Bubbles in the pot keep rising

Submitted by Edmund Gall on Thu, 07/01/2010 - 13:23

Like many of you, I'm quite distracted lately by the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament in South Africa, so I haven't been as prolific in my writing as before. Here are some brief thoughts on issues that crossed the online forums I've browsed over the past two weeks.

Local Government Elections

SAPA and potential disconnect?

UWI rent subsidisation

The rebirth of the PNM

  • Congratulations to new Party Leader, Hon. MP Dr Keith Rowley, who was elected unopposed at their recent Special Convention.
  • Some of his statements seemed dodgy, e.g. '... the party would not ignore the past, surrender the future or spend time looking backward or pointing fingers.'
  • One wonders how you can focus on the past without looking backwards, but sometimes the desire for clever clichés in speeches trumps logic.
  • Impartial viewers want to know when the PNM court martial would begin, and how realistic and open the participants would be, especially if they adopt the stance of ex-Chairman Conrad Enill in maintaining an angelic view of their ex-Party Leader.
  • Dr Rowley also said to his party members: 'We’ll give you full reign in deepening democracy of the party.'
  • Frankly, these words would have meaning to me when the PNM has adopted one-man-one-vote for internal elections.

Integrity Commission (IC) and the Guanapo Church

  • The Hon. Attorney General (AG) has wondered openly why the IC hasn't moved to secure the Guanapo Church, which is being looted openly on a daily basis.
  • The IC, through its Chairman Dr Eric St Cyr, replied that they don't have the resources.
  • Dr St Cyr still seems to be in the dark as to what the IC's role is in this matter.
  • The police, through Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) James Philbert, claims they can't act because they can't find the owner.
  • Since the Hon. Minister of National Security has a duty to ensure citizens are able to securely enjoy their property, I can't understand how he can sit by and allow the police to sit on their hands.
  • I don't understand why the AG is criticising the IC for lack of action, especially if there is an investigation underway into the activities of ex-UDeCOTT Chairman by the ACIB (which, unless recently changed by the new government, reports to the AG).
  • I also don't understand the stance of the police with regards to looting. When there was extensive looting in the aftermath of the coup in 1990, did the police sit by and wait for the owners of the businesses in downtown POS and the warehouses in El Socorro to make reports before taking action? Really?
  • If the PP used the Guanapo Church as a major missile against the PNM during the General Election, it can't just pass the buck now once it has assumed power: citizens expect action.
  • Sitting in Ministerial Offices thumping your hands indignantly on your desk while speaking to the media is not enough, especially if there is still doubt over whether state funds have been used to build the Church.
  • If the IC and police are not acting with the required haste, deal with it. Then come to the media and say what you did to resolve it.

Foreign Commissioner of Police CoP

  • The Police Service Commission's top candidate for the CoP, Canadian Neal Parker, was rejected unanimously by all in the Parliament.
  • Controversy continues to surround the appointment of a foreign CoP.
  • Of all the reasons I've heard for not hiring a foreign citizen as CoP, the only valid one is whether it is right for a foreigner to be privy to secret national security plans.
  • Arrive Alive's Kirk Waithe recently appeared on C TV's First Up breakfast show and laid the case for low morale in the TTPS better than the ex-President of the Police Social and Welfare Association, Mr Emrol Bruce - see: http://video.ctntworld.com/view/209/first-up-online-280610/
  • Our previous articles exploring this issue may be found here and here.
Blog: 
Trinidad and Tobago
pnm
Keith Rowley
TTPS
NAPA
ACTT
People's Partnership
integrity commission
Police Service Commission
Local Government Elections

Comments

Submitted by Christian Khabay on Thu, 07/01/2010 - 19:00.

Unless these secret national security plans involve invading Canada I don't see the issue. He's the CoP he's suppose to come up with the secret plans.

regarding the low morale:

  •  The President of my company is of chinese persuasion, does that mean that all non-chinese will suffer from low morale, worse yet, he's a man; does that also mean women will also feel disaffected and had better not aspire to his position?
  • There cannot be (absolutely) any substitute for merit. If the system contracted out to an organisation who specialises in this and their system finds that the best qualified man for the job is a foreigner then that is the man for the job. They can tweak and bastardize the system until they come up with Randolph Borroughs or Jim Jones,  whoever is eventually chosen will be known as the BEST LOCAL for the job not the BEST for the job.
  • I listened to both Waithe and Bruce, the only difference is that Waithe is well spoken whereas Bruce is not but; both spew the same idiocy that is over running this country: PROMOTING MEDIOCRITY!
  • If ~70 people apply for a job and only 4 are local doesn't that say that we don't have as much expertise in the field that we keep hearing about?

The one saving grace is the Prime Minister, she recognises that this issue is coming up with predominantly one sided advocacy and she also recognises that that side is the wrong side. What does she do? She says the government's hands are tied and they'll follow the law so hopefully we'll get the 2nd best man on the list this Friday. I believe she supports the best man for the job is the way to go. She gets her way without openly saying so; great politicking. I'm quite sure if the best man for the job was there he'd have the will to stop the non-sense going on at Guanapo and see to it that the looters injured at the site be guarded 24 hrs and immediately remanded to Frederick Street upon recuperation. The time has come to take off the kid gloves and deal with issues that need to be dealt with and know that some will be irked but the majority will accede.

Submitted by Edmund Gall on Fri, 07/02/2010 - 07:42.

I'll add the links to our previous stories on the CoP recruitment issues (thanks for reminding me). I agree with the meritocracy arguments but didn't want to rehash them as we'd already written about them. Since those were written, the access to national security secrets was the only new point I heard.

Regarding your point about Mr Waithe, I came in late during his and ex-PSC Chairman Kenneth Lalla's joint interview on First Up, so only caught the last 20 minutes of it. In that segment, Mr Waithe did not settle for meritocracy. What he said was that the root cause for the lack of police performance was lack of adequate support by the politicians over the years, and proceeded to lay out why he thought so. One of his key points related to morale was police pay: while the foreign expats hired in SAUTT earned anywhere from TT$70,000 to TT$120,000 per month, the highest paid police officer - the CoP - is paid TT$25,000 per month. If we accept the HR theory of salary being a hygiene factor for employee morale, then it's easy to see why police officers would feel cheated. He made other points, but they're in the video so I won't repeat them here.