pledge to his god that he'd live a live of poverty?

How, then, can he, as a priest who has taken such a vow, seek and claim and take financial compensation for injuries to his character inflicted -whether without justification or not- by another? Surely, were the example of the one whom Christians "follow" truly followed, anyone worthy of sacerdotal office, thus villified, would have merely turned the other cheek and pleaded with The Judge of The Highest Court to forgive the offenders on the grounds that they knew not what they did, rather than pleading with a high court judge?

Forgive me, Father John, if I am wrong!

PS: The written court judgment -not the one re: the monetary reward- is available online at: >> H. C. A. No. 1099 of 2003, Father John Theodore v The Trinidad News Centre <<

Don't blame the river, raise the Whitehall bridge!

A friend, RH, sent the above snapshot of hastily-organized repair works to the Macoyea Bridge on the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, the one that was rendered impassable, because of constant battering by raging Caura-river-borne waters. RH also asked -rhetorically?- "How long are we going to take this (edited version) crap?"

My reply?

Dear RH,

Until floodwater surges through and sanitizes Whitehall. Duh!

RH, my friend, one of the lessons we -meaning Ministry of Works Drainage engineers- have NOT learnt, is that channelizing -we does call it "rehabilitating", whatever the arse that means- of God-made watercourses INCREASES, rather than decreases floods.

Those of us who know the Caura river -the river in your pictures- would have noticed -with dismay and impotence- how, over the past five/six years, indeed, up to quite recently, this river, from north of the Eastern Main Road, has been "straightened", in the process, stripped bare of current-slowing vegetation etc. And, of how "the authorities" have allowed/turned a blind eye to artificially-created blockages in/along this watercourse -see: Why things fall apart.

I raised my voice in protest...hell! I even turned to satire to warn of the dangers of such human tinkering. (See it reproduced in this hotlikepepper.com link.)

Alas! Does anyone listen? Or, rather, do WE really care? For, if WE did, WE'd have run these jokers out of town a long time ago, as Lech Walesa and The Polish, back in the eighties, did.

Now, I must acknowledge that ex-Senator, Professor Julian Kenny, is one who, for years, has been raising his voice in protest (thanks to Trinidad Express's retarded archives site, I cannot find a link to give you at the moment). So, too, have many others who are -as Mariano Browne describes it- "ordinary citizens"; e.g.: on October 25, 2005, when he penned the following remarks in letter to the Trinidad Newsday Editor, John Frasier of Maraval raised this alarmJohn Frasier of Maraval raised this alarm:

THE EDITOR: I write this letter which I have copied to the Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Authority and the Ministers mostly closely related to the pollution and destruction of the Maraval River in the hope that urgent remedial action would be taken. For some months now a developer has been cutting into the slopes along part of the Maraval River in the vicinity of the Maraval Reservoir.
The developer's heavy equipment have removed the banks of the river in the area of the development. The river is being polluted and made muddy by the rubble and dirt from the adjacent hillside that is being denuded of the trees and ploughed into. The river is being destroyed, the landscape scarred and the waters polluted. All of these things increase the danger to citizens and increase the cost to taxpayers for cleaning up and getting rid of the pollution while a developer gets rich at public expense. (Newsday online regularly plays the arse, so it might take a while for the page to open.)

But, like I said, "Alas! Does anyone listen? Or, rather, do WE really care?"

Because we -meaning Ministry of Works Drainage engineers- would not have missed this bit of wisdom:

''Rivers are going to flood and meander and shift their alignments as floods come and go,'' he said. ''If you use some sense and put a corridor of 100 feet on each side of the river and don't allow development there, in the long run you're saving yourself a lot of money, headache and heartache, and you have a nice river corridor.''

Environmentalists applaud this change in thinking. ''We're going to have to live with floods,'' said Charles Casey of Friends of the River in California, which has fought the proposed Auburn Dam for many years. But it is no longer just environmentalists who are saying such things.

''We're starting to look at the big picture instead of just putting things back the way they were,'' said Linda Adams, a staff member of the State Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, which has been holding hearings on the floods. ''We've channeled the rivers into small spaces and they don't like it.''

That, my buddy, was excerpted from the New York Times of Feb 4, 1997, way back when Bas was the Prime Minister -Gosh! Those were the good ol' days, weren't they? Sigh!

Given that more than eleven years have since elapsed, it cannot be that those responsible for overseeing the national drainage grid aren't currently aware of such a paradigm shift and, so, defend their inability to cope by denying such shift occurred? For, like the law, where engineering techniques are concerned, ignorance is no excuse. Therefore, there has to be some other reason. Perhaps it's that the havoc wrought whenever it rains is naught but a symptom of PNM incompetence. And that, their incompetence, in turn, is born of their vindictiveness towards the overwhelming majority of Trinbagonians who, as is their God-given and constitutionally-acknowledged right, for whatever reason, refuse to be collared by any baleezay-albatross!

Which brings me to this question: ¿Adonde iremos? Don't ask me to translate: Spanish, like Chinese fast-food outlets, is an ubiquitous aspect of modern-day Trinbago!

RH! You and I agree that people are fed up with Manning and the PNM and that, as a result, they're yearning for change, new leadership. In that regard, it's the UNCA's duty not to fail the people...again! And, in shared view, therefore, UNC's leadership needs to galvanize its base, then some, to infuse the majority of citizens with the zeal to rise up and take charge of Trinbago's destiny, to stop all of us from cowering in the "dark corners" of our own private world, to awaken in us the deep and unyielding understanding that we're all in this thing together and, so, we owe it to our selves, our ancestors who gave their blood, sweat and tears and, most of all, to our heritage, to fix this place. Kinda like Obama did. Obama set a precedent. If our leadership cannot follow suit, then...

That's why I've been saying that the UNCA must, I repeat, MUST be put together and hone into the bleeding-edge core, a team that will phalanx it into regaining the political ascendancy.

To see that materialize, as I see it, is my purpose. Therefore, towards its accomplishment, my every effort within and without this great party, shall be directed.

Bless!