SPYING

  I shall always be grateful to former Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar for telling the world in Parliament that my telephone (along with more than a hundred others) was tapped by the Manning regime. I considered suing the Government for breaching my constitutional right to privacy but ultimately decided against it for a variety of reasons, not the least being that I really didn't want to add to the financial burdens of the State that was beginning to show signs of economic fatigue. I have no doubt that I would have won that case though.

But the latest news coming out in which the Rowley regime is apparently tapping the telephones of all kinds of people ranging from PNM to UNC supporters and all kinds of people in between is most disturbing. Basically, the accusation is that the Government has engaged the services of the Israelis to spy on the citizens of this country. The Prime Minister is reported as saying words to the effect that only criminals are being spied upon and therefore ordinary law abiding citizens do not have to worry, to which I can only say 'what?'. How does the Government know who is a criminal and who is not? And if people's telephones, emails, etc., are being monitored what is the bench mark for this monitoring? Who is doing the monitoring? 

The questions abound and the former Prime Minister is quite correct in raising the issue. It is a great pity that the so-called "free and independent" press have not seen fit to take her up on this and make an issue of it. For it is a big deal and this is the way that dictatorships tend to take hold - little by little. Mrs. Persad Bissessar is more right than most people realize and it would be wise to pay attention to what she is saying.

P.S. If you were involved in some sort of nefarious activity would you be so foolish to talk about it on the phone or (even worse) put it in writing on an email or whats app? So who do you think is really being spied upon? Speaking only for myself, I say and write nothing that I am not prepared to say publicly.