Blogs

Were values trampled while constructing a new order?

March 13, 2010 by Edmund Gall

The Hon. Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, has been quoted today in the press as saying his government is continuing to create a 'new order' in the construction sector that gives citizens value for money.  To quote the Hon. PM ('PM hammers contractors', Trinidad Express, Sat 13 Mar 2010):

T&T 'Fire In The Belly' Politics.

March 13, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

There has been plenty of talk regarding Anand Ramlogan's comments on Winston Dookeran as compared to Kamla Persad-Bissessar, where Mr. Ramlogan commented that Winston Dookeran and his lack of charisma and/or passion  would not bring change to Trinidad and Tobago - thus explaining his personal motive for switching from the Congress of the People (COP) to the United National Congress (UNC-A). Some say that it was in poor taste, some say that it was accurate, some say that it was divisive to the Opposition to the ruling party (PNM), and some don't really care.

I'll just say its politics and that, knowing Anand Ramlogan's works for the regular people of Trinidad and Tobago second hand, I do respect him but it doesn't mean I agree with him in all things. With this, I am not certain and I am compelled to explain the principle of why I am uncertain.

And in explaining this, I'm not taking a political stance between COP and UNC-A, or between Winston Dookeran and Kamla Persad-Bissessar. I'm not even disagreeing (or agreeing) with Anand Ramlogan's comments. It all seems pointless to me, but it compels me to write about this in a broader context.

The Principle, The Opinion. {Read more}

Water and Grasshoppers

March 13, 2010 by Taran Rampersad

  While it's a wonder as to how employees at the food court at Gulf City have been able to wash their hands over the last month with 'no water' being the mantra and with my last memory of rain being clouded in dust, I can't say that I'm very surprised that WASA is tightening water usage. As I scrubbed a wall yesterday, I thought how much easier it would be to use the pressure washer and get it all done within a few moments. It's a small wall. It's a lot of scrubbing. And, really, it's quite possible that I drank as much water while scrubbing as I would have used on the wall with a pressure washer.

But then I remembered the many vehicles I saw yesterday driving around with empty water tanks, destinations unknown. The whole water shortage business is rather bothersome when you consider that it had to get to this degree for WASA to start fixing its own leaky pipes. But they are fixing them. It's easy to damn (not dam) them for the decades of leaky services, but they are finally doing something and as such I feel the need to encourage them.

In South Oropouche, I see drying ponds. One farmer adjacent my own area ran out of water last year and asked permission to use the water from one of my ponds. That pond is almost completely dry now. Sunday I'll probably take some photos for a follow up - but the point is that the ponds for food produce are drying. Larger ponds survive, though it is only a matter of time should the sky continue giving Trinidad and Tobago rain-cheques for precipitation. {Read more}

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}