|
Put stop to this highway robbery
Stuck
in traffic on the Beetham one Friday evening, I was able to
witness firsthand the glory of two Beetham youths who had
clearly graduated from scaling rubbish trucks in the Labasse
and are now proudly self-employed in robbing unsuspecting
commuters who don’t have a/c or the good sense to put
their car glass up.
I cannot imagine that the authorities are still oblivious
to these happenings. Surely then the logical thing would be
to deploy highway patrols during the rush hours.
Perhaps instead of posting a traffic officer at every intersection
on Independence Square, we might instead commit resources
to prevent highway robbery in its most literal sense.
Through no fault of our own, we live with a traffic situation
which is out of control and to add insult to injury we are
being targeted by snatch-and-run losers while we wait. Who
are the idiots in this picture?
If the authorities do not move swiftly to secure us, then
I do hope we will all understand the commuter who reacts to
defend himself in his vehicle, because the last time I looked
it is not criminals alone who have rights in this country.
I know that I will not sit idly by and allow Beetham vultures
in the form of “youthmen” to intimidate me after
a day of work.
And while I am terribly sorry if this epistle offends anyone,
let me remind that lawlessness is not part of Vision 2020.
So let’s not make excuses for the things that are glaringly
wrong with our country.
A Sankar
Lawyer
cafe@tstt.net.tt
Fed
up with nightly outages
I
am writing to express my utter disgust about the services
offered by T&TEC on a nightly basis.
I live at Allen Street, Gasparillo, and I am totally fed up
with the nightly outages. These outages are only in the area
of Allen Street and part of Guaracara Street.
Now, I do understand that there can be problems with equipment,
but what I cannot understand is the regularity with which
this is happening. It causes me to wonder if they know what
they are doing.
Calls to the trouble centres always get the same answer: we
are aware of the problem and are working on it.
As the outages occur around peak load time, I must conclude
that there is an overload problem. It is a wonder that appliances
and other electrical equipment have not been damaged—as
yet—by the frequent surges in power.
Mulchan Ramdath
Gasparillo
spideram@yahoo.com
Set up centres to help retirees
Retired
public and other officers, including widows and orphans, are
required to submit life certificates to the pension branch
of the Treasury Division by April and October of each year.
These life certificates are of great importance and failure
to comply could result in financial embarrassment. An offender
may be starved of his monthly pay until matters are put right.
Amending and correcting the infringement could involve some
time and delay.
Some difficulty is encountered by people who live in places
remote from Port-of-Spain. The hardship involved in getting
to the Treasury Division, for many who do not live in the
route of easy transport, could result in failure to comply.
Because of the vital importance of fulfilling the necessary
requirements, I suggest that centres be established in various
parts of the country to carry out the relevant functions of
collecting and checking documents and dispatching them safely
to their final destination.
Saler Ameerali
Chaguanas
UWI
students too busy to care
There
are student protests in Haiti. Student protests in Iran. Students
protest the American war. Students in Jakarta. Jamaica. In
Berlin. South Korea. St Augustine? No. It’s safe to say
that protest is at an all-time low here. And while protest
for protest’s sake is not a positive thing, the level
of self-involvement and apathy in UWI is positively disturbing.
It was really hilarious to see the guild president on the
news (in his air-conditioned office) complaining about security
around campus. Directly afterward, the news clip showed about
five students commenting on their satisfaction with campus
security.
I myself have felt safer around campus this year, and the
security presence is tangible. This incident however shows
that the guild president is out of touch with student issues.
This is not surprising though, as UWI guild politics generally
reflects T&T politics: race-based, full of accusations
and suspicions, ending in handouts to keep the public quiet.
And what is the administrative agenda? Well, in the “Strategic
Plan” for the university 2003-2007, St Augustine’s
main aim is “expansion of access.” Secondary to
this is improving the courses and course delivery.
St Augustine is the only UWI campus to put expansion over
quality: even the financially troubled Mona does not. But
again, this comes as no surprise, as the competition from
the University of T&T will be posing a serious threat
to St Augustine’s enrolment numbers.
So the situation is as follows: an out of touch student representative
group, and an administration desperate to increase numbers,
even if it means quality must be sacrificed. Currently there
are just fewer than 14,000 students on campus.
Don’t get me wrong, the material taught at UWI is often
excellent, and we have some of the finest lecturers in the
region, sometimes in the world. So why are students not a
significant force for social change? It’s because of
the little time available to them.
Years ago, the semester system was adopted from the US educational
system. It replaced the term system, meaning that exams are
now at the end of every semester (half-year), instead of at
the end of every year.
Of course, like “true Trinis” we copied parts but
not the whole. So we did not add the fourth year US colleges
have to our system. This means the exam structure for four
years is squashed into three, and the material for a term
is often squashed into a semester.
This leaves students stumbling stupidly from assignment to
exam, trying to remember just enough to get a good grade,
to get a good job, to get a good life. Many students don’t
even realise that ignoring the problems of today means we
may not have a society left to live a “good life”
in. But we don’t have much time to think about that.
With this overbearing workload, we have lost all sense of
reflection, all absorption, and all direction. Our country
is slowly (?) going to hell, and the “educated youth”
are just desperately trying to pass their final exams, and
ease the stress with “free drinks.”
But as Lloyd Best said, “education is more than just
passing exams.” UWI St Augustine has proved this statement’s
truth to me in the realest way. As for the lack of protests
because of victimisation, I’ll be a willing experiment.
I protest this poor education system.
Chike Pilgrim
UWI, St Augustine
Punishment is not the answer
I
disagree with the recommendation by Prof Ramesh Deosaran that
parents or guardians should be punished for delinquency/truancy
of their children or charges. I think it may have a negative
effect in that the adults may be stigmatised or ostracised
in the schools and community and that will only exacerbate
the situation.
I have two questions in the event his recommendation is implemented
by the Government:
What will the penalties be, who will decide on them and how
will they be
implemented?
What guarantee is there that after these penalties have been
imposed that there will be an improvement or positive effect
on the family situation?
It is my opinion that Deosaran should have suggested:
More emphasis on parental skills and management and this could
be done by a media blitz to sensitise parents on the crucial
role they have in the lives of their children and society.
An in-depth analysis regarding unsupervised children and violent
movies/ videos/video games/music/peer pressure and the impact
they have on delinquency and truancy.
A more diligent effort on education of family planning so
that parents can cope with the amount of children they can
afford to feed, shelter, clothe, educate and, most important,
love.
Penalising parents/guardians is not the solution—education
is the key.
B Sandy
Maraval
Probe private health clinics
Two
recent events have brought to light the urgent need to investigate
private healthcare institutions.
One is the death of Dawn Dolly, and the other the death of
Simone Uddenberg. Both were treated at a private medical centre
for “minor surgery.” According to Simone’s
mother, “Simone decided a year after the implant to remove
the steel rod from her leg after being advised by her doctor
that it was safe. She went into minor surgery and a few days
later she was dead.”
In Dolly’s case, she went into the centre for a “simple”
procedure—the removal of fibroids and died from cardiac
arrest. Eastlyn McKenzie had this to say:
“They
thought that Dawn had gone to the best place. When they see
top-of-the-line places people think, ‘Well, OK, you could
not dead there.’ But they need as much investigation
as you investigate babies’ deaths at Mt Hope, death at
PoS General, or whatever.”
Wade Mark’s comments were as follows:
“Too
many people have perished in T&T under mysterious circumstances
which warranted investigation. Maybe the time has come for
such an inquiry, so we can spare the family and friends of
such developments in the future. Justice demands nothing less
in this instance.”
It is interesting to note that no member of the medical staff
or the head of the institution has been recorded as having
come forward with either an explanation, expression of sympathy
or an apology. The CEO, a non-medical member of staff, has
been appointed spokesman for the medical staff.
The comments by the grieving mother and close friends of Dawn
Dolly are self-explanatory.
It is clear that there is no public hue and cry about the
costly private institutions in this country simply because
they are expected to be “top-of-the-line” and this
pre-supposes better care. This is an incorrect supposition
and there are many who remain silent in their grief.
In the name of justice, is there anything that can be done
by anyone to save us all from the ills of these institutions?
Veronica S Ferreira
Diego Martin
vcarter_ferreira@yahoo.com
|
