Grandparents at 30
Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2003
by George Alleyne, www.newsday.co.tt
There continues to be a troubling rise in the incidence of teenage and pre-teen mothers in Trinidad and Tobago. Since most of the young mothers are or become dropouts from the school system, there is an unwelcome brake not merely on their own development, but that of the country as well. All too often the child age mothers, apart from not being prepared for the serious responsibility of rearing children, do not possess any specific skills needed on the job market, and, as a result, are not in a position to help themselves nor for that matter their children. So many of them, having children at an age when they should be concentrating on their studies and on their future, represent a minus quantity. The reflected lack of seriousness about life and its responsibilities frightens.
Yet Trinidad and Tobago stumbles on the road to developed nation status by 2020 each time a schoolgirl’s education is aborted because of pregnancy, or for whatever reason. Few of them become positive exemplars to their children, many of whom, if girls, continue the sad cycle of early pregnancy. And there is now the spectacle of individuals, who are mothers at 14 or 15, sometimes even younger, and grandmothers at 30. Within recent years I have come across a few of these unfortunate cases of extremely young grandmothers. Many of the girls lack love in their own homes, and become relatively easy prey to the blandishments, the sweet talk, of older youths, and sometimes that of men old enough to be their fathers. It should be emphasised that the youths and men who father the children of these minors, are even more irresponsible than the girls. Some adults tend to adopt the narrow and shortsighted view that the incidence of teenage girls having children, for which they are unprepared, does not affect them and the wider society and is of minimal concern. But this is wrong, as all too often school age mothers from lower income families, along with their issue, become charges on the State, recipients of Social Assistance.
On occasion you can see them on television newscasts, taking part in demonstrations, and arguing that they are single mothers with four or five children "to mind," protesting that Government is doing nothing to help them. But the help must begin through our educators seeking to motivate them to do better, and to stay on in school and complete their secondary education. The Ministry of Education must provide not simply courses in skills training, but qualified and motivated teachers as well. The Ministry should have surveys conducted in their schools to determine all those who, because of their families’ financial position, need to be beneficiaries of both breakfasts and lunches under the School Feeding Programme. The Education Ministry should recognise that breakfast can be a more important meal to children than lunch, as a child who goes to school hungry can become listless in class, ill prepared to study. I mentioned earlier the question of motivating our children, and since this column deals with school age mothers, then there should be a stimulating of an interest in the girls to improve their grades and to stay in school and obtain optimum benefits from the educational opportunities offered them.
Should this take place then the chances are that they would better position themselves for the market place, including seeking an upgrade of their vocational and other skills at tertiary institutions. This would reduce the possibility of their being dependent on the State for either handouts, or jobs in its "ten-day programmes," whether URP or otherwise. This would be of critical importance to them and the Treasury, particularly in view of the recent caution by Minister of Social Development, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, that it has been estimated that by 2050 the aged would form 43 percent of the country’s population. It would be bordering on a national tragedy should a not insubstantial portion of the nation’s young be non productive, and looking to the State, to wit taxpayers, to support them. I wish to make this clear. The incidence of teenage pregnancies and school age mothers should not be viewed as relating simply to Trinidad and Tobago, but rather as an international problem. Nonetheless, it needs to be addressed, and urgently, if scores of our young are not to form part of the country’s statistics on the unemployed and under-employed.
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Time for Amnesty for Grenada Coup Leaders
Posted: Wednesday, October 22, 2003
by George Alleyne, Newsday TT
It is time for an amnesty to be granted to Bernard Coard and other leaders of the coup which overthrew Grenada Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, in October of 1983, resulting in the deaths of Bishop, several of his Ministers and associates.
In turn, the remains of Bishop, whose New Jewel Movement had overthrown the Government of Eric Gairy in 1979 in a bloodless coup to establish the English speaking Caribbean's first Marxist regime, should be allowed to receive a proper burial. Persistent reports claim that Bishop's body was removed from the precincts of Fort Rupert by United States forces, which invaded Grenada shortly after the failed counter coup by Bishop. Maurice Bishop had been killed when he led a large group of followers to Fort Rupert where arms, originally stored there, had been removed unknown to him.
Coard, former General Hutson and others have been in prison since 1983, several of them sentenced to death, subsequently, for offences arising out of the October coup. They have been punished long enough, for what flowed out of what Bishop clearly meant to be armed conflict, and the time has come for a general pardon. There had been no need for the assault on and invasion of Grenada by United States forces. Had the CARICOM leaders, who went along with American military intervention in Grenada, employed economic sanctions against the Coard-led country, as Trinidad and Tobago had begun, the Coard regime would have collapsed. For example, the then George Chambers Administration had removed CARICOM preferential treatment from Grenada imports into this country. The Grenada development should have been treated as a CARICOM issue, and CARICOM States should have moved to have it resolved by them, without third party interference. And once America's intention to employ armed force against Grenada was made known to them, they should have collectively appealed to the United Nations to seek to stop the planned US invasion.
Admittedly, as we have seen in the case of Iraq earlier this year, even the United Nations Security Council was powerless to prevent American agression against that Middle East country. But at least there would have been a united Caribbean voice raised in protest. Instead, the leaders of several English speaking Caribbean countries, for whatever reason, pretended that the US intervention had been at their request, and had been, in their collective view, necessary to avoid further bloodshed. But contrary to what CARICOM leaders had trumpeted, the military intervention by the US was not at the behest of any group of Caribbean Governments. Instead, the decision was taken by the Americans weeks before the October, 1983 coup to remove the Maurice Bishop regime. The fact that the Bernard Coard group had acted, made it easier for the US to launch a propaganda offensive aimed at conveying the impression that its sole intent was to rescue Grenada.
Early in October of 1983, 241 US Marines had been killed when a suicide bomber drove a vehicle, laden with explosives, into a US military compound at Beirut, Lebanon. The United States, experiencing a sense of anger and virtual impotence at the killing of 241 of its servicemen, ordered its warships operating in the Mediterranean Sea to shell Beirut. The US was caught between Scylla and Charybdis with respect to a powerful response to the Beirut tragedy. One option was outright war against Lebanon, which would then unmistakenly cast the US as being militarily on the side of Israel, and the consequent risk of alienating the Arab world, or at least most of it. In turn, the US could not be certain that the then Soviet Union would not view military action in Lebanon as hostile to its interests. It could not be certain as well that the Soviets would not declare specific areas of the Middle East, particularly those sharing a common border with it, as being within its sphere of influence, and indulge in pointed sabre rattling.
The invasion of Grenada presented itself as a practical alternative, and several of the warships off Beirut were ordered to Grenada, so that when some Caribbean leaders, encouraged by then American President, Ronald Reagan, to say that they had invited the US to send troops to 'rescue' Grenada, it had to be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. Within a day or two of the invasion of Grenada, I had to leave for a certain Caribbean country, which shall remain nameless, and where I had been commissioned to do a project. A luncheon was arranged, on my advice, and purely as a public relations exercise, to which the country's Governor General, Prime Minister, leading Cabinet Ministers et cetera were invited. The Governor General could not make it. In speaking with a Minister of State, he offered that the United States had asked certain CARICOM Governments to invite it to invade Grenada. It is a fact of history worth retelling. Armed with this information I approached a Senior Government Minister and advised him, without revealing my source, I had been told that the Americans had requested CARICOM countries to invite it to invade Grenada. The gentleman, who is now Prime Minister of his country, confirmed this. The Caribbean, in light of what actually transpired, should reassess the events of October, 1983, dispassionately, and urge upon Grenada that a general pardon be granted to the players of 20 years ago. This would not be seen as making their actions any the less shameful.
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The Saga of Sheriff Dhanraj
Posted: Saturday, October 11, 2003
www.newsday.co.tt
The other side of former UNC Minister Dhanraj Singh first came to public notice in April 1997 when he was charged with assaulting retired Asst. Police Commissioner Norton Registe during a traffic jam on the Solomon Hochoy Highway. He was then MP for Point a Pierre and Local Government Minister. One year later he was again in a clash, this time with workers at Tunapuna Piarco Regional Coropration who accused him of using his gun to intimidate them. According to the workers, Singh rushed on to the premises and let the workers see that he had a gun. Two days later following public outcry against his behaviour then Prime Minster Basdeo Panday ordered Singh to hand in his gun to the police for safe keeping.
Then came October 1998 when accountant Sohaila Omardeen reported to the Gasparillo Police that Singh verbally abused her and threatened to show her his gun while she was on a visit to her Charles Street South Gasparillo home. Singh had gone there to investigate complaints of the cleaning up of the Marie Doleur river which runs at the back of her home. On that same occasion Singh’s wife Leela denied that he was an abusive husband but by November of that same year Singh admitted that he slapped his wife Leela once in their marriage which at the time amounted to 14 years. Singh’s controversial life continued with several battles with PNM controlled regional corporations. He threatened to halt funding at several of these bodies. There were also charges by some men that Singh had summoned them to his constituency office in Marabella where they alleged that they were beaten by members of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen. Singh’s troubles continued when he was sued for $2M by Jerry Narace, Chairman of the PNM controlled Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation for allegedly libelous statements against Narace.
Singh seemed unable to keep out of the news and on November 20, 1999 he escaped death when a jeep in which he was a passenger ran off a road in Williamsville and overturned several times. But Singh’s real troubles begain in January 2000 when police investigators searched his Gasparillo home following the murder of Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Chairman Hansraj Sumairsingh on December 31, 2000. Sumairsingh’s body had been found in his Mayaro holiday home with gunshot wounds. Things got worse for Singh when the then Opposition MP Hedwige Bereaux produced in Parliament a letter written to then PM Basdeo Panday by Sumairsingh before his death in which he claimed that Singh had threatened him. By now PNM opposition members were calling for Singh’s resignation but after taking a few days leave, Singh returned to his office making it clear that he was not going anywhere. In February 2000 Singh began an investigation into reports of criminal activities in the URP. The following month he announced that he had found no such evidence. However in August that year Panday removed the URP programme from Singh’s portfolio and assigned it to another Minister.
Then came preparations for the 2000 elections and Singh was turned down as the prospective candidate for Pointe a Pierre.
Despite all the various allegations circling about Dhanraj, the Muslimeen and URP elements it was not until October 2000 that Panday fired Singh and handed over the local government ministry to Carlos John. Singh wrote to Panday saying that he was not interested in contesting the election. In October fraud squad officers searched his home and office and later that same month Singh flew out to New York where he spent several months. On his return to Trinidad he was arrested for the murder of Singh on Feburary 19, 2001. He was taken at 5am from his home in Williamsville and brought to the Police Administration building in Port of Spain where he was finger printed, photographed and charged in the presence of his two attorneys Prakash Ramadhar and Shastri Persad. He had already been charged with 27 counts of fraud arising out of the operations of the URP, charges which are still standing and for which he has to answer. Also charged with Singh was Elliot Hypolite of Chaguanas also known as Abdullah Mutageen but Hypolite received immunity and became the State’s main witness against Singh, in the murder trial that ended yesterday.
After various constitutional motions right up to the Privy Council all of which failed, Dhanraj went to trial in the Hall of Justice on September 19. He was defended by QC Karl Hudson Phillips while the state prosecutor was British QC Timothy Cassel. He was acquitted yesterday of the charge. Who was this man Sumairsingh? Hansraj Sumairsingh was Chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation. Reports of two letters written by Sumairsingh to Panday complained of irregularities in the URP in Mayaro/Rio Claro and of threats made to his life by a government minister. After his body was found in his Mayaro beach house, Sumairsingh was cremated at Mafeking cremation site Mayaro on January 5. His service was attended by Prime Minsiter Panday who recalled he could not remember receiving the Sumairsingh letters. At the time of his death, Sumairsingh’s wife Sandra Sumairsingh was pregnant and their baby son Hansie was born three months after the murder. The UNC offered a reward of $100,000 for anyone who had information that could lead to the arrest of Sumairsingh’s killers. Despite the offer of the award some members of Sumairsingh’s family believed that the UNC did not care what happened to the family and that no party official had kept in touch with them after the funeral. They described the reward offer as a smokescreen. The Sumairsingh’s believed that his stand against corruption in the URP project lead to his death.
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The rise, fall and rise again of 'Bunny' Padmore
Posted: Saturday, October 11, 2003
By Andy Johnson, Express TT
"Mr Speaker, we shall establish a Special Security Commission to act as a think tank of crime and prevention and detection, involving former ministers of national security, Mr Overand Padmore, Ambassador John Donaldson, Mr Herbert Atwell, Brigadier Joseph Theodore, together with members of the business community and other people. The committee will be headed by the Prime Minister's Adviser on National Security, Mr Overand Padmore."
With this announcement in the House of Representatives during the budget presentation on Monday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning telegraphed the continuation of a significant shift in his strategic political thinking, from the days of his first administration a dozen years ago.
Overand "Bunny" Padmore is now national security adviser to the Prime Minister. Joe Theodore, a retired Chief of Defence Staff, had been minister of national security in the UNC administration 1995-2000. John Donaldson, now an ambassador, had led the portfolio for most of the nine years between 1976 and 1985. At one point during this period he was also at the same time Minister of External Affairs. Herbert Atwell (also an adviser to the Prime Minister) was Minister of National Security in the first NAR Cabinet under ANR Robinson in 1986. Later in that administration he was appointed Minister of Energy. He had been chairman of the Organisation for National Reconstruction and then of the NAR when that party was formed from a merger of several opposition forces in 1985.
Atwell has an office in Whitehall while Padmore operates from the Finance Building in the Twin Towers on Independence Square in Port of Spain.
In addition to its hoped for value as another indicator of inclusiveness, Monday's announcement by the Prime Minister had another, perhaps a greater, significance. It almost completes the political rehabilitation of a generation of PNM stalwarts who had been all but cast aside after the party lost miserably at the polls in 1986 and Manning assumed its leadership.
With the declaration early after he led the party back into power in 1991 that there were to be no jobs for the boys, Manning set about attempting to recast the grand old party fashioned in the image and likeness of its founding leader, the late Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams.
Padmore had been Minister of National Security and MP for Port of Spain North at the time of the fall. In previous Cabinets he had served in several other ministries, including Industry and Commerce and Education. He had been plucked from the then Ministry of Petroleum and Mines as a public servant in 1971, to join the Williams administration in the immediate post-1970 Black Power era. In that same initiative, Manning was drafted in from his job at the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, at 24 years old.
Along with Donaldson, Kamal Mohammed, Dr Cuthbert Joseph, Errol Mahabir, Hugh Francis and Desmond Cartey, Padmore was among the list of frontline ministers who fell in the wake of the NAR juggernaut which swept the polls in 1986.
Word out of the Manning camp then was that they went to the people and were rejected, and as such there was to be no place for them in any of the influential or high-profile councils he was re-jigging at the time. This is partly what led to the total alienation of Mohammed and Mahabir from the PNM and their eventual crossing over to the UNC. Early in the day during the life of the PNM as alternative government between 1991 and 1995, Muriel Donawa-McDavidson had declared what the country was witnessing was the emergence of Patrick's National Movement. She was one of the two others who had survived with him in 1986. The other was Morris Marshall. She represented Laventille as the constituency then was, and he Port of Spain East, which included a good chunk of the Laventille heartland. Both of them have since gone to the great beyond.
Francis, Padmore and Joseph chose to stay and fight, Francis and Padmore more pointedly among them. Joseph remained diplomatically detached, his own rehabilitation having been heralded only last Thursday with an announcement by the Prime Minister that Dr Joseph was the country's representative at the latest round of discussions on the idea for a political union involving Grenada, St Vincent, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
Continuing to challenge Manning nominees for the position of Chairman of the party, Francis is likely to be frustrated again at next month's national convention when he faces newcomer Minister Franklyn Khan.
But after years of the public scolding of his political leader, both as Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Overand Padmore packed it in early in 2002 after an appointment as an adviser to the Prime Minister suggested to the country that Manning was about to make amends on this account. Padmore had kept up a steady length and line of chastisement in his weekly newspaper column in the Guardian, which the paper pulled towards the end of 2002.
Accepting a call from the Express in the wake of the budget day announcement of his new status, Padmore said yesterday he would prefer to speak "neither for the record nor for attribution". This was so, he said, given the nature of his current role and function.
But, he allowed, this perspective on his again raised profile as being a return to prominence was "intriguing".
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