T&T cursed by one serious problem

T&T is a blessed country in many ways for which we should all be thankful.

It is free from volcanic eruptions, is just out of the hurricane belt, not subject to cyclones or serious storms, has not suffered from severe earthquakes or extended rain storms, and has not been subjected to foreign aggression or invasion within recent times.

It also has a large expense of good agricultural land and ample supplies of good water that could easily promote the growing of sufficient food crops to meet the needs of the population.

This country is nevertheless cursed by one serious problem that has manifested itself within the past half century and which seems to be getting progressively worse with each passing day, a problem that seems to be common to Guyana and which does not seem to affect the other Caribbean islands to any great extent.

Unlike our neighbouring South and Central American countries, many of which I have visited and in which every citizen considers himself to be a native of the particular country in which he was born, regardless of his ancestral ethnicity and colour of his skin or texture of hair, T&T consists mainly of Africans or Indians with the exception of a handful of Trinis like myself who consider ourselves to be natives of this country.

As a result, the majority of the population consists of two bands of foreigners with no national pride or identity and consequently with no regard or concern for the country of their birth.

The problem goes even deeper and has a negative impact on the efficient governance of the country and the conditions under which citizens are forced to exist and which is further exacerbated by the ignorance among a significant section of the inhabitants.

In spite of all the man-made ills that result from an inefficient government and its lack of concern for the welfare of the citizens in general, because governments are elected strictly on the basis of party ethnicity rather than performance and are blindly and consistently returned to office with each successive election, the country will continue to be mismanaged at the expense of the population indefinitely with no relief in sight.

The fact is that this unwholesome situation originated with the advent of Williams in Trinidad and Burnham in Guyana at around the same time. Unfortunately, because a major section of the population has elected to exist in a state of perpetual denial, they will never accept these indisputable facts.

Martin Kavanagh

La Romaine

Too few officers at Immigration

I am writing in response to a newspaper article regarding the operation of the Immigration Office in Port-of-Spain, in which Chief Immigration Officer Herman Browne said “persons await the opening hour from as early as 3 am, possibly due to the fact that they want to be served first.”

Does this man think citizens want to get out of their beds at an ungodly hour to be at the Immigration Office just to be served first?

Allow me to enlighten Browne. The people are there at that hour because they want to ensure they are given a number to be interviewed before the allocation of numbers for the day runs out. It’s as simple as that.

The problem is that Browne’s office is too small with too few/officers to serve the vast number of people seeking service on daily.

Browne should be ashamed at the appearance of the office and the way it is operated. It should be more automated and there should be satellite offices accessible to citizens who live in remote districts.

For citizens to be there from 3-4 am and then have to wait for three hours plus to be attended to is a disgrace.

Wake up, Browne, your 2020 vision is blurred.

Angela Ramkissoon

Carenage

Make drug tests part of pact

If I were organised labour, I would agree to mandatory drug testing as part of an iron-clad agreement, ie, via legislation and collective agreements, which would include implementing the following issues, not only for the construction sector but nationally:

Joint health and safety committees; access to independent industrial doctors; 35-hour work week; flexi-time; day care centres; material safety data sheets; the right to know; the right to refuse dangerous work; employee assistance programmes; full pension and the choice of a day-time job after 25 years continuous shift work, and the introduction of new technology.

But then again, the term “organised labour” is a misnomer in T&T. Organised labour is a minority group of 15 per cent, unilateral in thought, word and deed, unions mistrustful of each other, embalmed in their perspective of exclusively settling for wages, cost of living allowances and minor bonuses during this economic boom, and decidedly myopic in their investment towards education and research.

When these tests are being taken on an agreed prescribed time-frame, they must also include checking for workplace substances—solvents, chemicals, noise, etc—that cause silent, debilitating and deadly diseases to workers and sometimes their immediate families.

Why should these tests be so thorough and all-embracing? Because employers make these calls without any empirical evidence whatsoever, without seeing their workers as a most important asset to be protected, but rather used. Used because organised labour has no leverage—through their own fault of course—and the Government of the day is a compliant, subservient one to the machinations of capital.

Frank Sears

San Fernando

Govt performing serial hari kiri

In its continuing bungling of a “House for Mr Basdeo,” the puppeteers seem to have entangled themselves in their strings.

Having made Panday a national hero providentially rescued from the odium of their intrigue, they now seek to forestall his martyrdom after their act of deliberate character assassination.

Stammering and stuttering, their spokesmen smile their way through embarrassment while their bluff and bluster buttress Panday’s pedestal.

Dr Fuad Khan’s attempt to cop some dignity retroactively conceals the fact that his “petition” was after the Speaker’s manful decision to vacate the Couva North seat prematurely, unaided by the Appeal Court then.

Our self-degenerated kangaroo House is jumping up and down with the gloves off in a confrontation with a Spartan warrior leader of more than a mere 300.

The Speaker must now take increasing recourse to raw authority no matter how unjustly wielded. “Sit down!” “Sit Down!” is now a familiar refrain.

Prematurely deflecting a martyrdom, the administration is performing serial hari kiri. It seems entranced in the flickering of a burning Bush.

MF Rahman

Via e-mail

What about other artistes?

With all the hot air over Elton John performing at the Plymouth Jazz Festival, I wonder if the other guest stars are squeaky clean?

I wonder if the Tobago pastors and their mentor, Pastor Cuffie, can say for sure that Mary Blige, Diana Ross, and some of the local entertainers are beyond reproach with saintly records?

Maybe Pastor Cuffie could go on the Internet and dig for dirt on them too.

Chandana Ramkissoon

St Augustine

When politicians come calling

It is proof that the silly-season of “press-the-flesh-and-kiss the babes” is upon us when assorted politicians move freely and frequently among the common folk laughing broadly but showing stunned surprise and silly facades that seem to ask: “This is what you all have to live with on a daily basis?”

As if none of them knew. Be that as it may, it is good for people seeking public office and those already seated to get a first-hand look at the magnitude of the hardships most of our citizens endure forever.

It should be that wanna-be politicians be made to pay, and pay handsomely, too, for the privilege of entering areas within constituencies—and that without any guarantee of getting votes.

We know the scenario very well and it is better than even chances that visits to these suffering people will be the one and only time office-seekers will be seen in those places.

When office-seekers make these visits—and from their political platforms—and make funny promises to wide-eyed, expectant folks, we the people believe them and wait in vain for some easement to our plight.

In this day and age, people must be more aware of their own vulnerability and strengths and be astute enough to let those who ask for their support and vote sign legal declarations of “honest intentions” and “I will do my duty towards your problems in a timely manner.” Also have them leave substantial, non-refundable cash downpayments to back up the signed declarations.

I bet, should that ever materialise, we may see a definite turnaround in the overall disdainful attitude of political parties towards the electorate and a strengthening of the resolve of politicians who seek office and their respective parties to do better than just win an election on election day.

Now is the time to let them look squarely at the days following victory at the polls, and their promises to the nation before the race began.

Michael Coryat

Cascade

Talk your mind

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