wine and chocolate

Must be the Blood Moon or just in a good mood. Listening to Astrud Gilberto and The Girl from Ipanema, lovely cool tropical evening, it's 6.45 and now getting dark, a beverage, quiet time. Ran out of vitals so headed down to the 'all inclusive' store in lower Maraval. Approach the cashier and she remarks 'wine and chocolate' with a questioning face. I love it, I love the fact that in typical Trini style a comment can be made and there is no offense taken.

One of the people who has worked with me from inception, 31 yrs ago, had a heart attack this morning. He is a cancer survivor and now this. He is in a hospital, well looked after.  Sometimes you forget that we are all getting on in age, we feel invincible as we should, but time does catch up. The prognosis says that he should be okay. We wait and see.

The Parliament meets tomorrow to debate the appointment of a Commissioner of Police. The Parliament is actually on vacation and is being called back to a sitting for this single issue debate. Of course, when Parliament was called out of the vacation period on previous occasions there was a hue and cry. Putting all of that aside my biggest issue with all of this is the fact that during the PPG's term we had a Constitutional majority where we could have fixed the issue of appointments once and for all and we waisted the opportunity. Why did we not fix the governance issues that continue to plague the Rock? The issues of corruption and questionable expenditure will forever dog the Partnership and the law will deal with these. The issue of fixing the governance permanently sticks in my craw. We had a golden opportunity to do it and we failed miserably. This is where true leadership comes in to play, glitter and confetti fall to the ground eventually, the true metal is in fixing the systems. We could have achieved so much if only the leadership was there. I was told in 2007 that she was not Prime Ministerial material, I scoffed at the comment figuring it was sour grapes, only to realize that it was true.
Referendum, Proportional Representation and the Right to Recall all major changes in how we govern ourselves. Removing us finally from the Colonial system of governance which has proven to be an abject failure. Imagine we cannot appoint a Commissioner of Police? The FIU has no information as to how a person, allegedly not gainfully employed,  paid for a luxury vehicle. The PMOTT is only now appraised of 150 illegal ports of entry and no one is held to account. The USD find in a shipment of plywood is not concluded, the marijuana found in a chicken shipment goes nowhere. The government can go out and purchase anything with absolutely no accountability to the taxpayer because it is this government and not the thieving others. How did we reach here?
If the systems of governance, responsibility and moreso accountability had been a cornerstone of the PPG then we would be in a much better place. We simply wasted five years.

I was very pleased to see the media reporting of the Rock's first Gay Pride Parade was very positive. Maybe we are turning the corner, however slowly.

This week we celebrate Emancipation and I must say that makes me very proud to be a citizen of the Rock!

People of the best Rock in the universe, forget Mars and water, good night and good luck!