They Were Investigating? An Honest Man And His Hart?

March 11, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

The revelation in Trinidad and Tobago Newspapers that Calder Hart had was part of a criminal investigation as of September, 2009, casts some question as to whether the man holding the office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, is indeed an honest man as his pastor alleges.

Why would I write that? There's a problem with the data. Both articles referencing the investigation (linked above) say that the Prime Minister was aware of the investigation that started in September of 2009. Yet in Patrick Manning's 45 documented defenses of Calder Hart, he defended Calder Hart after the investigation was underway:

Do we charge customers to advertise to them now?

March 9, 2010 by Edmund Gall

I really have to wonder.  A private organisation, Motivational Speaking International Limited, is hosting a "conference" entitled Psychology and You, at the Point Fortin East Secondary School, on March 13, 20 and 27.  From the brief info published in the Trinidad Guardian, the conference runs from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and the topics to be discussed are:

• What is Psychology?
• Types of psychologists and their work
• Everyday applications for psychology
• Becoming psychologically wise.

I have several concerns.  First off, I'm wondering how anything that takes two hours to complete can be called a conference.  Call it a seminar, or even a workshop, but conference?  Given the agenda, I think this is nothing more than a presentation.

Which brings me to the lack of clarity.  For my application fee, am I expected to attend just one day or all three days?  If it's all three days, then the amount of topics seems dreadfully low.  The first three topics can be covered within one hour - what are you going to talk about for the next five?  "Becoming psychologically wise" seems like dumbed-down populist lingo that has no place in a proper psychologist's vocabulary.

Best of all, they charge attendees $800 for the experience.  Wait: $800 for a two hour presentation?  $400 per hour to give something attendees can get for free on the Internet, on radio/tv or some magazines?  Well, at that price, the attendees may as well visit the presenting psychologist(s) privately for a one-to-one session. {Read more}

Hold on one UDeCOTT-on-picking minute!

March 9, 2010 by Edmund Gall

I just watched one of the most enlightening discussions on the concerns about UDeCOTT on C TV with Afra Raymond.  I wish C TV posted clips of its First Up breakfast show online.  Here were the key points from the interview.

All special purpose state bodies are supposed to publish annual financial accounts.  UDeCOTT's last published accounts were for 2006.

When determining whether to proceed with commercial property projects, developers usually do a feasibility study to examine, for e.g., what's the expected return on investment and break-even rents.  Raymond asked Calder Hart if this was done for any UDeCOTT projects and he replied it was done for only one commercial project - the International Waterfront Complex (IWC).  Note: Raymond didn't expect such benchmarks to apply for projects involving public goods, e.g. NAPA, schools, health centres.

When asked what was the IWC's break-even rent, Hart replied approx. TT$20 per sqft.  Break-even rent is calculated based on UDeCOTT's monthly bank loan repayments.  Raymond indicated that this raised questions immediately since at the time the market rental for commercial properties in Port of Spain was TT$15 per sqft, i.e. if you placed a property on the market you could not expect more than TT$15 per sqft.  In other words, the total earned from a fully-rented IWC would still be below the expected loan repayment figure - the gap would have to be funded from somewhere.  So how could UDeCOTT say the project was feasible when the break-even rent was above the expected market rental rates?

Further, when Raymond asked what was the value attributed to the land on which the IWC was built, as used for its feasibility study, Hart replied: "Nil." That can't be right, and if it was included, then the break-even rent would be higher than TT$20 per sqft. {Read more}

The Inertia of Trinidad and Tobago

March 9, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

The happenings here in Trinidad and Tobago, now with (or without) Hart and with (or without) Property Tax Reform and with (or without) a true change in Opposition, amongst the happenings in my personal life, have me in the frame of mind where I am compelled to write about the elephant - or in T&T, the Manicou - in the middle of the room.

Inertia.

If there is a tone of displeasure here, it is warranted from this writer's perspective. How is it that the face of the country has changed so little for me over the decades? In speaking with one journalist a few weeks ago, my observations were echoed by someone who had more insight into what has been happening over the decades here than I. The faces rarely change, the problems remain the same, and the sliding scale of what is celebrated has slid below mediocrity.

I may sound negative, but isn't it somewhat odd that the country takes the day off when the national football team comes back from the World Cup after being eliminated, having scored only one goal - against themselves? I used to say that was celebrating mediocrity, but it isn't. It's celebrating less than mediocrity. It's a celebration of stagnation; a simple wave of enthusiasm was what was celebrated - a simple hope that something would change. Maybe I am become old and jaded. I am unimpressed with the idiocies tossed around like a dead shuttlecock in Parliament and in the rumshops. I have shaken my head over the years as I have seen more and more money poured into bad ideas - ideas that were so patently bad that even John Q. Mediocrity shook his head with the next nip of puncheon. {Read more}

Property Tax Reform Creeps And Crawls

March 8, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

As someone who is constantly looking for information on Trinidad and Tobago's Property Tax Reform - and since we at KnowTnT.com have been keeping an eye on it and writing about it - it is somewhat humorous that there has been an announced extension on Property Tax Reform. And even some information: 

...Nunez-Tesheira also explained in the same interview that Government decided to extend the deadline for the non-payment of property tax from September 15 to December 31, for this first year.

 

’March 31 is the date by which the bills must go out and then from September 15, penalties would accrue. We expect that we would be able to send out all the property tax bills during the month of April...and since we are extending the period for payment through the month of April, we are extending the deadline for the penalty to December 31.’

 

She added that Government was collecting a lot of data coming from two systems that were running parallel to each other- the Land and Building system and the Municipal and Regional Corporation system...

'Running parallel', to an external observer, might hint at 'redundant system' - but in a country where a fair amount of houses aren't in the Land and Building system and the Municipal and Regional Corporation system can be decades behind (I know, personally) - there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And, from what I understand, the systems are incompatible since Town and Country approvals don't deal in assessment numbers or deed numbers. Seriously. {Read more}

It's Just Too Easy To Play With The 'Hart'

March 8, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

Yes, yes, it's old news. Calder Hart left. And every headline is as punny as possible (including this one) because there was a twisted sense of humour that created and defended the Hart a total of 45 times. When I heard the news on Saturday, I had better things to do than write about something that I predicted: I told many people that it was O'Halloran all over again. Perhaps the problem is that Trinidad and Tobago doesn't have sufficient history for Trinbagonians to study, thus they don't, thus they repeat it.

And, of course, the PNM isn't held in great esteem now - and neither is the man occupying the Honourable Office of Prime Minister, Patrick Manning (note the placement of Honourable). So what now? Calder Hart resigned, left and... umm... everyone has something to say.

Other UDECOTT directors are so confused that they say 'Resign for what!'   instead of 'Resign for What?'. Clearly they have no friends amongst what could be something resembling an opposition part. Winston Dookeran (COP) feels vindicated. And Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj wants to probe the criminality of Hart. Every rumshop has its share of puncheon induced people discussing the issue as intelligently as everyone else - sadly, perhaps more so - before they slalom home, breathalyzers be damned. {Read more}

When does copying text become plagiarism?

March 5, 2010 by Edmund Gall

Ever since attending primary school, I've been aware that copying someone's work was wrong.  At college - high school in North American parlance - I learnt about plagiarism.  I was reminded about it in university when compiling research and some months ago it was played out in T&T's political and press arenas with the accusation of plagiarism by a newpaper columnist / priest / potential Integrity Commission member.

Related to this, I learnt about attribution - if you're going to use someone's work in yours, then you need to highlight what you used, where you got it from and whose work it was.  In research, this is done through referencing.  In websites, you may use a copyright signature and embed a link to the original work.

I'm wondering what's the standard in T&T's media houses.  Sometimes, articles would have the writer's name in the byline, and sometimes they won't.  I always presumed that if no name was attached to an article, then it was written by some junior member of the media house's staff.  However, if an article was copied from another media house, then appropriate attribution was expected.

Today I offer two curious examples from T&T's daily papers' websites, both involving cricket. {Read more}

How to comply with the law - Part 2

March 3, 2010 by Edmund Gall

I wish to thank the Hon. Minister of Works and Transport, Colm Imbert, for correcting me by way of his Letter to the Editor (Trinidad Guardian, 02 Mar 2010, http://guardian.co.tt/commentary/letters/2010/03/02/ambiguity-law-being-corrected).  He responded to issues I raised in How to comply with the law - Part 1, and advised that: {Read more}

• The Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act Ch 48:50 (MVRTA) does NOT state the President of the Republic of T&T is allowed to use the national Coat of Arms (CoA) on his vehicles' licence plates
• The MVRTA makes no reference to the CoA at all
• The currently proposed bill, 9/2010 The Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2010, only deals with updating regulations and does not address the use of the CoA on the Prime Minister's vehicles.

Privatisation for Control: The Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority

March 2, 2010 by admin

Yesterday, I took some people down to the Siparia District Revenue Office to get part of their form required for water connection filled out. And the office was closed. A sign on the door said that the Siparia District Revenue Office we were at would be closed as of December 31st, 2009 and told people to go visit the Siparia District Revenue Office - without any form of direction. It ends up that the office wasn't closed, but the sign is there to confuse people.

We met others who wanted to get things done at the District Revenue Office. Tired of no answers, I walked to the building behind and talked to the security who - in their infinite wisdom - told people that they should listen to the news since the people employed by the District Revenue Office were 'on strike'. If you want any information in Trinidad and Tobago, talk to the security guards. It seems that they know everything, and for a little power to demean others they will willingly disburse information.

The day was lost. But I did recall hearing something about the strike - thankfully abbreviated from the 'industrial action' used way too often. I came across this video this morning (hat tip to Margaret Rose), and it gives an interesting - and in my opinion, correct - perspective of what Trinidad and Tobago government has been doing as a whole. That it's on the Internet is inspiring, that Om Lalla and P.S.A President Watson Duke hit the issue so well should become viral.

  {Read more}

PriceSmart.com Review

February 27, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

Like many other people yesterday, I received an email from PriceSmart about their new site - PriceSmart.com. So I poked around their site and also did some price comparisons. We'll start with the price comparisons since most people will be interested in that. The technical review of the site will be at the bottom for those interested.

The Boomerang Test

For the review, I created the 'Boomerang Test'. It's rather simple - the Boomerang Test compares the cost of the item on the PriceSmart.com site with other international sites. If the difference between the PriceSmart.com price and the foreign retail price are large enough to purchase a plane ticket to Miami, the price fails the Boomerang Test.

Prices, PriceSmart, Prices {Read more}