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Topics - Brownsugar

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1
Football / Fire Terry Fenwick thread
« on: January 04, 2020, 01:39:39 PM »
Because ah feeling mischeivous..... :devil: :chilling:

2
Hello forumites,
I have a friend living in Seattle who uses Pandora to get Soca but is some old soca she does be listening to (Pandora doh have "Like ah boss", that's how bad things are!!  :o)...

So ah recruiting all yuh help.  Where do you go on the internet to get your Soca?

I told her try to get Vibe CT 105 on the internet but other than that what else?

Thanks in advance....

3
What about Track & Field / Going to the Olymics in 2016?
« on: May 24, 2015, 05:54:17 AM »
Hey forumites,

Anybody on here going?  I want to.  I would get to cross off two things on mih bucket list simultaneously.  ;D

So far its not as straight forward as when I was making mih arrangements for going to Germany 06.

I have to go through Cartanglobal.com and fill out some inquiry forms and one of their reps will get back to me....and ah cyar stay two weeks.  My choices seem to be limited to 4 nights and 5 days (within a "wave" wave 1, wave 2 wave 3 etc)....steups!!

I am used to just going online and doing mih own thing through Travelocity, expedia etc.  I not liking this going through a travel agent nonsense......

4
General Discussion / The PNM Internal Elections Thread
« on: February 08, 2014, 05:07:34 AM »
To kick things off......

TOO DARK FOR PM?
Hinds: Ex-ministers, businessmen cite Rowley’s skin colour as a concern

By Ria Taitt Political Editor

Dr Keith Rowley’s dark skin was cited as the only ground of “objection” to his leading Trinidad and Tobago as prime minister, former sena­tor Fitzgerald Hinds said on Wednesday night.
Speaking at a People’s National Movement (PNM) meeting at Belmont Secondary School, held in support of the political leader’s can­­di­dacy, Hinds said: “I know this would break your heart but I will tell you this. One day, at about 1.30 p.m., I was walking through the streets of Port of Spain and I spoke to a former minister of government from a PNM cabinet. And he told me something that troubled me deeply, almost broke my heart, and I am a tough man.

“He said to me that he had just come from a meeting with a couple of other former ministers and some businessmen, and they were all ’round the lunch table and agreed that Dr Rowley had done an excellent job as political leader for the PNM for the last three years.... They thought he did a great job. And told me shockingly that the only issue that came up in objection was that we had never had such a dark-skinned prime minister.”

The crowd voiced disapproval of the expressed view.

“These are touchy issues and I need not publicly upset you tonight. But it is real and I would tell you why. Because shocked as I was, I went to a number of my colleagues, inside and outside of the PNM, and asked them if they think like that or if ever heard anything like that. And to the man and woman, everybody said they heard it before,” he said.

As the crowd continued to voice its displea­sure that such a view was held, Hinds converted the issue into one of humour, “And then I realise I could never be a prime minister mehself.”  The crowd laughed at this point.

Slamming the United National Congress (UNC) for seeking to classify Rowley as a racist, Hinds said he heard the “wotless” Attorney General talking about Rowley not having wide appeal.
“Well, he beat them bad in Tobago. The appeal couldn’t be wider. He beat them bad in the local government elections. The appeal couldn’t be wider. And beat them in St Joseph, too. The appeal couldn’t be wider,” Hinds stated.

Hinds said when he used to attack the UNC senators every Tuesday in the Senate, “looking to lick dem down in the interest of the people of this country”, they (UNC mem­bers) would tell him, “Why yuh don’t behave like Penny.” Reminiscent of the “Dollar Wine” soca song, Hinds said: “I don’t want to behave like no Penny; no cent, five cent, ten cent; this thing call for dollar!” The crowd was in uproar. “Jah!” Hinds exclaimed.

He said Jack Warner, Roodal Moo­nilal and Anand Ramlogan were saying Beckles-Robinson was the best person for the PNM leadership. But, he said, one had to be respectful “of our sister”.
“I see my sister like a pretty little angel fish in a shark tank—Ramlogan, Moonilal and Warner. Boy, with friends like that, she don’t need no enemies,” he said. Hinds said among “the small and dwindling” handful of persons opposed to Rowley’s leadership were “those who feel that they had a certain degree of influence in the last administration, which they do not now have, and they are only concerned about themselves”.

He said there were those who “were afraid of victimisation because they know the things they have said and done, and they are judging Dr Rowley by their and other people’s standards so they fear that he would victimise them, too.” But Hinds said when Rowley spoke out about UDeCOTT (Urban Development Corporation), the first minister in the Manning cabinet to attack him was Mariano Browne. Yet, Hinds said, when Rowley became Opposition Leader, the first person who was offered a senatorship was Browne.

“There is another handful of them who just find he too serious. But this country don’t want no joker, no laughy-laughy, smiley-smiley thing. This country calls for serious leadership,” he said.
Hinds said if the general council and the PNM central executive and the deputy political leader came to him and asked him to contest the position of political leader, he would ask two questions: “Is Dr Rowley alive? Is he willing to do the job?” He said if they said yes to both, he would then reply, “Well get away from me!”

“And the reason why I will tell them that is because I in my sober, edu­cated, level-headed manner understand full well that one, the criteria that is required for this big job of leading the PNM and wanting to be the prime minister, he have much more of that than I ever could. So I know objectively that he is the best man for the job. And if I know that he is the best man for the job, for me to still want the job after that, it has to be only wickedness and/or vanity.”
At the meeting, Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West MP Patricia McIntosh stated her constituency endorsed Rowley’s candidacy for the political leadership.
“We have seen the mettle of the man and we have come here to endorse Dr Rowley,” she said.

Ryan: Critics claim he’s a tad too ‘black’

In his column “Peeping Inside the PNM”, in the Sunday Express on Jan­uary 26, political scientist Selwyn Ryan wrote:
“Some of Dr Rowley’s critics claim sotto voce that he is a tad too ‘black’ for a country that is ethnically structured in the way that Trinidad and Tobago is. Trinidad being what it is, however, the view definitely exists both inside and outside the party that a paler face is required if the PNM is going to be regarded as being adequately diversified.’’

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/TOO-DARK-FOR-PM-244137121.html

5
Football / Group E - World Cup 1994
« on: December 20, 2013, 06:27:57 PM »
Fellow forumites,  help mih.  Ah was checking out some old Dennis Bergkamp goals when I came across the final group standings in the 1994 World Cup.  I always remembered there was a group that was tied up worst than a market crab.....Group E.

I've just spent the last few minutes trying to figure out how they decided which team should move on but I can't.  From FIFA's website it seems that Mexico and Italy went through to the knock out phase but I can't seem to figure out how.....I'm getting a bit confused trying to apply the different options used to decide tie breakers.....head to head, goal difference, etc.

I tried googling it further but didn't find anything concrete.....here is the link to the FIFA website.....

http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/worldcup/usa1994/matches/index.html

6
Entertainment & Culture Discussion / Anybody hear Impulse' new song??
« on: October 20, 2012, 05:26:21 PM »
The chorus is "Kamla why yuh hiding from the toe-tee-four?"   :rotfl: :rotfl:

I nearly crash my car this morning listening to it on the radio!!!  I just tried to find it on you tube with no luck....all yuh help out a sister nah....please and thanks....

8
General Discussion / ENOUGH!!
« on: September 25, 2012, 05:53:10 PM »
Ok local based.  If you want an avenue to express your disgust with Section 34 and the state of governance in our country at the moment, here is your chance....it is a non-partisan event.  Just individuals and civil society groups who are fed up of the situation...

ENOUGH!!  A candle light vigil on Saturday 29th September at King George V park; 6 pm to 6 am.


See this event page on facebook for more details.....

https://www.facebook.com/events/497158706980680/

Foreign based, you could encourage your local based friends and family to come.  We are organising T-shirts with the words ENOUGH on the front.  Check the page....

9
General Discussion / VOLNEY DID IT
« on: September 16, 2012, 08:01:12 AM »
VOLNEY DID IT
Justice Minister took note to Cabinet for bad law to be proclaimed early
By Asha Javeed



IT was Justice Minister Herbert Volney who brought a note to Cabinet which sought the early proclamation of certain sections of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act.
The Sunday Express learnt that in August the lengthy note was brought to Cabinet and it dealt with the proclamation of the Act in its entirety.
However, the Sunday Express was told that "neatly tucked into that note was the early proclamation of Section 34".

"It was not flagged for the attention of Cabinet as the note primarily dealt with the proclamation of the whole Act. It was very inconspicuous," said a Cabinet source.
It was also Volney, Cabinet sources confirmed to the Sunday Express, who forwarded the note for early proclamation as he was the minister who brought the bill to Parliament.
On September 2, the Sunday Express exclusively reported on the proclamation of certain sections of the Act that came into force on August 31.
The passage of Section 34 meant that a judge could dismiss a matter if it had languished in the court for more than ten years.

The Act, which subsequently became law, allowed two financiers of the United National Congress (UNC)—Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson—to apply to the country's courts to have their matters dismissed.
The possibility of Galbaransingh and Ferguson walking free from this country's courts was condemned by the United States Government which issued a statement last week, saying it was still seeking to extradite the businessmen to face its country's courts.

But in a swift action, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar convened Parliament in emergency session last week to repeal the Act.
Last Friday, President George Maxwell Richards signed the proclamation order repealing Section 34.
Other people and entities who sought to have their matters dismissed were former finance minister Brian Kuei Tung, Ameer Edoo, Maritime Life General Insurance Co Ltd executives John Henry Smith and Barbara Gomes; Maritime Finance; Northern Construction Ltd; Fidelity Finance Leasing Company Ltd; and former government ministers Carlos John and Russell Huggins.
John was Volney's campaign manager in his successful bid for the St Joseph seat for the UNC in the May 2010 general election.

Earlier last week Volney admitted that he met with Galbaransingh two Saturdays ago during a retreat which his ministry held at the Galbaransingh-owned Grafton Beach Resort in Tobago after Opposition MP Colm Imbert raised the issue in Parliament.
Yesterday, Volney blamed the failure of Galbaransingh and Ferguson to be tried in the country's courts, on the failure of the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to file an indictment.
He told the Sunday Express in a brief telephone interview early yesterday that the DPP's office had from December last year to August 28 to file an indictment but failed to do so.

"Why are all these old matters not being indicted? There is no oversight over the DPP. He's the man to prosecute. Unless he identifies a case to be brought up, it sits in abeyance," he said.
In Volney's view, both Galbaransingh and Ferguson have already been convicted in the court of public opinion.
"What has the DPP done to ensure that they get a fair trail?" he asked.
Volney believes last week's repeal did not address "historic cases" and these are matters which the DPP sits on.

"That's where Section 34 would have come in. Submissions could have been made to clear the backlog. As a former judge, I have knowledge of this. Few people can do the job I do. I know it. I have done it," he said.
Questioned on his thoughts about calls for his resignation, Volney observed that he was a sitting MP and he served at the prerogative of the Prime Minister.
"I don't see that there is a groundswell of opposition. I think the public perception is that the Parliament overlooked the possible repercussions of a good, well intentioned law, but mindful of the opposition it was repealed," he said.

Volney could not be reached later yesterday for comment on his action to take the note to Cabinet for the early proclamation of the Act.
Asked to comment on whether the DPP was at fault, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday told the Sunday Express the DPP has explained his role and he was satisfied with it.
And DPP Gaspard, who has expressed concern over the proclamation, declined further comment yesterday on Volney's view about him.
He was content to confine his statement to that made on Section 34.

The DPP had stated it was not his intent to forgo prosecution in the Piarco 1 case.
However, because there was an overlap of defendants with Piarco 2, and there was obvious oppression and impossibility in having them before the High Court on indictment while the preliminary enquiry was ongoing, he had opted instead to have one joint trial to save judicial time and abridge costs.
Ramlogan explained that Section 34 was proclaimed earlier than the entire Act because it was a logical precursor.
"Once the law was passed, you needed to trim the body of cases that would have been going to the High Court. It was specifically to trim the fat in the courts so that pending cases can be advanced," he told the Sunday Express.

10
General Discussion / Doh get tie up, Tobago....
« on: June 07, 2012, 04:38:27 AM »
Doh get tie up, tobago
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tony Fraser


It is not only politically unsophisticated for Tobagonians, whatever their political affiliation, to take the Prime Minister at her word on “internal self-government” for the island; but it is also counter to the history of this issue for anyone, including Ashworth Jack, to believe that a government would expeditiously meet the desire of Tobago. 
 
Part of that history is the reality that even in the instance when Tobago-born champion of internal self-government ANR Robinson had the opportunity to influence the change he had campaigned for, his administration did not amend the THA Act to give Tobago the kind of control over its local affairs that has been called for over the last 35 years.        
 
If Jack or anyone else were to say that such questioning would be taking political cynicism a step too far, the Prime Minister herself provided proof, perhaps unintentionally, when she placed the revision of the THA Act in the context of national constitutional reform.
 
Talk and some action about reforming the 1976 republican Constitution goes back to the 1987 Hyatali Commission. The document produced at the request of the National Alliance for Reconstruction government remains on the shelf. Keeping company with that draft called “Thinking Things Over” are other documents produced for governments and by private groups, including one from the Independent senators and the Principles of Fairness group established by Ken Gordon and company. 
 
Every political party, every government since then has had constitutional reform as a major campaign promise. To say that the promises have not materialised would be an understatement: not one of those parties in government has made any serious attempt to have a reform draft come close to the Parliament.
 
Therefore, when Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar hitches internal self-government to reform of the national constitution there must be serious scepticism as to when such an exercise is to take place. Further, if you add to it the entrenched difficulty in achieving consensus in the national Parliament to get the requisite majority to bring fundamental reform to the constitution, a ten-year time frame would be a conservative guess.  
 
But there is need for more than a few basics on what is being hotly debated: how does the Prime Minister define what she calls the “internal self-government” she has promised to the people of Tobago? It is certain that almost every individual, group and institution has a notion of what this means and that is likely to be contrary to what the other groups desire.
 
It is therefore certain that if and when Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar comes to agree on draft legislation for internal self-government for Tobago there will be fundamental disagreement over her version of internal self-government. But the confusion only begins there. There is no shortage of documents, drafts and proposals etc with regard to this issue of giving Tobago the kind of constitutional relationship with Trinidad that could be beneficial to the “sister isle.”
 
 
The Seemungal draft, the drafts of Sir Ellis Clarke and of Karl Hudson-Phillips, the recommendations of the Hyatali Commission, the Justice Gaya Persaud report, the current report of the John Prince Committee, the Green Paper put out by the Attorney General and now the work to be done by the committee of two Tobago attorneys and political scientist Hamid Ghany, as announced by the Prime Minister.
 
Included in all of the documents would be the views of the technical legal experts, special interest groups and the Prince Report is said to contain the views of the thousands of people canvassed in 41 meetings in Tobago and Trinidad. In addition, the major political parties including the TOP, PNM, COP were canvassed. Although invited, the United National Congress declined participation.
 
There is also the puzzling behaviour of Minority Leader Jack with regard to the work of the Prince Committee. The record on the establishment of the committee shows that it was Jack that initiated the setting up of the group. He also signed an initial draft of the document produced. He seemed to have fallen out of love with that process, however, after the PP, inclusive of the TOP, won the general election in May 2010. There is therefore need for serious explanation there.
 
The PP, on behalf of the TOP and its supporters, kicked off the 2013 election campaign last weekend with announcements of projects to come in Tobago involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Are these merely electoral enticements? The Tobago electorate needs to contemplate the reality that the expenditure of billions of dollars allocated by the central government has taken place over the eight years of the PNM-led central government and THA without one step to the required internal self-government being taken.
 
The lesson the electorate in Tobago has to learn from this is that it should not equate expenditure, statements of commitment by prime ministers and the establishment of committees to amend the THA Act with the achievement of greater autonomy, devolution of power from the centre and/or internal self-government. I believe the young people’s phrase would be: “Doh get tie up.”


http://www.guardian.co.tt/columnist/2012-06-06/doh-get-tie-tobago?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook



WRT to the part in bold, all of a sudden Madame PM and de Country Bookie knows what good for Tobago.....THA elections cyar come fast enough.....so ah could give she, de Country Bookie and sell out Ashworth Jack de finger!!!!..... :pissedoff: :cursing: :bs: :cursing: :cursing:

11
General Discussion / Eat ah food time....
« on: May 27, 2012, 07:49:20 AM »
It’s eat-a-food time all over the land

Saturday, May 26, 2012
ATTILLAH SPRINGER

 

Cost of living get so high
Rich and poor they start to cry
Now the weak must get strong
They say—Oh, what a tribulation!
Them belly full, but we hungry;
A hungry mob is a angry mob.
A rain ah fall, but the dirt it tough;
A pot ah cook, but the food nuh nuff

—Them Belly Full
Robert Nesta Marley

 
Everybody have to eat a food. You could be a bright young reporter in the dying art of journalism or a jheri-curl-sporting pro- ponent of the dying art of calypso as commentary. Everybody have to eat a food. You could be a once-upon-a-time revolutionary or a not-so-convincing labour leader. Ever body have to eat a food.
 
Well at least we understand that food is a far more important commodity than oil. Food is life. And while too many people in Trinidad are dying, quite a few are living really really well, thanks to all the food they’re eating. Plenty people eating a food in Trinidad now. Trinidad come like a giant pig’s trough. Full of every imaginable sort of rubbish. And all of these pigs are fighting for an opportunity to eat to their heart’s content.
 
Everybody eating a food. And not just their own. They eating everybody else share too. Until you don’t see the difference between the eater and the eaten. On the sidelines we are watching. Watching our food being eaten. Watching and screaming and laughing. Watching the pigs stuffing their faces, waylay waylaying in the mud, and muck and filth of their own cleverness.
 
It is not the food that is the problem. But the eating disorders. The overeaters and the bulimics. The people who wait until nobody is looking to gorge themselves. I don’t understand it. But maybe that is because I have never understood gluttony. Unless it’s mangoes and then I could lose all sense of reason and eat mangoes all day without end. 
 
They used to say longtime, when it’s mango season you could turn down your pot. These days when it’s eat-a-food season, everybody pot turn down and there is some kind of madness that takes over and makes reason disappear. Their bellies full and they are still eating. Their bellies are full of our share of the food and they are saying that they need more.
 
Eating a food for our sakes. Eating a food for the people. You could lose your reputation for some sub-standard Scotch. You could do a drive-by on a bicycle. Look, Trinidad is like a bacchanalist’s wet dream. The truth is stranger than any fiction and if it’s not one thing it’s the next.
 
People on the social networks and on the radio and on the television say: don’t judge the youth. It would be his first offence if he did it. Others question the Express’ hiring policies. They don’t realise that the core is rotten. That people who trying to eat a food are everywhere. That there is no difference between the man that stick you up on the street and the bank teller that shuffling money around in your bank account and the acting Prime Minister to whom no allegation of corruption can stick and the calypsonian who is PNM till he dead one day and singing love songs to the People’s Partnership the next.
 
Everybody have to eat a food is the new all ah we tief. A casual acceptance of our inherent corruption. A shrugging off of responsi- bility for our actions. Food eating and theft are okay once you don’t get caught. Once you do it reasonably and don’t make a spectacle of yourself in the process.
 
The Opposition Leader says, well the man is an artist. It was a commercial transaction. Creativity has a price like integrity. And the calypso crown is a platform for advancing a party’s political agen-da and not a tool for educating the population or terrorising the poli-ticians.  
 
Look, if the man don’t eat a food, how he could afford all that gold? And with the PNM in shambles and the Opposition Leader apparently incapable of transforming the Cult of Patos into the Cult of Keithos, the man needs to figure out where his next meal coming from.
 
At some point life starts to imitate art. At some point the eater becomes the eaten. You become the story you have written, the punchline in your own calypso. Eating a food has its perils but apparently for now the pros far outweigh the cons. Everybody have to eat a food.
 
 
The problem is that that some people are over-eating. And some not eating at all. And some wouldn’t know how to eat if you hit them on their head with a pot of pelau. Some people are going to eat so much that one day we will run out of food for them to eat. And then what will they eat? Us?

http://www.guardian.co.tt/columnist/2012-05-26/it%E2%80%99s-eat-food-time-all-over-land


12
He apparently can't broadcast any thing live TATT has pulled them off the air.  Apparently he has been critical of the government recently and dey eh like that.......

Is it me or this have dictatorship written all over it???    :thinking: :thinking:  :-\

13
Trinidad and Tobago History / Tobago's hidden history
« on: March 31, 2012, 04:28:22 AM »
The story was in the Jan/Feb issue of Caribbean Beat hence the touristy feel to the article in some parts.....

Tobago’s hidden history
by Donna Yawching


One of the great charms of Tobago as a tourist destination, as far as I’m concerned, is its comparative lack of historic monuments and paraphernalia. The visitor is mercifully spared the obligation of trudging from statue to ruin, trying to absorb a plethora of names and dates, few of which – if truth be told – hold any real interest. Which leaves more time for the important things, like sun, sea and curried-crab-and-dumplings.

But despite its scarcity of formal historical sites, Tobago probably boasts more actual “history” than most of its neighbours. Originally inhabited by the Carib Amerindians, this tiny jewel was sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1498; and in the centuries that followed, became the sought-after prize in a protracted game of Musical Colonists that lasted 300 years. Historians estimate Tobago changed hands 30 times, more than any other Caribbean island.

Throughout the sixteenth century, the island and its inhabitants were left relatively undisturbed, as the Spaniards had bigger fish to fry. Though ships from various European countries occasionally stopped there to refit, or to take on food and water, the reputedly warlike Carib Indians discouraged settlement.

Still, these were the days when ownership of a territory apparently devolved to whoever (with total indifference to the Amerindian presence) stuck a flag in the ground and claimed it for their king. Even as the Dutch were establishing their (short-lived) first settlement, the British king was bestowing the island on one of his earls; and the Courlanders – Latvians, today – were making repeated efforts to establish a foothold. Even a small group of Puritans from British-occupied Barbados tried to set up shop on the east coast, but they didn’t last long.

The Courlanders are credited with having established the first real settlement in Tobago, in the Plymouth area, in 1654; and they built the first fort, overlooking Great Courland Bay. The Dutch, around the same time, settled in Roodklyp (now Rockly) Bay, in what is now lower Scarborough. Fighting both the Caribs and disease, not to mention occasional attacks by the Spanish based in nearby Trinidad, these little communities suffered high mortality rates; but eventually achieved enough stability for Tobago to became a source of exports, as the settlers produced crops of sugar, tobacco, cotton, cocoa, coffee and spices.

The history of this period resembles a low-budget movie: too many sub-plots and not enough extras. Forts were manned by a handful of men armed with a few cannons and muskets; their attackers, similarly sparse in numbers, crept through the swamps and thickets in the rain. Battles were often won more through cunning than force, fought under gentlemen’s rules, with surrender often chosen as a speedy alternative to carnage. For most of the 1600s, the Dutch, the Courlanders and the British squabbled over Tobago. Any successes lasted no more than a few years before succumbing to a rival power, or to the wider imperatives of European politics. In 1676, the French – also at war with the Dutch – jumped into the mix. In 1678, a peace treaty between France and Holland left Tobago in the hands of the French.

For the curious tourist, little remains to be seen from this period, since abandoned villages and forts quickly reverted to nature. But standing on the promontory at Plymouth, amidst the stone remains of a later British fort (Fort James), one can gaze across the wide sweep of Courland Bay and imagine how the early settlers must have felt, so far from their homeland, surrounded by mysterious tropical vegetation, diseases and other perils.

Three hundred years after the Courlanders finally gave up on Tobago, modern-day Latvians returned to Plymouth to build a monument in honour of their ancestors; they still make periodic pilgrimages to the site. The Courland Monument, unveiled in 1978, is a strange, asymmetrical artifact for which the description “post-modern” would be a kindness. But it is the only tangible reminder of a hardy and dogged group of pioneers and of Tobago’s earliest colonial history.

For much of the eighteenth century, Tobago was considered a “neutral” island, its ownership the subject of a lengthy dispute between France and Britain. The Treaty of Paris, in 1763, ceded the island to Britain, and that, finally, was the start of organised colonisation. The British constructed their first fort at Granby Point – little trace of it remains – and established a capital, Georgetown, on the site of present-day Studley Park. But within a year (1769), the capital was relocated to Scarborough. The town, according to historical documents, consisted of “a single row of dwellings, and warehouses on the beach”. Agriculture developed apace, powered by windmills and waterwheels imported from Scotland. Several can still be found – at Speyside, Arnos Vale and the Friendship Estate, to name just a few.

In 1781, the French regained control of Tobago; they built Fort Castries to protect Port Louis, their new name for Scarborough. In 1793, the British reclaimed the island, repairing and renaming both town and fort. Port Louis was renamed Scarborough and Fort Castries became Fort King George.

Recently renovated, the fort today offers the only substantial historical remnant of Tobago’s military past, and is definitely worth a visit. Unlike the island’s other ruined forts and batteries, Fort King George retains its officers’ mess, soldiers’ barracks, powder magazine, water cistern and prison cells. The officers’ quarters house the Tobago Museum, which boasts a tidy little collection of Amerindian and colonial artifacts; and a curator, Eddie Hernandez, who is a veritable font of historical information.

History of another sort can be appreciated on the scenic grounds of the fort, where some of Tobago’s most magnificent trees spread their branches above the slopes overlooking Scarborough. Massive samaan trees, at least 150 years old, dwarf the landscape, their spreading canopies a veritable universe of bromeliads and birdlife; majestic royal palms tower above the hillside walkway. It is the ideal spot to sit on a shady bench and contemplate, far below, the serene bay where so many grim battles were fought.

Under British rule, Tobago’s economy developed rapidly. The island soon became an important producer of sugar, a commodity much in demand in Europe. By the 1790s, Tobago’s estate owners had amassed large fortunes: “as rich as a Tobago planter” became a buzzword in London.  But the good times didn’t last long: in the 1840s, Britain dismantled the protectionist laws that had shielded the Caribbean sugar industry, and open competition from Cuba and Brazil, as well as from European beet sugar, caused a sharp decline in sugar prices, leading to the demise of Tobago’s sugar industry in the 1880s.

Unable to sustain itself, Tobago’s colonial government was abolished in 1889, and the island was annexed, kicking and screaming, to neighbouring Trinidad, losing its autonomy and resulting in the current twin-island state. Cocoa became the new cash crop, and vast untended tracts of these trees, sheltered by the flame-orange blossoms of immortelle trees, still blanket much of Tobago. Old cocoa-processing sheds can still be found, notably at Roxborough, near the Argyle Waterfall.

If few tangible traces remain of Tobago’s history, the island’s place-names are evocative of its chequered past. Names like Speyside and Glamorgan, Parlatuvier and Louis d’Or, hint at the origins of the settlers; Buccoo and Castara hark back to the Amerindians. Bloody Bay bears a legend, perhaps apocryphal, of a tremendous sea battle that left the waters crimson. Pirates Bay was a bona-fide haunt of the ruthless eighteenth-century buccaneers: there are still whispers of buried gold, but hopeful treasure hunters have thus far been disappointed. Moriah, Bethesda, Canaan and Bethel reflect the nineteenth-century incursions of the missionary churches, of which the Moravians were perhaps the most influential; invasions come in many forms.

So – here’s my advice to the earnest visitor: set aside a day to visit a fort or two, a waterwheel, the museum; crack open a pod of cocoa. Then – because it’s hot – find yourself a cold drink, a warm beach, some SPF 65 sunblock – and let yourself discover the real reason so many people fought over this tiny island for so many years!

http://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-113/tobago%E2%80%99s-hidden-history

'kicking and screaming"....... ;D

14
General Discussion / Consultation on Rent and related issues
« on: February 11, 2012, 06:19:47 AM »
This government is screwing up so much that the little that they are doing right eh getting noticed.   Maybe I missed the ads but this is going on right now....

http://www.legalaffairs.gov.tt/ConsultationsOnRent.aspx

15
Football / As if things weren't bad enough.....
« on: February 10, 2012, 05:46:11 AM »
Now on TV 6 two of the players from the 2006 WC qualification campaign say that group are about to take legal action on the WC 13.  Laaawwddd fadder.....

They said that they didn't know that part of the money being ruled on by the courts was money from the qualification stage so they are now trying to recover that.  They said the 13 players referred them to independent counsel to examine what their options are....stay tuned....

*sigh*  T&T football is really not for the faint of heart is drama on and off de pitch!!!    ::) ::)

Edit: They are not taking action on the 13 per se....its just that they are trying to recover money from the qualification sum that they didn't get.  The 13 did provide information to them about it but they are all waiting on Jackula to tell everybody where the hell the money is.....

Is just more drama and confusion to come bottom line *sigh*

16
General Discussion / Good citizens!!!
« on: November 21, 2011, 05:34:29 AM »
 :applause:  :applause: :notworthy:
Too much ah damn sheep all over the place just willing to bend over and take it......well done Mr. Lewis!!!

PCA investigates Ashby killing
Friends, family, coworkers provide statements
By Richard Charan


If there is a single incident and an exact location that defines the distrust between the people and police, it is the killing of George Ashby the night of January 23, 2009, on the road near his home in Tabaquite. Ashby was pulled dead from his white B-11 Sunny by police officers who shot him multiple times during what they claim was an attempt by him and an accomplice to run them over during his getaway from a robbery scene.

But for the people of Tabaquite—many of whom crowded around the killing scene that night in disbelief—and the staff of the Tabaquite Composite School where Ashby worked, the police version of events was incredulous to the point of ridiculous.

The people who knew Ashby, say that the 52-year-old handyman, with no criminal record spanning much of his adult life, could never suddenly "turn bandit".

That after spending a leisurely afternoon helping to prepare and eat a meal of yam, eddoes, and stewed pork at the secondary school that he cleaned and maintained, Ashby would not leave the lime, pull a gun at a supermarket in Rio Claro, beat and rob the manager, then turn for home.

The people of Tabaquite widely believe that Ashby was shot and killed by over zealous police officers who thought the "weed wacker" that Ashby had protruding from the front passenger window, was a shotgun.

The weed wacker belonged to the Tabaquite Composite School and Ashby was taking it home to have it fixed. People also insist that a shotgun the police claim to have found in his car, did not belong to him.

Which is why, almost three years later, and with the official police investigation still allegedly being pursued, the people of Tabaquite have done something unusual in a country where many citizens are equally afraid of the people and the police.

Last week, a package was delivered to the Police Complaints Authority containing witness statements and evidence related to the Ashby case.

The statements give an account of the last day of Ashby's life.

From what he did that morning to when he was shot dead near the primary school he once attended.

The evidence was gathered over several months by Ashby's childhood friend Elias Lewis. Lewis, 60, had little trouble getting people to say what they saw. That's because with the passing of time, the collective disgust of the village about what happened that night has not diminished. They wrote and signed the statements during a time when in many other cases, people would have been justifiably afraid of retribution and retaliation.

The statements are from the secondary school's former principal, several teachers, Ashby's neighbours, witnesses to the shooting, and people who saw Ashby as he drove home.

The evidence also includes the police account of what at least ten polcie ofifcers—inspector, corporal, constables and Special Reserve Police (SRP) officers—did the night they shot Ashby at least three times.

One of the statements is from a person who was detained at the Rio Claro police station and allegedly overheard a police officer say something incriminating.

At last Friday's police press briefing, the people speaking for the Police Service could not immediately say what was the status of the investigation.

However, Chairman of the PCA Gillian Lucky has acknowledged receiving the package, and said there will be an investigation. (See sidebar). Lewis has never forgotten his friend, he said, because he refused to allow the man's character to be destroyed by an allegedly fabricated story given by the police.

"It is frightening that an innocent man has lost his life, and its like business as usual. I can't just leave this alone. It is more than 35 years I have been friends with this man".

Lewis said "the police killed this man, then tried to make him out to be a criminal, but man suddenly turning into a criminal at age 52?" So Lewis has dedicated much of the last two years to doing what the police was incapable or unwilling to do.

He said "this is not only about George Ashby. Its about all the people who police killed innocently". As a symbol on how much the community still valued the man, several trophies are given to top performing pupils of the primary and secondary school in the area each year in his memory.

Ashby was a married father of four, and a grandfather. Last Saturday would have been his 55th birthday. A thanksgiving was held in his memory.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/PCA_investigates_Ashby_killing-134218708.html


Mods we should probably start a police shooting thread.......  :-\   >:(

17
Football / Jamal Shabazz on I95.5 fm from 6 pm today - Thursday 17th
« on: November 17, 2011, 07:15:57 AM »
Andre will be talking to him this evening on I-sports......

www.i955fm.com


18
General Discussion / Dey feel we distracted.....
« on: September 14, 2011, 06:44:10 PM »
Kamla and dem trying to distract we with this farce of an SOE....but now that ah get over the initial onslaught......time to get back on the ball.....in random order....

Land and Building taxes....when we paying that??  Is September already.

Ish and Steve....not really in the governemnt's hands but ah putting it on de list....

FIU....what de arse is the story dey??

Anand Ramlogan Cowboy X.....seriously Kamla.....seriously.....

Deviant Maharaj.....no seriously??!!.....Deviant??!!  Steups!! 

The big man in de business....no, not Iwer.....the other George.  Now seriously, Kamla and de PP pound Patos for hugging up Calder Hart, but George Nicholas pissing off EVERY BODY over at CAL....from Jack, to the Board to Management to staff on de ground.....EVERY BODY have a problem but Kamla eh find nutten wrong with she golden boy.  And the hypocrite PP supporters quiet, quiet....steups!!  Jokers!!!


Send pale face home nah......and he side kick too......wasting we friggin tax dollars!!!

A few women dead recently in hospitals....South ah think....but dis SOE distracting we nah so we eh hearing much....what going on dey?? 

Ministry of Education....is all kinda shyte going on in dey.....wha is de scene dey Kamla??

$1,500 to stay out of gangs.....these people kidding me right??   Dais de best dem could come up with??

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM, FIXED TERM FOR PM's, FIXED DATE FOR ELECTIONS, REFERENDUM AND RECALL!!!   Although me eh sure I want Cowboy X anywhere near any kinda Constitutional reform....not just he alone.....there are others......with clear agendas!!!

It have more but dis is all ah could think off right at this moment.....

19
General Discussion / Limited State of Emergency....
« on: August 21, 2011, 06:23:48 PM »
To be implemented from tonight in crime hot spots from Midnight.....President to sign order.  I eh get any more details. Just happened to catch the end of the press conference just as I switched to CNMG hoping to catch a delayed broadcast of the game, only to see Kamla on mih TV screen.

The press conference was over and all I got was the wrap up from the journalist who didn't say much....

20
Football / FIFA World Cup 2010 videos
« on: May 15, 2011, 07:44:11 AM »
Hey folks,  any body knows where I can find these two videos/programmes;

"The Official Review"

and

"The Goals of the Tournament" (all of them).

Gracie....

21
General Discussion / Obama vs "The Donald" 2012??
« on: April 17, 2011, 09:11:21 AM »
US foreign based in particular, talk to mih......ah see Donald Trump went from last in a March poll of possible Republican 2012 candidates (behind Sarah Palin  :o) to top of the list this month tied with Mitt Romney (ah think).....

Now when de man first reach on de scene and start to talk bout Obama birth certificate, me eh take he on....but like the man gaining steam..... :o

So tell mih....wha is mih boy chances in 2012??  Ah know it early in the game but give mih some idea of what word is on de ground in the US nah....thanks....

23
Football / TTFF accounts a national disgrace
« on: March 04, 2011, 11:52:18 PM »
Express Editorial

TTFF accounts a national disgrace


AFTER almost five years of litigation, members of the national team which represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 World Cup in Germany have received a favourable ruling in the High Court. This is nothing less than they deserve.

Last week Friday, Justice Devindra Rampersad ruled that an interim amount of US$1.14 million be paid to the 13 players who stayed the course over a long and drawn-out battle to get what they claimed was promised to them by T&T Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser and current Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner.
Mr Warner, also a FIFA vice-president, allegedly made the promise amidst the euphoria of Trinidad and Tobago's goalless draw with Sweden in their first-ever game at the World Cup Finals. The players claimed Mr Warner said he would give them a bonus of 50 per cent of all commercial revenue generated by qualifying for the tournament, which was later estimated to be more than $100 million. But on their return from making the nation proud in Germany, the players were forced to seek arbitration, after no bonus money was forthcoming from the TTFF.

In May 2008, the London-based Sport Dispute Resolution Panel (SDRP) eventually ruled that, under the terms of a contract agreed to by Mr Warner, the Soca Warriors, as the national footballers are popularly known, were indeed owed a share of the money earned from making it to Germany. And since then the matter has been bogged down in the local court, testing the patience of the players and their legal advisers, until finally Justice Rampersad ruled in their favour.

But the matter is still not over as Justice Rampersad expressed deep concern over the Football Federation's financial accounts, hence the interim payment to the players, which could increase if the TTFF ever gets its books in order.  The High Court judge, who has some experience in the accounting field, said he took "great issue with the accounts filed and I feel there has been no compliance with the precedent set out".
"It is totally unaccountable," he stated, adding that money received from FIFA is a "mystery" and there was no accounting for one million francs. "I cannot understand why it is not accounted for," said Justice Rampersad.
His observations raise a very serious concern over the TTFF's affairs as this is a sporting body which receives substantial support from the Government, or rather taxpayers, and a decision should be taken to stop any further payments until the Federation can sort out its accounts.

It should not be as simple as that, though, as if the body which controls arguably the most popular sport in Trinidad and Tobago cannot keep its accounts in proper order then something is drastically wrong.
And the response of TTFF president Oliver Camps also raises alarm bells, Mr Camps claiming that the Federation may have to file for bankruptcy in order to pay the players.
So where is the money, more than $100 million, which the TTFF gained from the Soca Warriors qualifying for the 2006 World Cup? This is nothing less than a national disgrace and someone has to be held accountable.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/TTFF_accounts_a_national_disgrace-117448293.html

24
General Discussion / Louis Lee Sing's radio group being targeted???
« on: January 14, 2011, 07:34:06 AM »
Tony and Dale just bust ah file!!  They just announced that a little birdie told them that a Cabinet decision was taken yesterday to terminate all contracts the government has with the Citadel group - I95.5fm, Red 96.7fm and Hits 107.1 fm. 

hhhhhmmmm political victimisation me thinks......

So dey calling on the goodly PM to clear the air on the issue cuz she said the media has to keep them on their toes (yeah right).....Tony said in all his years in this line of business he'd never heard of a decision like this taken by cabinet.  He said they would hear of rumblings from one or two ministers about stuff dey didn't like but never wholesale like this.  They said they are not naming names as yet....but will continue to monitor the situation via their ally in the cabinet....

Stay tuned....

25
General Discussion / Tobago, ah wha going orn??
« on: December 23, 2010, 04:53:59 AM »
Bago peeps refresh mih memory, whey Harmony Hall is again??  Mt. Grace side??


http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Skull_found_on_empty_lot_at_Harmony_Hall-112356529.html

Skull found on empty lot at Harmony Hall
By Tobago Bureau

Officers of the Scarborough Homicide Bureau now believe an empty lot located at Harmony Hall may have been the dumping ground for the bodies of several people missing in Trinidad and Tobago.
The officers came to this conclusion yesterday after a skull was found close to a ravine on the lot.
On Monday the skeletal remains of a female were also discovered a short distance away. Tests on the remains are yet to be conducted.

This week's findings come in the wake of the discovery of 71-year-old Gloria Virginia Quashie's body and the skeletal remains of a female, which was believed to be that of missing 12-year-old Peaches Sebro, on December 4 at the same lot.
The Express was told a number of human bones have been found at the site since then.
Christopher James, 23, of Harmony Hall, has appeared in the Scarborough Magistrates' Court, charged with Quashie's murder; while blood samples from Sebro's parents have been sent for DNA testing.
Sebro went missing on August 8 after she went to a nearby shop in Cinnamon Hill. She was a Form One student t the Mason Hall Secondary School. —EW

26
Football / D Signal Hill celebration thread.....
« on: November 23, 2010, 05:04:16 PM »
Yes ah starting mih own damn thread.  Mods all yuh juss leave my thread alone please......Ah need to rub it in some faces..... ;D ;D ;D

Whey de CIC, QRC, Fatima, Arima (oops), St. Anthony's (double oops), Green Machine, Naps crew, St. Benedicts (dem still have a team)??

Whey all yuh??!!  Men quiet, quiet boy.......well is not my fault the best youth Coach in the country come back to show all yuh how to do it. Yeah the GREAT BERTILLE ST. CLAIR.  :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

Ah wonder if Win Sports will show de game.....ah tired see re-runs of St. Augstine vs. Arima.  Dey just damn disrespectful!!!

Anywho, let me buss mih wine eh....AGAIN!!!


 :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :whip: :whip: :whip: :whip: :whip: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :party: :party: :party: :party:  :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower: :flamethrower::party: :party: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :party: :party: :party: :party: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel:

27
General Discussion / More info on the US VISA issue....
« on: November 08, 2010, 06:03:35 AM »
Lusting for the US
Despite economic hardships, tough immigration laws, the world still
...


By Camille Bethel camille.bethel@trinidadexpress.com

Commentators have long eulogised the death of the United States of America, mourning or celebrating what they see as the lone superpower's waning global influence.

But wait! The world is still lusting after the US. There is a crack cocaine-like addiction to the country afflicting people from virtually every country on earth, people ready to die to get there.  So much so that despite September 11, a financial meltdown, militant anti-immigration views, and the emergence of other countries as economic powerhouses, people are still going there.

Emigrees jumping or tunnelling under the border fences on the south, crossing the snow covered boundary on the north, coming as cargo ship stowaways, airplane wheel well daredevils, on rickety boats, inflated inner tubes, arranged marriage spouses, and every version of asylum story.

And while there are sharp ideological differences between the Democratic and Republican party policy makers, it appears that, there has been consensus on this major issue —keep those lying, cheating, illegal aliens out of the US. A three week investigation out of the Washington Post in Washington DC, has revealed that the increase in the number of non immigrant visa refusals to Trinidadians and citizens of other countries, over the past couple years are linked to the US Congress' decades long concern over an ever increasing number of visa overstays.

This in defiance of the Immigration and Nationality Act which is used to control the entry and exit of non US citizens—making persons who breach the terms of their visa ineligible for re-admission to the US.
"In the early 1990s, policy makers became especially concerned about what was perceived to be a growing number of non-immigrant overstays. At that time, nearly 2.7 million aliens had established legal status through the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, a law which also significantly strengthened border and interior immigration enforcement provisions. Nonetheless, demographers at the former Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) estimated that 3.5 million unauthorised people were residing in the United States in 1990. By 1996, the estimated number of unauthorised residents was 5.8 million, with about 2.1 million (41 per cent) estimated to have overstayed their non-immigrant visas. The remaining 59 per cent were assumed to have entered the United States illegally.

Under Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), those who overstay a visa by more than six months and then depart are barred for three years from returning to the United States. Those who overstay by a year or more are barred for ten years."

Documents laid, and statements made before the US Congress and the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security show that the increase in visa refusals is deeply embedded in the US government's attempt to get a handle on the NIV overstay problem plaguing the country for years.

Overstays in the US have been described as "a fundamental problem" and as recent as January concerns were expressed with regards to "the capacity" of the Department of Homeland Security to identify and remove people who overstayed their NIVs.  The March supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) which contains the most recent estimates, puts overstays at 11.9 million for 2008. The figure is contained in the Congress Research Service dated January 15 of this year, prepared by specialist in immigration policy Ruth Ellen Wasem.

But after ten years of tweaking legislation the US now has an entire system in place that is making inroads on the overstay problem.

In March Rand Beers, Under Secretary National Protection and Programs Directorate Department of Homeland Security delivered a statement before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security on the overstay problem where he spoke of the Arrival and Departure Information System's (ADIS) role in eliminating the problem. "Over the past several years, DHS has made significant strides in its ability to identify foreign nationals who have overstayed their authorised periods of admission.


"DHS currently has programmes in place that use airline manifest information; border crossing records; travel document information enabled by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI); and information collected under the US-VISIT programme that allow us to record who enters and exits the country for the vast majority of individuals," he said.

Beers also noted that the US-VISIT's Data Integrity Group (DIG) also uses a system that includes automated data searches, manual data searches, and manual verification by human analysts to identify people who overstay their US visas.

"The process of identifying visa overstays begins with the Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS) which matches biographic data on arrivals, departures, extensions, and changes or adjustments of status to identify individuals who have overstayed their authorised terms of admission."

"If an alien has remained beyond his or her authorised period of admission, the ADIS system provides an overstay status indicator. The overstay status indicator shows whether a person is believed to be inside or outside the United States."

Beers said "out-of-country overstays" were people who have left the US, but who overstayed their time in the US at some point. "Out-of-Country Overstay Identification and Enforcement Process US-VISIT manually reviews records for aliens identified by ADIS as out-of-country visa overstays. Manually vetting these records enables US-VISIT to eliminate false system-identified overstays. After manual review, biographic and biometric lookouts are created for confirmed out-of-country overstays who are no longer eligible to enter the United States," Beers said.

According to Edward Alden, a Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow Council on Foreign Relations, the system is working. Last year nearly two million out of 7.7 million visa applicants were refused, most because the consular officer, who has as one of his primary duties to prevent overstays, suspected they would overstay their visa.
A US federal official explained that many of the people who have been refused NIV's were refused on the fact that there were problems with their visas when they travelled to the US previously that consular officers can only now pick up on when they attempt to re-enter.

The effects have started rippling across the Caribbean Sea. In Trinidad and Tobago, there has been bitter debate over US visa policy for the issuance of NIVs. Scores of irate Trinidadians refused NIVs began to be publicly air their concerns after a 2009 report from an internal inspection done by the US State Department's Office of the Inspector General officers, was published. The report stated that up to February of 2009 consular officers working out of the US embassy in Port of Spain, were being trained to refuse visas to certain groups of applicants.  Among those who had virtually no chance of getting a visa were pregnant women, women who already had a child in the US, and locals going to America for job training.

There were those who had travelled before and were refused individually while there were families who believed they were of good standing who had their visas revoked collectively. The newly-appointed US Ambassador to Trinidad Barbara Welters, chosen by US President Barack Obama's administration, in August of this year responded.

She said the US embassy in Port of Spain was applying standard immigration laws in the issuance of NIVs.
"We take the letter of the law very seriously, and thus all of our processes are according to US legal norms, especially those enshrined in the Immigration and Naturalisation Act of 1952."
Welters said many US officials were in fact impressed with consular operations at the Port of Spain embassy because they efficiently processed approximately 36,000 annually. "So far in 2010, our consular section has processed over 20,000 visa applications, approving 71 per cent for visa issuance."

Alden who also presented a prepared statement before the Committee on Homeland Security in the US Congress in March of this year said, "Over the past year all State Department consular officers have acquired access to the ADIS database, which allows them to do a special query to determine if the visa applicant has been identified by DHS as a visa overstayer." Alden also said "The State Department will soon be able to deploy ADIS so that the overstay information automatically appears on the screen of each consular officer during the visa adjudication process."

He believes that as travellers become aware of this it will be a deterrent for many potential visa overstayers.


http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Lusting_for_the_US-106835838.html

28
General Discussion / PNMites, wha really going on with de party??
« on: October 24, 2010, 06:17:04 AM »
Been meaning to raise this topic a while now.  The other group does have mih so busy ah keep forgetting but, PNMites let we talk nah.....ah been hearing that things eh looking too bright on that side of the isle.  Wha going orn over dey??

http://guardian.co.tt/news/politics/2010/10/24/rowley-faces-opposition-pnm

Rowley faces opposition in PNM
ANIKA GUMBS-SANDIFORD


Internal rumblings within the People’s National Movement (PNM) continue some five months after the political party has been voted out of Government. Unable to put their house in order, the Sunday Guardian was informed that the party’s annual convention to be hosted in November may be postponed to January next year. This comes on the heels of plans to introduce facilitators to constituencies where there are no PNM MPs. A list of the facilitators is expected to be released this week. The significant dwindling of support, according to party sources, has impacted negatively and has resulted in several party groups being unable to meet specific deadlines and requests.

A party source revealed: “We are facing a serious problem getting party groups together. Our support is vanishing overnight. The PNM convention is normally held in November but we are practically scrambling to provide a listing for nomination. We have to deal with poor support and tension in the ranks, so we are looking at mid January for our convention because of all the outstanding issues to be settled.” Supporters, sources said, have become very disinterested. “We have 28 party groups and so far information has not been forthcoming as to when the internal elections will be held.

There is sluggishness in the system right now. Five months after and there has been no change. “Things are being done in haste and we all know hurry birds do not build good nests. The focus should be on looking at how the party operates rather than dealing with the issues as to why we failed,” one source said. “We need to move away from electoral issues because we would not be facing the polls any time soon,” another source lamented. But the unanswered questions on the lips of many is why the PNM cannot seem to reengineer itself even after former political leader, Patrick Manning has bowed out?

Senior members opposing Rowley

Sunday Guardian understands that Dr Keith Rowley’s leadership is being met with “stiff opposition” by some senior members. “The truth and fact is some served with Manning and some would have been selected by him for specific reasons, so there is a trust factor facing the party,” a party source said. “One has to remember Rowley was thrown out of the Cabinet and was in the wilderness for a number of years. He has to earn back that trust and so far he has not done that. Rowley was out of the inner circle and suddenly he is the leader of the party; the person who is being trusted to take the party back in government. While at first for many he was the most ‘popular’ person to take over, many are thinking differently now and are afraid to say anything.”
On the other hand, party insiders revealed that while some members are against some of the decisions being made by Rowley, they are using the opportunity to even their score with Manning. “What we have noticed is several persons Manning rejected are the very same persons meeting with constituents. Do these people really care about the way forward or their own interests? “Many of them have a vendetta against Manning because of the treatment they received,” a party insider said. “It is no secret that Manning heaped scorn on some of his supporters; some for good reason while some of his decisions were made in poor and bad taste based on advice. But when you look at the tension now in the party you wonder if people really want the PNM to return to office,” a concerned party member added.

Manning has opted to stay silent to be free from any blame and to have the last laugh, an insider said. “Manning has remained very silent except for publicly stating that he endorses the new leadership of the party. People must not forget he is an experienced politician. He did not have to call a general election, but as we all know he went against the advice of many because of his arrogance. “He knew the electorate was agitated and decided to throw in his hat wilfully. Quite frankly, he allowed the people to chose without saying anything. Without speaking he said you wanted a coalition government, you wanted Dr Rowley to lead the PNM take him. “But are the supporters happy?” a senior party member added.

East Indian factor crucial

Another crucial factor affecting the party, the Sunday Guardian understands, is that Rowley is failing to woo East Indians to the party. “It has always been a difficult area but we were able to win some support. The odds are now high again given that almost all of our support has shifted to the People’s Partnership. The truth is overall we have a tough struggle on our hands that we may not be conquering any time soon.” Attempts to contact Rowley proved futile up to late yesterday. A message left on his cell phone was also not answered.

29
General Discussion / Ah did forget bout dis one....
« on: October 17, 2010, 07:15:13 AM »
The bachanal did start early on but men declaring this regime 100% better than the last one.  BIG FAT LOUD STEUPS!!!!!.....ah still waiting for proof....in the meantime let provide some more proof of why they are not....

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Brit_gets_US_40_000-plus_to_go_after_three_months_on_job-105117764.html


Brit gets US$40,000-plus to go after three months on job
By Camini Marajh Investigative Desk


Public Utilities Minister Emmanuel George was less than forthright when he told the country at a media briefing held at his St Clair office on July 28 that British national Andrew Smith offered a resignation letter because of the result of the May 24 general election.

Responding to an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request filed by this newspaper on September 20, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities (MPU), Jacqueline Ganteaume-Farrell said: "I am informed that there exists no resignation and/or termination letter" for Mr Smith.
With just over three months under his belt, the Englishman has the shortest tenure on record as chief executive officer of the State-owned Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).

The FOIA response, received on Friday afternoon and dated October 14, noted that: "Mr Smith offered his resignation verbally in a meeting with Senator Emmanuel George, Minister of Public Utilities." The Ganteaume-Farrell response to the request for details relating to Smith's departure does not say when Smith offered his resignation.  Minister George, however, at the July 28 news conference, said Smith submitted his resignation after the May 24 general election, "in recognition of the election by the people of Trinidad and Tobago of a new Government." Smith has refused comment on the circumstances relating to his exit from the water company, which paved the way for George's choice of CEO and former boss and minister of public utilities in the Panday administration, Ganga Singh.

The Sunday Express, in its just concluded five-part series on the desalination plant bid evaluation process, had reported that the MPU had used a six-month probation clause in Smith's contract to get rid of the pervious WASA board of directors pick for the CEO post. The FOIA response, which provided a copy of Smith's three-year contract, under the heading "Termination: Clause 19" noted: "The first six months of your employment shall be treated as a probationary period. However, you or the Authority may terminate this agreement at any time without notice during the probationary period."

Sub-clause 19.3 of Andrew Smith's contract states: "The Authority reserves its rights to terminate this agreement for cause. Termination for cause shall be with immediate effect." Minister George has declined to be interviewed or to respond to a list of questions submitted to his office. A call to his cellphone ended abruptly yesterday after the initial hello when this reporter identified herself.
According to Smith's contract, the top-level management executive received a baseline compensation package of US$20,000 a month, including benefits of house, car, tuition fees for his children, 15 return economy class tickets a year from Port of Spain to the UK for him and his family and an incentive bonus of no less than 20 per cent of his annual base pay. As reported previously in the desalination bid series, Smith was paid an attractive exit package to go.

Last week, a Guardian report, quoting unnamed WASA officials, said the exit package amounted to two months pay. Singh, who has declined to be interviewed by the Sunday Express was quoted in the Guardian report of October 12 as saying that he has received no pay to date since he took up CEO duties at the State-owned water company. His compensation package is expected to be fixed by the new WASA board, which is yet to be appointed.

In response to the Sunday Express FOIA request as it relates to WASA's new chief executive officer, Ganteaume-Farrell said: "WASA informs that there is no contract for Mr Singh."  No explanation was provided for why Mr Smith, who was still on probation, was paid US$40,000-plus to go after just three months on the job after his purported resignation because of a change in government or why the job was not advertised.

 :whistling:  ::)
We does cuss the media for their slackness eh (and rightly so) but thank God some reporters still have the belly to dig up this stuff....

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General Discussion / Dey rescuing the Chilean miners right now....
« on: October 12, 2010, 06:58:42 PM »
Ah eh know if ah goh be able to stay awake until the first one come up, but lawd this stuff is exciting.....

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