breast is the best

I took an early morning drive to the North Coast, La Filette to be exact. There are many great scenic drives on the Rock. The North Coast, the East Coast, the Manzanilla Stretch, the Windward Road - Tobago all beautiful drives. It is the natural beauty that blows the mind. We did not have to allocate acreage for luxury hotels or give tax free incentives. In fact all we had to do was build a road to connect different communities and voila! a scenic drive is created making the Rock probably one of the top five scenic drives in the Caribbean. This is what tourism is all about, not an enclave. The natural beauty is what it takes, everything else could be an amusement park.
The North Coast Road however is in a mess. It is overgrown, the one CEPEP gang cannot do justice, horrible private signage, broken down roadside vendor huts, roadside garages with abandoned vehicles, non existent drainage, poor driving surface, vendors on the famous lookout - blocking the vistas, garbage. Why does this have to be like this? Why is it that we cannot control anything?

The Maracas Bay project has been ongoing for years and you would figure that we could have gotten that right, right? wrong! The umpteenth design catered for the North Coast Rd to be relocated south of the existing car park which would have reduced the traffic congestion substantially, created additional parking spaces and of course making the car park to the beach seamless and 100 times safer. The vendors booths were to be LEED designed buildings, utilising local renewable materials, natural ventilation, recyclable cooking oil facilities, grey water usage and of course everything blending into the natural environment. What we have ended up with is an HDC housing project on Maracas Beach. Not unlike the monstrosities on some of the best beaches in Tobago. On some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean there is nothing more than a very small, handmade sign welcoming you to the beach, with a small frame of hanging tin cans that you take to put your cigarette butts in, nothing more. I agree that beaches like Maracas require public amenities because of the 4K visitors on a regular Sunday but why the HDC design?

I had posted separately my question whether or not Caricom would be answering the POTUS on his despicable, racists remarks about certain countries. I see that Caricom, in support of our sister Haiti,  has responded denouncing the Great Leader and his remarks. Good going Caricom, finally! After the vote on Jerusalem and the threat by the USA that 'we know who you are' I am happy to see that we, as a region, are standing up for our position in the world. The days of the Ugly American and worst Colonialism, are long over.  It is a great feeling, when asked where are you from, you proudly say Trinidad and Tobago and you do not have to say 'near Jamaica'. Haiti should implement a visa requirement for all US citizens wishing to visit, easier said than done. Oh, history has dealt us a powerful blow!

Tomorrow we recognise the 40th Anniversary of the The Breastfeeding Association of T&T. And why would I be interested in TBATT, also known as TIBS? My life partner has been a member, a breastfeeding councillor forever. All our children and now grans have had the benefit of 'the milk from the breast is the best'. In the early days of counselling there were times when she was not available and a troubled mother with a new born would call seeking help, I had overheard many conversations about what to do, so I would attempt to console and offer counselling. No wonder there are so many strong, healthy, non allergic people walking the streets of the Rock. Congrats to TBATT!

The Government has announced the purchase of a new ferry for the Tobago run. Great news, about time, the people of the Rock have suffered enough with this totally incompetent Government. The question is now by what means has this 'new' ferry been purchased? In April of 2017 the PMOTT, the AG, the Min of Works, all went after the PPG, (I was the line Minister at the time and responsible for the ferry service) and accused us of being the most corrupt people with reference to the chartering of the Super Fast Galicia, even though we had followed to the letter, the public procurement procedures. How come it is absolutely no problem for one or four Cabinet Ministers to have discussions with brokers, agents and or owners to secure the purchase of a 'new' ferry? How come it is absolutely no problem for these Ministers to directly negotiate a purchase price without a semblance of a tendering procedure for public procurement? This is an outrage, it goes against every single tenet of public procurement. Not a single organisation has denounced this procurement process. It would seem that once it is the Red and Readyers all is well and accepted. The TT Chamber, Transparency Intl,  TTMA,  Contractors Assoc. Tobago Chamber all the usual commentators, all quiet. The Min of Finance has said that he has spent US$17.4M of taxpayers money without adhering to the Public Procurement process and not on single one of the 'NOISE' people seem to be concerned. I guess when the same Minister has to approve payments for you with a Government contract or soon to be authorising Forex one has to be careful what one says. And like the statement by the POTUS I say BS! Bunch of wimps, they should be ashamed of themselves.

We are a very wrong sided people, what is good for one is by no means good for the other. It could be chutney, calypso, religion, leadership and of course public procurement. It is either 'is we time now' or 'we in power, deal with it' and that people, is how the Rock rolls. We are always quick to condemn other countries making statements on our affairs, but aren't they often right?

Enjoy the nice weather!

Good night and good luck!