Vision 2020 - in 2008

I find myself thinking this morning of Vision 2020. The lofty goal that Papa-tricks has imposed upon the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago. I use the word impose deliberately. I cannot recall seeing anywhere that Vision 2020 was anyone else's idea. I cannot recall anyone else having input into its planning and structure.

I can't recall Vision 2020 having planning and structure. You may find it strange, but think about it. Here we have a Prime Minister, arguably leading one of the wealthier nations of the Western Hemisphere, touting a vision, a goal, for several years, and yet no one can define what that goal is, to any reasonable degree.

I know it involves tall buildings, which I suspect (and stated before) is a salve to failing manhood. Other than that, I cannot see any definite goals or targets. Okay, I am out of the loop; I am not one of Papa-tricks confidantes or assistants. Still, I pride myself on being observant to a certain degree, and yet - Vision 2020 eludes me.

Perhaps I am being cynical. I get the impression that Vision 2020 is all about being 'developed'. Maybe I can go further and say it is about being progressive.

But who defines what that development or progress is? Papa-tricks of course. It is the ideal of one man with a national treasury at his beck and call. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. So would I, especially if that man was of the mould of Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Barack Obama. These are men who outwardly demonstrated that they were fighting for betterment of their people, that they wanted more for their countries than for themselves. I can't say the same for Papa-tricks.

I tried thinking what may be Papa-tricks idea of development. Is it similar to that found in Nordic countries? That found in European countries? In Canada? USA? Mexico? Australia? Cuba? I include the last because I know he is a regular visitor there, and despite American hindrance, Cuba has done remarkably well in certain areas of development e.g. medicine.

Is it a blend of all of the above?

Vision 2020 at the moment is as solid as the fog on a cold morning. Essentially, it is there, you have a vague idea and a vague picture, but try to hold it, to meet it and it constantly eludes and slips away.

I think he means well. Maybe Papa-tricks wants better infrastructure, manageable traffic, less graft and corruption in public office, better health care, better education, less crime, better utilities, efficient communications, advance technology; things of that nature. So would I.

Still, one may conclude that his current actions, his present route, does not give us the idea that these things are even near the horizon.

Crime is out of control. That is not a statement I make lightly. I have monitored the crime situation for nearly 2 years on this blog. I was the first to reveal that despite the dunceys claiming a 20% crime solve rate, the figure was actually closer to 8%. This figure was later revealed by the Express to be more accurate than the dunceys statistics. We have nearly 7000 dunceys making about 5000 arrests per year, which really means that we have less than 1 arrest per duncey per year. The solve rate for major crime is maybe (thinking positively here) about 1%.

The country with the largest pitch lake in the world has some of the worst roads you can imagine. I see corruption, cronyism and grafts in every contract handed out. I see shoddy workmanship. Heck, we even had the nation's best pavers f**king up the airport runway, where planes take off and land at high speeds every few minutes.

Government offices are still centralised in the capital 'city' which is prone to many feet of very dirty and muddy flood water every few months. This means we have thousands of workers and clients from every part of the country going to create horrendous traffic jams daily. No thought of decentralising or setting up phone or Internet services to help the situation, neither anything about staggered working hours, or an appointment system in the vision 2020 plan.

We have an idiot in the insurance business running the health sector, one of many currently under a corruption probe. An Imbert-cile in the Works ministry. What appears to be a sexual deviant playing with cucumbers in the Agriculture ministry. I can go on and on, but these are examples at how ill prepared we are to visualise, or achieve, Vision anything.

Here's a further thought. At his age and with his medical condition, do you think Papa-tricks will be around when 2020 comes?

Take it now

The 2 most incompetent in the Police Service, and they're being asked to stay.... just watch the crime rate rise.

7000 cops in TnT, and 5000 arrests per year (less than 1 per officer per year, eh), 80,000 serious crimes (we ent go check the non-serious ones), a 1% murder solve rate (and that is because they beat some victim into confession too, eh), and an overall 8% solve rate on all crimes.

This is the state Trinidad and Tobago in.

Well, those who vote for Papa-tricks, take it now.

Monkey Island Justice - part deux

Remember those pictures with the three monkeys, one covering ears, one the eyes, one the mouth? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Justice in Trinidad is like that. Blind (unable to see the stupidities that abound everyday), deaf (unable to hear the complaints and protests) and dumb (unable to speak up for what is right).

Shermie not suspended, despite several reports damning him on multiple fronts. Espinet not recusing herself from hearing Panday's matter, despite hearing another matter Panday is involved in. I know for a fact human nature being what it is, the goodly magistrate will not be able to separate evidence heard in one trial from the other, and therefore will be applying same to the other trial. On that basis alone, the prosecution should not have to ask the magistrate to recuse herself but she should voluntarily do so.

But Trinidad being what it is...

Bad eggs in the duncey service... oops, I mean Police Service.

Imagine 7,000 police officers and less than 5,000 arrests in one year. That is less than one arrest per officer per year. No wonder we have a crime problem. Moreover, the problem is not a crime problem, it is a detection problem.

A good place to start cleaning up the corruption and incompetence is by having civilians run the Police Complaints Authority. The bottom line is that "the police" simply cannot be trusted to investigate "the police."

Poor health service, made poorer when a former mayor can take home expensive equipment from the hospital without permission for personal use.

Landate affair, NH affair, airport inquiry, Sharma inquiry... my head spinning from all the dead ends I see daily.

Monkey Island Justice in truth.

Those dunceys again

Over the past several months, I've realised that it is on very (very) rare occasions I've written anything positive on duncey police officers in Trinidad.

For whatever reason, the Trinidad and Tobago police service requires that that applicants need only 3 'O' level passes to enter into the duncey service; the same amount a person may need to pump gas at a service station, operate a lawn mower or 'brush cutter', dig drains etc. Even sales clerks in Syrian clothing stores are required to have a full '5 subjects' pass... it just occurred to me that the majority of URP and CEPEP workers can be dunceys in uniform.

Once in the duncey service, these mental midgets consistently provide me with fodder for my blog, either by their peevish and petty displays of authority, or their idiotic forays into the criminal world.

It certainly does not help that the intellectual capacity of their fellow dunceys is also minimal, so we can clearly observe the fumblings in investigating both their colleagues' transgressions as well as those of the general population.

One such instance is this article where a duncey police officer is actually caught in a getaway car... but I know he will get off anyway. After all, these dunceys stick together like lagley on pommecythere. In this case, there is even more reason - the duncey's father is also a senior duncey.

But the real catch in this story is this:.

He was questioned over the weekend about what he knows about the theft of a 9mm handgun and ammunition from his workplace last month.

Come again? If he wasn't caught red-handed as it were, then the dunceys could not tie him to the missing gun? It is only because he is caught he becomes a likely suspect? I've observed that the 'investigative skills' of dunceys is confined to cases where irrefutable proof is staring them in the face.

Given that Trinidad has over 7000 police officers, and arrests are about 5000 a year (less than 1 per duncey per year), it is small wonder that the criminals have the upper hand... hell, they're running rings around these dunceys.