Commentary: Questions for Michael Annisette

I have a few questions for Michael Annisette, the former independent Senator and President of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers' Trade Union (SWWTU) president.

Annisette told reporters in Port of Spain Thursday as many as 13 containers of drugs have passed through the Port of Spain and Pt Lisas ports.

• Question: How do you know this? 
• Question: When did this happen? 
• Question: Why didn't you report this to the police 
• Question: If you knew this and didn't report it to police aren't you complicit in this crime? 
• Question: If you know that 13 containers arrived, then surely you know to whom they were consigned? So who are YOU protecting? 

These are some of the questions I would have liked to ask Annisette as a reporter but unfortunately I am in Canada and for whatever reasons journalists in Trinidad either didn't ask or didn't think these were important issues. (That is a cause for worry about the state of the media but that is a story for another time.)

According to Annisette - and I am basing this on local media reports - poor 'retailers' cannot afford to import containers.

"Our people in Laventille, Maloney, Beetham, from behind the bridge and in Belmont, they don't have the financial capabilities. It has to be coming from the higher-ups who have that kind of money," the Express quoted him as saying. (So are you admitting that these people - "our people" - are peddling bad stuff on the streets but it's ok because they are small 'retailers'?)

"We need to break the neck of the higher echelon of the infrastructure of the drug trade and gang warfare will fall as a result," he said.

Annisette's view is that the State of Emergency should focus on the people who paid to ship guns and drugs into the country, not the hordes of people picked up so far in the State of Emergency dragnet. And he is also deeply concerned that containers with illicit goods passing through our ports is bad for the economy.

"When those things happen at a port of entry, it has implications on the economy."

I agree and I am sure the government and most citizens will also agree. But I have more questions for the trade union boss, who is among other labour labour leaders who want to shut down the country without any concern about the implications of their action for the economy.

• Question: Are you saying the people who peddle drugs, kidnap people and kill and rape are just poor people or 'retailers' earning a living?, 
• Question: Are your union members part of the group of 'retailers'? Is this why the containers arrived on the docks and no one reported this except to YOU? 

If we are to believe the statements attributed to Annisette in the Express we have even more questions. He is reported to have said some union members were offered bribes to "shift" specific containers to more easily accessible spots. He added that he reported this to management.

• Question: Did your people take the bribes and blink at the illegal activity? 
• Question: Why report this to management alone and not police? 
• Question: Why not do what you are so good at doing - go to the media to expose it? 
• Question: Are you suggesting that the port management looked the other way when drugs were coming and guns were coming in by the containerloads? 

We know that the authorities seized at least two containers with drugs this year but Annisette is talking about 13. And that's worrisome because it seems he knows something that the police and customs officials should. And he's not telling them.

According to the Express, Alicia Charles, communications manager at Customs and Excise, said if Annisette was aware of such information, he should pass the information on to them so they could conduct a proper investigation.

I agree. But I would go even further.

If I were in charge of customs and the police I would haul in Annisette for questioning because he obviously knows about the movement of drugs and guns into the country and he has so far failed to tell the authorities about it. That's a crime!

Or is Annisette just telling lies to create public mischief or get some face time on the media? Either way, the authorities should demand some answers from him. And lock him up if there is just cause!

Jai Parasram - 09 Sept 2011