Close Topic Options

Trinidad & Tobago Politics - Page 2

Name: George

Title: A nation corrupt to its core

Comments: Reading between the lines of the letter written by Nicholas Morris the former Commonwealth Youth Ambassador in today's Express discloses more or less what I have been saying for years, that this is a nation corrupt to its core, and our political projection as a democratic nation is just a facade. It looks like the truth is now oozing out day by day.as more distinguished individuals are beginning to reveal the truth behind the facade.

Message Edited...
Source is missing. There must be a link, page number, etc when quoting someone.

Politics Tobago and Trinidad

Name: George

Title: Playing at politics

Comments: Playing politics here has for sometime can only be classified as gutter politics. Our politicians have lost it. They do not appear to give any matter that comes before them any proper investigation or assessment, and there seem to be a failure to seek consultation with others before making statements or offering solutions to complaints. There is no unity between the opposition and those in the corridors of power when it comes to introducing legislation that helps all of our citizens. They rather seek personal conflict and racial division than doing what is right for the nation. The past records will support this strange mode of conduct within our politics since our independence.It would also appear that in these local political clubs its every man for himself,unless of course it has to do with financial matters which benefits our senior politicians. It is rather surprising that despite the fact we are supposed to be one of the richest nations in the Caribbean and has acquired an abundance of wealth from our now depleting natural resources that we are really no better off than when we were a colony. Almost every aspect of good morals,compassion,ambition and honesty and self respect has been eradicated from the souls of practically all of our citizens. These facets of human bad behavior are now even extended to our secondary school pupils. Generally speaking, since our independence our politicians have assisted in turning this nation into a haven for criminals,by the many bad examples they have set in the past,for instance dabbling in many aspects of corruption. Many aspects of crime are now occupying the minds on most of our citizens. This has come about because crime pays here,and the underhand example set by our politicians.and those in positions of authority. There is no real seriousness about dealing effectively with our crime problems here. Politicians have in fact become immune to the slaughter of our citizens on a daily basis, and it would appear that they wait for a lapse in the spiraling rate of these crimes to make bogus statements of how the situation has improved which is never true. With regards to their failure to deal with murder in a priority mode.They have so far still dilly dallying with the solution to our high rate of murders here. Take for example the restoring of the death penalty. I know that there have been a lot of talk about resuming hanging here, but citizens must bear in mind that there have in the past many promises were made by our politicians which have never been fulfilled and the promise to restore the death penalty could only be a pipe dream. Speaking about things that were promised since our independence by out elected representatives Many still lie in the doldrums of hope and expectation. Not only that, the basic essentials needed for survival are not available to many of our citizens, bearing in mind we have only 1.4 million citizens and our landmass is only 60mils by 40 miles. Many here after over 50 years of independence are still lacking the basic amenities such as portable drinking water, properly maintained roads, medical facilities, good recreation areas, welfare and good educational facilities, indoor toilets, and are continually being told how well the nation is doing and that crime has fallen. This merely leads to more mistrust and disrespect for the police and our politicians.. On a whole, despite our new roads and other structural projects which have cost and arm and a leg and have created many overnight local and foreign millionaires we are still really at square one where security and welfare and living standards of of our citizens are concerned. It would be advisable that our politicians do some sort of political familiarity course in order to give the guidance in to what being a politicians means, as it would appear that they are under the impression it means becoming rich by twisting the procedures and rules of the democratic political system to feather the nests of themselves and their associates which all adds up to a nation corrupt to its core. .As I have already said our politicians are playing at dirty politics here. The media therefore is now the only hope left of redeeming some of our lost good quality of the human soul by speaking out in defene of our citizens.

Trinidad & Tobago Politics Caribbean / Tobago & Trinidad

Name: George

Title: From bad to worse

Comments: Things have certainly gone from bad to worse here. The first question should now be ask is why is it now necessary for Mr Colin Imbert to call on Fitch to provide another rating of our economy? Is he expecting it to be different from the two already provided by the two leading providers of such information?. Perhaps too he is going to pay to have them paint a pretty picture painted of our economy. Well anything is possible here where underhand practices and corruption are concerned.The question however still remains as to what logical reason he has for doing this ?. Then we have the latest episode of a newly appointed judge resigning. Signs that all is not well in our justice system. It is not something that most citizens here are not already aware of as they know that our judiciary are corrupt. This is clearly obvious as we have two sets of laws running parallel with each other..One for the poor and another for the rich. Which is demonstrated here every day. Our justice system is in dire need of reform. If for legal reasons we need to alter the system of appointing judges here, then a far better and fairer system would be to allow the public to elect such judges by means of an electoral process. Allowing the already influential and those in high office of authority to appoint new judges all amounts to signs of a dictatorship. Moreover, the position of Chief justice should be changed from time to time to avoid facilitation and favoritism in respect of others in positions of power here. . This is a process is used in the armed forces and other well operated organization in almost all a Democracies. Finally I read a rather disturbing report this morning about a baby being drowned in a bucket of urine in Laventille. This was because the house had no toilet facilities and the use of the bucket was therefore essential. It is obvious that residence in this district are still living without the basic amenities despite the government promise to resolve the matter of the inhabitants having to use outside latrines. This promise to resolved this problem months ago apparently has not been fulfilled and situation appears to be still in limbo. One would have expected a full house to house assessment and survey would have already been undertaken and the matter resolved. It would however appear. That this is not the case, bearing in mind what has happened with regards to the death of this innocent child. Like I have said many times before we have too many politicians here lacking in morals, compassion and foresight, offering lip service with no real followup action. All in all the observations of the three matters mentioned above gives a very doubtful scenario here of the effectiveness of our politics and justice system.

Page 2 Politics Tobago and Trinidad

Name: George

Title: Lacking in civic responsibility

Comments: The poor quality of personal attitudes and illogical reasoning of most politicians in this country, despite their professional and educational qualifications are reflected in the advice given to citizens by the opposition leader to destroy the documents in respect of property tax. This is in my opinion, giving guidance to our citizens on breaking the law, and just goes to show some of the people of status here, in many cases are, the generators of lawlessness This is despite holding responsible positions,being of influential status, and having a civic responsibility.It really can't get any worse than this,or could it?

Politics Tobago and Trinidad

Name: George

Title: getting the nation back on the right track

Comments: In order for this nation to get back on the right track, the government must take the following draconian measures and stop offering lip service. They must first make an honest attempt to control the two main aspects of corruption namely accountability and transparency within government departments .This could be done by more regular. Monitoring. Secondly they must reform the police system by getting the rid of those bad apples in it hierarchy, in this process they must also replace the ACOP with a foreign commissioner of police and a supporting team of outside policemen and finally restore the death penalty. We at present have no reliable, experienced, or responsible senior police officer to take the place of Mr Williams who has made no difference to the crime scenario since his appointment. Appointing him to his present position was a mistake.of some enormity .Why he is still there, God knows. He has past his sell by date.Cloning him with another born and bred senior police officer is not going to resolve our crime problem.By the way, I see that the Chief justice position and his briga de are being questioned .This could at last mean a right step is being taken to getting the nation back on the right course.

Trinidad & Tobago Politics

Name: George

Title: A nation in conflict with itself

Comments: This is nation in conflict with itself, and all the signs are because of personal greed by those in power and others in positions of authority it is slowly destroying itself. We just have too many deceitful, corrupt and liars holding positions of influence and authority here. It is the main reason why we have really made no real progress as a nation. Or improvement in the living conditions of most of our citizens. At present because of self interest by those who have the opportunity to help themselves to Treasury funds without any questions asked we are a financially a nation collapsing onto itself. We are over- burdened with crime and it would now appear that almost every citizens here have some intention of playing their part in getting rich by hook or crook using underhand methods. We can no longer rely on locally born and bred policemen to protect our citizens. They too are slowly but surely joining the multitude of law breakers of this nation. They realize that it is easy to make crime pay here. Look into every nook or cranny here, and you will find unsavory happenings associated with corruption. We now even have school children being nurtured into potential criminals,and no doubt some may end up in the corridors of power at a later time.. .This has all come about by the examples set by their mentors and especially government officials who offer loads of lip service but that is where it ends. Those responsible for almost our crime come from our [..] communities and this is caused by our politics being linked to race and [..] politicians making promises they cannot keep. . The [..] pioneers and their successors since our independence have sent the wrong signals to citizens of its own race and are still doing so. There is constant conflict between those at the top of our ladder of importance and this has become very noticeable in the last decade as portrayed in the daily reported news. It would now appear that our [..] politicians because of their hidden doctrine and beliefs have nurtured so many crooks and political con men here that they have lost control of true governance of the nation and now have to succumb to demands from their own government departments for finance. The police is a very good example.They are constantly demanding money either to by new equipment of increase in their salaries and have become a law onto themselves and will even break the law if it is necessary to do so, to achieve their request as demonstrated in the the calypso call road block by Trevor Pastor in 2015 Despite all the money pumped into this organization and increase in manpower they still remain ineffective as they were decades ago at solving murders and other crime or catching the serious criminals here.. It would now appear that nothing can be done to reverse the present trend without draconian measures which the present politicians are not prepared to take despite what they may say.They are too afraid of upsetting the apple cart by losing political power.or so called superiority. We have heard so much about restoring the death penalty,replacing the A/COP and reforming TTPS and the judiciary system and other things such as cleaning up the licensing office where corruption is rife and yet noting has happened, and by the looks of it nothing will happen. At present we have senior officials of TTPS about to face trial for allegedly breaking the law who instead of being suspended are still employed as usual in the same position of office. How odd?. Then we have a brigade of so called Muslims terrorist who is being led by and ex-policeman who has continually made a mockery of our legal system and is still doing so, because he is supported to some extent by important dignitaries and members of judiciary. Bearing all the above in mind, our future looks bleak and the main sufferers of all this chaos are the poor and deprived of this nation who can be found mainly in the strongholds of the PNM. A political party who promised to do so much for this nation and in particular for the race they represent after our independence, and all they have done so far for this nation is to turn it into a haven for criminal especially for those of their own race.with one of the world's most alleged mastermind of corruption being protected here by the police, the politicians and those of the legal profession. As I have said we a nation in conflict with ourselves.

Trinidad & Tobago Politics - Page 2

Name: George

Comments: Warning, you may not like what you read in this letter but I have to invite you attention to the fact that our country is still on the road of breaking up into pieces and is slowing sinking in murky waters.. Just have a look at the highlighted news that appears every day and send me any proof that it is not so.. I am all ears. There is the continuance of the normal hatred shared between politicians here of the two main racial groups each side battling to gain superiority with no intentions of treating our citizens as one entity where politics are concerned. There is a strong notion that the government has now resorted to official banditry of imposing property tax on ordinary folks because the present politicians in the corridors of power have failed to managed the economy in a correct manner,and are still squandering our money.

Lots of it being given to big companies to drill and search for oil and gas that is not there, as the bright boys from overseas and our supposedly local smart and educated politicians have stood by and watched these two resources over exhausted because of quick financial greed. All this quacking and fluttering being used as a gimmick to quell the anxiety of the population in an attempt to hold onto power.

Politicians are now shivering in their boots fearing they may not be able to continue living the lives of Riley in the near future,as our GDP is declining at a rapid rate,and no one paid any attention to calls for diversification and are still only offering lip service to this suggestion. Our criminals,especially the hardened elements are having a ball here, and with an incompetent police force, the nation has now been turned into a haven for criminals, some even coming form far away places as Africa as they have heard on the grape vine this nation is striving with corruption and injustices and that crime pays here handsomely.This has also encouraged most all of our citizens even school pupils to battle with their conscience from having a finger in the pie of criminality here. There are also rising unemployment cause by overseas investors now fleeing a sinking ship in droves,,and local government because of a shortage of finance, cannot meet the cost of maintaining the level of employees in some department within its administration. Then we got the local press though reporting on adverse matters, are failing to put the pressure on the government to get a grip with the situation with regards to crime and the economy, and to pay more attention to correcting what is wrong here, and show some compassion to local citizens by trying earnestly to halt the expansion of crime, unemployment and rising poverty. There is every sign that our judiciary is going to remain corrupt as attempts to alter the current situation has been halted and rubber stamp with official approval. We as a nation is now no longer sliding into the political gutter,we are now there, wobbling in the murky sludge and gradually sinking at the bottom among all the rotting debris. As I have said before digest the contents of the daily reports in the press and you will quickly get the true picture of what is really happening here.No this is not a imaginable tale but a truly painted picture of the reality facing this nation.

Trinidad & Tobago Politics Trinidad & Tobago / Caribbean - Page 2

Name: George

Title: Lack of essential needs and others

Comments: It is really unbelievable that despite all our past wealth and the nation still being classified as one of the richest countries in the Caribbean that we still have citizens living in this country without a supply of portable drinking water. One could understand and expect such a situations in vast countries like India and parts of the African continent where there are a high volume in population and large extent of land which suffers from regular seasonal droughts. Here however we have only an area 60 miles by 40 miles and a very small population and yet we have a shortage of basic amenities, water being one of them .We have heavy rainfalls during part of the year that supply millions of gallons of water and do not suffer from droughts. In my opinion past and present government administrations have to be blamed for the present shortage of water and other basic needs here. They have ignored the essential needs of most of our ordinary citizens living in outlying districts and only seem interested in these areas during election canvassing periods making promises they cannot keep. They are too wrapped up in presenting projects of grandear that falsely sends a message of progress, whilst they feather the nests of themselves and their rich associates. Politicians here must remember the main reasons why they were elected to govern this nation, and one of the main reasons is to improve the living conditions of the ordinary citizens and not squander Treasury funds on building more roads to nowhere and introducing schemes that offers 'kick backs'. Politicians here takes too long a time for the essentials elements of progress of this nation to be implemented such as the widening of the road to Maracas bay which was built by the Americans during World War two. With all signs now pointing to the depletion of our oil and gas resources it may knock some sense into their heads, and they now may rush to fix things that are outstanding, in order to sustain a decent living standard for especially our poor ordinary citizens here in the future.