The Mindless Menace in T&T

I thank Ian for sharing this video and I hope others can spread it around too. Thanks too to the original creators of the video and to the life of Robert Kennedy.

Anand Ramlogan – Firebombed!

It is of deep concern that Mr Ramlogan’s offices have been firebombed.

The media reported that his offices were ignited wilfully in the small hours of the morning. Mr Ramlogan left the premises around 1:00 AM and was called at his home around 3:00 AM to be told that the offices were on fire.

It was clear from reports that this was a malicious act. The video clip below is hyperlinked from CTNT World

See further reports here in Guardian 2010-04-16 and Newsday 2010-04-16. Mr Ramlogan is quoted as saying.

“This has totally destroyed me completely. All of my life’s work has gone…In my 15 years practising law, I have made no enemies... When people leave my office, I make sure they leave with a smile…I am so confused, I don’t want to speculate... But if it is, I am shaken and stirred, but I am not fried…This has only served to strengthen my political resolve ….I had a lot of confidential documents in there. All of my life’s work in the 15 years that I have been an attorney is inside the office…“I don’t know who would have done this or why. I have no enemies and I am accustomed working here late. I felt safe because the office is close to the police station. This is a sad indictment as to the state the country has reached in terms of crime and lawlessness.”

It is pretty confusing some of the above. How come Ramlogan seemed ill-prepared for the possibility of fire how ever it was caused – by him moaning about losing his life’s work. In addition he claims that he made no enemies. Really? Ramlogan would have infuriated criminals, politicians and police officers along the way by his comments in his Sunday column in the Guardian.

Whilst I condemn the criminal acts on Ramlogan’s property and livelihood, his responses are puzzling for a man of such intelligence. The response about strengthening political resolve is seemingly to present a brave face. However, Ramlogan must know that he and his family are or have been at serious risk. I hope that he takes this as a wake up call and will put in place protective measures. This incident should not be assumed to be simply politically motivated. It could well have been an attack on his life. If he was in the building at the time – we would most probably have been reading a different headline.

Calder Hart – to be arrested or not?

Well the Guardian 2010-04-11 reported that Hart flew into Dongkey Rock last night – and was quickly dealt with so as to avoid spotlights.

We must recall the shouting for Hart’s arrest before and immediately after he dus’ it from the Rock. Ah hope allyuh eh forget a’ready. And then we had JJ et all saying dat dee man has committed no crime, and that he was reachable if necessary. Then it became a mystery as to Hart’s whereabouts. One minute he was in the UK and then another minute he was in America – boy dis man moves fas’ eh?

Den there was worries that dey couldn’ actually find him, but a few days ago rumour broke that Hart would be back on the Rock – and low and behold he just drops in!

And look jes when he ‘chooses’ to drop in. Chooses? Really? What he dong here fuh more pinacoladas, or he forget some ah his prized underwear in bottom drawer somewhere? Come nah man – allyuh makin’ fun now. Dee heat of an election is upon us! Mr Manning has avoided some serious embarassment in a vote of no-confidence debate – searching questions about why and how he defended Hart and UDECOTT some 50 times. Dis is no easy time. So to suggest dat Hart dong here for a fun time is really to play wid dee matter.

History will unfold on this as it must. The leadership – the PNM leadership is in crisis. Dey and dey supporters have to – and they will use Hart as either chaff or their ticket back into power – because pardners eef dey don’t and eef dey don’t make a meal of it, dey going dong big time.

So wid all dat in mind – and after reading some of Getting Hold of Hart (Express 2010-04-06) – I’m convinced that there is a high probability that Hart will be arrested! Dey jes cyah sit still and let him go free dis time.. dere will be riots in the streets if dat happens.. so arrest it is. But have your vote below, or give us your responses.

Calder Hart will be arrested this time around?

Parliament dissolved.. to pre-empt PM being fired?

Readers will note that I had suggested that Manning ought to be fired (Comment in Guardian 2010-04-05), and I called on Max Richards to dissolve Parliament. In addition I said lower down in the same thread that, “Max Richards - the embodiment of sovereignty for the Republic of T&T - needs to do something now! If he doesn't he risks looking like another PNM puppet. Max your responsibility is to the people of this Nation - put aside popularity contests and do what is right!”

I also said on 2010-04-06 that, “His loyal 'guards' e.g. Colm Imbert, his loving wife, and the see-ah woman, won't let him resign even if he had fleeting fantasies about it. The only time Manning will resign is when he spots defeat well in sight. So stop the wishful thinking and fantasising that Manning may resign - very very unlikely.”

A no-confidence motion was coming at Manning on 9th April 2010. See Newsday here and here.

Manning could not withstand the vote of no-confidence – which would have perhaps justified or compelled action by the President. Sure enough, there will be lots of different perspectives on this. So Manning has ‘cleverly’ avoided resignation and a de facto sacking by the President (if ever, it was in the mind of the President to dissolve Parliament).

What all this means (Manning’s action to dissolve Parliament) is that he ‘take in front, before front take him’ – and he has avoided the loss of face that would come with either resignation or being effectively sacked by the President. I suspect in the unwritten history of T&T that possibly Max Richards saw my post – and hopefully guided by that last vestige of commonsense – whispered in Manning’s ear that the end was nigh!

Major K. Laing

Shock horror…Black Monday.

Trinbagonians awake to a new day, today [Easter Monday]. In reality it should be labelled ‘Black Monday’ – as it is truly the blackest in the history of the Nation. In essence our worst imaginable nightmares about the functioning of UDECOTT have become reality.

Citizens will be in the utmost shock and horrified to learn what has been exploding from report of the Commission of Enquiry into UDECOTT. The media are having a feeding frenzy.

What’s hitting the fan?

1. “The faith shown by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in placing this project in the hands or UDECOTT was misplaced..” – Uff Report
2. “UDECOTT was out of its depth.” – Uff Report
3. Newsday 2010-04-05 reports “The Brian Lara project comprises several contract packages awarded to different contractors with the main contracts awarded to HKL. Uff noted that contract package one (awarded to Seeraram Brothers) moved from $57 million to $154 million; contract package two (awarded to HKL) $166 million to $206 million and put the overall project cost to date in excessive of $700 million. UDECOTT documents submitted to the inquiry put the estimated final cost, as at 2008, at $885 million. Uff noted that the roof design for the project, contained in one contract which went to HKL, was “excessively costly.””
4. TT Express 2010-04-05: On the Cleaver Heights project, the report confirms that the $10 million discrepancy in the contract price was an ’error’ made by the Housing Development Corporation. But it states that there was a ’deliberate attempt by employees of NHIC to manipulate the figures included in such valuations, which might have resulted in the incorrect figure being put out’
5. “It meant that HDC, by 2009, paid over $100 million for housing and infrastructure works without possessing any security. This was a gross oversight by any standard and calls for urgent action to rectify this position on this and any other projects where the same applies..” – Uff Report.
6. “There remains an assumption in public sector contracting that the Government will pay or will extract no penalty for delay or other breaches by contractors, designers and other professionals. This attitude needs to be changed fundamentally….Just as contractors should be paid sums properly due pursuant to contract, so they should account for the cost of delay in respect of which they are culpable. All parties need to be held to account in the interest of value for money for the taxpayer.” – Uff Report
7. “There should be an investigation into the circumstances in which 9 hectares (22 acres) of land at Valsayn, sold to the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (the Union) by the Government at reduced price, was re-sold at a profit by the Union, to include the reasons for re-sale and the whereabouts of the profit from the re-sale.” - Uff Report. In response Annisette George reportedly explained in TT Express 2010-04-05, ‘..that the Valsayn lands were sold in April 2004 and carried a $2.7 million price tag, but that this was done to fulfil the request of then Minister of Housing, Keith Rowley.’ George said, “It was Rowley who initiated that change in the way things were usually done..”
8. “Good project management includes (a) monitoring all project activities (b) taking action pro-actively to avoid foreseeable delay, including (c) identifying and resolving design errors in a timely manner (d) controlling the timing of unavoidable variations and (e) when appropriate freezing the design. Project Managers who fail to perform adequately must be held to account.” – Uff report – basically teaching them to suck eggs.
9. The full 91 recommendations suggest gross failures of accountability at several levels.

We must ask where is the real failure of accountability, and at which door ultimately must blame be laid? Well surely if a State-created special company, as was UDECOTT, could fail so miserably on such basic issues that could be plucked from any average high-school text book on business management, what were the people elected to manage taxpayers money doing? Were they on holiday? Were they asleep or on drugs!?

Let’s have a dose of reality here; UDECOTT failed but it is our money that has been thrown away! I’m angry and so are many people around the country. Ultimately it is a failure of the elected, to manage UDECOTT that caused our money to be squandered/mismanaged. So make no mistake, hunting down Hart and the Board members and making them the ‘whipping boys’ for this shit – as it should be rightly labelled – is not going to solve our problems on the approach or beyond the next election. Hart et al must be brought to justice along with those who were responsible for ensuring UDECOTT’s accountability – nothing less will do.

By Major K. Laing

Election fever

Kangkalang is born straight into the election fever approaching T&T – no better time than now.

From the latest reports it seems that Parliament is expected to be prorogued on 9th April 2010, and elections to follow in mid-May [Guardian 04 April 2010].

It is an unusual time:

1. UNC and COP attempting to come to some kind of agreement that really amounts to separation and a strange kind of unity. Panday is still in the wings – strong as ever a real ‘dividing force’.
2. Confusion in the UNC camp: with Jack Warner, the party chairman and Chaguanas West MP and Lyndira Oudit, deputy political leader, allegedly kept out of a closed door meeting – and Suruj Rambachan hotly denying any of this. [Guardian 2010-04-04].
3. The Construction Enquiry report was delivered to the President on 29th March 2010. Out of that comes 91 recommendations.
4. Calder Hart, a man who could do no wrong has been reliably found to have connections he originally denied. Hart was defended between 45 and 50 times by the Prime Minister, according to media reports. Under a duty to speak the truth Hart said “I take this opportunity to categorically refute and condemn as false and mischievous any allegation that I have any family connection with Sunway or CH Development” – however, documentation emerged to suggest the contrary, that Hart’s wife’s brother and brother in law are directors of Sunway Caribbean Construction Ltd, the company that was awarded a $368 M contract to build a legal affairs tower.
5. The Prime Minister is tangled up with some alleged favouritism of a particular religious group – shortly after coming clean on the identity of his see-uh woman.
   
6. A Church allegedly being built at some cost but of course, by the nature of kangkalang itself we are unable to know exactly what went on.
7. Lavantille seemed to win in being ear-marked for $300M of state money, while the judicial system is run only on a mere $38 million for this year.
8. The true figures on the Tarouba stadium have come out – expected with cost overruns to total almost $1 Billion TT dollars. It’s also estimated that the NAPA cost $480 M.

It must be of deep concern that money is flowing more than water from the taps in T&T. But are the people of T&T getting value for their money? They are seeing fancy structures all round. What about the basics: food, water, healthcare, security, justice and accountability?

Reality has one last chance to bite in this approaching election. If the people don’t get their act together heaven help us.