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overnight water



The past week has been hectic, in Tobago with family, stuff happening and a fried brain. Tobago as usual was delightful even though the poor island is being treated like a bastard child by an administration that is not only usually favoured by the Tobago electorate but where the PMOTT is a son of the soil. The guy even wrote a book 'From Mason Hall to Whitehall' although he had not yet actually completed 24 months of his term as PMOTT and worse, 'Whitehall' has been in a state of disrepair and abandoned by successive Administrations. I guess this is a sign of not so good things to come.

Before I get vex I just want to deal with something that really bothers me. Hot water or a lack of it. We came home from the sister isle to a non functioning water heater. In my early days in Arima I grew up with what I have termed 'overnight water'. In Arima the old man would store water in a galvanise storage tank, zero insulation, and the water would reflect the temperature of that night. Getting up to go to school and having to jump into that shower, the shower head was wider than your body and you could not escape the deluge of freezing water. One of my first jobs was working at a large commercial bakery in Park St in Port of Spain and being the newest employee I was given the graveyard shift - midnight to 7.00 am. Leaving town and heading home after work of course one had to bathe before going to sleep. Do you know how long it takes to wash off flour?  'Overnight water' watash, I swore that the first investment I would make would be a water heater. The second hand Zephyr 6 somehow took preference and I was forced to bathe in icy water for many years. Now in the twilight of my life all of a sudden I am back to Arima days. I do not care what people say cold water is cold water!

So where have we reached on the Rock.


  • We have a new President, affectionately referred to as 'Auntie President' by a local columnist.
  •  A National Security Minister who has been found guilty of fraud in the USA.
  •  A payment of $150,000.00 to a former personal assistant to a Cabinet Minister with accusations of sexual misconduct and wrongful dismissal.
  • A rehashing of an old scandal involving the now PMOTT with a national housing issue.
  •  The collapse of the sea bridge.
  • The collapse of the Tobago economy.
  •  The continuing saga of the newly purchased ferry and the complete lack of transparency.
  • The Chief Justice and no action taken other than the CJ going on vacation.
 One can leave the Rock for a day and somehow it hits the fan. The MP for Tobago East makes the statement 'nobody in Tobago suffering'. The MP is obviously speaking with the 'red and ready' crew and not having a conversation with anyone else. The MP is obviously in 'apogeean mode'. The economy in Tobago has tanked and the PMOTT is solely responsible for the collapse. Not even the Minister of Finance can claim responsibility for this act of gross mismanagement, incompetence of the highest order and a dereliction of duty never seen before in our Republic. The people who are eligible to vote in the THA election have every right to file a class action suit against the Central Government. The Tobago air and sea bridge is deemed an essential service and the Administration has failed to execute its responsibility to the citizens. Deal with them!

There is talk of a third political party to save the country. I have a different view. We do not need a third party, we need a political movement to drive out the current political system forever. Not for one term or two terms, but forever. The new movement will change the direction of this country making us the nation we should be. An entirely new movement, an entirely new way of governance must be established. Out with the old, dump the failed system, throw out the traditional political system and let us move this Rock forward.
Let us not be afraid, a system was created in 1956 which took us to another place, a new system is what is needed now to take us yet further.

Good night people of the Rock and good luck, the change is on its way!

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