Things have been hectic recently, I have simply not had the time to do a daily post. 'Good thing' you say. Well, the very good news is that I am back to a less rigorous schedule and may well find the time. The weather here on the rock has been simply beautiful. The mornings in the valley have been cool at about 23 dg C, with beautiful blue skies and it seems that the heavy rains have eased up. Our friends in Chickland reported over 10 inches of rain in one 24 hr period which created havoc for many people. We shall see what happens with the rest of the rainy season up to January.
Went into the city today, parked at the best paid parking service on the rock, and headed off to the Ministry of Legal Affairs to register a name. Of course I forgot the one page completed form at home but headed down anyway figuring it was a Government office which undoubtedly will have forms, that's what Government offices do, they have forms. Everybody is in a great mood, morning, thanks, all the salutations. 'Sorry, but that form is only available on-line'. 'You could go by so and so and buy a form'. Off I go, buy my form walk back to the Ministry office. Present my completed form to the clerk who does the necessary and gives me further instructions. On the form is the statement that my information would be ready in (3) days which has now been scratched out and replaced with a hand written '5'. Pay my fee and head out. Mission accomplished.
If forms are only available on-line why then could I not submit on-line, pay on-line and get a reply on-line. Doing this simple task on-line would have saved me 1 1/2 hrs, $9.00 in forms, $8.00 in parking fees and would have bettered our country's carbon footprint by a couple of units and it would have been one less vehicle for the city to deal with. The software systems are all there, installed during the last Administration, and needs to be activated.
After my visit to the city I then ventured down to Chaguaramas, can't say I am really impressed with all the development on the sea front. I maintain the natural beauty is definitely my preference with some amenities.
Anyway this is not the story. I met a foreigner, he has been living here for 17 years, and is about to depart our shores. He said he has had it with the officialdom and figures that there are other jurisdictions which would be far more welcoming. Since his arrival here he has tried to regularize his immigration status, hoping for at least a residency status for him and his family. His (18) year old son is now of an age where the son cannot piggyback on the father's passport and therefore has to do his own filing. His wife's passport expired and whilst waiting on her replacement both she and the son were deported for not having their papers in order. There is more to the story about the number of times immigration documents were filed, lost, filed again. You really have to ask the question 'why'? Apparently the 'yachties' now have to go to the Immigration Main Office, in the city, to get any extension for their stay where before the Chaguaramas office handled the process. It is either we do not have a clue about what is required to service this 'yachtie' industry or we do not think that it is a business we want to attract.
The real reason for me going there was fruitful but I was told that the 'hurricane season' was terrible business wise and that the other season coming up early in the year was looking dismal.
The oil and gas industry will not be our savior, can we at least admit this? Norway has just instructed its Sovereign Fund Investment Group to not do any further investments in the energy sector.
What part of this issue of not being able to attract foreign investment don't we understand?
Tobago has had its 10th murder for the year. Compared to the main rock that sounds minuscule. Well actually it is a figure that we should all be concerned about because this figure of (10) represents a ratio of 16 in every 100,000 persons being murdered. The main rock is roughly 32.5 persons per 100,000. The good ole USA has a ratio of 4.7 per 100,000. There are some islands in the Caribbean that compare to that ratio, Anguilla, Antigua, BVI, Cayman, Cuba and others. The point being that if we are not going to deal with the crime situation the business of tourism goes out the door, No Man's land development or not.
I am part of a group of people that thought seriously about challenging the Political Leader of the current opposition party. The problem was the fact that the party could not, for one minute, guarantee a fair and transparent internal election process. The election was therefore a sham and, besides being called illegally, was a corrupt and rigged process. I feel a lot better knowing that we would not be part of the nonsense that was being perpetrated on the general membership of the party.
And so the rock continues, I got uninvited once when in Government. I was invited to a cricket match at an energy company's private booth at the Oval in my substantive position but as I was acting for the Minister of Energy at the time my invitation was rescinded. Apparently the energy company was in a bid round for acreage. There is always a reason for being uninvited. Lessons to the wise!
The rock desperately needs a political solution. What is happening with the big guns is not good and the electorate needs to start the process of determining what they see as the future for the rock.
Parang like rain on the radio, I am a happy camper!
Good night and good luck, you may need it!
Went into the city today, parked at the best paid parking service on the rock, and headed off to the Ministry of Legal Affairs to register a name. Of course I forgot the one page completed form at home but headed down anyway figuring it was a Government office which undoubtedly will have forms, that's what Government offices do, they have forms. Everybody is in a great mood, morning, thanks, all the salutations. 'Sorry, but that form is only available on-line'. 'You could go by so and so and buy a form'. Off I go, buy my form walk back to the Ministry office. Present my completed form to the clerk who does the necessary and gives me further instructions. On the form is the statement that my information would be ready in (3) days which has now been scratched out and replaced with a hand written '5'. Pay my fee and head out. Mission accomplished.
If forms are only available on-line why then could I not submit on-line, pay on-line and get a reply on-line. Doing this simple task on-line would have saved me 1 1/2 hrs, $9.00 in forms, $8.00 in parking fees and would have bettered our country's carbon footprint by a couple of units and it would have been one less vehicle for the city to deal with. The software systems are all there, installed during the last Administration, and needs to be activated.
After my visit to the city I then ventured down to Chaguaramas, can't say I am really impressed with all the development on the sea front. I maintain the natural beauty is definitely my preference with some amenities.
Anyway this is not the story. I met a foreigner, he has been living here for 17 years, and is about to depart our shores. He said he has had it with the officialdom and figures that there are other jurisdictions which would be far more welcoming. Since his arrival here he has tried to regularize his immigration status, hoping for at least a residency status for him and his family. His (18) year old son is now of an age where the son cannot piggyback on the father's passport and therefore has to do his own filing. His wife's passport expired and whilst waiting on her replacement both she and the son were deported for not having their papers in order. There is more to the story about the number of times immigration documents were filed, lost, filed again. You really have to ask the question 'why'? Apparently the 'yachties' now have to go to the Immigration Main Office, in the city, to get any extension for their stay where before the Chaguaramas office handled the process. It is either we do not have a clue about what is required to service this 'yachtie' industry or we do not think that it is a business we want to attract.
The real reason for me going there was fruitful but I was told that the 'hurricane season' was terrible business wise and that the other season coming up early in the year was looking dismal.
The oil and gas industry will not be our savior, can we at least admit this? Norway has just instructed its Sovereign Fund Investment Group to not do any further investments in the energy sector.
What part of this issue of not being able to attract foreign investment don't we understand?
Tobago has had its 10th murder for the year. Compared to the main rock that sounds minuscule. Well actually it is a figure that we should all be concerned about because this figure of (10) represents a ratio of 16 in every 100,000 persons being murdered. The main rock is roughly 32.5 persons per 100,000. The good ole USA has a ratio of 4.7 per 100,000. There are some islands in the Caribbean that compare to that ratio, Anguilla, Antigua, BVI, Cayman, Cuba and others. The point being that if we are not going to deal with the crime situation the business of tourism goes out the door, No Man's land development or not.
I am part of a group of people that thought seriously about challenging the Political Leader of the current opposition party. The problem was the fact that the party could not, for one minute, guarantee a fair and transparent internal election process. The election was therefore a sham and, besides being called illegally, was a corrupt and rigged process. I feel a lot better knowing that we would not be part of the nonsense that was being perpetrated on the general membership of the party.
And so the rock continues, I got uninvited once when in Government. I was invited to a cricket match at an energy company's private booth at the Oval in my substantive position but as I was acting for the Minister of Energy at the time my invitation was rescinded. Apparently the energy company was in a bid round for acreage. There is always a reason for being uninvited. Lessons to the wise!
The rock desperately needs a political solution. What is happening with the big guns is not good and the electorate needs to start the process of determining what they see as the future for the rock.
Parang like rain on the radio, I am a happy camper!
Good night and good luck, you may need it!
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