Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Highway Standoff A Governance Issue

Without venturing into whether Dr. Kublalsingh is right or wrong in his position regarding the issue of the Point Fortin highway a particular position of the Government has intrigued me. Dr. Rambachan along with Jack Warner and others have accused Dr. Kublalsingh's actions as being "political". My question to the members of the People's Partnership Government is "so what?" What is wrong with Dr. Kublalsingh being political? Does this government not understand that for it to even grace the halls of power it required citizens of this country to be political and engage in a political process of electing them? 

Why is it that the People's Partnership Government seems so afraid of citizens becoming enlightened and engaging the government on a civil level? If it's one thing this present group belonging to the People's Partnership Government has demonstrated to the citizens of this country is that as a nation we seem to have a breed of politicians who are quite contented with having citizens exercise their democratic rights just once every four years and then simply granting absolute unquestionable power to them so they can rule over us like Lords and Serfs without question or accountability. 

This latest stand off between Dr. Kublalsingh and government goes deeper than the need for a highway by some, it goes deeper than economic and social consequences albeit very relevant. This stand off between a lone civilian and a government ever eager to display it's arrogance and contempt for the citizenry strikes at the very heart of our democracy and the type of governance that exist in our Republic. The question is are Trinbagonians satisfied with being mere spectators in the affairs of their nation or are they prepared to grow up and take charge of their destiny and tell the politicians who have no regard for their voice exactly where to get off?

Sunday, November 11, 2012

T&T No Hindu Nation

It seems like Jack Warner is determined to use his political office to cause racial and ethnic acrimony in Trinidad and Tobago. That is the only logical conclusion one can come to with this man's inane weekly statements that repeatedly receives "silent endorsement" from the Prime Minister and by extension this government. So Jack's latest gnashing of teeth on behalf of the Hindu community comes in the form of a claim against the radio stations for not playing any bhajans in the lead up to Divali but almost 8 weeks before Christmas they flood us with carols.

Let us first deal with Jack's selective folly, how come Jack did not make the same claim prior to Eid, Double 10 or the Shouter Baptist Holiday? People of African descent make up the second largest ethnic group in this country and I say with utmost confidence that all my life I have never heard an indigenous African song tribal or otherwise playing on any local stations, but I have heard many Indian songs. How come Jack does not speak about this?

According to a 2000 consensus as stated on the CIA World Fact Book the religious denominations in T&T are as follows, Roman Catholic 26%, Protestant 25.8%, Anglican 7.8%, Baptist 7.2%, Pentecostal 6.8%, Seventh Day Adventist 4%, Hindu 22%, Muslim 5.8%, Other Christian 5.8%, Other 10.8%, unspecified 1.4% and none (which includes me) 1.9%. Without having genocide or any major internal conflict it is highly unlikely that between 2000 to present there would have been any major changes to those percentages over a 12 year period. If one were to add up all the "Christian" based denominations one would find that the Christian community in this country is roughly 76.2% while the Hindu community is a meager stand alone 22%,. Therefore it is only logical that any religious holidays that center around Christianity will be given more attention by the populace than the religious holiday's of smaller sects. 

But if Jack so wishes he is free to utilize the funds he was going to use to buy the T&T Mirror and instead buy Radio Jaagriti 102.7 FM and play bhajans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I assure him it would not matter either way to the average Christian Trinbagonian, I highly doubt there will be a mass religious conversion to Hinduism and it definitely does not matter to the non-religious like myself. So to Mr. Jack Warner I say Namaste, go in peace my brother, I'm sure Christian T&T along with their Hindu brothers and sisters are praying for your speedy mental recovery.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Red Card That Jack

Prior to the 2010 General Election I was a very vocal voice against the People’s National Movement and their way of governance. I wrote many blogs which are still circulating in cyber space because I never took them down, I wrote many letters to the Express editor all of which I have copies. I attended political meetings of the United National Congress, the signing of the Fyzabad accord between the Partnership Parties and I voted for the Congress of the People. The interesting thing is, despite being well in my 20’s, 2010 was the first time I have ever voted or have been so actively involved in politics and as a consequence the first vote I have ever cast in Trinidad and Tobago went to the Congress of the People, a member of the People’s Partnership Government. I say the above in light of the nasty, vicious, divisive and hateful comments made by Minister of National Security Jack Warner concerning the march last week Friday regarding Sec 34, that seem to indirectly accuse people of African descent in this country of having a racist agenda against the shadowy government of which he is a member. Jack Warner claimed that he only saw Africans marching on Friday. Firstly this could not be so because I marched alongside my co-worker who is predominantly of Chinese descent, I saw persons of East Indian descent and I also saw few Caucasians and many persons who were patently of mixed ethnicity.

In Trinidad and Tobago politics has always been predominantly along the lines of ethnicity. When I attended the UNC political meetings back in 2010, despite there being a few other persons who “seemed” to be of African descent, I was engulfed in scores of East Indian supporters of the United National Congress, and it has always been that way just as the People’s National Movement crowds have always largely been of people who seem to be of “African” descent. Jack Warner as Chairman of a political party whose core supporters comprise 90% of East Indians is in no position to speak about the ethnic composition of any other political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Furthermore the COP is the party which gave the People’s Partnership the appearance of a multi-ethnic political party not the UNC, the UNC is still by and large a party supported predominantly by persons of East Indian descent. But to further analyse the illiteracy of Jack Warner’s statements, where does someone like me fit in to Trinidad and Tobago’s society? I am dark skinned like Dr. Rowley but my mother has a fair complexion like the wonderful Denyse Plumber and I have a Hebrew Surname. If I am an African according to Jack Warner because I took part in Friday’s march, notwithstanding the fact that I voted for Jack’s Government, Jack Warner needs to tell me from which African nation I came. There are 57 recognised countries on the African content so Jack Warner need to tell myself and the other Africans from Friday which country is our mother land. Are we South Africans? Zimbabweans? Angolan? Ethiopian? Somalian? Am I a Hutu or Tutsi? Which one of these African countries will take me in, and would they consider me African especially if they see my mother?!

While T&T’s politics has traditionally been along the lines of ethnicity, as a people we have historically come together to vote out a government that we perceive to be a threat to all of us as happened in 2010, and which I suspect will happen in 2015. Many young individuals like myself are no longer falling for the racial divisiveness of people like Jack Warner and as Political analysts Derek Ramsamooj has pointed out, asinine statements like the one made by Jack Warner only serves to anger persons like myself who know exactly who and what we are i.e. TRINBAGONIAN! Jack Warner has some gall to level such an ugly accusation against persons in this country who may have some measure of African ethnicity in their DNA make up. Who does Jack Warner think helped give his government a Parliamentary majority in the 2010 general election? One would think that it was only Jack’s core supporters of East Indian descent and some race from another planet in the universe voted in the 2010 general election because his ridiculous utterances and vulgar conduct as a government minister are pretty much out of this world. 

By his statements Jack Warner has only confirmed to me as a citizen that he still harbours racist beliefs that belong to an era before I was born. He has also confirmed to me that he thinks he can drum up support for his government by playing on the ethnic sentiments of his core supporters. Rather than denigrate persons of African descent, Jack has simply exposed the policy that still exist amongst some in the United National Congress, a policy of playing on the ethnic sentiments of my fellow East Indian brothers and sisters to support his government even when his government is engaging in gross miss-governance. That Jack Warner should find support from this country’s most controversial figure regarding race relations I can only say mission accomplished Jack, you have successfully roused the support of those who would blindly follow you in your anarchist quest for unbridled power. But make no mistake, Jack’s racial card is a two edge sword as he has earned himself a political red card from many like myself and we have already disqualified him and his government from the next election world cup in 2015!

Poor COP, they are drowning in the cesspool of incompetence and ethnic division of the UNC that is being bandied about as good governance. Leader of the COP Prakash Ramadhar has speedily distanced himself from Jack’s comments and rightly so, but I say to Mr. Ramdhar that you are guilty by association. Despite the many missteps of this government including the Reshmi Ramnarine fiasco, Section 34, nepotism in the distribution of legal briefs and now Jack Warner’s racial comments the COP has remained a steadfast member of the PP Government. The COP is now tainted with the rot of the UNC and has lost all credibility. I assure all parties concerned that no matter what name they call me, they could call me African, Martian, Alien, Cling-on, whatever they choose to call me, as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago irrespective of whether they got my vote or not in the past I shall continue to demand good governance and transparency! Sticks and stones may break my bones your words can never harm me, however your poor governance will destroy my country!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

People's Partnership celebration an erosion of democratic principles

I am of the opinion that last Thursday's celebration by the PP Government concerning their two years in office, is a breach of democratic principles. Since when is it the practice of a government to celebrate what they are constitutionally mandated to do and what they are paid to do? As far as I am aware it is only in monarchies, dictatorships and despotic fanatical countries like North Korea where the achievements of leaders and government institutions are celebrated. Can any of you imagine Barack Obama hosting a million dollar celebration in Time Square to tell the people of America about some community centre he built in Oklahoma? Or David Cameron holding a celebratory rally in London to talk about some colour me orange project he launched in Essex? The practice is unheard of and is also inappropriate and smacks of political 'never see clumsy' and immaturity. 

The Prime Minister has stated that the purpose of the celebration was to 'account to the people'. If my memory serves me right, in the Westminster system Parliament is the institution by which the elected government of the day accounts to the people. Having this discussion last week with a pro PP colleague they jeered at me saying I just vex cause the PP use their money to throw their celebration and account to the people. It is then I indicated to the person that it is exactly that which reveals the perversity of the PP Government's actions. Why must the elected Government of the day spend private funds to account to the people of the country when they can do so freely under the constitutionally charged institutions such as the Parliament? Why can't they via their weekly Cabinet meetings tell the public what they have decided to do as a government and what they have done? Instead they opted to throw a big fete which climaxed akin to that of an all inclusive carnival fete and at the end of the day all they have done is further erode the democratic mechanisms of this country and the citizens of this country are still non the wiser of their achievements.

And while the PP was busy frolicking Thursday night, a CAL Chairman appointed by themselves requested a $20,000 leasing of a luxury vehicle for himself, this from a state enterprise which has incurred a $339 million loss and which he was appointed to steer back to a viable financial status, not withstanding the fact that the 2011 State Enterprises Performance Manual clearly states "company cars or car loans should not be granted to Chairmen or directors". Criminals continue to run amok and the economy is stagnant. It seems we have now become a country which celebrates underachievement and mediocrity.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Child Molester's Paradise


Despite having no children of my own (as yet), I find myself being particularly aware when young children are around in the wake of 2 year old Aliyah Johnson's brutal murder. Maybe it's just the male protective instinct in me, maybe it's because I've been affected by this child's death in a way I do not as yet perceive.

While selecting fruits at the fruit stall in St. James near Singer's today, said instincts were over active when I observed the manner in which the fruit vendor was dealing with her daughter (or should I say not dealing with her daughter) who could be no more than 7 years old. The peculiar thing is it was not even an out right observation, and I was not particularly thinking about baby Aliyah at that point in time, but having read the various stories in the dailies this week my subconsciousness was some how perturb enough by this child's death to pay attention when children are around me.

So I'm there selecting my fruits while the vendor is speaking to one of her helpers and the little girl is desperately trying to get her mother's attention to tell her she is going to Singer's to come back. And she is there "mummy, mummy, mummy" and the mother and the help totally ignores her. "Mummy, mummy, excuse me, mummy, mummy". The mother continues to ignore her. She then grabs hold of her mother's hand, "mummy, mummy, mummy." The mother is still speaking to the help. Frustrated the child says, "I'm going to Singers and come back okay", and she proceeds to walk off, mother totally oblivious or not aware enough.

The mother does not even acknowledge her. Now imagine if I was a child molester, that child would have been a prime victim for me. Imagine this child attempted to engage her mother for close to two minutes without any success. As she walks off it is at this point I grab hold of the mother's shoulder (a little too roughly to be honest but I was agitated because of the situation I just observed), and as she looks at me totally shocked I say to her in a stern but friendly voice, "You need to pay attention to where your daughter is going, she has been trying to get your attention for the longest while and you have been ignoring her. Just remember one minute she will be here and the next minute she may not."

With a noticeable expression of chagrin, she acknowledges my admonition but I can tell she was grateful for the little "pull up". Parents need to be more aware of their children's whereabouts, virtually their every move. As parents people need to give their children their undivided attention, yes it can be difficult doing this while working, having to pay bills and put food on the table, but make no mistake, a parent's failure in this regard creates a child molester's paradise.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Kamla being more than dishonest with Statistics


With regard the poll conducted by the Ansa Mcal Institute of Psychology published last Sunday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bisessar was quoted in Express April 11 as stating that if one "Adds the excellent , good, fair ratings - its almost 80%, so the government is doing fine." Now it is either the Prime Minister thinks the citizens she presides over are complete idiots or she was being deliberately misleading and having no compunction about it whatsoever. A standard five pupil can discern that the Prime Minister's pronouncements makes absolutely no sense and it is a deliberate attempt at polluting the poll results. The following were the Ansa Mcal Poll results:-

Ratings

Overall, how do you rate the performance of the Government to date?
Excellent 4%
Good 30%
Fair 47%
Poor 15%
Extremely Poor 4%

Ratings

If a general election was held today, which political party would you vote for?
UNC 5%
COP 3%
NAR 1%
PP 34%
MSJ 1%
PNM 13%
NONE 25%
DON’T KNOW 19%
NEW PARTY 1%


Ratings

How do you rate the performance of the Prime Minister to date?
Excellent 11%
Good 31%
Fair 42%
Poor 13%
Extremely Poor 3%

If by the Prime Minister's logic we are to add the good and fair ratings of two of the three questions, it would show that the government got almost an 80% rating and thus is doing well, then it stands to reason that if one is adding the good and fair ratings one must deduct the poor and extremely poor ratings to get a more objective view. This would show that the ratings according to the Prime Minister's logic were in fact (30+47-15-4) = 58% and (31+42-13-3) = 57%. Clearly as one further analyses the stats using the Prime Minister's logic it is blatantly clear that the PP Government barely made a passing grade. Out of the 512 people questioned, it would mean that only 296.96 and 291.84 persons gave the PP Government a fair to good rating. 512/2 = 256, one must therefore ask the question what exactly is Mrs. Persad Bisessar boasting about.

It is also instructive to note that the Prime Minister totally ignored the excellent ratings of 4% and 11% respectively, is this an indication that the Prime Minister is quite contented with mediocrity and does not concern herself with exceeding expectations? Of 512 respondents 4% would be 20.48 and 11% would be 56.32 persons, if I remember correctly in primary school when one's report card said "Good" or "Fair" for the term one usually went home with a B, B- or a C. And the most glaring omission of the Prime Minister was the ratings related to the question "If a general election was held today, which political party would you vote for?" Out of 512 respondents a whopping 5% (25.6 persons) said they will vote for the UNC, the party to which the Prime Minister belongs, and 13% (66.56 persons) said they will vote for the opposition PNM. Granted the PP got 34% one must beg the question if the Prime Minister is contented with the fact that the only way the party to which she belongs can win an election is by currying favour with other political parties for the sole purpose of defeating the PNM, because as a stand alone political party the PNM is the only party that got the highest rating.

I would therefore caution the Prime Minister, that the next time she opts to play with statistics to fool the population she should do so with a bit more cunning, as you can fool some of the people some of the time, you can't fool all of the people all the time.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Stone in my shoe


One morning a couple weeks ago at work, I had cause to take my shoe off to remove a stone that was causing me much irritation. While searching for the little bastard that was causing me much discomfort, I found myself muttering the words "Stone in my shoe". That was it, just "stone in my shoe", it was not even a full sentence. I stood confused asking myself, that apart from the obvious fact that I did indeed have a stone in my shoe, why did I see the need to verbalize it to myself and in such an informal way. It is during this state of unexpected mental indulgence that it occurred to me, hey....you know that would be a pretty cool name for a book, "Stone in my shoe".

As an avid reader, I did not surprise myself at the direction my contemplations veered. But then another thought came to mind, that is we all have figurative "Stones in our shoes", you know something or someone in our lives that is causing us to lose focus or feel discomfort. These stones usually tend to cause us to lose focus on achieving our goals or cause us to stop doing things we may enjoy doing. In some cases we ourselves may be the stone in our very own shoe by harbouring negative thoughts about ourselves or about others, thus becoming entrapped in a cycle of negative energy and thought, causing much discomfort to our spiritual and emotional well being.

The trouble is, some of us become so entrapped by the discomfort that it cripples us to the point of making it extremely difficult to come to the understanding that at times we just need to stop, realign our thoughts with our actions and engage in a sought of re-calibration of the soul, thus removing the "stone from our shoe". This can be especially difficult when as I mentioned above, sometimes we ourselves are the stone in our own shoe and in cases like these it can often be difficult to locate the stone as we fail to recognize that we may be the source of our own discomfort.

I guess my message to you in these insane contemplations is, always strive to maintain a stone free shoe, however figurative or literal. My other message to you is, it does not hurt to speak to yourself sometimes! Have a fantastic long weekend!

Free Cheryl Miller Now!


I find it tellingly strange that an introvert woman who goes by the name of Cheryl Miller, can be virtually strong armed and kidnapped from her work place by mental health officials and carted off to a mental health institution and drugged up without her next of kin being notified and without having apparently been evaluated by a psychiatric doctor. What is even more strange is this incident has a occurred after a mere couple weeks, March 23rd to be exact, when our Minister of Health Dr. Faud Khan stated, "Some 500 of the 822 patients at the St Ann's Hospital are not supposed to be at the mental institution. Sixty per cent of the patients do not need to be here and they are just social cases where the family themselves do not want to take responsibility for the patient. They are social patients, chronic care patients that do not need to be in a hospital setting because they do not have acute in-house psychiatric illness."

The issue surrounding Cheryl Miller has to do with her allegedly raising her voice at another co-worker because she felt she was being victimized. Now as someone who has never been described as insane, I must say I have worked in many organisations where I have witnessed loud boisterous altercations between co-workers, myself being a partaker of such outbursts at times. Such behavior while generally frowned upon socially is a regular occurrence on any given day in any establishment, and not just in the work environment but at home in domestic settings.

One must beg the question as a free thinking citizen, what did this woman do that would have caused her employer, the Ministry of Gender and Youth Affairs to institutionalize her? What acute in-house psychiatric illness did she display that warranted Minister Verna St Rose to come on national radio and say this woman was institutionalized "out of concern" for her. Ms. Miller is certainly not a patient whose family has deserted her, as her family were not even notified by the Ministry of Gender and Youth Affairs that they were institutionalizing Ms. Miller and her family has been visiting her and demanding her release so again I ask the question on what basis is this woman being held? Who is the medical practitioner that issued the medical certificate for her confinement as ought to have been done as per the Mental Health Act? Why was she committed to an asylum without her next of kin being notified?

Ms. Miller's co-workers have been staging daily protests for her release, some of them having worked with the quiet lady for 15 odd years. While they have outrightly described Ms. Miller as "strange" none of her co-workers have described her as insane, as having exhibited violent tendencies or any acute psychiatric illness. One co-worker went so far to say that Cheryl will use folders to box her self in at her desk so she would not have to communicate with people. He further went on to say that she has a penchant for mathematics and if something was off by a cent she will look for it and find it. The co-worker further stated that when he first saw her box her self in with the files it was a bit "strange" for him but after he got to know her he realized that's just how Ms. Miller is, and he worked with her for 15 odd years without a problem. One must call on Minister St Rose to state categorically what exactly is the problem now, because she as the Minister of Gender and Youth Affairs has not worked at the Ministry as long as Ms Miller and her co-workers, so what is the basis for St Rose's "concern".

While I may not be a medical practitioner, the behaviorial characteristics described of Ms Miller does not suggest to me an insane person. It suggest to me of someone who is suffering with a disability such as Asperger Syndrome, a form of Autism which is described as a "spectrum disorder" because it affects people in different ways. Medical professionals describe it as a "hidden disability" because people cannot easily tell someone has the disability from their outward appearance. People with Asperger Syndrome have extreme difficulty reading body language which makes it very difficult for them to communicate with others, they tend to be of average intelligence and in some cases above average intelligence having a penchant for subjects such as mathematics as in Ms Cheryl Miller's case. They are affected in three main areas, social communication, social interaction and social imagination.

People with Asperger Syndrome have difficulty expressing themselves in the following ways:-

  • have difficulty understanding gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice
  • have difficulty knowing when to start or end a conversation and choosing topics to talk about
  • use complex words and phrases but may not fully understand what they mean
  • be very literal in what they say and can have difficulty understanding jokes, metaphor and sarcasm. For example, a person with Asperger syndrome may be confused by the phrase 'That's cool' when people use it to say something is good.
Their difficulty with social interaction will include:-
  1. not understand the unwritten 'social rules' that most of us pick up without thinking. For example, they may stand too close to another person, or start an inappropriate topic of conversation
  2. struggle to make and maintain friendships
  3. find other people unpredictable and confusing
  4. become withdrawn and seem uninterested in other people, appearing almost aloof
  5. behave in what may seem an inappropriate manner.

While none of us may know what Cheryl Miller is suffering with, the Ministry of Youth and Gender Affairs carting her off to the mad house to be confined and drugged up without notifying her family seems to be an exaggerated and draconian manner for dealing with someone exhibiting the characteristics of Cheryl Miller. It would seem that not only Ms Miller constitutional rights were violated but also her human rights as per the United Nations Charter on Human Rights. We have a civic duty, each and every one of us to find out exactly what happened to this woman as it could be you or your family members.

Nothing short of a full investigation is required and anyone found culpable of violating the Mental Health Act and Ms. Miller's constitutional and human rights should be hauled before a court of law and be dealt with accordingly. It is not good enough for anyone to make a random accusation of insanity against someone and have them carted off to the mad house with just one phone call, no questions asked and no family notified. If that should be the case then we are bordering on becoming a despotic country the likes of Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany, where the state can incarcerate any citizen on the flimsiest of pretexts i.e. insanity. FREE CHERYL MILLER NOW!!

Finger Licking Good!!!!

Finger Licking Good!!!!
A moment every Trini could relate to :-)