Monday, March 18, 2024

DEALING WITH OUR CRIME PROBLEM - Part Two

 It is abundantly clear that most of the crime - especially the violent crime - is being committed by badly educated young men (together with a few women). Our education system is a mess - the last time it was completely overhauled was by Eric Williams around 1962. Since then successive Governments have tinkered with it  but nobody has had either the courage or the "smarts" to overhaul the system completely. The result has been the massive growth of an underclass who can barely read nor write, but who are smart enough to see that they are cast upon the rubbish heap of life with no way or means of getting ahead except through a life of crime. "Live fast and die young" has become their motto.

Clearly, this is totally unacceptable - or should be - for everybody. But how to fix it? My solution would take about twenty years before we see or feel any benefits. but  the sooner we start the sooner we reach our goal of creating a more just society.

I have heard criticisms of the teachers. In my view these criticisms are unjustified. What I think is that we are woefully underpaying our teachers. I believe that a starting salary for  a teacher right now is in the region of about TT$5,000 per month. Thereafter there is a scale that increases the salaries of teachers with time and experience. I would keep the various grades BUT I would treble the salaries of all qualified teachers now. And for the record, I would consider a teacher to be qualified if he/she held a teaching diploma or certificate and had an undergraduate degree. If a teacher had been teaching for 30 years or more this requirement would be waived. But for everybody else this would be non-negotiable.

Then, in order to get the new salary the teacher would have to agree to certain conditions. First of all, the teacher would have to agree to an annual performance review  based on how effective his/her teaching had been over the last year. If he/she fails this performance review he/she is fired with no severance. I am aware that the teacher's union will not like this at all. My answer would be all the original terms and conditions of the person's teaching job INCLUDING the original salary would apply, but once you take the new salary you give up your rights to the benefits under the original contract of employment and will be governed by the new rules. But "no money, no love" will be the rule and if you want the new salary then you will have to give up something. 

Crime is as a result of a failure of the education system. We simply can't afford not to pay first class salaries if we want to get first class results. Obviously, a young person who has just graduated from high school would not be a qualified teacher. But yet we continue to employ young, unqualified people as teachers and somehow expect our children to learn!?!

Well, this is my idea. Why do I say it will take about 20 years? Because I believe that it will take about that long to effect the changes that are so badly needed. Obviously, what has been set out here are simply the bare bones of the idea. There will have to be a great deal of "fleshing out", but hopefully you have got the basic idea. We need to have a system in place that gives EVERYBODY the belief and the hope that he/she can improve his/her life without resorting to crime. And we don't have that now.

But a better educated population will result in (amongst other things) a better and more effective police force. A better and more educated police force will result in a reduction in crime. The best deterrent for crime is the fear of getting caught and punished. And right now this just ain't happening! Its high time that we create a system based on performance. We simply can't afford to continue on the road that we are on


Friday, March 15, 2024

DEALING WITH OUR CRIME PROBLEM - Part One

 Two boys were born at exactly 1:10am, sixteen years, three months and two days ago. Both boys are black and both boys were their mothers' third child. Both boys are very bright with a natural inborn intelligence. 

 But that is where the similarities end. They were born approximately one and a half miles apart. The first boy was born in am upscale private nursing home while his mother was attended by a private doctor. The second was born in the Port of Spain General Hospital. No doctor was present. The father of the first boy was a lawyer; the mother was a real estate agent with a university degree` in sociology. The mother of the second boy never graduated from High School and doesn't know who is the father of the second boy. While she knows who the father of her first child is, she has no idea who the father of her third child is. She is living off and on with a man who beats her and her previous two children regularly. She hooked up with him just after she became pregnant with the second boy in this story. She too can barely read or write; indeed, she has never read a book in her life. She has had  four more children after the second boy was born - making a total of seven children. The last two were fathered by the same man. The mother of the first boy in our story had no more children after he was born.

The first boy was brought home to an upscale neighbourhood by his proud and loving parents and given the best education that money could buy. The second boy was taken home by his mother to a very poor neighbourhood and more or less left to fend for himself as he grew older. He sometimes went to a public school and barely learned how to read or write. By the time he was eleven he had started to roam the streets at night where he learned how to steal and he learned how to fight. At age thirteen he joined a gang and began his life of crime.

In the meantime the first boy had moved on with his life. His father had promised him that if his grades were good enough and he got into university that the father would buy him a car. The first boy wants to become an engineer. The second wants to have enough money by the time he is twenty-five to be able to buy anything that he wants from a nice house and a luxury car to nice clothes. He also wants to live long enough to enjoy all these things and sometimes in his darker moments rails against the injustice of being born poor and effectively cast upon the rubbish heap of life. He sees quite clearly that his only hope of escape from his present existence is in a life of crime. In any case, he doesn't know how to do anything else.

So, take this story and except for a few changes here and there you will find that most of the crimes being committed in this present crime wave plaguing our country are being committed by boys who are of a similar age (give or take a few years) and a similar background to the second boy in this story. So? What can we do? How can we help?  How can we fix this? That it needs to be fixed is clear. 

Because I tend to look with scorn upon those who see a problem but offer no solutions, I should say that I have an idea on how to fix this, but my idea will take about twenty years to fix - from when we start. In one word that solution is "EDUCATION".  In my next blog I will spell out as clearly as I can what I mean by this.


Tuesday, March 12, 2024

THE PNM'S MESSAGE

 

The PNM is a master at playing democracy against itself. The party always presents itself - no matter what it does - as representing the will of the people of Trinidad & Tobago. In some ways this trust is justifiable; the PNM has won more general elections and been in power and lasted longer than any other party in the country.

But the playing field is far from even. The PNM has been guilty of gerrymandering and allowing voters to register - even where they are not citizens or don't live in the districts. At the moment the big thing about Venezuelans coming over here is opposed by the party mainly because it is perceived that most of the Venezuelan immigrants do not favour the PNM and are brown - not black. Of course, this was different when the PNM let a lot of people in from the small islands. The PNM also spies on citizens.

The PNM has also learned  how to use the Government to shape and skim public opinion. One example: the Prime Minister's  recent program on all three major networks at prime time "Conversations with the Prime Minister". They have learned how to carefully control the message which is always that the Government represents all but a tiny minority of the people - and the underlying question is whose side do you want to be on? The vast majority, or the troublemakers?

Media freedom has,  until now, been carefully controlled by the PNM. The party has relentlessly squeezed the space for critical voices in the traditional media by getting business cronies to buy up independent media and not sharing and starving the few others of advertising revenue. A classic case in point is the recent shipwreck of that oil barge in Tobago. We still have had no explanation as to why reporting on this took so long - more than a week - to make the national news. Even now  it has become a bit of a 'nine day wonder' and we still don't have the full story. 

The 'canary in the coal mine' responsibility has fallen to social media which is not always exactly reliable - much to the detriment of our society. But the Government has completely failed to give any proper explanation and the traditional media has failed to "hold the Government's feet to the fire" in order that we, the citizenry, can know what happened in that case. 

So? Should we just turn the page and get on with our lives?



Saturday, March 9, 2024

ALL THE SIGNS ARE POINTING TO AN EARLY ELECTION

 If anyone paying attention to the political scene was in doubt he/she should take careful note of Dr. Rowley's latest pronouncement on Thursday last (7th March) when he said that elections were "coming soon". The Government-in-waiting (aka the UNC) still hasn't got it's act together and its leader seems to be living in another universe. Dr. Rudy Moonilal and Senator Lutchmedial together with M.P. Rushton Parry are the only ones who seem to be trying to keep the UNC flag flying. But if the others are working they are not being reported, and for any politician that is tantamount to being seen as irrelevant. 

In the meantime Dr. Rowley is continuing with his version of what happened  and why, for example, Petrotrin was shut down. He also said that the UNC was only focused on crime and nothing else. Now, this isn't exactly true. To my knowledge the UNC has criticized the failure of the education system (which by the way is a major cause of the present crime wave - but more on that later), the absolute failure of the country's health care system, the dismal state of the roads with potholes everywhere, along with the lousy state of security in the country. But whose message is getting across? Dr. Rowley's or Kamla's?

But while Dr. Rowley stands head and shoulders above any other politician in the country, the facts just aren't there to support his increasingly wild (and mostly untrue) accusations against the Opposition, nor do the facts support his allegations that his team has done a very good job. Of course he is being ably assisted by the rather obvious incompetence of those holding the leadership reins in the Opposition - and here I am not talking about Mrs. Persad- Bissessar alone. Her entire leadership team is hopelessly and helplessly incompetent, unable to sell an ice cream cone to an eskimo in the desert. They seem to be banking on "vote for us and not the PNM who have dragged the country down" -  not a bad line, but it obviously needs more - much more - if they want to win.

The UNC needs to say how they are going to fix things - and to say it now, over and over again. Politics and Government is ONLY about making YOUR life better. If they can't or won't say that then a reasonable question to ask is what's in it for you? Why should you vote for them (whoever "them" are)?

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

THE OPENING CAMPAIGN SALVO

 I must confess that I felt as if I had wasted my precious time when I listened to Keith Rowley's "Conversations With the Prime Minister" last night. On the positive side I had to admire his presentation. He is nothing if not an excellent salesman and listening to him, even though I knew that what he was saying was either simply not true or was absolute rubbish, I couldn't help thinking that an uncritical or unthinking listener would have been persuaded that he was doing a good job and that everything that had gone wrong was the UNC's fault. Certainly, I found myself more than half believing and accepting his arguments and had to remind myself constantly that what he was saying was a gross distortion of the facts.

For example, when he touched on the closure of Petrotrin I thought that we might at least have gotten some sort of apology or admission that it was a terrible mistake. Instead he brushed it off by saying in essence that it was in the country's interest that the company was closed down and rather conveniently ignoring the GTL project and the fake oil scandal which had been exposed immediately before and had saddled Petrotrin with billions of dollars in debt. Also he rather conveniently ignored the fact that some 10,000 workers had lost their jobs but that the persons responsible  for that disaster had gotten away Scot free and that there has never been any type of public  (or even private) accounting for what had happened. Nobody (except the taxpayers) has ever had to pay for that mess.

On another note he placed the blame for the delay in the implementation of the Property Tax squarely on the UNC and even had his erstwhile Finance Minister give a (rather garbled) `explanation of how the UNC had screwed things up.

Again, while he has to be admired for his salesmanship, unfortunately for him, the facts and matters about which he spoke do not quite line up with what he was trying to pitch. 

But all that will be for the UNC to deal with. What I want you to notice is that his presentation clearly resembled an opening salvo in the looming election campaign. The fact that he used his Prime Ministerial office to make that presentation (and presumably not pay for the prime time on the 3 major television networks) is something that should be carefully noted and put in the back of your mind. How Mrs. Persad Bissessar will deal with this, is, of course, another matter. But it does need to be dealt with - by her personally - and soon!


Friday, March 1, 2024

MAKING LIFE BETTER FOR THE PEOPLE

 All the signs point to Dr. Rowley going to the polls early. The general election is due in September next year, but the one who decides the date when it will be called ain't saying a thing! This is of itself not surprising. It is normal for Prime Ministers who have a certain discretion on matters such as this to keep absolutely mum on the issue for obvious reasons. So for everybody else we have to read the tea leaves and make our best guesses as to what the leader might do.

With that being said, the important question as to who you should vote for is: are you better off today than you were when there was the last election some 8 1/2 years ago? If the answer is 'yes' then it is obvious who you should vote for: the PNM. The next question that you will have to ask yourself is do you think that given the present circumstances and policies of this Government  that the good times that you have enjoyed will continue under this Government? If the answer is 'no' then you have to seriously consider voting for the UNC. But then you will be faced with the obvious question: do you think that Kamla and her team can make your life better? If the answer to this question is 'yes' then you should cast your ballot for the UNC. In many ways this question is more important than the first.

But here is where your difficulty comes in. Almost everybody - and certainly most thinking people - believe that the Rowley Government has failed miserably. They also worry -not unreasonably - that Kamla and her crowd simply don't have the wherewithal to fix what's wrong nor do they have the necessary ideas about  governing so that people (like you) can continue more or less happily with their lives. Which brings us back to square one : are you better off today than you were just before PNM came to power? Do you think that Kamla & Co. can make your life better or should you stick with the ''devil" you know?

There is only one reason for politics - one reason for government: to make life better for the people! There is no other reason.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

WILL THERE BE AN EARLY SNAP ELECTION IN T&T?

 The political state that T&T finds itself in today is nothing if not interesting. There are two main dominant parties - the PNM and the UNC. Both are very similar in almost everything; both draw heavily on the racial division in the country with PNM drawing mostly Black/African support and the UNC drawing mainly Indian/Hindu support. Both basically have the same economic policies - the argument here is that the PNM claims that the UNC steals more while the UNC claims that the PNM also steals just as much, if not more, but that they (the PNM) can't manage a children's party let alone the country's rather complex economy. On crime both parties declare boldly that they are against it. Here the PNM is at a slight disadvantage because they have been in power since 2015 and the situation as regards crime has clearly deteriorated. Unfortunately, the UNC has to date not shown how they can improve this situation and appear (whether true or not) that their co called forums on crime are simply just a PR stunt designed simply to produce no real solutions but to fool people that they have ideas to deal with the situation.

On foreign policy both parties tout the line of 'non-interference', but the PNM is clearly leaning more in favour of countries like Venezuela, while the UNC tends to view the United States more favorably. That this could or might have consequences for T&T is the subject of another discussion.

The contest at the end of the day is really one between the leadership of both parties. Dr. Rowley seems to be relying more on the racial vote with the gerrymandering that has taken place over the years than on his record, which is really rather dismal. Mrs. Persad-Bissessar seems to be relying not only on the Hindu vote, but on the fact that she was once the Prime Minister and that Dr. Rowley seems to be screwing up so badly that nobody in his/her right mind could ever vote for the PNM again. Neither leader appears to take into account the issues that ought to be discussed and on  how they plan to make the average person's life better. You simply don't hear falling from their lips exactly how they plan to improve things in the country for the individual voter if elected/re-elected in the next election. And neither leader has surrounded himself/herself with any competent,  politically attractive people. The criteria for belonging to either inner circle seems to be unquestioning loyalty to the leader. Rowley's man of business, Stuart Young, is perceived to be competent, but he is not popular either in the country or (more importantly) in the party. Persad-Bissessar has two competent persons on her side one of whom (Rudy Moonilal) has been so badly tainted by the PNM that he is now politically unacceptable to the broader electorate as well as a large portion of his own party, and the other (Rushton Parry) who has shown himself to be competent as well as popular; his sin is that his popularity makes him an acceptable alternative to Mrs. Persad- Bissessar, which means that she may very well decide to cut him as a candidate in the next election campaign. Both leaders can control who their parties put up as candidates.

This discussion is appropriate right now for all the signs are pointing to Dr. Rowley calling an early election this year - my bet is for May/June. I say this because the economy is looking to get worse between now and September next year (when the elections are constitutionally due) and, on the basis of all publicly available evidence, there is a real possibility that the Americans might conclude that the Rowley Government was actively trying to help Venezuela evade sanctions with that sunken barge off Tobago. Sanctions on T&T's economy would be devastating. (Again, this is a possibility and not a certainty, but certainly it is one that thinking people ought to be aware of.) Also, if (and it is a big 'if') the UNC changes leadership any  time soon, then he will not want to give the new leader time to settle in.

 That things can change overnight that could force a change in any prediction is a given. All we can do at this stage is to speculate on the possibilities. There is a lot going on that we simply don't know about. But, as I said earlier, based on the evidence that is publicly available at the moment, look for an early election. As to who will win? That is also very much up in the air also. By all that is normal, the UNC should be way ahead in the polls; but they are not. This is not simply  a reflection of the racial divide in the country, but it is also reflective of the rather negative opinion of Mrs. Persad- Bissessar that is held by many. Fortunately for her, on the other side there are roughly an equal number who also do not have a high regard for Dr. Rowley.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

PNM v. UNC - WHAT DOES T&T NEED?

 For better or worse we are stuck with two main political parties - the PNM and the UNC. There are certain problems with both of them, the most glaring being that, at least economically, there are no policy differences. Basically, both sides are saying that 'we can do it better' than the other side. The PNM's basic mantra is that a vote for us will ensure business as usual and no 't'iefing', while the UNC's mantra is 'we must and can do better - and the PNM is full of thieves in any case'.

So with both sides claiming that the other will steal (translation: will steal more) and that they can do better the contest boils down to a leadership one: who do you like better? Kamla or Rowley? On the UNC's side you have a leader that is perceived as being weak and ineffective. She has surrounded herself with persons who are also perceived as being incompetent and who owe their loyalty to her rather than the people who support and vote for the UNC. This, they say, is  typically symptomatic of weak leadership. Mrs. Persad-Bissessar's opponents also say that at a time when PNM is demonstrably very weak they seem to be running neck and neck with the PNM. Certainly, this last appears to be a valid observation and a good point for changing the UNC leader. 

Mrs. Persad-Bissessar's supporters counter with the argument that this is not true and in any case now is not the time to change horses - that Rowley will call an election immediately if the UNC changes leaders, especially if that change was acrimonious.  This last point is a good argument as it is most unlikely that Mrs. Persad-Bissessar will gracefully step down. She obviously prefers to 'rule in Hell than serve in Heaven'.

On the PNM side, Rowley is also seen as weak and basically ineffective. Crime is now so clearly out of control that people hesitate to call the police. Rowley's Minister of National Security is seen as bumbling and incompetent as is his Commissioner of Police. His preferred method of doing any kind of business is through his Minister of Energy whose claim to fame is that he is supported by the big boss; without that support, Stuart Young would be yesterday's news. He has absolutely no support - anywhere!

So? Where are we? On the one hand we have an alternative Government which is led by a woman who, together with the persons that she has gathered around her, is widely perceived as incompetent and on the other  we have a Government which is led by a man that has demonstrated time and again that he hasn't got a clue about anything: crime, health care, the education system, the roads and more -  which are in a mess. And don't even mention the latest scandal about the shipwrecked barge in Tobago!

What is clearly needed is what we simply don't have: leaders who care more about the country and put what is best for the country first than about themselves. Anybody care to dream?

Monday, February 19, 2024

AND NOW THE STORY HAS COCAINE IN IT

It has now been reported that (1) one kilo of cocaine has been found near the Gulfstream barge - the one that capsized and caused the disastrous oil spill, and (2) that satellite tracking shows the barge was in Venezuela before coming here.

Now, this raises even more questions and makes it now most important that we find out who the individuals are that owned the barge and who stood to benefit from this cargo. Also, it is important to note that we still don't know where the crew is nor do we know exactly what happened. 

One thing is clear though: if we know that the barge was in Venezuela then the Americans do too. They probably have all the answers to our questions and are now biding their time to see what the Trinidadian authorities do next. Put another way, this ain't good news for us at all! You see, if there was Venezuelan oil mixed with Trini oil in the barge then reasonable conclusions to be drawn are that some person or persons high up was complicit in what was essentially a sanctions busting exercise. The story that there was a kilo of cocaine found near the barge seems to suggest that the ultimate beneficiaries are (or were) drug lords based here in Trinidad. Who are they? 

But there are now very ugly and what ought to be most unnecessary suspicions of both the Prime Minister and the Minister Of Energy. Were they involved somehow? If so, how were they involved? And why did it take so long for the news of the oil spill to leak out (pardon the pun)? And why is nobody in the Opposition asking any questions? What exactly went on? It can't be a good thing for this country to have the Prime Minister et al under this kind of suspicion. And let's be frank: the unspoken and unproven suspicions are that there have been a series of coverups stemming all the way from the top. Are any of these suspicions unreasonable?

What do the Americans know? Are we in danger of being sanctioned? If so, who was responsible for this? We need (and deserve) the clear evidence - one way or the other.


There was at least a loss of US$10 million. That is a lot of money. Who is taking that loss? Who were the banks involved? Put another way, was any local bank involved in the transaction? If so, which bank?And don't tell me something like ABC Inc. from Panama. Please state the names of the actual persons. I don't think that many people realize how precarious our position is. If this was in fact a sanction busting exercise and possibly coupled with drug smuggling we are going to be punished. Who would have brought this on our heads?

Friday, February 16, 2024

MORE QUESTIONS AND NO ANSWERS


The story of the half-sunken barge off Tobago continues to raise questions that ought to be answered. For example, there are reports that the barge was transporting Venezuelan oil. Is this true? If so, was this an attempt by Venezuela to evade American sanctions? Also, was T&T complicit in any way in this alleged attempt to evade sanctions? If so, who in T&T was colluding with the Venezuelans to do this? And, if this is true, then does T&T face getting on America's blacklist in helping Venezuela?

Again, I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. The matter has become even more curious by the visit of the Minister of Energy yesterday to Caracas. What was he doing there? Don't we deserve some kind of explanation? Because an inference to be drawn if there is no explanation is that he went to collude with the Venezuelan authorities  in order to make sure that everybody's stories lined up. Now, if that is true, then it would mean that this matter is much more serious than we imagined and that we here in T&T are probably exposing ourselves to American retaliation.

Countries don't have friends: they have interests. So it is possible that if America decides that somebody in authority colluded with Venezuela to break their sanctions then unless we deal with that person or persons ourselves America may decide to punish us for helping Venezuela to breach their sanctions. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' and America could decide that T&T's helping the Venezuelan regime is evidence that we are on their (Venezuelan) side. So? Is it worth our while to help Venezuela if they were indeed trying to evade American sanctions?

And don't forget that the crew hasn't turned up yet! Why not? Who was the ultimate owner of this oil? Where was it going and who was buying it? And I am asking for the names of the actual persons who stood to benefit from this transaction. Why is this a secret?

Bottom line: is anybody in T&T involved in this matter? If so, who? And what was/is their role? What happened to cause the barge to break loose from whatever was towing it? Was it some sort of violence? An accident like a tow rope breaking? What? And if it was an accident when was it reported and to whom?

I could go on all day, and frankly the media should. But the evidence suggests that this "accident" (for want of a better word) is being covered up? If this is true then, why? We really do deserve a complete explanation. These suspicions are not healthy and there may be reasonable explanations for everything, But we deserve the truth. After all, if sanctions are to flow from this they won't come immediately - they'll come later, probably after the coming general election - but when they do, we will all hurt, and badly.


Monday, February 12, 2024

TOO MANY QUESTIONS - NOT ENOUGH ANSWERS


The news about a ship full of oil being wrecked off the East coast of Tobago raises more questions than answers. For example, take a look at some of the questions that need to be asked and haven't been answered:

1) Who is the owner  or owners of the ship?

2) If it is a company who are the shareholders, i.e., the actual individuals? I ask this because a company can be owned by another company and so on, but ultimately there has to be a group of persons or a single person who owns the company that owns the ship.

3) Did the oil come from Trinidad? It should be easy to check this. After all, how many ports are there in Trinidad that can load up a ship with oil?

4) Where was the ship going? 

5) Who was buying the oil? Again, if it was a company the same subsidiary questions as in (2) above apply.

6) Did the oil come from Venezuela? If so was this an attempt to evade American oversight? And if so, was anybody in Trinidad complicit in this?

7) There were some reports that about 14 seamen were found dead in Tobago waters. Was this report true? Because this particular aspect seems to have disappeared from the narrative. Assuming (though not accepting) that it was true, did these dead seamen come from the ship?

8) Assuming that the report was not true, where are the crew members and the Captain? They seem to have simply vanished.

9) A ship of this size is worth a lot of money as is the oil that it was carrying. Together I 'guesstimate' that some where in the region of US$10 million (if not more) has been lost. Who lost this money?

10) How did this ship get wrecked? There were no storms off Tobago - no unusual weather. So? What exactly happened?

11) How could this ship get itself wrecked without the coast guard being aware of that?

12) Can a boat or ship pass through our waters without being detected? If so, didn't we spend a lot of money to prevent this from happening? And if it was detected by the national security people, do they know where the ship came from or where was its last port of call? If they don't know, then why don't they know?

13) I've asked this already in a slightly different way: did the voyage that ended in disaster start in Trinidad? If so, are there any records in Trinidad listing the names of the captain and crew as well as who the owner(s) is/are?

14) who insured the ship? Who insured the cargo? What  amounts was the insurance for?

15) What type of person(s), firm(s) or corporation(s) can afford a loss like this and everybody just keeps quiet about it?

16) What was the name of the ship? And where was it registered?

17) Does or did Venezuela have anything to do with this?

18) was this a drug deal gone wrong?

I could easily go on, but hopefully you get the point. There are too many unanswered questions and the longer that they remain unanswered  the more that ugly suspicions will arise, which suspicions ought to be totally unnecessary. 



Saturday, February 10, 2024

STANDING BY MY RIGHTS

 I have received a report that my last post (headed ' An Interesting Year') has annoyed Mrs. Persad Bissessar so much that she has given instructions to try to have my post removed from Facebook. Now, I have no way of knowing if that is true or not, but assuming (though certainly NOT accepting) that there is some truth in that report then all I can say is that assuming the report is true surely the proper thing to do would be to get in touch with me directly and ask me to remove it giving reasons why it is considered offensive.

I have reread the post and must confess that while it might appear critical of Mrs. Persad Bissessar I can see no reason why I should withdraw it. If there is anything ... ANYTHING .... that is remotely untrue then I do most humbly apologize and withdraw the offensive remark(s), whatever it or they might be. But the last time I looked, giving an opinion (whether offensive or not) was certainly not illegal so long as it was not defamatory. And I must say that I don't see anything remotely defamatory in my post. Put another way, I stand by my absolute right to have an opinion and share it subject always to the law of defamation.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

AN INTERESTING YEAR



Of course you can't always tell anything from a television report. But sometimes the tv report might show something that might be usually unintended. (And please note the two "mights" in that sentence.) What got me to thinking was that on the news report on Ish Galbaransingh's funeral there were some clips of UNC leader Kamla Persad Bissessar. Although there were a lot of people there the clips on television showed her largely being ignored by the crowd that was there. This was more than a little troubling for a UNC supporter who hopes that his/her party will win the next election  ... at least, it should have been!

So the question is: was this deliberate on the part of the television editors or does it in fact tell the unintended truth, i.e., that the erstwhile  Opposition Leader does not enjoy great popularity? Assuming (though obviously not accepting) that this latter might be true (another "might") then this would mean that the rumors of a general election this year might (again) have some validity. You see,  things are crashing all around Dr. Rowley right now. Crime is rising - or at the very least perceived to be rising - and the economy looks set for a major crash with no bottom in sight. Every where he turns there seems to be bad news.

By all that is normal, this would mean that the Government is on a path that will surely end with its destruction at the polls. But things are not normal. The UNC leader is not very popular with the rank and file supporters and looks set for a third defeat at the polls. Dr. Rowley, who is nothing if not a clever politician who knows how to appeal to his base, may very well figure that this year will be his best chance to make it three times in a row and call an election early. One can expect some subtle (and some not so subtle) hints to be thrown out on race by both sides when the 'action' starts.

That a lot of Dr. Rowley's base is disillusioned is clear and he should be worried as to whether or not he will be able to get his people to come out and vote. At the moment it certainly looks like they won't, but hey, that can change. On the other side of the coin The UNC base is (perhaps understandably) not too thrilled with their leader either. The main difference between the two sides is the UNC hope that enough people on their side will come out and vote, even though they are unhappy with their leader, because they figure that they just can't take it any more. This seems to be what Mrs. Bissessar is counting on. And once she wins .... well, that's it! She's 'home'!

Its going to be an interesting year!

Saturday, February 3, 2024

WILL THE UPCOMING US SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA AFFECT T&T?

 I was always taught that if you want to understand something you first have to go back to basics. I was somewhat confused by a report in the media that the United States has confirmed that Trinidad & Tobago will not be directly affected by the US's upcoming reimposition of sanctions on Venezuela's energy sector. This assurance was apparently given to Prime Minister Keith Rowley during his recent trip to the US.

So? Going back to basics, the question that arises is what does this mean for the Dragon Gas deal upon which the whole country is depending?  What exactly does "will not be directly affected" mean? Because when I read that to me it means that the Dragon Gas deal will not be included in the upcoming sanctions. 

To me "not be directly affected" has to mean that because if that particular deal is included in the upcoming sanctions either directly or indirectly then it sure as heck is going to affect us directly. and is not a true statement.  And it could be included in the sanctions by the use of indirect language such as 'any energy project from which Venezuela will benefit one way or the other.

So? What exactly is this "assurance"?  Did Dr. Rowley deliberately try to mislead us with that rather equivocal so-called  "assurance"? If so, why did he do that? Is he planning on calling a general election before the sanctions are put on his good friend in Venezuela, Maburro, and reimposed by the US thus putting our deal in jeopardy? Because that is one possible explanation for his deliberately trying to mislead us if to mislead was his intention. Of course, if it was his intention to mislead us there could be other reasons. And if he was not trying to mislead then surely he could have used language that was clearer, e.g., 'the Dragon Gas deal will NOT be affected'.

But then, we would not be kept guessing, would we?

Sunday, January 28, 2024

WHY IS DR. ROWLEY GOING TO WASHINGTON?

 So Keith Rowley, the Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, has flown off rather suddenly to Washington on an unannounced trip. As to why he is going to Washington at this time and who he is going to meet, is not in the public domain;  neither is what he hopes to accomplish  while he is there.

While it is very easy to criticize any leader of a democracy for failing to inform his/her people as to why he/she feels that he/she has to travel and not explaining in full what he/she hopes to accomplish by an apparently sudden trip, one of the nice things about a democracy is that we are all free to speculate on any action or actions of our leaders even when (as in this instant case) they choose  not to give us any information other than "I am going To X".

But it is fairly easy to "read the tea leaves" as to why the Prime Minister has chosen to travel now and it can be summed up in two words: Dragon Gas.

In order to understand the problem it is necessary to look across the Gulf of Paria and  at what is taking place in nearby Venezuela. That country's Supreme Court has recently disqualified the leading (and very popular) opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado. The problem here is that Venezuela's Supreme Court is stuffed with President Maburro's cronies (I refuse to call him Maduro; Maburro suits him much better). Now, Maburro had given an undertaking that the Presidential elections due this year would be free and fair. In return, the United States had lifted some of its sanctions. But Maburro controls the Supreme Court. What he says goes, and, as we say in T&T, who vex 'lorse'! And he doesn't want anybody opposing him who might have the remotest chance of beating him. So it is crystal clear that Venezuela's Supreme Court does whatever he wants.

Now that Ms. Machado has been barred from contesting the elections, it is quite clear that Maburro is not going to trust the Venezuelan electorate and that the Donkey will simply revert to what he has always done: cheating at the elections.

So? How does this affect us in good old T&T? If the USA decides to reimpose sanctions the Dragon Gas deal that Messrs. Rowley &Co. are pinning their hopes on could well be under sanction again. So it makes sense for Dr. Rowley to fly to Washington to try and get the Americans to hold their hands and do nothing that might affect our economy which is presently tanking.

The problem is that Dr. Rowley is publicly on record as effectively being on the Donkey's side. The best that he can hope for therefore is that the Americans say that they won't do anything adverse to T&T's interests and thus will not interfere with our own upcoming elections, which would effectively mean that the Dragon Gas deal will be allowed to go forward. The Americans will look at this and determine what exactly is in their best interests (and not T&T's). What they decide to do will determine whether the Dragon Gas deal will go forward or not.

In the meantime, expect more political machinations on this particular matter -  from everybody!