Diplomatic immunity - Trinidad style

A diplomat attached to the Toronto Office of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Programme was sent home early after Canadian police were preparing to take action against him and his wife for having "public domestic disputes".

I can only imagine this was done to avoid prosecution of the individual and spouse. And I can only imagine that the individual 'was sent home' with the full approval of someone in the Government, so therefore, we have a government which is clearly approving of avoidance of punishment after wrongdoing. Well, not entirely. Just protecting your own, clearly expressed in this instance, in Shermie McNicolls' affair, in Hazel Rogers-Dick's access to hospital equipment.

"The labour attache/consultant (Labour and Employment) at the Toronto Office of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Programme, was recalled before the end of his contractual arrangement after the Canadian Metropolitan Police advised that they were prepared to take the necessary action against this individual and his spouse for public domestic disputes," Montano said.

He then said: "Cabinet approval was granted and the labour attache/consultant (Labour and Employment) was paid the sum of $302,930.21 for finalisation of the ministry's contractual agreement with him."

Montano further said the labour attache received an additional $53,384.54 as contract gratuity, bringing the total he was paid for the early end of his tenure to $356,314.75.

Aside from damaging the reputation of the country with your personal domestic disputes, you now get paid for it. And look at the details of the payment. Not only payment but extra rewards as well.

The man employed his wife at the Trinidad and Tobago Office of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Programme in Toronto for almost four years when the consul general only granted approval for an initial six-month period.

This occurred even though the practice of recruiting family members had been discontinued.

Like Pappy-tricks, it seems that it is fast becoming the norm to hire your spouse in the 'family business' i.e. the government bureaucracy.

"The officer paid himself allowances higher than those, which he was entitled to, without the approval of the Permanent Secretary or the consul general, Toronto," Montano said.

Aye, wait nah. You mean... the salary, expense accounts, accommodation etc wasn't enough? He had to pay himself extra too? Without approval eh. So let's see, what's going to happen to him?

"The Labour Ministry is investigating all matters relating to the consul labour's stewardship and the final report of the ministry's Internal Audit Department is being addressed in the context of the above mentioned investigations," Montano said yesterday.

My bad. I thought since the final report from the auditors indicated some form of corruption, action would be taken. However, I am relieved to know that the report is being addressed. Or maybe this actually means the report is being dressed?

Montano also that while the consul labour had employed his wife without the approval of the Permanent Secretary, such matters were fell under the responsibility of the consul general.

Montano said the consul labour's spouse made a request for employment to the consul general who, in a letter dated September 24, 2002, advised that the practice of recruiting family members was discontinued but consideration could be given for short-term type employment only.

"Subsequent to this correspondence, consul labour employed his spouse as a clerk 1, for an initial period of six months from October 28, 2003, in the Labour Liaison Branch, and subsequently on a continuous, month by month basis to August 24, 2007, the date on which her engagement will be terminated*," Montano said.

Hold on, Don Quixote. Are we tilting at windmills here? Will be terminated? You mean, she still frigging working, despite all these things that were dug up? At this point, I want to hold meh head and bawl like 40 Tarzan.

Maybe this is diplomatic immunity - Trinidad style.

When letters drive me mad

Since I was a wee lad, knee high to a short grasshopper as it were, I loved reading. I'd read anything from Sunday comics in the newspapers to those Archie comics and Dennis the menace. As I grew older, I enjoyed Readers Digest, Hardy Boys, various westerns, and by the time I was about 11 or 12 I'd already read most of the published Robert Ludlum books (that's the chappie who wrote the Bourne books). In high school, I discovered a whole library of old classics, poetry, and Shakespeare.

So, I grew up with good literature, and better than that, I grew up with fine English as a guide, a way of speaking and writing.

So it PISSES me off to no end when people send me emails or phone texts with poor grammar, bad spelling, short cut letters instead of words and generally displaying the intellect of a donkey's hind end. It shows laziness, ill manners and generally the attitude of a person unwilling to progress.

So, y'all take the hint...

200 Murders in 228 days!!

That's a murder for almost every day of this year.

And our dunceys have a arrest rate (of ALL crime, including petty theft etc) of 5000 per annum.

With 7000 'officers', this means that there is an average of less than ONE arrest per officer per year.

Now you will get the idea why 'duncey' may be actually praising their intelligence. If brains was water, these dunceys couldn't give a one-legged flea a footbath - collectively.

Extracts from a speech

This speech was given by Dr Vijay Naraynsingh, at Maha Sabha Headquarters on Saturday 11th August.

Are the following events just accidental?

1. The Chief Justice, Sat Sharma is removed from Office because of a mere allegation, but the Chief Magistrate, proven guilty of an offence, remains in office?
2. Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie is removed as Principal from U. W. I. -can no longer sit on Appointments, Promotions, Assessment Committees etc. -though he was a most outstanding Principal.
3. Devant Maharaj- victimised by the National Lotteries Board- proven in court.
4. The Maha Sabha discriminated against by the State- a position clearly stated by the Privy Council.
5. The dismissal of outstanding achievers from State Enterprises such as Kansham Kanhai, Tota Maharaj, Donald Baldeosingh.
6. The charge against Swami Kripalu Maharaj- published worldwide - and then withdrawn months later because there is no evidence - but after the damage is done.
7. The charge of Basdeo Panday and Finbar Ganga for failing to declare accounts when some 390 others, including Government Ministers, did not declare their assets.
8. Hindu women from Princess Town, handcuffed and paraded on the streets, charged for Voter padding but never proven guilty, while two women from Morvant charged and proven guilty were not handcuffed when taken to court. And I mention this specifically because when my wife, Seeromani, a Hindu woman was taken to court, she was always handcuffed. A policeman, one day, explained to me that it is not usual to routinely handcuff women prisoners unless they are unruly or a great risk, but they have instructions from high office, that whenever Seeromani Maraj is in public she must be handcuffed and that is why your television and newspaper pictures always looked like that.
9. Then the assault on the Murtis in Waterloo and the attempt to burn down the Siewdass Sadhu mandir. Six men arrive in a car at midnight, put on masks, jump the fence, vandalise the place and the police arrive at the amazing conclusion that it is because of rum drinking.

And Hindus are still looking on at all these events as our loved ones are kidnapped, our businesses looted and our children shipped abroad – often never to return.

In my view, these events are not accidental and they will increase in numbers, hostility and wanton injustice if Hindus do not take charge of their political destiny. These events are occurring because, at political and administrative levels, Hindus are discriminated against and the Privy Council stated that in two rulings so far; they are not just my view.

Politics has determined the fate of Hindus and the future of Hinduism in most countries where Hindus live. The Uganda oppression of Hindus was political, so was Fiji, so Kenya and so Guyana. Do we really think that we are so unique that this is not happening to us?

Who are the victims of kidnapping? Who are migrating? Who are sending their children abroad?

When Eric Williams referred to the Hindu schools as ‘cowsheds’ and the ‘recalcitrant minority’ opposition, he was describing a people who had a firm loyalty to their then leader, Bhadase Sagan Maraj. That group of people has remained steadfast in their loyalty to Basdeo Panday for almost 40 years. That group of people has followed faithfully, unwaveringly, even blindly their leader. Loyalty to a leader, a teacher, a Guru is part of our creed; it is strength but it is also potentially our greatest weakness.

After following so faithfully for some 40 years, the Hindus are now Caroni-less, landless, jobless, penniless and almost hopeless. We are dragged through Courts, dismissed from strategic positions and denied opportunities using State resources. The Presbyterians have adjusted their political loyalty as they saw fit, the Muslims did the same but the Hindus maintained a blind loyalty to their leader, no matter what. Yet we are today leaderless because this same leader destroyed or sidelined every potential leader that could have emerged in the last 40 years.

He started with Suren Capildeo and went on and on through Suruj Rambachan, Vishnu Ramlogan, Sahadeo Basdeo, Brinsley Samaroo, Amrika Tewarie, Bhoe Tewarie, Hulsie Bhagan, Kusha Harracksingh, Kelvin Ramnath, Ramesh Maharaj, Winston Dookeran, Roodal Moonilal and others. A few of these crawled back on bended knees to their master but most remain in the political graveyard. That’s the sorry state in which we Hindus find ourselves, all possible leaders executed by the leader himself. What is the answer?

I sometimes hear Hindus express concern about if the PNM gets a Constitutional majority. But I tell you, Patrick Manning does not need that, all he needs is a 21:20 victory to do whatever he wants. Right now he does not have a Constitutional majority but he could fire the Chief Justice, dismiss the Principal of the University, build a Brian Lara Stadium for 800 million dollars, get a monorail for 1.6 billion dollars, fix his home for 150 million dollars, build 4 smelter plants, shut down Caroni and send the workers home-all without a Constitutional majority.

The Hindus cannot risk further loss at this time. Any further loss is the beginning of a slow, painful death.

Explanations necessary

Okay, this morning the Newsday reported that Sherman McNicolls was charged, four charges, stemming out of his failure to testify in the Chief Justice criminal trial.

Now I am wondering, no doubt like many other poor souls, how come there is a separate law for McNicolls? THERE IS A SEPARATE LAW FOR McNicolls!!!

Imagine, the Chief Justice is alleged to have interfered in a trial, and he is suspended. Shermie McNicolls, is PROVEN to have committed an offence, and yet he is still holding office, working, and making a mockery of the nation to the entire world.

Nah, scratch that thought. He just doing things that the JLSC allows him to do, so the ones making us look like ignorant asses is the JLSC.

Somewhere, there is a an explanation owing ; to me, to you, to the entire frigging nation.

Is it because McNicolls is a different race?? The same race as the Prime Donkey, sorry, Minister? Or is there a financial link, like a certain land transaction? Or it is a political link? Something not reading right!

Camini Maharaj, where are you? I need answers.

Justice at last?

I was most pleasantly surprised this morning to read that Shermie McNicolls has been charged for bringing the legal service into disrepute. Or something of that nature.

You can read the full story here.

It's about time.

The weekend marriage

Oh my God, I don’t have time for my marriage! How could I have missed it? After all, I knew that it’s hard to have a relationship if you don’t have time for it. Time is the air love needs to breathe. But when you’re suffocating slowly, it can take a long while to realize what’s really going on.

It’s not that I’d been working every minute. But I saw that the pace of my life, plus my husband’s busy life, meant we were too often like ships passing in the night. No, change that. Like two New York City taxis that every now and then find themselves waiting at the same red light together.

This is the weekend marriage. It’s the marriage most of us have these days: during a typical week you have only minutes, not hours, to spend feeling like a couple—getting close, having fun together, feeling intimate. It’s not one of those rare situations where one person works in a far-off city Monday through Friday. In the weekend marriage you and your spouse sleep under the same roof most nights but you rarely have enough time for each other except on weekends. If then.

Few of us are exempt. Whoever is busiest or most drained determines how much time the two of you have together. If he or she has only a few minutes a day for the relationship, that’s all the relationship gets.

I knew in my bones that neglect is how you kill a relationship, just the way neglect kills pets, plants, and other vulnerable living things. And we’re right to be scared. I’ve learned that the weekend marriage is now the most important and least understood reason why couples end up getting divorced.

Like many of us, I felt guilty. What kind of person was I to make my relationship such a low priority?

It didn’t seem fair that there’s no time left for love if you live the way you’re supposed to—work hard, keep up your home, spend time with family, and do all the other things that come along with being responsible and living a normal life.

But it wasn’t just about not having time for each other. I noticed that something weird happens when you go from having plenty of time together, like when you’re first starting out, to not having much time. You’d think that the good and bad ways you used to interact would shrink in the same proportions. You’d spend less time making love and having nice easy conversations, but you’d also spend less time arguing and being mad at each other.

But the proportions don’t stay the same. The bad stuff—the disagreements, the irritability, the misunderstandings—seem to take up more time than they did before. It’s the good stuff that gets squeezed out. Here’s my variation on Murphy’s Law: the less time you have together, the more things go wrong in your relationship.

Extract from The Weekend Marriage by Mira Kirshenbaum, my next 'look forward' read.

I am not married, haven't been for a long time. But I guess this applies to relationships as well. If most of us examine our lives, I'll lay an even bet you'd not like some things you find.

From the archives

Punks at age four.

The photo with the knapsack was taken at the moment she told me she was running away from home. When I asked why, I was told she had to 'go out into the wide world to seek her destiny!'

Saying "Thank You"

Not many of us do. Say thank you that is. As Trinidadians, we have an informality about us, and yet, others (Trinis) understand the implicit gratitude we may seldom express.

In England, that "Thank You" needs to be said, and for one such as I who had manners drilled into the cranium from childhood, it's easier than for most.

And I have a lot to be thankful for. And like so many of us, I thought about it, but never acted upon it.

Today, I am acting upon a thought I have had so many times. I want to thank my teachers, from my past, my present, and any future ones I may encounter.

To my primary school teachers, Mrs Gangadhar, Ms Ramnarine, Mr Lowkie, Mr Ramsingh, Mr Sookhoo, and all the others who have been there and yet not taught me directly, I think your lessons are well learnt. You had begun the mould that created the man, and my thanks will never be enough I know, but suffice to say, I hope that it will be appreciated.

To my high school teachers, Mrs Gopiesingh, Mrs Ramgoolam, Mrs Dass (now in USA I believe), Mr Khan, Mr Sukhdeo, Mr Babooram ('Peck' for the Iere folks), Mr Jugmohansingh, Mr Shekhar Mahabir.... the list goes on, and in the intervening 2 decades I may not remember all the names, but I never forget the impact you have had on me.

I am especially grateful to those who nurtured my love of reading, rather than hindered it. Despite me choosing fiction over non-fiction, and reading at the most inappropriate times, i.e in class, you have all steered me towards expanding my reading material rather than posting limits. Mrs Gaines from Iere High School's library, and Elizabeth (don't know her last name) had allowed me the run of the entire library at my whims and fancy, even asking me to vet new books (a cool responsibility at age 14, I must admit) is something I am eternally grateful for.

I can never find you all now, being as scattered as you are, moving on, retiring etc, but while I may not be able to say individual thank you's, I am publicly saying thanks. Better late than never, eh?

The photo story

The main photo on this page is three girls walking in the road. The caption indicates that the area is safe again.

Now, what I can't understand is why the photo was taken using the side mirror of a car. Some questions naturally occur to me.

• If the area is so safe, why did the photographer not get out of the car?
• Why take photos of the girls on the sly? Why not let them see you taking the photos?
  

The impression I got from this photo is certainly not one of a newshound in search of or supporting a story.

Paving the way for imbert-ciles

Hear this: the airport shut down for 5 hours yesterday because the runway get fecked up AGAIN! By the same Jusamco pavers. Not only that, they feck it up in the SAME PLACE as the last time!

The runway was closed at 8.40 am to allow Jusamco Pavers Limited workmen time to repair the damaged strip of runway. At 1.42 pm, the runway was cleared and operations at the airport resumed.

However, within the almost five hours that the runway was closed, 13 incoming flights and 18 departures were delayed while four flights were cancelled.

Ellen Lewis Adamson, Manager (Corporate Communications) at the Airports Authority confirmed the closure (and when) asked if this was the same area of the runway which was damaged recently, Adamson said ‘yes’.

So, why de arse the dotish government increased the cost of the same contract that Jusamco did before for about 1/5th the cost, only to get the same half-arsed job quality?

WHO POCKETING THE EXTRA MONEY? Follow the money trail...

I have to say, I really wish I could take a look at the bank accounts of some of these Ministers and officials before and after they came into their positions....

Pressing conferences

At a press conference (why de arse these dunceys like press conferences so? Is not like they have anything worthwhile to say!) Assistant Police Commissioner (read that as senior duncey) Gilbert Reyes said yesterday,

“I received an interim report but I had to send it back because it was incomplete. There are some challenges regarding that report.”

(This is on the three prisoners who escaped so many weeks ago.)

All I can say is that the report probably did not say exactly what needed to be covered up and further burying was needed.

By the way, what the hell the dunceys need a weekly press conference for?

Speaking during the weekly press briefing held at Police Administration building in Port-of-Spain, Reyes said he received the report on Friday.

Buy a Lotus for 50p?

Tim Shaw, DJ at Birmingham radio station Kerrang, flirted on air with one Jodie Marsh. Jodie is famous for having a few more than 4 lbs of silicone, tucked away not so discreetly.

Mrs Shaw, listening in, was rightly furious, and after sucking down some liquid courage, posted Mr Shaw's Lotus Esprit Turbo on eBay for a grand 50 pence. The car was sold in minutes.

I was too late to get my bid in....

But the question on my mind is: since Mr Shaw even said he was willing to leave his family for the silicone bag(s), I'm wondering why he didn't go the safer route and get two balloons to play with?

How observant are you?

A tightening is a-coming

Okay, Saturday I received my correspondence from Uni, re: registration for my next year ... yeah, I know, we got to do it every year.

Here's where I started sweating cold as we say... my fees have tripled, unless I'm seeing wrong.

And thus I feel my balls tightening and the sweating starts. (*0*)

Post Secret

In following Post Secret, where people mail in secrets anonymously on a post card, today I will post one of mine. Obviously, it's not anonymous. (^_^)

Every day, even though I know it won't, I keep hoping the world will get a bit better.