Sue me, you bunch of incompetents!

If I sound angry, you have read me right. I am really angry. And the source of this outrage is the absolute lack of management at the Registrar General's Department on South Quay, Port of Spain.
This department represents everything that is bad in government service, except possibly the levels of corruption.
They just do not know how to organise anything. When CEPEP was formed, a host of new people were brought into the system, trying to get name approvals, filing company incorporation documents and worst of all, lining up by the cashier to pay for every document.
You would think the Registrar would plan for this, wouldn't you? And when NEDCO was giving out small and medium sized loans, all those poor people from Laventille and Morvant and Cocoyea who wanted to bottle a little pepper sauce and jam had to register their businesses. They had to go into this very formal, unfriendly environment that the registrar told us was "user friendly".
I have listened to countless stories from women who didn't know what they were supposed to do, the alternative of course being that they would have a hire a lawyer. So the lines got longer. And the cashier? The cashier still opened at 8.30 with an hour for lunch. In a government office the cashier is closed for lunch. More recently they have extended the cash to 3 p.m. long after everyone wants to leave the downtown Port of Spain dump. Listen, every store should close for lunch, the racing pool should close and the Play Whe machine should close for lunch. Business people should take their cue from none less than the Minister of Legal Affairs. Who he, by the way?
When the department began issuing computerised birth certificates, no provision was made for the thousands of people who poured into Port of Spain to get certificates for themselves and their children. You would think that in this 2010, the department would know the value of networks and put a simple system in place.
They waited until tens of thousands of people from South Trinidad lined up outside their building in port of Spain from 5.30 a.m. before they opened an office in San Fernando. The office, of course, does NOT deal with company documents. They put people under tents to wait with a number to get a birth certificate. Now they are putting people under the same tents to wait to be called to the cashier. These people are raving mad. People who come to do business with the Registrar of Companies are put in a tent! A guard comes around, calls your number, lines you up as if you are in a ID parade and then marches you to the cashier.
You would think that a department dealing with lawyers will be well organised. You would think that the lawyers themselves will insist on better service. BUT NO! Their clerks know how to beat the system. They take a number for the cashier while they are waiting in the line to get their documents checked and move across to the line while the poor "don't have no friend" sits in the tent as if they are in a WAKE!
The truth is that lawyers have no intention of fixing anything. I have said repeatedly that this is a mediocre profession where duncy people could look bright because they are fighting against other duncy people before some duncy lawyers who make it to the bench. Look at the Attorney General, a mediocre lawyer who looked good because he won a few cases against the government when former Prime Minister Patrick Manning had tried to run away with the Constitution. Now he is in government he doesn't know what he is talking about.
I mentioned all this to a lawyer yesterday and I was told that I would not get a lawyer to represent me when I have to face the courts. Well good for all you who are happy making plenty money overcharging for deeds and traffic offences and poor policing and challenging politicians who themselves don't know the law.

That Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister

Talking about polka, can we move on a bit to the shuffle... the Cabinet reshuffle?
Prime Minister it is clear that several members of the Cabinet have not made the transition from private to public business.
I had asked you early o'clock to bring them in school and teach them the process for decision making and knowing when to open their mouths. Prime Minister, the Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is the perfect example of how your selection has failed. Ramlogan comes from a profession that is mediocre at best and where a bad lawyer can look good. He made his name and a lot of money on the back of foolish decisions made by former Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
Madam Prime Minister, Manning cantered away leaving the law and due process in his sorry wake. Fortunately for us he didn't canter towards the winning pole in the May 24 elections.
Anand seized the opportunity and the attendant publicity. His column in the Guardian newspaper was a lot of rambling and very, very limited.
Next thing, he is there alongside you on May 26, exactly five months ago being sworn in as Attorney General because he won a few matters against the state.
He entered office and behaved as if he was still fighting everybody...he would put Manning in jail, start a public enquiry on everything, send Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson into the arms of US jurisprudence.
Madam Prime Minister, how did you ever allow Ramlogan to put both Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen on the team that will investigate five state companies? Just google those two names and you will see how often they appeared together. Do they belong to the same law firm?
And Madam Prime Minister where did you get the Minister of Health from? And why did you have to pull Nan Ramgoolam out of the ashes and make her Minister of Public Administration?
Public servants might be annoyed at the one percent over three years that the Chief Personnel Officer has offered them, but they are more annoyed by the little bulls you have running around their offices, trampling on everything.
I am glad at least that Anand has gone quiet these days. And Madam Prime Minister when you fire a whole bunch of them please don't say "Read my lips". Because we don't know what those lips will say when they announce the new bunch of misfits.

Stay away from style...

Here is a picture of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding which appeared in South Bound on September 12.
A reader from the Netherlands sent me two pictures from the Waterkant website to show that I may be stuck in a time warp. She (asked for her name to be withheld) said I was somewhat unfair in my criticisms of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and while I may be spot on with the political commentary I should leave the style and entertainment arena alone.
In the first picture Surinamese First Lady Ingrid Bouterse wears what appears to be a polka dot dress as she visits the visually impaired children at the Blind Centre in Paramaribo. She wore tinted glasses as she was led around by the kids on a tour of the facilities. Let me here compliment Mrs. Bouterse for some of the activities she has been engaged in as First Lady since August 12. Stories were attached by the reader from the Netherlands.
The second is a picture of Jamaican singer Busy Signal at a back to school party at the Anthony Nesty Sports Hall, also in Paramaribo. Busy Signal is accompanied by a dancer on stage. You may express your opinion in the comments box instead of sending email messages.

Take a deep breath.........count to 10

Madam Prime Minister, I notice that your ministers are talking first and thinking later. If you are indeed in charge, and not a figurehead, it might be time for you to take a position. In the first place Jack Warner opened his mouth on the use of the bus route and then said he would listen to suggestions. Secondly he opened his mouth even bigger about the PH taxis and when there is an uproar he will listen to suggestions. On the issue of the water taxis, on the one hand Warner is going to sell some of them and on the other he is going to expand the service to include two other terminals.
Madam Prime Minister, if I may say so, this sounds suspiciously like Patrick Manning. "For all those who protesting, it will not only be two smelter, they will get three".
Madam Prime Minister, in case you have forgotten, it is that type of attitude which hustled Manning out of power. He had become so brash he could say anything he wanted. And he would spend loud money on consultations so people could listen to him and he could stuff his ears with cotton wool when it was their turn to talk.
The other issue Madam is the attack on the Chief Justice by one of your ministers. Madam Prime Minister, the record is clear on what the man said during the budget debate. And the record is equally clear on what he said in his explanation in the same august chamber.... a poor attempt at making excuses.
Madam Prime Minister, please remember that Manning had launched a vicious attack on a Chief Justice he perceived was sympathetic to your party. Now your front bench has shown that they are not averse to attacking a Chief Justice they perceive is sympathetic to the PNM. Madam Prime Minister this can only get worse. It started with Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj when Michael de La Bastide was Chief Justice and spiralled out of control with Manning while Sat Sharma held the office. Now the attacks have descended to the realm of the obscene. The cost of housing the Chief Justice for one year is the same as the cost of your ten day trip to New York for the Indian Independence Day parade.
Does anyone remember, Prime Minister, an incident that posed a security risk to the CJ outside his private residence. I vaguely remember this incident and I have been unable so far to get information on it, but I will continue to search. Failing that Prime Minister, I will concede that I am wrong.

Hush! Don't Cry

Ariti Jankie of the Express South Bureau just collected the first copies of her new novel HUSH! Don't Cry. For Ariti, it has been along hard road to publication, but perseverance and a fighting spirit won out in the end.

Here Ariti gives us a glimpse of how she felt having the book in her hand. And lower down we reproduce a short review by Dr. Priti Singh of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi

Dear Zorina,
The novel, HUSH! Don’t Cry has brought me unexpected blessings.
Wednesday, I took the first 10 copies to the Express, South Bureau and sold all among my friends within an hour. They were so generous with warm embraces and hearty congratulations, I felt humbled.
Also, I called Deosaran Jagroo, the CEO of Caroni (1975) Limited to give him the good news of the release. He ordered five copies. Similarly, I have been receiving great vibes from this novel and have yet to notify my other big brothers and friends.
It is not often that good luck strikes and when it does, it banishes a lifetime of suffering and pain. I wanted to share this with you. And to include your generosity in reading, editing and getting the manuscript ready for publication.
HUSH! Don’t Cry has been a great experience so far and I wanted to share this with your blog readers.
Ariti

Book Review

HUSH! Don’t Cry is a compelling story of strength and power. The author, Ariti is incredibly at her best in this intricate but revealing novel deftly woven around themes of diaspora and gender.
The nostalgia and desire of the Indians in Trinidad for their original ‘homeland’ and the sense of double displacement that this nostalgia evokes within those who try and trace their ‘real’ roots is skillfully portrayed by Ariti.
The story revolves around Meera, who like the saint who endured all hardships, became an epitome of sacrifice and suffering before she let her inner strength and determination empower herself. Marrying her daughter to a “suitable boy” from “the golden land of India” (p.15) was a dream that Meera’s mother Sumintra, had sought to fulfill for her daughter. Meera lived her mother’s dream getting married to a boy (Kapil) from the land of her ancestors—a country which she knew “held secrets for her own discovery” (p.82). The groom and bride when married looked like ‘Ram and Sita’. Meerawanted to transmit her “pride of ancestry” of India to her daughter, but the trial and tribulations that Meera goes through eventually makes her realize the worth of her ‘own’ culture and sense of self which is a powerful mix of the East and West.
“Getting away from her loved ones” and moving to India liberated Meera and reduced the “pains and humiliations she faced” (p.81). However, she soon realized that Western women were considered by Indian men to have “no culture” and were referred to as jutha bartan (soiled dishes). This view was reinforced by Indian women who perpetrated atrocities against their own gender. And yet, there are anomalies even within them as they themselves rebelled against society and at the same time discriminated between themselves and ‘Western’ women.
Meera’s husband Kapil’s moral frailties eventually killed the love Meera felt for him. After a long struggle with herself and coming to terms with her unfulfilled thirst for her husband’s love, she realizes that she had been trying to live up to her mother’s false dream. She loses her innocence in that struggle to survive and emerges “a pioneer like her ancestors rooted in slavery and indentureship” (p.167). ‘Home’ for her was Trinidad—a space which drew life and solace from ancient Indian scriptures and traditions and yet gave her the power to take control of her own destiny.
HUSH! Don’t Cry thus completes a full circle with the protagonist pledging to work towards making her daughter Kavita’s dreams come true rather than living the dream of her mother, Sumintra. In that, Meera would find the strength to live her own dream.
Dr. Priti Singh
Jawaharlal Nehru University
September 12, 2010

Laptops, ahoy!

So Madam Prime Minister you are back from New York (again) and the 17000 plus HP laptops are also here.... at the whopping cost of $83 million TT almost $5,000 per unit or say around US$900,
I don't know if the cost of all these contracted companies is included in the $83 mil. I understand that the IT companies will be visiting schools to take the computers and do several other things with them. My concern, however, Prime Minister is what will become of these laptops. How many older students will tap up the little ones to get the use of the unit. How many older brothers will sell the laptop? How many will borrow it to go watch a movie with his girl friend?
I can imagine them cheering for you "Kamla, Kamla" while Vin Diesel is being "Fast and Furious" and I am being conservative, Madam Prime Minister.The maxi taxi driver might need a laptop too.
I can go on and on Prime Minister but I know I run the risk of being told that children in middle income families have their personal laptops and there is no reason why children from lower income families should also be able to use one.
The truth Madam Prime Minister is that those people buy their own laptops and upgrade them or replace them frequently, because they can do whatever they want with their money.
Madam Prime Minister, if that is how you are going to measure your successes, then something is wrong.
Your first step should have been to make sure every school has a proper computer lab with full time staff and let ALL students have access to computers. But the money is there so let us spend it and next year we will spend another $100,000,000 or so. And you are delivering on promises to the electorate. Right?

So many Prime Ministers

Prime Minister, since you have been in office we have had four prime ministers. When you went to the Caricom Summit in Jamaica, Austin Jack Warner, acted for you. When you went to New York for 10 days Winston Dookeran took charge. Now you have gone to the UN General Assembly, Errol McLeod is driving around in PM1.
Patrick Manning must be so hurt at the passengers his pride and joy is shuttling around. I don't know where else you will be going this year, but a Caricom powwow before Edwin Carrington leaves office and the Cancun Climate Change Conference might be on the travel calendar.
If that is so Madam Prime Minister I urge you not to confuse thousands of school children who are guessing about who is holding fort for you. In fact I asked seven teachers over the weekend and four of them said Jack Warner is in charge.
Then Prime Minister in January you will be going to India as special guest for that country's Republic Day celebrations and most likely to also receive the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. I know that Roodal Moonilal will not miss that trip so he is out. You know something Prime Minister? Maybe you should leave him home and let him drive around in PM1.