At this stage, why the leeway to the PNM?

Recent public statements made by the Minister of Labour have raised some Jep nests. Those utterances concerned his reticence at dispatching certain members of the of the Unemployment Relief Programme [URP] managerial staff because of their "political colour".

Depending on the type of Jep, his utterances have provoked scathing attacks on, or spirited defence of what he said.

Regardless, because the persons are, every manjack, political appointees, his statements have brought to the front burner the role of political appointments in formulating and executing government policy, which is what, because of who I am, I wish here bluntly to address.

From time to time [especially when the PNM is not in power], public furore arises over the ethnicity of "political appointees". On the face of it, in a multi-ethnic society such as ours, it makes eminent sense for every employer to strive for ethnic balance when hiring. But, ought such ideal take precedence over, or be tempered by, the need to achieve efficiency? Or, put another way, is efficiency in the workplace compromised when ethnic balance is out of kelter? That, I'm afraid, is the million-kilogram elephant long in the room!

In my view therefore, the Minister, in belabouring his point of view in public view, has now unwittingly ripened the time to deal, once and for all, with the issue many have chosen to ignore [maybe in the misguided hope that, by closing their eyes, it would disappear?].

The reality is that the composition of Trinbago's population predominantly centres around two ethnic groups -the Indo-Trinbagonians and the Afro-Trinbagonians. Birds of a feather flock together; as a natural result, Trinbagonian  social, economic, religious and political activities and alliances by and large develop and sustain themselves along such ethnic lines. Within the political sphere, the evidence is manifested through the United National Congress [UNC] and the People's National Movement [PNM], which, despite their best efforts at convincing the public of otherwise, are held by the public as respectively catering to the needs of the Indo-Trinbagonian and Afro-Trinbagonian publics.

But, though a different ethnic group dominates each of the UNC and PNM, each warmly accommodates members not of its feather. Hence, within each political group one finds a minority which represents diversity. However, in that diversity, except for the UNC, the minority never attains any meaningful topmost position.

Because of their intrinsic composition, neither the UNC nor PNM can be faulted, on ethnic grounds, concerning the political appointments they make -a minority is a minority, any how one looks at it, so none can reasonably be expected to draw from its minority to make the majority of its political appointments. To find and apportion fault, therefore, one has to look for other premises. Seeing that such political appointments impact upon the wider citizenry, then the first area to examine must be the political appointer, for the fish rots from the head and the water upstream has to be clear for the water downstream to be clear.

The long misconception has been that politicians make policy for those whom they appoint to implement. I say "misconception", because creating policy is the primary responsibility of management, therefore, politicians are indeed managers of our national resources -of which the human is but one element- for, in creating policy, politicians, in essence, define what needs to be done, when and how what needs to be done is done and submit to being answerable to some higher authority when things go awry. In the end, their tenure is renewed or truncated depending on the way they answer -meaning, how they dealt with the problems on their plate.

Thus, when subordinate political appointees become problem-makers rather than problem-solvers, the political office that appoints them must have the guts to substitute them, for, as already mentioned, the water downstream can only be clear if the water upstream is clear.

Given the nature of Trinbagonian politics, that means, the 2010 general elections being over, whereby the PNM has been dispatched from control of the upstream because of its endemic corruption, the PNM must similarly be dispatched from every downstream point, to make room for the different breed of water molecules coming from the upstream point.

It's untenable for any who withstood PNM's withering assault over the years 2002 to mid 2010 to be asked to kowtow to the PNM's residuals for anything. Thus, bluntly put, anyone who does not comprehend, or who opposes that, has no appreciation for all and any who laboured long and hard to remove the corrupt PNM régime from office.

Moving on but FESTINA LENTE

Speaking of "moving on", it is time now to move on with the business at hand! Not now to embrace that time, is to move backwards in time and purpose -to the dark days of the PNM.

The business at hand of which I speak is the one which was handily handed to the Kamla-led administration -when four hundred and thirty-two thousands of us decided to move on, as from May 24th 2010!

Waxing classical:

In case you've forgotten, on that great day, EX ORIENTI VENIMUS SCIVIMUS VICIMUS -Illuminated by the Sun, we came, we voted, we won!

NICETERIUM MAXIMUM EIECTARE PNM NIHIL OBSTAT -The greatest benefit of that victory is that all obstacles to parking aside the PNM have been removed!

Mais, celui qui hésite est perdu -But, he who hesitates is lost!

It is the prayer of all that FESTINA LENTE -hurrying slowly- would not move the tsunami to turn against the May 24th tide.

If Christopher Columbus had listened to the recognised

 If Christopher Columbus had listened to the so-called founts of knowledge of his time, what would the shape of the world be today?

The PNM and that for which it stood/stands have been soundly ejected. Such ejection, by law debars the PNM from controlling "things" unless, sometime in 2015, they can convince the majority to put them first past the pole. Wherefore, then, are they still permitted the leeway they still enjoy?

Who is seeking the people's interest?

Though the premise "people" prominently pictures in the names of all the Trinbagonian political aggregations of the day, real questions linger as to whom, for each of those groupings, that premise applies.

Any explainers?

No veneration without representation.

The long-established norm is for representatives of the people to become objects of veneration not long after their exaltation to such high offices.

In the face of that, the most despicable thing a representative of the people can do is to turn his back on the people he was elected to represent.

Therefore, any representative who commits such a crime is worthy not merely of being thrown overboard, but of being overboarded in the same way those freedom-seeking colonists did to a very valuable cargo of overtaxed tea, when, disguised as Indians, they dumped lock, stock and barrel into the cold, deep, dark sea at Boston Harbor, during the night of December 16th 1773.

Then, the galvanic cry was:

"No taxation without representation!"

It's a source of great distress that recently, in some parts of Trinidad, a variation of the Boston Battlecry is beginning to be heard:

"No veneration without representation!"

Investigations reveal that the "no veneration" wailing was triggered because some representatives have turned their backs -and guns- on the very people who gave their all to have them installed them into public office -they have begun to represent themselves, their families, their lovers and close friends, no one else.

To whom much is given, much is demanded. Let this voice in the wilderness wordily warn all representatives of the people -and none of them in particular- that none of them is to expect veneration without representation.

To Anand!

Almost nigh on twelve months ago, along with many thousands of browbeaten, I took the deliberate action of liberating the political party to which I belong of its leadership. To us, that leadership had descended into the realms of irrelevance -it was no longer responsive to the wishes of us, its members.

As, history records -and such things history indelibly always does- it was a wise and most timely shift. Within days, that new leadership was able to seize the opportunity when it came a-knocking. So it was that what commonsense and commonfolk hopes and prayers long yearned to be done came to be done -the new leadership forged, for the sake of our common liberty, a united stand against the party that brought us from colonialism to a state of independent misery.

So it came to pass that we readily and enthusiastically plunged, feet first, into the epic battle to rescue and redeem Trinidad and Tobago. The odyssey is now otherwise known as "the General Election Campaign, 2010".

It's not yet a year since the dust settled, but, already, the outcome of that struggle is of the stuff of legends.

Speaking of legends, it is clear to all but the myopic or cynic in our midst that the constant attempts at humiliating the embryonic government administration are all contrived. However, those attempts are not shaped of altruistic motives, rather of egoistic and desperate ones. Hence they are forgeries!

See how intended-to-uplift ministerial aspirations, actions and statements are routinely bundled, then perversely warped into trash by those whom the People's Partnership roundly defeated! It is almost as if the People's Partnership government is being hounded by a pack of oppositely-disposed Rumpelstiltskins, since that the People's National Movement [PNM] is hellbent on continuing its long-accustomed ways -turning all the people's gold into straw?

The latest example of the PNM crowd's freakish behaviour is to be gleaned from the rush of snide remarks hurled hither and thither about what Trinbago's Attorney-General [AG], the erstwhile Anand Ramlogan, noted about a grand piano.

As he explained in a Trinidad Express interview, the AG's comments came during the cut and thrust of a Parliamentary debate. During one such cut, the AG thrust in the face of the former Prime Minister some news which had recently come into his [the AG's] ken;

• that a slew of grand pianos were bought with the taxpayers' money during the former Prime Minister's term; and that
• they were bought by the University of Trinidad and Tobago, when it was headed by Dr. Ken Julien.

The AG further expounded that, having been bought, one of those pianos which ought not have been bought in the first place could not be located. So, straightforward individual that he was, the AG then asked the one for whom that particular piano that ought not to have been bought but apparently was bought, if he could say where he left it...and he did.

Whereafter, the piano that ought not to have been bought was located more or less where the one who was asked said it was.

The furore which then erupted surprises me not, for as earlier stated, we're stuck with a bunch of oppositely-disposed Rumpelstiltskins who would travesty tremendous thresholds to turn the tides to their tendency. Of that, they'd have better luck turning a sow's ears into silk, for the wheels of justice inexorably always grind, thus justice, though many times delayed, over time is never denied.

In their demonic glee to trip up the Attorney-General, themselves instead they have ensnared, for they did not understand that, masterful advocate as he is, what the Attorney-General accomplished was to get the man in the piano seat personally to implicate himself -the former Prime Minister cannot in future deny he had no knowledge of the transaction, which he tried with the Church-for-Juliana issue [wherein he claimed he was not the "PM" mentioned in a certain document.]. On that occasion, it was our current Prime Minister, the doughty Kamla Persad-Bissessar who spilled the former Prime Minister's beans. [See: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,120828.html]

Any then who doubts the sincerity and sagacity of the People's Partnership will have a hard time convincing others of the honour of their motives.

God willing therefore, for as long as they weigh anchor and hold true to the planned course, the team of incumbents at the governing helm shall remain intact and continue to prevail, for it comprises women and men driven by honourable intent.

It was in thorough endorsement of such vision and mission four hundred and thirty-two thousands of us stained our fingers on May 24th 2010, a day that will forever remain etched in the glorious records of Trinbagonian history. Those who refuse to come to terms with the People's Partnership victory, or who actively or unwittingly strive to undo it, will fall by the wayside -whenever the tide turns, they that thickheadedly twitch against it always do.

Anand and the lately-appearing piano.

I doubt very much that the PNM and its operatives can ruffle the Honourable AG's feathers.

Now! What are the facts of the grand piano caper?

1. An emperor did build for himself -out of our money- an imperial sanctuary.
2. The imperial sanctuary, being an imperial sanctuary, needed to be equipped only with high-end everything.
3. Eventually, after multi-million dollar curtains were installed, the emperor hearkened to music supply.
   
4. Where instrument of music was concerned, the emperor decreed the steelpan to be unworthy as it was not grand enough for the venue.
5. After some time elapsed, the emperor's chief sycophant -who headed an utterly unaccountable university [UUU]- was summoned.
6. The emperor's chief servant decided to go with a grand piano, one of the grandest class.
7. One niggling problem existed, though -how to get the grand piano aboard without arousing the same ire as the curtains did.
8. Suddenly, the emperor's chief sycophant -who headed an utterly unaccountable university [UUU]- smiled an eureka, for he had the bright idea that all he had to do was introduce a course of grand pianos throughout his UUU and, bingo!, the trail of the emperor's grand one would then be easiest able to be hidden.
9. So said, so done...literally!
10. For a while.
    

Now that the grand piano caper is uncovered, it's natural for lost info to be found.

It's simultaneously natural, too, to pelt the book behind that emperor's and his chief sycophant's behinds!

Any takers?

Would could us less if we, the people, just buy the damn drugs!

Re: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,134158.html

wherein, regarding illegal drugs, a superficial account is given of how much was intercepted and seized by the various long arms of the law during 2010, to wit:

by the Police:

260 illegal firearms
5,057 bullets
109 kg cocaine
2,024 kg marijuana.

and, by the Coast Guard:

2,316 kg marijuana worth $22 million
20 kg cocaine
1 hand grenade
1 AK47 rifle
US$15,000 currency,

Given the street-rates of the various items seized, the total value of the seized stuff is as follows:

In light of the above, we, the people, are shocked that, having expended hundreds and hundreds of millions to outfit and maintain the Police and Coast Guard units devoted to illegal drug interdiction, the return on such investment is so dismally paltry!

Therefore, we, the people, believe that the status quo cannot be allowed to continue!

Recommendation:
Pull back those funds and divert them to establish and run a National Fencing Operation [NFO], wherewith we, the people, would simply buy the illegal drugs from the dealers -at street prices- then we, the people, would see a dramatic increase in the quantum of the illegal stuff lawfully expropriated!

Moral:
In serving the people, serving the people, serving the people, we, the people, we, the people, we, the people, want to see value for our, the people's, money, want to see value for our, the people's, money, want to see value for our, the people's, money!

God bless!

Now is the time to treasure the Trinbagonian Treasured!

To: All and no one in particular.

Whatever good thing or accolade you have in mind for me, I'd rather that now you bestow it on me, rather than after I am gone.

I so request having recently witnessed, yet again, regarding recognition of the sterling contributions several have made to the benefit of Trinidad and Tobago, the stream of post-mortem promises publicly made by several.

It is long-established that a prophet is not without honour, except in his own country. So, please, all whose penchant is to rush, ad nauseam, to pronounce in public what they devise to do in post-mortem honour of our heroes, kindly, regarding the demised Trinbagonian Treasured, stuff it, okay?

Finally: for us properly to toast the Trinbagonian Treasured, terminate, today, the tarrying! Thence, timely, tenderly, transmit to them the temporal thoughtfulness their transcendent toils forever furnished us, passim.

The Grand Duke of Olde Talk.

Re: Paragraph three of http://www.guardian.co.tt/beta/news/2011/01/12/we-have-weapons-mass-destruction

wherein, in his continued frantic push for increased benefits for Public Servants, Watson Duke, President of the Public Services association of Trinidad and Tobago is reported to have said:

“We have weapons of mass destruction,” he said. Asked what these weapons were, Duke replied: “We can’t talk that here...That is to be felt, not seen.” He added: “We are incensed. We are mad. Every single public officer has the right to be mad and hateful towards the Government.”

And, also:

"A one per cent cut in the context of 15 per cent inflation is like a 14 per cent cut."

And, also, that the present [2011] salaries of public servants pay for only half a day’s work.:

Remember this nursery rhyme?

Oh, The Grand Olde Duke of York!
He had ten thousand men!
He marched them up to the top of the hill!
And he marched them down again!

And when they were up, they were up!
And when they were down, they were down!
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down!

Seems like The Grand Duke has resurrected, this time not of York, but of Olde Talk?

From any which way that is a fair assessment, for, despite earlier commenting -but in more philosophical tone- it is necessary to return, from another angle, empirically to treat with what the seeming-belligerent Duke has bluntly stated, as above quoted.

Over the past few months, The Duke of Olde Talk, as if prompted from others labouring to hold the reins, has been doing his ducal, but assiduous, best to give the impression that the lot of the Public Servants is a most serflike one, by caustically decreeing that the offer of a five percent [5%] increase in salaries [extended to them, if they, at once, settle], is an insult to their intelligence. His claim is it is too minuscule adequately to stave off the caustic effects of inflation on Public Servants' salaries, since the last occasion said salaries were increased.

In his assiduousness, the Duke of Olde Talk has been duplicitous, for, truth be told, over the past eleven [11] years [1999 - 2010], Trinidad and Tobago Public Servants have benefitted from a seventy-four point five seven percent [74.57%] increase in salaries.

Over the eleven-year period, between 1999 and 2011, then, Public Servants have benefitted from constant salary increases that measure six point seven eight percent [6.78%] per annum on the Second-Standard-Student Calculator Scale!

By the same Scale, an increase of one percentum [1%] and not one cent more, is more than adequate to address any shortfall Public Servants presently experience...unless the past settlements were sellouts -something which history reveals many negotiators have done without compunction.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so let the keyboard go silent a bit while mouse takes charge.

Parting shot:

The Grand Duke of Olde Talk has asked all Public Servants to work to suit the salary they get -only for half-a-day. We, the people, would welcome that, as, consequently, Public Service productivity would increase by leaps and bounds.

Oh yes!

The Grand Duke of Olde Talk!
And ten thousand union men!
All marched right up to the top of the hill!
But then marched right down again!

And when they were up, they were up!
And when they were down, they were down!
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down!

Extrapholating.

Extrapholating [I claim all rights to the expression "extrapholating" and to every source or derivative thereof] from the ongoing PH taxi phurore:

It is clear that those who insist that our laws, as exist, comprehensively provide all avenues phor the provision of public transport suphicient to our needs, must also believe that the laws of the land are immutable.

Phuthermore then, we are still a colony of Merrie Olde England.

Easier to ban tattoos.

Persons calling for enforcing existing law regarding PH vehicles might as well insist that taboos be banned and, furthermore, are ignorant of the law -the law itself permits for any law to be made, amended, suspended, or repealed.

Westminster! Oh, Westminster!

Don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes to deduce that, having evolved out of the English governance system, it is natural that, at present, both in fun-loving Trinidad and Tobago and Merrie Olde England, a Queen be in charge while a bald-headed Duke holds lesser sway.

Long live the Queen! But, tut, tut, you're too elementary, my dear Watson!

Thinking of greener postures.

Regarding all the circumstances surrounding the Greens of England -who were mauled while basking on the green grass of Tobago:
seeing that:

1. the Green Fund was established for the purpose of preserving and restoring the environmental aesthetics of Trinidad and Tobago; [See: Part VIII of http://www.ttparliament.org/legislations/a2000-91.pdf]
2. and that, identified amongst such aesthetics is the protecting of endangered/threatened plant and animal species; [See: http://www.news.gov.tt/index.php?news=541];
3. and that the human being is an animal, supposedly the only rational one; [See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human]
4. but that, if there be any who daresay that humans are not animals, then the mauling of the Greens of England shows that we are;

perhaps, if, out of the existing Green Fund, monies cannot be had  adequately to make restitution to the Greens of England, then we need to establish a second Green Fund, for, anyhow one looks at it, the Greens of England have become the lightning rod for implementation of same.