JYOTI closes the book, for now

There is a Chinese proverb that says when you get to the last page, close the book.

JYOTI has not reached there but we are suspending our work on this blog until we are able to return to regular coverage of Trinidad and Tobago news. We regret this unavoidable decision and thank the more than one million visitors for your support over the years.

We hope we can be back soon; it has been a wonderful journey thus far.

Please browse our archives of more than 12,000 entries covering Trinidad and Tobago since 2007, with news and commentaries on topics of national interest.
 
Also, read my book - FAR FROM THE MOUNTAIN - political notes and commentaries - which covers T&T politics between 2007 and 2012. It's published by PARIA and available at bookstores locally and online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Presenting a copy of FAR FROM THE MOUNTAIN to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Thanks again for your support. We'll be back!

Jai Parasram - 15 April 2014

Here are some notes about the book:

Appendix I

Preface:

            Several years ago I started writing regular commentaries, mainly about political developments in my native Trinidad & Tobago. They formed an integral part of my personal blog (www.jyoticommunication.blogspot.com), which remains a permanent fixture on the Internet.

            The intention was to stay in touch and offer my personal views on how I saw my home country develop. The result is a collection that is neither a history book nor an academic text. It is the work of a journalist who tries to shed light on and seeks to explain some of the issues during a critically important period in Trinidad & Tobago’s political development between 2007 and 2012. It presents a view from afar, perhaps even a clearer view, because from a distance it is always easier to get a proper view of the mountain.

            This series of news items, columns and commentaries reflect my thoughts and views on how I saw my country struggle, stumble and then make positive steps as it tried to move forward under a government that, for the first time in the country’s history, represents people from every stratum in the society, regardless of class, social standing, ethnicity or religious belief.

            The period covered in these pages saw the consolidation of power by the People’s National Movement (PNM) under Patrick Manning following his ascension to office by presidential decree in 2001, the near-death experience of the United National Congress (UNC); the conflicts within the party that once governed the country; the birth of the Congress of the People (COP); the selfless struggle by a dedicated few to revive the UNC and finally the rise of Kamla Persad-Bissessar to lead the party and the country. 

            Within four months of becoming political leader of the UNC Kamla and her political colleagues formed a national coalition of interests that won a decisive political victory in a general election that was not due until 2012. The powerful People’s Partnership toppled Patrick Manning and his PNM administration and Kamla became the first woman to lead a government of Trinidad & Tobago.

            What you are holding in your hands is a collection of my thoughts, a record of how I saw things.  It is by no means exhaustive and is really a snapshot of the period, compressing time and space to build a political narrative.

            My hope is that you will find material here to generate a national conversation on where we are today and where are heading as we continue our journey past the first 50 years since we pulled down the Union Jack and hoisted our own national flag with a pledge to create a new state forged from the “Love of Liberty” where each of us would “find an equal place.”

            I thought of calling this “A political lime” because in a sense that is what it is – and honest, from-the-heart conversation tinged with my own bias as I responded to the daily events and the changing political fortunes. I have to confess that it pained me to write some of what you find in these pages but I felt a patriotic obligation to write down my thoughts for posterity.

             

Jai Parasram | Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

Appendix II

FOREWORD BY DR. HAMID GHANY

            I have known Jai Parasram for the better part of two decades. Our paths have crisscrossed over the years and we have maintained a friendship that has been sustained through periods of intense connection and discussion and periods of absence through physical distance.

            Jai is a patriot who was one of the pillars at Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) having joined the company on 16th February, 1972. He has seen politics and society at close range from both sides of the camera and he has a compelling story to tell.

            For most of his career, he has reported and analysed the news, but there is a side to his amazing life that has not recorded the extent to which he has, in fact, helped to make the news.

            Jai represents the quintessential Trinidadian who has broken all of the stereotypes that would apply to him in the land of his birth by virtue of the fact that his professional reputation as a renowned producer, editor and broadcaster have earned him acclaim internationally.

            As a highly respected journalist at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Toronto, which he joined on 13th June, 1988, Jai has earned the accolades befitting someone whose talent is rare. His voice resonated over the black and white (and later colour) airwaves of TTT in his native Trinidad and Tobago in the 1970s and 1980s and that grounding led him to win journalism awards locally, regionally and in Canada for his work...

            Jai was part of a team that launched the well-known CBC cable news and current affairs television network “Newsworld” (now called Canada News Network) on 31st July, 1989. It was only the second twenty-four hour all-news channel to be established in North America after CNN had started “Headline News” some time before.       He was a main driver of the growth of “Newsworld” in Canada as an editor, writer and producer.

            Often times, the passage of time and the forgetfulness of post-colonial societies that do not bother to document their histories will wipe away the richness of their own past glories. Jai, like so many others who have hit more than the proverbial glass ceiling in West Indian societies, had to be part of an inevitable diaspora that allowed very good homegrown talent to blossom elsewhere because of the smallness and inequalities of these West Indian societies that scream equality and whisper discrimination of all types. 

            Jai has made a pause here to let us have an insight into his own contribution to his passage across the digital divide with a collection of hundreds of blogs that he has written over a five-year period that tells the story of the fall of the Manning regime and the arrival of the first female Prime Minister, Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, into office.

            Much has been said and written about this period of the political history of Trinidad and Tobago, but this story is told through the eyes of a person whose journalistic and political instincts can intimately describe the political rise of Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Academics, journalists and activists of all political persuasions will find this book to be meticulously compiled, yet easy to read as they can relate to its subjects and objects.

            In reading this book, it is important to do so far from the mountain because that is how it was written.  Jai has never lost sight of that mountain that he has always been able to see from the plains of Caroni or through the lenses of the cameras at the CBC.

Appendix III

Publisher’s Note

            We met Jai Parasram in July this year when we were introduced to this veteran journalist by Dr. Hamid Ghany, with whom we had collaborated with in 2012 on the production of the official commemorative magazine of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to mark the 50th anniversary of the Independence of our nation.

            Dr. Ghany had a good hunch that Jai’s manuscript would be a good fit with Paria Broadcasting’s overall work. The author’s concept for this book, “Far from the Mountain”, immediately caught our interest. As a publishing house specialised in the history of Trinidad and Tobago, we saw a two-fold uniqueness in this book: on the one hand, it presented contemporary history in a diary form, which allowed for a depth and spontaneity that “hindsight research” wouldn’t, and on the other hand, its content had previously been published as a blog, which gave it inter- medial linkages that we always look for.

            We of course, knew Jai as an early pioneer of television journalism in Trinidad and Tobago. Jai rose through the ranks of Trini- dad’s national television service, Trinidad and Tobago Television (ttt) as a reporter, writer, producer, anchor and News Director, and we are happy that he added his memories of TTT as an appendix to this book. Unfortunately, these pages do not have any sound, because like ourselves, many Trinidadians and Tobagonians of a “certain generation” would remember his voice very well from TTT’s nightly news programme “Panorama”.

            As a much-respected journalist Jai Parasram travelled the Caribbean, always focused on “telling the story” — telling THE story, concisely and with wit and the sort of sparse commentary that leave it open to the viewer or reader to draw his or her own conclusions. This skill of the journalist of four decades is also very evident in “Far from the Mountain”. Whether you intend to read the short chapters consecutively, or browse and dip into the pages wherever fancy takes you — Jai’s journalistic genius will always add value to your reading experience.

            What attracted us particularly to this manuscript was the “witness to history” format. Jai’s epistles accompany an important period of change in Trinidad and Tobago’s political history. On an almost month- by-month basis, he summarises and annotates events surrounding the emergence of Kamla Persad-Bissessar as prime minister of the country. Jai, ever the master storyteller, weaves facts of the past that are easily forgotten in the urgency of the present into an overall narrative that makes them memorable and logical. And the savvy political strategist also shimmers through these pages. Jai takes position and does not spare with ammunition, so reader, be prepared for numerous volleys!

            “Although I live in Canada, my feet remain grounded in Trinidad and Tobago,” Jai told us. With “Far from the Mountain”, Jai Parasram has left a legacy of great academic value and a virtual “how to” book for budding journalists, all seasoned with a pinch of homesickness that gives this book its patriotic flavour.

GERARD A. BESSON CASCADE, 22 AUGUST 201

 

Appendix IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

Foreword

Introduction by Ajay Parasram

SECTION I: THE FUTILE SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND

A divided opposition; the struggle for survival

Common sense and the politics of opposition

The trouble with disunity

How to win an election or lose one

Let the people decide

Don’t celebrate COP victory yet

Political lessons from Canada

Super weekend for T&T politics

Politics by numbers; gambling with T&T’s future

Panday is not dead yet; UNC support still strong

Time to focus on T&T’s future; tomorrow is too late

The trouble with polls

Basdeo Panday and the politics of opposition

Basdeo Panday: Look in the mirror

SECTION II: THE AFTERMATH OF 2007

Democracy in portions

Griffith challenges COP leader

COP bickering exposes vulnerability of opposition politics

Dookeran says deal with the UNC-A is an option

Panday expulsion is a brilliant strategy of distraction

Leave the laptop; get on with the people’s business

Speaker’s agenda lost in propaganda over laptop affair

Don’t save face; save the nation

Food prices and survival back home in T&T

Minister calls for supermarket boycott; blames grocers for high food prices

Looting, assault and robbery a routine affair in T&T

Revenge of the stepchild

What agriculture incentives?

Has Rowley’s time come?

Now is the time to stand up for T&T

Failed state or failing?

Manning announces enquiry into construction sector and UDeCOTT

Why does T&T need a new form of indentureship?

Is Manning making Grenada a colony?

Why is the opposition giving the government a free ride?

Free speech at risk

Improve media standards, but don’t curtail freedom

One year after Manning’s 26-15 victory; Do we like it son?

SECTION III: CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

Time to unite and save T&T: jack Warner

Jack ready to hit the road if UNC refuses to change

Send me off in a blaze of glory

Can Couva North be Panday’s Waterloo

Panday, Dookeran want independent inquiry into Bakr affidavit

Time to defend our freedom

Does Jeremi’e friend or foe exclude PM Manning?

Ramesh might challenge Panday for UNC leadership

Who will lead the UNC?

Warner, Dookeran keep unity flame ablaze

Warner urges constituents to destroy Ravanas

Dookeran praises Warner, launches new search for unity

It’s time to end the battles and unite to win the war

PM Manning says Rowley not fired over UDeCOTT

Manning calls Rowley a ‘raging bull’

UNC delegate tells Panday step aside and let Kamla lead

Dookeran slams government; talks of Panday-Manning alliance

Opposition political games hurting T&T

SECTION IV: A NEW DAWN FOR THE RISING SUN

Kamla to take on Bas, Ramesh for UNC leadership

Kamla’s gamble

Don’t celebrate Kamla’s victory yet

Challenging the UNC status quo

All not well in Panday camp

The will of the majority must prevail in UNC election

Nomination Day marks start of home stretch in epic UNC election battle

Warner fought for Mark to get Senate seat

Media, politics and the truth

Kamla praises Panday but says he’s too wounded to lead

You are a loser, Kamla tells Panday

Is there life after the election?

What is the UNC protecting?

Has the UNC lost its way?

Kamla beats Bas; says it’s a people’s victory

Kamla takes charge of UNC; praises media

Panday’s control of UNC is betrayal of the people

Kamla unseats Panday

Don’t let Panday stand in the way of progress

SECTION V: KAMLA RISES

Kamla files no confidence motion in government

Who shot Calder Hart?

Opposition unity is good news but at what price?

COP/UNC agree on 2-way contest in next election

Manning tells PNM get ready for election

Manning makes a gamble but is the opposition ready?

Manning’s options: prorogue or dissolve

Kamla wants Manning to fire housing minister, UDeCOTT board

Kamla wants Manning’s resignation

Parliament dissolved

Manning’s gamble; don’t celebrate yet

Manning was facing palace coup: Kamla

The Rowley factor is the PNM’s albatross

Kamla declares victory at hand; leaders sign unity accord

THE FYZABAD DECLARATION

Manning’s dirty politics won’t hurt Kamla

Opposition team can easily win majority

Political games in the PNM

It’s worth it to dream of a united T&T

Jack exposes PNM conspiracy to smear him

Standing up for T&T

One million to choose the way forward for T&T

Graphics – The leaders/PNM pledges/PP pledges/PP seven pillars

Graphics: Newspaper front pages: Express, Guardian, Newsday

Kamla’s victory speech

Manning graceful in defeat

Yes we can; T&T takes a quantum leap forward

The test begins for Kamla’s experiment in participatory democracy

Manning’s resignation from PNM

Kamla appoints first cabinet

Jack the giant killer

No room for complacency

Does PNM deserve forgiveness?

PP wins LGE; No one will divide us again: Kamla

PNM must confess its sins in order to move on

Opposition infighting is bad news for T&T and PNM

SECTION VI: NEW ISSUES, MAJOR CHALLENGES

Kamla’s yellow dress was always green (with photo)

Police must not be allowed to hold a nation to ransom

Can Rolwey justify his mutiny

Is the PSA uprising really about money?

Are we there yet?

Is Rowley a drowning man clutching at straws

Manning should be censured for making mischief

What is Manning contemplating?

It’s time for Rowley to stop the pappyshow

PNM kills hanging bill

Let’s grow food and build houses

Kamla fires Mary King

Did Rowley really visit NY mission on Nov. 05?

Workers must start asking their unions some questions

Don’t be fooled by Rowley’s crocodile tears

Rowley should learn to lead or just get out of the way

Afro-Trinis commit majority of crime in T&T: Sandy

Don’t give a moose a muffin

PM says PNM didn’t deal with crime

If you think Manning is quitting politics, watch for Santa Claus

The SOE worked. Now let’s keep criminals on the run

Don’t put on your campaign jerseys yet

What’s panday trying to prove?

SECTION VII: TESTING TIME FOR PP AS T&T TURNS 50

Rowley should not be offended by Kamla’s act of humility

We need more humility – guest column by IRA MATHUR

McLeod’s departure from MSJ won’t damage coalition

Rowley must start leading instead of just being a rabble rouser

Kamla’s vision

So what’s wrong with a welfare state?

Doctors must honour their oats and put patients first

Kamla still strong but protests will continue

Battle for San Fernando East

Choose a side Abdulah, you can’t have it both ways

Roget’s war more important than settlement at Petrotrin

Rowley’s gamble could inflict political injury on PNM

Now is the time for PNM to get rid of its albatross

Lee Sing is new Rowley target

Leave Kamla alone

It’s time for COP to get over its political tabanca

COP’s gamble can be costly and lead to its own demise

Partnership will stand with or without COP

Trust Kamla to keep partnership together

Labour’s best deal is to remain part of the People’s Partnership

Labour united in 1976 but failed to win power

Lee Sing getting ready to lead PNM?

COP must be careful it doesn’t shoot itself in the foot

All’s well that ends well but stormy seas lie ahead

Time for Abdulah to make up his mind about PP

PP remains strong because it welcomes dissent

Labour advancing agenda at the expense of workers

Abdulah must show leadership and resign as government Senator

Music that celebrates humanity cannot be imprisoned within the narrow walls of racism

Time for Abdulah to remove the mask

Labour still has best representation in PP government

Progress means some inconvenience

The facts show that Jack did nothing wrong

Why does Rowley want to waste Parliament’s time again?

A thought for emancipation day – Are we free yet?

PM Kamla: National day of Prayer

EPILOGUE

We still have a long way to go

And now … it’s time to close the book.

Letter: Rowley's failure and the PNM's irrelevance

Ambassador Hotel Declaration.

1. Oddly, the evening prime time newscasts of October 18th 2012 did not begin with what is perhaps the most significant event since Kamla Persad-Bissessar led her partnership team to a resounding victory over the People’s National Movement (PNM) on May 24th 2010: communication that the PNM is no longer controlled by persons of reason, meaning: the PNM has abandoned the rules of democracy, dignity and decorum in the pursuit of its objective to regain ruling office.

2. Approximately eight minutes into the broadcast, the anchor announced there was a meeting of several political organizations and pressure groups, at the Ambassador Hotel, Port of Spain, all of which, with varying intensity, are opposed to the People’s Partnership administration (PPA) and which, during the meeting, decided they must formally be wedded to accomplish their objective of aborting the PPG’s five-year term.

3. The PNM was the only aggregation attending which, prior to, during and since, the meeting, had and or has national appeal of meretricious mention: the others were a hodgepodge of entities and or personalities that, up to 2010, the PNM would never allow to come anywhere close to it, except to exterminate afterwards, à la Manning-meeting-with-gang-leaders-at-Crowne-Plaza-and-Whitehall. So, the following need to be wary…not right now…the day the PNM returns to office:

a. Country First,
b. Trinidad and Tobago Democratic National Assembly,
c. Trinidad Youth Council,
d. FITUN,
e. Sou Sou Lands,
f. Jericho Project,
g. NUFF (National Union of Freedom Fighters),
h. “members of the Joint Trade Union Movement”,
i. Movement for Social Justice,
j. People United Respecting the Environment (PURE),
k. “Section 34 Group”.

4. Questions need to be asked (and plausible explanations given) as to what could have prompted the PNM to make such a monumental realignment or shift aware from moderation and self-reliance; after all, since it was formed, the PNM’s motto, behaviour and track record conjoin to confirm the PNM needs no partners in pursuing or accomplishing its political agenda…indeed, the PNM’s policy has always been the exact opposite: divide and rule.

5. In the runup to its birth, the man traditionally accorded the title of founder of the PNM (Dr Eric E. Williams) went to great lengths to distance both himself and “his baby” from politicians whom the then establishment had long deemed or come to regard as demagogues or of nuisance value: neither Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler nor Albert “Bertie” Gomes, nor Adrian Cola Rienzi (the three colossi whose individual and collective resolute struggles before and after World War Two are what made Trinidad and Tobago a democracy), nor Bhadase Sagan Maraj …furthermore, when the PNM did eventually capture the lion’s share of the elected seats in 1956, rather than seeking to partner with the trio to give our nation its first truly popularly-elected government, the PNM instead “negotiated with Massa” to keep them from exerting any influence on the fledging PNM (they certainly would have, given the preponderance of their negotiating skills and popularity).

6. One cannot forget that, in putting together his party, Dr Eric E. Williams craftily invited several luminaries with whom the colonial powers had no qualms to join him: C. L. R. James, Learie Constantine, Isabel Teshea, Elton Richardson, Eustace Piggott, Donald Granado. He did so to gain a foothold in the Afro-Trinbagonians communities with which these personalities had long been associated. However, his eventual treatment of such outstanding individuals, once he got into power, confirmed he had merely used them as pawns to accomplish what still remains the PNM’s main focus: winning elections, no matter the cost to the country.

7. Despite his already-established prowess as a historian (particularly Caribbean history), Dr Williams moulded his PNM along lines which history records are more suitable for mono-ethnic, mono-cultural societies: Dr Williams, despite his eloquent rhetoric, sought out and cultivated his political base among Afro-Trinbagonians. 

His viewpoint of my Indo-Trinbagonian brothers and sisters was that they comprised a recalcitrant minority who had received their education in cowsheds and lagoons. Hence, from the outset, the PNM, despite its cleverly-stated principles, never sought or appealed to nearly half of Trinidad and Tobago’s population: it set about and maintained policies and practices that utterly discredited, disdained and distanced every Indo-Trinbagonian (particularly those who happened to be Hindus), even if the Indo-Trinbagonian had been a foundation member of the PNM. Furthermore, under Dr Williams, the lot of the Afro-Trinbagonian themselves regressed rather than progressed, despite the PNM being the juggernaut in control of the government.

8. By the mid-1960s, the rumblings within the PNM’s traditional base began to bubble over and lessen the enthusiasm Afro-Trinbagonians held for the PNM. Trinbago went through a period of industrial unrest and turmoil which led to the PNM declaring a State of Emergency and hurriedly passing the Industrialisation Stabilisation Act. These reactions served merely to incite the brooding disillusionment which eventually exploded in late 1969 as the Black Power Riots.

9. A prominent aspect of the Black Power struggle was that the PNM used military might to prevent the Indo-Trinbagonians and Afro-Trinbagonians to unite. The PNM of today is continuing in the same vein, for, unwittingly or not, by the words and actions of the current PNM leaders, it is sending a loud and clear message that Indo-Trinbagonians (and Hindus in particular) cannot help but being corrupt, untrustworthy and unfit to hold the reins of government. In other words, the PNM is reconfirming (and reminding the wider public) that it is an inveterate gathering of bigots.

10. To persons who properly understand the PNM psyche therefore, the primetime announcement of the November 2nd 2012 march comes as no surprise. In fact, apart from stating the obvious, the news does two things:

a. it forecasts the PNM has already conceded its upcoming Motion of Censure against the Honourable Attorney-General (and, by extension, the stewardship of the Most Honourable Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar) is doomed to fail. 

In other words, that, at best, it’s frivolous, vexatious, without merit and a waste of precious parliamentary time and resources, akin to what the likes of Messrs Ferguson and Galbaransingh have been doing, under the PNM’s watch, to delay commencement of their trials. (To his eternal credit, the Honourable Attorney General acted expeditiously to defang certain unwelcome consequences after then Justice Minister, Herbert Volney, had made the entire Cabinet a cat’s paw regarding Section 34. In matters such as those, analogies from the cricketing world invariably are invoked: the Honourable Attorney-General, positioned behind the wicket, sprang sideways, forward and downward, like a primed panther, to pull off a breathtaking one-handed catch mere centimetres from the turf, after the first slip deliberately fumbled a dolly.);

b. it signals the PNM has a mortal fear of the political savvy and resilience of a man who, like Michael Jackson was, is an institution by himself, thus devoid of any ambition other than to spend the rest of his earthly days giving back to the land which nurtured him, not, like the PNM, to milk it for what, down to its seventh generation, it’s worth.

11. Having again perused the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution, I am yet to be convinced what right or role a Leader of The Opposition has in determining who comprises the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago. In undertaking such constitutional review, I remained ever mindful that the document I was reading was the one the PNM itself, singlehandedly crafted, after it totally rejected what the overwhelming majority of the population wanted: proportional government, as articulated by the Sir Hugh Wooding Constitution Commission Report.

12. My conviction, as just stated, is reinforced by the fact that, unlike every PNM administration (except that of George Michael Chambers), the present administration is headed by a Prime Minister who understands the old PNM ways are what have prevented the blossoming and harvest expected of a country overabundantly blessed and fortunate as Trinbago is and has been. 

I hold no brief for anyone, but, dispassionate evaluation does inform me that the incumbent Prime Minister has deliberately, steadfastly and compassionately crafted her governing methodologies to make Trinbago become what The Good Lord created it to be: a beautiful harmony of human and natural resources.

13. If anything, because of such painstaking, the Most Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been under tremendous pressure from even within her own party, because such a policy unavoidably means the PNM voice and presence (as a shaper of official policy has not been derided or stifled), notwithstanding the PNM’s sinful and or selfish past.

14. In light of the above, only one conclusion may be drawn: the elevation of Dr Keith Rowley is the most retrograde step the PNM has ever made since the exit of George Michael Chambers, for, prior to Dr Rowley being crowned the PNM’s standard bearer, Parliament itself and his own party had labelled him an unrepentant bully (in local parlance “wajang”).

15. It ought to surprise none, therefore, as to the rough and tumble course the PNM presently follows. As times unfurls this bully too shall meet his Waterloo. Just for the record, in Trinidad and Tobago, Waterloo is the heartland of non-PNM territory.

16. Magnum est PNM et prevalebit (Great is the PNM and it shall prevail!). However, biographically, politically, economically, democratically, the PNM of today is not what the demographics of 21st-century Trinbago requires…in fact, the PNM never was.

Sincerely,
Jayerson Skinner, (Cellphone: 868-756-7532)
Sixth Street |Five Rivers, Arouca.

Disturbed. The Peter O'Connor column

Bob Marley’s words “It’s disturbed, it’s disturbed…that I’m feeling” have been ringing in my ears the last few days of 2011.

Disappointed, too. We are not doing in this land any of the things we all know need to be done. And I am not directing this to the government alone. 

Barring the very few shining lights of hope out there, individuals and groups, we, every sector of our society is failing itself and the country by consistently refusing to set some example and do what we know is right, and fair and just.

It’s disturbed that I’m feeling when I realize that every individual, every organization, every corporation, every (most?) trade union, every political party (and therefore every government), is only concerned with what they can take from the national pot. 

And nobody is considering what they should be putting back in to that pot. 

“Entitlement” has grown like a cancer upon us, and it is going to destroy us. And do not think that entitlement is limited to families who lose their homes in tragic or disaster circumstances. 

We all know that it reaches deep into our professions, including the legal profession, our organizations, our businesses, politics and of course, the government, which is now required to share out the “entitlements” to the “entitled”.

The greatest threat to our maintaining public order in the land, is this ongoing screaming demand for “what we are due”. From business demanding the government to “stimulate the economy”, down to the little rural child who did not get a teddy bear from Santa Kamla, everyone is screaming for something. 

And for some reason, the government is actually trying to give everyone everything.

So, I am calling upon the government first, on this New Year’s Day, to set the example and get to work. Getting to work means putting away all your “Santa” hats, and if a hamper is needed somewhere, send it, do not have a minister deliver it. 

And follow through by doing more of the things of governance and management, and less of the PR and self-praise.

Prime Minister, you appear to be taking advice from people (and those people alone) who have neither the interest of the country, nor indeed your interest, at the head of their agendas. 

Just look at the most serious negative issues you have faced, and from whence came these issues. 

The still unsettled Reshmi affair came from a minister considered your advisor—right? The problems with Caribbean Airlines Board, and several of the difficulties regarding cohesion within your cabinet are all being fanned by a small group of people within your cabinet. 

Are their motives, the advice they are giving you, the divisiveness they are creating, as they seek to have you follow one set of recommendations only, really what you need, what this country needs? 

Surely you will recall that these were the people who opposed your ascension to the post of political leader of the UNC. Some were still in Panday’s camp when Manning called his election. 

They “joined” you when they realized you were rising to rule the country. So, a word to the wise for the time being, Prime Minister: Open your ears, eyes and mind to the wider view, and from there you will better understand the true state of the country and how the people truly feel.

On the other end of the political spectrum, we as a people, and the media in particular, must insist that the remnants of the PNM are not given continued uncritical media space to spout their dishonest drivel. 

It’s disturbed that I’m feeling when I hear Rowley, Hinds, and now Hypolite telling us how deeply they are concerned with murders in Laventille. But these same people were thumping their desks in parliament when Manning was praising Martin Joseph and dining the gang leaders. 

And tell me, did you ever see Hypolite and Hinds visiting the bereaved when the PNM was sponsoring the murders?

And while I totally agree with the opinion that Ganga Singh should not have been “awarded”, as “sole bidder” the CEO post at WASA, it is not for Keith Rowley, nor any PNM remnant, to stand and condemn this wrong. Not them who applauded the appointments of Calder Hart, Hazel Manning and others to positions of power.

And it’s disturbed that I’m feeling when I realize that the media, correctly critical of Kamla and her government, continues to provide the platform for the PNM to behave as if they never misgoverned and corrupted our country. 

We must accept that even as we judge the present government for their failings, we do not have a choice in terms of an alternative. Going back there is just going backwards.

And that is the dilemma we need to resolve. 

Manning gov't gave Grenada $315M support for Clico and British American

The former Manning government gave the government of Grenada a $315 million bailout to support Clico and British American.

Finance Minister Winston Dookeran made the disclosure Tuesday in the Senate during debate on the Finance Bill. The minister said the PNM government's support was announced in Grenada in April 2009. 

“I noticed in the list of support that has been granted by Trinidad and Tobago to the Caribbean, it included a US$50 million support for Clico in the Caribbean" adding that he was not aware of it until he saw the relevant documents.

Local media reports say three months after the State and the Central Bank intervened in Clico in Trinidad and Tobago the former government pledged assistance to allow Grenada officials to meet obligations in relation to matured Clico/British American insurance policies.

The Grenada Ministry of Finance and the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions (GARFIN) stated on April 14, 2009 that Trinidad and Tobago was one of several countries that agreed to establish a special Clico liquidity fund.

The fund was set up after a meeting held in Antigua on April 2, 2009. Officials of the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams attended the meeting, which was chaired by St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.

“The Government of Grenada and GARFIN are keenly aware that some policyholders of British American have experienced delays with payments on their matured policies,” the 2009 release stated..

“In an effort to address this issue and bolster public confidence, we wish to advise that Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and member states of the ECCU (Eastern Caribbean Currency Union) have agreed to establish a “Liquidity Support Fund” which would provide additional liquidity to the financial sector in the ECCU."

It added, “In relation to British American Insurance Company, the initial contributions toward the Fund would be comprised as follows: the Government of Trinidad and Tobago — through the Caricom Petroleum Fund–US$50 million ($315 million).”

Trinidad and Tobago’s contribution to the Grenada “Liquidity Support Fund” was the largest, according to the press release from the Grenada Ministry of Finance. Other contributors to the “Liquidity Support Fund” included: Barbados ($31.5 million); the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union ($63 million) and “regional and international organisations” ($94.5 million).

Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning established the Caricom Petroleum Fund in November 2006. In 2007, the government transferred $682.3 million from the Consolidated Fund to the Petroleum Fund It paid out $337.3 million in 2007, leaving a balance of $345 million.

Dookeran said the former government depleted the fund, which had $1.7 billion over the past five years, leaving only $65 million. US$50 million was used by the PNM government to support CLICO in the Caribbean.

He said the Caribbean Development Fund will no longer be used to "satisfy the whims and fancies of a country's problem" but a plan will be developed along with multilateral agencies of the world.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar spoke about the fund in Jamaica in July when she called for greater transparency. 

“I believe there needs to be greater accountability to how the funds are being used so that the resources spent are allocated in accordance with what are the most urgent areas of need in our region,” she said.

Speaking on the issue about payments for Clico policyholders, Dookeran said he understands the pain they and the trade unions are feeling. But he said this is necessary since sacrifices must be made to rebuild the country's economy.

He said the Government is firm that national interest is a priority over a select few who believed they alone were being affected by the country's economic challenges.

The minister said, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, the People's Partnership Government will always stay focused to defend the national interest of Trinidad and Tobago. 

"So there is pain but this pain is necessary if we are to put back our country on a positive track and to be able to create a sense of comfort and sustainability for the future. We are not yet out of the woods but we are beginning to see some of the light ahead of us."

Dookeran added that the economy is now in a stable position and if this was not so, the Inter American Development Bank would not have had the confidence to approve two loans to the State last Friday. He also said the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund was at US$3.6 billion the end of September.

Jack takes charge as Ag. PM; won't attend closing of FIFA world cup

Jack Warner is now in charge of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago as acting Prime Minister. He will hold the post until July 12 when Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar returns home from her first overseas trip.

She is leading the Trinidad and Tobago to the CARICOM summit (July 4-7) in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She will also make a formal visit to Kingston at the invitation of Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding and also visit Miami before returning to Trinidad.

Persad-Bissessar will address the formal opening of the conference Sunday as the regional grouping welcomes the newest elected leader and the only woman to be Prime Minister of a CARICOM member at this time.

Since become Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Persad-Bissessar has demonstrated strength and firmness in dealing with domestic matters and CARICOM is looking to her for clear indications of the direction she will follow in the integration movement.

She has already set the tone by rejecting the idea that her predecessor, Patrick Manning, was keen on - political and economic union of some Eastern Caribbean (OECS) states.

Persad-Bissessar's policy on that is that no such union would take place unless the people endorse it.

And CARICOM will be eager to hear the Prime Minister's views on the Single Market Economy, scheduled to take effect in 2015, which has suffered many serious setbacks.

Read the Sunday Guardian Editorial: Driving the CARICOM Agenda

Her absence from the country at this time has put Warner in charge of running the government. This development has caused the Works Minister and FIFA Vice President to make a clear choice between his dual responsibilities.

In a letter to FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter dated July 2, 2010, Warner told FIFA's chief that because of his temporary assignment he won't attend the closing matchesof the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

"The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, will be out of the country from Saturday July 3rd until the following Monday (July 12). Madame Prime Minister, as Head of Government, announced that I would be the Acting Prime Minister during the period of her absence," he wrote.

The letter added, "The announcement was made following the weekly Cabinet meeting of Thursday July 1, 2010. At the meeting, the Prime Minister noted that it was not in the country's best interest for both her and the Chairman of the Party to be out of the country at the same time and that after giving it much thought, I was the best person at this time to act in her absence.

"President Blatter, I am sure you would understand that there was no way that I could have possibly refused the Prime Minister on this occasion.

"I do hereby thank you in advance for your kind understanding, even as I continue to pledge my loyalty to you and to the FIFA.

"I also take this opportunity to commend you and the LOC WC South Africa 2010 for the outstanding organisation of the tournament. Despite the minor challenges that faced us in the beginning, we have overcome.

"We can be proud of our choice of South Africa; we can be proud of Africa. I will not venture to predict the outcome of the finals, but I will say that the best team will win," the letter stated.