Skip to main content

' 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!







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'aghhhhhhhh'

This week has me feeling so down about the rock and what really is our future. I have always considered myself to be Mr. Optimistic. Things would be bad, sometimes downright terrible with little or no hope and I would be there battling it out. The hard part is our present and future position is all man made [excuse the gender] and it seems that no matter what we do, how we vote, who we put our trust in, it somehow ends up bad. In 1956, the hope was there, a mass appeal, in 1986 it returned and was destroyed by 1990, in 2010 432,026 electors voted for the Peoples Partnership, in excess of 60% of the population. By 2015 a lot of the love disappeared and we found ourselves in a position of no-where once again. I use these years because the popular vote was there, the majority voted overwhelmingly for the winning party. Even though the winner in 1956 did not win by any semblance of a majority, over 80% of the electorate cast their vote. It is interesting to note that in 1956 the PPPG...
1 comment
Read more

the Isle of Spice

We ran away, again, to the Spice Island, for a couple days. Work and play. Our first day there was the day of rain. I have never witnessed steady rain, a bucket a drop, like what we experienced on Wednesday. It started just after 7.00am and continued down to 5.00pm. Of course, the drainage system was put under severe stress and there was substantial flooding in many low lying areas, in addition to landslips on the hills. The videos of a guy on a board surfing on the street was real as was the guy attempting to tie his car in order to prevent it from being washed away. What was very noticeable was the fact that people who had to report for duty did in fact report. We stay at a small hotel and the staff were all present and accounted for. Speaking with other travelers the situation was the same throughout. This morning on leaving the hotel again everyone reporting for duty. Speaking with the GM she said that she had to pick up a couple people who were marooned in their homes, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ADD

A great thing happened today. I washed my car and it did not rain. OK, so other absolutely great things made history today, I am sure something was discovered that will change mankind, decisions by world leaders for world peace. None of that is of interest to me because the simple task of washing my car was what was of great import and I marvelled at the sun and dry weather. It is the little things in ones life that give the greatest joy. Tomorrow should be the same with a prediction of only 20% precipitation. Two days with a clean car is good. I am one of those who curse WASA who has leaks on the main roads with spray flying all around and dirtying up my clean car. WASA should have zero leaks, that should be WASA's goal, I don't think that they are interested in any of this as the leaks continue and the complaints from the citizens continue. I remember in the Manifesto of the ruling party a commitment was made to increase the truck delivery of truck borne water. Go figure! ...
Post a Comment
Read more