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Price of vanity ads
The attack against Express reporter Anna Ramdass by Information Minister Neil Parsanlal was cleverly buttressed by a release from the PNM that saw no sin in the use of taxpayers’ money to advertise the fact that the new Prime Minister of Grenada was going to pay an official state visit to T&T.
The PNM’s release said: “The promotion of the visit is no different from the promotions done for the visits of the presidents of Uganda and Ghana.”
The party considered “this attack on its leader, describing him as ‘Mr Show-off,’ to be yet another example of the lack of fairness by a reporter."
Private jet
“This story was clearly calculated to bring the PM and the PNM government into disrepute.”
It called on the reporter to apologise for “this international faux pas.”
The article that caused such great consternation led off with criticisms from eminent political scientist, Prof Selwyn Ryan, who saw it as an unnecessary abuse of public funds.
“These are vanity ads. I can’t believe that we are paying for that ad. That will be totally ridiculous. It is extravagant and uncalled for,” said Dr Ryan. “We're happy to welcome the Prime Minister of Grenada, but an ad of this sort, given the cost, is totally uncalled for and a wasting of public funds.”
Mr Ryan does not normally rush to criticise the government, and his outrage in this regard is reflective of the seething rage people on the ground feel over such scandalous expenditure at a time when the cost of living is moving beyond the reach of so many, and the standard of living is under threat by criminal elements.
Perhaps, Parsanlal (whose noblest claim to fame is the oft-repeated claim that he is “the quintessential dougla”—as if this somehow makes him smarter, more Trini or impervious to criticism) should try explaining why it is necessary for the Government to spend money advertising such a visit (including the cost of a private jet and all):
- to the sick people who cannot get a bed in San Fernando General Hospital;
- the hungry that cannot afford a decent meal, because of the astronomical price of food;
- the annual predictable flood victims who now face desperate financial ruin, or
- the parents of kidnap victim Nial Ali from Gasparillo whose son cannot be found after two agonising months of attention from the ridiculously under-resourced Anti-Kidnapping Squad.
Parsanlal’s justification for the advertisement included the following gem:
“The history of the Caribbean is evolving as we speak. And the prime ministers have been changed in several countries. We don't want to wait until that history is recorded, documented and published in a book somewhere.
So we decided to put out information that is live and current and that can be used by students, as well as by the general population and the media.
So the people who are seeing it as the Prime Minister 'showing off' have, therefore, missed the entire point.”
There was no explanation as to why the usual comprehensive national and regional media coverage would not have sufficed.
Coverage by the national media, which includes state-owned and government-friendly television and radio stations, and the regional media coverage would have been more than adequate for this purpose.
Media coverage of such meetings has traditionally been quite good, and Mr Tillman’s election was well- documented here as media houses covered the Grenada general election in detail.
Salt in wounds
Parsanlal is the one that has completely missed the point. These advertisements reflect the arrogance and megalomaniac tendencies of a government led by a typical Caribbean tin-god with an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
Flying in regional and international leaders and then unnecessarily advertising the visit is like rubbing salt into the wounds of the people at a time when many are forced to flee their homeland because of uncontrollable crime and poor service from under-resourced state agencies.
An official press release from the Office of the Prime Minister to the media would more than suffice, as such (necessary) state visits are always well covered.
Parsanlal’s response maintains the arrogance of the Government. He condemned the biased article against the Government for not carrying the Government’s response, but cleverly omitted to mention the fact that he did not return the reporter’s repeated calls to his cellphone.
He ended on a typical PMN high note, issuing the not-so-veiled threat that the newspaper was free to decline carrying government advertisements if it felt they were wrong.
The coded message is clear: watch it or else advertising revenue from the Government could dry up and your competitors who favour us could profit at your expense! Dangerous foolishness and quintessential PNM arrogance from a government with dictatorial tendencies.
Not ah damn dog must bark, they say.
By Anand Ramlogan
Site Admin Note:
See TT Express Links below before they disappear - as they tend to on these kinds of matters.
Parsanlal: Thomas ads only for public info
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Parsanlal epitomizes the headlessness of the current regime. I mean this recent matter is beyond brainlessness.
Those in postions of power in T&T are behaving like dey own dee dam country and all the people in it. Like dey could jes do as dey please.
You ever hear bout Tony Blair et al puttin' big two page colour advert in dee likes of dee Times when George Bush comin' over. Look nah man. Doh make fun.
Mr Megalomania seems to think he so hot he could direct people to do anyt'ing.
Anna Ramdass is very right to point out the matter as she did. Hats off to her. Why should dee govament be makin' promotions for visits from Uganda and Ghana anyway. I's a blasted was'e a money and dee people t'ink so in significant numbers. Buh allyuh have tuh remember dat dem fellas at dee top eh cyare a rats ass about what allyuh t'ink.
Private jet? Allyuh see dee agenda yet? No? Well take a humpin' den. Enjoy it.
You know all this arseness by P(A)rsanlal really is a clear sign of the direction of government. Dictatorship in allyuh backside.
...there is an old saying that any fool can "spend" (read "throw away") money but only a few can spend it wisely...then there is also another saying "that a fool and his money will soon part" has been proven to be so true as in the case of the PNM from day one, and so nothing has in fact changed over the past fifty plus years of PNM mismanagement of taxpayer's monies... and its not likely to change anytime soon...as I said before "you get what you pay for" and the people sure deserve what they're getting...in spades...!
...what value has the people got in return for this wanton wastage of public funds by the PNM...? NOTHING, NADA, ZERO.....!As Anand article outlined, all the ills the people had been suffering from for the past fifty years are still there today, in fact they are even worse than before, despite the "enormous windfall" of revenues enjoyed by the PNM administration, but "nothing" to show for it in return...!
...so yes, this is all about "showing off" by Patrick, ....come see my $148 million mansion, I'll even pay your passage (read "fly you in by jet to come") so he can show off the wastage of funds at his disposal - courtesy of the people of T&T, who are dying in hospitals for lack of care, let alone on the streets of the country...no water...no schools, no food, no healthcare, no police stations, no security for the people, don't talk about murders and crimes...this they have a lot, but does he care, well boy, thats not too important for him and his clones, they are too busy "spending" the people's monies and making "dumb excuses" that the whole world really laughs at them, little do they realize it or even care...?...clowns at best, thats what they are...they make the "three stooges" look like "little duncy heads" compared to themselves, including their "boss" Patrick...!
...so the shoe pinch and it hurts, because its so true, that they get offended by the reporter's article, well thay just can't only say its not true, they have to demonstrate to the people that its not so....as I said previously...boy how the truth offends...it hit them right in the you know what...the whole bunch of incompetent idiots....but then the people deserve what they get...they getting what they paid for...till the treasury runs dry, if it has not already gone there...!
...the fools and their monies will soon part...problem is, its "your and my monies" they're blowing away like drunken sailors...and no end in sight...they got a license to steal our monies with impunity......handed to them by the people themselves...!
...so yes, Anand, what's the price of "vanity ads"...you asked...??? PRICELESS...!
...but then we Trinis like it so...!
...goodluck...Trini.t.o.o
Well dis is dee hardest - Parsanlal make dee Integrity List. Yeah boy! I's dee list ah ppl who eh declare dey assets as required by law. Oh buh how many on dee lis'? 120!!
Buh who cyares..now dey hah tuh cope wid flood an t'ing. Nex' it go be Xmas, parang, puncha creme etc etc..den is carnaval time, boy. Well yuh know w'at all dat means. Yuh eh know boy? Well it means dis story about Parsanlal will disappear up a black hole somewhere. Any bets? Doh bet, yuh go lorse!
08:01 GMT 2008-08-31 Site Admin Rated: *****Five Stars*****
....Its a real burning shame Captain, but then what do we really expect from them...?
...You can't expect to plant corn and reap tomatoes now, could we...? You get what you sow, and the people deserve every penny of it, they bought it lock, stock and barrel...!
...if the Information Minister for the Government does not understand a simple sentence of the Integrity of Public Life Act "to file annually Income and Assets as required", and Government Senators also stating its too confusing and no one explain it fully what was required of them, that is "to file annually Income and Asset Statements", as required by law, then you could see the big problem we are having here...these people are indeed illiterate, and simply say and do every thing their Boss Patrick "tells them" to say and do, because they themselves do not understand or have the capacity to understand what they are saying or doing all the time, and as result they continuously keep making a fool of themselves to the people and the world at large...!
...they have a saying that "one-eyed man is king in blind man country", if even if he cokey - eyed at that - so here we have the blind leading the blind, Patrick holding their hands and leading them to "the promised land of Milk and Honey" and these fools following like lost sheep never any wiser, bleating along comfortably behind him, and oblivious of their destiny..!
...so yes, these are shameful acts by grown adults who pretend to be so educated and leading our beloved country and people, into the wilderness they have created and darkness have now descended on our country as we are blinded by not only darkness, but by the seeds of prejudice they have planted in the minds of the people, that the people cannot see anything else, as they now have to be lead by their hands...same as these so called Ministers and Senators are being lead by their hands...by Patrick, blind as a bat, but they are following him along, awaiting their "own fate", if they stray too far behind...after all look at Rowley and Hinds et al...!
...yes, I say shame again on them, don't expect too much from this, the flood and suffering will take precedent, the soon to be "school openings" which will be deferred because the schools are not ready for the students to go back to classes, the tire-burnings and marches, the waving of placards and marching for water, medicine, hospital beds, roads, electricity, food, transportation, policing and security, killings and rape and robberies and kidnappings, and many many more problems the people are facing, all of which will fog their collective memories, that the "integrity of these folks like Parsanlal will quickly fade into the background to be forgotten, just like Patrick planned it will...and life continues as "normal"...!
...more marching, tire-burnings, placard waving, horn honking, shouting, marching and demonstrations...life returns to normal in good ole Trinidad & Tobago once again...!
...yeah, we like it so...!
...good luck..Trini.t.o.o