Children of the '70s unable to cope
Posted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002
THE EDITOR: As head of youth organisation situated and dedicated to the Beetham sub-community of Laventille, I found it necessary to signal a wake up call to the Parliamentary Representatives of both Laventille East and West that they ought to provide the community with more substantive solutions to address the crime and other debilitating social and economic issues that have given rise to the present situation in Laventille.
Firstly let me say that both Parliamentary Representatives have by their actions (or in-action) and their utterances have no clue as to what to do. Clearly Ms James' emotional plea for help from anyone who may be willing, suggests that she has given up (especially after her own ordeal at the hands of bandits). In the case of Mr Hinds, I cannot but feel a sense of deep pity. To suggest a "Conflict Resolution Committee" comprising of persons who have garnered reciprocal respect in the community, is a case of "Missing the Boat". In short, if Mr Hinds is serious about setting up such a Committee, there must be inclusion of the "Bad Boys Representative," and therein lies the contradiction in his proposal. Need I say more!
I think it is important that Mr Manning be told the truth and the total truth, if the Laventille problem is to be solved. To solve it must be now since Carnival is upon us, visitors will be among us in unusual numbers and if they return to their respective countries with plenty of negatives from this country, then "Crapaud smoke we tourism pipe and the efforts of TIDCO."
We are all aware that the present problem started with the children of the 70's (my generation), when there was plenty and many of the traditional values were thrown out the door for brand name sneakers, walkmans, skate boards and expensive taste. No longer were mommy and dad concerned with insisting that we made up the bed on mornings, said our prayers and even told the neighbours or teachers good morning. Indeed, we grew up with a school shift system that rendered these values irrelevant anyway (what was the sense getting up at the same time with mom and dad when school starts at 1 pm). Yes, we were left much to ourselves, in a period of "Plenty And Waste."
Then the crunch came. No longer were mom and dad able to maintain the life style we had grown accustomed to. Many of us became confused, spoilt to the core and demanded that the promise of "Utopia" which our parents exuded and the state nurtured, be continued. It was traumatic for us as it was for parents. The "Belt Tightening Crunch" saw parental and family dis-integration, lower and lower levels of supervision and parental controls (which extended to the other institutions of socialisation — school, church, police, courts, the media etc.)
At the average age of 17 and out of school, the situation became more acute for many of us, since the demands were increasing but mom and dad could not deliver. Here comes the rescue.
Limited supervision meant that you were allowed to mingle with just about anybody on the block, which is usually controlled and influenced by a mix of element (bad and good). All "Block Limers" would usually agree, however, that things were bad [no food, no work, no peace at home]. In the end the negative elements usually won out, whether he be the pusher man, the bandit or rapacious pessimist with his or her sputum of crime glamorisation (some from experience others from fertile imaginations).
Once you got the first taste of a criminal act, especially if successful, more daring ones are sought after. Being apprehended by the police immediately deepens the experience on two fronts. The first is to find resources (via the same criminal means) to win eventual freedom through the legal system. The second is to gain a practical appreciation of the justice system, law enforcement modus operandi and a high degree of planning to avoid capture on the "job". All this new experience is facilitated of course by "Seasoned Criminal" both within and outside the prison system, irregardless of ones length of stay, there are always an abundant of "Perfect Crime Counselors" for the picking.
It is clear that none of the Parliamentary Representatives fully understands the value of the Community Shop Keeper. The Community Group And Those Church Leaders who work without reward tirelessly to solve some of the problems of the Community. Maybe they should read Archbishop Barbara Burke's Article which, to my mind, hits the "Nail On The Head". We all know what the causes are, what is needed are tangible, practical and common sense solutions. Mr Sadiq Baksh tried an experiment by using the URP to create stability and development which has patently failed; and has left the Community in utter chaos.
You can have only one result when you attempt to "stop dogs from sucking egg by giving them more eggs." This has been the effect of Mr Baksh's plans on Laventille. It has moved crime from one of containment to one of escalation.
Look at how the NAR dealt with URP and you will find the answer, at least to this problem. For the other problems? Just talk to community leaders and groups that have performed with very little.
CHRISTOPHER ADAMS
President
Beetham Youth Improvement Guardians
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Tremendous use of fireworks kills dogs
Posted: Sunday, December 29, 2002
THE EDITOR: While some people seem to celebrate the holiday season with fireworks, I have had to mourn my season because of them.
The last few years have seen a tremendous increase in firework use, and it has reached to the point where people consistently write in complaining about the impact of the fireworks - both on them and on their animals. It has gone to the point where even our Attorney General has promised to crack down on the firework craze, though I have seen no sight of these efforts.
For the last five years, I have had to buy and administer tranquilisers for my dogs, to the extent that one of them developed low blood pressure and a heart condition because of my having to tranquilise her so often. The problem is not that people set off fireworks. Fireworks two or three nights per year is completely acceptable and understandable to me in a free country.
However, fireworks for weeks on end throughout the Christmas and New year's season is beyond what helpless dogs are capable of withstanding. It seems as soon as schools let out for the holidays, the fireworks start, and continue until school re-opens.
Unfortunately, a heart condition eventually claimed one of my dogs this summer, and a massive heart attack claimed another of my dogs on Christmas night. His aorta ruptured, and fluid poured in to his stomach, so that it swelled up the size of a basket ball.
I cannot express how awful it is as a pet owner to feel that helpless, and to know that my dog would be fine this morning if he had not been hysterical last night with the fireworks. And it is disgusting to me that there is so much coverage about the effect these fireworks have on animals, and that nothing is done by the government, the police, or by the culprits themselves to curb this epidemic.
There is nothing humane or fun about the setting off of fireworks — in fact they are simply illegal — and I know there are other ways of celebrating the season which do not involve so much carnage, inconvenience and senseless loss of life. I have lost not one but two dogs.
How many more people have to tell their horrific tales of their dogs impaling themselves, hanging themselves, and dying of heart attacks before somebody — government, police, firework owners — begin to do something about it?
N FRANCIS
Maraval
Prosecution for cruelty to animals
THE EDITOR: I came home from University a few days ago to the news that my 13-month-old Pom-Pek had been one of many poisoned animals in the Woodbrook area. And he has not been the only one.
In one night, seven dogs were poisoned on Kitchener Street alone.
Now this spree of animal killings has not gone unnoticed by residents or even by the news media.
People are grieving the loss of their animals while others apparently take life for kicks. I have to ask why the government and law enforcement have not done anything to address this.
In the US, people are prosecuted and imprisoned for cruelty to animals. Something needs to be done to protect helpless animals in this country, and to penalise those who think that taking life is a form of entertainment.
C TAYLOR
Woodbrook Newsday/TT
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Economic planning kicked out the window
Posted: Friday, December 27, 2002
by Michael Delblond, Newsday/TT
OUR FIRST and, arguably, cleverest Prime Minister, to date, may or may not have taken us for "a nation of sheep" - as a fellow once suggested, but when it comes to "pulling the wool over our eye," you've got to admit that the Doc's "a rare bird."
As I suggested in an earlier column, Dr Williams pulled a fast one on the national community when he staged that "retirement charade" which saw Williams succeeding Williams and leaving Williams firmly back in the saddle and Dr Williams well-poised to chart the economic course of a little oil-rich country.
Ironically, the earlier "commitment to careful spending, implementing the development programme and generally organising a national effort to make the most of our national resources" was all but forgotten. Economic planning was, apparently, kicked straight out of the window.
"Economic planning," we were told, "had lost its mystique," whatever the hell that meant. In his 1979 Budget speech, at the height of the oil boom, Dr Williams, the Minister of Finance, stated, "the decisive factor in the development of Trinidad and Tobago had been the increased revenues of the country, resulting from the rise in oil prices."
With the considerable increase in revenue, things were no longer that tight, but a lot depended on the wisdom, caution and foresight with which the money was managed both by the Government, the private sector and the population generally.
The money was then there to effect the economic transformation to insulate us against future economic hardship brought about by international economic uncertainties and global economic turbulence.
But through waste, profligacy, corruption (yes, corruption), mismanagement and remarkably unintelligent investment, "we blew it!", as we frittered away the national patrimony. We spend money as if it were "going out of style" - and so it did.
Now you'll have to forgive me for not "going into details," but our politicians often call to mind that anecdote about Oscar Wilde. As the story goes, "On his death bed, Oscar called for a glass of champagne, exclaiming "Let me die as I have lived - above my means!"
The comparison is not quite "on all fours," as all the indications are that, on acquiring high public office, the name of the game is, "Let me live as I've never lived before - above my country's means!" Even if my country ‘dies' as a result of my gargantuan greed."
Now to return specifically to the Williams' "money-was-no-problem" era, it appears that desirable qualities like thrift, prudence, innovativeness, productivity, competitiveness and adaptability may have been casualties of the ready availability of money.
Why take the trouble to make mauby when champagne can be had for the asking? High wages coupled with low productivity contributed to the destruction of the work ethic and tended to price one's products out of the international and even local market.
In fairness to Dr Williams, he seemed to have felt that, "as Mr Divider," he had a duty to "spread the bread" and "run something" for more vulnerable and less fortunate members of the society, but I doubt that, like most politicians, he had thought the thing through and I doubt that he'd approve of providing "economic relief" for ghosts and international celebrities.
As long as an oil dollar making here, Black Stalin is entitled to his share, but having his long dead great-great-great-great grand pa and ma on the current payroll might be taking it a bit too far.
There were notoriously bad investments in supposedly income-generating ventures that turned out to be "white elephants and prestige projects" that constituted major drains on the economy. Some might think that it's no point "crying over spilt milk," but when we see the "kicksin and pushing of dotish heads" that form an integral part of the modus operandi of our practising politicians, we can't be sure that the lessons of the past won't be wasted on them.
On a more serious note, there were level-headed observers who warned against assuming that "what goes up can't come down" - meaning the price of oil. Think of the rainy day? No way! They were branded "prophets of gloom and doom."
In the current context of "globalisation," no one "is an island," and one might also add that, "No one owes us a living." Common sense dictates that, as we seek to develop our country, it would do no harm to find out how others have done it and see whether we can learn anything from them. We could do worse than look at and examine carefully something like the "Singapore model." Of course, we need not slavishly emulate all aspects of the model.
Extrapolating from the Singapore experience, Ambassador Tommy T B Koh itemised the important factors which contributed to his country's economic development:
1. Social stability, provided by the quality of the government, civil service and strong institutions in the private sector.
2. The civil service - quality, integrity, morale.
3. Pragmatic economic policies.
4. The absence of corruption.
5. Investment climate - internal and external stability.
6. Industrial peace and wage stability.
7. Redeployment of resources where one enjoys a competitive advantage.
8. Population control.
9. Investment in education(with emphasis on vocational and technical).
10. Social discipline, hard work, thrift and perseverance - the ethos and values of the people.
Of course, I'm aware that there's a zero-tolerance response to indiscipline, as a spoilt brat from the US found out when he went on a "vandalism spree."
Even the US president was drawn into it by the boy's parents in an effort to ensure that there were "different strokes for different folks" and no stroke at all for some folks.
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Jamaica Balks At New Federation
Posted: Wednesday, December 25, 2002
www.newsday.co.tt
JAMAICA'S Prime Minister, PJ Patterson, perhaps remembering the painful lessons of his country's 1961 referendum on Federation, has bluntly stated he will not attend next month's Caricom Heads of Government Conference, at which political integration will be the theme.
Patterson's shying away is understandable. There has always been a strong anti-Federation sentiment in Jamaica. And when in 1961 Alexander Bustamante, pouncing on Federal Prime Minister Sir Grantley Adams' threat to impose retroactive taxation, had manoeuvred then Jamaican Premier, Norman Manley, into calling a referendum on whether the country wanted to remain in the Federation, the anti Federation forces won.
I wish to make it clear that I do not believe that it is anything personal with Patterson. It is simply that he is a realist. My information, however, is that in the planning for next month's Heads of Government meeting it had not been understood that the issue of regional integration would have been discussed.
From where I sit, Prime Minister Patrick Manning's continued reference to the People's National Movement Government' commitment to make Trinidad and Tobago a developed nation by 2020, somehow comes across as his Government being lukewarm to a second attempt at political integration of the Caribbean Community.
And when you add to this, former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday's insistence [when he was PM] that the then United National Congress Government would make TT a developed nation by 2015, the disinterested observer could not be faulted had he reached the conclusion that with both Administrations emphasising the forging of Trinidad and Tobago into a developed nation, by whatever the year, that political integration was not part of their thinking.
Yet it would have been better strategy, in light of the imminent coming into being of the Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA] for the English speaking Caribbean to have seriously considered being a strong, single nation unit within the FTAA.
In turn, in the run-up to the establishment of this new body, as a federated nation, with a relatively large market and combined populations, we could have negotiated terms allowing us a more advantageous playing field.
Jamaica by itself, and Trinidad and Tobago by itself, can never expect to negotiate and win terms as meaningful as a united English speaking Caribbean. A political Caribbean Federation, with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Suriname and what have you, as members of CARICOM, full membership, associate membership or locked into trade agreements, call it what you will, the Region with between 30 and 40 million people, would have had an even more respected voice in the Free Trade Area. And even in the World Trade Organisation as well!
Always the larger picture of the sunlit uplands of opportunity has eluded us. If in 1961, ten British colonies made petty and suspicious by the Imperial power, the United Kingdom's vicious and backward policy of divide and rule, we could not lastingly unite, surely the economics of the 21st century demands that we do.
Today, the economies of Dominica, St Vincent and Guyana, all within the English speaking Caribbean are in serious trouble. In the French speaking Caribbean, the economy of Haiti struggles without even the glimmer of hope's early dawn. In addition, in the Dutch speaking Caribbean, Suriname, all too dependent on a patronising Holland, struggles in the economic backwash created by Colonel Bouterse.
In 1958, on the eve of the creation of the old West Indies Federation, Norman Washington Manley, then Premier of Jamaica, would issue in the University of Woodford Square a stirring challenge to Trinidadians and Tobagonians, and by extension all English speaking Caribbean people: "If you lift up the hands of your leaders till the setting of the Sun, then even the walls of Jericho will fall. And your feet and their feet will march to the Promised Land, through the gates of the new Jerusalem."
Forty four years later, too many Caribbean feet march not to the long awaited Promised Land of the Single Market and Economy, political integration and free movement of people, but sadly to the beats of different drummers. A Happy and Trouble free Christmas to all my Readers.
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An abhorrent suggestion
Posted: Wednesday, December 25, 2002
www.newsday.co.tt
THE EDITOR: The crime rate in Trinidad and Tobago is, indeed, alarming.
But the suggestion put forth by Denise Hope is appalling! To suggest that, because "a very controversial paper" suggests that "the unwanted children from poor families" are more likely to commit crime, therefore encourage the poor to murder their children in the womb to reduce the crime rate 15\+ years from now is totally insulting to poor people.
Poverty does not equate to criminal.
There are many, many, poor and honest people, striving to live moral lives.
The URL that Ms. Hope provided does not work. I tried to get onto it and only received a message stating "Cannot find server". However, I did some research of my own, and found the following facts from HYPERLINK http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/:
In 1966 the murder rate in the United States was 5.1 per 100,000 people.
In 1970 it was 7.9 and in 1973 (the year that abortion became legal in the US) the murder rate was 9.4 per 100,000. The murder rate reached a high of 10.2 in 1980, and averaged 8.6 in the nine years from 1981 - 1989. Far from reducing in the early 90s, as is claimed by Ms Hope, in reference to the paper she quotes, in fact, the murder rate was - 1991 - 9.8; 1992 - 9.3; 1993 - 9.5; 1994 - 9.0.
While it did decline in the second half of the 1990s, there is absolutely no reason to link this drop to the children who did not get to live, because of abortion.
We must work hard to improve family life and moral values; educate our young people, and improve our economy, thus reducing poverty as much as possible.
To suggest that we reduce or eliminate poverty by getting rid of poor people is a "class" (rather than ethnic) cleansing, and utterly abhorrent.
JOAN MOORE
Carenage
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TT not ready for knowledge-based economy
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Newsday/TT
THE EDITOR: Mary King has been championing the cause of economic development based on knowledge and hence innovation of our human resource.
Today in TT the human resource is trained to operate, to interpret and is rule based where innovation and inventiveness are not necessary for the job.
Hence the energy sector with God given natural resources, foreign investment in which development of the industry is none of our business, is ideally suited to our industrial psyche. Is this not the modern day clone of the sugar industry that spawned our society? Hence our people, our better people indulge in training however irrelevant to their working lives it may be.
They get a BSC degree then move on to more training, they get a MSC and then more training in the various company sponsored short courses.
They even change fields and do their degrees all without going centre pitch to play the game that Mary King talks about. They then flit from job to job hoping to get more money for less work and less stress, especially if the employer is also playing the game of certification.
Small companies only develop into large high tech companies if they can nurture loyal, competent staff, keep this staff and in so doing build and retain the expertise required to invent and innovate. But this infernal desire to train, and better yet, go away to train with the aim of getting the certificate to hang on the wall means that the small innovative company is still born. Building of the company, even acquiring shares in the company are of no interest to these talented transient employees.
All they want is a 'wuk' with no hard work attached and to continue to train and train. Some say that the history of this country, the slave and indentured societies, have not thrown up industrial loyalty to country, simply to self aggrandisement, the manifestation of which is the degree certificate on the wall (the boy graduate from London, yes). Is it not clear why the only really successful professional organisations that depend primarily on the highly honed skills of the human resource are for example, the lawyers and doctors where the practice is built around one single professional surrounded by easily replaceable staff; secretaries and assistant nurses?
Even when these practices consist of more than one professional they still operate as independent cells. No Mary, we are not ready for a knowledge based economy. This will take a culture shift and until then the best of us will win scholarships to train and train.
DR STERLING ANTROBUS
St Augustine
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Welcome return of Best Village
Posted: Sunday, December 22, 2002
THE EDITOR: Thank you for much appreciated space to celebrate the timely rebirth of the PM's Best Village Trophy Competition in 2002 as well as the plans for 2003. This vehicle hitherto has served as a tried, proven and effective vector geared to mobilise and harness the enormous human potential for the indigenous arts with which our rural heartlands are so abundantly endowed. It has now re-ushered in a virtual cultural renaissance among the rural fraternity.
The decision to suspend this traditional, Eric Williams-inspired, community-based social initiative by the previous regime without any alternative being introduced was eminently myopic and contributed to declining village solidarity, social ferment and cohesiveness.
One only has to witness and exult in the outpourings of village loyalty, co-operation and solidarity that drive and empower the young and old alike preparatory to Best Village. These attributes underpin and are clearly manifested in the folk, culinary, sports and environmental-based presentations. They help us to appreciate the instrumental value of this social/cultural initiative in welding our culturally diverse peoples together along the path of nation building, empowerment and ownership of Trinbago.
Were it not for Best Village a little flower, as so many others, blooming in Five Rivers, petite Joanne Batson, folk poet would have been left to flower unheard. The versatility of La Reine Rive, Ria Reshma Soodeen combining personal beauty, poise as well as outstanding talents in the Kuchipudi Dance genre would have been left unsung. The mobilisation skills of our Community Development Officers of County Victoria West in achieving the maximum participation award by villagers would not have been tested and proved.
The exquisite, technically supreme choreography of Shiv Shakti's dance, Dola Re Dola that mesmerised and seduced the Queen's Hall audience at the Aripo awards ceremony held on Wednesday last was the icing on the proverbial Christmas cake.
We all should be impressed by the calendar of mutually reinforcing events arranged for the Competition in 2003. It would serve as a strategic platform to revitalise our indigenous folk traditions, our physical prowess, our care for the environment and the culinary arts etc.
The underlying driving force for the immediate and profound success of the revitalised competition in 2002 would appear to be the inspirational and motivational leadership provided by Community Development and Gender Affairs Minister Senator Yuille-Williams supported by her Junior Minister Eulalie James and PS Satish Ramroop.
We all eagerly await a rich harvest in 2003 of the culinary, plastic, literary, creative and performing arts.
I know what I am talking about because I have judged the folk concerts category for 11 years visiting remote villages and can bear first-hand testimony to its vital role and function in facilitating rural renewal.
STEPHEN KANGAL MOM
CARONI
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QPCC still to get the message
Posted: Sunday, December 22, 2002
THE EDITOR: Shame on you, Queen's Park Cricket Club for your refusal to admit women into your club but feel a need to marry them and admit them into your beds and also produce and distribute a calendar for 2003 decorated with skimpily clad beautiful women.
Do you still believe that women are just brainless sex objects?
And to think it is over 154 years ago that a group of 260 women and a few men gathered in Senaca Falls, New York to demand the unthinkable: 1) The right for women to vote 2) The right for women to own property 3) The right to work in the careers of their choosing.
Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton these early feminists wrote their manifesto - a sort of Women's Bill of Rights - and titled it "The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions."
It said: "Resolved, that woman is man's equal, was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognised as such.
"Resolved, that women must be encouraged the same way men have been to become strong, assertive, independent individuals.
That our society must work harder to ensure that women are more fully represented in politics.
That women have the right to a work place that allows for flextime and other family friendly-work policies without negative repercussions.
That women have the right to be honoured for our emotional, mental and spiritual strength and will not be defined by only our looks or bodies.
That corporations and government bodies must change to reflect the population - 52 percent female of all ethnic groups - women must be running the world hand-in-hand with men. The glass ceiling must be shattered.
Imagine 154 years and the Queen's Park Cricket Club has not yet got the message. Shame on you!!
JACK LEARMOND CRIQUI
Diego Martin
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Securicor van robbery: Gunmen steal $5 million
Posted: Friday, December 20, 2002
Trinidad Newsday
Three masked gunmen escaped with $5 million on Wednesday night when they held up a Securicor van which was transporting 14 bags of cash to the firm’s San Fernando branch for safe keeping.
The $5 million was in eight bags which the gunmen took, while six smaller bags also containing a great sum of money were left behind in the van.
Three security guards were in the van at the time and were transferring the money to the firm’s vault for distribution Thursday morning to several banks.
Police said yesterday that two men are assisting them in the inquiries.
The security guards told police that they were held up by the gunmen when they stopped the van along Corinth Road, Ste Madeleine, to investigate what they thought was a blown tyre.
According to police reports around 8.40 pm the guards, Cpl Dhil Mohammed, 56, of Temples Street, La Romaine, ECs Ray Patterson, 33, the driver, of New Grant and Fyad Mohammed, 21, were transporting the money bags, eight large ones and six smaller ones which they had collected from banks in Port-of-Spain to the security firm’s Cipero Road branch at Victoria Village.
About a mile away from the San Fernando branch the guards said they felt the van pulling to one side, an indication that they might have a flat tyre.
The driver stopped and the three guards reportedly came out of the van and were checking the tyres when a car pulled up at the back of the van and two masked gunmen alighted.
Reports said the bandits accosted the guards and disarmed them of their 38 Magnum service revolvers. The armed men then ordered the guards into the van.
The driver was ordered to drive to a lonely track off Corinth Road, surrounded by canefields. There they were dealt several blows about their bodies and beaten with gun butts on their heads.
The guards’ hands were tied with pieces of plastic cord and they were left inside the van.
Police said the gunmen grabbed the eight large bags of money and escaped in the waiting car. Reports said the security guards managed to untie themselves and called Securicor for assistance.
The security firm contacted the Ste Madeleine police and a party of officers responded.
Investigators found the six small bags of money in the van.
One of the security guards, Mohammed, had to be taken for medical treatment at the San Fernando General Hospital where he was treated and warded under police guard.
Contacted yesterday, Brian Ramsey, manager of Securicor said that the facts relating to the incident were still scant, and he could give no details as the police were investigating the matter. However, he said that the insurance coverage was more than sufficient to cover the sum of money which was stolen. Sgt Parasram of the Ste Madeleine police is continuing investigations.
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The Brian Lara-Alloy Lequay issue
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2002
THE EDITOR: We are becoming a country of "muck-rakers", hell-bent on treating the people who make the greatest contributions to our society as: "throw-away" and "damaged goods". Our latest salvo is at Brian Lara who is accused by the President of the TTCBC - Alloy Lequay, of turning his back on TTCBC and the people of Trinidad.
I stand corrected, when I say: I do not recall anyone standing up for Lara when he was accused of "match-fixing". In like manner, no one rallies to his side, when character assassinations are levelled at him. There was no overwhelming concern or support for him, during his protracted illness. As a matter of fact, the "bad-mouthers" referred to his illness "as a mysterious illness" and continue to do so. Remarks of this nature are rankled with verbal irony and disdain. TT no longer cared about the Prince-of-Port-of-Spain and in a "heartbeat" TT, no longer has any remaining cricket enthusiasts.
No one remembered that Brian Lara, broke the once thought of unbreakable record, of legendary cricket all-round Garfield Sobers, anymore than they remembered: that our fallen hero and oft times despised Brian Lara is ranked among the top four batsmen in the world of cricket and was ranked second, after the great Indian batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, before he was sidelined with sporadic injuries resulting in his declined standing.
Lara receives more honour in England, than he does in TT, the land of his birth.
The gate receipts of county cricket in certain counties in England, fall-off if Lara is not guaranteed to play on the scheduled matches.
A "King" has no honour in his country; which unfortunately, applies to Brian Lara, but not his counterparts. Not too long ago, the people of Antigua took to the streets, when Viv Richards was overlooked as the manager of the West Indies cricket team, in which he expressed some interest.
Although the successful candidate was better qualified for the job, the rancour and displeasure prevailed in Antigua for quite a long time. In like manner, the people of Jamaica lobbied relentlessly, for Jimmy Adams, as the captain of the West Indies cricket team, even though he was not the best man for the job at the time. Ever so often, nationals of our sister islands in the region, make sure that their voices are heard, if anyone of their own is sidelined as a representative of the West Indies cricket team - any way one cuts it: this is known as nationalism.
Alloy Lequay fits the father-figure, to the hilt; when he allegedly remarked: "Lara was in Barbados then he was in England and right now, we do not know where he is."
He went on to state: "that it was the Trinidad board that took him from a youngster from age 15 or 16 and helped him to reach the state where he is now and he has turned his back on us at this point in time." What has possessed Alloy Lequay that would make him think that he has the right to know about the whereabouts of Brian Lara? Is Brian Lara contracted to the TTCBC?
In conclusion: It is my belief that TT got more from Brian Lara, than we have given to him. It is about time that the TTCBC become introspective, (which is not likely to be easy) and instead of saying what Brian Lara has failed to do for TT, say: what can we do for Brian Lara?
People have a lot to think about these days.
We have our own problems and Brian Lara has his own problems, so let's think of something else for a change - like a fervent wish, for his speedy recovery and his much anticipated return to West Indies cricket.
ULRIC GUY
Pt Fortin
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The politics of dependency
Posted: Tuesday, December 17, 2002
THE EDITOR: In what can only be described as a rude awakening, the PNM was last week greeted with the protest of some of its most ardent supporters in the east Port-of-Spain/Laventille area. This action coming so soon after an electoral victory must sour the PNM's heady plans for taking the Local Government Elections as a natural consequence of the UNC's disarray.
The circumstances surrounding the action of these loyalists clearly proves that 'rum and roti' politics are still a predominant factor on the national scene. How else could the registration, assignment and payment occur seemingly without problems before the election and then suddenly come under question after the elections are over?
This is a natural result of 'make work' programmes and their use as a political football to buy votes. Having no real substance, they are focused where and when the directorate so chooses. But in this case the PNM failed to properly evaluate the new literacy of its supporters (and the nation as a whole). Having sold their vote for 30 pieces of silver, the citizens now expect that this would be a regular contribution to their income.
Thus the Dependency Syndrome warned of after the presentation of the National Budget 2002-2003, rears its ugly head. Expectation is now rife that citizens will be provided for under the delivery of all-encompassing Social Services. Such is our nation that this laudable vision can be compromised by the basic need for regular income - without any regard for how it is earned, and who is deprived otherwise.
The PNM must answer this situation carefully. Acting Prime Minister Joan Williams states that the protestors can identify needed activity and as such monies should be found. Will the PNM respond in similar fashion if the protests came from Debe or Couva? Minister Eric Williams states that there will be a tidal wave of economic activity arising from the sale of our gas reserves. Yet the Government is strangely silent on the principle of Pay for Performance - for public servants or road gangs.
Minister Narine talks of revamping the URP to remove ghost gangs and discusses how additional people have been and will be hired to police the programme. This activity will (a) raise the cost of the programme or realise less monies for the people who are expected to benefit, (b) will do little to prevent collusion among parties, and (c) is inconsistent with the PNM's vision of achieving developed nation status.
It is the application of corruption proof technology-based systems that will see an end to the tamper-prone paper bureaucracy. Work programmes should (I) be as a result of necessary infrastructure maintenance, (II) verify the registration of persons seeking employment via computerised databases, and (III) monitor performance so that payment is made for work delivered - not simply contracted.
In ensuring that no one is left behind, the PNM should be conscious that everyone must do his or her part to build the society - not simply to profit from it without making a meaningful contribution.
Louis R Hernandez
Diego Martin
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Our appealing judges
Posted: Monday, December 16, 2002
by Kim Johnson, Trinidad Guardian
Two stories caught my eye in the Sunday Guardian a fortnight ago.
I didn't read them, eyes swivelling left and right as if before a Chinese ping pong match, words pouring into my head. I scanned the headlines. Then I unfocused my gaze to encompass the entire page, top, bottom, left and right.
In that exercise a few words or phrases scattered at random jump out at me from the grey mass. Usually they are enough to let me know what the story's about and if I want to bother with the left-right, left-right business of scanning. In this case I didn't.
Normally, my lack of short-term memory would immediately erase all knowledge of what I'd seen. But these two particular stories, one following the other by about two minutes, were related and their combined impact left a mark.
Maybe, I thought days later, there's something there worth considering.
The first story – actually the only one, because the other was an opinion column – told of some English lawyers saying that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will be a hanging court.
That is, the court was established only so that West Indian governments could hang condemned criminals.
That's not quite so. It was established so that governments could hang people in their own time, and without having to speed up the system of appeals as they did with the Dole Chadee gang.
But the general point is correct. When the Privy Council disputed that any treatment was good enough for condemned men, that even they had rights, governments in the region began searching for ways to replace the Privy Council.
Who cares? I don't care what English lawyers think about the Caribbean, which is why the story didn't grab my interest. Too besides, hanging is a political issue. If we have politicians who stupidly believe that social breakdown could be halted by breaking a few necks, then we have a problem which must be dealt with politically.
I don't refer to our Trini politicians. They don't believe in anything. Basdeo Panday and Ramesh Maharaj were against hanging before they won power, and for it after they did.
As for Patrick Manning, and the PNM in general, they have no belief so much as an attitude that change in any sphere must always be resisted, preferably by remaining as still as possible. No, the stupidity I refer to is that of Jamaica's politicians.
For 35 years politicians bought guns, gave them to the most degraded, depraved men they could scrape out of the Kingston gutter, and paid them to go shoot up the other side.
And now they want to stop the whirlwind they sowed, by setting up a Caribbean Court of Appeal which will hang a few men. Boy, if the ones really behind the killing were hanged, they wouldn't come from Trenchtown.
But I digress.
Returning to the CCJ: its most articulate advocates point out that we are independent. As Nehru said in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, "Yes, we will make mistakes, but they will be our mistakes."
A simple, forceful, compelling argument. But wait: are we indeed independent? Here, whenever government wants desperately to nail someone to the cross, they bring down an Englishman.
Panday imported Englishmen to fight Abu Bakr and Dole Chadee. He even imported one to contest Patrick Manning's constitutional motion. And the horrendous incompetence of Manning's local lawyers seemed to vindicate Panday. Now Manning has brought an Englishman to get Panday. We have English laws, and English lawyers, so why not English judges?
It's a difficult question to answer. You can only prefer our national mistakes, which is what many of our judges amount to, mistakes, when you're not personally their victim.
God forbid I find myself before one of them, which is what brings me to Dana Sitahal's opinion column.
On a quick scan I sensed rather than saw that Dana was complaining about the Court of Appeal's dismissal of several magisterial appeals. They had not been filed with the clerk within the mandatory seven days after conviction.
Actually, the appeals weren't dismissed. The court decided that there were no appeals to either uphold or dismiss because they'd been filed late. Michael de la Bastide made that decision a few years ago, and that was that. Hands washed clean of the mess. Every other judge followed suit.
No matter the prisoners signed their forms promptly, and the late filing was entirely the Prisons Service's fault.
People might think that one ought not to lose sleep over the wrongs done to jailbirds. But every one of those men are going to win hefty damages on a constitutional motion. And they are going to be filed some time this week.
They have been denied their legal right of appeal, that is the due process of law, and must be compensated. The Judges of Appeal all know that but still they pretended that they couldn't hear the appeals which were filed late. "My hands are tied," said de la Bastide. But it wasn't his hands that were tied.
Because it doesn't stop there. Instead it gets absurd: a constitutional motion can win you damages, but it can't release a convicted prisoner. So these men will be paid for having been denied an appeal, but they will also continue to serve their sentences?
I won't get into Dana's specific points about section this and sub-section that. I prefer the simple fact that judges have a discretion which allows them to prevent clear miscarriages of justice. Furthermore, they are obliged to interpret the Constitution to that it overrides all other laws.
Do they? Instead we get decisions from the highest court staffed by locals, which are totally absurd. These semi-literate judgments make nonsense of the Constitution and perpetuate inefficiency and injustice.
And when these judges staff our Caribbean Court of Appeal, what will it be like?
It will be brainless, cowardly, unimaginative, lacking in compassion, and possess neither a sense of legal philosophy nor justice.
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Maximum leadership must end
Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2002
THE EDITOR: Based on an article in today's newspapers it seems to me that Mr Manning wants to go the way of Mr Panday and the UNC. Mr Manning you have to recognise that the days of maximum leadership have to be ended for the good of TT.
As a citizen of TT I am calling on you to explain to me - a layman why is it necessary to ignore the officers who are looking expertly at our arrangements with the Multinationals. Have you forgotten our very recent past? Mr Manning I want you to know that I voted for you out of disdain for the corrupt UNC, and it will be a real tragedy if you falter as they did.
Haven't you noticed yet how these multinationals operate? Don't you know that whether or not you pander to these international firms, they take their exit when the money source dries up? They don't come here to provide us with jobs. If you have to squander 250 million to keep them here, they shouldn't be here in the first place.
The reason they are here is to get whatever they can out of this land, and you have to allow our knowledgeable technocrats to have the final say in such decisions.
Did hear change the state boards because they disagree with you? Are you an emerging dictator, in addition to the dictatorship that our irrelevant constitution allows?
My point is, if there is something that justifies what you are doing, please let us know. It is possible that we may agree with you.
FITZGERALD GRIFFITH
Diego Martin
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Police and fire officers of 1990 disturbances must be honoured
Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2002
THE EDITOR: It seems to me that if honours were being paid to the major players of the Protective Services for their role in the 1990 disturbances, why couldn’t it be done for the Police Force and Fire Brigade personnel at the same time.
When National Awards were given to these bodies it was done at the same time at the Independence Ceremony at President House.
However, I hope that the Commissioners of Police, Prisons and the Fire Brigade have already submitted the names of their deserving officers to the authorities so that a joint ceremony be held with a gala turnout.
I hope the Commissioner of the Fire Brigade remember to omit certain two former high officers from his list.
THOMAS METCAFFE
Pt Cumana
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Boynes Wants Youth On State Boards
Posted: Monday, December 9, 2002
By Sean Douglas, Newsday TT
SPORTS MINISTER Roger Boynes on Saturday urged that youths be put onto the boards of various State companies. He was addressing the PNM National Youth League at their strategic planning seminar at the Ambassador Hotel, St James.
Boynes said by February next year his Ministry would establish a National Youth Council to replace the existing Trinidad Youth Council and Tobago Youth Council. The new council, he said, would be empowered to nominate youths to serve on State boards.
Boynes also urged the young PNMites to establish a national youth parliament, and to develop a party library and archives. He promised to develop recreational grounds nationally, including upgrading their lighting. Boynes paid tribute to the late Jean Pierre. After Boynes’ speech, some 76 delegates from various PNM constituency youth leagues, discussed a draft document "A New Vision" to formalise the national youth league’s activities as a vision, mission, objectives and action plans for the coming five-year period.
Speaking to Newsday afterwards, national youth league chairman Laurel Lezama said: "This will be a working document for the youth of Trinidad and Tobago. We previously had consultations on a constituency basis, to make today’s draft document. We have heard things which we would never have thought of. Later this week core members will meet again to submit a final document to the party."
The document’s proposals included increasing the age limit on membership of the youth league from a current 25 years to a possible 30 or 35 years old.
Former PNM Senator Joel London explained: "Currently there is a gap between age 25 and getting involved in the party at adult level, so by increasing the age-limit we can still draw on their resources."
The document also proposed to re-establish the PNM’s party school, which party spokesman Ashton Forde had in the past been a training ground for aspiring members to learn about the party’s constitution and about political protocol.
PNM youth officer male, Foster Cummings, explained: "The party should be about preparing people for leadership tomorrow, and letting young people be involved at every level." Other suggestions arising at the consultation included letting various parliamentary bills be debated at meetings of the PNM general council and having youths work as assistants/ understudies to Members of Parliament.
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Where do you want to spend eternity?
Posted: Monday, December 9, 2002
THE EDITOR: Assuming that all individuals and members and followers of all religious persuasions subscribe to the premise that the universe was created by one and the same Lord and Master regardless of whatever name may be ascribed to him, it is difficult if not impossible to comprehend how and why some religious organisations can be at such variance in principles and beliefs and in such discord and disharmony with each other.
In fact there are some members of certain religious denominations that although they profess to be holier than thou, would find no problem or difficulty in annihilating the rest of mankind in the pretext of waging a "Holy War", although there can never be anything holy about war.
The Lord Almighty (by any other name) must be looking down in utter dismay, disillusion and despair at what has become of the world that He created for mankind to live and exist in love and harmony, replete with all the necessary ingredients to sustain them in health, peace and happiness and which mankind has instead sought to defile and destroy, turning it instead into a cauldron of hate, envy, corruption and suffering.
Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that man was endowed with a free will and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, but being of a frail mentality and weakness of will is easily coerced by the evil powers that be, to digress from the straight and narrow path and choose to follow the route of evil instead, while being fully aware of the consequences.
There is little doubt that Satan and his evil brigade of followers is assiduously at work around the clock seeking to do whatever it takes to enlarge his army of susceptible followers to embrace a life of evil regardless of the ultimate price that they will be called to pay when the appropriate time presents itself.
On the bright side however, at the rate and direction in which mankind is heading, the righteous can take consolation in the fact that there may very well be an abundance of space available for them in their Lord and Master’s house in heaven.
Perhaps the time to stop and reflect on where we want to spend the rest of eternity may be here and now. The choice is ours and is free.
MARTIN KAVANAGH
La Romain
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Renewed call for more local content on TV, radio
Posted: Friday, December 6, 2002
The local entertainment fraternity is renewing its call for legislation fixing a 50 per cent local content on television and radio.
This was done at an emergency meeting of key players in the sector under the banner of the Entertainment Industry Coalition (EIC), on Wednesday evening at the offices of the Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT).
The meeting, which was called as a preliminary to a larger session next Wednesday at the same venue, addressed a broad range of artiste/industry demands to Government.
On the matter of local content on the airwaves, it was noted by members that enabling legislation was actually drafted into the Telecommunications Act 2001 through the then attorney general Ramesh Maharaj.
But that section of the Bill was later removed the night before the measure came to Parliament, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
University lecturer and cultural scholar Keith Nurse made calls for the quota laws as simply the first of a comprehensive package of cultural industry bills and institutional demands which have been too long outstanding.
Nurse elaborated: "The ratio of local music to foreign now stands at 90 per cent foreign content annually, with the same going for television content.
"It is of course almost 100 per cent on cable. The trend worldwide, according to international studies, is for countries to be drifting towards more local content.
"The only region that is showing a reverse move towards foreign content is the Caribbean. Of this, Trinidad is the worst of the lot! This despite the fact that Trinidad produces the fourth largest quantity of indigenous music behind Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic! We could almost be the worst in the world."
Some of the topics to be discussed at next Wednesday's meeting are the allocations and promises for culture outlined in the 2002/2003 Budget. Entertainer Sheldon Blackman intends to bring to the fore the promise to build the National Performance Arts Centre on the Princes Building Grounds, a demand that has been in nearly every budget since 1967 and yet has never been granted.
The EIC is calling for members and leaders of every single artiste and cultural representative group to attend Wednesday's meeting.
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Our unsung heroes
Posted: Thursday, December 5, 2002
Newsday TT
IT IS a gross and inexcusable omission that neither Kenrick Thong, the Special Branch officer who was seriously injured in the Muslimeen uprising of July 27, 1990, nor any of the policemen who performed with honour during that violent attack on the government — including the three who lost their lives — have been officially honoured by our country.
Thong, who had driven then Prime Minister ANR Robinson to Parliament on that fatal day, was on duty outside the chamber on Abercromby Street when armed members of the Jamaat struck, opening fire on the Red House. The PM's escort took out a UZI firearm from the car and attempted to halt the attackers. In the exchange of bullets, Thong's right ankle was blown away but he managed to hide under a staircase until he was rescued by PC Gary Pierre who, amidst the gunfire, pulled him to safety in the old Fire Brigade Headquarters.
"I prayed to God and asked Him to help me," Thong recalled in an interview with Newsday on Tuesday. "I had made up my mind to die, because it looked like I was facing certain death. But it was not my time to die. Then I heard voices and I looked out. I recognised one of the persons as Gary Pierre."
At the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, Thong drifted into unconsciousness and when he awoke he found that his right foot had been amputated above the knee and he had sustained gun shot wounds to the left side of his chest and leg.
After the abortive coup attempt, Thong was widely regarded as a hero but, sad to say, it was an empty acclamation that has long turned bitter for the Special Branch Officer who retired from the service in 1997, prematurely at age 50. "It was real hard for me," Thong related, "My job came down to desk duty. I was no longer an escort for the Prime Minister. My life was shattered that evening."
The treatment of Thong and other policemen who sought to defend the country's democracy against the insurrectionists, including the three who were killed in the attack, compared to the successful re-emergence of the Muslimeen after their bloody attack on the nation's parliament, the amnesty, the 25-year lease for lands at Mucurapo and the $1.2 million they subsequently received, will remain one of the great ironies of our history.
While all the Defence Force officers who worked during the State of Emergency were awarded with General Service Medals, not one police officer has been officially commended for action in this traumatic episode, not even those who lost their lives while on duty.
In the case of Thong who actually engaged the enemy, who placed his life on the line to defend his country, the treatment seems more grievous. The State paid his medical bills up to the date of his retirement, but has abandoned him since then.
The ex-Special Branch officer, surviving since then on a meagre pension and odd jobs, has had to meet the cost of two replacements of his artificial leg, each costing $25,000, together with medical bills associated with his injury.
The treatment, the total lack of official recognition for the heroic action of this SAS-trained ex-policeman and other officers of the police service is an intolerable travesty which has continued for 12 years and over the terms of several governments. This newspaper calls on the Manning administration to correct this grave omission; it would be better late than never.
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Mas starts in our genes
Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2002
The Editor: This one is specially directed to the shrinks (psychiatrists) of the Caribbean.
Have you guys ever thought that the urge to "play mas" may be genetically imprinted on the minds of all Caribbean peoples who are descendants of the slaves brought here to work on the sugar plantations?
Like calypso, there may be a historic reason that this public display of joy and revelry in brightly coloured glittery costumes may have evolved genetically from the memory of enslavement and the desire to avenge the dehumanisation, punishment and sometimes death that was characteristic of the slave trade and not really from the pagan Roman celebrations preceding Lent as we are told.
The history books told us that our colonial forefathers traded brightly coloured pieces of cloth, beads, mirrors, feathers and such trinkets with the chiefs of the tribes of the African coast villages, for shiploads of human beings.
The chiefs would then adorn their bodies with these "goodies" and celebrate their newly acquired wealth in dance and song and general frolicking, thus satisfying the palates of their egos and firmly establishing their superiority over the rest of the tribe.
Now, hundreds of years later, we, the descendants of these traded slaves, for two days every year, adorn our bodies with such identical paraphernalia and frolic in the streets for all the world to see, feeling good about ourselves and in the process satiating our own egos. We say that this is "playing mas", an evolved term for the word "masquerading" and that its "our culture". The compulsion to "play" is almost like an addiction.
What we seem to be really doing from deep down in our subconscious, in this annual ritual, is playing chief, venting as it were, the innate desire to show the world that we could be as pretty as the chiefs of our ancestral tribes, using the same trinkets and being equal to them in status and achievement. A genetically imprinted pattern of behaviour?
The non-parallels about this phenomenon is that more women than men want to be chiefs. We also purchase these trinkets at great, even ridiculous cost, not from the descendants of the colonial forefathers who were the original peddlers, but from our very brothers and sisters who then herd us by the thousands into confined spaces just like on the ships. Isn’t there a parallel here? There has to be some scientific link to this but the psychology is way beyond me.
Maybe the shrinks would tear this one apart and enlighten us. I don’t "play chief" anymore, the trinkets have become too expensive.
John Rivers
Diego Martin
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