You are hereCreate Content / What is happening to Trinidad?
What is happening to Trinidad?
My fellow Trinidadians, what is happening to our beautiful country? I am shocked by the utter disregard for the suffering of our people that has been shown by our government. Or should I really be shocked?
The most important single function of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individual citizens. Let me ask you, are we are being given those rights by the people we elected into power? Are you able to go out at night and feel safe? Are all victims of flooding through out Trinidad being helped by instituting emergency funds that should go to helping them rebuild their lives? Do we even have freedom of speech, or is it as long as we do not offend the great Patrick Manning?
Sweet TnT, where have you gone? I am saddened by the fact that my generation (Generation Y) is standing by and watching our country slowly fall from grace. Can we not learn from the prosperity of our island neighbor Barbados? Or should we continue to vote along racial lines and destroy one another?
I find it very hard to believe for all the educated people we have in Trinidad, that no one stands up to fight against the injustices imposed on the people by the PNM government. For all the doctors, lawyers and engineers we produce, it does not seem to benefit us moving forward as a country. Instead we have a broken health care system, horrible infrastructure, a disregard and degradation of the environment and a bunch of educated people just watching it all happen. We might as well be Venezuela and I would definitely say that Mr. Manning and Mr. Chavez could be megalomaniac mirror images.
We need to stand up as one people and demand better. A democratic govenment answers to the people, make them answer TnT! Support the September 8th movement do not be intimidated, your voices must be heard.
Sp5, you must be living in a first world country. Why? We doh usually get people living in T&T saying much out here. And as I commented elsewhere there is a remarkable shortage of pro-PNM sentiment at this site. One must wonder why? No?
Your thoughts are spot on.
Avoidance of offending the power-mad political regime is now a priority for most Trickidadians (as I like to label them). Why? Because if you say dee 'rong t'ing dong dey, well boy - you could find yourself visited by stray penises, kidnappers, crack-heads, and your house and person searched by the police. No? Eh heh? Well, how come people in T&T so lock up and cyah say much. That is really the fear among the population. And why? Because of matters like the Inshan Ishmael arrest and a host of other not-so-high-profile matters that don't even reach the press. But in any case there has been evidence of the police in T&T being involved in organised criminal conduct, and the people really have little hope or faith in any protection they might claim to provide.
Well you could tell me eh livin' in dat god-foresaken place - and I have no desire whatsoever to go back. So my job now is to throw stone as much as I please - to the dislike of politician and electorate alike. In odda words I could speak my mind, and who eh like it - tough! Patriotism? Wha' is dat? People have limits you know.
What - you t'ink Manning & Co eh know dat dey have big big problems with Heatlhcare, Power Supply, Transportation, Crime, Education, Drug Addiction, Disaster Management? Dey well know what going on. Dee country in a blasted mess - not jes in dee las' five years!
Take a step back. Ask the big question - Why all this? Why all this, in a Nation awash with Oil money? Is it just about plain mismanagement and headlessness? Answer - No!! That might be part of the equation, but it isn't the whole equation. The bungling is part of a plot to oppress the population and to maintain control for ulterior purposes, that the electorate will be blind to. Paranoid? No!! Why not Parnoid? Because you have only to observe emphases like $800M stadium, $150M Mansion and Private Jet etc etc. to see which way the wind blowing. Den watch how school children cyah get to school because...because...yet again, school repairs not complete. Oh..oh..oh but UDECOTT could railroad a hotel dat didn' even have proper permission. And Rowley could get sacked pronto pronto. Yuh still t'ink i's paranoia? One man's paranoia is anodda man's common sense.
The world now has to awaken to a different kind of political game. I call it 'Dictatorship by Stealth' -and it is exactly what has been happening in Trickiland. In fact it may not be a pure dictatorship but some kind of watered down autocracy. Nonetheless it is driving the Nation into the dump.
Stand up as one people? Yes it's a good idea. But you will have seen that at a most crucial election last year - which was really to decide the fate of the country forever - what happened? Tribal politics, race, nepotism and selfishness got in the way. Panday? Eh heh? He is really dee bes' t'ing for T&T? Come nah man.
So the best indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour. By that measure, Trickidadians will do as they have always done. They are crippled by selfishness and racial politics. They have never demonstrated an ability to unite for a cause that is greater than themselves. Yes we could hope. But I won't be hoping beyond hope. That is what has lead Trickiland to where it is today.
Over tuh allyuh out dey.
"Stand up as one people? Yes it's a good idea. But you will have seen that at a most crucial election last year - which was really to decide the fate of the country forever - what happened? Tribal politics, race, nepotism and selfishness got in the way. Panday? Eh heh? He is really dee bes' t'ing for T&T? Come nah man."
I could not have said it better myself. I completely agree with you comments. Panday, Manning are both money and power hungry, their actions on a daily basis benefit no one in the country. If I can borrow a statement from Barak Obama's campaign, and wish for change and no more of the same. We need new blood in our political system, one person should never be in power for as many terms as Patrick Manning has. We need our young people to step up and want a better life for the country and work towards it. The political dinosaurs need to be buried and we need to move on and we did have an opportunity to move on with the COP and vicious tactics were used to confuse and intimidate voters.
You are far from paranoid. You speak the truth! Yes I do not live there, but I was born and educated there, I love my country and it saddens me to see what it is becoming. And sadly I must agree with your "Dictatorship by stealth" statement, I can only hope people reach a breaking point, that forces them to look in the mirror and figure out what is really important. Thanks for you input.
This is exactly what we are talking about - see Newsday 2008-09-05
Here we see some 'Hollywood' Commissioner of Police James Philbert who ordered his most senior officers to a three-day retreat in Tobago to come up with a plan that will put the brakes on out of control crime.
Newsday says:
"Fourteen members of the police executive and the heads of the human resource, administration, information technology and administrative services departments have all been summoned to the retreat which starts today, from 8 am, at Le Grand Courlan Resort & Spa, Black Rock, Tobago. The retreat ends on Sunday. Philbert and his team are expected to draft a new strategy to replace the anti-crime plans developed by American criminologist Prof Stephen Mastrofski, who was recruited by the Government in 2005."
Look at dee blasted graph below which has been at this site for quite some time. Some will recall that there was attempted massaging of last year's end-of-year murder-toll by political spin-doctors.
Arks yuh self a question. Yuh t'ink here in September 2008 is dee time to be having retreat? Look nah man. Dem fella's lucky deh eh have dee private jet at dey beck and call - dey would a take dey self out for a spin, while dee res' a dee country remain tuh rot!
NO! The time to have all these meetings etc etc. was since 2005 at least, not Sept 2008. Yuh cyah jes apply dee brakes after dee bus half way gorn ova dee cliff, boy! But dis is the level of utter dunciness we see operating on Monkey Island. Is monkey's at dee helm - ah tell yuh!
I's utter foolishness going on dong dey! Get dem out - or build dat raft.
...They had an old saying that when things get real bad, "you run for the hills" and hide. Well boy, Patrick showed them last year just after the election, that he had a different but more brilliant plan, ..."when water get more than flour" he call a "retreat to a resort & spa at Salybia" and have a good time, fete for so at the taxpayer's expense, all the while the people "ketching their nennen" but footing the bill...!
...well if you only look back from that September, 2007 retreat to now, look what that Government got for the people in return for the fete, the wrath of God himself, I mean Thunder and Lightening like never before, Rains & Flood like they never see in they life, even Colm Imbert himself (Mr.Know it all himself) said this was the biggest and baddest rain cloud he ever see himself, it stayed "stationary in the sky for hours and pelted more rain on them that he said the weatherman too was wrong about how much rain they got".
...and don't talk about crime and killings, remember they had talked about "Red October"...? with more killings than you could shake a stick at, more than Afghanistan and Iraq put together, and all this coming just after Manning and his cronies came back from the Salybia Resort holding their fete...!
...and don't talk about food and food prices, gone outa sight if you could find food at all, "some hare brained plan" from the retreat at the resort, and flood don't talk about flood, just like the Gods of Heaven was looking down on the preacher himself to drown him if only he could find him on the ground, thats why Patrick always want to be up in the "Air" not on the ground...he 'fraid he would drown like a rat if caught...!
...so this Police Commissioner learned from the best, Patrick himself, so he just following suit, except he outsmart Patrick by choosing the better vacation resort in good ole Tobago, so his boys could really relax and have "a real fete", while the people back in Trinidad ducking for cover every which way, hiding in ther houses and afraid to come out, because who ain't dead yet badly wounded. (I think the number killed is 462 so far, but then who's counting...?)....!
...so look out after these blokes come back from their "retreat" with their new plan, you would recall Manning and Martin Joseph said when Plan "A" does not work, then they will go on to Plan "B" and if that don't work, then they will go on to Plan "C" and so on and on and on...till all the people dead and then there is no more crime, because there is no more people to kill or kidnap or rape or rob or whatever, and also the Government has a different definition for they way they count the dead than any other country in the real world...!
...this site showed the Graph of spiralling crime since this "Regime" took power back in 2001 and charted the graph to show what would happen if the same idiots were to be put back in power...well the graph don't lie now does it...? take a real good hard look...so brakes like hell when these jokers come back from their "retreat" because much as I hate to say it, all hell will break loose all over again, its like an open invitation to the gangs and hoodlums, "its open season on the people" because these jokers at large could not catch a cold on a rainy day let alone these criminals who are making fools of the government at every turn, and laughing at them, and they know it too...Patrick and the whole bunch of idiots...!
...so run for cover too my friends, run for the hills, don't wait for these clowns to come back with their new "Master Plan", cause if you do, "crapaud smoke your pipe"...the jammin' now start all over again...these guys cannot fight anything let alone crime, truth is "they could not fight their way out of a wet paper bag..."... what a bunch of losers...this is all about ole talk and Pappyshow with the people's monies, just like their "Boss Patrick..."...but then we like it so...!
...Goodluck...Trini.t.o.o
This proves the people of Trinidad mean nothing to their government and it makes me livid:
"God help the people of Trinidad, you are being held hostage by a combination of your own lassie-faire attitude and a madman."
If I was God I wouldn' interfere in the affairs of a people so corrupt, selfish, stubbon, obsessed with hedonism, and engineers of their own destruction. The Nation is reaping its Karma. Why should God help dem? Because s/he is a kind God. Nah. Den God should intervene in Zimbabwe and all other parts of Africa and Asia where people living in far worse conditions dan in Trickiland. Nah - I doh believe God would be so simple minded or chupid.
Leh we jes put t'ings into perspective. Religious organisations have been praying hard for God to intervene in T&T for at least the last 5 years. Allyuh see any intervention yet? No? Why boy? Allyuh eh prayin' hard enough? Trinidad and Tobago reminds me of Sodom and Gomorrah. And as ah say before - allyuh dong dey luck I is not God else woulda be fire and brimstone in allyuh backside, long time! I wouldna was'e time herding jackasses.
No mercy!
...yes sp5, in one fell swoop "Patrick relegated all Trinbigonians to third class citizens", and give them a "real slap in the face" to boot to tell them so...in your face...!
...we have lots of money for everybody else, all over the Carribean and elsewhere in Africa too, but none for you all, dumb fools...!Not a pretty penny for you...! I have the keys to the Treasury...kneel down and beg you idiots, beg...!
....starve you idiots, beg for food, swim in the floods if you can, and who can't swim will drown, but nothing for "my people"...the same people who last year were calling him... "Prince"..."Father of the Nation"..."Preacher" saviour and whatever else that inflated his huge ego like a balloon...where are they now..cat bite dey tongue...? or hiding under their beds...peepin thru cracks in the house...too afraid to come out...de milk and honey run out...or just plain too much "love" from Patrick...?
...but he ain't done yet, there's more to come, lots more, we said so on this site last year but no one listened, well now they have to feel...!
...so you said this one takes the cake...? well when Patrick done wid dem, they ain't have no cake to eat too...I read a while ago somewhere that people were making "patties out of mud to eat", well Patrick have you all getting there fast, just wait...he ain't done yet...!
...yes, I agree with Captain, no amount of praying will do, everybody and their brother have been doing that for so many years, but have you seen any improvements...?
...where are the "Morals & Spiritual Values" of this man Patrick...the ones then President A.N.R. Robinson talked about when he appointed him Prime Minister...? They should all be ashamed of themselves and all jump off a cliff...but then they are all incapable of "shame", even God himself/herself have turned his/her back on the people...Patrick the "preacher" could not pray for himself let alone anybody else...he needs more help than anyone else...!
...so no mercy is right, as Captain said, whats the use, these people won't learn, they harden, well if they won't listen then they have to feel...and Patrick showing them just how hard they will feel...! ...you steppin' up wid Patrick now.....!
...this man is pure evil re-incarnated...Lucifer in disguise...the "Devil himself", and you see the smile on his face...?
...he enjoying every minute of it...where are his "Tribal" supporters now...ah bet they all too busy swimming to stay alive or hungry and looking hard to find food...or ducking from bullets to just keep breathing...Patrick laughin his head off...!..fools...?
...keep on "ducking and running" or hiding or looking for food or whatever makes you all so happy...you still have a long long way to go..especially now that you are indeed third class citizens...you last in line now...for anything...you know that...don't you...?
...so jes' keep steppin' fast, make sure you stay ahead of Patrick if you can...cause if you don't, well boy Patrick steppin' all over you...because you like it so...right...wid ah real hard slap in the face from Patrick as ah lagniappe, right...?
...goodluck..Trini.t.o.o
I know a lot of persons on this site will jump on my back when I ask why are we calling Pa-trick names?
I've seen 'megalo-maniac', dictator, executive president, "...this man is pure evil re-incarnated...Lucifer in disguise...the "Devil himself", and you see the smile on his face...?"
I don't know whether Pa-trick is a truly evil man. The more I think of it, I think he is a man who does what he does, simply because he can. He has no one to reign him in. Panday? He spends more time worrying about his own legal problems to think about anything else really. And at 74 or so, he needs someone to wipe his arse after every shit, so no counting on help there.
Ramesh, Kamla? Dey fraid Panday get dem kicked out so they toeing the line. Warner have a lil clout, but only because he has a fat wallet, but that black man know he place.
In the long wrong, Trinidad is really like that island in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. In face of people who do not stand up for themselves, the stronger will always win the day. They will take and take, ruthlessly thrusting aside feeble protests, simply because they can.
Patrick is no different. Aside from the lone, occasional protest, who has really tried to stop him? no one. My blog, this blog, several reporters, Inshan Ishmael, and a couple of people like Martin Daly and occasionally Anand and Raffique Shah will write a few dissenting lines.
But no one actually makes an effort to stop him. And like Jack, the 'hunter' of Golding's story, Pa-trick knows that he can control it all, through a sheer mass of number. And like Jack's followers who are scared of him, Pa-trick's are as well. they do not seem to realise that en masse they have the ability to remove him. Instead, the thinking of every follower is that he stands alone, and that if s/he were to try to form an alliance to dethrone the super ruler, then betrayal may follow as one tattle tales to gain more lucrative benefits from a leader in power. A reward for the leader maintaining the status quo.
Trinidad will never improve. We all know this. In my case, I have close family there, and I constantly HOPE that things will improve. But in reality I know it never will. Partly because the educated are leaving Trinidad in droves, a full 78% every year for the past 5 years. (Perhaps Captain will like to post that graph in response to this).
The other part is that Pa-trick has no desire for the educated to return. A man who is king of monkeys, sad to say, is still king. The right of kings has always been to be privileged. So ask yourself, is Pa-trick doing anything else besides following nature? The answer is no.
He is simply obeying a voice, a calling, laid down eons past, and which is now beating in his chest.
We could debate whether Patrick is evil till dee cows come home. The fact of the matter is that he is the leader of ruling regime and he must take responsibility for the output of that regime. Nobody really interested in whether he is evil deep in his heart. That would be the province of psychoanalysis or something.And even if he turns out to be pure evil in disguise - that still leaves the ultimate question 'What's gonna be done about it?'.
The core issue is that Trinidad has been made a mess by a degree or arrogant headlessness, that is increasingly tangible in the last 5 years and definitely more prominent since the last election in Nov 2007!
There is a sense of futility in stopping Patrick - because the target ought not to be Patrick himself, even if he is at the helm. The issue is to stop the power-mad political regime and to put in place people who are fit to take the Nation to a better place. That will require extreme effort, sacrifice and 'labour pains'.
An analysis of the nature of soverign power is important, especially the since Patrick is heading at speed in a certain direction that will call into question the nature of sovereign power. Okay, some ah allyuh eh know wha' a talking 'bout. So leh meh switch into Trini-mode for a few seconds. Boy, ah talking about dictatorship! Yuh - understan' now!? Right - the English philosopher John Locke said that the government held power on trust for the people, who could take power away. READ DAT AGAIN! I don't propose to give a lecture on the topic here. However, it is sufficient to say that Patrick's power is the result of what the people have collectively given to him and his government.
By democratic and lawful means the government can be changed. It depends on the people. The people lost a crucial opportunity in November last year. Now they're feeling the pain. Make that pain focus your minds, for the next election. Perhaps all is not lost, if people can wake up, listen up to what some of us are saying out here. The current regime are on the wrong trajectory and over a cliff into a ditch is no place for a Nation like T&T with so much potential.
When the people start putting aside their asinine diffferences, their racial intolerance of each other, petty squabbling, tribal allegiances, and focus on the future of their children, their children's children; we might have a hope at the next election. Now is a time of sacrifice and planning if anything is to happen in 4 years time. If not we might as well relabel monkey rock as Haiti2.
...tomorrow September 8th, 2008, the labour movement and the people of Trinidad & Tobago are planning to "shut down" the country and businesses and march in protest against the actions or inactions of government which is causing havoc and harm to the country and its residents, while government sit on the sidelines and do nothing...lets wait and see what is the end result - what the success or failure of this exercise turns out to be...!
...I have read many influential people along with Government Ministers questioning the motives behind this march, and even asking the question, what will it achieve...? ...some claim that this is more harmful in itself, than what the government is doing or not doing...!
...what is driving people as a whole to do such thing, to take such an action at enormous inconvenience and loss of income to participate in this kind of protest...? what motivates them to do so...?...is it frustration..? a sense of helplessness...? ...inability to do anything else...? fear of speaking out or questioning government's actions or lack of actions due to repercussions to themselves or their families...?
...no one like to get into name calling, most are however more descriptive of the behaviour of the individuals in accordance with their actions and more often intended for "emphasis". But I would not want to engage a debate on this moreso than to re-focus on "reality of our situation" as it stands today...!
...who ever stood up to critize the actions and behaviour of Adolph Hitler...? ...Papa Doc...? ...Robert Mogabe...?...and whatever became of their people and their citizens thereafter...anyone wants to guess...?
...there is a saying that "good men who stand silent on the sidelines while evil is being comitted" are equally guilty as if they had committed it themselves...!
...respect is neither bought or sold, its always earned...so which world leader would ignore the plight and suffering of his own people, yet find instant money to "give" to all and sundry everywhere else in the world in a heartbeat...all the while his own people at home are crying out for help but still being ignored...which world leader would do such a heartless thing........?
...no, he is not doing this because "he can", he is doing this "because he is allowed to".....what a "collosal shame" for a leader...?
...goodluck...Trini.t.o.o
Well am I surprised that the so-called National Shut Down was of little consequence? No?
Most of the press reports I've read suggested that it was mainly business as usual. A minority of big businesses closed shop early. Amazingly doubles vendors in one part of the country failed to turn out. There was some reported traffic congestion but nothing quite unusual.
The Shut-down was just part of an immature stategy born of the 'March Mentality' - yuh know, where every flipping thing on Monkey Rock dat yuh doh like, yuh parade arong dee blasted place blowin' horn, marching dee highways wid placard, chantin' rong dee Red House etc etc. Allyuh really t'ink dem fellas at dee top who playing wid allyuh money cyare a rat's ass. Come nah man...allyuh doh make fun about a serious matter.
The so-called failure of the Shut-Down, was a good sign to the headless in power, dat dey can now hump dem harder! Why? Because now they know how divided people are. And the more divided people are the more you can take advantage of them. So I suspect the failed Shut-Down did more harm than good.
The murder rate will continue as usual on its exponential trend. You see the new Hollywood Police Commissioner James Philbert giving reassurances. Well ah go believe it when ah see promises materialise. There is a tendency for people to attach new hope to new names and figures. We've seen this game played out in the Health Services in T&T and in the UK. In reality nothing much changes for the better. Why? Because the 'new face' can only deliver what s/he is allowed to deliver, as dictated by his/her political masters - plain and simple.
Yeah I could argue dee odda way too, dat new blood brings new ways of doing business, new leadershp strategies, innovation and motivation - I know only too well the management spiel. But you know, people are stupid - they fall for this stuff nearly all of the time. There is corollary to an old saying which goes like this "You can fool some of the people all of the time." How true is dat on Monkey Rock?
...the so called failed shut-down was a real waste yes, but it was also very harmful to the people as a whole, because it served to signal to the "powers that be" that they could literally do whatever they want, as they please when and where and the people will just roll over and take it lying down without a "whimper"...so yes, in my view, more harm was done to them as a result...!
...but having said that, the regime will now play mass with them, (the people) as they have shown themselves to be "powerless" and mere pawns in a system filled with corruption and inefficiencies that they are either "unable" to fix or "unwilling"...whichever applies...!
...its hard to keep on feeling sorry for people who are not feeling sorry for themselves...they are in for a long "drought" and I am not only speaking of "no water"...they showed their real weakness to Patrick...crapaud smoke they pipe now...!
...goodluck...Trini.t.o.o
This story in Newsday 2008-09-18 struck a chord with the main theme/question "What is happening to Trinidad?"
It's important to highlight what is reported (I don't know the facts):
The above is a very sad and tragic set of events and witnesses were traumtised to say the least.
You know I don't have it in my memory that I ever heard of such things when I was growing up in T&T for the first 30 years of my life. I must have been terribly protected, else these events were extremely rare.
But nowadays, I'm no longer surprised to read about the above in the media - based on my experience of goings on in T&T in the last 7 years.
When I read this story in the media the question came to my mind "What is happening to Trinidad?" - and that led me to write this immediately. It is such a fundamental question.
Well some simple-minded person, might argue that the above event was a matter between two individuals and has nothing to do with Trinidad. Well, I'm afraid it isn't just about the two individuals alone. It is a very serious suicide/homicide. It reflects poorly on Trinidad society, that a man (an individual) could feel that he should take the law into his own hands in such a violent and despicable manner, that he should walk with an unlicensed gun, to command personal control of who should live and die.
I suggest that the incident reflects the sense of futility that an individual feels. And futility does little to describe it. Yes he may have been provoked by something Grant said. That's all speculative at this stage. The fact that he had an unlicensed gun on him is the core issue. Having used it and caused death he is then confronted with a greater sense of 'futility' about his continued existence and his choice is rather obvious - he implodes on himself; is consumed by an existential vacuum - effected by an explosion that snuffs out his conscious brain - his very existence - suicide! What a mess - I say in utter hopelessness.
But an individual is not disconnected from the society in which he lives. His thoughts and motives are concsiously and unconsciously influenced by the 'soup' in which he boils. So what's happening in the 'pot'? It eider overflowin' or it bu'n! What allyuh say? Who in charge of the pot? What ingredients inside dey - ah want tuh know. We shall not be having a hearty meal, I can tell you that much. It stinks from 5000 miles away!