' hush yuh mout'

The islands sure had their share of licks this September. Last night at 9.00 pm was one week since Hurricane Maria hit the island of Dominica. From all reports the people of Trinidad and Tobago have done a lot to assist the ravaged territories with all kinds of relief supplies being sent via many different means including the use of private vessels making the trip at no cost.
I heard the PMOTT making yet another famous speech with reference to his plan to assist Dominica, which involved us taking in Dominican families who are under severe stress. The PMOTT is calling on his detractors to 'shut your mouth and let the country strive'. Hmmmm, and why would he say something like that? Not because some people disagree with you that you immediately get vex and want to take your ball and go home. The simple fact is that your plan has never been articulated properly, even your Minister of National Security is still not convinced as to how the plan can be effected. He, the Minister, says tonight that there are T&T immigration officers in Dominica doing a first screening of potential visitors. But what exactly is this plan?

• Who is eligible
• Is it an entire family
• Can children come on their own
• Do they require a minimum amount of funds
• Are passports required or just immigration letters
• Are police certificates of good character required
• Persons with medical issues
• Our immigration laws prohibit homosexuals, is this waived
• Can children attend schools
• Can the adults work and receive payment
• How do they transit to and from T&T and at whose cost
• Is there a maximum amount of persons who will be allowed
• A six month period has been bandied about what happens if there needs to be an extension 
• If a medical situation arises who is responsible for the visitors
• What is the liability of the host family

OK, some of the questions might sound a bit ridiculous but my point is has this offer to have T&T families host persons from Dominica been properly thought out? Maybe working through agencies that handle refugees might have been one of the ways to deal with this situation.
At no time am I dismissing the PMOTT's plan but in order for people to buy in to it there are questions that require answers. To tell people who have questions ' to shut your mouth...' does nothing to help your cause.
I have a friend who has a different version -  ' hush yuh mout let people like yuh!' In certain circumstances this might actually work for some people.

It looks as though the Ocean Flower 2 will be on the Tobago run soon. The stage is being set. The PATT will end up with no passenger vessel by about mid October with the TT Spirit in a major failure mode and the TT Express having to have its mandatory dry docking. With both vessels out of commission I can just hear the justification for having the recently fired Ocean Flower 2 being pressed into service.

'Shut your mouth, what do you expect the Government to do, the last Government orchestrated all of this, they ensured that the entire ferry service would collapse after 25 months of us being in office and therefore in order to save the people of this country we had to take the difficult decision and bring thewillse industry standard vessels'. Somehow words like ' jammetry' and ' playing smart with foolishness' resurface.

The Ocean Flower 2 is roughly 15 mtrs shorter than the existing ferries. The length of the vessels are critical for a smooth ride to Tobago. Even the current length of 96 mtrs is still an issue. The sea conditions will start to change around November when the northern swell begins creating a rough passage between the islands. It should be noted that only 3 hulls of this type ( the Ocean Flower 2) were built. This hull design was discontinued by Incat. We wait and see.

I believe the PMOTT is holding a conversation with a number of persons to discuss the upcoming budget tomorrow night, Wednesday. Not sure if anybody is aware that the Budget is a done deal. Whatever is discussed tomorrow night is pure PR, the figures are in and that's it, there will be no change to anything for the Minister of Finance's presentation on Monday 2nd, October. Once again the PMOTT is taking this population for granted.

My mother, God rest her soul, always said it is rude to tell someone to 'shut up'. One could say 'be quiet'.

Good night people of the rock, and good luck!