QUESTIONS THAT SHOULD BE ANSWERED (but probably never will)

One thing about us Trinis, we always seem to get caught up with the confusion of the moment and very rarely take a step back to look at various issues with an unclouded mind. Bearing in mind that compelling reason will never convince blinding emotion (and we Trinis are very, very familiar with blinding emotion)  I have listed below some 29 questions that I think ought to be asked, even though I have no doubt that none of them will ever get an answer. Still, if I make at least one person think then I will consider my job here well done. The questions are all asked as open ended as I could possibly make them. Readers will have some idea from previous posts as to what my personal opinion might be on any one question, but my opinions aren't important here. What is important are yours. What do you think?


1) Why did the DPP try to stop the Coleman Commission of Enquiry (COE) into the Hindi Credit Union and CLICO just when the COE was about to move to begin to look into the actions of Messrs. Duprey, Monteuil, and other CLICO honchos, on the ground that the COE might prejudice a criminal trial?

2) If this is such a serious point why didn’t the DPP take the same point when Harry Harnarine and the Hindu Credit Union came under Coleman’s spotlight?

3) Why did the DPP take so long to launch a criminal investigation into CLICO?

4) If the CLICO honchos were giving the Central Bank such a hard time to get information why didn’t the Central Bank say or do something a lot earlier?

5) Do you believe that the Central Bank’s hands were really tied in getting CLICO to “behave”? If this is the truth, then has this problem been fixed? If so, when was it fixed? Who recommended that it be fixed? When was this recommendation made? If it still has not been fixed, then why not?

6) Why didn’t it come out sooner that the Government had a lot of technical reports on the Mon Desir/Debe section of the highway being built in the South?

7) If the reports were/are so flimsy that they only consist of a few pages and some photographs as has been alleged by Dr. Kublalsingh why will it take the JCC 60 days to read them?

8) If the reports are so voluminous that it will take at least 60 days to read them and this is in fact a reasonable time, then does this mean that Dr. Kublalsingh and his supporters were not telling us the truth when they claimed that the report(s) is/are inadequate?

9) If they were not telling us the truth then what does this mean?

10) If they were telling us the truth then where did these reports suddenly come from?

11) Do the re-routers and/or Dr. Kublalsingh have their own technical reports to back up their claims and allegations?

12) If not, then on what basis exactly were/are they making their protest? Because they “feel” or “believe” that this is wrong? And if they have no scientific evidence to justify their claims then why do they want to meet with the JCC committee to put forward their views?

13) If their protest is based on scientific evidence, where is their study? Who did it and when? What exactly does it say?

14) Why hasn’t the press checked on the re-routers claims rather than printing them as fact?

15) Did Dr. Kublalsingh really go for some 8 or 9 days without water? If so, would this be a world record given that T&T has a very hot climate and dehydration in a hot climate is always greater than when it is cold?

16) If he (Dr. Kublalsingh) did cheat and/or has been cheating on his fast is this important? If so, why? If not, why not? Does it make a difference to know whether he cheated or not?

17) Why didn’t the press “embed” a reporter with Dr. Kublalsingh to make sure that he wasn’t cheating? Is this important?

18) Should we accept everything that the media tell us without questioning it? Is the media reliable and do they always tell us the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

19) Is the print media especially biased against the PP Government?

20) Is this important to know? If not, why doesn’t it matter? If so, why should it matter?

21) If the print media is indeed biased should they declare their bias? Would this be an infringement on their freedom to publish whatever they liked or would it simply be an act of openness and honesty? Is it an infringement of a free press to require that it be honest?

22) Is the Milsherv/Tobago House of Assembly a big deal? If not, why not? If it is a big deal then why is it not making continuous headlines a la Kublalsingh? Or is this an example of political bias on the part of the media in that the THA elections are coming up next month and they don’t want the PNM to be embarrassed?

23) If Commissions of Enquiry are really important why did the police effectively refuse to investigate NH International (the construction firm belonging to Mr. Emile Elias) for possible breaches of the Larceny Act in the Scarborough General Hospital/Landate matter by saying in writing that they couldn’t find the file?

24) Do you believe that the police really couldn’t/can’t find the file?

25) If you don’t believe that they can’t find the file what do you think is the real reason that the police will not investigate this matter?

26) Should the press be pursuing this or should they allow it to be dropped as it is now more than 10 years old?

27) If they should just drop it then does this mean that all old matters should be dropped? What about Calder Hart? When should his matter(s) be dropped?

28) And speaking of Mr. Hart, do you believe that he can get a fair trial in T&T?

29) If you were on a jury that was trying Mr. Hart would you approach the trial thinking ‘well, I presume that he is innocent but I will certainly listen to the evidence of the prosecution’ or would you approach it thinking “I know you’re guilty but let me hear what you have to say’?