Tag Archives: No Confidence Motion in PP Government

The Rogue Prime Minister

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The PM at a press briefing. Photo courtesy Jyoti Communications website.

The PM at a press briefing. Photo courtesy Jyoti Communications website.

Trinidad and Tobago is no longer a banana republic…..as of last night with Reuters news service confirming that Warner’s son, and possibly Warner himself, are indeed under investigation, her vague press release in which she says she will wait on an official corroboration is just too hollow for words.

The Prime Minister spent last month in Haiti, right next to the US AG and even members of the FBI. Talk of Daryan Warner’s detention in the US had begun since December 2012 on the day he was caught at the airport with an alleged lump sum of money he had failed to declare at customs….allegedly. And yet in February, with the US AG sharing the same meeting space as you, not a question was asked?

kamla and jackThen you return to Trinidad and the Leader of the Opposition asks you to follow up on these allegations and still nothing?

You’d think that we don’t have diplomatic relations with the US….that they don’t have an Embassy here.
You’d also think that Kamla Persad-Bissessar is daft, or slow minded that she would still have someone with as much shadows over his head as Jack Warner still serving as a government Minister.

But, you see, we aren’t a banana republic anymore…we are THE BANANA REPUBLIC.

In future when films are being made where the setting or crime taking place in a banana republic, it is Trinidad and Tobago’s name that will be used. The film companies will spend their money and go somewhere safe, and name the location Trinitario…watch and see.

But the question we should be asking ourselves this morning isn’t so much will Kamla fire Jack, or will the Prime Minister act on this latest report.

Rather ask yourself why is the PM not acting?
Why is she continuing to keep Warner on as Minister of National Security?
Is she protecting him….or is she really protecting herself?

And then ask yourself this….if the Prime Minister is putting herself, or her minister, before the good of the entire country….what does that make her?

At the time of writing, Communications Minister, Jamal “Insignificant Muslim Coolie” Mohammed has announced that the Cabinet….complete with COP members like Prakash Ramadhar and Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan….stands firmly behind Warner.

 

We in Full Dotish Mode this Easter Weekend, folks…find ah bobolee and beat it!

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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!

 

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.

Rowbama vs Kamnesia

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The crowd at PNM Convention 2012

It’s the Battle of the Re-Brands folks, and Keith Rowley is ready to rumble.

In 2010 we saw a rejuvenated UNC re-brand itself after getting rid of Basdeo Panday. A lot of money, effort and Ernie Ross went into making over Kamla. On the campaign trail she was constantly surrounded by foreign security guards. Her normal attire was a yellow sweater twin-set and black pencil skirt, with perfectly coiffed hair. An accent, not bought from Honda, became readily apparent and we became the NAY SHUN. Persad-Bissessar, desperate to prove to us that she was a breath of fresh air, the chayyyynge that was blowing through the nayyyshun would lip sync Bryan Adams and Celine Dion for us: A New day was coming and Everything she was doing, she was doing for us. Her supporters were ecstatic over the re-branding. They were happy for the new image, and for the opportunity to prove to the rest of the country that the Panday era was behind them.

Tonight the PNM’s Keith Rowley reinforced Jamal Mohammed’s fears of a re-branded PNM by unveiling just that. This is my first PNM Convention ever, I have no idea what normally takes place. But the presentation of the Political Leader this afternoon was an interesting concoction of fanfare and substance. The PNM, a party that I have often considered to be stuck in the Jurassic era used a lot of multimedia this afternoon, and I was happy to see that. There were two documentaries: one on Section 34 and another on Rowley the Man.

Section 34 gave us a synopsis of the Constitutional crisis facing the country complete with man-on-the-street and informed talking heads (Faris Al Sexy and Justin Jwoww Phelps). the documentary on The Keith sought to show Rowley in a new light. Not the aggressive parliamentarian that earned him the name of rottweiller, but the man that Tobagonians see. Last week after returning from the Tobago meeting I commented to a few friends that the Rowley seen in Tobago and the one seen in Trinidad are two different beasts. Tobago is where he relaxes, stands up and limes with a crowd of people after a meeting and smiles and jokes.

Today the gathering at the QPS Grand Stand got to see some of that as the documentary showed Keith in his Mason Hall home, looking very much the gentleman farmer on land inherited from his grandfather, surrounded by other Tobagonians, family members and with a cameo from the Anglican archbishop. You saw Rowley as husband, father and neighbour.

The Keith takes the stage at sunset

Then there was the short video introduction to his speech that showed Franklyn Khan calling The Keith on his Blackberry. The Keith getting ready, and poking fun at himself several times pretending to comb his hair and even pausing on his was to the Savannah to pet a vicious looking dog. Who knew the man had a sense of humour? Then he and wife Sharon emerged on stage, and you don’t have to like Rowley to admit that he and his wife are a very handsome couple.

Then came the speech. And what it was, was a well crafted manifesto. It is the second time in a month that The Keith has presented an energy and debt servicing policy as a counterpoint to the abysmal budget Larry Howai delivered on October 1st. And when you consider the Ministry of Works asking for $2.7b since the Budget was read, and today’s announcement that the AG needs $1.3b to pay for the OPV arbitration; Keith’s policies and plans re the country’s finances begin to look far more attractive than the mismanagement and misstepping that Kamla and her small goal side have given us.

Between Independence Day to the present the Opposition Leader has used every opportunity at his disposal to present himself as Prime Ministerial; to show that he has the intelligence and leadership skills necessary to, as he said today, put the country back on track. And it doesn’t help the UNCs cause that at every turn they are doing absolute crap and Kamla….the epitome of female leadership remains the mum mother and grandmother.

Indeed,  the Prime Minister is probably hoping that Ernie Ross can give the country a dose of Kamnesia and make us forget the non-stop missteps of the last 2.5 years. In this upcoming week, when a massive protest is planned expect more wild statements from her ministers, especially Ministers who until now have been quiet. Expect all manner of distraction. And expect Rowley’s new look and his manifesto to be bashed even though the PPG has nothing by way of actual policy in the entire term to date that can compare. In fact, Rowley seems to be doing the Government’s homework time and again.

But new image a side, there was another aspect to today’s convention that was more satisfying to me and it is an area that I would like to see The Keith and his executive address. I had the pleasure and honour today of meeting Rick Rampersad and it was all accidental. I’d gone into the media room to charge my phone and ipad when a colleague brought in a young man to do an interview. The gentleman was from the West Orupouche seat (same one as Stacy Ramnarine). What started as an interview between him and the reporter quickly became a conversation between him and several people. Rick Rampersad talked about Indians in politics, particularly Hindus in politics in a way that isn’t discussed on the campaign trail. It was frank, respectful and refreshing. Not just the party’s voter base, but the entire country needs to be hearing more voices like Rick Rampersad’s. the face of the PNM is too often seen to be Black and Christian. It never looks as all inclusive as it claims to be and voices such as Rampersad’s and a host of others NEED to come to the fore.

As I write the COP is having it’s internal elections and no doubt the UNC is ensuring that it gets as many of its people into the party’s key positions that way Kamla can continue to call the shots. Once Kamla can call the shots she assures herself several things: no COP walking out before the next elections; and no COP to split votes then either.

This weekend the PNM showed that it can and will evolve in order to survive. It’s leader has shown that apart from being bright and incisively intelligent he is also  flexible enough shake up his own image. THA elections are around the corner. Time to see if the UNC has more to offer the electorate than really bad PR and an empty treasury.

De Vice Cyah Done!

The Motion of Censure against the AG

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Tomorrow our Parliament will see the Opposition bring a motion of  censure against the AG, Anand Ramlogan. The Opposition is charging that the AG was part of the Cabinet that promised to not enact the Bill before all measures were put in place and was also part of the Cabinet that then ignored these measures and facilitated the early…and secretive…proclamation of 5 sections of the Act one of which created an Amnesty for Ish and Steve Galbaransingh. As you well know, Ish, Steve and about 13 other people are facing charges of corruption and bid rigging over the billion-dollar Piarco Airport. They are currently seeking legal action against the repeal of the Indicatable Offences Act…the law that holds Section 34 in it. The following is the actual petition submitted by the Leader of the Opposition:
Motion:
1. WHEREAS Section 76(2) of the Constitution specifies “that the Attorney General shall, subject to
section 79, be responsible for the administration of legal affairs in Trinidad and Tobago and legal proceedings for
and against the Sta

te”;
AND WHEREAS the Attorney General participated in the presentation to Parliament of the
Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Bill 2011 which contained a clause that created
an amnesty for certain legal proceedings [referred to as Section 34];
AND WHEREAS the Attorney General had knowledge of and supported the Government’s
solemn undertaking to Parliament that no part of the Bill would be brought into force until such
time as all supporting rules, administrative and physical infrastructure were in place and
stakeholders consulted;
AND WHEREAS in the absence of the discharge of the said undertakings, the Attorney
General had knowledge of and/or involvement in the unexpected proclamation of Section 34,
thereby prematurely bringing into force an amnesty with consequences for certain legal
proceedings involving certain persons;
AND WHEREAS earlier, the Attorney General made certain decisions in an extradition matter
involving those said certain persons;
AND WHEREAS as a consequence of this series of developments there is widespread unease,
anger, disappointment and a general sense of loss of confidence in the Attorney General among a
large cross-section of the national population;
AND WHEREAS the Attorney General has accepted no responsibility for the improper
discharge of his constitutional duties:
BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House express its strongest disapproval of the
flagrant breach of Parliamentary trust by the Attorney General’s involvement in the premature
proclamation of Section 34;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Honourable House express its loss of
confidence in the Attorney General and call on the Prime Minister to immediately relieve him of
the portfolio of Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago.

Budget Matikor!

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Budget Matikor- adjectival noun to describe a party that prepares you for sex. etymology, English and Bhojpuri. Refers to Matikor night in traditional Hindu weddings when the young bride to be is prepared for her upcoming wedding and wedding night. Usually involves, food, dancing and alcohol. Budget Matikor is a party thrown by the PP to soften the people up for the bull the budget will put on us. Usage: Is Budget Matikor in we pweffen this weekend!

I just finish bag about 500,000 pholourie with some watered down pommecythere chutney. Just now me and Ambassador Baps going and booojay some lawah because it is Budget Matikor!

 

Yes folks, the pre-Budget Rally to help us forget that Kamla and her Cabinet tried to free Ish and Steve with Section 34….and to grease us up to take the bull that will be Budget 2012/2013 is under way.

The CEPEP Workers Ready!

The Flags Ready!

The Ipads Ready!

Larry Ready!

Keshorn Ready!

The stage is in front of us time to get advantageous, rape the treasury and pump we flag!

Mind you, I hearing that the headliner act, Mr Heh Haaaa might be missing ah fete….we go see if he will let Miss Must Fete party without him tonight.

 

But in all seriousness folks we need to assess a few things.

Trinidad and Tobago, the land of 9 days wonders has broken that trend with Section 34, more than 20 days have passed and we still vexed as ever about the fast one this government try to pull on us and the constant lies, half truths and misdirections they keep pulling out of hats. Instead of Kamla Persad-Bissessar womanning up and telling the country the truth she gives us 30 minutes of televised lies in a speech and then tells Ernie Ross to handle the PR and marketing for the next week. Then in that week you have her bloggers attacking people using racist or violent language to do so. I see on Suruj Rambachan page they called Rowley Rawan…the old Hindu standby for insulting anyone of afro-creole descent….liken them to the greatest villain in the Ramleela, ent? One wonders if Warner will be given the role of Hanuman or Ram in this epic, given his proximity to Sita….

So, in this past week anyone who questioned the Government’s role in passing Section 34 was attacked, called racist, threatened with violence. Reporters who were doing their job and investigating and probing public officials were targetted and attacked by no less than the Minister of National Security….imagine Jack Warner has surpassed Manning for aggression and rumours of corruption! Media workers have been threatened with having the details of their personal lives and sexual orientations revealed….all in an attempt to intimidate them and make them cower before the might of the PP. A coalition government that Prakash Ramadhar remains committed to.

Well Mr Warner, let me save you the harassment. I am a try-sexual. I will try anything once except you and your stinking government…..and I put high on that list Doopeesingh, Roodimonster, &&, and yourself! Print that son…and keep harassing me.

What continues to bemuse me is the behaviour of UNC supporters, rabidly lashing out at all and sundry in defence of their party, and in defending their party they are defending and supporting shit! Not a group will stand up and say to Kamla and her small goal side ENOUGH! Not one of them will say to her publicly, this is wrong, you are hurting the nation…..not one of them will put country before tribe and yet they continue to carry the privilege of being called citizens.

In their bid for ethnic dominance in a multi-ethnic space they have lost sight the rights of other groups…..every creed and race can only have an equal place here, after they have had their fill…..tsk tsk UNC/COP….you will suffer for your greed. Mark my words….and I will write the obituary!

So today we have a fete…because Miss Must Fete needs her weapons of mass distraction…it’s the only way she can rule (not lead…never lead…and I point fingers now at the local Feminazis who have supported her, continue to support her and willingly line up for National Awards and yet never once speak about against the foolishness).

Today we will hear about all the good the Party has done.

Today we will hear about Manning, Rowley, Hart and how TheVote for It Too!

Today we will hear Howai deliver a revised budget, because with the country vex so, Kamla will try to give an elections budget of goodies and the treasury cannot afford it.

Today folks, we will hear our Budget be delivered at a fete!

We won’t hear them account for their spending of the last year…and remember they ased for money 2 more times after the intial budget and still went over budget in several ministries. We won’t hear any analysis of last year’s spending or how we are going to weather the economic storm that is here…..the drizzle done coming down….

We won’t hear how much this week’s public broadcast on all local stations and today’s Budget Matikor costing the tax payers…..instead we will hear that the Partnership is strong and LOOK AT PEOPLE! And we have a bigger crowd than Rowley….because political dick measuring is the level of responsibility that we have put into office.

We have gotten a pack of rotten, sickening spoilt brats as a government and they need to be disciplined.

But there is a shift in the winds folks….the citizens brought it on….the government is desperate. In their backrooms and corridors the Jahaji Desi’s are frightened. The UNC supporters are frightened. The COP remain helpless…content to guzzle what they can for as long as they are allowed to guzzle…..but the citizens are waking up.

I will be at Budget Matikor…look out for the videos as I post them up on Twitter and FaceBook and Veetle.

De Vice Cyah Done!

Who is Kamla Sozier?????

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Who is Keyser Soze? The movie The Usual Suspects tells the story of a crime. It’s key feature is a long convoluted series of events, with a confusing story and timeline, and so many players that makes it hard for you to figure out who the criminal is. Everything hinges on whether you believe the character telling the story: a criminal himself and the lone survivor of a drug deal gone sour.

The crime we are dealing with is legislation gone sour and 18 days later nothing adds up except the accounts ledgers for pre-Budget Rallies.

Bear with me as I try to retrace some steps. On Sunday September 9th, the Guardian prints a story that says “Ish and Steve” are going to walk free based on a law that was proclaimed on the evening of August 30th. On Monday the 10th, several persons petition the court under this very Act, referred to popularly as the Indictable Offences Act. On that same day an article appears in the Express by Clarence Rambharat that explores Clause 34 of the Act that will help “Ish and Steve” to walk free.

In the article he implies, or at least creates the impression that there was some sort of collaboration between the Opposition and the Cabinet to enact section 34 thereby creating the legal loophole that might free “Ish and Steve”.

Events follow at warp speed. On Tuesday 13th at 10 am the PNM holds a press conference stating its position on Section 34 and calling on the Prime Minister to convene Parliament to repeal the law. In the midst of Rowley answering media questions a one-sentence announcement comes from the Minister of Communications that Parliament will be convened the following day. The Government claims that this decision was not influenced by the Opposition, but rather, they are responding to the cries of the people. The same way this weekends pre-Budget Rally is a response to the cries of the people. At the time of this announcement of a convened Parliament  the population is still attempting to grapple with the Guardian headline from two days before and isn’t quite sure what Section 34 means.

The Lower and Upper House debates come and the citizenry are suitably pissed on by the Cabinet and told it is a passing shower. No one explains why the Lower House saw one wording of the Section 34 Clause, and the Upper House saw a different wording. No one explains who changed the wording of the Bill. No one explains why after the Cabinet promised no early proclamation of the Bill until all measures were in place it was enacted several months in advance of January 2013. What we are told repeatedly is that there is no conspiracy on the part of the Government to free Ish and Steve and we are reminded constantly through much coughing that the Opposition voted for it too.

Under PM Kamla’s skilful story telling, Section 34 goes from being about a breach in legislation, to PNM vs People’s Partnership thing. The Cabinet refuses to accept responsibility for early proclamation of the Bill and the Opposition is put on the defensive to explain their role in it. Then faecal matter starts to fly. We find out through various letters to the press and other media events that the Minister of Legal Affairs, The DPP, the Criminal Bar Association, the Law Association and the Chief Justice never saw, nor agreed to an early proclamation of Section 34. This then forces the Prime Minister, who has been characteristically quiet and always “unresponsible” to decide to speak on the matter on the evening of Thursday 20th, September. Before doing so, she conducts a whirlwind tour of Laventille complete with a cadre of ministers and Olympian Keshorn Walcott. By the end of the Prime Minister’s speech she reveals that she has investigated herself; insists that her government was not aware of the flaws in the Act; there was no conspiracy; decides to remove Herbert Volney as Minister of Justice because he has lied to the Cabinet; stresses to the nation that the Parliament was collectively responsible for the law being enacted; insists that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan was innocent of any wrongdoing; and gives the country a very convoluted and erroneous timeline.

But you see here is the rub, in misspeaking about the timeline the PM has opened up another can of worms. A can of worms that is now revealing that she and her Cabinet were made aware, since 2011, by Ramadhar, al Rawi and Imbert that section 34 had serious implications. Further, her insistence that Anand Ramlogan was out of the country when the decision to enact the Bill was taken seems to be incorrect. The Prime Minister insists that Ramlogan was out of the country from July 20th to August 4th.  The Cabinet meeting to decide on early proclamation happened after August 6th; and further, even if Ramlogan wasn’t here, the acting AG, according to the Gazette was Ganga Singh. So, we had an AG to walk the legislation through. The Bill didn’t walk by itself.

Then there is the curious incident of the publication of the law itself. The Guardian published the story about “Ish and Steve” walking free on September 9th. The two men petitioned the court on Monday 10th; but the law was only printed and circulated by the Government printery that same Monday, in fact the Monday evening. So how did “Ish and Steve’s” lawyers find out about the Act in time to petition the court on the Monday morning, and how did the media find out about the proclaimed Act and “Ish and Steve’s” petition before Monday September 10th? Where is the leak?

We have a crime: perversion of the course of justice; we have suspects: most of them sitting in the Cabinet. What we need now is to find a judge, a jury and an executioner.

De Vice Cyah Done!

Dear Kamla…It’s Only Just Begun!

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Herb Volney aka Teddy Ruxpin

Dear Kamla Rani,

Let me take the opportunity to wish you a safe trip. I am advised that after delivering last night’s speech on 34 Gate you will be spending the Republic weekend outside of Trinidad and Tobago. While there you should do something about that cough because I fear in the coming weeks there’ll be more issues to talk about and that cough will only worsen.

Your speech last night bothered me because it was flawed on numerous levels and I am beginning to think that not just Teddy Ruxpin lied to the country, after last night’s display I am convinced you did too. First of all, what you listed in your address as the key issues are not the key issues. Let me list what you said for you:

There are two areas of concern:-

(1)  The Bill including Section 34 was passed by both Houses of Parliament with the full support of the Opposition and   Independent benches;
(2) Cabinet agreed to the prior partial proclamation of Section 34
a  prelude to the proclamation of the rest of the Act.

The issue dear Rani is that the Lower House and Upper House saw two different Clause 34s and to date no one knows when the change took place, and who effected the change. YOU REFUSED TO ANSWER THIS!

Further, it is not just that Cabinet agreed to partial proclamation but that they did so BEHIND THE NATION’s BACK and FOR WHAT PURPOSE?

You have not indicated to us how Ish and Steve’s legal team knew about the proclaimed Act before the nation’s legal fraternity. Or why only 5 Clauses were proclaimed on the night of August 30th.

Another large issue that loomed it’s head last night is your time line of events. You created a time-line that obscures the AG’s involvement in the passage of this Bill through PArliament. But, Madam Rani, the thing is that A bill does not pick up and walk itself through Parliament and over to the President’s House for Proclamation. People help Bills through. And while the AG in the form of Anand Ramlogan may indeed have been out of the country, someone would have acted as AG, and given the trend this year that may well have been Ganga Singh. Yet another person from the old UNC administration with clouds over his head who keeps popping up in your government. A government that is increasingly equivalent to corruption. So if the AG wasn’t here at the time of proclamation, who was acting in his place? Further, I am advised that even though Ramlogan was out of the country from July 20th to August 4th, the cabinet Meeting to proclaim Section 34 occurred on August 6th. Was Ramlogan not here, then too?

My point is simple, your account of the AG’s involvement in the proclamation of this Bill doesn’t add up. And I want the truth. Please see the Oxford English Dictionary for it’s meaning and etymology.

Further, and this is another crucial point for me. You come on state television and announce that a member of your Cabinet has lied to you, the PM, lied to the Cabinet, lied to the Senate, the Parliament, the DPP and various Law Associations, in short, the entire country and all you’ve done is remove him from his ministerial position? He won’t be fired as a Minister? If this man is capable of lying to the entire Government and Parliament and country, on what grounds is he remaining as a representative of the people? WE DEMAND A BY-ELECTIONS in St. Josseph, NOW!

If that is beyond your remit, tender yours. I have no confidence in you as Prime Minister to over see the affairs of this country. To have the gall to stand on television last night and admit you knew nothing about legislation being passed under your tenure smacks of incompetence!

In another instance, you claimed that up until Wednesday of this week that you were still investigating matters and only removed Volney as a Minister yesterday. That’s a misspeak, Rani….you fired Volney over the weekend. How do I know? You had one of your favourite Ministers announce it at a crucial COP meeting at the start of this week. You’ve known since Monday that Volney was fired. So, why wait until Thursday to announce it? You wanted to see if the march would be successful to know precisely what your government would be pressured to do? That was just the first, Madam. We want you out…ALL of You!

You think with your long rambling speech last night wherein you tried to educate  me about the Westminster system and blame the entire Parliament for the blunders of your Cabinet that you have appeased me?

No, Rani…..Yuh Think It Done?

It’s Only Just Begun!

Warmest Regards,

De Pantomime!

34Gate!

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This morning, in the aftermath of the Barnum and Bailey Circus Show that passed for a debate, for all of 10 hours yesterday the crucial questions still remain unanswered.

No member of the Cabinet has yet satisfied the public’s concern about why they decided to pluck Section 34, along with 4 other minor clauses, out of the Indictable Offences Act and proclaim it on the evening of August 30th while most of the nation was busy with Independence celebrations. Of course now, it explains why the Government had a celebration on the Eve of Independence, as well as on the evening of Independence. And there was I simply thinking is because Kamla love to fete! Nope, all the fetes were weapons of mass distraction.

There was nothing particularly new about the style of debate yesterday in the house. It pretty much resembled last year’s SOE justification and extension debate, and the Motion of No Confidence debate in March of this year. The Opposition asked the same questions in each of its presentations by Rowley, Imbert and McDonald: Why were the provisions agreed to by Senator Volney ignored, and parts of the Bill proclaimed; and why was that particular clause pulled out for proclamation when it was proclaimed  in the manner it was proclaimed. After Moonilal, Ramlogan, Roberts, Warner, Volney and Ramlogan again, those questions are still to be answered. However they did all manage to agree on repealing the Law retroactively, after Imbert suggested changes. the Bill now moves on to the Upper House.

How It went Down:

Kamla arrived late, and took the opportunity to distract the Parliament with the announcement that the Budget would be on Monday October 1st. Then Parliament recessed for 15 minutes for Kamla to hold a quick strategy pow wow.

Then they returned and the bullshit began…

What we do know is that Anand Ramlogan was very concerned about Imbert wanting the Bill to first be 7 years instead of 10. We also know that Ramlogan thinks the PNM wanted it to be 7 years instead of 10 to assist Rowley, Calder Hart, Juliana Pena and Andre Monteil…..what the Attorney General conveniently forgot is that none of the names listed have criminal charges laid against them in a court of law….but Ish and Steve do….so the Indictable Offences Act in no way impacts them….and this is through the fault of the AG…he is yet to lift a finger to lay charges against Hart, Manning or Pena…in fact I think he must have spent the last 2.5 years in office attempting to free Ish and Steve, not attending to the business of government.

What we learned from Anil Roberts is that Rowley parks his car on pavements, and that in legalese “shall” is not mandatory….Roberts sounded a bit Partapped in Parliament yesterday, no lie.

From Jack Warner we got a history of criminal activity in Trinidad and Tobago and a list of the lawyers who have assisted with such criminal activity. We also had another threat thrown at the Mirror…..come with the $12m, Jack and then we will take your threats seriously…until then, focus on developing a Crime Plan, nah?

From Hubert “Free Brad Boyce” Volney, we learned that he created the Bill and inserted that Clause for poor people….a clause that requires the perpetrator to have enough money to extend a trial for 10 years….Volney is the fucking Simon Bolivar of St Joseph, oui!

What we also learned is that our silkened luminaries, after hustling to proclaim Section 34 on August 30th, realised that the Bill was flawed and hustled just as quickly to repeal it, all on their own….no public pressure from the Opposition and the US…they did this for us, the nation, because they always listening to us. Doh mind Kamla could never answer any of our questions directly.

We were treated to Minister after Minister praising the legal expertise of Kamla Rani….so much ass licking taking place that Hollywood Sachy would be forgiven for mistaking it as a Maximum Dun Out of the PM!

In all of this learning, the crucial questions weren’t answered at all.

The UNC claimed to not know about the COP Press Release, and Prakash Ramadhar never spoke. So we, the people, have no idea how the Minister responsible for overseeing the Legislative Review Committee can claim, via his Chairman in a press release, that they never saw the Indictable Offences Act, specifically Section34  in the form it was eventually passed. According to Toney’s release, Ramadhar saw Section 34 with a different wording before it was passed in the Lower House and went to the Senate. When the Bill got to the Senate, under Justice Volney’s stewardship the wording changed. The Bill went from saying:

…. a Judge shall discharge an accused if the proceedings were instituted prior to the coming into force of this Act and the trial has not commenced within ten years after the proceedings were instituted” (before the Senate amendment)

To saying:

“….a Judge shall, on an application by the accused, discharge the accused and record a verdict of not guilty if the offence is alleged to have been committed on a date that is ten years or more before the date of the application” (after the Senate amendment)

  • This meant that in the pre-Senate amendment an accused person could have his prosecution stopped if after 10 years of being charged he was not brought to trial.

That Ramadhar, who would have had oversight on the legislation, never said a word in the debate last night speaks volumes. And the Opposition asked why was there a change in the wording of the Bill between both Houses…..this question was never answered.

At no point in time in the course of the debate did any member of the Cabinet read or quote from the Hansard….which has on record Volney agreeing to undertaking certain provisions before proclaiming the Bill. It was only the Opposition quoting from the Hansard.

Given that Volney would have promised, on behalf of the Government, to pass the law only after all provisions was in place, means that Volney  is in contempt of Parliament.

Permit me to bore you with a quote from the Hansard, where Imbert is addressing the Parliament, and in it he talks about the provisions that must be put in place, such as building new courts etc to handle to capacity of petitions:

I had the opportunity to look at a report done on cases in the Magistrates‟ Court recently. If my memory served me correctly they have 10,000 new cases per year, some number like that, a significant number of which have all the requirements for a preliminary enquiry. So that once this Bill is passed, you are 
going to have a situation where thousands—not hundreds, thousands of cases are going to arrive in the High Court. That is why I am holding the Minister to his words; I took careful notes, where he said that the Bill had a proclamation clause. I am glad he referred to this. Let me quote him correctly. He said, “Once all the procedural and administrative mechanisms are in place, the Bill will be proclaimed.” I am taking the Minister at his word that this legislation will not be 
implemented until the necessary systems are in place, so that we do not have a situation where judges in the High Court are going to have to deal with hundreds of cases. 
I am not talking about the committal hearing. I am talking about the actual trial itself, because what you are doing is fast tracking. What you have told us is that you will be fast tracking matters. You quoted the case of Humphries, which means I do not have to quote it, where you indicated that the Privy Council had found that if you changed a procedure, that was not taking away the accused right to a fair trial, per se, that you had to look at the whole thing in context. Mr. Speaker, I am speaking to the Minister through you. In context, you have to look at what has been done and determine whether you have breached the person‟s right to a fair trial. It is obvious that it is the intention to apply this legislation immediately it is proclaimed of course, once it is proclaimed.
Let me qualify: as soon as you have your systems in place you will 
proclaim this Bill. It means that people who have matters in progress would now be subjected to the new procedure, once the prosecutor or the accused opt to do so. So you are going to have hundreds of cases going before judges, thousands I dare say, because it would take you some time to build those courts, and it would take you some time to deal with the rules. I also noticed that the Minister did not 
talk about the rules at all. Let me just say at the outset, since we are on this side are not going to oppose this Bill, but we have reservations which we hope the Minister would listen to, it is incumbent on us to deal with the issues that the Minister did not deal with. The Minister did not deal with the fact that in Trinidad and Tobago, unlike so many other Commonwealth jurisdictions, there are no criminal procedure rules. We do not have them. We have civil proceedings 
rules. They are quite detailed. If you go to the United Kingdom, they have criminal procedure rules. I could not bring them today because those rules constitute over 300 pages in the United Kingdom. We do not have them. We do not have criminal procedure rules in force in Trinidad and Tobago today. We do not have them. One of the things 
we are going to ask for, that before you proclaim this Bill that we most certainly would see those procedure rules laid. I assume, like the civil proceedings rules they would be laid here so we could look at them and make sure that they are just and fair, before you implement them.
The biggest blow to the government’s case though is DPP Roger Gaspard’s claim that he was not consulted on the Bill, and further, after giving the time line of the Bill’s passage and proclamation, arriving at the conclusion that it appears to be a conspiracy.
The Government never once referred to Gaspard’s 8-page letter; just as they never acknowledged the COP letter, or quoted from the Hansard, or indeed refer to the comments from the Criminal Law Association.
Kamla has refused to address the public yet again on a matter of public concern. The Opposition has now laid a careful case for why they cannot trust the Government and why the public cannot trust them either.
At the end of the day, this bid to free Ish and Steve has revealed this government to be dishonest and conniving. It has also revealed the leader of the COP to be weak and foolish. It has shown us that even the Opposition can be tripped up, and that our vigilance as citizens where this government is concerned must be on high alert because we never know when they are going to screw us over.
34Gate has also shown me that Ish and Steve may well bring down another UNC government!
De Vice Cyah Done!

A copy of the Hansard Record of the debate on Section 34 in Dec 2011 can be found here.

SEA Sickness

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I have to admit that the hullabulloo that Grim Doopeesingh making about leaked SEA results has me amused. The leaking of these results, whether digitally or manually is nothing new. As a child when I did the Common Entrance (what it was called then) my parents knew my results two weeks in advance of the date it was released. Indeed, the exam has a history of its results being known in the underground days before it is actually printed in the newspaper or posted online, as is the case these days. And for Doopeesingh to act as if leaked results about which schools which children would have passed for is going to destabilise National Security makes me wonder where his head is at.

Yesterday at a post-Cabinet interview Doopeesingh fingered two employees, and when pressed further admitted that the leak was done to destabilise the good work of the Ministry and that it was politically motivated. Grim needs to work for CSI: Imagination! In less than 24 hours he has solved the case of the wikileaked SEA Results without a clue in hand. Further, Grim has gone past the leak being possibly accidental,or technical inefficiency and gone straight for the conclusion that another political party is attempting to sabotage him. So much for the integrity of an investigation, and waiting for the evidence and facts to come in before arriving at a conclusion. So long before the TTPS could fire up a desktop and begin to investigate, Grim, in his own inimitable style has already closed the case in the court of public opinion. And, here’s the rub, because he has said the crime is politically motivated, people automatically assume it’s PNM supporters behind it. Just look at the comment thread to the story link pasted above. And since is only “black people” does vote for the PNM, we already think we know the ethnicity of the one or two employees that Grim suspects. And since Grim has reported them as being unco-operative then it automatically sets up a scenario of stubborn PNM supporters undermining the poor hardworking UNC government. All the undertones are nicely set up now. And don’t forget that without so much as a touch of the ESC key, he’s already solved a case that hasn’t been investigated yet!

Interestingly enough when the Ministry of Finance and the Parliament’s website was hacked this hubbub wasn’t raised. There was no Minister fingering employees for being incompetent, for attempting to destabilise the government. No reports of it being politically motivated. No mention even of ministers having to call Top Cops to order investigations. And why the Minister of National Security has to be involved is beyond me. I don’t foresee this crime being solved. But I do foresee employees being transferred and UNC cronies being put in their places.

It’s the tampering with health and education that has me perturbed. Fuad Khan’s decision to scrap the examinations for nurses has me confused. In regular pedagogical practice if examination results reflect a high fail rate the usual process is to re-visit the curriculum, re-visit the teaching methods, re-visit the exams structure to assess what’s wrong. But in Trinidad, the Minister of Education scraps the entire exam; removes it as a requirement, and now we’ve set the stage for even more questions to be raised about the quality of the health care provided and for even more concerns to be raised by patients. And this is what I paying health surcharge for?

In the midst of all of this the country seems to have been distracted from the still very important issue of Jagdeo Warnersingh’s breaching of laws and abuse of state resources by deploying army and police to attack a group of environmentalist. I intend to be at the MSJ meeting on Saturday in Curepe to hear what lawyer Vashish Maharaj and express columnist Michael Harris have to say about the slippery slope we are currently on.

Supporters of this government can continue to duck their heads in the sand, blame the PNM and label everyone racist for disagreeing with Kamla’s All Four’s Team’s policies, I making sure I keep myself informed…..because you know De Vice Cyah Done!