CRYING KORBAN

If the Government really cares about and for the ordinary people in this country it could and should do something about the ever spiraling and seemingly out of control cost of living. We are being faced with such rising prices in the grocery that it is now becoming extraordinarily expensive just to put food on the table. And, if the news reports are true, we are all about to face a huge rise in our electricity bill. The electricity company (TTEC) says that it is losing money and has applied for a rate increase which the regulatory authority (RIC) appears to be considering favourably. But, wait a minute! In the one reported public hearing nobody from the RIC is reported as commenting on the fact that the very Government and its Sate run entities owes millions (if not billions to TTEC! So? Why should we have to pay for their apparent refusal either to pay or cut down on their use of electricity? Is TTECC going to cut off the Government et al the way we get cut off?

The RIC has rather disingenuously said that most of the proposed increases will fall on the backs of businesses. Really! And just how do they suggest that those businesses on whom the cost of an increased electricity bill will fall pay, their new bills WITHOUT increasing what the ordinary person pays for the goods of those companies? And the silence from the Government (as well as from the Opposition) is so loud that we can't hear them! Do they really think that a grocery, for example, will not have to put up the price of its foods in order to meet the new electricity bills? And what about the suppliers to that grocery store? How will they survive if they don't increase their prices? The list goes on.

This present Government has made a million mistakes, and while it is a given that it is easier to make a mistake than to fix it, we also need to try to start fixing things now rather than later. I am not interested in the mistakes of yesterday, nor am I particularly interested in "who t'ief what" (although I most certainly think that this will need to be addressed).  And I really don't see it as being very productive in criticizing everything. The country needs fixing today! We can argue about whose fault it was later.

My message to the Government is simple: people are really hurting. Fix their hurts - NOW! and if you haven' a clue then say so and quit. Put another way, lead, follow or get out of the way! But don't be like the pharissee who gets rid of his sins at the gate of the temple by crying "KORBAN"!C

FIXING T &T ONE STEP AT A TIME

 Because we have a myriad of problems in T&T that seem to be incapable of solving, I am going to attempt (and 'attempt' is the most important word in this sentence) to try and solve them with appropriate suggestions beginning with what I think is our biggest problem firstly because I was always taught that if you want to solve a problem, go back to the beginning.

So? Where do our problems begin? Answer: with our education system which hasn't had a comprehensive revision since 1956!! Every single Minister of Education has simply tinkered with the system and nothing new has changed in more than 70 years. In addition, we show our contempt for teachers by paying them peanuts. I don't know exactly what the starting salary of a teacher is, but I think that it is around TT$6,000 a month -which is way less than US$1,000 per month! What do you expect when you pay peanuts to arguably one of the most important professions in the country? Put another way, if you are paying the teachers peanuts why are you surprised when all you are getting in return are monkeys?

And that is exactly what we are producing - monkeys! Only those parents who can afford or make the sacrifice to afford extra lessons have kids who are getting a good education. But wait a minute! Where are the teachers coming from who are giving the extra lessons? Answer: from the same classrooms where the kids  are failing! So what does that tell you? It tells me that we have good and competent teachers. 

What I would do is that I would TREBLE ALL TEACHER'S SALARIES immediately when they sign onto my new contract. In other words, if a teacher is making , say, $6,000 a month now he/she will get $18,000 a month and so on up to a maximum of, say, $90,000 a month.

BUT (and you knew a "But" was coming) if any teacher wants to get this new salary he/she will have to sign a contract agreeing to several new terms and conditions of employment. First of all, the teacher would have to agree that every year his/her work or performance would have to be subject to a performance review. If the teacher fails the performance review then he/she is fired without any compensation or any right of appeal.

I know that TUTTA will raise a stink about this. My answer to the Union would be no problem. The teacher can stay under his/her old contract and lose none of his/her benefits. But he/she will not get the new salary. In other words, if a teacher wants the new salary then he/she will have to give up his/her security of tenure and actually come to class and teach! And if the 'old' teachers want to strike, again no problem. Let them. But the 'new' teachers will get paid under their new contracts.

In addition, I would destroy the concept of 'prestige schools'. ALL the schools will have access to the best teachers and as a result, ALL the schools will be equal to one another. The benefits to my plan are obvious. That it may require some short term sacrifices (about 20 years) where we might not be able to do other things (such as fixing the potholes) is a given. But as our society slowly learns that we have to produce, and actually starts producing, things will get better.

The problems with our hospitals and our health care system also need to be addressed. And everybody understands that there are serious problems in our security services, as well as in a host of other places. I will try and give solutions in the coming weeks. But I thought that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. And I regard fixing the education system as the first step.

You don't have to agree with me, but I challenge you to say where you would begin and what you would do. We need to stop relying on our politicians from both sides  trying to fix things. By and large (with very, very few exceptions) they have all failed. It's time for us - all of us - to start relying on ourselves.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 In keeping with a New Year's resolution that I will probably break sooner rather than later, I'm going to try and put a positive spin on recent events in T&T. Accordingly, I am not going to discuss the seemingly out of control murder rate that exceeded 600 people killed last year, nor am I going to discuss the seemingly feeble attempts by the Guardian and Express newspapers to try and lessen the reported numbers. I am not going to discuss the looming appointment of Senate President Christine Kangaloo to be this country's next President and whether or not it is a good thing - even though I have some rather serious concerns about it.

As for the ongoing financial crisis, I am not going to discuss how people are 'ketching their nenen"  to try and make ends meet, nor how many of them lost their jobs in the last year and have been unable to find new ones. Neither am I going to discuss whether or not I think that the Finance Minister as well as the Prime Minister have both failed rather badly and apparently do not seem to care. And I'm not going to discuss the out of control crime situation and how all of us have to be really, really careful when we venture outside of our self imposed jails (otherwise known as our homes) so that we don't get robbed, beaten or killed.

No. This is a new year and all of us who only want a better country regardless on which side of the political spectrum that we fall must join together and wish everybody - both the rulers as well as the ruled - a happy and prosperous one. And I'm certainly not going to discuss the death of hope in so many (too many) of our citizens that things will get better.

Unfortunately, I am one of those who is losing (if not actually lost) hope that Dr. Rowley & Co. know how to make things better for all of us (e.g., by fixing the potholes). So in this, my first post for the new year I will only wish everybody a happy New Year and join with you in praying that things will get better.

P.S. I will probably break my New Year's resolution in my next post.