St. Kitts Opposition wins final case against Government

The Opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) has won its case against the Government of St. Kitts & Nevis in a series of legal actions dating back to July of this year, with the award of costs to the claimants by the High Court in Basseterre, on Friday Nov. 6.

PAM Political Leader Lindsay Grant and PM Hon Shawn Richards first challenged the constitutionality of boundary changes in July in what is now a landmark case in Caribbean jurisprudence. They had also challenged a constitutional amendment on dual citizenship.

The PAM legal team was led by Barbados Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley and included Siparia MP and former Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

The team successfully argued that the boundary changes were unconstitutional and the process of producing a report on the proposed changes did not follow the legal requirements of the country's Boundaries Commission.

On October 19 Justice Errol Thomas ruled that the report was null and void and of no effect.

The opposition claim had effectively halted parliamentary elections which are constitutionally due by March 2010. The court ruling means that the government of Prime Minister Denzil Douglas can now call the election.

However the Boundaries Commission must now submit a new Report to the Parliament or the government will be forced to use the existing boundaries.

Another case brought by the claimants related to a July Amendment to the National Assembly Elections Act which PAM claimed to be unconstitutional and for which they were seeking a judgment in proceedings that started last Monday.

On Thursday Nov. 5. the government of St. Kitts & Nevis agreed with the Opposition that the National Assembly Elections (Amendment) Act was unconstitutional and passed a new amenment to the act it had passed in July.

The July Amendment to the Act, among other things, purported to require a prospective candidate for election to the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, to provide proof of renunciation of dual citizenship on Nomination Day to be approved by a Returning Officer.

The PAM objected on the grounds that the amendment gave to a Returning Officer appointed by the Executive, a power which the Constitution reserved for the High Court.

The opposition argued that statements by the Prime Minister in Parliament and at media conferences had made it clear that the amendment was introduced to thwart the nomination at the next General Elections of the Grant and Richards who renounced their U.S. citizenship earlier in the year.

Thursday’s amendment has removed all but one minor section of the Act to which PAM objected.

Commenting on the court matter Persad-Bissessar said, "The passing of the Amendment by the Parliament...makes the matter before the Court superfluous."

She added, "They removed four and a half of the offending Sections of the Act, which we were concerned about...so to all intents and purposes we have won our case, without having to bother the Court."

Constance Mitcham, another member of the legal team, explained that the one minor part of the Act that remains now bears no relation to the parent Law or to Bill passed in the National Assembly.

"It has been left hanging in purgatory,” she quipped.

On Friday the St. Kitts Nevis High Court awarded the claimants costs against the government.

The decision is seen as a moral victory not only for the claimants and their legal team but also by politicians across the region.

Warner slams costly "visionless" crime plan

Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner has scoffed at a new crime fighting initiative announced last week by Minister of National Security Martin Joseph.

In a media release Sunday Warner said the newest proposal, "is visionless, repetitious and uninspiring."

He said it's short on new ideas, "fumbles with logic and stumbles on innovation" since it does not "encapsulate the root problems of crime, nor does it portray any methodological or practical approach to combating this social evil."

The minister's crime initiative is based on a report prepared by retired Canadian Army General Cameron Ross.

Warner questioned whether Ross or any foreign consultant is suited to advise on crime and whether the Ross report took into consideration the most relevant data regarding demographics and the record breaking statistics.

"Between 2001 and 2008, there have been 2510 murders in Trinidad and Tobago. The 600 mark for 2009 is close to reality. In 2008 we were listed as having a homicidal rate of 42.3 per one hundred thousand a monumental increase from the rate of 10 per one hundred thousand as it stood in 2000," Warner noted.

He pointed out that of the 1300 murders committed between 2005 and 2008, only 279 were detected and of this 279 some 20 per cent collapsed in courts.

"Today we read of witnesses and even accused being gunned down in the full view of the police. Such a frightening picture seems to have escaped the scrutiny of the Government’s foreign advisor.

"Minister Joseph has also left several questions suspended in political mid air. He failed to define the new role for the Defence Force under the ‘Ross Proposal’," the MP noted.

Warner noted that the country didn't need a foreign consultant to recommend a closer working relationship between the police and the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) because since it was established in 1962 the defence force was always charged with the responsibility of promoting the rule of law.

He said the TTDF has always been under a mandate to work jointly with the Police Service in securing the nation.

"We didn’t need a Canadian national to advise us on that. The Minister must therefore specify his new role of the TTDF. Does he plan to have army officers patrolling the streets with arms and ammunition? Is the Minister advocating an army State?" he asked.

Warner noted the minister's statement that the new crime initiative would also include incorporating the Special Anti-Crime Unit (SAUTT) by an Act of Parliament and promoting the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) to spearhead all natural disaster operations in the country and wondered what is new about all this.

"These are the very same issues which have been debated for years," he said noting that the opposition is on record for its vociferous call to give legitimacy to SAUTT by an Act of Parliament.

"Clearly there is nothing new...It is a rehash of old ideas, political regurgitation at its best," he said. "Nothing has been said about treating violence in our schools, the fight against gangsters or the developing phenomenon of violence against tourists, particularly in Tobago," he added.

Warner said Joseph needs to explain to the nation how much it cost to retain Ross and his team to produce what he called a "pathetic" document.

He outlined other costly failed crime plans in which foreign consultants were involved:

• In 2002 the PNM contracted with Thomas Clayton to report on crime. He cost the State millions but his plan failed
• In 2005 the PNM invited Professor Stephen Mastrofski. His failed plan cost the State $55 million

"The Government seems to have a penchant, proclivity and political appetite for foreign advisers, all of whom have succeeded only in draining the treasury, straining the taxpayers and failing in crime," Warner said.

T&T government offers apology to Saudi Arabia

The government of Trinidad and Tobago has offered its "profound apology" to the people and government of Saudi Arabia for the search and questioning of one of their diplomats by local law enforcement on Monday.

Last Monday police interrogated visiting Saudi diplomat Dr Fawaz Abdul Rahaman Al Shabili and searched his hotel room at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain. The next day Deputy Police Commissioner Raymond Craig, head of the Special Branch and Crime Intelligence, offered a public apology.

Craig said police were acting on information that raised concerns about a security risk that turned out to be unfounded.

Foreign Minister Paul Gopee-Scoon subsequently rejected claims that Al Shabili's diplomatic immunity was violated, saying he was not a diplomat "who is afforded special rights or privileges under the Vienna Convention, which gives him immunity from search."

The foreign ministry confirmed that "Al Shabili was deployed by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the express purpose of issuing Hajj visas for the 2009 season."

The issue raised national condemnation, especially from the Muslim community and opposition politicians who demanded that the government offer an apology for the international faux pas.

Read the story: Moonilal on the warpath; opposition wants apology for search of Saudi diplomat

Now, the government has sent a formal apology to the Saudi Arabian Government.

In a media release Saturday, the ministry said it "has conveyed an expression of profound apology in respect of the incident to the Government and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

The Muslim community in Trinidad and Tobago responded by saying it is pleased with the apology, saying it would help maintain good relations with the Kingdom and prevent any further damage to relations between the two countries.

Manning and Hitler share common belief of leadership inspired by God

"We need to know what the Prime minister meant when he said that 'he and Mr Panday agreed to work towards the achievement of a new constitution in this term'."

That's the question posed by respected political scientist as he concluded his regular column in the the Sunday Express. "Is Mr Panday the providential ’deus ex machina?'", Ryan asked.

(The term literally means "god from the machine" and is used in drama when a person or thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.)

His column, which deals with Prime Minister Patrick Manning's religious zeal and his apparent lust for power, raises several issues, including Manning's own admission of being intoxicated with God.

Manning made the statement in Parliament while chastising his former cabinet colleague Dr Keith Rowley, saying that while Rowley was consumed by acrimony, hate, and animosity, he believed in the power of love. He told Rowley that if he appeared to be drunk, he was "drunk on God".
Ryan raises that issue in his column pointing out, "Whether one is drunk on God, political power, paisa, or some other in toxicant, however, one is still drunk, and those who are drunk should not drive, since they are likely to make a mess of things politically, as Chalkdust reminded ANR Robinson in 1987."

Ryan also noted that Adolf Hitler professed to be a man of God.

"One recalls Adolph Hitler telling an assembled German crowd at a Nuremberg rally, in rhetoric borrowed from the New Testament, ’that you have found me... among so many millions is the miracle of our time! And that I have found you: that is Germany’s fortune...Now that we are together, we are with him and he is with us, and now we are Germany...'. How messianic and delusional can one get!" Ryan writes.

"Why do politicians feel it necessary to conceal their lust for power and pretend that their purpose is ’service to the people?’ Why do some feel the need to wave Bible...and declare with mock seriousness that they were the chosen of God or the people when in fact it is they who manipulate symbolic language to seduce the people into choosing them?" He says.

"While some do it cynically to achieve a desired objective, others seem to genuinely believe that God miraculously found them out of the millions through whom he could have chosen to channel his blessings," Ryan says.

Ryan takes his cue from Manning's pronouncements in Tobago recentl that his aim in making proposals relating to an executive presidency was "to find the best governance structure for the glory of Almighty God and for the people of Trinidad and Tobago."

Ryan stops short of calling Manning a liar, but observes that in Tobago he was adamant that he had no interest in becoming president, saying the office "hold no attraction for me" only to renege on it later in San Fernando and admit that he would run if the people asked him.

Ryan says, "One however wondered how many people took Mr Manning’s representations seriously and how many felt that he should perhaps sign up for the next round of Lord Nelson’s mythical and hilarious ’King Liar’ calypso competition?

"Why was such a statement ever made when every body in Trinidad and Tobago knew it was not true? Who was he trying to disarm?

"Was it one of those mindless and meaningless things that Trinis say from time to time?

"What about the double speak that we witnessed in respect of the invitation to Mr Panday. Were they of the same order?"

Ryan is not too sure about how to take Manning's pronouncements. "One does not quite know how seriously to take Mr Manning’s expressed belief that he has been called by providence. How much is hypocrisy, how much is conviction and how much is delusion?" he writes.

Read Ryan's column in the SUNDAY EXPRESS

"Panday cannot be trusted by anyone": Warner

Last week JYOTI published a letter by Richard Williams Thomas that the writer directed to four political leaders: Basdeo Panday, Austin Jack Warner, Kamla Bissessar and Winston Dookeran. Thomas asked each of the four why they cannot unite for the benefit of the majority in Trinidad and Tobago.

Warner has replied, stating that the reason is simply that "Basdeo Panday just cannot be trusted - not by me, not by anyone."

This is what Thomas asked in the open letter to the four:

"If President Barack Obama and Hilary Rodham Clinton...could embrace...why does anyone feel the same cannot happen were Basdeo Panday, Austin Jack Warner, Kamla Bissessar and Winston Dookeran all agree to an open, straightforward contest to decide which of them will win the minds and hearts of all who yearn for one, united, alternative political force to the PNM and who, by the way, comprise the overwhelming majority of the population of Trinidad and Tobago? Eh? Why not?"

In his reply Warner stated that "Panday’s history has demonstrated that he lacks loyalty, his words lack credibility and his politics has a morality of its own."

Here's the rest of what Warner said:

"A panoramic glimpse of his politics reveals fractured and broken relationships with those who dare challenge him for the position of leadership or even dare to disagree with him.

"Yet, based on such a record, you dare call on us who have been betrayed before to submit ourselves to further abuse and other acts of betrayal?

"Isn’t it passing strange that of the ten MPs and the six senators who were part of the original ULF only two, Nizam Mohammed and Kelvin Ramnath, remained with Mr. Panday after it was broken up?

"Have you ever asked yourself the question why or sought an answer from the other fourteen who parted ways with Bas with a view to determine the reason?

"Did it ever occur to you to parlay with former President Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson to discuss the basis upon which he and the ole Bas parted ways and how Mr. Panday’s betrayal when he could not exercise the dominance in the NAR government that he had anticipated, he pulled out his then ULF faction and robbed Trinidad and Tobago of a really great opportunity to unite on the basis of philosophy rather than on the basis of race?

"Was this ever considered an option by you? How can you trust Mr. Panday who after Mr. Robinson gave to him the Government of the day in 1995 he removed Pamela Nicholson, one of the two NAR Parliamentary Representatives from his Cabinet and Nathaniel Moore and Agnes Williams all aligned to the NAR from the Senate?

"What sort of gratitude was that to a man who could have offered the seats to the PNM instead?

"How come in the presence of so much available voluminous evidence of betrayal you dare call upon us to give Mr. Panday a chance?

"Have you considered the implications of what you are asking?

"This is the same man who ignored the presence of senior members of Cabinet and appointed Daphne Phillips and Lindsay Gillette to act as Prime Minister in his absence.

"Wasn’t this act a lack of trust in his friends who toiled with him as he climbed the rough side up the mountain?

"When the former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj raised questions of wrong doing in his government with him, did he not ignore the warning and accused him of colluding with the PNM to bring his government down?

"When his Government did fall under the banner of corruption wasn’t it the same Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Jack Warner, Anand Ramlogan and a host of others that he now derides who rallied to his side to save him from sure jail yet he ignores the goodwill that was offered him branding us neemarkharams and in spite of that you are calling on us to trust him?

"The list of ingratitude and mistrust is not exhaustive. Before you decided to ask open questions of that nature you should have spoken to Dr Fuad Khan and Gillian Lucky and ask them for their opinion and this question would have never been asked.

"Before you raise questions of trust you should have dialogued with Hulsie Bhaggan, Gerard Yetming, John Humphrey, Trevor Sudama, Manohar Ramsaran, Ganga Singh and the list goes on.

"The stories, my brother, would have revealed a total and complete lack of trust in Mr. Panday who is not only a stranger to the truth but one who will never honour his word.

"You want to know about why he cannot be trusted just talk to the friends and families of the little African boy he adopted who died homeless on the streets in Port of Spain.

"You want to know why he cannot be trusted, my brother, then talk to his chauffeur whom he abandoned in times of need who is in grief still on his dying bed.

"You want to know why he cannot be trusted, my brother, just try to relive my experiences with him.

"His betrayal of Winston Dookeran who was forced out of the party is the most significant of all why he cannot be trusted.

"He promised to hand over the leadership, publicly stated that he did so, then did everything to undermine Winston while he still held on to the reins of power.

"Is this the man that I must trust? Is this the man you ask us all to trust?

"If I agree to your request then I have to admit that politics has a morality of its own; one that is immoral.

"Sorry, my brother, but the Honourable Basdeo Panday cannot be trusted. And consequently I have to reject your proposal.

"Regards, Jack Warner"

In response to Warner's reply, UNC Senator M.F. Rahman wrote:

"It is as if Judas tries to discredit Jesus with charges of treachery. ‘Jack’ begins with a ‘J’ and he is no Jesus.

"Hundreds of thousands accept Panday and continue to trust him. They have no desire for his position. Those who covet his position and failed to dislodge him remain embittered."

Read related story: "I don't trust Mr Panday": Dookeran

Letter: manning outfoxing Bas?

There are many discussions on the streets, on radio and television discussing the Executive Presidency for TT and some have been asking for expert advice on the topic.

The Chief Justice Ivor Archie in his speech at the opening of the new term went to great length to explain to us the people of this nation that an Executive President in our country would not be in our best interest.

This is from a learned mind who has read and interpreted the draft constitution that we are now hearing that both Mr Panday and Mr Manning are agreeing to.

Something is strange and inconsistent here.

Is the “Silver Fox” being outfoxed once again by Mr Manning?

T CHIN | Port-of-Spain

Performing Arts building ready for CHOGM

Trinidad and Tobago's new National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain opens Monday in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which takes place later this month.

Prime Minister Patrick manning is scheduled to formally open the facility Monday. However, the grand opening ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 27.

The imposing structure was built by the Shanghai Construction Group (SCG), which had to speed up the project to complete it time for CHOGM.

The government has not given a final cost. Two years ago former culture minister Joan Yuille-Williams gave the cost as $358 million.

The SCG has also built the Prime Minister’s residence and diplomatic centre, refurbished the old Piarco airport terminal for the Fifth Summit of the Americas last April, and is currently building the Ministry of Education Tower.
The structure covers hearly half a million square feet and includes a 1,500-seat performance hall, practice halls, teaching rooms, state-of-the-art lighting and sound and a lavishly landscaped surroundings.

Moonilal on the warpath; opposition wants apology for search of Saudi diplomat

Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal told the House of Representatives Friday the Manning administration is putting citizens under too much stress and warned that the situation is reaching breaking point.

He cited several issues that he said are "straining this country" and the said the "elasticity and patience of this population could burst at any time".

Among the issues he raised were:

• the police raid on a visiting Saudi Arabian diplomat at the Hyatt hotel
• the death of three people on the Bailey Bridge on the Churchil Roosevelt highway
• the new concert hall at the PM's residence
• the $2M 'monster flag' in Port of Spain

He was particulary angry about the diplomatic incident involving the diplomat who had come to Trinidad for help nationals obtain visas and prepare for the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mecca.

He noted that the diplomat was allowed to enter the airport, was met by government officials but then later searched at the hotel. Police have apologized for the incident, saying they acted on "intelligence information".

But Moonilal isn't accepting that. He demnaded that the government apologize to the Muslim community for the incident. Opposition leader Basdeo Panday has also called on the government to apologize.

"I call on the Prime Minister to issue an apology to the Saudi Arabian government, Mr Rahaman Alshubaili and to the people of this country who have been hurt by the actions of top ranking persons of the National Security Ministry

"Clearly their intelligence should have indicated who the diplomat was,’ Panday stated in a news release.

In a media release Saturday, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner also demanded an apology from the government and urged the state to ensure that there is better coordination between its various agencies responsible for immigration matters to prevent a similar incidence from happening again.

He said the incident "points to a miserable lack of protocol coordination between the Immigration Department and our local police," and asked, "How can the State offer protection to foreign emissaries if they are unaware of their very presence?"

Commenting on the tragic accident on the Bailey bridge, Moonilal noted that it happened because of the delay in building a proper bridge and slammed the works minister for what he called his "audacity and insensitivity" to be demanding compensation from the dead.

"For two years, you cannot put a proper bridge there, which would lead to the loss of life," he said and wanted to know how Works Minister Colm Imbert knew immediately that it would cost half a million to repair the bridge but "he was not sure how much the concert hall at the prime minister’s official residence would cost."

He also called on Government to investigate the $1 billion cost overrun for a development project at the state-owned Petrotrin energy company. And he wanted to know why that same company refused to pay the salary of Trinidad and Tobago cricket captain Darren Ganga for six weeks.

Moonilal accused Sports Minister Gary Hunt of hiding that fact. And he had more to say about Hunt and the $2M flag erected at the national stadium in Port of Spain as a "symbol of national pride".

Moonilal suggsted that the government should fly the flag at half mast "as a permanent symbol of the waste and corruption".

He called it "obscene" that government spent $2 million on a flag while complaining that it did not have money to provide basic services like water.

"You know of the straw that broke the camel’s back, well this is a flag pole that would break the camel’s back," he said.

COP SLAMS FLAG

Congress of the People deputy leader Prakash Ramadhar also offered his views of the flag, calling it a "national shame".

Speaking at a news conference in Port of Spain, Ramadhar said it is "sad and disgusting...to drape corruption in our flag and then call it national pride".

He said, "You can’t tell me about national pride when you allow children to die from lack of government support.’’

COP leader Winston Dookeran said Hunt's announcement that there will be at least two other 'monster flag' adds insult to the intelligence of the people of Trinidad and Tobago and demanded that people "put a stop to it."