T&T and the al Zaidi lesson.

As the year 2008 draweth inexorably to its close, inexorably, too, would arise throughout the land, reflections on the year-that-was and aspirations regarding the year-to-come.

Might as well throw my two bits worth in the pot by saying that it's time to draw upon the recent lesson so dramatically given to President Bush by Iraqi journalist, al Zaidi: it's time to tell the self-proclaimed Father of The T&T Nation to shoo!

God bless!

What an anagram!!!!

When juggled by anagrammer.com, the name NARACE bingoes into ARCANE.

How apt. For ARCANE means:

hidden, secret

and, its synonyms are:

cabalistic, esoteric, impenetrable, mysterious, mystic, occult, recondite, unaccountable, unknowable

Oh! By the way, ARCANE's antonyms are:

common, commonplace, known, normal, outward

Like already said, how apt! Henceforth, it's not expected that anyone would fall for any "Health sector's okay!" official jerry.

Del regalo Cubano.

It's one thing for a visiting Head of State or Head of Government, who, having fallen ill, to receive free medical attention from the host country. It's quite another, this thing which the Honourable Patrick Manning did. But, the Manning thing could become classified with the one thing: providing that Cuba immediately and retroactively assumes responsibility for paying all Cuban personnel working in the Trinidad and Tobago public health institutions.

Drug interdiction MO.

From time to time one reads/hears of some small fry being caught in possession of illegal drugs, whether at some port, or, along some roadway, but, every time, as a result of some tip-off, or some certain information, the police had received.

Every time, too, when such a thing happens, one also hears this one persistent rumour: that the tip-off and subsequent interdiction of the whoever small fry, permits other small fries, or a big fry, to slip through the net. And, every time such a thing happens, the thus ensnared small fries immediately turn into clams: not even the most diligent police interrogator can extract a peep from them about the big fish. Nor imminent threat of a long stretch in jail. Every time!

Perhaps this is the case because, where local drug interdiction modus operandi (MO) is concerned, sequitur, unlike the elusive big fishes, is given no quarter, since, if it were, then, surely, there would have been no need for anyone to ask these two questions:

1. Why is it that there isn't, immediately, a lockdown of the entire plane, ship or roadway network where the small fry is caught, when the trap flies, so that a fine-toothed comb sweep can be made for to put such rumours to rest...or to the test?
2. Why is is that the small fry aren't offered inducements to spill their guts, inducements that are far more enticing than whatever the big fish might have offered them?

Unless...?

Nah! Causes too many shudders to continue thinking alone those lines!

"Some" vs "Any"!

Every Prime Minister since the time Trinidad and Tobago became a republic has done it: Williams, Chambers, Robinson, Manning, Panday, Manning. Yet, even with such a string, it does NOT mean that they were right in doing it.

And, exactly what is "it"?

To advise the President to appoint a Senator to perform Prime Ministerial functions in their absence from the country. Something which, hitherto, yours truly has exhaustively argued.

The Constitution, at Section 78, provides that:

(1) Where the Prime Minister is absent from Trinidad and Tobago or is unable by reason of illness or of the provisions of section 77(4) to perform the functions conferred on him by this Constitution, the President may authorise some other member of the Cabinet to perform those functions (other than the functions conferred by subsection (2) and that member may perform those functions until his authority is revoked by the President.

(2) The powers of the President under this section shall be exercised by him in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, save that where the President considers that it is impracticable to obtain the advice of the Prime Minister owing to his absence or illness, or where the Prime Minister is unable to tender advice by reason of the provisions of section 77(4) the President may exercise those powers without the advice of the Prime Minister.

The word "some", in 78 (1), does not mean "any". Or, does it? The question is posed, for, surely, there are other constitutional requirements of which BOTH the Prime Minister AND the President MUST ever be mindful, whenever in exercising the power to "authorise some other member of Cabinet" to exercise Prime Ministerial power. Such as Section 3 (2), which prescribes that:

In this Constitution-
a. a reference to an appointment to any office shall be construed as including a reference to the appointment of a person to act in or perform the functions of that office at any time when the office is vacant or the holder thereof is unable (whether by reason of absence or infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) to perform the functions of that office;

and, Section 76, which makes it clear that:

(1) Where there is occasion for the appointment of a Prime Minister, the President shall appoint as Prime Minister:

(a) a member of the House of Representatives who is the Leader in that House of the party which commands the support of the majority of members of that House; or

(b) where it appears to him that party does not have an undisputed leader in that House or that no party commands the support of such a majority, the member of the House of Representatives who, in his judgment, is most likely to command the support of the majority of members of that House;

and who is willing to accept the office of Prime Minister.

That, by operation of Sections 3 (2) and 76, the absence from the territory, or the inability of any incumbent Prime Minister to perform his duties, whether due to or illness or otherwise, are "occasions" which trigger the need for a Prime Minister to be appointed, there is no doubt. Hence, when the different provisions, as above identified, are taken in proper juxtaposition -indeed, there's no other way for them to be read- it becomes abundantly clear that no Senator can ever, lawfully, perform any Prime Ministerial function. Which is something the very Constitution tacitly concedes, when it provides, at Section 3, that:

(3) Where by this Constitution any person is directed, or power is conferred on any person or authority to appoint a person to perform the functions of an office if the holder thereof is unable to perform those functions, the validity of any performance of those functions by the person so directed or of any appointment made in exercise of that power shall not be called in question in any court on the ground that the holder of the office is not unable to perform the functions of the office.

In other words, the exercise of that power can be called into question on any other ground. Such as, that the person so appointed was, from the outset, not qualified for such appointment.

Can Manning be Madiganised?

The storyline read as follows:

In the midst of it all, the state headed toward an extraordinary constitutional showdown. Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich unfit to serve, likening his corruption scandal to a debilitating illness as she ramped up pressure on the governor to resign. The move seeks to hand power over to the lieutenant governor.

"I recognize that this is an extraordinary request, but these are extraordinary circumstances," Madigan said.

It is the first time in Illinois history that such an action was taken. The attorney general is applying a rule that was intended to cover cases in which a governor is incapacitated for health reasons. ("Illinois AG Madigan Asks Top State Court To Remove Blagojevich" by D. Bellandi and C. Willis: The Huffington Post, Dec 12, 2008.)

Which prompted the question at caption. For, according to Section 77 (4) of Trinidad and Tobago's Constitution,

"Where at any time the Prime Minister is required under the provisions of section 49 (3) to cease to perform his functions as a member of the House of Representatives, he shall cease during such time to perform any of his functions as Prime Minister."

And, Section 49 (3) categorically states:

"Where circumstances such as are referred to in paragraph (d) of subsection (2) arise because any member of the House of Representatives is under sentence of death or imprisonment, is mentally ill, declared bankrupt or convicted of an offence relating to elections, and where it is open to the member to appeal against the decision, either with the leave of a court or other authority or without such leave, he shall forthwith cease to perform his functions as a member of the House so however, that subject to the provisions of this section, he shall not vacate his seat until the expiration of a period of thirty days thereafter."

So! All someone has to do is get a judge to declare that the Prime Minister is mentally ill and, "Bingo!" Given the Prime Minister's erratic behaviour, especially over the past how-much months, frinstance:

• Ah want mih own diplomatic centre to live in!
• Ah want mih own private jet to go wit dat, too!
• Mih wife must wuk in the Cabinet!
• Mih son must get big wok, too!
• Rowley must go! Else ah go expose him!
• But, Martin Joseph must stay: he doing ah borse wok!
  
• Ah say oil is go be U$70 a barrel, dammit!
• Wey dem? Wey dem? Who? The 96.1FM duo who interrupt mih trim nah, who else?
• Ah does move by de spirit!
• Ah obeah ooman does see fuh mih!
• Retroactive (No, Raul! "Retroactive"! NOT "radioactive"!) radio licence for Luis in ah one. But Sat have to sit and wait and beg!
• Ad infinitum! (Jeez, Raul! Okay! Okay! Ads infinitum, too!),
  

there's a good chance that any reasonable judge would so rule.

Is the vehicle also of the HDC?

Knowing that the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) owns a fleet of Kia Sorentos, some of which, sometimes, certain HDC employees are allowed to take home, for their personal use, naturally, my curiosity was aroused on reading the below bit of news, excerpted from a local newspaper:

Friday night..., North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) officers arrested an HDC employee, while another suspect made good his escape on foot, (after) a shootout and vehicular chase which had officers ...dodging bullets.

Reports are that officers from the Barataria Police Station were on patrol along Satar Street, Boundary Road in Aranjuez, around 11 pm Friday night, when they noticed the occupants of a red Kia Sorento acting suspiciously.

As the officers approached the occupants..., the men opened fire on the officers before speeding off.

...high speed chase ...ensued, ...from Aranjuez ...to Barataria, ...back ...through Aranjuez, ...finally ended in Petit Bourg.

The driver... crashed into several vehicles in a bid to elude the police...

The assailants ...made a wrong turn into Jermaine Street, Petit Bourg ...a dead end.

...the driver... surrendered to the police with his hands ...in the air.

...Sorento had been riddled with bullets.

...Sorento... to be taken to the Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park, St James, ...for examination. ("Search on for suspicious Army officer", Trinidad Newsday, Sunday Dec 7, 2008.)

Not being a feline, but, rather, a diligent taxpayer, I inquire, "Is the vehicle also of the HDC?"

Further inquiries of mine are reserved until and dependent upon the answer that's received for the first.

Delana! You're so wrong!

Left to Delana So Wong, address unknown, the word, "patriot", would mean, "a person who, blindly, supports the government-of-the-day". For so argued Delana, in a letter to the editor, captioned, "Be patriotic Trinis, support Summit", published in the Trinidad Sunday Express newspaper of Dec 7, 2008, by saying that:

"Sometimes, I wonder where our patriotism lies as citizens of this country. With the recent talks of budget cuts and recession looming etc, many a Trinbagonian has called for the cancellation of the Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of State conferences. Are they serious? To begin with, just the mere fact that the rest of the world deems us fit to host such an important meeting is, in itself, a huge international stamp of approval. It seems that everyone sees something special about Trinidad, except for Trinidadians.

Who else can boast that one of the very first overseas visits by the first African-American president of the US will be to Trinidad and Tobago? Where else could you find Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama and, possibly, Raul Castro together but right here in Trinidad and Tobago? These conferences could be the stepping stone for the new era in world relations.

Furthermore, we are being given a first-hand opportunity to promote ourselves to the entire western hemisphere. The opportunities for trade, tourism, finance etc are infinite. Come on, Trinis, we need to look at the bigger picture and stop limiting our thinking and reasoning to inside the box."

What Delana So Wong so wrongly overlooks is that, whether we are "patriots" or non-"patriots", these so-called "necessary summit/conference" are going to cost us one BILLION dollars or so: a sum which, given or not-given the true state of Trinidad and Tobago's financial and societal affairs, Trinidad and Tobago simply cannot afford...not now...not while thousands yet sleep on the cold, hard pavements, or scrounge in dustbins for scraps to eat, or live in ten-by-ten shacks made of reject wooden pallets and rusted galvanize sheets, or suffer and die for lack of money to buy proper medical attention; and so on.

Which is something only a non-"patriot" would see, for non-"patriots" put country first, not party.

A bulging bum could be a bomb!

Straight out of this Saturday's Trinidad Newsday -Dec 6, 2008- comes this Ralph Banwarie story that almost everyone -including, obviously, all properly-trained police- would intriguing find to be. Let me paraphrase what the storyline is:

At about 10.30 am yesterday -Dec 5, 2008- a woman came to the Sangre Grande Court and Process Branch (SGCPB) with a plastic bag. She told the police on duty that plastic bag contained footwear and that the footwear was for a relative of hers who was in police custody and in one of the SGCPB holding cells, awaiting the start of his whatever court matter scheduled for that day.

Mitchelle -the instant police officer-in-charge- invited the woman to hold-on: the other police officers were busy preparing prisoners to be taken to the nearby Sangre Grande Magistrates’ Court.

So, with the plastic bag in hand, as ordered by Learie, she held-on. And held-on, for such preparations do, indeed, take a while.

But, there must have been something special about this woman visitor -her demeanour, her physique, the way she clutched or stroked the contents of her plastic bag, perhaps? Don't know: the Newsday didn't say- for this very senior police officer -Learie Mitchelle was his name- dutifully kept her under the gun, so intensely observing her that she began to fidget and -despite the balmy morning weather- profusely sweat. Which aroused in him what criminals dread most: his suspicion.

Once thus aroused, he demanded that the woman show him the contents of her plastic bag -apparently, nobody, before then, that day did- and saw that, indeed, it was what, to the untrained eye, appeared to be a pair of black and blue suede sneakers -her relative was a prisoner in police custody, so the colour scheme was appropriate- the type that has stitched soles.

To the untrained eye, plain and simple sneakers, but, not to Learie's. Oh no! Remember, Learie Mitchell's eyes were hawkish that day! Not surprising, then, that he decided the black and blue suede sneakers looked out of sorts, especially after he had the woman show him the bottom. For the bottom was huge, so huge that he had to bring in reinforcements to cope with it.

It's what Learie Mitchelle next did that ought to amaze the most: he decided, there and then, to dig up in the bottom himself! So, he got hold of his knife and parted the soles! Deftly? Crudely? Did the woman more profusely sweat as he did? Don't know: the Newsday didn't say. All it said was that:

"...Hidden inside each shoe were two cellular phones while a small bag of marijuana was also hidden in the right shoe."

Could imagine the mayhem if, instead of cellphones and marijuana, those bulging bottoms concealed flaking bombs? Which is what any properly-trained police officer, when confronted by a suspicious-looking parcel or object of the like, surely must first assume?

No beverage, just a glass of water!

Amery: No beverage, just a glass of water
By Anna Rose Madray: Trinidad Newsday, Tuesday, December 2 2008.

While Prime Minister Patrick Manning has assured that there will be no cuts in the nation’s social programmes, Social Development Minister Amery Browne yesterday said his ministry has not escaped cutbacks on its expenditure...

“I had a meeting this morning at the ministry, normally we would have had some light refreshments, a fruit plate, some beverages, a glass of water is all I had. That is where we’re going,” said Browne.

Ohhhkaaay! Guess water is NOT a beverage? Especially if it's Browne.

Aghast!

That's the best word diplomatically to describe my reaction on reading Darryl Heeralal's report in the Trinidad Express, the one which details, in grim fashion, how the Wallerfield Five met their death under hails of police gunfire.

Aghast, though, quickly turned to "firm resolve", resolve to demand that:

1. the Express name the perpetrators (print and be damned); and that
2. the perpetrators be swiftly brought to justice (nothing less would do); and that, in the meantime and, in any event,
3. the Minister of National Security and Ag. Police Commissioner resign (if they were, indeed, men of honour).

For we, the people are done with taking the sure-to-come crap, crap that takes the shape and smell of spin, spin intended, as Shane Warne's did, to bewitch, bother, bewilder.

Now! I wonder what obtains in T&T?

The BBC's reporting that the Indian security agencies had received US warnings -in pinpoint detail- of the recent terrifying carnage in Mumbai.

Apparently, US -even Indian- intelligence sources discovered -since mid-October- what was being planned by the perpetrators. But, this is what most whetted my curiosity was where the BBC is concerned:

"...Since Friday, U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking the phones and SIM cards recovered by Indian authorities from the Mumbai terrorists leading to a "treasure trove" of leads in Pakistan and several possible connections to the United States, officials say.

Officials say one of the cell phone SIM cards may have been purchased in the United States but would not provide any more details because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The phones also include the same Thuraya satellite phone intercepted in November by the Indian spy agency RAW, the Research and Analysis Wing, which runs an extensive electronic intercept operation.

NSA, the National Security Agency, has the technical means to retrieve all calls made from satellite and cell phones in the south Asia region..." (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6368013&page=1)

It so whets because it makes me to wonder what obtains in T&T? For I recall the Prime Minister alluding to extensive subterfuge when, sometime ago, he let slip in Parliament that MPs Kamla Persad-Bissessar's and Keith Rowley's business was constantly being maccoed by state security agencies.

OMG! The Printers' Devil's at it again!

On November 8 last, in a piece entitled, "Of Prime Ministers and Printer's Devils.", I wrote:

"Oftentimes, publishers or editors are forced to back-back on something published or broadcast. Why? Because of some error, some slip-up, which, mysteriously, took place twixt the originator of a story item and the print room and which results in the wrong headline, caption, spelling appearing in what is seen -or heard- by the intended audience.

Most of those oftentimes, rather than pinpointing the culpable human, these publishers or editors seek refuge from punishment by explaining away the whatever blooper as having been conjured by an invisible imp. Whom, aptly, they insist is "The Printer's Devil". Whatever!.."

Now, today, December 1, 2008, I read where the Trinidad Newsday says that:

"PRIME Minister Manning last night promised to spear the nation cuts in salaries, pensions and social assistance grants, even as he unveiled a $4.5 billion Bud-get cut, calling on citizens to work harder and “save wherever possible” in the face of the global economic crisis..." ("PM: Work harder and save more" by Andre Bagoo.)

To "spear"??!! "Spear"?? As in, "Pierce with a long, sharply-pointed shaft"?

At first I was tempted again to berate the Printer's Devil for yet another of his shenanigans. But, on tempered reflection, I mused, "Maybe "spear" is what was really meant to be said?" For, assessing the man from his record, I suspect his true intention is to shaft those who depend on such sources of income?

Hope we don't have to await the jury's on-the-face-of-it- scheduled return to know the true interpretation.