What a week it was! Action on both sides of the pond. Revelations of a Presidency gone wrong and elections that were supposed to produce a very different result somehow failed to do so. What does all of this mean to T&T you may ask? What it does is show how real countries go about the business of governance.
In the USA you had the most senior intelligence officer highlighting a situation that arose between him and the POTUS that obviously bordered on interference with the justice system. What was remarkable was the fact that all of this can be aired in public. In the USA it is the peoples right to know what the hell is going on and even if it directly involves the POTUS, it is still the peoples business.
In the UK the sitting Prime Minister [PM] calls an early election hoping to win a bigger mandate than what she already had but instead loses more parliamentary seats than she previously held. The PM is now being questioned by her own party, with calls for her to step down. It is not that she lost the election, no, it is the fact that she gambled and lost the bet. She completely misread the mood of the people. In this business of politics when you have lost touch with the people you need to go.
And so in the land of Mr Nobody, meaning nobody is ever responsible for anything here in T&T, we could actually learn a thing or two about how to run a country. I know we are independent and don't need advice from anyone, this is how we do it, this is how we roll.
That works extremely well if you are in fact doing it properly where the leadership understands its responsibility to the country and that it must account, not only for the money belonging to the citizens, but for every single decision made and more so indecision.
The Judiciary is still in the news and why so? because, they screwed it up royally. The Judiciary has itself to blame, no one else, for the mess surrounding the appointment of a High Court Judge. Any other institution suffering the same fate would have been honest with itself and in this case, the Chief Justice as the head of the Judiciary, would have resigned in order to save the reputation of the institution. A simple question must now be asked, can I as an ordinary citizen get justice? If the answer is no and therefore there is doubt, then what has to happen?
The head of the organization must first apologize to the entire country and then deliver his letter of resignation, with immediate effect.
The Tobago ferry service is still in the news, why you may ask? Because, the PMOTT made a decision to cancel the services of a perfectly good working cargo ferry, without for one second even trying to understand the effect of his uninformed decision. He and his Cabinet have made every excuse under the sun, newest one being a bomb threat on one of the passenger ferries. After all the hue and cry with accusations flying all over, references being made by the AG of corruption at the highest office involving the award of the contract for the Galicia what has happened. Nothing, nada, zero, zilch!
Where are the legal letters? What ever happened to the famous pre-action protocol letter threatening to sue the agent/owner of the Galicia for breach of contract? The Minister of Ferries confirmed to the nation that the letter had in fact been sent. Is this so or not? The PMOTT is now after 50 days, contemplating putting an investigative team to understand 'exactly what is going on' with the ferry service. This after thousands of citizens have been deprived of a functional ferry service and practically destroying what has been left of a private sector economy in Tobago. But the good news is that Sandals is about to land. The PMOTT also put together a high powered team to work with the Sandals group to negotiate the deal.
The PMOTT is basically saying that the members of his Cabinet are incapable of handling any problem or negotiation without him, the PMOTT being directly involved. The big problem with this management style is that nothing has worked. Ask the people utilizing the services of the Tobago ferry.
The Minister of National Security made a statement the other day saying that illegal Venezuelans were not seen as a problem for T&T. He said that the numbers were nothing unusual, basically the number that we would normally have, a handful. This issue being based on what is happening in Venezuela at present with a civilian uprising against the Maduro administration. Months later the Minister of Foreign Affairs confirms that there are 1,105 illegal Venezuelans in country. Once again one arm says something, another contradicts, and Mr Nobody walks away laughing.
I still do not know how come our government can support the regime in Venezuela, I guess natural gas reserves has its benefits.
Getting back to the UK elections and how the Conservative party is dealing with the loss. Yes, a loss, even though they won the majority of seats. In other jurisdictions a loss is taken as a loss. In this land of Mr Nobody an election is held and the incumbent goes from 29 electoral seats to 18 electoral seats and that is not considered a loss. The same way that after losing five [5] straight elections is not a loss, but a win. This is the difference between us and them. 'Them' understands that when you are in power and you take your party into an election and you lose, it means you depart, simple. If the electorate did not like you over six [6] elections then clearly that is not just a sign, but a massive digital billboard flashing 'Bye Bye.'
The Constitution
We have to start talking about how the Parliament should be structured. Do we need a single elected chamber or two elected chambers or one elected and one appointed like what we have today, but then what of the power of an elected Member of Parliament?
If we are talking about Right to Re-call, Referendum and Proportional Representation and other powers of the electorate then the Members of Parliament will also have power over the Executive.
I favor a single chamber with all elected Parliamentarians being full time. Parliamentary committees established to overseer the workings of the Executive. No more Service Commissions reporting to no one. Let the Parliament regulate the system. Ensure that the elected people's representatives have the power over the government.
In today's Parliamentary system the Minister is the person with the power, the elected representative in many instances is not even known. Does anyone know who the MP for Toco/Sangre Grande is? No, because that person is not a Cabinet Minister.
The fix for our country is not difficult. We have to exit the 1962 Colonial Office, we have to understand that like a maybe not famous person once said 'we in charge, deal with it.'
Let's look at this coming week and start creating in our own minds what our country should look like. I am sure when you start thinking how things happen, do you have a contact number for your local councillor, your MP, have they corresponded with you since the last election, have you ever been consulted about any decisions regarding your community, has anyone asked your opinion regarding child marriage?
That might be going a bit too far but that's my point, have you ever been consulted?
Things have changed in the Maraval valley over the years, no longer do we have the call of the 'crapaud' we now have what has been identified as a Bajan frog. It is a very loud shriek rather than an intermittent croak.
Things change, people, frogs, you never know where we will be tomorrow!
In the USA you had the most senior intelligence officer highlighting a situation that arose between him and the POTUS that obviously bordered on interference with the justice system. What was remarkable was the fact that all of this can be aired in public. In the USA it is the peoples right to know what the hell is going on and even if it directly involves the POTUS, it is still the peoples business.
In the UK the sitting Prime Minister [PM] calls an early election hoping to win a bigger mandate than what she already had but instead loses more parliamentary seats than she previously held. The PM is now being questioned by her own party, with calls for her to step down. It is not that she lost the election, no, it is the fact that she gambled and lost the bet. She completely misread the mood of the people. In this business of politics when you have lost touch with the people you need to go.
And so in the land of Mr Nobody, meaning nobody is ever responsible for anything here in T&T, we could actually learn a thing or two about how to run a country. I know we are independent and don't need advice from anyone, this is how we do it, this is how we roll.
That works extremely well if you are in fact doing it properly where the leadership understands its responsibility to the country and that it must account, not only for the money belonging to the citizens, but for every single decision made and more so indecision.
The Judiciary is still in the news and why so? because, they screwed it up royally. The Judiciary has itself to blame, no one else, for the mess surrounding the appointment of a High Court Judge. Any other institution suffering the same fate would have been honest with itself and in this case, the Chief Justice as the head of the Judiciary, would have resigned in order to save the reputation of the institution. A simple question must now be asked, can I as an ordinary citizen get justice? If the answer is no and therefore there is doubt, then what has to happen?
The head of the organization must first apologize to the entire country and then deliver his letter of resignation, with immediate effect.
The Tobago ferry service is still in the news, why you may ask? Because, the PMOTT made a decision to cancel the services of a perfectly good working cargo ferry, without for one second even trying to understand the effect of his uninformed decision. He and his Cabinet have made every excuse under the sun, newest one being a bomb threat on one of the passenger ferries. After all the hue and cry with accusations flying all over, references being made by the AG of corruption at the highest office involving the award of the contract for the Galicia what has happened. Nothing, nada, zero, zilch!
Where are the legal letters? What ever happened to the famous pre-action protocol letter threatening to sue the agent/owner of the Galicia for breach of contract? The Minister of Ferries confirmed to the nation that the letter had in fact been sent. Is this so or not? The PMOTT is now after 50 days, contemplating putting an investigative team to understand 'exactly what is going on' with the ferry service. This after thousands of citizens have been deprived of a functional ferry service and practically destroying what has been left of a private sector economy in Tobago. But the good news is that Sandals is about to land. The PMOTT also put together a high powered team to work with the Sandals group to negotiate the deal.
The PMOTT is basically saying that the members of his Cabinet are incapable of handling any problem or negotiation without him, the PMOTT being directly involved. The big problem with this management style is that nothing has worked. Ask the people utilizing the services of the Tobago ferry.
The Minister of National Security made a statement the other day saying that illegal Venezuelans were not seen as a problem for T&T. He said that the numbers were nothing unusual, basically the number that we would normally have, a handful. This issue being based on what is happening in Venezuela at present with a civilian uprising against the Maduro administration. Months later the Minister of Foreign Affairs confirms that there are 1,105 illegal Venezuelans in country. Once again one arm says something, another contradicts, and Mr Nobody walks away laughing.
I still do not know how come our government can support the regime in Venezuela, I guess natural gas reserves has its benefits.
Getting back to the UK elections and how the Conservative party is dealing with the loss. Yes, a loss, even though they won the majority of seats. In other jurisdictions a loss is taken as a loss. In this land of Mr Nobody an election is held and the incumbent goes from 29 electoral seats to 18 electoral seats and that is not considered a loss. The same way that after losing five [5] straight elections is not a loss, but a win. This is the difference between us and them. 'Them' understands that when you are in power and you take your party into an election and you lose, it means you depart, simple. If the electorate did not like you over six [6] elections then clearly that is not just a sign, but a massive digital billboard flashing 'Bye Bye.'
The Constitution
We have to start talking about how the Parliament should be structured. Do we need a single elected chamber or two elected chambers or one elected and one appointed like what we have today, but then what of the power of an elected Member of Parliament?
If we are talking about Right to Re-call, Referendum and Proportional Representation and other powers of the electorate then the Members of Parliament will also have power over the Executive.
I favor a single chamber with all elected Parliamentarians being full time. Parliamentary committees established to overseer the workings of the Executive. No more Service Commissions reporting to no one. Let the Parliament regulate the system. Ensure that the elected people's representatives have the power over the government.
In today's Parliamentary system the Minister is the person with the power, the elected representative in many instances is not even known. Does anyone know who the MP for Toco/Sangre Grande is? No, because that person is not a Cabinet Minister.
The fix for our country is not difficult. We have to exit the 1962 Colonial Office, we have to understand that like a maybe not famous person once said 'we in charge, deal with it.'
Let's look at this coming week and start creating in our own minds what our country should look like. I am sure when you start thinking how things happen, do you have a contact number for your local councillor, your MP, have they corresponded with you since the last election, have you ever been consulted about any decisions regarding your community, has anyone asked your opinion regarding child marriage?
That might be going a bit too far but that's my point, have you ever been consulted?
Things have changed in the Maraval valley over the years, no longer do we have the call of the 'crapaud' we now have what has been identified as a Bajan frog. It is a very loud shriek rather than an intermittent croak.
Things change, people, frogs, you never know where we will be tomorrow!
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