ANTHRAX?
Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Posted By: Davy De Verteuil
Date: Tuesday, 30 October 2001, at 10:32 a.m.
Soon Americans will tell the US Administration (enough)stop threatening us stop the paranoia....
We have surrendered the congress curtail our liberties, sanction indefinite murder on Afghanistan who we know could not have pulled-off 911 attack, turn a blind eye to the many Arabs Afro-Americans detained and abused since the 911, cease endless of Arabs money,in the guise of preventing launder etc etc etc...
The US Admin is terrorising the American people without restraint.
What a funny situation that US, the only super power on this planet is unable to dig out those involved in this "horrible act" but within few hours after the attack on WTC and Pentagon had mentioned the name of Ossama bin Laden as the prime suspect without getting any reliable evidences and that is the chief reason, majority of the world citizens are now expressing their expressions against US bombing.
One more funny event is that American agencies could not trace Levy Chandra who was kidnapped or disappeard from Washington few months earlier but Bush administration at once declared Ossama bin Laden responsible for September 11 dilemma. Independent people rightly consider it as the "pre-planned move".
Posted By: Ayinde
Date: Tuesday, 30 October 2001, at 12:24 p.m.
Would the U.S. Admin stage fresh attacks on the their population to rekindle support for a failing, illegal attack on Afghanistan?
Posted By: Davy De Verteuil
Date: Tuesday, 30 October 2001, at 10:40 p.m.
What you do outside you bound to bring it home.
As we all know charity begins at home so too are the value systems we desperately try to conceal in the name of "I am just doing my JOB".
Drugs coming into the US was always a controlled supervised affair after all it was meant for a targeted segment of American society and until it happened to reach into the hands of the children of the rich and famous and the upper middle-class then the US government agencies felt the need to try and put a stop on the smuggling/import.
The Italian Mafia for example would murder any of its delivery-boys who were made out to be pushing dope to no whites in and outside of the US.
Drugs is effectively a destroyer of lives and society than racial segregation is, in fact more so, to-boot.
(Orchestrated/controlled) Anarchy and turmoil have been the foundation pretext for building America...if Hollywood could not do the JOB then the state agencies came into action and when the impact on US interest abroad was not impressive then 'simple' we do it at home.....Examine carefully the US embassy bombings in Africa and the 1983 German disco bombings that killed Black servicemen.
Who were the handlers of US ammunition storage facilities working under stressful dangerous conditions during WWII?
Ask Oliver North where did he took Reagan and Bush drugs and who gave him the diplomatic and federal cover.
What the DEA/CIA has done abroad it will not shy away from doing at home. The most successful in history is Sep 11, 2001. Congress with the exception of one person maybe the only one with insight not to mention courage surrendered instantaneously even on matters yet to be brought before the house.
1)The issue of Anthrax as we see it, it is too controlled to obvious and at the same time overdone by the media.
2)The Administration was far too cautious and circulative "still is" in it's response.
The American Administration of hysteria, sympathy, and mass-murder is all to apparent in it's drive for public approval whenever it needs to achieve any hidden agenda that certainly will not get pass the general public not even congress.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Chronic Anthrax
Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2001
By Denis Solomon
The United States authorities admit they have no evidence of the source of the anthrax germs being disseminated in that country. They are nevertheless doing their best to avoid public panic by planting the idea of a local origin, for both the germs and their users.
In a way this is understandable. It is also not without precedent. During the Cuban missile crisis, it was impossible to follow, by reading the American newspapers, the progress of the Soviet missile-transporting ships as they steamed toward Cuba. (Freedom of the press is practically indigenous to the United States, but American newspapers co-operate very readily with the authorities in a time of national crisis.) The Warren Commission report on the Kennedy assassination is widely believed to be a cover-up, and the then Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, is on record as saying that the truth would never be revealed. MORE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
May the farce be with you
Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2001
By Terry Joseph
This being a land of theatre and tan-ta-na, our major comedy-script options are either portrayals of reality's inherent humour or the farce, exaggeration of normal existence to the point of absurdity. Evidently, we choose the latter.
Among the best known exponents of this style was 17th Century French playwright Moliere, whose broad swipes at the pretensive society of his day and comments on the arrogance of those responsible for its guidance, conspired to produce some of his most famous works.
In Tartuffe, a play that satirised religious hypocrisy, Moliere so incensed the dominant Roman Catholic Church that at his death nine years later, burial on holy ground only took place (and even so, under cover of a dark night) after his compere, King Louis XIV, intervened. MORE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Why Afghanistan under attack?
Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2001
By Bukka Rennie
Let the truth be told! The Caspian Sea is rich in oil and gas deposits. However, these rich reserves are useless until they can be explored and transported economically.
George Monbiot in an article in the Guardian titled "America's pipe dream", argues that the only route that makes political and economic sense is via Afghanistan. In fact Monbiot surmises that "Afghanistan is as indispensable to the regional control and transport of oil and gas in Central Asia as Egypt is to the Middle East."
The article also indicates that in 1995, UNOCAL, a US oil company, was seeking vigorously to negotiate pipelines from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan into Pakistani ports on the Arabian Sea and there was talk then about a "1000 mile pipeline".
In fact, Monbiot showed how certain economic variables and political considerations ruled out all the other options when he advanced the following:
"...Transporting all the Caspian basin's fossil fuel through Russia or Azerbaijan would greatly enhance Russia's political and economic control over the central Asian republics, which is precisely what the West has spent 10 years trying to prevent. MORE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Husband of State witness executed
Posted: Saturday, October 27, 2001
By Ken Chee Hing
A bullet through the brain ended the life of an El Socorro man, whose wife is the State's chief witness against attorney Jagdeo Singh, now before the Courts on bribery charges.
Rudolph "Horseman" John, 36, a father of two, was lured from his Sadoo Trace, El Socorro Extension, San Juan home around 9 pm on Thursday. Half an hour later, Morvant detective Constables Liston Taylor and Sunil Ramoutar, on routine mobile patrol along Lady Young Road, received a wireless report that a body was seen inside the abandoned Jusamco quarries off Lady Young Road.
When they went to the quarry they discovered John's blood stained corpse lying face down in some bushes, his hands bound behind his back with women's underwear and a handkerchief. One half of a pair of socks and a large bandana were found wrapped around his neck. Police speculate the socks and bandana were used to gag John. A gunshot, fired into the right side of John's head, exited through the left side near the ear. The grass around his body was soaked with blood.
His wife, Sherry Ann Basdeo, 32, has been in protective custody ever since she began receiving death threats and shots fired at her home. She has been living at a secret location in the United States and is due back in the country this weekend.
Ag Snr Supt Desmond Lambert, Ag ASP Derrick Trim, Homicide Bureau officers Insp Lester Hutchings and Sgt Ancil Corbett, Cpls Henry Dann and Tom Bernard, PCs Murray, Graham, Taylor, Ramoutar and Aslim Hosein visited the scene.
After DMO Dr Iqbal Ackbar viewed the body it was removed to the Port-of-Spain Mortuary. An autopsy will be done on Monday at Forensic Sciences Centre. John, police said, was a career criminal and had a narcotics matter pending in the Magistrates Court.
His mother Joyce Surujnath, 52, a mother of seven, said on October 17 he spoke to her on the telephone, saying he had learnt that hitmen were hired to execute him and a fee of $1 million was paid to them.
"I don't know why anyone would want to kill my son. He was a quiet person, who sold fish for a living and who never interfered with anyone," Surujnath said.
Surujnath said she learnt of her son's death from his wife, Sherry Ann Basdeo, who telephoned her from the United States on Thursday night and told her he was shot dead.
Yesterday Homicide Bureau and Crime Scene Unit officers searched John's home for clues. The lock on the front gate had to be cut to gain entry into the premises.
The case against Jagdeo Singh is listed to start in the High Courts next Thursday. It is alleged that an attempt was made to bribe a Port-of-Spain Magistrate and Court Prosecutor, in order to secure bail for a client.
Up to yesterday, no arrests had been made and detective Cpl Tom Bernard, of Morvant CID, is continuing investigations.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
December 10 may prove to be TT's day of reckoning
Posted: Friday, October 26, 2001
THE EDITOR: While John Humphrey and other Government ministers scoffed at the relatively small turnout at Ramesh's rainbow rally (the crowd was dwarfed by the vast size of the compound), they may be ignoring the true size of the audience. Not the people at the Trade Fair grounds or the neighbours hanging out their windows looking on; but indeed the people in TV land who number in the hundreds of thousands.
Television is the most powerful communication medium invented so far by humankind. It is personal, at times interactive; it imports and exports cultures, it alters tastes and shapes opinions. Television is a people controller. Based on this, Ramesh was able to reach more people than the regulars bused to the loyalists meetings.
The message of Panday and his loyalists is hysterical and desperate, dubious and even obscene, while Ramesh comes across as calm and methodical; sticking to what the party had set out to do. There he is daily exposing his leader as a fraud who wants to have his way despite his being part of shaping the party's constitution which governs them all.
Already the tremors have turned into a rumble in the heartland. Families are already being torn apart among the faithful. Son against father, neighbour against neighbour, street versus street. At this stage the confrontation is verbal; however as the situation becomes more desperate things could turn ugly.
What is clear is that the Prime Minister and his loyalists are ignoring the hard questions of corruption and trying to sweep this important issue under the carpet. His puerile attempts to bury allegations of corruption with name-calling will only fool the most illiterate. The plebeians are awakening to Mr Panday's long history of political chicanery and December 10 may prove to be indeed a day of reckoning.
SELWYN CRAIGWELL
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Celebrating Excellence
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
TERRY JOSEPH - Saturday night's In Celebration of Excellence concert went far beyond its originally scheduled midnight closing time, but nearly one hour later, the audience was giving Exodus not one but two encores.
Sub-titled Pan Royale, the fund raising concert was held at the Queen's Royal College (QRC) grounds and some 1,500 patrons braved the $100 ticket price, a bargain when you consider the combination of worthy cause and exquisite entertainment. MORE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Vexing To The Spirit
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
TERRY JOSEPH - An item treasured universally by Christians, is the one-page tract called Desiderata which, among other equally Utopian things, beseeches us to: "Avoid loud and aggressive persons for they are vexations to the spirit."
As if by copyright specification, the last line of each printed scroll unfailingly reminds us its original was found in Old St Paul's Cathedral a little over 300 years ago; a time well before ultra-powerful audio systems were invented. MORE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Basdeo Panday, World's greatest town crier
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
LYSTRA - Basdeo Panday is the greatest crier this world has seen. One who is very kind, jovial, keen helpful to the face but extremely dangerous in a flash.
He verbally abuses everyone, even people who stood by him in his problems. He has openly chastised those he had praised seconds before. He has heaped scorn on even his most fanatical followers.
After he has had his bellyful he laughs and says that he was misinterpreted. He is not to blame but points to someone else and even the journalists believe him.
He has killed many parties. He has destroyed many politicians in the process. He has hypnotised aging friends to come to his defence when in their senses they act differently.
It is a burning shame that this country is overpopulated with so many fanatics, racists, "jackasses" and liars. It is embarrassing to see people who profess to be literate can be fooled so easily.
They act as zombies at election time. We time come! Jobs for all. Better this, that and the other and all you see is cosmetics.
The common call from the supporters of the two warring factions on the scene is yuh eh see de leader is one ah we?" and he pulls his hair.
The answer is "Yea boy, dat is true yeh." All principle, moral values, ethics and basic values of life are cast aside even the values they give or purport to give to their children. Tears done now. Vote NAR.
LYSTRA
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Counting on Tunapuna again
Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2001
By Bukka Rennie
The piece about Tunapuna (Democracy more than fresh air) created quite a stir. The major thesis was that Tunapuna is a microcosmic reflection of the landscape of T&T. Every social, religious, cultural manifestation found equal representation there, particularly in the days gone by.
That the open "savannah" in the middle of this place, which was "neither town nor country", was then the lungs of the community until the skewed civil planners destroyed it; that this great mix of different people and cultures therein provided for Tunapuna a particular spirit of universal freedom, a spirit that was instinctively republican and democratic, a spirit that was exhibited by the people of Tunapuna at all levels.
From this line of thought it was extrapolated that, not surprisingly, many politicians and political parties have maintained over the years that to win State power in T&T elections, you have to win Tunapuna.
Tunapuna was always marginal. That is an historic fact. The argument posited was that precisely because of its nature and history one could count on Tunapuna to be the constituency to break the back of "one-manism", maximum leadership and gubernatorial, old-school politics. It was a warning to the unwise.
Many people responded by e-mail while others telephoned to add their two-cents worth to this viewpoint. Here are a few of the responses that came:
A "DA" e-mailed: "...Well ole man... only time will tell. A nice warmingly-written piece. One love, DA."
Mr A Defreitas e-mailed: "...Bravo..! I love this article, keep up the clever writing. This is such a relief from the mundane. Thank you..."
Mr C Heywood of Atlanta and a past resident of Tunapuna also e-mailed to express his enthusiasm: "...Just recently I spoke to Reverend Brian Jemmott, who resides in Atlanta, about Tunapuna, that special place. You have rekindled so much about Tunapuna. You left out the Razaccks, the Bains, Thora Best, Lloyd's sister, the Springers, the Fosters, Dalgo, and the snackettes and rum shops, where some of the current crop of legal luminaries spent some time. There is much to be written about Tunapuna..."
And there were those who questioned my failure to mention people like "Sing Sing" and "Gemima", Manda, Annette, Lillian and Vida, etc, stalwarts of the early grassroots PNM mass movement and the backbone of the Tunapuna market women-vendors.
As was the case in most of the then progressive nationalist parties of the so-called underdeveloped world struggling to break the back of colonialism and imperialist domination, the grassroots women took to the forefront to make the sacrifices and virtually carry the movement on their shoulders.
So too did the famous Tunapunians, such as "Sing Sing" and "Gemima", only too be discarded later as the mass movement grounded into a constipated party shell that lost its way, betraying in the course of time its historic purpose and seemingly incapable of rekindling any progressive content.
Not surprisingly, the very children and grandchildren of these stalwarts mentioned have continued to be unmoved by the latter-day PNM. It is phenomena that is not unique to T&T but has become common throughout the world; it is the transformation of the nationalist anti-colonial, anti-imperialist vanguards into neo-colonial defenders of the status-quo at the expense of the democratic development of the people.
A Mr Hosein telephoned and agreed with the view that there was that equality of positioning of the races and cultures, that "sharing", that was reflected in the mosaic that was Tunapuna and that it was best expressed in the use of that "open savannah" which was central and spinal to all that happened in Tunapuna.
But he questioned any attempt to attribute any aspect of democratic politics to the famous "bad-johns" of the past era. He was of the view that they never discussed "politics" in the course of their daily affairs. At least he had never heard them do so.
But the point he missed was that the democratic spirit they portrayed was not essentially by way of articulation, but moreso by what they demonstrated by the stance they adopted over and over again. They were sycophants to nobody. They questioned everyone's intentions and they were fearless in defending what they choose to defend. They had a sense of morality that was their own. They did not seek validation for their actions from anyone other than themselves.
I can recall the Mascals (Mccall and Clock) insisting that we go to school, study and do well because the opportunities were there for us to do better. We could not dock school with them around. They insisted that we not be like they were. Compare that with the likes of the block and street people of today who induce school children into all kinds and forms of criminal activity. That was unheard of long ago in the East-West Corridor.
That is what we mean today when we say that social milieu has become morally decadent. So decadent, in fact, that they now have nothing to defend and will sell their souls and anything else, even their votes, for a mess of pottage. And no one, no organisation, whether social or political, has sought to address this question.
We are counting, we say again, on Tunapuna, that special place that is neither town nor country, to make the difference, if only it can lay claim to and reaffirm its past glories. Let Tunapuna lead the breakaway!
http://www.trinicenter.com/BukkaRennie/
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
You are Wrong Prime Minister
Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Dear Editor
I would like to humbly suggest to Prime Minister Panday that death and disgrace are not the only two ways out of the Trinidad type political system as he so loudly proclaimed to ex-President Clinton.
I am sure he knows about a third way, it is called resignation. It is something you hand in when you find yourself leading a minority government or embarassing revelations of improprieties as a leader forces you to do or forces you to consider it. I am certain in his recent political history, he may have heard of it from his political opponents and may have even considered it, even negatively at that. So his statement cannot be a truth.
That is why we have General Elections on Dec 10th. Thank You
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Crisis in our news media
Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2001
THE EDITOR: Our major newspapers in TT are taking globalisation (which is the most over-used word today) beyond - Business, Trade and Technology - to a new dimension, foreign news.
Because of our penchant for foreign news and everything foreign, we are force-fed to the extent that our local news is superseded by foreign news - not only CNN. On Sunday 7th, Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th breaking news of one of the most historical events in our political history since the attempted coup d'etat in 1990, was upstaged by the bombing of the Taliban in Afghanistan by the American jets. Both Newsday and the Express had this event with prominently displayed photos on their front pages - fighter jets booming in the skies, with captions depicting the might of America's conventional and nuclear munitions enhanced with a front page caption: Allies Bomb Afghanistan and It's War.
I am not advocating isolationism but why do we sell out to everything foreign even to a war thousands of miles away, while we play down the political war that is raging right here at home between the UNC and PNM?
The war abroad can only impact on our lives in TT indirectly but "our war" would have far reaching effects on our lives now, and for some time to come.
Why are our problems at home not given precedence over a foreign waged war on the front pages of our local newspapers? Why two days of "sale" of this foreign war?
After the UNC's explosive meeting on Sunday evening at the Queen's Park Savannah, I could not wait for Monday, to get my hands on a local newspaper, to my dismay, our local newspapers had gone foreign, neglecting to showcase the furor that our politics had ignited here at home.
At first glance, one could not help being jolted out of his or her mind by these high powered war jets on the front pages of our major newspapers. Not for one day, but for two days running. The faint of heart could have gotten the impression that our beautiful island was taken over by some super power, taking into account, what is going on all around the world today.
To believe everything coming from the US is superior and better than our own, is one thing but to put the declaration of war in Afghanistan - between the Taliban and the US, on the front pages of our major newspapers while historical events regarding our politics are being ignored, is not what one will expect from our print media or any media in our little island. We may be small but we should all think like the US - everything American comes first, this stems from the nationalism that exists in that country, so if we continue to ape the US, let us be "positive apes" and put our country first, the same as they do.
Ulric Guy
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
What goes around comes around, Mr Panday
Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2001
The Editor: What short memories we all seem to have. Is it really true that we in Trinidad have seven-day memories?
Didn't Mr Panday know that Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was a man to be feared when he ousted Kamla Persad-Bissessar one Carnival weekend when the rest of the country was having fun and installed Ramesh without even Kamla being first aware?
Who does Mr Panday think he is? The only other person (whom I believe) believed himself to be a supreme leader was Hitler. Look at what Hitler did to the world.
What about when he convinced the two former PNM ministers, Lasse and Griffith (who never had any public grouse before with Mr Manning) to cross the floor? Who were Judases then?
Why is he going about crying shame on the three dissidents now? Doesn't he know what goes around, comes around?
Why is Mr Panday comparing the fall of his party by blatant corruption (by members of his own team) to the September 11 disaster in New York and Washington?
What an insult to all those people who lost their families in that tragedy. Why can't the Panday loyalists see Mr Panday for what he really is? Don't they know that where there is smoke there is fire?
Don't they think that Mr Panday owes them an explanation for the US$50,000 cheque, the “house in London”, etc? What about transparency? Is he afraid to divulge his assets and liabilities?
What about when he first came to office and attacked the reporter at the Trinidad Guardian? What about his attack on Mr Ken Gordon for which he paid dearly through his pockets?
What about the rice deal where $30 million of your taxpayer's money was lost? What about being continuously warned about Dhanraj Singh and when he ignored all the warnings and said that Singh was his best Minister? Now Dhanraj Singh is in jail awaiting trial!
Is that what these loyalists are sanctioning? What about all the teachers whom he called criminals? What about the insultive ways in which he answers reporters?
What kind of Finance Minister is Minister Yetming if he could bring out a budget ignoring the situation in the USA on September 11, 2001? And only after numerous warnings he now jumps on the bandwagon and declares the same warnings?
Why is Mr Panday selling the country to CL Financial? Doesn't Mr Duprey know that when you affiliate yourself with one party you have to take the blows too?
Does Mr Kuei Tung really expect us to believe him when he says he has no political affiliation?
Why can't Jack Warner and Carlos John see themselves (through most of the public's eyes) for the fools they are? There is a saying, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can never fool all of the people all of the time!"
Cindy
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Marijuana seized as Cops arrest 29 Rastafarians
Posted: Monday, October 22, 2001
By Ken Chee Hing
Western Division police swooped down on a St James Night Club and arrested 29 men comprising Rastafarian and Bobo Shanti followers, who were held with large quantities of marijuana on Friday night.
Some of the well-dressed men, who wore flowing garbs and carried ceremonial carved wooden staffs, started chanting "Jah burn down Babylon", when they were arrested. They will appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate tomorrow to answer to charges of possession of marijuana. According to police reports, around 10 pm officers led by Insp Narcis Cadette, including Sgt Dennis Julien, PCs Malco, Husbands, Watson, Powder and Western Division Task Force officers led by Cpl Constantine, gathered outside Club Prosperity at Bournes Road in St James.
The officers held 29 men between the ages of 18 to 43, with marijuana. Some of them were held as they were about to enter the night club, while others were held leaving the club.
Police sources told Sunday Newsday, they made the bust after receiving information that a group of Rastafarians were holding a concert at the night club, the theme of which was "Revival".
The officers also received information that large quantities of marijuana were being smoked by the Rastafarians in and around the club. In an unrelated incident, the same party of officers, around 4 am yesterday, arrested two men and a woman at Jeffers Lane, St James with a quantity of cocaine. The three were later charged and are expected in Court today.
Abstract Newsday
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Why Naipaul Alone ?
Posted: Sunday, October 21, 2001
Dear Sir/Madam Editor
How did the Government come up with the decision to name the National Library after one of the country's Nobel Literature winners alone. Naipaul is deserving and so too is Walcott. What is the reasoning behind naming it after one and not the other. Should it not be jointly named or is the Government willing to provide rational to avoid and diffuse speculation that racial considerations are their primary motives.
People who raise the 'race boogey' in every situation could be very dangerous to this country, but it is the people in authority who do things without providing open and public rational that fuel these people and could be considered worse. Which also brings me to the fact that this same Government had also promised to name something after the late Kwame Ture [Stokely Carmichael] another outstanding citizen who had done well, and is yet to do so.
It must be said that for someone so brutally disdainful of other developing peoples and societies to name our National Library Complex after him singularly or jointly is a step in the wrong direction. His obvious literary genius is not a consideration in this matter, but his derisive, dismissive and divisive stature. Trinidad and Tobago we can do better.
Jasper Webster
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Where has the money gone?
Posted: Sunday, October 21, 2001
THE EDITOR: The nation may recall that in the months of November and December 2000 all Municipal Corporations executed the E2k Programme, the objective of which was the collection and safe disposal of bulky and white waste. This programme was funded by moneys made available to the Ministry of Environment through an international donor agency.
In a letter of request the Ministry of Environment indicated that there was realised a surplus on this programme, and therefore the Minister of Environment proposed a phase II intended to focus on the cleaning of watercourses before June 30, 2001.
This was viewed by the Diego Martin Regional Municipal Corporation as a welcomed initiative for the following reasons (i) the inadequacy of funds supplied to the Corporation by the Central Government to deal with water courses under its jurisdiction (ii) the unwillingness of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Local Government to address those watercourses in the Region of Diego Martin for which Central Government is responsible (iii) the susceptibility of the entire Region to flooding during the rainy season. Further the initiative was considered timely as the Council was at that time, that is February 2001, developing a programme to clean and clear those critical watercourses which its funds would permit.
Although the Corporation acted expeditiously in forwarding to the Ministry the water courses to be included in the E2K Phase II Project and identifying the works to be undertaken to date the funding for such project has not been released. In the meanwhile the Corporation completed its own programme of cleaning, desilting and clearing some thirty watercourses but many other watercourses intended to be cleared, desilted and cleaned by the E2K Project Phase II remain unaddressed.
The latest response from the Ministry of Environment about the commencement of this Project Phase II disclosed funds are not available. The Council of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation finds this response incredulous, particularly since, as early as March 2001, a private company was selected by the Ministry of Environment to overseer the Project. The course of events leaves the Council of the Diego Martin Regional Municipal Corporation to ponder. "Where the money has gone?" While many areas in the Region are at risk of flooding during the rainy season, the threat of which the Minister of Environment could have long allayed had the admitted surplus from E2K Phase I been released to fund the erstwhile E2K Phase II.
BRIGID MARY ANNISETTE-GEORGE
Chairman Diego Martin Regional Corporation
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Down that slippery slope to ruin
Posted: Friday, October 19, 2001
Dear Editor
Once upon a time in this fair land, people were told to follow their leaders and I don't know if they did or still do. But what I do know is that it is not now safe to do so. Take the present scenario where you have several citizens active in public life coming before the national community and giving evidence for public scrutiny of attempts to murder them among other accusations. It is natural for any other citizen to think that they would be giving some level of assurance if not protection from the government of the day.
Instead what we have now witnessed is the unbelievable and untenable situation of the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Security of this country, less than 24 hours after those revelations were made, poking fun at the allegations and encouraging doubt, ridicule and laughter at those who were bringing evidence publicly to support their claims. Is this not a clear abdication of duty by those responsible for the safety of each and every citizen? What manner of governance and governed allows things to take place like this without loud public outcry. Today we know who are being laughed at and ridiculed; do we know who would it be tomorrow? Is there not a massive travesty of Justice being committed here, and how did we as a nation come to this sorry pass?
But is this not the same country where a public official was killed and another public official charged for his murder. Did not the murdered man make a report to another public official? Can the nation remember what was that public official response to inquiries about that report? It seems like in this country by the silence of so many all notions of decency, right from wrong, public accountability and responsibility has been suspended on the altar of political and economical expediency.
Can we also now expect to hear any of the battery of experts on the Law and the Constitution whose only ability seems to be to advise the President, can we now expect of them to stand up for the right of citizens to be treated equally under the law and not be subject to ridicule by anyone in authority. What about the Church, Social, Civic and Community organizations, can they not see and feel our descent down that slippery slope to ruin and destruction.
KURT GARCIA
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Trini Humour
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2001
BREAKING NEWS FROM RADIO TRINI
Radio TRINI reports that a cell of 4 terrorists has been operating in the Beetham Gardens/Sea Lots Area Police advised earlier today that 3 of the 4 have been detained.
The Police Spokesman stated that the terrorists Bin Sleepin, Bin Drinkin and Bin Fightin have been arrested on immigration issues.
The Police advise further that they can find no one fitting the description of the fourth cell member, Bin Workin, in the area.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police are confident that anyone who looks like Bin Workin will be very easy to spot in the community.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Asking the right questions
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2001
By Denis Solomon
The following is an edited version of Denis Solomon's contribution to a panel discussion on "The Way Forward" organised by the Constitutional Reform Committee at OWTU Headquarters, San Fernando, on Saturday, October 13, 2001.
I'd like to begin by telling you a joke.
Basdeo Panday goes to a bank to cash a cheque for US $50,000.
Teller: May I see some ID, please?
BP: You mad or what? I is de Prime Minister! Everybody know me.
Teller: Sorry, sir, but no cheques can be cashed without identification.
BP: But I does be on TV whole time, making speech! And you ain't see all me bodyguard and ting? Man, cash de damn cheque before I get vex.
Teller: Sorry, sir, everybody has to prove his identity. Last week Dwight Yorke was in here without his passport, and we had to get a football and make him keep it up in the air for an hour before we would cash his cheque.
But that gives me an idea. Perhaps you could say something to prove you are the Prime Minister.
BP: OK, OK-er-ah-er- Oh God, all I could think of to say is chupidness!
Teller: How do you want the money, Mr Panday?
So much for jokes. Now to serious business. MORE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Democracy more than fresh air
Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2001
By Bukka Rennie
"I Like sex more than fresh air!" Those were words frequently uttered by one "Cow-Foot" Eugene of Tunapuna. Of course he naturally used the four-letter word which was more poignant.
Not surprisingly, he eventually killed himself after a particular love affair went sour. But today he remains one of the most often quoted sons of the soil of that quaint, provincial place that is neither "town" (urban) nor "country" (rural) called Tunapuna.
Dictators, at all levels, may have attempted in the past to exist here but only at their own peril. Sooner than later they were all forced to take to their heels.
The people of Tunapuna's by-gone days questioned everyone and everything for, like "Cow-Foot", they liked democracy more than fresh air.
In political circles it was said that whomsoever won Tunapuna invariably won the country. Whichever party that is. Tunapuna was/is a microcosmic take of the entire country.
Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Muslims and Hindus all held sway here. There were RC and AC schools, as well as CM and Maha Saba schools operating side by side in harmony as well as in caustic competition.
The Muslim "Hosay" festival was as a big an occasion in Tunapuna as anywhere else. Even the Sikhs had their presence here as best exemplified by the founder of Turban Brand.
Growing up in the Tunapuna of the '50s and '60s, it was not uncommon to see funerals of that obscure Hindu sect of Black Indians who pranced and danced in joyous pleasure on the way to the cemetery and cried mournfully at births. They were referred to as the Madrasi.
Even that open savannah in the middle of Tunapuna, which in fact was its "soul" until crazy town-planners thought differently, was at one time divided up into specific cricket practice pitches of clubs that were either comprised solely of Indo-Tunapunians or Afro-Tunapunians and yet others which comprised a full mixture of the two.
But if the cricket teams reflected the racial configuration, the football teams, both in terms of management structure and players, were nearly all mixed.
Tunapuna was the home at one time or another of people such as Learie Constantine, CLR James, Sir Courtney Hannays, Sir Pelham Warner, the Narinesignhs, the Rikkis, the Padarathsinghs, the Seeteerams, the Patels, "Effel" Mohammed, and even the well-known Marxist, Holassie, all fiercely and instinctive democratic if not "republican" in spirit. Always ready and willing in every which way to challenge Port-of-Spain, the city of the centre.
That open, liberal, fearless posture, that republican stance and defiance of authority pervaded all the Tunapunian ranks from top to bottom, to the extent sometimes of utter madness and near anarchy. Be it the doings of Mastifay, that other "Eugene" of a not too dissimilar reputation as the one with whom we began this column, or Red Ken, or the Mascals, or Foots, the stylish Dil Lil or the deadly Samuel Jacobs, or even the young turk who caught Wolf, the old "bad-john", sleeping and beat him almost to death, all the while proclaiming that "bad-john cannot sleep", or the one who after being advised by a judge in the High Court to take "his time" while testifying, would reply: "Your Honour, time waits on no one", there is reflected throughout in popular Tunapunian behaviour this common sense of disdain for, if not open defiance of, all centralised authority.
And it is not that it does not exist all over the East/West Corridor, but it certainly is the signal character of this "neither town nor country" place called Tunapuna.
Such disdain for authority outside of oneself and over and above oneself is the seedbed of democratic instincts and democratic nurturing. As I said to the CLR Conference at UWI, my first encounter with CLR was in fact an encounter with an "idea".
It happened at the age of 19 when I and other like-minded youngsters, all members of a very active PNM youth group on the Corridor, went to heckle a WFP meeting and found ourselves listening to the concept of the "right to recall" as elucidated by CLR, rather than heckling.
The concept opened our minds to the possibilities of genuine empowerment, since power would repose with the mass membership and all the citizens of a constituency who would then be expected to dismiss non-functioning representatives or even possibly rotate representation as deemed necessary down the road. It was all about putting authority where authority really belongs, in the hands of the people.
It was growing up in Tunapuna and the Corridor that made us open up to such a way of seeing. Not surprisingly, wherever we have gone since then have always brought instant confrontation with authority, moreso abusive authority.
My first week on the job at the Excise Department at Customs House brought confrontation with Fleming, the then comptroller. He rang the Excise Department one morning, I answered. He asked for Mr Payne and I told him that Mr Payne was not there, at which point he questioned angrily if I knew to whom I was speaking.
I replied in the negative and suggested that that bore no relevance to the matter at hand; Mr Payne was not there.
He slammed down the receiver and the next I knew he came into the department to confront me, suggesting that I should be more helpful in future if I wished to get ahead in the Customs. I stated an inability to comprehend the logic and asked for advice on how I could have been more helpful in this particular instance.
He said that I could have ran outside to see if Payne's car was still around. I in turn advised that I knew not which car Payne possessed.
At that point he left in a huff. I knew then that my career at the Customs would be short-lived.
What's the difference between Fleming's attitude and that of the leaders of political parties in T&T? Imagine that you join a party and when you attend the general council sessions, the maximum leader tells you to sit down because he is not happy with the position you express.
In such a case you and that leader should be rolling on the floor with fisticuffs being thrown.
What's the difference between the struggle that Morris Marshall fought and that of the UNC executive presently? The only difference is that Ramesh has the material resources that Marshall could never have commanded and so he died in the course of his efforts to democratise the party in which he believed.
The 2000 election brought numerous conflicts between maximum leadership and constituents over the choice of representation. The 2001 election will bring even more vicious confrontations on all sides and on all fronts. Every little step in this direction is a victory on behalf of the democratic process.
I am counting on Tunapuna to lead the way. For there the people love this thing democracy as much as they love fresh air.
http://www.trinicenter.com/BukkaRennie/
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
What democracy?
Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2001
THE EDITOR: In Newsday's Sunday October 14 issue, an article by Dr Hamid Ghany, captioned The Threat To Our Democracy, his conclusion has brought out the political bias in his recent writings and his blindness as where the threat to our democracy lies.
He states in the article that "the threat to our democracy is one in which one political party cannot seek to besmirch the electoral process up front and then go silent on the earlier allegations if they win."
He goes on further to state "Trinidad and Tobago has ceased to be an example of the majoritarian model of democracy. It has now become more closely aligned with the consensus model of democracy given the nature of population growth and diversity.
"Political parties and even the President have to adjust to suit that paradigm reality. Political gridlock and deadlock will continue to be outward expressions of such a phenomenon."
Dr Ghany went on to chide the President in the following manner. "A President who fails to understand that can traumatise an entire nation by his antics and power plays which strike at the very heart of the tender process of consensus in a society such as ours.
"His repetitive bias and insensitivity to the needs of all citizens and his desire for brinkmanship while holding the supreme office of public trust are classic examples of his colossal failure to understand the diversity of the very nation over which he presides.
"It is almost as if he wants to exercise some elements of Prime Ministerial power that he once enjoyed. By using the Presidency to push the proverbial envelope on a growing list of simple constitutional matters that he has turned into situations of trauma and uncertainty, it is almost as if he were in the political ring himself sparring with both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition at times." I refuse to quote any further from his diatribe he believes to be an intellectual conclusion.
It is writers like Dr Ghany who fail to see where the threat to our democracy lies, in the autocratic actions of the Honourable Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of our peace-loving Republic.
Did he and others like him to whom ordinary people in the society look forward to for intelligent guidance raise their voices when the Prime Minister undermined the basic principle upon which democracy resides, the democratic will of the majority when he recommended to the President the appointment of "election losers" to be Senators and Ministers?
His conclusion is disgusting and disrespectful to the President of the Republic who has the courage to warn the country of a "creeping" dictatorship and a bully who must have his way at all cost. The people of Trinidad and Tobago must thank God that the country has a President whose integrity and morality is untarnished to guide the Republic eventually in a safe harbour.
The current political problems with which the country is faced is beyond the question of corruption although it has increased ten times under the UNC government. The issue is democracy and corrupt means to get into power, therefore the two challengers for the office of the next Prime Minister of the Republic have no moral authority to aspire to that office on the basis of how they gained leadership of their respective organisations in the past.
Badly needed are men of honour, integrity, honesty and morality on all sides of the political divide to manage the affairs of our beloved Republic.
JOHN M HACKSHAW
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
TT must seize opportunity now
Posted: Tuesday, October 16, 2001
THE EDITOR: It may be a hard pill to swallow, but we have to face the facts. The single most important reason why there is a crisis in the country today is because we, the people, have allowed our voices to be silenced. So the only way to get out of the mess that we now find ourselves in, is for us to regain our right to let our voices be heard.
The more this chaos escalates, the wider the gap gets between the people and the political process of this country. We are being bombarded daily by strident claims about inclusion, upholding the Constitution, and about accommodations to rescue the country from corruption. But if we really examine what is driving all that talk, we will realise that it is all a clever use of words to draw us in as ringside spectators shouting support for one side or another.
Many times, if we listen to our own talk, a lot of it is a repetition of what they throw out of the ring at us. The tragedy is that when we let ourselves get caught up in the sound bites, we run the risk of losing contact with the core issues and we make it easier for them to use us as a platform to build their own empires.
So we are going into an election. In the present circumstances, that is probably the only way out of this mess. But all of us know that now, even more than at any other time in our recent history, no activity that relegates us to putting an 'X' next to a name on a piece of paper is enough to set our country on a self-correcting path.
Right now, one of the main points of contention is the electoral list. To the extent that we have a voters' list that does not correspond to the reality on the ground, is a cause for deep concern. When we have names of people apparently registered as living on land that has been lying empty for years, or allegations of significant numbers of people shifting their addresses across electoral boundaries just before an election, the matter has to be investigated.
Beyond a certain point however, an exclusive focus on the cleaning up of the electoral list, only serves the interest of the power grabbers. Going along that single-track route will only lead us to the same political arrangements (whether or not incumbents change sides). Even worse, we will be ending up with the same official institutional frameworks that are now proving to be totally inadequate for dealing with the complexities of our political reality.
Take for example the Constitution. As it stands, this legal document is at best a lame duck that can even be used to subvert the will of the people. Some months ago, in spite of widespread protest, we had the swearing-in of the defeated candidates (which Ramesh Maharaj defended tooth and nail). Today we again find ourselves in another entanglement - how to remove a minority government? When all is said and done, the Constitution has been of no help.
Then we have the Presidency. The question that we have to ask here is, of what use is a quasi-ceremonial Presidency in a complex society as ours? Since ours is a plural society with many competing interest groups, shouldn't the President have powers that would enable that individual to facilitate negotiation, conflict resolution and consensus building among the various groups? Moreover, given the prevailing circumstances where our brand of representative democracy continues to throw up a governmental arrangement that divides the country along racial lines, shouldn't the powers of the President be strengthened relative to those of the Prime Minister who invariably will have come into that position as a result of being partisan to one side of the racial divide?
It is against the background of issues like these that I am saying that we have to set our sights beyond the ballot box and move to take back power into our own hands. We have to do that to ensure that this country is run in our own interest. So whomever we vote or do not vote for, we must seize the opportunity that this election season presents, to build people-based political forums to generate our own action-oriented talk.
Every sports group, cultural organisation, youth club, church committee, village council, office lime, workers' association, farmers' cooperative, lamp-post lime, windball cricket side, women’s' group, residents' committee, small business network, must take on a political dimension. Our talk can and must count.
One urgent matter that we have to talk about is of course corruption. There are three things I want to say about that. First, what ever side the pendulum swings after the votes have been counted, we cannot let up on the call to bring the corrupt to justice. The NWRHA scandal cannot be left to die away. The massive over-spending on the airport has to be accounted for. So too the InnCogen deal. Secondly, we have to be able to distinguish between a corruption issue and a smear campaign. One obvious danger about a smear campaign is that it tarnishes the character of innocent individuals. But an equally important danger that is not readily recognisable is that it undermines our ability to stay focused on dealing with corruption. Everything gets watered down to a he-say and a she-say. Nothing more than ole-talk, which ends up being an effective cover for the real corruption to continue.
Thirdly, we have to examine the factors that make it possible for corruption to take place. To what extent do our official procedures and practices leave gaps for people to exploit? Is enough attention paid to maintaining efficient checks and balances in the operations of all sectors of our public service? How can we as a people find out about, and monitor the functioning of the various State agencies that are supposed to be working in our interest?
This election season is a good time to initiate the real talk.
OLABISI KUBONI
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
So, is revenge sweet?
Posted: Sunday, October 14, 2001
By Donna Yawching
WELL, they've started. The bombs are falling. The missiles are being smartly guided to their targets (and beyond). The people have started dying. I wonder how Americans are feeling these days? Vindicated? Triumphant? Is the Pentagon keeping a chart where they can track the number of Afghani casualties and set them off against the 6,000 WTC fatalities? Can we hope that when they've totted up six or seven thousand, they'll be satisfied, and call for a halt? Or must it be a five-to-one payback?
Or are Americans —as I think and hope that at least some must be- starting now to feel stricken at what they have initiated? I have enough faith in the essential decency of the average Yank to suspect that this revenge may already be starting to sour in their mouths; that the satisfaction to be gained from dropping high-tech bombs on a city of third-world civilians is, in the final analysis, hollow. Okay, so they killed some of us; now we're killing some of them. Fair's fair, right? But somehow, it must feel like kicking a cat-kind of cruel and mean-spirited. I hope so, anyway.
Irony is not a quality that is well-understood in America; and so its citizens probably see nothing particularly incongruous in their government sending in one set of planes by night to drop bombs on the people of Afghanistan, and another set (by day? I don't know) to drop food and medicines. This is irony at its most delicious (literally): create misery, and then generously minister to it. Killing with a clear conscience. Yet a British reporter has pointed out that, even if every single one of the Americans' two million food packets were to be delivered, and found by a hungry Afghani, it would feed 27 per cent of the population for exactly one day. And about a month from now, winter will descend on an already harsh countryside.
I'm willing to bet money on what we will see on television in weeks to come. There will be reports of these humanitarian "care packages" being dropped and distributed. There will (if it is humanly possible to obtain) be footage of grateful Afghanis, displaced by one war or another, receiving this largesse from the considerate Western world that has-and this will be emphasised repeatedly-nothing whatsoever against them; but which has just got to drop bombs on their homeland as a matter of principle. This will, of course, make perfect sense to the Afghanis.
What we won't see on television is footage of the bombings. No frantic Afghani children wandering around the rubble seeking their shattered parents. No screams, no dazed faces, no heroic firemen, no overwhelmed hospitals-in short, no WTC emotion. The journalists' excuse, of course, will be that the Afganistan government doesn't want them on its territory-look at how it dealt with that poor woman reporter, after all.
Not mentioned will be the fact that the US doesn't want journalists there any more than the Taliban does-perhaps, indeed, less. You'll recall that the media was unequivocally blocked from the front during the Gulf War; all the viewers at home got to see were snazzy computer graphics of planes delivering neat little clusters of bombs onto X-marks-the-spot. Not a drop of blood spattered our screens; the only emotional coverage happened when an allied plane got shot down, and an American flyer got shipped home in a box. Yet many thousands of Iraqi civilians died during that war, and that doesn't include the estimated 500,000 children who have died since, as a direct result of US-led sanctions.
Excluding the world press from Afghanistan during the current conflict will be the Taliban's biggest, perhaps fatal, mistake. Their only hope for curtailing the carnage (besides surrendering bin Laden, which they've apparently decided not to do) is to let the "civilised" world see the consequences of its civilised acts as it sits down to its dinner. Gut-wrenching coverage was one of the factors that closed down the Vietnam War. For most people, out of sight is out of mind; if they can't actually see cruelty, it doesn't bother them unduly. But I am still enough of an optimist to believe that if they do see what their governments are doing, the horror will move them to action. The right action. Maybe I'm wrong.
What hurts me most about this conflict is the terrible, tragic waste; the futility of it all. Let us dispense with the propaganda for a moment: America doesn't have a prayer of winning a "war against terrorism", not even if Osama bin Laden's head were to be handed to them on a platter. Why? Because bin Laden, while indubitably a terrorist, is not "terrorism"; he is merely one of its myriad manifestations.
Terrorism is grievance made physical: a message that has got beyond screaming. It is brutal, it is terrible, it is conscienceless. If you don't at least listen to the message, it is inexorable. America refuses to listen. What's more, the super-power engages in actions that themselves cause new messages to be born. Killing bin Laden would be like killing the Hydra: nine new heads would grow in his place. You can kill people, but history has shown that you can't kill a grievance. All they do is go underground and fester.
Moreover, the question remains: who, exactly, defines terrorism, and terrorists? Yasser Arafat was a plane-jacking terrorist in the 1970s; today he's accepted as the Palestinians' leading statesman. Ariel Sharon inflicted a terrorist massacre on Palestinian refugee camps in 1982; today he's the Prime Minister of Israel. The CIA has organised terrorist activities around the globe (including Afghanistan): is America going to root them out, too? Cuba could validly argue that the US harbours virulent anti-Castro terrorists: can we expect to see NATO missiles homing in on Miami? What about Northern Ireland, land of bombings and surreptitious civilian murders?
Or is it only America (and its puppy-dog, Britain) that gets to define terrorism, in this unholy war? Can the rest of the world really live with that?
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
UNC drowning slowly
Posted: Sunday, October 14, 2001
THE EDITOR: I do not mean to be unkind or disrespectful, but I am of the view that the health of our President has also affected him. I cannot find any other explanation for the behaviour of this one time bright young lawyer. I ask myself:
Why did it take our President days after the General Elections of December 2000 to appoint the Prime Minister? Why was the nation held in suspense about the above and the uncertainty of the President attending the House of Parliament?
Why the President did not read the Throne Speech? I was told he cannot read small print so I can excuse him. But why was he leaving the House not even conscious of the fact that the ceremony was not yet over. After all it was not his first opening of Parliament?
Why should it take our President weeks to appoint the Senators recommended by the Prime Minister? Why did it take days for our President to approve the changes in the Senate with respect to the Tobago Senator, as recommended by the Prime Minister?
It makes him look very bad when you consider that he has two retired Presidents who are alive and well and who I am sure will be only too happy to clear up any matter for him. Does he consult them?
The President does not have to act. It is the Opposition who has to move a vote of no confidence and cause an election.
The PNM's chances of winning have never been better. The UNC would drown in the water coming from their dirty linen.
Please Mr President, do not take from us the pleasure of us voters from getting rid of this Government.
CLYDE MARSHALL
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Time for Panday to wake up
Posted: Saturday, October 13, 2001
THE EDITOR: I am an avid follower of the political events that takes place in this country, recently I have been hearing our Prime Minister, the Honourable Basdeo Panday, calling his former friends by ugly names.
Mr Panday seems to have forgotten that it took the combination of two seats from the National Alliance for Reconstruction for him to become this country's leader. It took the crossing of Dr Vincent Lasse and Rupert Griffith for him to have a majority.
Now let us consider his most recent statements about his former three members.
He has called them 'Jackasses', 'Traitors', 'Rebels' etc. He has stated that these men are trying to topple his Government. He has even said that they, the dissidents have now put his children's lives in danger.
I believe the time has come for Mr Panday to really wake up and smell the coffee.
His government is really nothing without these men, even the present Attorney General, his 'yes' person, can't do the trick for him. Neither can 'sweet boy' Carlos John.
Mr Panday, if you are so confident about what the people want, go to the polls. This is a challenge to you.
Don't get your supporters all pumped up for nothing. You, a man of 'class', a man of 'distinction', a man of 'peace'? Now it's your turn. Manning did it in November 1995, why don't you do it now? Go to the Polls.
I FIELDS
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Privy Council reserves judgment in battle for Chaguaramas lands
Posted: Friday, October 12, 2001
By Darren Bahaw
The Privy Council yesterday reserved its ruling in a constitutional motion brought by the descendants of the original land owners of the Chaguaramas peninsula after a full day of legal arguments.
The land owners are claiming the return of lands, amounting to 12 square miles, beginning at Williams Bay and including the small chain of islands off the north-western coast.
Both the High Court in 1994, and the Court of Appeal in 1997, ruled against the claimants but they took their case to the highest court governing Trinidad and Tobago.
Lawyers representing the landowners, including Jan Luba QC, Ben Cooper, Vashist Maharaj instructed by Bindman and Partners, as well as James Guthrie instructed by the law firm of Charles Russell, who represented both the Attorney General and Chaguaramas Development Authority, took more than six hours arguing their points before the law Lords.
The case was heard by Lord Nicholls, Lord Millette, Lord McKay, Lord Hobhouse and Sir Christopher Slade.
In April 1941, the Chaguaramas lands were acquired by the colonial government and leased to the United States for a naval base for a 99 year period.
The lands were returned to the government when Trinidad became an independent nation in 1962, but the landowners are claiming that the area should have been returned to them when the public purpose for which they were acquired came to an end, after the US gave up the base in the 1970's.
Trinidad Express
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Naipaul Wins Nobel
Posted: Thursday, October 11, 2001
Trinidad-born author, VS Naipaul, has won the Nobel Prize for literature for works which "compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories".
A novelist and short story writer, Naipaul left Trinidad at 18 for Oxford University in Britain, then traveled extensively before settling in the U.K.
In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy, described Naipaul as a "literary circumnavigator, only ever really at home in himself, in his inimitable voice".
It added he was "singularly unaffected by literary fashion and models", and has "wrought existing genres into a style of his own".
Much of Naipaul's works are about post-colonial trauma, reflecting his Indian parentage and early life in Trinidad.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Is This Justice ? Mr President.
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Dear Editor
It is with great amazement and disbelief that I look on at the spectacle taking place before our nation where an individual be he Prime Minister or peasant can take away the legal recourse that citizens are guaranteed under the Constitution before the courts of our land at the posting of a letter.
I am referring to the legal actions in which millions of dollars has been spent so far in the 4 challenges of the Election petitions concerning the results of the 2001 General Elections. This procedure to challenge the results of the Election is laid down in law. What law can there ever be that denies anyone the right to justice, by an individual or group that was party for the reason for the legal challenge or Electoral petition in the first place. This is the effect of what the Prime Minister is saying or attempting to do with a call for new Elections.
This must never be possible or made to happen and is deep into uncharted territory and would be a bad precedent for all time. An Election cannot be called to nullify legal challenges to a previous election. Think deep and hard Mr President. Natural justice demands it.
KURT GARCIA
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Prime Minister Basdeo Panday Announces Election
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
By Raffique Shah
Prime Minister Basdeo Panday triggered yet another controversy to the politically charged situation when, at high noon today, he called a press conference to announce that he had advised President Arthur N. Robinson to dissolve Parliament and call a general election on December 10. President Robinson, in an immediate response to the Prime Minister, asked the PM to "hold your hand". The PM has publicly said he will not "hold his hand".
Up to late this afternoon, politicians and attorneys were debating whether or not Mr Robinson has any discretion in the matter, and if he may choose a course other than calling the election. Matters of great concern to the President are the views of a large section of the population that the electoral list under which they went to the polls last December was at best badly flawed, and at worst fraudulent. It is felt by many, too, that the four elections related matters that are before the High Court make the 2000 election incomplete. A number of electors are also facing "voter padding" charges, and the police continue to arrest people on charges related to last December's election. And some are even questioning whether Mr Panday, who lost his majority in the House of Representatives last week, is authorised to call an election.
If the President does go along with Mr Panday's advice, it will be the first time in the country's history that two general elections are called within one year. Before that, the only other "snap election" was called in 1995 by Mr Patrick Manning, after only four years in office: he lost that election.
Mr Panday's announcement today did not come as a surprise. Last Friday, his government was outvoted in three Bills in the House. The Speaker, Mr Rupert Griffith, adjourned the House on a minority vote and the combined opposition forces were planning to move a motion to oust him from his seat at the next sitting of Parliament. That could have further reduced the UNC's minority position (Mr Panday could rely only on 16 of 36 members), and lead to a virtual gridlock in the House. Mr Panday's other option was to resign and have the President name a new Prime Minister.
The debate as to whether or not the President must act on the PM's advice will undoubtedly intensify over the next few days as Mr Robinson himself examines all his options. PNM leader Mr Patrick Manning has repeatedly said his party was not prepared to return to the polls with a "contaminated list". He repeated his view after the PM's announcement. And Mr Ramesh Maharaj, who recently resigned as Attorney General, has expressed the view that the President does not need to go along with the PM's advice.
Manning's PNM has struck up a coalition with Maharaj, Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maharaj. The political climate in Trinidad and Tobago heated up soon after the elections for a new executive in the UNC were held in early June. Mr Maharaj's "Team Unity" won almost all the positions, with Maharaj himself running away with the Deputy Leader's title. The rift in the ruling party showed up during the campaign and widened afterwards. Although Panday's announcement came today, all parties (including the NAR) have been holding public meetings over the past few weeks.
Last Sunday, at what was dubbed his "25th anniversary celebrations", Panday filled the Grand Stand at the Queen's Park Savannah in a show of strength that was said to have been paid for-in that most of the participants were "bussed" to the venue. Maharaj held a public meeting in St James on Monday night. It was well attended and the main speakers, who included party treasurer Unanan Persad, exposed what they alleged were more instances of corruption in the government. And tonight, in San Fernando, the PNM hosts another campaign style meeting.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Was it the same Panday in '95?
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
THE EDITOR: Basdeo Panday at a meeting in Gasparillo on Thursday night stated that the three dissidents who were holding late night talks with the "corrupt PNM" were "traitors" and "betrayed 39 years of struggle".
Surely the Hon Prime Minister must be speaking of the "corrupt PNM" of the old days.
But, was it not the very Hon Basdeo Panday who appointed an old PNM man the very month after the UNC formed the government in 1995, to "train" his Ministers - no wonder one of the "trainees" is now on 52 counts of fraud and in jail facing a murder charge.
As a matter of fact "corrupt PNM" is or was on several state Boards, under the UNC Government.
If Maharaj, Sudama and Maraj are "traitors", the treachery did not start this week, it started since the month of December 1995.
As a matter of fact, I said on several occasions that to be a "big thing in the UNC it seems as though you had to pass through the PNM first and the higher, the better."
But have no fear, the "sweat, blood and tears of all those who truly opposed the corrupt PNM for 39 years will surely fall on all the opportunists and traitors.
DAVE PERSAD
Attorney-at-Law
Couva
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
UNC's Overdraft exceeds $100,000
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Unanan Persad the UNC party's treasurer, said yesterday, the United National Congress has no money in its coffers and owes a major bank more than $100,000.
He claimed there are more instances of "financial impropriety" in the affairs of the UNC and said the party's National Executive has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to look into the issue of a US$50,000 cheque which was made out to Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
Earlier, at a news conference held at the Couva South constituency office, Persad had distributed copies of a letters between himself and Royal Bank which said one of the party's accounts has been overdrawn by $112,199.
The overdraft limit on the account is $100,000 and is secured by the party's Mutual Funds account, Persad said.
He claimed the account has been overdrawn on a continuous basis over the last few months.
Persad also claimed the account was "overdrawn by over $700,000 and $300,000 since the beginning of the year".
He said he instructed the bank not to honour cheques because of insufficient funds but the bank failed to comply with his request, stating that cheques which carry two of the three authorised signatures will be honoured.
The signatories to the account are Panday, Dave Cowie and himself, Persad said.
But, Persad said, while the cheques may be legally written, they are debited on an already overdrawn account.
He said: "That can be deemed an illegal act, as these cheques are knowingly issued when there are no available funds in the party's account."
He added: "During the financial review of the party's accounts, serious discrepancies and practices were discovered that do not conform to generally accepted accounting principles."
He claimed it was these issues which he expected to discuss at the National Executive meeting, scheduled to be held on October 1, but was aborted when supporters of the Prime Minister held a meeting at the same venue.
Reading from a prepared text, Persad said he had information that funds of the party, "in excess of $100,000 have been used by the political leader for transportation of persons from all over Trinidad to attend last Sunday's rally at the Queen's Park Savannah."
He said expenditure was not approved by the National Executive, and "the situation was further aggravated by the fact that a claim for transportation of persons attending the Women's Congress in August, by the financial consultant Ache Jaggan for $27,800, cannot be verified."
The UNC treasurer continued his litany of financial discrepancies on the records by pointing out that subsequent claims for the same event were reduced to $17,850, then $16,000 and finally $15,450.
He said another disbursement for approximately $61,000 for transportation of persons to a Special Assembly at the SWWTU Hall on July 31, "cannot be justified nor substantiated".
He reiterated his claim of having no idea where the funds raised overseas in the name of the party have ended up.
Persad called on Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, the UNC's political leader, to explain "how party funds are utilised autocratically and indiscriminately". He accused Panday of not respecting the constitution of the UNC.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Was it the same Panday in '95?
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
THE EDITOR: Basdeo Panday at a meeting in Gasparillo on Thursday night stated that the three dissidents who were holding late night talks with the "corrupt PNM" were "traitors" and "betrayed 39 years of struggle".
Surely the Hon Prime Minister must be speaking of the "corrupt PNM" of the old days.
But, was it not the very Hon Basdeo Panday who appointed an old PNM man the very month after the UNC formed the government in 1995, to "train" his Ministers - no wonder one of the "trainees" is now on 52 counts of fraud and in jail facing a murder charge.
As a matter of fact "corrupt PNM" is or was on several state Boards, under the UNC Government.
If Maharaj, Sudama and Maraj are "traitors", the treachery did not start this week, it started since the month of December 1995.
As a matter of fact, I said on several occasions that to be a "big thing in the UNC it seems as though you had to pass through the PNM first and the higher, the better."
But have no fear, the "sweat, blood and tears of all those who truly opposed the corrupt PNM for 39 years will surely fall on all the opportunists and traitors.
DAVE
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Giving the people power
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
By Bukka Rennie
The three UNC dissidents were told emphatically: "Join the PNM and live in the sky!" Reminds me of the underworld figure who fell out with Al Capone and sent "ole Al" the following threat: "When next I come to New York, be missing!" The suggestion being that the threatened should quickly acquire the propensity to become "ghosts" or face the violent, murderous wrath of common thuggery. I really hope it does not ever come to that.
I once had the unfortunate but memorable task of visiting Trevor Sudama at hospital to occasion pictorial evidence of the brutality that was meted out to him by certain elements in the sugar belt.
Sudama had been a central active member of a new formation, SPIWTU (Sugar Plantation and Industrial Workers Trade Union), in opposition to the All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factories Workers Trade Union led then by powerful personalities who frowned on attempts by this new formation to gain formal recognition to represent sugar workers.
Trevor Sudama was set upon and beaten almost to death with what was described as "two-by-four pitchpine planks of wood with six-inch 'tata-mash' nails".
Those pictures were splashed across the front page of the newspaper that I then edited. Involvement with the group that produced that newspaper took me at least twice a week into the sugar belt from Orange Grove to Usine Ste Madeleine and put me in contact with lots of people, other than Sudama, many of whom are now gone.
I can recall stalwarts like Sammy Gowandan of Dow Village, "Manny" Alexander and Deo from Balmain, Nazir Allarakoo of Golaconda, Hamlet and his group from Petit Morne, Harry Ramoutar of Brechin Castle, and Loutoo and Mohammed of the Sugar Workers Action Committee on the McBean side.
There was this tremendous support on the ground for a new progressive thrust in the sugar belt but the backward trade union hierarchy sought to make things difficult, if not outright dangerous, for the progressives. Some of the earlier mentioned people had worked out plans to seize and occupy the offices of the union.
In fact a dry-run, led by some heroic women plantation workers of Golaconda, was actually implemented successfully without the All Trinidad Trade Union bureaucrats ever having the foggiest.
Nervous in the heat of the politics of the situation and worried about the possibility that the planned move may be deemed extra-legal, they decided to seek legal opinion. The lawyer they approached was Basdeo Panday, a most obvious choice given his background, and the rest is now history.
What I am saying here is what I know not what I read or what I was told. Panday embraced the process with messianic zeal and with the thrust from the masses below marched the sugar belt into the mix and mainstream of T&T's modern politics, never ever to be turned back. Sudama, though, almost paid the price for this progress with his life.
The question is: Will he ever have to pay so dearly once again? Sudama certainly cannot be considered to be a charismatic personality, in fact he is rather dull and dour, but is no less committed to the sugar-belt cause than anyone else.
In the past, from 1965-76, the quest for national unity was predicated on trade union consciousness and socialist rhetoric, and when all the attempts in this period to achieve political power failed and the so-called economic boom ensued, all and sundry fell back to a racial strategy.
Once again the objective situation is demanding a move away from racial strategies. The balance of forces indicates that political power can neither be achieved nor maintained without a minimising or significant reduction of the racial divide. Once again everyone is for unity, the popular term is "inclusion", of course minus the trade union consciousness and passé socialist rhetoric.
What is disturbing though is that in the presently ensuing debate most people tend to be responding to emotionalism and pique and the issues are blurred and not rooted to the day-to-day affairs of people's existence. It is as if we all have already found the secrets to living in the sky.
Take for instance the question of Clico's role in the present situation. Everyone today is for "inclusion" so to say that anti-Clico criticism is tantamount to demanding "exclusion" is in fact obfuscation. In this modern world government's relationship with corporations is a given reality, even more so as the CL Financial Group is a homegrown entity now seeking to extend itself outward into the global scenario and needs support from its base country.
The question to be posed therefore is what is the nature of the relationship, how can transparency be ensured and, given the fact that Clico's base activity is life insurance, whether or not the regulations that guide the treatment of mutual funds are being compromised? If the issue is posed like that then it can be resolved by rational, intelligent people.
We need to remind ourselves that human beings did not form societies to lessen but to increase their individual possibilities, as Tom Paine insisted. The only fundamental reality is the struggle to continuously broaden the power of the people as a collective force.
All the so-called leaders and their bands of fawning "imps" claim that they only wish to serve the people and in their haste "to serve", nobody takes time to contemplate the ideals of humanity and the changes in the Constitution of the country required to facilitate in a structural way, the foremost ideal, which is power to the people to the very last person.
The Constitution apparently is sancrosant. Matters not how far the actual politics on the ground have stretched the parameters of existing legal arrangements. We need to uphold at all times the higher law, which is the spirit of natural justice.
Once Constitution stands in the way of natural justice then it must be rooted out and changed with vigorous expediency. At the moment that is exactly what should be done with the present Constitution of T&T. But how and by whom is the train to be set in motion?
That takes us to the question of "parties". Parties are not "ends" in themselves, but rather they are "means" to an "end". The party is a strategy of utilising a structured minority to capture political power in order to implement policies and programmes that will serve to bring social and economic development to the society as a whole.
The party is not paramount, what is paramount is the collective will of the people and the constant expanding of their democratic way of life to the point where "parties" themselves become obsolete. There will always be struggle between various parties and even internecine conflict between leading individuals of the same party.
What is crucial though in this context is that the issues are not personalised but kept on a clear objective level and that there be clear-cut avenues through which the people can intervene to bring their collective wisdom to bear on the resolving of matters. To accomplish this no one must fear the human clamour of the masses below and no one must be allowed or be forced to live in the sky.
http://www.trinicenter.com/BukkaRennie/
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
PNM approves resolution to remove Speaker
Posted: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
The People's National Movement (PNM) parliamentary caucus last night approved a resolution for the removal of Dr Rupert Griffith as Speaker of the House of Representatives. At a meeting last night at Balisier House, the party passed the following resolution:
"Be it resolved that the undersigned being a majority of the members of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago do hereby require that the Honourable Rupert Griffith, Speaker of the House of Representatives, be removed from office and therefore vacate the office temporarily and cease to perform the functions of Speaker, for the following reasons:
Grounds:
1: The Speaker has by his conduct in presiding over the proceedings of the House of Representatives on Friday, October 5, 2001, contravened the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives in such a way as to undermine the dignity of the Parliament and the authority of the elected representatives thereof.
2: The conduct of the Speaker has left members uncertain as to whether in the future he will continue to preside in the manner that is in flagrant disregard of the desires of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives and consequently the Speaker's judgment and impartiality are now in question.
Particulars
(a) Standing Order 9(1) of the House of Representatives states:
"Subject to paragraph (2) of this Standing Order, the House shall meet on Fridays and every adjournment of the House shall be to the next Friday unless the House, upon a motion moved by a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary, otherwise decides. Notice of such a motion shall not be required and the question on the motion shall be put without amendment or debate."
(b) On Friday, October 5, 2001, upon a motion moved by the Leader of the House that the House be adjourned to a date to be fixed, the House divided; however notwithstanding that the "No's" were clearly louder that the "Ayes" the Speaker declared that the "Ayes" have it.
(c) Immediately thereafter in accordance with Standing Order 45, there were repeated audible calls for a 'division' which the Speaker refused to acknowledge. The Speaker then proceeded to declare the adjournment of the House to a date to be fixed, ordered the removal of the Mace and left the Chamber.
(d) The Speaker without lawful authority and in breach of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives arbitrarily refused to adhere to a lawful request for a division of the members of the said House.
(e) The Speaker in breach of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives made a ruling in favour of the minority of the members of the House of Representatives, which said action, is contrary to the established principles of democracy.
(f) On Friday, October 5, 2001, therefore, the House was not adjourned pursuant to its own order, thus constituting a most flagrant contravention of the Parliamentary democracy to which we subscribe. That this unlawful and undemocratic action was perpetrated by the holder of the office of the Speaker of the House makes this action all the more serious and detrimental.
The resolution was signed by Ken Valley, Colm Imbert, Camille Robinson-Regis, Jarette Narine, Eulalie James, Martin Joseph, Roger Boynes, Fitzgerald Hinds, Lawrence Achong, and Penelope Beckles.
The meeting was informed that it was also the agreement by the PNM members in Tobago, as well as the three UNC rebels and the NAR's Nathaniel Moore, that the Speaker should go.
However, the decision was taken that as soon as all the signatures are obtained, the resolution will be submitted to the Clerk of the House.
PNM also said as far as they were concerned the House ought to meet on Friday. The adjournment they insisted was illegal. They also plan to approach the Deputy Speaker, asking him to reconvene the House on Friday.
ABSTRACT: Trinidad Newsday
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Judge refused to adjourn Gypsy/Chaitan hearing
Posted: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
A High Court judge yesterday refused to adjourn the hearing of election petitions to unseat Junior Ministers Winston "Gypsy" Peters and William Chaitan. Justice Melville Baird, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Civil Court, said: "The interests of justice dictate that the petitions should go forward straight away."
Attorney Fyard Hosein, assisted by Devesh Maharaj, had argued for an adjournment of the petitions until the Privy Council determines constitutional motions filed by Peters and Chaitan. Hosein asked for the adjournment on the grounds that one of the issues to be determined is whether the High Court had jurisdiction to hear election petitions.
In his nine-page ruling, Justice Baird said: "The raison d'etre of the representation petition is to dissipate clouds of uncertainty that might envelop the country after an election.
"Delay, an ally of uncertainty, is therefore inimical to the spirit of the representation petition and abhorrent to the public mind."
Justice Baird said Peters' and Chaitan's constitutional appeals to the Privy Council were filed under Section 109 (1) (d) of the Constitution. He said this section excludes from the jurisdiction of the Privy Council any decision of the High Court relating to the qualification and election of a person as a member of the House of Representatives. He said the appeal to the Privy Council is therefore confined to whether the fundamental rights and freedoms of Peters and Chaitan had been infringed by the filing of the election petitions against them.
Justice Baird said: "The Privy Council, therefore, will not be addressing the issues of fact and law which would be needed to be resolved for the determination of petitions." He said the attorneys for Peters and Chaitan failed to demonstrate that the refusal of the applications for adjournment of the petitions will result in the denial of justice to them, a defeat of their rights or a miscarriage of justice.
Justice Baird said: "They presented nothing to the Court to show a denial of justice to them, or any threat or potential threat that justice denied them, or that their rights would be threatened, or that a miscarriage of justice would ensue, should the Court not grant the adjournment." Two defeated PNM candidates, Franklin Khan (Ortoire/Mayaro) and Farad Khan (Pointe-a-Pierre), filed the petitions to unseat Peters and Chaitan claiming that the Junior Ministers were not qualified to be MPs since they held dual citizenship at the time of their nomination and election.
These petitions are different from the ones filed by the electors Paul Phagoo and Princess Smart in an attempt to unseat PNM MPs Patrick Manning and Eulalie James. Justice Jamadar, presiding in the Port-of-Spain First Civil Court, also refused to grant an adjournment of these petitions last week. He set the whole of next week for the hearing of those petitions.
Justice Baird has scheduled a Court management conference in his Chambers today for preparations to be made for the hearing of the petitions filed against Peters and Chaitan. Attorney Hosein and Maharaj have signalled their intension of appealing the rulings of Justice Baird and Justice Jamadar.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Griffith unworthy to be Speaker
Posted: Tuesday, October 9, 2001
The entire population must have been scandalised at Speaker Griffith's ruling last Friday when he adjourned the House, without calling for a division. With much embarrassment, I anticipate the unsavoury discussions which will take place at the next meeting of Commonwealth Parliamentary Speakers and Presiding Officers.
Griffith has disgraced our Parliament and brought it into disrepute, and is unworthy to be Speaker.
Standing Orders 45 and 46 required Griffith to call for a division, and for the Clerk to record the vote of every Member, and announce the results. Contrary to what new AG Persad-Bissessar claims, Griffith had absolutely no discretion in the matter. It will be interesting to see how Hansard records the results.
Nothing short of his resignation, or his removal from office, can undo the harm he has inflicted on the minds of our young population. The Speaker after all is fifth in the State's order of precedence, coming after the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, and the Senate President. Lord save us!
Michael
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Interesting Times
Posted: Sunday, October 7, 2001
By DONNA YAWCHING
THE problem with street fighters is, they never know when to stop. Basdeo Panday, despite his latter-day clipped accents and celebrity golfing, has always been a political street fighter; and what we have been witnessing these past couple of weeks has been his mongrel determination to hang on with tooth and nail until the bitter end.
The change in our Prime Minister has been remarkable in its physicality. When Ramesh and Co started nipping at his heels a few weeks ago, the PM, speaking in increasingly tight-lipped fashion, began to look gaunt; he sounded as if he were sucking on unripe "tambran". Eschewing the flippant repartee with which he normally brushes off the media's questions, he was suddenly grimly circumspect, dropping phrases like "at the right time" and "as soon as it is convenient". Only occasionally could he be goaded into displaying raw emotion, such as when Mr Manning produced his infamous photo in Parliament.
Then the PM was finally forced to fire his mutinous ministers (no doubt much to his chagrin, a firing-squad is no longer viable in these circumstances); and the mark was not long in "bussin". The loose cannons started careening all over the deck, as everyone knew they would; and this was when the construct which has called itself Prime Minister Panday began—finally—to unravel.
Abandoning all attempts at judicious restraint and phony refined accents, he was once more the street-fighter on the hustings, playing to the crowd of (presumably) supporters with all the passion and abandon of his political past. His eyes blazed, his voice thundered—his appeal was obvious. The old Bas had re-discovered his element. The disguise of the last five years peeled off like a banana-skin.
As moments of glory go, though, it was short. As I write, the dissident UNC MPs have reached an "arrangement" with their former enemies-for-life, the PNM; and Panday's back is clearly jammed up hard against the wall. Even the cushiony comfort of his new Attorney General, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, cannot stop that from hurting.
And it shows. On Friday night's TV news, Panday looked positively dishevelled, his normally neat silver coif falling untidily over his forehead. His voice and thought processes were similarly wild: he was virtually incoherent. He sounded like a man who's reached the end of the road and knows it, but won't accept it. Like every street fighter, he just can't walk away.
He should, of course; it would be the dignified, prime ministerial thing to do. At this point, it is clear that his government, as it currently stands, is finished. He might quite conceivably be able to constitute a new one if he were to go to the polls; because despite all the mud that has stuck to him, the man touches the popular psyche in a way that Ramesh and his cohorts never will.
But Panday is not 100 per cent sure that he could convincingly win a new mandate from a deeply disillusioned public (particularly not if the election list is sanitised first); and therein lies his desperation. He bitterly accuses Ramesh of lusting after the flashing lights and outriders that accompany a Prime Minister's vehicle; but the naked truth is that he himself doesn't want to give up those flashing lights, that sense of overweening importance. The prospect of no longer being Prime Minister is tearing Panday apart, and it is so obvious that it is almost painful to watch.
The same (though to a lesser extent) is true of all his "loyal" ministers: they see the gravy train about to dry up, and it is driving them to distraction. They are willing to try anything to reverse the process, from veiled threats to mud-slinging to the menace of the mob. It is not a pretty sight to witness all these men (and women) scrabbling so desperately to keep hold of power: it tells the rest of us just a little too clearly why they're really in politics. Forget all that guff about "serving the nation"—just in case anyone ever actually believed it.
Desperation at gutter level does not engender clear thinking; and this is why we have been treated to Kamla Persad-Bissessar reading from page 42 (she knows chapter and verse) of the Scott Drug Report, to link Ramesh Maharaj to some very questionable activities. Persad-Bissessar and the UNC apparently never worried about this until now. The thought of working with—and in her case, under—such a person never gave any of them a moment's insomnia, until this week. Strange.
Equally bizarre is Panday's insistence that Ramesh et al are trying to destroy the UNC because he wants to include "the other". Two things jar in this scenario. Why would anyone in a winning party, with all the prospects of gravy slopping onto his plate, want to "destroy" such a sweet deal? Moreover, didn't the UNC government in its first term feature such "others" as Wade Mark, Mervyn Assam, John Humphrey, Brian Kuei Tung, Daphne Phillips, and even two PNM neemakharams for good measure? Not to mention dear Carlos, toward the end of the term? Why did the alleged Indian purists not object to "inclusion" then?
Or could it be that "inclusion" and "exclusion" are really not the issue; but raw power is? For while I'm delighted to see the scourge of corruption finally coming under the microscope, I am under no corresponding illusions regarding the former Attorney General. He must have known about the rot for years, yet said not a word. So why all the pious stuff now? The only answer is power.
Ramesh (who is no fool) saw CL Financial, with Carlos John as its shock-trooper, proceeding to take over the UNC behind the scenes. He saw how Panday (well known for sleeping with devils) was irrevocably in this particular devil's thrall; and he saw his own power set to diminish as a result, with Carlos inevitably in the ascendancy. He saw, he objected, and he acted. And the nation is now living through the result.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Moore opposition for Government
Posted: Saturday, October 6, 2001
NAR MP Nathaniel Moore (Tobago East) made the difference in yesterday’s 16-18 defeat of three Government bills in the House of Representatives.
If Moore had voted in support of the three bills defeated in the House of Representatives yesterday, the result would have been 17 MPs “for”, and 17 MPs "against", leaving Government-appointed House Speaker Dr Rupert Griffith to use his casting vote to push through the bills.
The Express asked Moore why he had voted against the bills.
He initially replied: "They had a majority without me."
Told that his vote had made the difference, Moore explained why he had voted against the Government.
He said: "I have no confidence in the continuation of the Government. We are now wasting our time coming here. We have lost confidence in them."
Asked if he had discussed before hand with the "accommodation" (the Opposition and the trio of dissident UNC MPs) if they were planning to oppose the bills, Moore said: "No, but I expected it to happen".
Asked if he expected people to be surprised that he had voted against the Government (of which his party, NAR, was once a coalition partner), Moore said: "Why? Why should they be surprised? I am not a member of the Government. I would vote how I want to on each issue."
So, would he vote against the Government, if a motion of no-confidence is moved in the House of Representatives?
Moore replied: "Yes, and I might even move the motion myself."
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Crisis in TT Today
Posted: Saturday, October 6, 2001
Dear Editor
The coalition forces are uniting to deal decisively with their common enemy. They have started their assault and their target is being very elusive. No folks I am not here talking about George W. Bush and allies moving on Osama Bin Laden and his band. I am talking about the 3 'recently enlightened' UNC members and the Opposition PNM as they try to dislodge Basdeo Panday and the UNC who has lost their Parliamentary majority and desperately holds on to power, and resignation as an option seems not to be in their vocabulary.
In the meantime our nation has virtually stopped running, oil workers are rumbling, teachers are threatening to shut down school, bankers are calling on the government to get its act in order, cancer patients are crying out for drugs and treatment. It has reached the stage where a Prime Minister has started to abuse citizens in the most vulgar of ways, snarling and barking at everyone as he tries to hold on to the illusion of power.
With our country in such turmoil and as the region watches on in horror and dismay, the nation's collective conscience is feeling terrorized.
Trinidad is crying out for new and better leadership, we did not reach this present impasse by ourselves...we were led there.
KURT GARCIA
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Speaker Griffith's job at risk
Posted: Saturday, October 6, 2001
House Speaker Rupert Griffith’s decision to adjourn Parliament without implementing the call for a division from Opposition MPs could put his job at risk.
Griffith’s actions were severely criticised by Opposition Leader, Patrick Manning.
Former AG, Ramesh Maharaj said yesterday that the options available to MPs in the light of Griffith’s actions included removal of the Speaker.
"As you know there is a new amendment to the law where the Speaker can be removed from office by a simple majority. So that is an option the House has," he said at a press conference following the sitting.
The amendment was brought during the State of Emergency in 1995 when former House Speaker Occah Seapaul was put under house arrest.
Under Section 50 (9) of the Constitution, upon delivery of a resolution signed by a majority a members, the Speaker shall be made to vacate his office temporarily and cease to perform his functions as Speaker.
The Speaker then has 21 days to reply to the motion, arguing the grounds on which he is resisting his removal. Within 14 days another motion in support of the original resolution has to be brought to the House and debated. Although the matter is then referred to a Tribunal set up by the President in his sole discretion, the House is not bound by the recommendations of this body.
The PNM has little reason to want to show charity towards Griffith. Having won a seat under the PNM banner in 1995, he crossed the floor in 1997. Since becoming Speaker last December, the disaffection which the PNM had for him has grown considerably because he has suspended two PNM members of Parliament.
The last suspension - Keith Rowley - provoked a major furore. Ironically, Griffith was one of the signatories back in 1995, to the resolution which led to the removal of Seapaul.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Crisis in T&T
Posted: Friday, October 5, 2001
The coalition forces have lined up against their common enemy. No, this is not the US and their allies against bin Laden but three UNC members in coalition with the PNM against PM Basdeo Panday.
The public has long been expecting a terrorist attack to come from the Basdeo Payday's training camp.
There is movement in the UNC ground forces and observers are seeing, not refugees but employees of the Express Newspapers clearing the ground following the threat of bombing.
The coalition forces are having meetings and strengthening their alliances especially with personalities on the borders to be able to launch an assault from all sides.
The Opposition Leader previously warned the PM that he could run but cannot hide.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Basdeo Panday's worst nightmare
Posted: Friday, October 5, 2001
Abstract: Newsday
Prime Minister Basdeo Panday made a passionate speech to supporters on Wednesday night, with loyalist government ministers and senators bolstering support for their position against MPs Ramesh Maharaj, Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maraj.
During the meeting the Tabaquite and Princes Town constituencies passed resolutions demanding the expulsions of the three men. The move was made ahead of a planned October 14 National Assembly at which an attempt will be made to expel them from the party.
The Congress has already been deemed illegal by an executive member, Garnet Mungalsingh who said on Tuesday that only the National Executive can summon a Congress.
As Panday addressed the crowd on Wednesday, he got word of the late night talks going on at Crowne Plaza, Port-of-Spain, between Maharaj, Maraj and Sudama and officials of the People's National Movement (PNM).
Clearly shaken by the news, Panday said the three UNC members were traitors to their party, and had betrayed a cause 39 years in the making.
"After 39 years ... and they are now going to take the hopes and aspirations of all the people and give it to that corrupt PNM. Do they know what they are doing?"
Panday said if they did that, "they must be planning to live in the sky".
"The people of Trinidad ... gave you their sweat, blood, hope, aspirations, their tears and fears, put it in your hands, and now you hand it to the PNM," he charged.
Panday said that at age 68, "I can't turn back now, If I come back I will die. (We cannot) go back to racial ethnic politics; we must bury the PNM."
Panday had a message to his former comrades: "if you want to go to the President to remove me as Prime Minister, I want to tell you something. I was not born in Parliament, and I don't have to die in there.
"I was not born at the Prime Minister's residence and I was not born Prime Minister, and I don't have to die Prime Minister."
He told supporters: "I shall never give you up. As long as there is breath in my body, I shall love you."
Panday will address a UNC rally at the Queen's Park Savannah on Sunday.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
EBC commissioners advised to resign
Posted: Friday, October 5, 2001
THE EDITOR: This is a letter to the Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission, October 3, 2001 Mr Oswald Wilson, Chairman, Elections and Boundaries Commission, 134-138 Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain.
The arrest of the women this week is only the start of a massive exercise in which many persons will be charged for falsely declaring their address in the San Fernando West Constituency yesterday.(21/09/01)
You know, one of the things that we in the Commission guard very jealously is the independence of the Commission ... the other thing we feel very strongly about is the integrity of the Commission. (Raoul John, EBC Commission - 23/09/01)
The Commission (EBC) may regulate its own procedures yet you want a Commission of Enquiry? Is Parliament to tell them how to run their business? To call for a Commission of Enquiry into the conduct of the EBC is to cast aspersions on them. (Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister (29/09/01)
Dear Mr Wilson
This - my second letter to you, I expect, will suffer a similar, if not a worse fate than the first. As a citizen, however, I consider it my duty to remind you that in the governance of a republic supreme power is vested in the people and their duly elected representatives. And further, I am prepared to defend that principle against all who seek to subvert it.
In my previous communication, I called on the Elections and Boundary Commission (EBC) "to immediately undertake an open, independent and transparent forensic exercise to cleanse the electoral list of all defects".
Through the present correspondence, I am strongly advising that all Commissioners immediately resign in the public interest. Should Commissioners insist on holding on to office, they run the very real and significant risk of further pushing the country into a deeper political/constitutional quagmire the likes of which none of us would wish to experience.
Whatever the personal integrity and independence of each, or indeed all, Commissioner(s) of the EBC, it cannot convincingly deny that there is a great deal of public mistrust and loss of confidence in its ability to impartially, ensure free and fair elections in the country.
Further, the EBC can take no comfort in the Commonwealth Secretariat's Report. Their mandate did not include an investigation of the issues which now engage the Nation's attention. The result of that election is still to be determined. And, whatever the result, it would inspire no confidence in electoral/political process that produced it. Nor can the EBC convince anyone of its view, as expressed by Mr Raoul John, that criticisms and allegations are coming from "mainly one group or quarter".
This position has apparently blinded the EBC to the larger body of public opinion, which continues to express deep reservations over the conduct of the last general elections. Reservations not merely due to partisan considerations but rather to the stark realisation that the electoral process had been fatally compromised. This is attested to by the several arrests made by the police in connection with the voter padding issue as well as other elections related matters now before the courts.
In the present situation, the Commission's invoking its independence and integrity, has a decidedly hollow ring and only heightens the suspicion that it is seeking to cover up possible evidence, which may confirm the many allegations.
Any election held therefore, under current conditions, would be a recipe for disaster. The most prudent course of action open to present Commissioners is resignation. This would clear the way for a fresh initiative to restore confidence in the independence and integrity of the EBC. It will also be the greatest gift that present Commissioners can give to our fledgling republican democracy. Failing this, history will not absolve members for failing to see the real opportunity for advancing democracy in Trinidad and Tobago.
In the public's interest - Go In Peace!
LINCOLN MYERS
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
TT deserves better
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
As a citizen who went to school and paid full attention to my teachers while being taught, I am now an adult able to discern, right from wrong and simple things like what are the issues being discussed in the society in which I live.
The discussion being advanced by Ramesh Maharaj and company, has dealt with everything else besides the question of "inclusion" which is translated in an uncoded and undisguised way to mean " bringing Africans and non Indians to the UNC " or in other words as Mr Panday wants us to believe that, he wants to bring in all races to the UNC and some members do not want that.
Even if what Mr Panday is saying is true, and there is no public evidence to support his claim, in an already racially charged society, his actions can be rightfully interpreted as playing the race card to bolster his sagging political fortunes and personal advantage.
In following the debate I have never heard anyone say publicly that they are against inclusion, and the person who should be the most careful in the society as to how messages concerning race are transmitted and interpreted, is the person right now who is being the most loose and reckless, with undisguised utilization of race, as a political tool against his opponents, in a discussion where the issue is not part of the audible and visible discussion. Trinidad and Tobago deserves better from its leaders.
KURT GARCIA
St James
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Sudama slams three big-money projects
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
( Trinidad Express ) THE conflict between "The Three Musketeers" and Prime Minister Basdeo Panday started with the airport contract.
This was revealed by Oropouche MP Trevor Sudama at a press conference called yesterday to announce his resignation as Food Production Minister.
As it turned out, however, Sudama did not have the chance to resign since, when he arrived at his St Clair office at one o'clock, he found a letter revoking his appointment.
Asked if he would hold talks with the Opposition PNM, Sudama replied, "I am open to talks with anybody in the interest of the country and stability." Sudama also pointed out that in 1995 the first thing Basdeo Panday spoke about after winning 17 seats in the general election was a "national front" government which would work with the PNM.
"He has also said, 'I am willing to sleep with the devil'," said Sudama. "Well, I am not willing to sleep with the devil, but I am willing to talk." Sudama insisted that any such negotiations would require a clear position on the prevention and prosecution of corruption.
Stating that they had been concerned for some time about the way the Government was proceeding, Sudama said they had also queried the expenditure on the Miss Universe pageant, which Cabinet had been told would cost the country nothing, but which, according to Sudama, ended up costing the country $80 million.
Objections were also raised in Cabinet about the building of four new stadia at a cost of a borrowed $400 million. "I do not know what we will do with those now that the under-17 tournament is finished," Sudama said.
Why didn't they raise these issues before in public? "We had just come into Government after so many years in Opposition, and the sentiment was that we had to stick in there, maintain stability," Sudama explained.
He said he had hoped there would be a change in the second term in office but it was just "business as usual".
Asked about Panday's description of him as a "total and incontrovertible failure", Sudama queried that, if that were so, why hadn't Panday taken away his ministry long ago? "I have done my best with the resources at my disposal," he said.
Sudama also expressed concern about political thuggery. Referring to the aborted meeting of the national executive on Monday at the Rienzi Complex, at which Panday held a mass meeting at the same time, he said, "It is very significant that, when Mr Humphrey was asked why the executive had not turned up, he said that if Ramesh Maharaj had turned up, he would have been lynched. We are dealing with a kind of thuggery in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago."
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Former UNC Cabinet Ministers reached an accommodation with PNM
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
The Prime Minister and his team were on the hustings in Gasparillo last night while negotiations were underway behind closed doors at Crowne Plaza between the Opposition leader and the UNC forces of Ramesh Maharaj, Ralph Maraj and Trevor Sudama.
Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Trevor Sudama have announced that they have reached an accommodation with the PNM. They claim that they have spoken to the President and they feel that a new Prime Minister can be announced soon.
The new Attorney General Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the UNC/Basdeo Payday’s rally yesterday said that rumors have it that the dissident group is planning to have the Prime Minister arrested. She told the crowd, "If they touch one they touch all of us."
Speculations are far and wide about the powers of the President. The Nation is looking on at the events as they unfold as the Lords of crisis, a clique of political commentators, making the rounds on the media circuit.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
British Offer Details on Evidence
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
The Associated Press
Published: Oct 4, 2001
LONDON -- Excerpts from summary of evidence against Osama bin Laden in U.S. terrorist attacks, released Thursday by the British government:
The clear conclusions reached by the government are:
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the atrocities on 11 September 2001; Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida retain the will and resources to carry out further atrocities; the United Kingdom, and United Kingdom nationals are potential targets; and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida were able to commit these atrocities because of their close alliance with the Taliban regime, which allowed them to operate with impunity in pursuing their terrorist activity.
___<
After 11 September we learned that, not long before, bin Laden had indicated he was about to launch a major attack on America. The detailed planning for the terrorist attacks of 11 September was carried out by one of Osama bin Laden's close associates. Of the 19 hijackers involved in 11 September 2001, it has already been established that at least three had links with al-Qaida.
The attacks on 11 September 2001 were similar in both their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks undertaken by Osama bin laden and al-Qaida, and also had features in common.
___<
Suicide attackers coordinated attacks on the same day; (had) the aim to cause maximum American casualties; total disregard for other casualties, including Muslims; meticulous long-term planning; absence of warning.
___<
In the months before the September 11 attacks, propaganda videos were distributed throughout the Middle East and Muslim world by al-Qaida, in which Osama bin Laden and others were shown encouraging Muslims to attack American and Jewish targets.
Similar videos, extolling violence against the United States and other targets, were distributed before the East African embassy attacks in August 1998.
___<
Nineteen men have been identif
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Incompetence worse than corruption
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
In the affairs of a nation corruption leaders are bad but incompetent leaders are far worse.
There may be some petty crooks stealing a few thousands here and there, even a few millions, but their misdemeanors are picayune in comparison with the large-scale losses caused by incompetents in government.
Rounding off the figures, the public debt was $18 billion in 1995 and $30 billion in 2001, while the annual budgets were balanced.
If the mean population over that period be taken as 1.8 million, then in 1995 every man, woman and child in Trinbago owed $10,000; that figure went to $16,667 by 2001, an increase of 66 per cent.
This happened while the economy emerged from recession with increased revenues, with billions of US dollars being invested in the country and with falling unemployment.
There must be monumental incompetence at work or else our apparent affluence has been created by mortgaging the country's future by creating massive debts to be repaid by future generations.
Ernest Massiah,
St Ann's.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Stop using sugar workers as footmats
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
This is an appeal to the Prime Minister to settle the issue of the industrial contract for sugar workers at Caroni (1975) Ltd.
Workers have been on a virtual wage freeze, getting a one per cent increase for 2001. This works out at less than $20 a month.
When we hear how money is flowing like water through the airport contracts, Petrotrin corruption, North West Regional Health Authority, etc, workers are puzzled the Government cannot offer a proper increase.
Sugar workers are demanding they be given a 15 per cent increase for 2002-2004. This must be settled before any general election. We are not going to tolerate being used as footmats.
Also, some workers who have served for 25 years and over would like to be offered a VSEP retirement with a proper gratuity. Presently, Caroni pensioners get $600 a month with no gratuity, after serving for more than 35 years.
We need to hear from the Prime Minister.
Singh,
St Madeleine.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Threat of civil strife - NAR Tobago
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
Hochoy Charles, political leader of NAR in Tobago, yesterday warned of a state of civil disobedience in the country if no decision to head off a possible collapse of the Basdeo Panday Government is arrived at by weekend.
"We have to go back to the polls," Charles said.
He said said there was no question of making deals to see who would be prime minister and the NAR would not be joining up with anybody for such a reason.
"That would just a plaster on the sore. Every unfair game must be played over," he said.
"NAR would only be in a deal where all the political parties come together for comprehensive constitutional reform for the best of the country," he added.
Deputy Chairman of the NAR in Tobago, Christo Gift, also said a general election is the only option to solving the political crisis in the country.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Still defending America?
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
Response to Kevin Baldeosingh's Still defending America
( Davy De Verteuil ) America never fought for the people of KOSOVA nor BOSNIA but against them. The US & OSCE tried to contain both sides for their own interest.
Unfortunately most of us are not aware of the role non-aligned countries played in the UN sponsored mission in Somalia, had it not been for these different forces the US would have gotten away with murder not to mention her own personal designs for the country and the region as a whole. And if it weren't for the Malaysians on the UN peacekeeping mission at that time the US would have suffered casualties no less than a thousand.
Similar circumstances exist in Bosnia where the UN peacekeeping forces served as a check and balance or more accurately witnesses to the happenings in the Balkans.
This is the same reason Israel does not want UN observers in the Middle East, in fact they bombed and killed UN observers a crime that would have bought the wrath of British and US governments without considering civilians had this been done by so-called Terrorist Nations.
What on earth gives you the impression that the US has no interest in the Balkans?
You sincerely believe the US has less territorial designs than another nation or ideology in today's world.
What are those floating soccer fields with the monstrous weapons of mass destruction floating around the globe year round not to mention land bases and the repeated calls for militarizing space all about.
So if someone says that America called it upon itself the 11/9 destruction does that mean that he/she is morally wrong.
Man you should be writing for National enquirer. Not a newspaper.
No one is justifying terrorism but the reality is when you plant corn don't expect oranges that is not a question of justification or not, rather it is a reality you will either get oranges or deformed oranges or nothing at all.
It appears that you are the one whose understanding is in a nutshell un able to brake the psyche of not implying various views much less facts.
The US has been a bitter contest with its so-called allied Turkey for bases in Albania that leads to the Adriatic Sea and she even rivaled her EU allies for the same reason sometimes through the aiding and abetting of conflicts that will either solidify her presence or force her allies into evasive policy/action that can benefit her.
George Soros on behalf of Israel and the US, repeatedly try to buy out most of the Balkans news media just to tell comic book stories and TV cartoons?
Why did they bomb the Chinese Embassy, was it a mistake?
Look brother concentrate on your local league and leave the international arena for more courageous professional journalist.
Indeed some of you still don't get it i.e. who is responsible for 11/9 attack.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Footballer Mickey Trotman, brother and friend killed in crash
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
Trinidad and Tobago midfielder/forward, Mickey Trotman, 26, was among three persons killed when a rented car he was driving crashed into a light pole off Pinto Road, Arima, early yesterday morning.
Trotman's brother Stephan, 25, and close friend Tessa Moses, 21, were also killed in the crash. In critical condition is 31-year-old Troy Hernandez, who is suffering severe internal bleeding. A fifth person in the vehicle, Kenyon Trotman, suffered a broken leg and is warded in stable condition.
Hernandez is at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre (EWMSC) in Mt Hope while Kenyon Trotman is at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
Mickey Trotman, who was due to fly out to Honduras today with the national football team for a World Cup qualifying game on Saturday, was heading to his mother's Santa Rosa home at the time of the fatal crash.
According to reports, Trotman was driving the rented blue Honda Civic south along Pinto Road around 2 am, when on nearing the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, he lost control of the car which skidded off the road and slammed sideways into a steel electricity pole.
Death was almost instantaneous for the three.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Rebel 3, PNM talk coalition
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and PNM Political Leader Patrick Manning met at a Port of Spain hotel for almost four hours yesterday discussing the possibility of formation of a new Government.
In a release afterwards Manning said they agreed that there is an unprecedented level of corruption in the country and that a rescue mission is urgently required. Maharaj agreed that corruption was the big problem and they discussed measures to deal with it.
The meeting in the Presidential Suite on the 12th floor of the Crowne Plaza, started at 9 am and broke off at 1.30 pm. Discussions resumed around 7.30 pm when it was hoped that agreement would be reached during the night. The meeting was held a few doors down the corridor from where Mary King and Associates Ltd last night hosted President Arthur NR Robinson and Mrs Robinson in the Executive Club Room of the hotel.
First to arrive for the morning meeting was the PNM team led by Manning and including Deputy Political Leader Joan Yuille-Williams, Vice Chairman John Donaldson and Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation Chairman Jerry Narace. The four came in a Mercedes Benz driven by Narace and used the back entrance of the hotel.
Maharaj and former Information Technology Minister Ralph Maraj followed a few minutes later accompanied by five plain-clothes security officers, and walked briskly to the elevator.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
President's problem
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
By SELWYN RYAN
CAN President Robinson invite Mr Manning or any other Member of Parliament who can demonstrate that he/she has the support of a majority of those elected to Parliament to form a government to replace that led by Mr Panday?
That is the critical question that is on everyone's mind following the dramatic events that are being played out on our parliamentary stage over the past few days. There is no consensus about what the President's options are.
Lloyd Best's view, which he articulated eloquently on the Morning Edition (October 22), one which is supported by many, is that Mr Panday is a political loose cannon who must be stopped in his tracks before he takes the country down a road that could lead to mayhem and murder. The overriding task which the country faces, in Best's view, is to rid itself of the incubus of Pandayism. To do so, the members of Parliament who are not currently under his ashram must go to the President post-haste and let him know in terms that are unmistakable that Mr Panday is no longer the undisputed King or Viceroy, and that someone else commands their support.
Best is supported by former President of the Senate, Michael Williams (Guardian October 2, 2001) who argues that the President should act under Section 76(1)b and not under 77(1).
Section 76(1) provides that:
76(1) Where there is occasion for the appointment of a Prime Minister, the President shall appoint as Prime Minister:
(a) a member of the House of Representatives who is the Leader in that house of the party which commands the support of the majority of members of that House; or
(b) where it appears to him that that party does not have an undisputed leader in that House or that no party commands the support of such a majority, the member of the House of Representatives who, in his judgement, is most likely to command the support of the majority of members of that House;
and who is willing to accept the office of Prime Minister.
The question that arises is what meaning is to be given to the phrase, "where there is occasion for the appointment of a Prime Minister?" How elastic is that phrase? Does a vacuum only exist when a sitting Prime Minister is incapacitated or in some other way deemed unfit or ill-equipped to perform the duties of the office as many lawyers believe? If the term is not as restrictive as this interpretation suggests, how do we know for certain when such an occasion arises if no vote is taken in Parliament? Do the letters which were sent to the President by Messrs Maharaj, Maraj and Sudama trigger 76(1)? Did they also say in the letter who now commands their support? Are they giving the PNM or the UNC "critical support" or support that is bankable and unequivocal? All this is still unknown at time of writing.
There are others, with whom I agree, that the President has to act under 77(1). There is in fact a history to this clause which replaces Section 50(1) of the Independence Constitution. That Constitution provides that "the Governor General, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, may at any time prorogue or dissolve Parliament". That is all that was said on the subject.
The Wooding Constitution Commission (1971-4) in its review of this provision felt that it gave too much power to the Prime Minister. The Commission felt that more flexibility was desired. It thus opined as follows:
"Under the present Constitution, the Prime Minister may advise the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and the Governor-General is obliged to act on his advice. We recommend that there should be a change in this respect. It is possible that on occasion there will be coalition governments. In such a government one partner may disengage itself because of differences over some particular point of policy and may be willing to join with another party to form the administration. A Prime Minister who has lost majority support in this way should not necessarily have the power to demand an election.
Accordingly, we recommend that the President should dissolve Parliament on the advice of the Prime Minister only if this advice is supported by a resolution of Parliament to that effect. If the Prime Minister desires a dissolution but cannot take the National Assembly along with him, then he would be free to resign. The President could then take steps to ascertain whether any other member of the National Assembly is likely to command the support of a majority and is willing to form the Government. In that event he would appoint him as Prime Minister. But if he is unable within a reasonable time to find any such person, then acting in his own discretion he would dissolve Parliament.
If the National Assembly passes a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, he must resign within seven days. The President would then seek another Prime Minister in the National Assembly if one can be found and, if none can be found, the President would then dissolve the House and set a date for fresh elections."
The Constitution draft prepared by the Commission provided as follows, "The President may by proclamation dissolve Parliament before the expiration of five years if the National Assembly by resolution so requests."
All of these recommendations were rejected by Dr Williams and the PNM and replaced by 77(1) which makes it difficult for a Prime Minister to be overthrown without first having been defeated in a general election. Clearly Dr Williams wished to strengthen his hand and that of the executive against any would-be conspirators.
There have of course been precedents in Canada and Australia where the Governor General did not take the Prime Minister's advice and called on an opposition leader to form a new administration. Will the President do likewise in the face of the clear prescription of 77(1)? We will have to wait and see. But supposing he does and instead revokes Mr Panday's appointment? Will there not be a political and/or a constitutional crisis? Would such a crisis not destabilise the society? A general election can be done in properly governed societies. Mr Manning seems determined to avoid this unless the voters list is effectively sanitised. But can anyone in fact guarantee that the list can be sanitised before October or before the year's end? '
My advice to the PNM leader is to focus less on trying to reach an accommodation with the three musketeers and the NAR and instead concentrate his resources on readying the PNM for the electoral encounter which jump high, jump low, is inevitable.
Copyright Trinidad Express
For fair use only
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Shame on the rienzi crowd
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2001
THE EDITOR: I cannot help but wonder what went through the minds of the UNC supporters who were transported to Rienzi Complex on Monday to show solidarity with the move of the Prime Minister to fire his Attorney General.
The PM expressed "surprise" at the show of support and was so "overwhelmed" that he decided to address the crowd. Now surely some of these people had read in the previous day’s Express that there was going to be a rally before the planned national executive meeting. So saying that he was surprised was just characteristic of Panday’s utterances-frugal with the truth.
The intent, and I hope that the crowd understands now, was to intimidate the non-Panday loyalists from attending the executive meeting-plain and simple.
I shudder to think what could have happened if they did in fact show up. Would Panday have urged his supporters to "go home peacefully" à la Manning? Or would he have brayed (as he does at times) for their heads on a platter?
As Lloyd Best said on Tuesday morning on TV6, unrest in Caroni was a real possibility.
Now I have always said that Trinidadians and Tobagonians are too smart to riot for any political party here as happens elsewhere, but using innocent people as a shield to avoid answering some serious questions at a meeting shows that Bas has decided to up the stakes a bit.
I am sorry, people, but you were used. Supporting your political leader is fine, and your right, but this was a blatant and obvious attempt to cower those who dare question your leader, and your presence there did just that. Some people are pawns, and for the most part oblivious, others are only too willing to be used to satisfy another’s agenda.
HALIMA
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
A vote of no-confidence in the government
Posted: Wednesday, October 3, 2001
Independent Senator Martin Daly called for politicians to stick to the Constitution now that the country is faced with "a minority Government".
Daly said: "Let's not have any wheeling and dealing. Let's not have any closed door meetings from which the population is excluded. We cannot make important decisions in this country without involving the entire electorate".
He said if the people were ignored there could be social upheaval.
Daly was speaking during the debate in the Upper House on the Excise Duty (Alcoholic Beverages) Order 2001 and the Excise Duty (tobacco products) Order 2001.
He said: "I am quite clear that in the absence of a no-confidence vote we can perfectly, lawfully have a minority government. I am very clear about that. I am very clear that all roads in political upheavals lead to a vote of no-confidence."
He said, "I am very clear Mr President that a vote of no- confidence cannot be replaced by a letter, by the filing of a writ, by the filing of a constitutional motion or by the filing of a judicial review application. It may be, Mr President, that by filing legal proceedings the court may be persuaded to interfere with the normal progression towards an election but that is a matter for the courts, it is not a matter for us..."
Daly added: "We may be on the verge of wheeling and dealing with the Constitution."
He said according to the Constitution, a minority Government could continue for a very long time.
"I am distressed that everybody is bussing their brains about whether we can have a transfer of power by letter, by filing of a writ," he said. "I am very distressed that anybody could think you could have a transfer of power by that means.
"I hope that wiser counsel would prevail among those who are seeking to induce such a situation."
He advised, "There is a very simple remedy. If we want a transfer of power, file a motion of no confidence... which is expressly provided for in Section 77 of the Constitution and I have no doubt that the desired result would be attained without us crossing any lines we ought not to cross."
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
The 'Race' Card Undisguised
Posted: Wednesday, October 3, 2001
Dear Editor
As a citizen who went to school and paid full attention to my teachers while being taught, I am now an adult able to discern, right from wrong and simple things like what are the issues being discussed in the society which I live.
The discussion being advanced by Ramesh Maharaj and company, has dealt with everything else besides the question of "inclusion" which is translated in an uncoded and undisguised way to mean "bringing Africans and non Indians to the UNC" or in other words as Mr Panday wants us to believe that, he wants to bring in all races to the UNC and some members do not want that.
Even if what Mr Panday is saying is true, and there is no public evidence to support his claim, in an already racially charged society, his actions can be rightfully interpreted as playing the race card to bolster his sagging political fortunes and personal advantage.
In following the debate I have never heard anyone said publicly that they are against inclusion, and the person who should be the most careful in the society as to how messages concerning race are transmitted and interpreted, is the person right now who is being the most loose and reckless, with undisguised utilization of race, as a political tool against his opponents, in a discussion where the issue is not part of the audible and visible discussion.
Trinidad and Tobago deserves better from its leaders
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Ralph Maraj and Trevor Sudama resign from Cabinet
Posted: Wednesday, October 3, 2001
Two months after threatening to resign from the Government, Ralph Maraj kept his promise yesterday and left the Cabinet of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
Maraj who was the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, submitted his letter to Panday yesterday — one day after Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was fired from his post as attorney General.
Maraj's letter stated:
"Dear Prime Minister, Due to recent developments, I find it very difficult to continue as Minister in the present Government. I, therefore, with immediate effect, hereby tender my resignation as a Member of the Cabinet of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago."
Last July 31, Maraj broke ranks saying the Government was not dealing effectively with the allegations of corruption which he felt was engulfing the United National Congress (UNC) administration.
Maraj threatened to resign if nothing was done. But he pointed out yesterday that his decision to leave followed the dismissal of Maharaj as Attorney General on Monday.
"I said then, I was very dissatisfied and that if I continued being dissatisfied with the way Government was handling the corruption, I would tender my resignation."Between then and now, things have happened. My colleagues and I have continued to express our views about this very important issue of corruption and the use of the country's resources. During this period, I continued to be dissatisfied with the pussyfooting of this Government on this very important issue.
"Yesterday's dismissal of the Attorney General to my mind, has crowned it all. It has demonstrated that the Government lacks the will and commitment to deal with this issue of corruption in a very frontal way."
Maraj said he joined the call for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into the allegations of corruption — a commission with full investigative powers. He said the commission should have the power to develop forensic capabilities, "so we could deal in a very transparent and objective way with the issue of corruption".
News of Sudama's resignation came just hours after Ralph Maraj gave up his ministerial portfolio.
Sudama said he had been guided to take the decision during a late evening meeting of the Oropouche constituency council.
With his resignation, the self-proclaimed 'Three Musketeers' have now followed through on their promise of "All for one, and one for all". Only Sadiq Baksh, absent from last night's meeting, is yet to decide his political future.
In a resolution moved by Chaitram Gayah, the Oropouche council stated that the UNC government had refused to tackle corruption and Prime Minister Basdeo Panday had not satisfactorily explained how he disposed of a US$50,000 cheque.
The council also noted that the former Attorney-General had been frustrated in his efforts to tackle corruption and Panday had sought to undermine the duly elected national executive and shown contempt for the party's democratic processes.
The group also claimed Panday was being dominated by particular business interests and had shown favouritism. The council said the Panday-led UNC was now unable to provide good governance, and had become an embarrassment to right thinking people including its voter base.
In recording its loss of confidence in Panday, the Council recommended Sudama's resignation from government, but asked that he explore all avenues for making a meaningful contribution to politics at the national level, and do all in his power to serve his constituents. Sudama is expected to send his resignation letter to his political leader today.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Panday may try to dissolve Parliament
Posted: Wednesday, October 3, 2001
With yesterday's public withdrawal of support from three of his MPs, Panday’s support in the House has been whittled down to a statistical deadheat with the PNM. Asked about the move to dissolving Parliament, Panday told the Express: "That is something I am certainly considering, whether I ought to do that."
The Express understands, however, that the first assignment of new Attorney General, Kamla Persad-Bissessar was to prepare the relevant documentation for Parliament to be dissolved on Friday.
The PM’s move followed another departure from his cabinet yesterday when Information and Technology Minister Ralph Maraj threw in the towel to join his fired colleague, Ramesh Maharaj, in the ranks of back-benchers. Agriculture Minister Trevor Sudama is to resign today.
Yesterday, all three UNC challengers, Maharaj, Maraj and Sudama penned letters to President Arthur NR Robinson informing him that they had withdrawn their support for Basdeo Panday as the "undisputed leader in the House of Representatives of the United National Congress".
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Ramesh plans to crusade nationwide
Posted: Tuesday, October 2, 2001
ABSTRACT: ( Trinidad Express ) Maharaj said he had tried repeatedly, and failed, to get the Prime Minister to agree to set up commissions of enquiry to investigate allegations of corruption.
Now free of his cabinet position, he said he plans to go on a nationwide crusade to whip up support for his cause.
"I will go to the ground-floor of the country, the ground-floor of the party to mobilise the country in order to stand up against corrupt officials. I will use my expertise in the law to command government to act. I would consider having orders of mandamus against the Cabinet. I would consider filing public interest litigation so that the government can give information. I would use the Freedom of Information Act in order to compel the government to produce information to the public.
"I would mobilise the grassroots and I would educate them in order to know what is happening. I would obviously give some information on some of the matters which have affected governance to demonstrate to them that government cannot be the same in the year 2001 and thereafter."
Maharaj declared that he would seek to form "strategic alliances" with "civil society and with other groups" in order to achieve his objectives.
He said he would support and co-operate with the Panday administration as long as the government acts in accordance with the aims and objectives of the UNC.
"If the government is running away from the aims and objectives of the UNC, obviously I would not be able to support the government," he stated.
He said he was not scared of any disciplinary process of the political party once it was in accordance with the party's constitution.
"I am going to do my duty and if it is that at the end of the day the people of Couva South do not want me, they do not vote for me, that is okay. That is not my main aim and ambition. My main aim and ambition is to discharge my duty to the people of Trinidad and Tobago in the light of what I know and what I've seen and what I believe should be done".Asked to describe his emotions after the long years of political and personal friendship with Basdeo Panday, Ramesh Maharaj told reporters:
"I feel very sorry for Mr Panday. I do not think that Mr Panday dismissed me. I think that it is a powerful interest group which has dismissed me... I still hope that I will be able to rescue him from that powerful interest group.
"I would be praying for him. I would be hoping that he would see the light and that he will be able to emancipate and free himself from this powerful interest group. But I am convinced in my mind that he did not really dismiss me."
Asked whether Government Ministers, Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maraj, had contacted him to give their support by resigning from their Cabinet positions, Maharaj said he had "no doubt whatsoever that they would honour their word. They are people like that".
Maharaj said that he had lost confidence in the government's ability and commitment to deal effectively with the issue of corruption.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
Prime Minister's first retaliatory strike
Posted: Monday, October 1, 2001
Attorney-General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was the victim of Prime Minister's first retaliatory strike yesterday. PM Basdeo Panday warned that the entire "Gang" would pay for what he termed an unrelenting attack on their own members" as they went about committing "political infanticide".
At Rienzi Complex, Couva, Panday also hinted that a General Election would be called at any time, despite the devastating internal party turmoil. "I would rather lose the government, and Prime Ministership, pack up and go home, than to give up the struggle for unity and inclusion", Panday screamed.
Panday arrived at the party's headquarters and took the podium, feigning surprise over the presence of the thousands who had gathered. He said he was invited to chair the monthly National Executive meeting.
As such, Panday said he would attend the meeting, and if no one showed, he would adjourn it and return to address members. He returned 30 minutes later to officially announce the revocation, the appointment of Kamla Persad-Bissessar as the new AG, and Ganga Singh as taking on the role of Education Minister in charge of Education from "kindergarten to PhD".
Panday said his decision to render Maharaj impotent was simple. He spoke of the "incessant bickering and fighting that kept the nation in a state of suspense".
"We could not keep the nation in suspense forever. The nation needs to breathe again," he said.
Panday said the UNC was elected to a second term by more than 300,000 voters, because of the party's philosophy of inclusion and government performance.
But since the executive election, he said "it has been a constant battle" by a group intent on destroying the party and keeping it Caroni-based, by preaching a policy of non-inclusion.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
PM Basdeo Panday has fired AG Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj
Posted: Monday, October 1, 2001
Education Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the new Attorney General.
Now former Attorney General Ramesh Maharaj said on a radio interview that the Prime Minister gave no reason for the dismissal.
The former AG and other members of the UNC government have been openly critical of the direction of the Leader Basdeo Panday and the UNC party, especially as it relates to issues of corruption. He said he felt that the Prime Minister was not serious about addressing allegations of widespread corruption in the government.
The Prime Minister recently told the BBC in an interview that the former AG Ramesh Maharaj was unhappy because he was not made acting Prime Minister when he went on overseas trips.
Ramesh Maharaj further said that he feels sorry for the Prime Minister as a powerful interest group has taken hold of him and he would be praying and working for the Prime Minister to be emancipated from this interest group.
He said that he is concerned about threats to his life and does not know if his security would be immediately removed. Asked what evidence he has about threats to his life, he said that he received information from the police and would not elaborate further at this time.
Up to this time we have not heard from Minister Ralph Maraj and Trevor Sudama who previously threatened to resign if the Prime Minister fired any one of them.
Ramesh plans to crusade nationwide
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
A Constitutional amendment, proposed by President
Posted: Monday, October 1, 2001
A Constitutional amendment, proposed by President Arthur NR Robinson to remove the Elections and Boundaries Commissioners (EBC), was the issue discussed in last Thursday's "mystery" meetings among President Arthur NR Robinson, Prime Minister Basdeo Panday and Opposition Leader Patrick Manning, a source has confirmed.
The meeting was held to try and obtain agreement from the main political parties on the amendment being proposed, they added. They said the talks did not focus on revoking the appointment of the Prime Minister nor any of his Ministers, nor on dissolving Parliament or calling elections.
They also confirmed the "axe" was about to drop this week on at least two members of the Panday Cabinet.
President Robinson's meetings with Panday and later Manning, sparked hot speculation about possible imminent general elections or a Presidential change of Prime Minister.
It began when Panday met with Robinson for their weekly statutory session on Thursday. Robinson later called in Manning. Panday and Manning later met in Parliament, and Panday was further summoned to a second meeting with Robinson at 4.30 pm.
President's House alerted the public to the meetings, describing them as focusing on the "state of the nation".
Yesterday it was confirmed the meetings focused on a possible Constitutional amendment which would allow the President to remove EBC Commissioners.
Sources said the Prime Minister was non-committal.
Asked about the issue, Opposition Leader Manning said: "I do not propose to make any disclosure on what was discussed with the President, or with the Prime Minister. If it is that the President wishes to make a release of some kind, it is entirely up to him."
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
