Chamber condemns record murders

Friday, June 26th 2009

THE Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce has condemned the murder of Camille Daniel, who was shot dead by carjackers on the compound of the West End Police Station on Wednesday.

Chamber president Angella Persad stated in a media release yesterday that the "barbaric" murder, which occurred in the front yard of the station, coupled with last week's murder of Tecia Henry "has brought our country to an all-time low".

"The murder figure is at an all-time high at 271 in six months, and it is a frightening indication to the public at large that the relevant authorities do not have a handle on the situation, and for the most part, do not inspire any confidence in our helpless population. It is simply not good enough for the Minister of National Security to express outrage at the situation and assure us that things will get better," the release added.

The chamber, once again, appealed to the prime minister to "take direct control and coordinate the approach among all the law enforcement agencies to restore law and order to our country."

I leave you with one question after reading this....Was this Chamber in support of the nationwide shut down that was organised by Inshan Ishmael in protest of the escalating crime rate and the inaction of the Government?

Between the lines

Paolo Kernahan

Published: 25 Jun 2009

Paolo Kernahan

I have been following some of the more recent utterings of the Prime Minister and even though I consider myself possessed of a sturdy constitution, I have been tickled incontinent by his remarks and what they portend.

Recently at the PNM convention/ritual gathering, the Prime Minister raised the spectre of blood and mayhem if we do not yield to his integration ideologies. “…We cannot stand idly by and watch the Caribbean in this economic situation and do nothing. We will pay in blood for taking such a position.” WDM!!!!!! Let me break it down for you like Chuck D.

How would the leaders of the eastern Caribbean nations referenced in his speech digest the perception of their countrymen as one GDP point away from scrambling everything buoyant together for a flotilla bound for Trini shores, all of them a band of ne’er-do-wells and nefarious characters? Try hearing it how I did: “Our Caribbean brothers and sisters, it is crucial that we form ourselves into a political union. It is imperative that we ensure that your economies remain stable so that you don’t come to Trinidad to kill us all and foster narco-trafficking in the region.

“We shall overcome, my brothers and sisters! You shall overcome! As long as you don’t come over!” In his address to the PNMites, Mr Manning is admitting that notwithstanding the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on fast patrol boat contracts and surveillance equipment, we will be powerless in the face of refugee-laden pirogues penetrating our defences.

There is no doubt these “small islanders” will set up criminal enterprises and trigger an onslaught of murder and mayhem the likes of which we have never seen! Wait a minute… It is obvious, the only solution to avoid this terrible fate is to create this union and along with it a single passport so that they can pour into our borders legally.

“You agree with me or not?” he asks the mesmerised audience waiting out the speech patiently for the smorgasbord of food and drink, a fleeting opportunity to press the flesh with the anointed one, and the climax of DJ music (dahlin oyeeeee, let’s have a good good time!) for the party faithful to undulate their massive buttocks with such ferocity as to spark a small blaze in their flammable spandex tights. Funny that we are now being terrorised with the prospect of being overrun by illegal migrants when the PNM has a well established history of encouraging Grenadians to come here to set up a beachhead at Sea Lots. What was convenient then isn’t now? “I am not an obeah man. I have been around a long time.” We know, heavens to Betsy, we know.

There was, though, a most offensive remark for which I wager we will faster see Mr Manning step down from office than apologise for. It was quite plainly a deeply hurtful inference. He indicated his deep sorrow at the injunction on his detailing the circumstances at the heart of the brutal murder of Tecia Henry. “I know all of you know the facts. Ent you know (the judicious application of the term ent designed to elicit head nodding from the faithful in the audience).

Don’t take it at face value. That is all I would say.” Leave it to Mr Manning to confuse a thinly veiled insinuation with a cipher. It reminds me of a family friend who is “ah PNM ’till ah dead” who routinely offers her theories on the latest murders to assuage the prevailing impression of crime beyond control. “But you know dem was in drugs, daiz why de kill de boy!”

At the end of it, Mr Prime Minister, a child has been killed, a ten-year-old girl will celebrate her 11th birthday being put into the dirt , no cake, no ice cream, only flowers of mourning and a torrent of tears insufficient still to quell the burning fires of the Laventille heart. But she done dead arready, why not exploit her passing for crass political expedience. “That is all I would say” was already too much. Yet we must ask ourselves, have we seen the signs of a chronic condition exhibited recently by our beneficent leader, a condition observed in medical science as “pedeore” (foot in mouth). Let us go back to some earlier manifestations of this troubling malaise.

“What I noticed this morning was the regular anti-smelter crowd. That is what I saw, which means there is nothing new. I looked very carefully to see the people of La Brea and they were not there.” One is left to assume that Mr Manning has a digital file embedded in his brain of every La Brea resident such that he could recognise any Labrean upon sight. It gets worse: “…anti-smelter outsiders who have no business in La Brea.” Does he mean that Trinidadians not resident in La Brea need a visa to be in that southern community? Are activists, environmentalists and Trinis concerned about the possible impacts of the smelter banned from La Brea?

The most spine-chilling remark to issue forth from his blessed lips however had to have been his admonition to his supporters at the PNM family day no less: “All I am saying to you, ladies an gentlemen, is sharpen your political cutlasses!” Hear that kids? Sharpen your political cutlasses. In a society where violence is rampant, young men are killed for watching the area don the wrong way, this is the advice doled out on a sunny Sunday afternoon at a sports and family day.

By the way Mr Panday, you are the last person to offer comment on that remark. “You must do them before they do you!” Remember that gem? That simple exhortation provoked an immediate reaction amongst some supporters at the Rienzi Complex who were a molotov cocktail of forres park special reserve and “maximum leader” fervour. We live in times of economic turmoil, rising unemployment, a squall of crime with the minutes between each thunder clap shorter, the stories of brutal killings closer to home.

In the midst of all of this we are forced to contend with a barrage of irresponsible statements. Questions of a Karen Teshiera/ Clico conflict are deflected, yet Brigid Anisette-George is jettisoned with dispatch, her potential conflict apparently significant enough to suggest possible legal action for unnamed parties. Before we knew it Ron Jeremy was riding high again as the AG. Where does this insanity all end? It is clear that the media have not been able to move the public sufficiently to stand against this tyranny.

I recently cast my eye on a flyer announcing a rally meant to discuss many of the issues I have raised in this column. From what I can tell it is an amalgamation of civil society groups and activists. It looks like a very promising change from the generations of apathy which has allowed politicians to live out their dreams and weave our nightmares in this country. Read between the lines people, before the only lines on offer are an obituary of our nation.

WE WILL PAY IN BLOOD

PM: Regional unity a must or... Ria Taitt Political Editor Source: Trinidad Express Monday, June 22nd 2009

in full flight: Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday. The floundering Eastern Caribbean economies pose a serious threat to the economic welfare and well-being of the people and economy of Trinidad and Tobago, Prime Minister Patrick Manning warned yesterday. Ah yes, way to go Manning, godfather of the Caribbean. Talking a load of horse manure about Eastern Caribbean economies causing a threat to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. What about the local criminals that are roaming the streets, hacking people like Jameel Ali to death? Aren't they also a threat to the people? What about the local criminals who killed Tecia Henry? Aren't they also a threat to the people? What about the criminals that held up the St. James Licensing Office? Aren't they a threat to the people? What about the local criminals in Beetham and Lavantille who shoot and kill one another with illegally obtained firearms? Aren't they a threat the to public when they go out robbing and killing people in the general populace with those illegal firearms? Who are you really trying to fool with all this hog wash? The illiterate masses of the Beetham Landfill and the slums of Lavantille? Well if that is the case, then I'm sure you are doing a fine job...but you are not fooling the educated people who live outside of your PNM strongholds. Yes, you keep your die hard PNM voters uneducated and totally dependent on the state. That is the only way the PNM will keep winning elections. It won't last forever, every rope has its end. The blood done start to flow! Woman shot by bandits in the West End Police Station Compound.

Guard robbed, killed at home

Gyasi Gonzales ggonzales@trinidadexpress.com Source: Trinidad Express Tuesday, June 23rd 2009

CHOPPED TO DEATH: Jameel Ali BANDITS took a DVD player, cellular telephone and a wallet from an off-duty security officer, before almost splitting his head open with a hatchet during what police believe was a robbery at his D'abadie home early yesterday morning. What d hell! During the ordeal, Jameel Ali's wife of the last four years was forced to watch but ordered not to scream, under threat that she would face the same fate. Ali, 45, who lived in a small but ramshackle apartment below his mother's house at Recreation Road, was employed at Pentagon Security. The couple had no children. The horror began shortly before 3 a.m. Ali and his wife were asleep when the three men, two armed with cricket bats and one with a hatchet, forced open a door leading to Ali's one-room apartment. Police sources said Ali was beaten about the body by the men with the bats. As he crouched in a corner, the man with the hatchet attacked him, striking a blow almost to the back of his head. Ali's mother, Rosey Birjoo, yesterday recalled that a few days before the attack, her son spoke of strange men walking on Recreation Road, which has a dead end. Beyond the dead end road is a large tract of unoccupied land. Birjoo said she heard the commotion sometime before 3 a.m. and called the police, but by the time she made the call the killers were already making their escape. Ali's wife however was left physically unharmed. Crying while she spoke to reporters yesterday, she complained that the police "took long" to arrive at the scene. They searched the area for the killers when they got there but to no avail. Emergency Medical Services personnel arrived afterwards. Two of the attendants walked downstairs to the bloodstained apartment, and walked back up grim faced, saying Ali was already dead and there was nothing they could do. Officers from Crime Scene Unit and Homicide Bureau, led by ASP Stanley Ramdeen, visited the scene afterwards. "I eh know what this country coming too nah. He was a good son," Birjoo said, adding that the only thing she wanted was to see was the faces of her son's killers. Homicide Bureau officers are continuing investigations. The murder toll stood at 266 yesterday evening. Yes Trinidad, we finally reach! This is what Vision 20/20 is all about folks. Ministers living large and citizens getting hacked to death. This is what it is all about, this is what you vote for when you vote for the PNM...violent murders, rape, kidnapping, human trafficking, larceny and the list goes on. Notice PM Manning has nothing to say about crime, his major concern is hosting summits, having meetings in his diplomatic centre and spending millions of taxpayer's dollars to do this. This is how the PNM cares for you.

CLICO $20m PNM GIFT

How cash-squeezed insurance giant bankrolled 2007 elections Camini Marajh Investigative Desk Sunday, June 21st 2009

Above:A cheque for $5 million, made out to the People's National Movement, dated June 29, 2007, and signed by then CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey, as well as three other signatories, was endorsed less than a month before the November 5, 2007, election by Rose Janierre, assistant party secretary, and Linus Rogers, PNM elections officer. Well what do you know? It seems there is some serious "back scratching" going on behind closed doors. Great is the PNM! Lawrence Duprey's CL Financial Group provided scarcely imaginable largesse to the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) party in the last general election at a time when it was already on the ropes-short on cash and highly leveraged. The by-then cash-poor conglomerate bankrolled the 2007 election campaign of the Patrick Manning-led PNM party to the tune of some $20 million, according to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. And while much of CL's money went through a somewhat circuitous route to sundry suppliers of goods and services: from the printing of fliers and tee shirts to tent and maxi-taxi rentals, the bulk of it was applied to direct billings from advertising agencies for media activity, said sources. Some of it however, was paid directly into the party's coffers. One such payment was made directly to the People's National Movement from the group's insurance subsidiary, Clico, on June 28, 2007, for the generous sum of $5 million. The $5 million cheque, drawn from a Republic Bank-held account at Independence Square in Port of Spain, was endorsed less than a month before the November 5, 2007, vote by Rose Janierre, assistant party secretary and Linus Rogers, PNM elections officer. Look how mark bussin on ah Sunday so...what d NLCB go say!?! The $5 million Clico payout to the PNM's war chest was made at a time when the country's No1 insurance company had already been red-flagged with solvency issues, a statutory fund deficit of close to a billion dollars and what financial observers warned were dangerously excessive levels of inter-party transactions within the group. If the Manning government had any concerns about the holding company using the country's largest insurer as a lucrative little money machine, it not only kept its own counsel but it lined up at the feeding trough. Manning and the PNM truly do care after all! In the middle of this interplay of politics and business stood Andre Monteil, the then group financial director of Duprey's $100 billion business behemoth, his No1 lieutenant, party treasurer of the incumbent PNM government and the PNM face of the corporate animal known as CL Financial. Entrepreneurial titan Duprey was the other public face of CL Financial and despite his protestations of being a-political, he was viewed by many as a United National Congress or Basdeo Panday sympathiser. How shocking! Look at the names getting called up... Some say the group's fortunes rose and fell on the political connections of these two public faces of CL Financial. Whatever the truth, Duprey's CL Financial group spread a lot of wealth around the PNM in the last decade. And the point man who distributed a lot of that CL money around the ruling party was Duprey's right hand man, Andre Monteil, who, until recently, was numbered among the party's most formidable power brokers. Monteil was also the corporate chieftain who operated within the context of loopholes that allowed the CL Group to conduct business as usual in the seemingly opaque world of deficient legislation and well outside the good governance expectations of the Central Bank. In his January 30, 2009, containment effort to rescue the floundering financial giant, Governor Ewart Williams complained that the Central Bank had been "stymied" by inadequate legislation from going after the rogue insurance company. Governor Williams said that for the last five years the Central Bank was forced to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the country's No1 insurer sailed ever closer to the edge. He cited several areas of concern, including: - Excessive related-party transactions which carry significant contagion risks. - An aggressive high interest rate resource mobilisation strategy to finance equally high-risk investments, many of which are in illiquid assets (including real estate both here and abroad). - A very high leveraging of the Group's assets, which constrains the potential amount of cash that could be raised from asset sales. The Governor said that the Central Bank had consistently "focused on these deficiencies" but was stymied by the "inadequacies in the legislative framework which do not give the Central Bank the authority to demand the necessary changes". He also noted that it was a matter of public record that all was not well at Clico and that the financial crisis which forced an initial $1 billion taxpayer bailout on January 30 was long in coming. Clico's solvency problems have in fact been on the public radar for close to two decades. In 1997, a report from the then Supervisor of Insurance raised concern about Clico's inability to satisfy its statutory fund requirements for the years 1992, 1993 and 1995 and the insurer's insistence in the face of a deficit on paying dividends. The years under question were during the first Manning administration 1991-1995. In fact, Prime Minister Manning was the Finance Minister in 2007 when his party received huge sums of money from the CL Financial Group. Sources say CL was the single largest financier to the PNM's 2007 re-election campaign. A former executive at the brokerage firm of CMMB, one of the distressed finance companies owned by the CL Financial Group, told the Sunday Express that in 2007 Monteil complained that CMMB was the only board he sat on that didn't give the PNM money. In 2007, Monteil was chairman of the Home Mortgage Bank (HMB), Clico Investment Bank (CIB), the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the Education Facilities Co Ltd. He was also a member on the board of directors of the CCN Group, parent company of the Trinidad Express Newspapers, Home Construction Ltd (HCL) and Angostura Holdings Ltd. A CCN spokesman said yesterday that the media group made no donation to the PNM 2007 campaign or to any other party for that matter. Monteil was a co-signatory to the $2.5 million cash payment to the party in the 1995 election at a time when he sat in the Group Financial Director's chair. He later became party treasurer following the death of Anthony Jacelon in April 2005. And while Duprey may have signed off on some overly generous financing for the PNM and friends of the ruling party, sources close to him say it got him no favours. In fact, Duprey allies contend that his testimony about providing scholarship and other financial gifts to the Pandays in the Panday corruption trial had the effect of setting him in the gun sights of the then Attorney General John Jeremie. The Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), a premier white-collar police unit operating under the wing of the Attorney General's office, raided Duprey's private Maraval residence and his corporate offices in what the courts later ruled were illegal searches. And as reported in an exclusive Sunday Express series detailing the sharp exchange of correspondence between Jeremie, in his first tenure at Cabildo Chambers and the then Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson, now a High Court judge, Jeremie, in 2006 attempted to pressure Henderson into bringing criminal charges against Duprey and Panday, the then Opposition Leader. Well look at bacchanal now! The cat get pulled out of the bag, kicking and screaming! If this is not enough reason to jail every man jack in the PNM, I really don't know what is!

Grieving mother: ‘Somebody kill my child’

Geisha Kowlessar

Published: 20 Jun 2009

Yvonette Joseph, with daughter Shanaya, ten,
and son Aaron, 19, at their home in Cunupia,
yesterday. INSET: AMY JOSEPH..shot dead.

Geisha Kowlessar

Distraught mother, Yvonette Joseph, remains adamant that her daughter Amy, was lured out of a relative’s house by a man whom Amy knew, shot in the head and dumped in a forested area in central Trinidad. Up to late yesterday afternoon a man, said to be son of a senior police officer, was assisting investigators.

I like how they use the term "assisting investigators" when they have a suspect in custody.

It has been reported that the firearm used in the killing was licenced (somebody introduce spell check to the editor please). In an interview at her home in Cunupia, Joseph vehemently denies a newspaper report (not The Guardian) that her 17-year-old daughter got into a heated argument with a man, took the man’s firearm and shot herself in the head in a fit of rage. The teenager had been staying with an aunt at Point Pleasant Park, Enterprise, over a three-week period.

So the firearm used in the killing was licensed eh? This one shouldn't be too hard to solve. Did they say the son of a senior police officer was helping in the investigation? Quite shocking!

Her body, which bore a single gunshot wound to the head and clad in pyjamas, was found in a forested area near Todd’s Road, Caparo, on Thursday afternoon. “It is nothing at all like a suicide. Somebody kill my child,” Joseph said. “My daughter was never a child like that. She was always happy and was setting up her own business. She already had most of her things for her salon.” She said her daughter who had a boyfriend, began talking to a male friend of the family about a month ago.

According to the teenager’s mother, the relationship was not romantic. “It was just casual. That man was not my daughter’s boyfriend, it was nothing like that,” Joseph insisted. She said her daughter was last seen alive by relatives on Wednesday night. Also dispelling reports that her daughter sneaked out of the house to meet someone, Joseph said, “My daughter was in her pyjamas. She would not go off with the person.

“She was probably dragged in the car and then killed.” Joseph said just before her daughter went missing she received a phone call. That call, police believe, lured Amy to her death. The call has since been traced to a man who was said to be known to the teen, investigators said. The teenager’s death has left her mother crying out for justice. “I want justice. Somebody must be responsible for my child death. “My child did not deserve to die like that,” Joseph said. An autopsy is expected to be performed on the teenager on Monday.

Source: Trinidad Guardian

Ok lets review,:

1. The girl was shot with a licensed firearm

2. The last call she received, which police believe caused her death, was traced.

I expect to hear this one being solved pretty soon.

Condolences to the family.

Shame on Martin Joseph and shame on Patrick Manning! They have the resources and look at the situation the country is in.

West Indies lose T20 Semi-finals

It was a disappointment in the end, but the boys did well to reach this far.
They really were outplayed by the Sri Lankans but hats off to the team for reaching this far.
We're still proud of you.

Good luck to the Sri Lankans in their final match!

Tecia Henry found dead

I heard it on the radio today and saw it later on the 7 o' clock news.
Really sad state of affairs.

Now the news report mentioned that the mother of the deceased child is on some pending drug related charges. It's strange how the dead body of the child was found not far from where she lived.

Is this some sort of message that is being sent?

When asked if there will be reprisal killings, the father of the deceased child stated on camera that others will cry just like he and his family are doing now. So basically he said in a technical way that there will be reprisal killings and yet this man is allowed to walk freely.

I was reading some responses to this topic on a Trini Forum and it seems that some people believe that the PNM is to be blamed for this child's death. Others on this forum firmly disagree with this view and are of the belief that no politician can be blamed for the murders and that it is the citizenry that should be blamed. They believe that corporal punishment and other such measures is what will straighten out our society. What baffles me is that some of them firmly believe that the ruling PNM is not to be blamed at all.

Last I checked, the ruling PNM has been in charge of this country and its resources for the past seven years or so. Shouldn't they be held accountable for the sad state of affairs we are in today?

The hubris syndrome

Selwyn Ryan Sunday, June 14th 2009

For reasons of space, last week's column (Sunday Express, June 7), The Root of the Problem, ended without my indicating what I saw to be the root of our contemporary discontents. My view was that the basic problem was not the absence of due diligence on the part of the President, misbehaviour on the part of the Attorney General, the Minister of Finance or some other minister, the Chairman of UDECOTT etc, but 'maximum leadership' which has seriously undermined the integrity of some of the key institutions in our political system. The leader is not, however, the singular cause of our problem. We, the Prime Minister included, have all become trapped in a political system in which institutions are separated in theory but have become fused in practice. Things fall apart because the centre has become too strong. Absent mindedly, we are slouching towards dictatorship, even if the symptoms are of the soft and benign variety. In retrospect, Ken Valley was correct, but we have all contributed towards the making of the "coup" that has quietly taken place. We have empowered a hubristic leader. Some of the characteristics of this hubris syndrome are analysed in a brilliant book by Dr David Owen, In Sickness-and in Power. Owen is a neurologist who gave up his practice to become an MP for the British Labour Party and the leader of the breakaway Social Democratic Party. One of Owen's basic complaints is that political analysts too often ignore the impact which the mental unbalance of leaders have on how political institutions function. Owen's generalisations are based on a study of political leaders over the past 100 years. One of the central concepts of the book is hubris. The Greeks used the term to define behaviour that is characterised by vaingloriousness and "excess". The hubristic person is one who achieves greatness and glory but who thereupon behaves in a way that suggests that he believes he is a child of God, God himself, or a secular instrument of History, and is thus invincible, indestructible, or irreplaceable. Greek Gods do not favour "heroes" who are presumptuous, and have them self-destruct. The instrument of this fate in Greek mythology is nemesis, the goddess of retribution. Owen regards hubris as an "occupational hazard" of all leaders. The "hubris syndrome" is, however, not an illness as such and is difficult to diagnose, but those who are perceptive can recognise it in leaders when they get up close. According to Owen, hubris is more commonly found in heads of government, whether democratic or not, than is often realised. The leader may not even be aware of his affliction and invariably considers himself to be as great as his flatterers tell him/her he/she is. He becomes delusionary and an addict to power with which he becomes intoxicated. As Lord Melody said in his calypso about Jonah and the stolen bake, "power fly up in the old man head". The key question to determine is whether the leader's behaviour is driven by factors "outside" of him or from factors "within", and if neither, how are the factors dialectically linked. Of concern too, is whether the affliction goes into remission when the leader loses office or is constructively "bereaved", or whether he remains consumed by an incurable political tabanca that might lead him to contemplate suicide as a "Greek necessity". Owen's case studies suggest that the origins of the syndrome are often mixed. Some of the behaviours suggest that the environment in which the leader operates is the major predisposing factor. The key external factors would be "overwhelming success in achieving and holding power, a political context in which there is minimal constraint on the leader's exercise of personal authority, and the length of time he stays in power". Incidence of the God syndrome is greater when the leader remains in power for a long period and when there is no credible opposition to him. Some leaders, however, have personalities and belief systems which facilitate the acquisition of the syndrome. They feel that they have been selected or called to serve as an instrument of the divine, and are contemptuous of those who do not recognise their heroic mission. When they look in the mirror, they can virtually see the halos dancing over their brows. According to Owen, Bush, Thatcher, and Blair all believed that they were called by God and History. As Blair himself explained, "if you have faith about these things (religion), then you realise that judgement is made by other people. If you believe in God, it's made by God himself". Accountability is not to the electorate, but to God or a prophetic personage who serves as medium and intermediary. If, however, he is already convinced of his own goodness, that accountability is not constraining, as it would be to the believer aware of his own capacity to sin. The belief in God becomes a spur to hubris rather than a constraint on it. Stubbornness, arrogance and self righteousness come to typify behaviour. Leaders who have dysfunctional personalities, and who also overstay their welcome in their pursuit of legacy agendas, are dangerous, perhaps without intending to be so. The dangers which they pose are obvious in despotic or totalitarian societies, but they also exist in democratic societies which have established institutions which are informed by the assumption that men and women are not angels and are corruptible even by the smell of power. As we have seen in our own case, these institutions do not always work effectively. As we have also seen in the case of Gordon Brown, removing a hubristic leader in a mature democratic society such as we have in the UK, is difficult even when the society has prophylactics such as votes of no confidence and free and fair elections to help constrain leaders. What then are some of the characteristics of hubristic leaders? They are, inter alia, - A narcissistic propensity to see the world primarily as an arena in which they can exercise power and seek glory rather than as a place with problems that need approaching in a pragmatic manner. - A disproportionate concern with image and presentation. - A messianic manner of talking about what they are doing and a tendency to identify themselves with the state to the extent that they regard the outlook and interests of the two as identical. - A tendency to talk of themselves in the third person or using the royal "we". - Excessive confidence in their own judgement and contempt for the advice or criticism of others. - Exaggerated self-belief, bordering on a sense of omnipotence, in what they personally can achieve. - A belief that rather than being accountable to the mundane court of colleagues or public opinion, the real court to which they answer is much greater: History or God. - An unshakeable belief that in that court they will be vindicated. - A tendency to allow their "broad vision", especially their conviction about the moral rectitude of a proposed course of action, to obviate the need to consider other aspects of it, such as its practicality, cost and the possibility of unwanted outcomes: a wooden-headed refusal to change course: - A consequent type of incompetence in carrying out a policy, which could be called hubristic incompetence. -To be continued Source: Trinidad Express To sum it up...Manning is displaying the classic qualities of a budding dictator.

The root of the problem

Selwyn Ryan

Sunday, June 7th 2009

Institutions are the sites within which conflicts in society are negotiated and resolved. Often, however, the problems require more than the proverbial nine days of the policy cycle for resolution. The key economic, political and social institutions which regulate our behaviour as citizens are now overloaded, and in danger of collapsing.

The Presidency, the Prime Ministership, the Cabinet, Parliament, the Judiciary, the bureaucracy, the statutary agencies, and the police are all undergoing stress tests, and might not long survive in ways that are recognisable. The country is in deep trouble and we all need to do some serious stocktaking and thinking outside conventional political boxes.

It cannot be business as usual. One does not want to be melodramatic, but our politicians are leading us down paths that can result in institutional failure. Little wonder that few people trust many of them to do what is right. One is reminded of the sharp that controls three card games.

One can illustrate the process of decomposition by reference to the offices of the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions which have recently come on stage. Under the 1962 independence constitution, the Attorney General was the official who had the power to institute criminal proceedings.

The Attorney General was, however, a member of Cabinet and like any other minister, was answerable to and dismissible by the Prime Minister. Observers felt that responsibility for criminal proceedings should lie with a public official who was not directly responsible to the Prime Minister since it was important to ensure that justice was not only done but also seen to be done.

The Wooding Constitution Commission advised that the functions performed by the Attorney General should be split between two separate ministries. Responsibility for advising the Government should be performed by a politically appointed Minister of Legal Affairs and that the functions of a Director of Public Prosecutions should continue to be performed by the Attorney General.

The latter would, however, also perform other advisory functions such as legal adviser to the President, the Service Commissions, the Election and Boundaries Commission, the Auditor General, the Ombudsman and such other officials as Parliament may prescribe.

Unfortunately, Dr Williams did not accept Wooding's proposed division and left the AG's office with responsibility for advising the Government in respect of civil proceedings for and against the state, and the Director of Public Prosecutions in charge of criminal proceedings.

Quite apart from what was said in the 1976 Constitution, the two office holders have over the years chosen to interpret the provisions of the Constitution in accordance with their own political agendas and their dispositions towards the use of power.

Both claimed to have powers that were exclusive to them. In the extant case, Jeremie claims that the Republican Constitution makes the AG responsible for the administration of legal affairs, and that this responsibility entitled him to enquire about ongoing anti-corruption investigations.

As a "strong" Attorney General he was merely doing what he was authorised to do by the Constitution to ensure that actions which needed to be taken in the public interest were in fact being taken.

What he was doing was asking the DPP to advise him what was being done in respect of matters which the state had spent a great deal of money to investigate since he was accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate.

The DPP felt that the actual terms of the constitution supported his interpretation of the division of responsibility, and that his view was supported by the High Court per Justice Bereaux. The latter ruled that "it could never have been the intention to permit the Office of DPP to be subject to any form of direction on the part of the Attorney General".

Jeremie countered that "certain constitutional powers are subject to "[his]" section 76 powers. The power is mine, he argued. One question of course is that no one knows what was in the minds of the persons who framed the constitution. These are invented when necessary to argue and clinch a case.

What we have here is a classic"clash of powers" and also a "clash of power brokers." The powers given to both overlap, and what we in fact have is a case of a mutual power grab that is rationalised in two competing versions of what constitutes the public good. Jeremie believes that crime and corruption were critical issues, and a responsible AG had to act. "In the midst of a crime wave, the political directorate cannot tell the people of Trinidad and Tobago that an acquittal was due to a learning exercise. Perhaps, it is time for less talk and greater action in the public interest".

Henderson cited other imperatives, viz, the right of the individual to the protection of the law until evidence is adduced that prosecution is warranted. He therefore refused to prosecute Panday and Duprey at the instance of the AG when his investigations were incomplete and he was still uncertain as to whether charges could be properly laid.

Henderson advised Jeremie that he was not "subject to his directions," and that his continued efforts to have him initiate charges against persons were highly improper, "and should they continue, could imperil the successful prosecution of a charge initiated in the matters under investigation".

Henderson warned Jeremie that it was important to ensure that decisions to prosecute were not politically driven. The fact that one had spent large sums of money to investigate a matter should not dictate whether charges should be laid against citizens.

Henderson feared that Jeremie, acting at the behest of the Prime Minister, wanted to lay charges against Panday and Duprey which would have been politically disabling for the former. Keith Rowley has also claimed that the AG was after him as well for reasons which have to do with political competition.

The question as to how the power should be best shared between the two officials was addressed by the Ellis Clarke draft constitution and the Round Table exercise which considered that draft. Clarke proposed that the AG should have general superintendence of the DPP.

The proposal which is currently on the table for public consideration after much debate is that the DPP shall exercise his powers in consultation with and with the prior approval of the AG in matters directly involving official state secrets, terrorism, and state to state relations.

The DPP must also consult with the AG if the latter requests such consultation Similarly, the AG must consult with the DPP if the latter requests such a consultation. In sum, neither official can operate in splendid isolation. Both share responsibility for some aspects of the administration of the law.

The document, however, makes clear what was not so clear in the 1976 constitution, viz that the DPP is under no obligation or duty to accept any direction given or proposal made by the AG following the consultations which he has had with him. It also provides that subject to what was said above in respect of official secrets and state to state relations (etc) "the DPP shall exercise his powers and discharge his functions under the constitution independently of the control and direction of any other person or authority, and shall be free and independent from political, executive and any other form of interference."

Source: Trinidad Express

See article above for continuation...

Laventilleans join in search for 10-year-old girl

Heavily-armed soldiers and police, dressed in tactical uniforms, gather at the bottom of John John Road in Laventille, yesterday, as angry residents called for greater efficiency in the search of missing 10-year-old Tecia Henry. Photo: KEITH MATTHEWS

Geisha Kowlessar

Published: 15 Jun 2009

The desperate search for a missing ten-year-old girl turned to near violence in the Laventille community yesterday, when scores of irate residents clashed with heavily-armed police and soldiers. In their bid to locate Tecia Henry, a pupil of St Rose’s Girls’ Primary School, angry residents blocked the major roads with burning debris, demanding swift and more efficient action by law enforcement officials. Tecia went missing after leaving her mother’s home on Essex Street, John John, around 7.30 am on Saturday. The child was sent to K and G Mini-mart, at the lower end of John John, to purchase a phone card and other items. She never made it to the shop.

How exactly does clashing with police and soldiers and blocking roadways with burning debris increase the efficiency of law enforcement officials? Can someone explain this to me?

Sitting in front of the parlour, which was closed yesterday, the child’s mother Diane was visibly distraught. She tried to comfort her 12-year-old twin daughters, Tia and Tamara, who sat at their mother’s feet shedding tears for their missing sister. According to Diane, the walk from her home to the mini-mart is a mere three minutes. “When I saw a certain time I sent one of her sisters to check on her. The owner of the shop said he glimpsed her going up Crook Street,” Diane said.

Believing the mini-mart might have been closed, Diana said she thought her daughter might have gone to another shop on St Paul Street, not too far from where the child’s grandmother lived. “I called the aunt, but they said she not around. I call everybody and they say she not around.” Diane said her daughter never ran away from home. “It was school and home; nothing else.” Tecia Henry was last seen wearing a pink and grey jacket, a denim skirt, a shower cap and slippers.

Rapist on the prowl

Her disappearance has stirred fears that a rapist may be on the prowl in the Laventille district. One resident said last week a girl making her way home from St Phillip’s Primary School was snatched by a man who appeared to be in his 40s. The man dragged the screaming child at the back of the school and attempted to molest her. The child’s screams, however, alerted a teacher and other residents, causing the man to release the child.

Another resident on his way to work the morning Henry disappeared, said he, too, spotted a gunman lurking behind a house. According to the resident, as Henry was making her way to the shop she stopped to fix her slipper. The resident was adamant, however, that no “stranger” could have been responsible for Henry’s disappearance.
“Nobody would come in Laventille so, especially at Crook Street. Is somebody from right in here responsible.”

Well at least some residents are smart enough to realise that the criminals are from within their village so again I ask the question, how does blocking roadways help in finding the child? Are they protecting the alleged kidnapper?

Joint effort

Henry’s disappearance has united the Laventille community, as warring factions have joined in the search. Gangs from Beverly Hills, Picton, Canada and Africa combed the hills up to late yesterday looking for the child. Describing the police response as “sickening,” residents said they had no choice but to take matters in their own hands. “Is a poor, black child from a poor community. That is why the police doing nothing.

HUH? So are these "Lavantilleans" inferring that the police "doing nothing" only because it is a "poor, black child"? Don't they realise that is the normal response of any Government agency, whether police or clerical worker, when the PNM is in power? Then again, these "Lavantilleans" not to smart anyway, because they always vote PNM, even if it means more gang violence and even starvation.

She was part of group of other parents who gathered at the bottom of John John Road expressing their disgust by what they claimed was poor police response. “When we went to Besson Street Station to make the report, a Const Francis was abusing us, cursing us and trying to put us out the station and say he not taking the report,” the resident claimed.

Did Naail Ali get any better treatment when he went to a Police Station, wounded and bleeding, after escaping his kidnappers?

Source: Trinidad Guardian

Time To Free Africa

Black Power activist praises Mugabe:
Saturday, June 13th 2009



TRIBUTE: Mukasa Dada (Brother Willie Ricks) addresses the audience during the Kwame Ture Memorial Lecture Series on Thursday at Lions Centre in Woodbrook. -Photo: ANISTO ALVES

As Mukasa Dada (Brother Willie Ricks) launched the annual Kwame Ture Memorial Lecture Series put on by the Emancipation Support Committee at Lions Cultural Centre in Woodrook on Thursday, he called on Africa to be free.

"Africa was raped for 300 years by colonialism and we are going to fight to get it for you. We are confused, we don't know our history, we look in the mirror and we don't like what we see," he said.

But he added that the new enemy was now the "Uncle Tom neo-colonialists", causing confusion in their own countries. And he paid tribute to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

"Long live Mugabe. Ain't y'all proud of Mugabe, he's still standing strong and running the white people out of Africa."

Speaking on the topic "Seize the Time: Black Power and Pan Africanism as Forces of Change", Dada, who was known as Trinidad-born Stokley Carmichael's (Kwame Ture) right-hand man, spoke of the turbulent days they shared in the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 60s and 70s.

"I loved that boy, anything he told me to do I did it well. If I tell you what he told me to do Homeland Security would be in here tonight, so I'm going to be cool."

He was anything but, however, as he analysed Carmichael's chairmanship of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1966 to his formation, one year later, of the militant Black Panther Party.

"Stokley started the first Black Panther Party in Lowndes County, Alabama, and he organised it with guns...he was the one who said after James Meredith was shot...what we need is Black Power."

Dada made it clear that while Carmichael and Martin Luther King Jnr did not always see eye to eye, "Stokley loved Martin and Martin loved Stokley. We fought but loved him. When King was killed it was Stokley who said 'burn down America'. He then asked the audience...'what y'all think I did?...I did the best I could".

Above everything else, however, Dada said Carmichael, who died in 1998, took Black Power out to the world.

"He identified with every liberation movement of the world. Stokley Carmichael was an international freedom fighter," Dada said.

Source: Trinidad Express

Long live Mugabe!!! Ain't y'all proud of him? Running the white people out of Africa...All hail Mugabe!!!
This man, Mukasa Dada, should be shot for being such an idiot. He is singing praises to Mugabe for running the "white people" out of Africa, and yet it's the same "white people" who are bringing aid to other African nations that are suffering from famine and disease.
I admit, the Europeans did plunder Africa, but they also did the same to South America and the Indian sub-continent.

Mukasa Dada should set an example to all Afro-Trinis by packing up and heading to Zimbabwe, and while he's at it, he should take Patrick Manning (the dictator in training) and the PNM along with him.

RAMJACK

Just for a little humour...