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'bradam'








It started to set up at around 2.00pm and then the heavens opened, the sky lit up and roared. As a child we were taught that if you counted by seconds the length of time it took the thunder to roll after the flash of lightning, that basically was the distance in miles to the center of the storm. Today there were no seconds it was flash and 'bradam', one time. This went on for quite a while, maybe an hour. Our little rainy season weather and our street starts to flood, Saddle Road in a mess, Santa Cruz likewise.
The poor people in the Northern Leewards. Ten times the wind, lightning and 'bradam' for hours upon hours. I cannot fathom the fright, the unthinkable aftermath. 

The rock seems to be teetering once again. The ferry fiasco and scandal looks as though it is sailing out the Bocas because a new insight into the workings of Petrotrin is now emerging. An internal audit has shown payments for oil not produced nor delivered by a private contractor. After the line Minister for Energy tried unsuccessfully to bob and weave out of the scandal, of course T&T being a very small rock, suddenly names, places, positions, relationships, party affiliations, photos start to consume the population. You see, 1956 is not 2017. Social media is a wonderful thing and before one could say, 'A and V', the information is all over the public space. I do hope that even if the Procurement Bill is never made part of our governance social media will take its place and will quicker put the fear of God in our keepers and finally put corruption to rest.
Imagine if years ago we had the connectivity during the Caura Dam project, Lock Joint, Lockheed and the Caroni Racing Complex we just may have stopped corruption in its tracks. No time like the present. Every citizen has access to the Petrotrin Internal Audit Report, apparently except the line Minister.

The greatest threat to our governance and democracy is the issue of campaign finance. The big donors have to be repaid. These persons do not invest in a campaign because they like you. It is an investment that has a risk factor which is a lot higher than normal and therefore the return of 2% in a fixed deposit in a commercial bank is not what is expected in campaign financing. How about five times the investment, and that is just a start. Under the current totally unregulated campaign finance arrangements an investment of $300 million in a General Election, by each party, spread over multiple investors would require a return on investment of $1.5BN. And how exactly are we expected to pay for that? Well, the only place that has that kind of money is of course the Treasury. That investment is not long term, it is in fact a quick return over five [5] years. We may require some further investment in between because we have maybe two [2] Local Government Elections - these are held every three [3] years, and also two [2] THA elections also held every three [3] years. So go figure!
This is big business, this is not love of any country or politician. The investors bet on a party, if they are smart they place bets on both parties which raises the ante and the risk, so the payback is now probably double.
So what happens and how do we do this? If a General Election in T&T costs roughly $500M for election campaigns this money has to be repaid, win lose or draw, which incidentally did happen in the 18-18 tie. You can say well things have to change, that is all well and good so who is paying for all the rati ray, jerseys, rallies, TV time, media, election workers, rum roti and pelau and everything else that goes into that five week election period? If we do not accept the current style of campaigning, which is the American model, then we must accept the low key, hard work model of the UK. No rallies, no music, no campaign songs, no jerseys, no rati ray!

The rock needs our help, it needs a serious governance system where when persons are found stealing from the State they are brought before the courts. I propose that when you steal or defraud the taxpayer your sentence is greater than if you were a common criminal.
Just as I support the additional jail time for anyone caught with an unlicensed firearm. If we the law abiding citizens are not allowed to have a licensed firearm then those who have unlicensed guns have to pay an additional price.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, what will we see, what new bacchanal will surface, and before that fades, the next best bacchanal will be the news!

Love the story of the snake skin in the Parliament and the snake, if there was actually one, named 'K'.

Only on the rock people, we laugh, make joke and cannot wait for tomorrow!

'Trinidad is nice, Trinidad is a paradise'

 Good night and good luck!


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