Tag Archives: John Sandy

I Out On De Road: Section 34 Style!

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No, not lemmings, just right thinking Trinbagonians defending their democracy!

 

I’m marching today. And happily so. When I marched weeks ago I was told by people who consider themselves thinkers, humanists and buddhists that to march meant I was Pro PNM…..and even better, marching meant I was a lemming. If Rowley was so against Section 34 why he vote for it. At that point in time no one was willing to listen to the details of the story. That Cabinet had promised to implement certain conditions and further that the early proclamation was a breach of trust.

Today, as more and more details of the section 34 issue has been revealed and more and more people realise the extent of the conspiracy perpetrated against the country all of a sudden marching has become the fashionable thing. The people who wanted to make this about Keith Rowley and the PNM a few weeks ago are going to be out on the street en masse today because that’s how bandwagonists function. They diss an action that they are not in favour of in its early phases and then when they see the direction the wind shifts in all of a sudden their intellect kicks in and they find a plausible reason for joining and become even louder and more vociferous than the original members of a movement. It’s all good, once they pulling their weight. I guess the Lemmings have company today.

But there are people who are still detractors to the march. We’ve seen the government throw up distraction after distraction where Section 34 is concerned. Pre-Budget Rallies, Post-Budget Rallies, random attacks on the media from Jack Warner and Jamal Mohammed, Warner trying to block crime statistics….all in an effort to distract the electorate from the issue of Section 34 and what it means that an entire Cabinet conspired to mislead the Parliament….and now pretending they did nothing wrong.

Last night there was a last ditch effort on the part of UNC apologists. People arguing that the issue has already aired publicly, so let’s move on. Well neither Kamla nor the AG have answered my questions on this matter satisfactorily so I can’t move on. And apparently the launch of TSTT’s 4G that was meant to thin out the protest crowds has been put off as well. So it’s just lemmings in Woodford Square at noon today.

Another argument is that this March today is about causing political destabilisation….uhhh….YES….we don’t trust the Government. No electorate should have to be saddled with a Government it doesn’t trust, and to argue that we must put up with an untrustworthy government for five years is to play smart with foolishness. That’s why it’s called a democracy….we have the right to show our displeasure and I am going to show it.

And Section 34 isn’t the only reason. There are at least a hundred…but let me refresh your memory with a few reason why I will be out on the road.

1. Reshmi

2. Gopaul

3. Mary King

4. Cheryl Miller

5. Nizam Mohammed

6. Dwayne Gibbs

7. Gary Griffith

8. The Crop Duster

9. Raids on TV6, Newsday, Crime Watch and attacks on Asha Javeed and Denyse Renne

10. Chandresh Sharma’s London Taxi fare

11. Shoppin Toppin and Fuad Card!

12. The Soca Warriors $$$$

13. Jack as a Minister, Jack as a member of the National Security Council, Jack as Minister of National Security (this alone is a march in itself)

14. The bungling incompetence of the AG

15. Silk Gate

16. The dismantling of all of our border and coastal surveillance,

17. the deployment of national security helicopters as air taxis for the PM and her friends and family.

18. Vidwattie Newton

19. Janice Thomas/Marcia/Sasha Mohammed

20. The mess that is healthcare

21. The mess that is education

22. Fucking up our energy sector

23. Three massive budgets that have put us into deficit and saddling us with a debt my grandchildren will be paying.

24. Insulting our Caricom Neighbours with the ATM statement

25. Kamla being the most incompetent and ineffective, self absorbed, nepotistic and corrupt leader this Caribbean has ever seen.

 

I could go on for days…but I’ll stop there. See you on the road!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

 

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100 Missteps in 2.5 years by Xavi Silva

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I had to share this list with you guys. FB blogger Xavi Silva tagged me in this post and I thought maybe you’d want to take a read and add whatever you think is missing:

2 1/2 years 100 bad decisions here is our government:

1) Reshmi
2) Sasha
3) Jack multiple FIFA bribery scandals(Bin Hamman, TTFF, Haiti)
4) Vasant Cayanne
5) Farmers without crops
6) A RedBull Flugtag Plane for 900k to replace a blimp sold for 50k how? What? Why?
7) Diversification what how where?
8) SOE
9) Assassination Plot
10) NP friends and family contract
11) Anand proposing to monitor social media and emails
12) Raiding media houses for sources
13) Verna locking up Cheryl Miller
14) Seizing guns/drugs locking up nobody and saying we on top of crime!
15) Frequent flyer trips with no solid results
16) 20% voter turnout in local elections called a success!
17) 0% Economic growth for 3 years!
18) Jack the unlimited bank account!
19) Dismissing the Transparency International Corruption Report
20) Vetoing the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit(FIU)
21) 2.5 million for 3 farmers to cut the Airport grass(I in the wrong field who have a whacker?)
22) Anand and Kamla say SILK wrong but still wearing them own.
23) Gift wrapping oil for India
24) Alutrint board appointed something smelting bad.
25) How come race talk so prevalent now? It was ever so?
26) Paid bloggers sound off how the Blackberry wokking?
27) What going on with the probe on Ish, Steve and Jack AG? We ever hearing that again?
28) Wait Verna doin the Back Peddle dance and welcoming back Ms. Miller but I thought she commit her?
29) so 48 million barrels is the answer to we economic problems? Well Barbados 2.5 billion find will make them richer than Apple Corp then!
30) Why Anand eh lock up Caulder Hart yet? That is a nex probe up somebody eh hem!
31) Protests by TCL and Unions watch out for a SOE jus now
32) Sunway! Whichway? Caulder Hart Way $300 million quarrying contract thanks Kamla we always knew your “Hart” was good.
33) Ag Superintendent Bisnath Maharaj is the new SSA director that name sounding familiar hmmm.
34) Omar Khan resign cause he unqualified! Why this sounding familiar?
35) “I hired my sister with taxpayer dollars that’s good family values” say it frequently an wine!
36) Before elections: “I will never move into the PM’s residence” After elections: “Put the elevator from the HDC building in my bedroom”
38) Aye! How I could forget Sat! Anybody know if he still seeing pantylines? He still like black people?
39) COP members say they fed up of the poor governance an they not settling so! COP have a backbone then?
40) Somebody pay me TT$1.5 million to paint a small building nah gosh boy look how much people getting handouts.
41) Oil Sands/Highway Re-Route
42) All files on Jack, Ish an Steve stolen from the SIA
43) Giving India a stake hold in Petrotrin
44) Hiring workers from China to pick coconuts
45) New CONCACAF president slams Warner for financial impropriety
46) Dwayne Gibbs find no evidence against Warner so the DPP can’t prosecute that’s a shocker…
47) Reducing NIS pensioners to $1,000 per month and less in some cases.
48) The purposeful allowing of taxpayer dollars going to waste from assets e.g. The Brian Lara stadium and the 4 water taxi’s simply because it was a PNM one.
49) Jack National Security? How?
50) Why no consultation on the SEA curriculum change?

51) Jack has no authority to command the armed forces and police
52) Why were environmentalists consulted on the destruction of the turtles nest?
53) Why is the gov’t considering a Tar Sands Mine?
54) New Central Bank Governor was on India trip too hmmm guess he real “independent”
55) Property Tax on or off on or off?
56) T&T Embassy, Washington, DC
Veterinarian, turned diplomat, Dr. Neil Parsan, nephew of Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma, has been using millions of dollars of taxpayers money to transform the Trinidad and Tobago Embassy in Washington to capture a piece of the “sunlit Caribbean.”
57) How much to renovate the US embassy here again??
58) Bobol at NLCB
59) Bobol at EMA Staff quitting and workers wearing red to protest!
60) New Traffic plan destroying business in St. James.
61) Four members of the Estate Management Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD) resigned from the board after raising concerns over transactions involving senior company officials.
62) Mt. Hope storing cancer patients tissue in water containers.
63) Why did Jack influence the firing of the COP and deputy COP?
64) How come exactly 50 to be released for our 50th Independence? 50 no more no less!
65) Flags that not really flags just modified 90 degrees.
66) Gov’t official under FIU probe ah wonder who hmmmm,
67) Sect. 34 sounds like a horror movie only worse.
68) The National Security helicopters is the new shopping car.
69) Shaq get $10 million to help crime go up!
70) Machel make more money that the T&T economy thanks Kamla!
71) Keshorngate everybody get even if yuh finish second to last. Oh wait Nijsane eh get nuttin.
72) Partap drunk nuff said…
73) Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reports suspicious activity in the amount of $500 million from Jan to Jun 2012
74) But wait crime back up I thought the SOE fix that? Where Steven Williams two crime plans? And Jack phantom one?
75) 21 workers responsible for the regularization of 4,500 cane farmers fired Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj denied such claimed. Unions have letters for all 21.
76) Wait we still giving out laptops to schools when the one laptop per child experiment proved no marked increase in test scores?
77) I feel iPads for all MP’s will fix all the nation problems.
78) Why the discrepancies in the auditor general report? http://www.auditorgeneral.gov.tt/documentlibrary/downloads/9/Vol%20%204%20-%20AG%20REPORT%202011.pdf
79) Jack new crime plan to outline how people dress…
80) How did we achieve developed country status in a negative economy again?
81) AUSTERITY MEASURES!
82) 50 criminals to be released coinciding with 50th Anniversary Independence.
83) Hubert Volney became the fall guy for Anand Ramlogan.
84) Pre-Budget Rally!
85) Post Budget Rally!
86) Attiba Phillips pay $1,335. to a taxi from his home to Mid Centre Mall in Chaguanas sample eh it have plenty more.
87) No drill in a major hospital that is all.
88) Jack Warner begins another job program in place of proper economic development ala color me orange, hoop of life.
89) The DPP states that that Section 34 “cannot stand on its own without absurdity” http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Breaking-News—Gaspard-Breaks-Silence-169487316.html
90) The AG, PM continue the rash of lawsuits in place of debating with the AG proudly compiling a list of those he has sued.
91) $1.3 billion requested for arbitration with BAE for the OPV’s
92) Reshmi! No wait Reshmi mommy and Anand Ramlogan creating a position of Clerk IV that does not exist.
93) The new tool to attack the opposition is race! Everybody saying they was racially discriminated even Jack say Rowley racial cause he focusing on Anand but Anand doing poor I think.
94) The Minister of Communications show his inferiority complex on paper writing claiming bias against reporters and finally the head of an independent news agency and oh yeah using racial slurs in referring to himself as a “Muslim Coolie”
95) The ink on the 2012/2013 budget still wet and the Ministry of Works done want to borrow $2.7 billion! Who say massive debt and IMF?!
96) Massive hirings an firings at our embassies overseas that bound to happen less attention http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/_I_will_take_you_to_the_PM_-176132371.html
97) Paid bloggers being recruited the usual suspects all there slithering around.
98) The same NAMDEVCO that giving Reshmi mommy a fake position fire the whole board real bachannal Among them are irregular hiring practices that have landed five board members before the Integrity Commission.
99) How come people so silent about how FIFA stop funding Trinidad & Tobago? Must be how Jack Warner still interfering in FIFA business when that was the condition of his being fired/resigning(same difference) that he dont interfer?!! http://www.wired868.com/2012/10/06/warners-controversial-letter-to-sport-minister-anil-roberts/
100) After all the Section 34 bachannal Anand still ent remove serious fraud from the statute of limitations look at that.

The Endangered List

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I’ve been trying to put my finger on a particular feeling that has been gnawing at me for quite some time…since the SoE actually. And it hit me this morning. I feel endangered. Not oppressed or marginalised, but endangered.
You see, prior to the SoE I thought Kamla’s Small Goal Side was merely inept at governance and  similar to the average MTV Real World Media Whores. Happy to be in front of a camera even if they had nothing of value to say.
But as the months have passed I have begun to feel more and more that this government isnt simply inept, it is insidious and evil.
The first thing that bothered me about the SoE was its ad hoc implementation and punitive tenor. To date we dont know why it was called. Numerous reasons given and almost 8000 people detained, mostly Afrotrinbagonian. 9% of the black male population tossed in cells with no evidence or reason for their arrest. This SoE showed me that this govt was very comfortable relying on stereotypes to run the country. It also showed me that a significant portion of the population: members of the middle and upper classes, many of Indo or Euro origin were quite happy to believe that the crime problem was caused strictly by young, single-parent men who resemble John Sandy, and that crime and criminal behaviour had nothing to do with them.
As the months have passed since that SoE there have been numerous other onslaughts that have ethnic undertones. The firings in the public sector that have nothing to do with getting rid of redundant workers and everything to do with rewarding friends and family: none of them ever seem to resemble Sandy.
Within months of this govt getting into power we heard Nizam Mohammed call for ethnic parity in the police force. Not promotion on merit….but ethnic parity. As early as 2005, Kamla Persad-Bissessar had called for more Indians on the CCJ. A regional court in a Caribbean that is demographically 80% afro-descended, and her concern wasnt the calibre of judges, but their ethnicity. Clannish much?
It seems that this is a government interested only in the promotion of Indians, because make no mistake, whenever the comments about ethnic parity are raised it is only in relation to an imbalance or under representation of Indians. You nevet hear talk about not enough Chinese, Europeans, or Arab Trinbagonians: groups that are truly under-represented in the public sphere.
In the 2yrs and 2months that Kamla’s Small Goal Side have been in power they have shown us thst there is no equal place for every creed and race….just the one in power.
I had hoped that tribal politics and ethnic marginalisation wouldnt be a feature under this regime…unfortunately it’ s their only governance strategy. It’s reflected in the composition of state boards and the appointments to all the most influencial positions in the land.
When you speak out about this the stock response is, “Well it happen under the PNM…” Two wrongs make it right..the politics of retribution.
Now we have our country’s history being rewritten before our eyes. Eric Williams, whether you like him or not, was the architect of our Independ3nce, yet on our 50th Anniversary his contribution is being ignored….George Chambers, ANR Robinson’s, Basdeo Panday’s and Patrick Manning’s too. This govt is trying hard to promote itself as the genesis of Trinidad and Tobago. Nothing came before Kamla. Tassa is more indigenous than pan; Chutney more appropriate for celebrating our 50 years in song than the locally created calypso. They want to privatise The Mas without so much as a feasibility study or consensus gathering. Nothing indigenously created by the Creoles here sacred enough to survive.
And that is why i fraid for myself. I was created here. I dont identify as East Indian or Hindu or African or European. There is no Kamlaesque ethnic parity in me. I am a sum of all of the things that influence this space: indigenous and endangered.

De Vice Cyah Done!

Jack’s Splat

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The new Top Cop? Photo Courtesy Trinidad Guardian website.

When a week ago Jack Warner was appointed Minister of National Security I wasn’t perturbed because all the signs to date had pointed to the inevitability of the appointment. Warner, after being sidelined in the wake of a slew of allegations last year seemed to be on his way out of the party. After securing a victory in the UNC’s internal elections and retaining the chairmanship of the party resoundingly the tide began to turn in his favour. It seemed as if the PM’s faith in Warner was renewed. He survived the PURE audit and was quietly placed on the National Security Council. An appointment that didn’t cause uproar, though it did cause comment. Weeks after Warner was appointed to the Security Council a SAUTT office was broken into. Files and equipment went missing. Some of the files were alleged to be related to Warner. The story first broke in this newspaper. The Government didn’t deny it, but they sought to downplay the seriousness of the incident. It was then I figured Warner was well on his way to political ascendancy.

Now, it’s pretty clear to everyone that making Warner Minister of National Security is a huge gamble on the PM’s part especially because of his international reputation. British and American newspapers have been having a field day with the antics of this government ever since Warner became an elected member of parliament. And the Prime Minister, who travels regularly to promote Trinidad and Tobago internationally, doesn’t seem to be even slightly worried about Warner’s impact on our reputation. When pressed by the media to explain her selection of Warner despite accusations of corruption and bribery, Persad-Bissessar’s response was that allegations are allegations. Yet in 2010 the allegations against Calder Hart, who her government can’t seem to charge, were reported by her constantly in Parliament as if they were facts. Facts that de Lima and Ramadhar no longer seem able to substantiate in a court of law. To date all this government seems to have on Calder Hart is perjury. I guess yesterday was yesterday and today is today, riiiight?

Yet, as much as Warner’s appointment was a gamble, I felt that perhaps this was Persad-Bissessar’s boldest move yet. In the aftermath of two annual Eat Ah Food Fetes popular opinion was now against her. People were fed up of the constant masquerade and pappy shows and were beginning to wonder when her government was going to buckle down and actually try and run the country. Even her staunch supporters and financiers in the online groups were beginning to openly grumble. And after the psychological blow that Abdulla’s MSJ hit her governance and government by withdrawing from the party and speaking out against the corruption and nepotism, the PM needed to regroup.

 

So she regrouped and reconfigured; and made two significant changes to her bloated and redundant Cabinet. She brought on Larry Howai to fix the damage done by former finance minister Dookeran: who gave us the two largest budgets and deficits in the history of the country. That’s nothing to sneeze at, especially from a former Central Bank Governor. And of course, she moved the effete John Sandy and put Warner in his place.

Warner has both detractors and supporters, but what they both agree on is that he is a man of great cunning. Capable of doing the impossible. Action Jack! And so, both sides waited to see what exactly would be his first strike. Gang warfare? Big Fish? A large drug haul and sting operation? A meeting with all the community leaders with pictures of them hugging up Warner and promising to keep an eye on their community? No. Not even close. Warner would voop for a big six and miss when he decided to attack a small, defenceless group of environmental protesters with a full team of soldiers and police. And not only did Warner issue the orders and possibly breach both the Constitution and the chain of command for both police and army; he struck the first blow and oversaw the demolition of the camp site.

What Persad-Bissessar’s greatest weapon against crime has shown us is that “Action Jack” likes more gallery and show than even his boss does. He has made a grave mistake. And angered not just detractors of the government, but supporters too. No amount of damage control PR and marketing by the Attorney General and Sat Maharaj is going to wipe away the image of smashed murtis and Dr Wayne Kublalsingh being detained by police. No amount of mindless blogging can change the fact that Kublalsingh and the Highway Re-Route group aren’t the criminal threat that’s holding this country to ransom with murders and robbery. Criminalizing them to defend Warner’s behavior isn’t going to help this government or the country.

Warner has shown us that as Minister of National Security he’s just as ignorant of the laws as the average citizen. Ramesh LAwrence Maharaj never takes cases he can’t convincingly win. Kublalsingh has indicated that the land they were evicted from belonged to a member of the re-route movement. While the land would have been claimed by the Government under the Highways Act, the Land agencies here don’t have government approval to use force to remove squatters or occupiers of lands using police and army. Further, for Warner to deploy police and army in the way he did is to imply that the State was itself facing a threat from this group of environmentalists. Even further, for Warner to issue orders to both Army and Police violates separation of powers. If as Warner has defiantly stated, we aint see nothing yet….then I’d be afraid, very afraid. But as a first move with his new portfolio, Action Jack looked and acted the Fool! And had to rely on imported celebrity power to be a weapon of mass distraction!

Doesn’t matter how many Shaquille O’Neal’s and Nicki Minaj’s the government flies in to walk through depressed neighbourhoods. That’s not going to solve crime. The PM’s greatest weapon missed his mark this week and will continue to do so. And in the meantime, to hide their lack of a crime plan they will gallery and entertain with sport heroes and hip hop stars. Warner already knows how to wear his cap to the side. All the PM has to do is develop a limp and throw on some gold teeth.

De Vice Cyah Done.

 

The Re-Shovelled Deck :A Govt on All Fours…

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The Re-Shovelled Cabinet. Photo courtesy Guardian website

(2years, 29dys)

I grew up in a house where All-Fours was a serious game. My uncle played tournaments. It would irk him to no end to see how casually his nieces and nephews would play things like Rummy without a properly shuffled deck, removal of the Jokers and proper cutting. It was from him I learned to play cards, to understand the signs of the game of All-Fours, and to know that even if I was dealt a weak hand, if my partner had a stronger hand, and we both understood the mechanics of bluffing and kept straight faces, we could come out with solid wins.

Kamla’s much anticipated re-shovelling of the Cabinet yesterday, went far beyond my expectations, and yet fell short of it in some ways. She was right to call it a Cabinet Reconfiguration, because that’s what she did. Kamla took her old cabinet to a joiner and basically asked, “How I could make this thing look and function different, without wasting the material?” After announcing the cabinet last night, the focus of everyone, from layman, to political parties to political gurus, was the appointment of the Minister of National Security. Supporters of the party hailed it as a good move, detractors frothed at the mouth, and some dashed off hastily written press releases. I was more interested in the details of the entire cupboard. My father is a joiner, is so I stop!

By now we all know who the players are in this NEW CABINET…and that’s what it is. Yes they are still calling themselves the  People’s Partnership, but the 2010 Cabinet and the 2012 Cabinet look very different. It’s almost as if we got a new government, without going to the polls…..that can’t be good, because it means that 2 years and 1 month into office, Kamla and her even larger Small Goal side are starting from scratch.

In the midst of an economic meltdown, spiralling crime rates, rising unemployment, meteoric food prices…..this government that promised to bring change, is attempting to press the re-set button and act like the last two years of misstepping didn’t happen.

The Old Cupboard….

Kamla, as card dealer, revealed two things last night: she knows that her government and governance is failing; and she knows she has to make her boldest move for Ejection 2015 (it’s not a misspelling) now!

Her speech last night was filled with the usual campaign rhetoric, but in a more subdued tone; because while Kamla’s words stated that her government had been working hard and achieving much, the Cabinet she was about to reveal said louder than anything else in the room that the PP has failed. Kamla referred to a depleted treasury, yet, we know that Dookeran came and met a stable economy; just as Devant Maharaj met a Caribbean Airlines that was in the black. We know too that in 2010 she met a crime rate that was lower than what we have right now.  But of course, this government never admits to making a mess of things, just like the last regime. So Kamla segued into listing her changes by implying that she consulted with the people and was now taking the criticism on board.

Understand that this Cabinet Re-Shovel comes in under one month since they spent $9m patting themselves on the back for being in power for 2 years and staying stronger than ever. In less than a month of that Eat Ah Food Fete the Partnership was destroyed when the MSJ broke ranks. It’s something she didn’t make mention of last night. Indeed the four parties that remain don’t like referring to the MSJ anymore because they know that in truth and fact they are no longer the People’s Partnership, but rather a UNC Alliance All Fours Team. And in future that’s how I’ll be referring to them.

This UNC Alliance is now faced with a significant task, turning the tide of public opinion that is growing against it. You see there are several levels of dissent Kamla has been coping with and her reconfiguration last night was meant to address all issues:

1. The MSJ Split

2. The COP discontent

3. The Muslim Vote Discontent

4. The Swing Vote Discontent over an under performing economy, spiralling crime, and corruption.

 

The MSJ Split means that the 5-party Panchayat is dead. This of course means that Kamla hs to pull the troops in tighter, closer, give the impression of being a tight-knit unit that includes everyone. Couple this with COP discontent over the San Fernando Mayorship and general feelings of being sidelined and ignored and the solution becomes clear: increase the number of COP members in the Cabinet, while giving Marlene Coudray a ministerial position. Look closely at the list of appointees and see what’s going on. No wonder Lincoln Douglas denied he agreed with Nalini Dial’s comments…and no wonder COP Cabinet Members and Executive members attacked Dial’s comments in such a savage way. In exercising her right to post tasteless comments on her private FB wall, Dial was upsetting the apple cart of new Eat Ah Food positions. Douglas publicly agreeing with Dial might have cost him a ministry. Now the COP has almost doubled the number of previously held positions and gone from 6 to 10 Cabinet posts. Several of those positions are held by people who never faced the electorate at the polls such as Bhoe Tewarie and Ganga Singh. To see Ganga Singh, whose name is synonymous with corruption at WASA be let back into our government has to be one of the most galling things on the face of the earth. Now Kamla’s Corruption Chorus Line of Goopeesingh, Ramadharsingh and Singh can just call themselves the Three Tenders.

The Cabinet still remains predominantly Hindu in terms of its religious make-up, but in the Jahaji Desi groups of late there has been a lot of complaint about the lack of Muslim representation. Whether unwilling or unable to add more Muslims, Kamla decided to kill two birds with one stone and add a COP member who comes from the most prominent political Muslim family. Her new Minister of Communication, Jamal Mohammed is the great-nephew of PNM stalwart Kamaluddin Mohammed, and nephew of former PNM Senator Nafeesa Mohammed. One member of the Mohammed Clan in Parliament must be the equivalent of about 50 muslims at least, right Madam PM? I hope those ratios work out for you.

Now  to issue number 4. Kamla is trading on a few givens with the Trinbagonian psyche. We have a high tolerance for corruption in this place, once our pockets not affected directly. Once we benefitting from a corrupt act or a corrupt person, Trinis will more often than not look the other way (Dear Lord thank you for my Tobagonian mother) and give people a bligh. And to the Europeans and Americans who don’t understand how there can be citizens of this country who’d support a man as obviously corrupt as Jack Warner being a member of government….that should now answer your question. Jack is beloved in his constituency because he gets things done…temporarily. And Trinis love a quick fix. Long term goals and vision does make them impatient…we like things to happen one time…and see immediate results…even if they worth fuck all. So an action man like Jack, who willing to put Fifa money where his mouth is will be immensely popular here. You want a wall built overnight? Jack will get it done….it’ll fall down the next time rain fall hard, but the point is he built the wall…and that’s what Trinis will remember. You want your national football team to get to the World Cup…easy peasy, Jack will get it done…but they don’t care that he has screwed over present and future generations of young local footballers to do so. So, Kamla, aware of all of this, appoints Warner as Minister of National Security. This appointment is an admission that John Sandy has failed and Trinis are fucked when it comes to the crime situation. Forget the SoE folks….the ultimate weapon in Kamla’s arsenal is about to be deployed. I feel quite certain that Jack has been given the mandate, by fair means or foul, bring that crime rate down! And this appointment is a double edged sword. If Jack succeeds, Kamla has 2015 in the bag….if Jack fails, he gets the axe and so does Kamla….if ever someone was relying on the strength of their partner’s hand it is Kamla.

Unfortunately this appointing of Jack as Security Minister means that the country will suffer in the short and long term. The appointment will further tarnish our international image. Even if Jack makes inroads into crime, it’ll be quick fixes. Downturns that will be quickly trumpeted all over the media, while the longterm side and after effects might just kill our children….23 years later local football still reeling from November 19th, 1989.

Larry Howai’s appointment as Minister of Finance is a better calculated risk. When the foreign team hired to turn FCB around from financial failure couldn’t do the job, it was Larry Howai that was promoted to do the job.  And I sincerely believe that he has been brought on board by Kamla to clean up the colossal mess that Dookeran made of the economy. Howai’s mandate has to be put a halt to the decline….and try and stimulate some growth, please. If he does that, he’ll be the PM’s blue eyed boy, because the two fronts on which Kamla was all geared to lose Ejection 2015, was crime and the economy…..sounds like PNM 2010 deja vu doesn’t it?

Mindful of the fact that she was getting rid of two Afro-Trinbagonians (and all yuh could cry for Verna all all yuh want, after what happened to Cheryl Miller under her tenure she deserved to be fired), and was likely to face a pounding for the ethnic make up of her Cabinet, Kamla ensured that she did the requisite window-dressing….and I want you guys to note that she ensured that the two (redundant) ministries that deal up with issues like culture and diversity are headed by Afro-Trinbagonians. Game to Kamla….let the black people and them complain now….Eintou if you aint get no money for you Support a Bad Habit Committee is because Douglas, not Kamla, turn you down.

She has also set herself up nicely to ensure that the grassroots battle for Tobago and Local Elections can be efficiently fought. The offensive Shoppin Toppin has been moved from everyone’s sight and put under Glen Ramadharsingh (shudder) and Delmon Baker is now at the forefront. It’s now up to Assworth Jack and his spinning TOP to do the necessary and try and bring home that THA Elections….Kamla depending on your hand boy!

Suruj Rambachan, who was  spectacularly inefficient as a Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communication Minister has now been made Minister of Local Government…..he’s close to all the plum Regional Corp contracts that make pocket lining so easy, and he can overseer the pack setting for next year’s local government elections. Chandresh Sharma has been given Transport, lucrative contracts and kickbacks for party financiers in that ministry as well.

So, now that we’ve arrived at this point I hope that the reader sees that the Reconfiguration exercise on the PM’s part was actually well thought out. She’s battling on several fronts and knows this. Yes, Jack Warner’s appointment as Security Minister is a big deal….but the even bigger deal here is that Kamla has begun to battle for 2015. Whether it will be effective now depends on performance. It is this that both the PNM and MSJ have to contend with.

Watch out too for the disappearance of the COP. With the MSJ gone the remaining members of the All Fours Alliance will begin to merge and morph and all sound the same. The COP’s identity is now entirely subsumed. No more standing up for principals and rights and Mayorships in San Fernando (ent Navi Murad-Ali?).

With a bigger Cabinet though comes more salaries to pay and more mouths to feed.

De Vice Cyah Done!

…The Cupboard Was Bare!

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It’s Cabinet Reconfiguration week, folks. And most, if not all of you, must know  the nursery rhyme Old Mother Hubbard!

Methinks a bare cabinet is what Kamla has been coping with these past few weeks (if not 2 years), because is the same rotting shelving board and rusty hinges she trying to move around to give the impression of a new look and freshness.

And that’s one of the sad things about our politics and governance. Look around you and notice that it’s often the same old, corrupt and dishonest geezers, or young party fanatics who are only too eager toe the party line, repeat drivel and assist in violating the country further.

Since Kamla’s announce that she was going to reconfigure her Cabinet…as opposed to reshuffle, because this PM likes new words for old things….the country has been rife with speculation about which ministers will be moved and who is likely to replace whom.

I want to be a little more pro-active than that and suggest my own changes:

National Insecurity is a big issue here. Everyone (except the govt) acknowledges that there are too many problems, serious crime is up, and People Resembling Sandy needs an anatomy lesson, because like he thinking with his elbow! Instead of setting a thief to catch a thief though….in other words, Making Jack Warner Minister of National Security….which is the most persistent rumour, Kamla should instead appoint the one thing that has been tripping up and stalling the criminal elements here and then some….yes, you got it…..STRAY BULLETS…..I endorsing Stray Bullet as Minister of National Insecurity.

The Ministry of Finance is another hotspot in Kamla’s Closet…ooops, Cabinet. Because our Minister of Finance might be the only person I know who could make a gyro cart, coconut vendor or doubles man go buss! It’s Fizzle, not fiscal policy with Dooks….so, my first choice for Min of Finance is Sauce Doubles, if he turn down the work because Curepe making more money than Dooks, then hire anyone of them “foreign nationals” on the Avenue!

 

 

 

I believe that our loud mouthed Attorney General, who can’t recognise a piano to save his life, but knows how to interfere with Integrity Commission enquiries should be replaced by the Consitution….plain and simple. Just rest it on the seat he used to occupy in Parliament. The Cover page alone more intelligent than Anand!

 

As for Sports, take yuh pick Kamla, a cricket bat, football or swimming pool will sound more coherent and sophisticated, and do more for Sport in this country than Anil could “talk” about in this lifetime. Plus all three objects know that drugs and sports don’t mix!!!!!!

You also need to move Suruj as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Information. Number one, no foreign or local person would have affairs with Suruj…number two Suruj is racist and is not a true reflection of our demography…in fact your entire Cabinet ignores the complexity of the country’s demography. But I think that is deliberate, because you endorsing the Indian Time Now policy….and that’s your prerogative, but at least get someone who understands how to conduct foreign affairs….pretty much any of the imported prostitutes from Latin America that (allegedly) know Ravi Ratiram name real good!

And for Information put Sat Maharaj…yes, you heard me. Since it going to be propaganda anyway, put somebody who will make me laugh. I want to hear Sat talk about who wearing and aint wearing underwear….it seems to be quite a fixation with him…first was the OJT underwear lines, then was Harry Harnarine’s. I want to listen to Sat talk about Indians here as if they are still citizens of the continent of India….and I want to watch the Indian community here continue to remain mum on the issue of Sat and your government and the tensions and misconceptions about our society your are intent on creating.

I can’t think of who could replace Chandresh Sharma in your closet, Kamla? Maybe we should give HD a turn? After all, he sing real soca tune about Hard Wuk…..and you done very practised at handing him cheques and holding his hands in public!

Any blank copy book you find can replace Grim Doopeesingh…..and any jackass not named Deviant could handle the Transport Ministry.

 

Is Friday Folks…and apparently International No Drawers (Panty) Day….how fortunate for the Cupboard Lady!

 

De Vice Cyar Done!

In a Real Slump!

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I want you to pay attention to a few things. The turn over of new missteps by the PP has slowed down, and what we have now is a case of the same missteps further compounding themselves and becoming large and bloated issues.

These are the issues that are going to be used to do battle against them come the THA Elections, the next Local Elections and of course the next General Elections…whenever that will be. I’m no longer saying 2015 because the political environment seems volatile. While the Panchayat still has a pretty sound support base that flood the the online blogging sites and  newspaper, radio and television comment boards; there is now a growing voice of dissent as well. The people who were always pro-PNM are openly gloating now, “Ent all yuh vote for that? Well take change in all yuh pweffen!” And many of the PP supporters who made the switch to the Bigger, Better Party are now bawling that this isn’t the change they voted for. For many who remember being upset by nepotism, corruption, squandermania and an autocratic leadership style under Patrick Manning’s version of the PNM, Kamla’s tenure thus far seems like a case of exchange….we went from Patrick Manning….to Patrick Manning in drag.
The PNM die-hards have even gone so far as to insist that Manning’s term in office wasn’t “so bad”…and this is where it get’s scary for me. Because when your governance is so bad that Manning starts looking like a good leader know that we in shit!

Our education, health and environmental policies are no better now than they were under Manning. The education system is outdated and failing the nation’s children. Our health care system is in a mess….and as for Environmental policies? What Environmental policies? It still easier for a man to start a quarry in Trinidad than to start a farm!

The majority of the population here is so caught up with just surviving…finding ah food to eat, that the larger issues like what kind of quality of life they want and what kind of governance and leadership they should agitate for escape them completely.

For the mother who needs money to look after her family, does it matter if Dookeran has no real fiscal policies or if Kamla will giver her a handout that will help make ends meet?

And this is the problem right here for me….previous administrations have ensured that the majority of the population remains dependent on a system so shitty that it is demeaning. So, issues like nepotism, corruption, bad fiscal policies, squandermania etc mean nothing once the masses could eat ah food.

In the last 2 weeks there has been a web of lies developing around several crucial issues.

In 2010 the PP campaigned and said that the PNM had squandered so much money there was virtually none in the treasury. Dookeran promised as Minister of Finance he was going to steady the country fiscally, after 8 years of PNM mismanagement, and put us back on track. From Budget 2010, to Budget 2011/12 we have had increasingly larger budgets, and larger deficits. Further, no budget has followed through on the campaign promise of diversification of the economy away from fuel. If anything, Kamla seems to lean heavier on the fuel economy. The other thing that I have noticed about the budgets is that the last three have been focused on spending money on social programmes like increased pensions (which they took back) and CEPEP. What I want you to bear in mind is that the same kind of spending that Kamla et al complained about under the PNM (CEPEP, HYPE, MUST), all the various make-work programmes, is precisely what she is now copying….and further, her same supporters who complained bitterly that “money wasting in make-work programmes” are now saying on the same walls and blogs where they once complained…that CEPEP is a good thing!

I have to smile. CEPEP was once so demonised. It was a programme that UNC supporters complained harboured criminals, encouraged laziness in blacks (we all know about the 10-days mentality), indeed, many critics of CEPEP and other make-work programmes often complained that Manning and the PNM generally used it to create a dependency syndrome in their voter base…..so, then, tell me how Kamla’s use of CEPEP and Colour Me Orange is any different? Is it that Kamla’s supporters like hand-outs too and like to work as little as possible for a regular wage? My goodness….might we have been wrong about the ethnic-stereotyping we ascribed to CEPEP??????

What is frighteningly clear is that this government has no long term goals for turning the country’s economy around. The 2011 budget has seen government come back to Parliament not once, but twice in 2012 to ask for more money….more money from a treasury they claimed was empty. If they’ve asked us twice this year for money to manage last year’s budget…what going to happen in September 2012? Our next budget is about 3 months away and the steady economy and blue skies Dookeran promised us are nowhere to be seen. In fact, he has spent the last two weeks trying to convince us…and himself, that we aren’t in a slump. Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams quoted figures and said the economy was in a slump…Winston Dookeran using the same figures said the economy wasn’t….so who should we believe? Dookeran is a politician in a party that fighting for dear life right now because they have riled up the labour force and pensioners.

We are now three years into the PP’s governance and the economy they claimed was left in shambles is even worse off.

The pension issue is another case of lies and half truths flying all over the place after yet another shady promised. In 2010, while in one breath saying Manning had squandered money and left the treasury empty,  Kamla again promised on her election campaign that all pensioners over 60 years of age, regardless of whether they were receiving a pension elsewhere, would be entitled to a pension of $3000. Kamla made a big deal of it, because it was meant to show how much her government cared. After winning the election the PP government sought to distance itself from the pension promise. And by 2012 the talk had changed entirely with the government insisting that the senior citizens pension would now be reliant upon their NIS contributions. So, now, we have a situation where at least 15,000 pensioners are now receiving $1000 less than they were receiving at their last check, because Kamla didn’t keep the promise made. Yet Glen Ramadharsingh in television and radio interviews keeps insisting that pensioners aren’t getting a cent less than before….so who should I believe? A politician with a shady past….or the pensioners who can show you on their checks where there is a reduction in income?

The last issue I’ll tackle today….and trust me there is more, there always is with this government….is the investigation into Jack Warner.

Last year the Attorney General, following the leaking of a tape in which it is alleged Jack Warner bribed a room of Concacaf officials, launched a probe into MP Warner 2-3 weeks ago the the Police Service Commission (why them???) sent out a press release saying that CoP Gibbs had been advised by the DPP that Warner was cleared. Jack was jubilant….claimed he felt vindicated. Then 24 hours later we would find out that the investigation was done in a half-assed way, the DPP never cleared Jack, in fact he indicated in his report that the evidence was thin….aka half assed investigation, and that the police service should look into whether Warner had broken Customs and Excise laws….to date not a word on that issue. Inspector Totaram Dookie seems not to have explored that avenue in his thorough investigation….and this morning we have the AG, who launched the probe into Warner, jumping in to weigh on the issue and say that Warner is in the clear….pre-mature doesn’t begin to describe his actions….as well as immature and unprofessional. But, then again, this is the same AG who can’t find another charge to lay on Calder Hart apart from perjury….To date the only real investigation into the Jack Warner bribery scandal is on wired868.com, but Lasana Liburd can’t lay charges….the police have to….and now that Mr Warner sits on the same National Security Council as the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of National Security I doubt any investigation on him going to make serious headway.

Oh, and as an aside, the Minister of Buffoonery…Queen Kamla’s Court Jester Rood Boi Moonilal is at it again….he whips out a document in parliament and misleads the public into thinking it might have been linked to Patrick Manning, when it was really another Patrick…..if it’s one thing that has turned me off this PP Government entirely is their penchant for lying….brazen lying and vulgar behaviour….that seems to be their hall mark.

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 2yrs, 11 days: Bananas, Pholourie and Cake Sales!

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If in May 2010, you felt like I did, that we couldn’t possibly get a government worse than the Manning-led PNM….then you need to read the story of  Emperor Caligula, the successor of  Emperor Tiberius, who after a 2-year period of trying to keep his supporters happy and displaying political inexperience, then descended into a pattern of extravagance, cruelty, perversity and insanity.

The past two weeks have seen the 2015 elections kick off in fine style with the People’s Partnership holding rallies on two islands. In Trinidad the Right Royal Rani  allegedly accounted for all that her government has accomplished in the last two years. That rally is alleged to have cost us TT$9m and the Leader of Government Buffoonery, Rood Boi Moonilal claims that the money was raised through cake and pholourie sales. In case you missed it that’s Roodimonster pissing in your face and calling it rain.

The murder toll is now more than 170…higher than last year’s toll at the same time, and remember we had a State of Emergency from August to December in 2011 that was allegedly successful in reducing the country’s gang problem (all detainees were released uncharged); drug problems (only marijuana was seized) and gun problem (old, rusty guns were dug up in the country’s forests). In April/May 2010 the People’s Partnership had the plan for solving the crime problem in the country, they had said…..to date, 2 years later, no one is any the wiser for what this Crime Plan is…..2 years later we have a Commissioner of Police paid a huge salary and he abuses state funds to rent crop dusters for crime fighting and we don’t know how a crop duster is going to help fight crime…..this same Top Cop also overseers probes into allegedly corrupt Government Ministers like Jack Warner. And though there is an overwhelming amount of evidence and witnesses who claim Warner was involved in a Fifa bribing scandal, the Police Service under Gibb’s stewardship can’t find any evidence against Warner….Indeed even though both the Leader of the Opposition and the DPP have told the Police Service to look at Customs and Excise Laws, Inspector Totaram Dookie, who is leading the investigation hasn’t managed to come up with a thing….even though Warner had more US dollars in cash at a hotel in Trinidad than is legally allowed to any citizen of the country to have….but I am not a Police Officer, experienced investigator or Top Cop….so what I know? And in case you missed it the investigation into Warner is Gibbs and Totaram Dookie pissing in our faces and calling it rain in a Banana Republic!

This morning I see that the same government who decried CEPEP….the same government that accused the PNM of using CEPEP to keep black people in a state of dependency and need…the same government that accused the PNM of using CEPEP as a tool for squandermania….the same Government that could list for you how many hospital beds could have been built, roads repaired, houses completed, children educated, farmers compensated, how much medication could be bought with the money wasted on CEPEP has just overrun the annual CEPEP budget, and now needs to add $240m more…..Under the People’s Partnership we now have the largest CEPEP budget EVER! I beginning to see KAMLA and SQUANDERMANIA in the same sentence.

Now, I need to deviate a little. This is a country where people love their ethnic stereotypes. And partying plenty and living off CEPEP are two alleged ethnic traits, if you think I lying go read any Guardian article by Raymond Ramcharitar (and his analysis is ALWAYS spot on)….I’m beginning to see that love of fete and all things CEPEP have nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with culture, goals and ambition!  So, I’m waiting to see what Ramcharitar’s take will be on this.

PP supporters, instead of getting pissed over my blog posts should start asking their party of choice where is the change they asked for and ask their party to stop lying to the country, stop abusing the treasury and develop some standards!

The PM has the task of reconfiguring the Cabinet ahead of her and I am saying immediately that Devant Maharaj and Tim Goopeesingh have to be moved or fired. The missing CAL $$$$ is a huge issue and Devant has proven to be the most useless Minister of Transport ever. Time will tell if the PM will shift him around or fire him….what I do know is that Devant needs to go. Neither he nor his common sense has performed. I’m sure you heard that he “misspoke” about the CAL board approving the lease of the Prado for chairman Moonan…no one knows about approving any Prado for Moonan.

Tim Goopeesingh has brought his contempt of the teaching service into his tenure as Minister of Education. Goopeesingh reminds me of the average Trinidadian, who willing to have school function as a glorified day care for his/her child, but is deeply contemptuous of the job of teaching, and teachers in general and probably blames teachers for all that is wrong in the society. It shows in his attitude towards his job. It shows in his speeches. Goopeesingh is antagonising the teaching force with his high handed attitude and sooner or later he is going to cause teachers to lash out. The last thing Kamla needs is TTUTA to shut down the country. People could deal with TCL and OWTU strikes…but you see when they have no kindergarten to send their teenagers to when they day come…..well!

John Sandy also needs to be fired…but I am hearing the replacement is Jack Warner, and I hope that’s a bad joke, because Warner, with so many allegations of fraud and corruption hanging over his head in a sane world would have been removed from the government already, not put in charge of a country’s safety….but this is the People’s Partnership where neither Kamla, Prakash, Jack, Daaga nor Abdullah have any principles!

Things heating up in Tobago. This government knows that unless it ship in half of Caroni into Tobago and gerrymander voting lists they done loss the THA Elections to Orville London’s PNM. So they will bully London, audit accounts, find nothing and continue to subtly threaten Tobagonians…..foolish move Kamla…who are your advisers????

It’s June folks….Labour Day coming up…I can’t wait to see the show Roget has in store for us!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 22mts, 29dys: Lies, Half Truths and Travel Assistants

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As the People’s Partnership backpedal….a little over a year ago PM Kamla Persad-Bissesar was in no hurry to ditch the Privy Council… yesterday, without really explaining what caused the change of heart, the PM, in one of her rare visits to Trinidad, honoured us with her presence in Parliament and announced that we will be waving bye bye to the Privy Council.

I guess being the odd one out in the entire Caribbean and insisting there needs to be more ethnic parity on the CCJ and watching Portia Simpson-Miller receive more plaudits than her for embracing the CCJ (whose headquarters housed in Trinidad) was too much and she had to get in on the action and limelight.

On Thursday January 19th Suruj Rambachan said in an interview to the Guardian of the trip to India: “It was a state visit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “In a state visit, everything is paid for by the government of that country,”…

This morning I am hearing that the various Ministries here, as well as the Office of the Prime Minister spent money on this trip to the tune of $868,268.11 for the Prime Minister’s Sister; $2.9 million for people from the Ministry of Energy;  $1.2 million for the Ministry of Tertiary Education; Public Utilities cost us $200,860  and Bmobile officials $304,961.

Some of these figures baffle me, because I am reliably informed that most of these officials travelled with spouses and companions….further, the PM also carried her pundit on this trip…so what was the fee for his services?

But let’s get back to the brass tacks of this matter. In January we were told that our purses didn’t feel the pinch for this trip….now were are hearing that millions were spent on the trip and to date note one word has been said about how we benefited from the trip other than numerous AP and Reuters pics of Kamla wearing malas, sarees and bowing to and kissing  Indian officials.

Remember too that the PM said at first that she paid for her sister our of her own pocket…since the treasury paid for Vidwattie Newton’s trip to India are we now saying that the Treasury is Kamla’s pocket?

Is Ms Newton a public servant?
Is Travel Assistant an approved position within the PM’s retinue?

If Ms Newton is indeed a Travel Assistant, then what does Lisa Ghany-Weeke’s do?

If Ms Newton is travelling as a professional nurse was she hired as such by this government?

Why does the PM need to travel with a professional nurse (as she has insisted)? How ill is she?

These are all questions that for some reason my pro-UNC/PP friends think I should stop asking. Why? Shouldn’t I be concerned about state funds are used for? Should I wait for the Auditor-General to tell me State abuse of funds? Years after it has happened?

Were we lied to by this government about this “state trip” to India?
Have we been lied to about the nature of Ms Newton’s presence on her 11 international trips with the PM?

Why has Ms Newton been receiving checks from the Govt? In what capacity? Why is her address listed as the Office of the Prime Minister?

I’m sorry, but the PM’s announcement that she’s not answering any further questions about her sister does not satisfy me….a tax paying member of this society.

Glen Ramadharsingh, in an attempt at self-promotion in the Parliament yesterday revealed that calls to the child hotline has tripled  in the last year. Ramadharsingh, speaking on the Children’s Bill…which was passed with 37 votes (YAY!!!!), was pointing out that he has increased monies to the Child Hotline….Glen, unless the money came out of your pocket….you didn’t do it,  WE, the Taxpayers, did!!!!!

These increases are troubling….are we really looking after our children?

A 15 year old Bagatelle youth was shot in the back…residents are alleging it’s police, and the 21st Century Police are saying it’s not them….So, I going to assume that someone in Carenage shoot a bullet up in the air and it land over  in the next Valley and hit the boy in his back…because everybody know that in Trinidad black people does only kill black people…and is only black people who violent…and if the boy was running, it had to be he was guilty right…..lawd help us if the bullet shells the villagers find really belong to a police gun….because then I will want to know why Police Officers here could only shoot young black men who resembling John Sandy in their back!

Sat Maharaj…aka the real Minister of Education….blocking TTUTA officials from entering the Tunapuna Hindu School….I can only guess that he owns the school.

La Brea villagers are protesting…..Tarouba residents protesting….Mon Desir residents protesting….every week some part of Trinidad protesting and showing their disgust with our Government…and these days the PM mum!!!!! Peas Tin attack she mouth and it swell!

2 days a go a Belmont man was found murdered in his bed….now another body has been found in Belmont with a bag over its head….repeat after me, “The SoE was a Success”…..”21st Century Policing is Working”……”We Have a Comprehensive Crime Plan”.

The latest television host to be targetted by the Govt is apparently Inshan Ishmael. Mr Ishmael is alleging that the govt is targetting him…specifically Devant Maharaj…and he is calling for Devant Maharaj to GO!!!!!!

I want all of them to go….and I done start to light my candle for them…because the longer this government stays, is then for sure we know:

De Vice Cyah Done!

Crime Clusterf@$k/Political Pantomime 22mts, 19dys:

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Ok, lemme get this straight, a little over 22 months ago the PM appointed her cabinet, most of them with Junior Ministers….and when these Ministers fly out the country, we still have to appoint replacements for them? Why? What’s the point of these Junior Ministers? Not to deputise? So, take Rambachan for instance, Dyer-Griffith can’t act/function for him, but John Sandy can? Well colour me confused…..you mean Junior Ministers just there to eat ah food too?

I hadda give the PM the Take Win Award of the day, oui. She is suing the Express for saying there was noise coming from her house. Now let me get this straight, on March 26th, a story about Kamla’s neighbour’s fleeing was printed, in the story the Achilleous family complain about the visual aesthetics, the noise from the helicopters and from parties….and the only part of their complaint that the PM takes issue with is the noise coming from her house? And she has decided that this allegation of noisemaking is damaging to her character?

Of ALL the stories that have made it into the public sphere about the PM, of all the stories that have the world laughing at us and making Trinis the butt of jokes everywhere….noise making is the libellous story…so then the story about your family living at the PM’s residence true? The story about the Govt Credit Card paying for the Louis Vee boots true too? The story about you using at least 2 helicopters everytime you travel correct as well? The story about the $2,000 a day for your hairdresser correct as well? The Elevator story correct too? So, Vidwattie and her son’s really living at the State’s expense, then?

I can’t believe that of all the stories that buss in the last month that could possibly defame the PM’s character that a story about noise coming from her house is the one worthy of a libel case. Is this more media intimidation? Why the pre-action protocol letter have to list all your academic and professional achievements? Oh, right…..your character….I hear you Madam PM…carry on smartly, oui, girl. Only you know what it must be like to walk a mile in your (pricey and coskelle) shoes.

So sex crimes up by a 100 per cent, and next to that headline, the Guardian have a picture of a smiling DCP Richardson…I was nonplussed. But, I soldier on, because within the first paragraph of the story Richardson takes, what for me is a horror headline and dresses it up with glitter by informing us that this increased figure reflects confidence in the Police service…..somebody please come and pick my jaw up off the floor……sighhhhh. So, apparently the logic is that more people are feeling comfortable about reporting sex crimes because they have more confidence in the police service….I willing to take bets that how it really went is like this…People went to the real Police Commissioner first, and COP Ian Alleyne tell them, make a police report first and then check meh back and we go sort this out….doh hot yuh head!

In the last 5 years, 10 years, 15 years….have you gotten the impression that anything new or different is done about how Police treat with sex crimes? Is not a month ago a woman turned up naked at a Police Station, an alleged victim of rape, and the Police refused to take her report? This is not the same Police that beating crowd like they beating pan?

Richardson had me looking for he People’s Partnership symbol, oui….because that statement sound like pure PR and Spin!

 

A smiling Prakash Ramadhar. Photo courtesy Trinidad Guardian website.

Prakash under pressure! Mr Bicycle wine now has the heavy task of choosing from a pile of plum posts to make him stop crying over the loss of the San Fernando mayorship. Game, Set and Match to the UNC….consolation prizes to the COP.

The Partnership remains intact, the ones at the top of the COP will eat ah food….and their party base will find all kinds of ways to defend Prakash’s balls-less grandcharging. Nothing to see here folks, move on….I tell all yuh since last month Prakash aint going no where….and all this talk about principles and hurting the country….where was it for past events?
The COP has now sold out its entire birthright to the UNC…it could stop calling itself a party…there is nothing separate or distinct about either parties or their vision and mission. Coming highlights will be seeing both Carolyn and Prakash sing mightily for their suppers in Parliamentary debates.

Round 2 of PantyGate set for Monday, because Sat has decided to ignore the court ruling, while the TSC is saying if Cat continues to mis-read the ruling and block Sita it could have fireworks….I running out of Kettle Corn for this saga….The Sita and Sat show beginning to drain me…we need new cast members to spice things up….and I need popcorn donations from my devotees!

Oh, the woman who claimed to have punched 2 yr old Aaliyah to death, just announced she’s preggers again! Ah, motherhood, such a blissful state!

There was a brutal and nasty attack on a couple in Freeport. Thieves stole their pension money after brutally attacking them….now I was going to joke and say, this has to be a false story because everybody knows Freeport wasn’t a hotspot and doesn’t have crime….but it’s pretty difficult to look at the battered skull of Mrs Gangabissoon and be flippant.

But in a country that has had 3 straight years of no economic growth, no job stimulation in sight and a decline in morals and values from the top come down…..does any of this really surprise or move us anymore?

For Mrs Gangabissoon’s sake,  I hope she  and her husband recover from the attack…but theirr bruises are now beyond physical. They are no doubt, like many of us here, brutally scarred by simply trying to get by in Trinidad on a daily basis!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!