The Trinidad Guardian -Online Edition Ver 2.0

Who’s driving the yachties away?

Here is another piece of Trini madness. Check out the table below marked Commissioner of Police Terms.

COP Terms

Years

Jim Rodriguez,

1987-1990 3

Jules Bernard,

1990-1996 6

Noor Kenny Mohammed,

1996-1998 2

Hilton Guy,

1998-2003 5

Everald Snaggs,

2003-2004 1

Trevor Paul,

2004-2007 3

Average years

3

Isn’t that mind-boggling? The average tenure of our Chief of Police since 1987 has been three years. And you wonder why the Police Service is going downhill?

When controlling an organisation with over 6,000 people, even the most enthusiastic person would take at least two years to earn the trust and confidence of his subordinates. And then, when they know you only have another year to go before another “new broom” appears, why should anyone take you on? Madness.

You want some more Trini Madness? Imagine a gentleman by the name of Michel Coudray, son-in-law of the President of the Dominican Republic, flies into Piarco in a private jet, only to be detained for nearly two hours by Customs and Immigration.

He was only here for a quick visit to look at a yacht at Chaguaramas, a visit that took less time than the delay by our wonderful officials. He had no luggage and his jet was staying at Piarco.

I wonder what he told the President of the Dominican Republic about our desire to have closer trade links with their country?

PQT’s awards for excellence

My first award goes to Caribbean Star employee Jenelle Scanterbury, ID No 4225, at Piarco. As readers will know, we have been helping the Bel Air Orphanage in Grenada after Ivan and we had raised funds to replace the plates and dishes the children used, which were smashed during the hurricane.

On March 19, when the manager of the home checked in at Piarco, with some boxes of plates, etc for the home, there was a misunderstanding as to the amount of excess baggage that was to be allowed and Ms Scanterbury was very supportive and took the time to make several calls to Grenada in an effort to sort things out.

Ironically, the staff at Caribbean Star in Grenada didn’t seem to care, even though it was crockery for the homeless children of Grenada.

Well done, Jenelle!

Incidentally, I’ve been getting several reports of tourists being ripped off and subjected to indifference when visiting Grenada. Maybe their Prime Minister should focus on rebuilding Grenada and leave the cricket to people with more time on their hands.

My second award goes to Tidco for signing up with www.trademap.org on our behalf. Use their name “Tidco” and password “tidco2000” and you have the most amazing wealth of trade statistics at your fingertips. I shall refer more to this site in forthcoming articles.

My third award goes to the Guardian of February 26, where on Page 9 they reported the 22 killings by police in 2004. Thank you, for keeping the facts before us.

Driving away the yachties

On Page 9 of the February 2005 edition of the Caribbean sailing magazine, The Boca was a graph that shook me. I have reproduced it here because it represents the sort of early warning system we desperately need in T&T if we are to take effective action quickly. I’m afraid eight-year-old statistics just don’t cut it in a 2020 world. The graph shows the number of yachts arriving in T&T.

The majority of them will spend a thousand times more money than any cruise ship passenger and yet something is driving them away.

Arrivals have nearly halved in five years and we are outside the hurricane belt. What is going on? Are the stories I continually hear about obstructionist Customs officials true?

Is it the “chook out your eye” mentality of some of our business people doing it?

Is it the Immigration officials’ refusal to grant as many work permits as the industries in Chaguaramas need that’s causing the downfall of our reputation as a port where good work can be done?

Whatever it is, ladies and gentlemen, we are losing serious credibility in the international community when people stop visiting us...and no amount of stickers on the floor at Piarco boasting about our suitability as the FTAA HQ will change that.