The Dunning Kruger effect takes its name from two psychologists who performed the initial experiments to establish its existence. It describes the state of incompetent people who are unable to recognise their incompetence, and believe themselves to be competent. The more incompetent they are, the more intense the belief in their competence, and the more elaborate the strategies they employ to convince themselves.

In the words of Dunning and Kruger: “When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realise it.”

This could be the Trini national disease. From the top to the bottom, we (as usual, I don’t include myself) drink and bathe in delusions of competence, and manufacture elaborate mythologies to convince ourselves of it.

We have universities which churn our more and more graduates, but literacy, productivity, and innovation are dying horrible deaths. The same applies to the police service, the health system, the civil service—in all, billions expended to maintain the appearance of normalcy or competence, little to actually fixing the problems.

In no area of national life is this effect more apparent and its consequences more devastating than in “culture,” neatly encapsulated in the Carnival, a metonym of/for national culture. Trinidadians, led by the State’s cultural apparatus, have convinced themselves they/we have not only prodigious amounts of talent, but of that genius’s embodiment in the phenomenon of the Carnival, disaggregated into the steelband, the masquerade and calypso and whatnot.

Every year I quixotically tilt two or three articles at Carnival, pointing at the extravagant claims and introducing Carnivalists to reality and facts. Issues include the wild claims that Carnival makes a profit; that it’s a “pressure valve” for national catharsis; that talent and intellect are manifest in the practice; and Canboulay is anything but a gang-war. As argued over the last two weeks the realities are: uh-uh, steups, hell no, and Oh Gord, shut it, nah.

Nonetheless ideas persist, doing harm, nurturing anti-intellectual and uncreative attitudes which suffuse the society. The result is a culture of delusion, hostility, and increasing desperation, stress, and pain when reality and illusion don’t line up. Like when all the creativity and competence lead to doctors who kill people, schools who have gang fights every day, no public transportation, growing illiteracy in schools and so on and so on.

Which persistence of harmful ideas brings me to Geoffrey Dunn, whose letter responding to my review of his documentaries, Calypso Dreams and Glamour Boyz, was published two Wednesdays ago. Ordinarily, I’d let such an importunate belch slide, but the crack about the Caroni River caught my attention, and reminded me of the role of people like Mr Dunn in enabling the harmful culture described above.

By “people like Mr Dunn” I don’t mean academics, musicians, filmmakers and artists. Nor do I mean foreigners or “white” people. I mean a few metropolitan tourists with more enthusiasm than talent. Naipaul put it best: they’re second-raters, and they love Trinidad because it’s a third-rate country. And apparently we love them for the same reason.

They are usually unremarkable in their own countries and come here, are entranced by “our culture” and appoint themselves to missions of mercy and preservation, encouraged by various posses of professional sufferers, with stories of oppression.

I suspect this is precisely what happened to Mr Dunn who, convinced of the dire need to “help” calypso, shot a great deal of amateurish footage of older calypsonians talking about themselves and their personal histories. (No mention of the younger, successful calypsonians, since this subverts the oppression story.)

And in filming, Mr Dunn apparently absorbed the sense of oppression, entitlement and victimhood the independence generation of calypsonians has convinced themselves is their fate and duty to perpetrate. 

As part of his education, his interlocutors evidently schooled him in the lore about Indians being the enemy of Carnival, which would have been especially pointed when he filmed his footage (around 2000), the UNC era. So Mr Dunn feels entitled to the moral indignation when criticised, and reaches for the most ready stone to hurl—he is ah Indian an dem duzzen like Kahnaval.

I suppose it’s better than facing the fact that the movies are bad, amateurishly done and take up space better films could use. As history, they’re not factual in any sense but the privatist.

And Mr Dunn seems unaware he’s telling a story that’s been told more than once, by people more knowledgeable and capable. Rawle Gibbons’ Calypso Trilogy (of musical plays), Gordon Rohlehr’s Calypso and Society, and Louis Regis’s The Political Calypso are three of about 10 books I own. Of course there are many more I don’t.

The point here is not to “respond” to Mr Dunn. What do you say to a man who believes he “sold out” Globe cinema, when the tickets were free (and the cinema was at best two-thirds full)? He’s not unique. There’ve been many over the years, who with the best of intentions, help the havoc grow. 

This is because these are the works that reach policy-makers and the academe, to disastrous effect, like the half-billion-dollar Carnival price tag. Unfortunately, there seems to be no end in sight given the status quo. The Carnival is the manifestation of the lengths Trinidad will go to deny its misery and avoid confronting it, and Mr Dunn, and the people like him, often with the best of intentions, help to prop up that delusion.

“It will take Trinidad a long time to recognise that it is a long way off the mark and must be prepared to make a quantum leap away from a model (of local government) which is not only counterproductive but more importantly, denies the people the goods and services that are rightfully due to them.”

That is one of the conclusions of the “Conspiracy Against the People—the case of Local Government in T&T” made by Louis Lee Sing, the 40th mayor of the capital city of Port-of-Spain after his 39-month long term in office. 

Lee Sing relates the systematic deprivation of burgesses of services and facilities through a triad of uncaring attitudes, administrative misalignment and a fundamentally-flawed governance structure mixed in with political bad mind between the central government of the ruling People’s Partnership and the opposition People’s National Movement which controlled the city corporation.

In his typically aggressive style, the former mayor slams the central government of the ruling PP but does not spare his own party, the PNM, which he notes has always been in control of the running of the capital city, from excoriating criticism charging neglect and political intrigue to get rid of him.  

However, he lists a few victories achieved by himself as mayor and his Council. Amongst them, the conversion of King George V Park into a place of recreation for children and families; a measure of relief brought to the residents of Woodbrook plagued by general indiscipline and unconcern for the burgesses of the urban town and a number of other material gains including revenue-collection measures.

But outside of the “nuts and bolts” of the work done, Lee Sing says the Council “established a greater awareness of what strong civic-mindedness must come to mean in the city.”

Many projects were left behind; many he surmises may be dropped off the agenda. No solution to the decades-old problems of street dwellers, street vending, replacing 3,000 insanitary and inhumane latrine pits with toilets, clearing the slums of East Port-of-Spain, having glass bottles removed from Carnival parade days (here again in 2015), a new traffic system to avoid the inevitable grid lock.

The problem of elected Councilors being trampled under the feet of MPs and the many battles he waged against the administrative bureaucracy in the City Corporation.

However, the most salient and instructive elements of the book are in the analysis of the dysfunctional structure of local government bodies: the constraint of the Council not being answerable to the mayor and his Council but to a local government minister. The conflict is amplified when the party in central government is different to that which is in office in the city corporation.

One fallout effect is the City being dictated to by the central government; and the inadequacy of the allocation of funding for special projects even when the action required “is in the interest of the people.”

“The evidence suggest that successive governing political parties have all argued strongly in favour of autonomy for local government while in opposition but once they control the corridors of Whitehall, they abandon decentralisation in preference for tighter and more restrictive controls on local government,” says Lee Sing.  

Specific to the city of PoS and its myriad problems, Lee Sing indicts his own party, the PNM. He notes that the party has had unbroken control of the city; what is more is that the PNM has been in control of the government over the long history.

He is of the view that the city corporation can raise as much as 40 per cent of its budget from its own measures. To demonstrate that claim Lee Sing, as mayor, stuck the Council’s hands in the deep pockets of commercial enterprises and the not so deep pockets of individuals. On the lack of caring by his own party, Lee Sing gives an account of frightening disinterest.

“There must be something fundamentally flawed with a system that makes no demands for accountability of a serving officer who had the responsibility to spearhead expenditure in the sum of $600 million,” observes Lee Sing noting that not the “chairman nor (sic) the Political Leader asked me to account.” This was preceded by an aborted attempt by the party to have him impeached; his account of the political manoeuvring is interesting internal politics.

Lee Sing’s contests with ministers Sharma, Rambachan and Tewarie, were he claims, about preventing them from retarding the work of the corporation. “I never imagined that so many people with so little cerebral ability could be assembled in one place,” proclaimed Lee Sing in reference to the PP government. But he records successful engagement on specific projects with ministers Warner and Moonilal; even though Warner hung him out to dry after joint agreement to meet with gang leaders.  

His projections for a capital city are a mixture of work left undone by generations of councils and a few new ideas. The experience behind him, Lee Sing should collaborate with the local government specialists at UWI to draft a new model of local government for discussion and implementation.

Bridgetown, Barbados—The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is projecting regional economies to grow by an average of two per cent this year with expansions expected in all 19 borrowing member countries (BMCs). As was the case last year, most are set to grow by between one per cent and three per cent with strongest performances expected in tourism and construction, along with some improvement in commodity exports. 

The bank’s preliminary forecast also reflects an anticipation of moderate improvements in the economies of the region’s major trading partners, officials told a press conference in Barbados. According to the CDB, while its preliminary estimate of regional growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) of 1.3 per cent for last year is slightly lower than the revised figure of 1.7 per cent for 2013, there is cautious optimism of further strengthening of the regional recovery. 

Fastest growth rates for 2014 were estimated for the more tourism-dependent economies. St Kitts and Nevis and the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) for example, each experienced accelerated growth of around four per cent, based on the strengthening recovery in tourism and continued investment inflows for mainly tourism and real estate-related construction.

In fact, the CDB says almost all regional destinations for which data were available recorded increased visitor arrivals last year. Meanwhile, despite falling commodity prices and other challenges that impacted mining and quarrying activity, some large commodity exporters were also able to grow quite rapidly, although driven by the services sector.

There were a few exceptions to the overall economic recovery, however. T&T, which accounts for nearly a third of the Region’s total GDP, slowed considerably to record modest growth last year. The CDB says this came in the wake of operational challenges and the significant drop in oil prices during the year which suppressed petroleum output, thereby driving a decline in the mining and quarrying sector. 

In a few other BMCs, continued underperformance in key sectors contributed to flat or declining economic activity. Barbados and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) stagnated for the seventh consecutive year in 2014. Marginal growth was estimated for Barbados, as weak performances in tourism, international business and construction were not enough to compensate for declines in manufacturing and agriculture.  

Elsewhere, sizeable economic contractions in St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2014 partly reflected the impact of a severe storm just before the start of the year, which worsened pre-existing, chronic weaknesses in critical sectors. Referring to the other major sector contributing to the regional recovery, the CDB said continued expansion in construction activity in most BMCs was primarily led by the private sector. 

Much of this was related to tourism and other commercial development, as well as strong growth in residential building in some territories. Growth in the sector was also stimulated by public sector capital investment in several countries.

The CDB reported mixed performances in manufacturing, with three of the top five regional manufacturers showing moderate-to-strong growth and two declining. Solid expansion in the non-petroleum segment of the sector in T&T was boosted by the economic recovery in the rest of the region.

This heightened demand for its export products, including food, beverages, chemicals and especially cement, consistent with the upward trend in construction. Haiti and Guyana were the other two major manufacturers that posted growth. 

According to the CDB, agriculture also had mixed fortunes, with some of the major agro-producers reporting robust growth, whereas adverse weather conditions and crop disease negatively affected others. Labour market conditions were largely a reflection of the general improvement in real sector activity, with unemployment rates falling in several BMCs. Although, generally unemployment levels remain stubbornly high.

The bank also reported improvements in foreign exchange reserves. Preliminary indications are that external current account balances in most BMCs were positively influenced by the strengthening recovery in tourism, in terms of travel receipts, as well as continued inflows of remittances.

President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)  Luis Alberto Moreno and Planning Minister Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for establishment of a Multi Donor Energy Facility for Caribbean Sustainability. This facility has been under discussion between Government and the IDB for the last 18 months. 

The objective of the MOU is to formalize a non-exclusive framework of co-operation and to facilitate collaboration between the IDB and Government  to establish modalities for   mobilization of donors to the fund and to work out details on the operationalisation of the fund. The MoU is for collaboration in:
• Promotion of energy diversification, energy efficiency and a reliable supply of alternative fuels at a reduced cost in the Caribbean;
• Designing the governance, operational and administrative structure of the proposed facility, including fiduciary and financial mechanisms and instruments;
• Developing an adequate fund raising strategy;
• Co-ordinating resource mobilisation activities with donors, partners, bilateral donor agencies, multilateral institutions and other public and private investors,
• Identifying delivery methods that make energy security and competitiveness in the region possible. 

Tewarie met earlier in the day with IDB Governors from Barbados, The Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname to outline the thinking and to elaborate on the benefits of such an initiative. Governors at the meeting commended T&T “a bold step” and “a generous initiative.” 

The Multi Donor Energy Facility for Caribbean Sustainability was first announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at a meeting in Washington hosted by the United States Vice President Joe Biden. Tewarie is leading a team in the Bahamas at the Fourth Annual IDB Governors a Regional Meeting where the IDB President consults annually with the Caribbean Governors of the Bank.

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 12 securities of which four advanced, two declined and six traded firm. Trading activity on the First Tier Market registered a volume of 528,626 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $3,310,637.30.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers Ltd was the volume leader with 329,033 shares changing hands for a value of $142,484.19, followed by Sagicor Financial Corporation with a volume of 99,221 shares being traded for $520,910.25. Massy Holdings Ltd contributed 35,216 shares with a value of $2,243,499.28, while Scotia Investments Jamaica Ltd added 22,858 shares valued at $33,173.68.

Sagicor Financial Corporation enjoyed the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.14 to end the day at $5.25. Conversely, Guardian Holdings Ltd suffered the day’s greatest loss, falling $0.04 to close at $13.10. Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 86,142 shares valued at $1,938,195. It remained at $22.50.

Whither goeth Machel “Monk Monte” Montano, the likes of Olatungi, Destra, Iwer, Bunji, Fay Ann and the “new wave” soca? Machel and Bunji and a couple of their soca pieces (Ministry of Road and Differentology) have been able to break into the Soul Train international performances award.

However, since its invention by Lord Shorty and the extensions of Maestro, Merchant and musicians such as Ed Watson and Pelham Goddard, soca has remained “island music” closely tied to the umbilical cord of carnival. The form has not been able to break into the international music scene in a big way.

Now that Monk Monte, which seems to be his new market-appealing sobriquet, by his own words is finished with the Soca Monarch competition, he and the  exponents of the genre need to concentrate their best efforts at developing soca for the international music market to give it a chance of “going viral” as the language of the day would have it. 

The reality though is that the lyrics and intent of soca today are, understandably so, composed and structured around “wining and jamming on de bumper in the de Carnival.” T

hose lyrics are compelling party animals and masqueraders in T&T Carnival, the Caribbean and Diaspora. But the subject matter and lyrics must be widened to attract those in the international music market who are not aware of the Carnival environment: they have not been here; probably will never get here; but could be interested in the music if the lyrics and thematic content can reach them and infect them in the musical form that is soca.   

Given such a requirement, the composers of the lyrical content of soca, the musicians and the singers have to recreate and find themes that will have resonance in an international market.

In the Jamaican experience with reggae spreading out of Kingston through pioneer Bob Marley, his early protest lyrics were not only universal but resounded around the world in a period when revolutionary change occurred in cities such as Harare. Marley grounded with groups of young people around the world who were questioning the status quo.

His love songs reached many. So too did the likes of  Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh ring through for many. Behind the music were producers and investors who understood that music is a multi-billion dollar international industry. 

But for a few of our music entrepreneurs and impresarios who seek to promote the music through shows inside and outside of the Carnival season, our investors do not seem aware of or persuaded by the financial viability of music as a business option.

Undoubtedly William Munro’s Soca Monarch and the national Road March competitions will continue to be important to the Carnival season and the other Trini-inspired and serviced Carnivals around the region and in those cities and countries that have adopted and adapted the Trinidad festival.

But breaking into the international music industry is where the action must be.  What is needed is an end to the unproductive internal wrangling and petty squabbling that goes on annually. That is tired stuff that leads nowhere. Instead the focus in the soca industry should be on ambitious thoughts and follow up plans to place soca on the international music charts. 

This is not impossible as decades ago through the likes of Roaring Lion, Kitchener, Sparrow, Melody and others the world was made aware of the calypso, although it was the American Harry Belafonte and the Andrews Sisters who scored the biggest hits in that early period.

The times of this period are far more propitious in a truly internationalized world of instant communications through the use of technology. Private entrepreneurship and infrastructure in collaboration with some promotional assistance from the State are needed to place soca on the top of the international charts.

“This is the only time of the year that I get to free up, for these two days I don’t have to stress about anything.” A barely costumed masquerader sprayed this heartfelt sentiment into a reporter’s face on Carnival Tuesday. For revellers whose ecstasy climaxed on those two days, surely they must be heartsick with Carnival tabanca as the festive season has come to an end. But has it? Tabanca in the Trini lexicon is defined as lovesickness. What cause do we have to lay claim to this romantic notion? 

The hordes of hedonists had pranced straight out of the Christmas season and into the prolonged mirth of Carnival. Before that there were the band launches which can typically begin as early as August. Interspersed among those events are innumerable public holidays and long weekends. If a public holiday falls on a Thursday, by default, it’s a long, ringstove weekend. 

While it was thought that a shorter Carnival season would separate the wheat from the chaff in the context of fete events, on the face of it, this appears not to be so. Promoters, eager to cavort in the orgy of spending, seem not to suffer too much from the glut of parties. “I went to a breakfast party this morning, then I went an drink by some friends and now we here…an we still drinkin!” 

‘Feters’, undaunted by the packed party schedule, simply make full use of the 24-hour day. It is a badge of honour to ‘break dawn’ at a soca party, stumble home bleary eyed and stale drunk, perhaps only to rest for a bit and hit it again in the evening. For those who aren’t into the Carnival scene, it was beach or river limes with plenty food and booze. Elsewhere, the ‘saved’ were holed up Waco-style in retreats praying for the souls of the rest of us heathens.

It is easy to forget that Carnival Monday and Tuesday are not public holidays, neither is Ash Wednesday for that matter. You couldn’t tell that by the smooth flow of traffic into the capital city that morning. Media reports suggested that children, not teachers stayed away in troubling numbers, no doubt kept away by their parents who needed the salve of salt water around their swollen ankles. 

Thousands flocked to the beach to counter the effects of the physical exertion of jumping up for two days, an activity meant to provide stress relief and relaxation in the first place. And after Carnival it is time to laff! Numerous, poorly produced commercials are choking the airwaves, announcing comedy shows that are running for as long as two weeks. Following a solid two months of partying, people still crave the escapism of portly men in drag belching out humourless skits.

There may be a relative lull in activity for a couple months, but a trend which emerged a few years ago assures that Carnival jumbies won’t be jonesin’ for their ‘break-way’ fix for too long. J’ouvert in June and July is now a regular fixture on the annual party calendar. You have to hand it to our inventive party promoters, they sense that Trinis abhor the idea of money cluttering their bank accounts and are happy to hand them a win-win solution. 

At least four bands (that I am aware of) lead cocoa or paint slathered pied piepees down short-term memory lane. The Chaguaramas peninsula is a popular destination for this J’ouvert redux. So the question is, where does the Carnival tabanca come in? For all purposes, as little as five months out of the year can be considered fete free. 

A slick television spot running in rotation recently boasts “No one can lime like a Trini!” This is often interpreted as a compliment when, it is in fact, cleverly disguised ignominy. That this should be the defining characteristic of a people is depressing enough to warrant a jump up in a J’ouvert band in July. 

The Trini love of liming isn’t the same thing as joie de vivre. We seem to do it with cloying gusto and desperation, as if our lives depend on it. It certainly explains why the parade of the bands was unforgivably boring, even more so than last year’s rubbish. There is no ingenuity of design, I’ve seen more creativity in Halloween get-ups. Overhead camera angles of the parade looked more like a bunch of people in mismatched costumes just knocking about. 

There is no parade of the bands, there’s just folks limin’ in tong. We want to party on our terms. We want to free up without the strictures of form, beauty and artistry. Carnival has, after all, become another way we forget…forget how messed up this place is. If we remain preoccupied with the relentless pursuit of mirth we won’t have to confront the horrors around us. This is, of course, the biggest ole mas of all.
 
There can’t possibly be such a thing as Carnival tabanca, when we live this love, albeit false, every day that we breathe. 

Yesterday’s parliamentary air was energy-charged. Not necessarily due to recent confirmation of the Prime Minister’s intent for a snap poll as projected three weeks ago would be necessary following police probes of the People Partnership former Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan. 

The Opposition—and ILP’s Jack Warner—kept the Government on point concerning the David West furore and other issues and the PP administration returned same concerning PNM leader Keith Rowley’s controversial Carnival wine. “Not everything reported is true…it may not be that child’s age was 17 years as reported,” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, replying to a question, interjected on Rowley’s headlining wining partner.

On another question she wondered if Rowley was still “Bazodee” (from his jump in the band of same name) for not recalling a certain law. “You recall she (girl’s)  age?!” PP’s Roodal Moonilal also demanded of Rowley. “You recall the boy age..?!” Rowley challenged. (He didn’t detail what “boy”.)

PNM’s aggressive face in-House yesterday belied issues brewing in Arima PNM following Thursday’s meeting of over 80 representatives of the majority of Arima party groups from Blanchisseuse to Santa Rosa according to constituency executive chairman Cagney Cassimire’s register. He added it was called by the executive to garner feedback after complaints on the rejection of Penny Beckles-Robinson for candidacy. (She was absent)

Cassimire said it was “2010 deja vu” (when she was also rejected) with complaints that groups’ democratic voice was silenced by the leadership, loud calls for non-support of PNM in election, non-voting and “personal decisions” on voting. “We try to dissuade people from not voting. The executive will meet next week to work out  lobbying the leadership for change of candidate (from Anthony Garcia), or put on record the difficulties facing us, as PNM must win Arima,” he added.

Ahead of that though, the Opposition and Government are still emerging from Carnival where the election climate—politicking on who will emerge “Like a Boss” from 2015 polls and for whom the “Party Done”—was evident. In 2011, Persad-Bissessar had graced the Savannah with PP’s Carnival band. This year, observing Shiva Raatri prayers, she remained home which was disclosed after Rowley’s wining poses with the young woman broke.

Rowley’s San Fernando mas was obviously meant to telegraph PNM intent for a “landslide” general election win, particularly in south, PP home turf, and with PNM’s San Fernando West target.

 With confident footing from the West issue confronting the PP—where queries for both Rowley and the PP arise resulting from the PM’s answers yesterday—and transition in Patrick Manning’s San Fernando East, Rowley who’s usually played sailor mas in North headed south, clearly to try and boost national image and stocks with (Indo T&T) communities. His Facebook page shows him dancing with many, but not the particular girl over whom controversy broke. 

It would have been simplistic to expect solely positive feedback from the “wine”. Rowley has been promoted by PNM as Prime Minister - in- waiting and the situation has offered snapshot insight of his response/judgment aptitude. His handlers would know he, as alternative PM, is subject to the same amount of scrutiny as the Prime Minister (whose patterned tights recently sparked controversy though they weren’t wining on anyone.) 

Whether his “wine” will gain him the Indo T&T community’s confidence or fizzle into political overkill and veto, remains to unfold. However spun, the episode will send a message. The very public moment—Carnival is, can hardly be censored from sight/sound since the public is entitled to opinion especially in election year.

Any disappointment  in the PP, would be rooted in lack of proper scrutiny of the coalition while in Opposition. The public is therefore entitled to the “entire picture” this rounds.
While St Kitt’s Team Unity win may give the PP coalition hope, the PNM has also signalled it’s not averse to links with groups.

Yesterday ILP’s Warner—who pelted as many question to Government as PNM—told the Guardian after defending Rowley’s wine, “You’ll see coalition happening here. At the appropriate time.” COP chairman Nicole Dyer-Griffith’s Carnival appearance in C2K Alliance band also sparked queries whether some COP-ers are heading to other alliances after calls to sever PP ties when her husband was cut from the Cabinet. The issue will arise at tomorrow’s COP national council.

Silent on PP changes, COP’s Winston Dookeran, when asked his views, pointed to his publication The Spiral of Politics. This comprises his speeches from 2006 at Mid-Centre Mall (when he left UNC to form the COP) to his contribution to Parliament debate on the runoff system which he voted against, citing his “inner voice.”

Dookeran’s introductory note says the “political crisis is here, society is fragmented and once again looking to regain the highest ground of noble purpose.” Dookeran noted a call for a new approach to politics and government” and this requiring a new initiative and reconceptualisation of political strategy. Dookeran is quoted as concluding “Out of the ashes of old politics, a Phoenix-like movement based on (COP’s) 148,000 votes must rise.”  

I was issued a traffic ticket for making a right-hand turn from Gatacre Street on to Tragarete Road on Tuesday, February 3 at 12.37 pm. The particulars of the offence, as indicated by the Acting Corporal who issued the ticket, was that I “breached traffic sign, to wit, left turn sign contrary to section 66B of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Chapter 48:50 as amended.” 

I quoted what the Acting Corporal wrote verbatim but I admit that I am not clear on what he was trying to say. Anyway, my point is, if there is a “No Right Turn” sign at the corner and I blatantly disregarded it or simply missed it then I deserve to be issued a ticket for the offence and I have no problem with that.

My objection and deep concern is that the only traffic signs present at that corner are a stop sign and another indicating that left turns are permitted between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays. There is no sign indicating that a right turn is not permitted! I questioned the Acting Corporal and he calmly said to me that “It is a matter of interpretation. No right turn is implied.” Seriously? 

I should also add that the signs are located on the left side of the street. As a result, many drivers innocently turn right daily at that corner and are issued traffic tickets when the police are present at a rate of $1,000 per ticket simply because there is no sign that indicates that a right-hand turn is not permitted. I am not sure of the legality of this matter but if a right-hand turn is not permitted then place a traffic sign indicating such.

I have an opportunity to defend my position on this matter at the Magistrates Court on a date in April, however, I am resident in another country and would not be able to be present in Trinidad to appear. I can hire counsel to represent me in my absence but the legal costs will outweigh the cost of the fine. Therefore, I have to pay the fine. This is entrapment. We need to talk about these issues and embarrass the authorities into doing the right thing. If we are aspiring to be a first world nation then we need to get these simple things right.

Nigel Ayen
Diego Martin

Some of us may have returned to the unreal world which is our reality; other stragglers prefer to continue with the never-ending party and then there are the die-hards who have no option but to play themselves, whether it’s J’Ouvert or election day.

It seems as though the Carnival has passed me by, sitting in the only shady spot I can find in my hillside yard. Early Monday afternoon soca salvoes drift off the East West Corridor and I can picture the scene in ‘Puna: the detritus of the main road, where the oil and paint-streaked drift among discarded bottles, styrotex cups, abandoned shoes. 

I had intended to join that collective pre-dawn chaos but my infant son had other ideas and instead of bat flitting through the sound systems, or chipping with a panside and adding my own bottle and key percussion to the glorious cacophony, I discovered the full weight of a six-week old boy, as I walked him into sleep. It’s likely I’ll be on the hill for the duration of the festivities but I’m not complaining. Babies change so fast I have to be grateful for these few days out of the plantation, which give me the opportunity to watch Benito Zarafondo growing and even to wonder when I’ll see him paddling behind his big sister at a future Kiddies’ Carnival. 

While the eddoes and plantains are simmering in the pot and mudders and djabs slumber stale-drunk before returning to the streets, in this hiatus, the mind wanders through both time and place. 

I’ve been reading Haitian anthropologist/historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s Silencing the Past, which can alert us all to the inequalities of the production of history. 

One of the truisms that Trouillot demolishes is that it’s only the victors who get to write their story—their version of the events, which becomes accepted or official history. 

In the case of the Haitian Revolution, inequalities of power ensured that this seminal period of Caribbean history which had profound ramifications for the modern world, was largely silenced—at least until the 20th century when CLR James’ Black Jacobins was published.

Trouillot posits that given the dominant discourse of the times (a worldview engendered by European Enlightenment concepts, colonialism, slavery and a swiftly hardening scientific racism), the very idea of a slave rebellion was unthinkable, and that even its success and the establishment of an independent nation could not be fitted in to the prevailing conceptual framework of the time. 

Even if it could, the reality was unthinkable—a challenge not only to the continuity of the Caribbean slave colonies which anchored metropolitan economies but also to the logical deficiencies of Enlightenment philosophy and therefore the supposed supremacy of (white) Eurocentric rational thought.

What was unthinkable was edited out, silenced, in the mistaken belief that what is not mentioned or acknowledged will go away. 

Both Stalin and Hitler operated with this approach and we are still living with the legacy of the failures of the Enlightenment, or what another historian Louis Sala-Molins prefers to call “the dark side of the light.” 

Colonialism, slavery and capitalism were the imperatives which drove European “progress” and its (secondary) civilising projects. Yet the high ideals of universal liberty and equality were produced by philosophes and thinkers, who like Jefferson in America or Mirabeau in France, were themselves slave owners or others who derived their incomes directly or indirectly from the institution of slavery. 

That such champions of liberty could not recognise the contradictory nature of their position can only be explained by a degree of deliberate cognitive blindness, or the “unthinkability” of the day. 

Maybe what goes unstated is the illogic of the scientific racism of those times, the unchallenged assumption of a racial hierarchy. What is more likely, however, is that as both CLR James and Eric Williams were to point out, the economic exigencies demanded the protection of slavery—and with it the denial of human rights for non-whites—for as long as economically necessary.

Freedom comes at a price and Western freedom has long been compromised by a disconnect between an ideology of democracy (as opposed to the unthinkable reality of Haitian freedom) and economic exigency—now called, ironically enough, “free trade.”

While the excessive barbarity of Isis in its assault on flawed Western practices is deplorable, maybe those crazy fundamentalists are not quite so crazy as their methods. Inequality in all its aspects has not decreased with progress. Now roughly two per cent of the world’s population owns more than 90 per cent of the wealth. 

We see the developed world holding all the rest to ransom with more rounds of austerity measures which destroy shaky infrastructures, while profit and plenty continue for the privileged few. 

Justice, enlightenment and equality lie in the gutters discarded; now the Carnival is over, it’s business as usual. 

• Levi’s Lore returns to its normal position on Thursday 26

The matter involving David West, Director of the Police Complaints Authority, former Minister of National Security, Gary Griffith and Former Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan has been debated in the media over the last few weeks. 

In the context of that ongoing debate questions have been raised as to the revocation, by the President, of the appointment of West or the requirement for his resignation. After much deliberation, I have decided to proffer some general viewpoints on the subject with due regard to earlier views expressed. 

The appointment of the Director of The Police Complaint Authority lies within the constitutional jurisdiction of the President of the Republic on the joint advice of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. This is prescribed under Section 6(1) of the Police Complaints Authority Act 2006. Section 6(2) of that Act provides that in the event the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition cannot agree on a joint advice, the President shall appoint the Director after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. 

The consultation so prescribed may influence the decision of the President. In this latter respect, the final decision on the appointment however, rests with the President. I

n accordance with the Act, the appointment of Mr. West would have been made either after the joint advice of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition or the consultation so prescribed. Whether West should or might have informed the President prior to his appointment that he was a witness in a matter involving the Attorney General and the Leader of the Opposition, and that he had submitted a witness statement to that effect, is, in my view, arguable.  

Whether his status as a witness in that matter compromises his status as Director of the Police Complaints Authority is, in my view, also arguable.

What is not arguable, however, is that the then Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan was aware of the witness status of West prior to his appointment by the President, and as principal advisor to the Prime Minister might, or could have, so informed the Prime Minister prior to her joint advice or consultation with the President. It is not in the public domain that he so informed the Prime Minister or not.

What however is in the public domain is that West refused to compromise himself at the request of the then Attorney General to withdraw his witness statement in exchange for a favourable recommendation for his appointment to the office of Director of the Police Complaints Authority. 

What also is in the public domain is that West reiterated that refusal after “enquiry”, on behalf of the Attorney General, by the then Minister of National Security who had collateral responsibilities with Mr. West under the provisions of the Police Complaints Authority Act 2006.

The integrity of West, his non susceptibility to the compromise of his position as Director of the Police Complaints Authority and his sense of civic duty are not in question in respect of that entire situation. These considerations must be paramount, in my  view, with respect to his possible resignation. I could see no basis therefore for West to resign his position as Director of the Police Complaints Authority. 

That entire situation however, as described, could have implications for our present witness system. Section 12 of the Police Complaints Authority Act 2006, empowers the President, in his own discretion, to revoke the appointment of the Director under certain conditions. There is no provision under the Act for the President to act on request by, or at the instance of either the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition. 

On the issue of revocation of that appointment, the President is required to act in his own discretion. The matter, in my view, now rests with the President in the exercise of his powers.

Christopher R Thomas
Former chairman
Police Service Commission

My daughter who came to visit me in London from university in another part of the UK was on the phone to her father. “It’s not good for Mummy to live on her own. She is dressed in shocking pink sneakers which look very strange with a lime green winter jacket.”

While they were discussing the problem of me, I was thinking I would look good in a J’Ouvert band. I saw from Facebook that Carnival was grinding down our people into their essential selves, mud, base, steel, paint, thousands of bodies, hearts, feet moving to a collective beat. Pretty mas had moved from bikinis into a 50 shades of grey bondage, lingerie and fishnet stockings. Sex in our cities.

I didn’t tell my daughter, but in the cold of London, sometimes the gloom of the sky, people hunkering down from the rain, cold and wind made time seamless. If I was indoors, writing, I wouldn’t know if it was morning, noon or night.

Sometimes, an uncontrollable urge for caffeine, something to startle the quiet comes over me. Then I would pack on track pants on top of my pyjamas, pack on two sweaters, and venture out, breathe in coffee beans served by briskly efficient servers (who, intent on their next order, barely spared me a glance). 

I love that about big cities. There is a freedom, a safety in being yourself and you don’t have to wait for J’Ouvert to feel that. Just last week, in my creative writing course we were asked to leave the warm classroom and “kidnap a character”—that is walk on the street, find someone who looks interesting, follow them for two hours without getting arrested for stalking, make notes, return and write a story about them.

I panicked on the street in Bloomsbury Square. If I followed men, they may think my interest prurient, families with children predatory. Finally, I “kidnapped” a tall woman dressed in black. A woman alone on Valentine’s Day. What’s she going to do? She headed for the African art section. I followed her around the pottery, shields and masks section. I wasn’t a good stalker. I fibbed. “I’ve lost a contact lens. Could you please read explanation of the pottery to me?”

In fluted tones, which revealed a solid middle class education, she read. Thinking me blind, alone, possibly lonely, she was uncommonly forthcoming. Call me Louise she said, as she guided me from room to room, in that vast marbled interior, into an exhibition of eight Egyptian Mummies, 600 BC; through Bonaparte and the British; through continents of discovery, through the Greeks and the Moguls. She talked. Her parents were teachers. 

It was normal for her to learn four musical instruments and three languages, to travel cheaply, to absorb theatre, and the arts. She was open, she was kind. She was the CEO in an advertising company and did part-time charity work. She was not a spectacle. She was in between relationships. She was looking to the world to feed her soul. She wasn’t especially sexy but I suppose she could be if she found the right man for her. She wasn’t out there.

Meanwhile in Trinidad, people were showing outrage at a teenage girl wining on our sexy opposition leader. Let’s not baulk at “sexy.” Let’s not be hypocritical just because we’ve given up alcohol this month. The PM too, was tut tutted over her sexy tights. Yes, they are leaders. Yes, they are sexy. It’s their human right. The real travesty is that the defenders of the PM and the opposition leader saw their sexiness as “culture.” Now THAT made me feel ‘shame.’ 

We have a tapestry of history, writers, calypsonians, mas makers, artists that is culture. But stockings and back backing is not culture. It’s exhibitionist, but not culture. It’s a human attribute, like lust, hunger, anger, but not culture. It’s entertaining, but not human endeavour, not culture. 

It’s freeing up, but not challenging intellects and bodies to be all we can be. On Ash Wednesday, during Lent, when we get thin lipped, dryer than salt prunes, we are filled with a prurient self loathing for that very culture of lingerie and fishnet stockings, of imported soft porn. Culture at Carnival is closer to pan, J’Ouvert, extempo, calypso, when we tap into our souls, when we attempt at a truth, at an aesthetic, at an art. 

We won’t know you know, what our culture is, not until we’ve read Naipaul and Walcott, and Williams. We won’t know until our children flock to museums, and academies of music literacy, arts, literature and science that we’re yet to build. 

We can in the meantime borrow from every continent. The permutations are different, but the result is the same. Every continent from which we’ve been plucked creates culture from education, institutions, history, science, technology, industry, commerce, architecture, literature, art, music, sport. Culture is a value created from excellence. 

It’s Lent, it’s time to rip off the masks, to be honest, if to nobody else, to ourselves. And in the privacy of our bedrooms, in old clothes, we need to stand in front of the mirror and ask our souls “what is my culture?”

For a while, it looked like a close-run thing. On Tuesday morning, Team Unity supporters in St Kitts-Nevis knew from the partial results that they had won the previous day’s election, and were celebrating on the streets of Basseterre. But the Supervisor of Elections, Wingrove George, stopped the count, for reasons still unstated.

With fewer than 40,000 voters, this small country usually has a clear result just hours after the polls close. This time, the count was painfully slow. Voters went to bed unsure whether Denzil Douglas—prime minister since 1995—had won a fifth term.

Stopping the count could have led to trouble. After an inconclusive 1993 election, protests by supporters of Dr Douglas’ Labour Party turned violent. An overnight curfew was imposed. Forces from the Barbados-based Regional Security System flew in to restore order. A minority People’s Action Movement government held on, until labour won power in fresh elections in 1995.

This time, sense prevailed. First the Labour Party chairman conceded defeat, then, late on Tuesday afternoon, Dr Douglas. They may have been jogged by carefully-phrased comments from our own Kamla Persad-Bissessar, St Vincent’s Ralph Gonsalves, Grenada’s Keith Mitchell and slightly later, from the Caricom chair, Perry Christie of the Bahamas.

Observers from the Commonwealth and from the Organisation of American States were ready to cry “foul” if there was glaring and blatant malpractice. Even after Dr Douglas’s concession, there were further delays. The governor-general, Sir Edmund Lawrence, did not get a written result from the elections supervisor until late on Wednesday afternoon. Only then would he swear in the new prime minister, Timothy Harris. Document delivery, it seems, works slowly in Basseterre.

The election run-up had produced little confidence. There was uncertainty about new constituency boundaries, rushed through Parliament just a month before the poll, but overturned by the Privy Council with just four days to spare. Then came the revelation– supported by an affidavit from the Opposition’s legal team—that Wingrove George had unwisely used the e-mail address labourdog@hotmail.com

Unfairly or otherwise, that made him look just a little partisan. Then came the voters’ list. Or perhaps, didn’t come. In St Kitts, it was available to the Opposition just three days before the poll, and it showed a 23 per cent increase in the electorate over the five years since 2010. In Nevis, there was no list until election eve.

But all’s well that ends well? Maybe. Dr Harris now heads a three-party coalition. He has plenty ministerial experience. Before crossing the floor in 2012, he held portfolios in successive Douglas Cabinets for agriculture, lands and housing, education, labour, social security, foreign affairs, international trade, industry and commerce. But his close ally, former deputy prime minister Sam Condor, failed to win back his seat. Alongside Dr Harris on the government benches are four members of PAM, and two from the Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement.

Guyana goes to the polls on May 11. Check the similarities with St Kitts-Nevis: Long-standing governments: Guyana’s in office since 1992; St Kitts-Nevis since 1995. Government losing its parliamentary majority: Guyana in 2011; St Kitts-Nevis in 2012. Blocked debate on a no-confidence motion: in Guyana, since mid-2014, in St Kitts-Nevis, since 2012. 

Opposition forces in a coalition: Guyana’s Alliance for Change and A Partnership for National Unity announced an alliance last weekend; in St Kitts-Nevis, we have Team Unity. Disputed elections: Guyana’s history of trouble runs back to the 1960s; St Kitts-Nevis, too, has had its troubles, not least in 1993. There’s one big difference. When the controversial elections supervisor in St Kitts-Nevis was appointed in May last year, the Opposition complained it was not consulted.

By contrast, the Guyana Elections Commission has a 25-year history of independence, with representation from both sides of the political divide, and a respected and experienced chairman in Steve Surujbally. 

Despite that, Guyana’s recent history has not been trouble-free. Last time round, in 2011, the chief elections officer was about to declare a narrow victory for the governing People’s Progressive Party and its allies. An opposition representative checked the arithmetic and found the PPP was one seat short. That was a lucky catch–once declared, a faulty result would have been all but impossible to correct.

In 2011, mistrust ran both ways. Newly-elected President Donald Ramotar said he had in fact won more than 52 per cent of the poll. He accused opposition parties of rigging the vote. Meanwhile, Commonwealth observers noted the one-sided use of state-owned TV, radio and newspapers.

With racial and political tensions again running high, Guyana has other potential sources of trouble. One could be the painfully slow count. In 2011, it took three days to declare a result. Yes, there are remote interior settlements. But Guyana does have aircraft, and telephones too. In St Kitts-Nevis, Caricom prime ministers and international election observers may have saved the day. If things get shaky, they may have to repeat that act for Guyana.

St Kitts and Nevis swore in a new prime minister last week. It took the intervention of three Caricom prime ministers to get the supervisor of elections to resume the declaration of results after he had suspended the process abruptly, without explanation, at a point when the signs were clear that there would be a change in the government.

That timely intervention, which reminded the election authorities that the international community was watching, may have averted what some thought was a descent into violence. Reports of ballot boxes being spirited away and documents being destroyed may have led opposition supporters to think that mischief was afoot and attempts were being made to steal the election.

We are a community of nations beholden to a parliamentary system of democracy and it is important that we remind each other at appropriate moments of the principles and practices we are required to adhere to in order to preserve that system. Sadly, our elected officials do not always intervene in a timely fashion when it is so obvious that they should.

St Kitts and Nevis is one of the smallest nation states in the world. The registered electors in the 11 constituencies which return representatives to the National Assembly are small in number. Margins of victory are, as a result, slim, usually in the hundreds, but in two constituencies this last election the margin of victory was four and 24 votes.

Consequently, where boundaries are drawn, and who gets to be on the voting list, can be pivotal. A shift in a boundary by one street can throw the traditional supporters of one party into another constituency where the opposing party is strong, and change the results of an election. 

The St Kitts and Nevis Constituency Boundaries Commission, which determines where constituency boundaries are drawn, is a purely political body. The majority of its members are appointed in effect by the prime minister. Two of them are required to be members of Parliament. The chairman is the prime minister’s choice.

The present chairman was an executive member of the former prime minister’s party and is the beneficiary of government contracts, although, it is only fair to note, it was held by the High Court in a recent case that this was not sufficient to raise an appearance of bias. 

The supervisor of elections, although intended to be an independent officer, has recently been the prime minister’s pick. In a country where ardent supporters of the former main opposition party are referred to as “PAM cats,” and diehard supporters of the former ruling party as “Labour dogs,” the appointed supervisor chose as his e-mail address, the rather pleasant sounding, labourdog@hotmail.com. That certainly puts into perspective his rather curious behaviour last Tuesday.

Constitutional reform to address these anomalies is certainly needed. However much the commission or the supervisor might thrive to be fair, there will always be the suspicion that the boundaries and the voting lists are being manipulated to favour the ruling party. Caricom needs to intervene to address this problem, one which replicates itself across the Eastern Caribbean.

The current Grenadian Constitution Commission under the chairmanship of Dr Francis Alexis appreciates the point and is calling for the appointment of an independent Elections and Boundaries Commission for Grenada. Maybe a regional body to serve the entire archipelago might better suit each territory, given the difficulty in finding independent people in each of those small territories.

There are other past instances where it would have been appropriate for Caricom ministers to intervene to help shape political development in St Kitts and Nevis. 

Since December 2012, the Leader of the Opposition had lodged a motion of no confidence in the Government with the Speaker. He initially acknowledged that such motions had to be dealt with expeditiously. But the thing is that the Constituency Boundaries Commission had only recently been appointed and had not produced its report.

If the motion had been debated, it would have been passed, since two ministers (including the recently-appointed prime minister) had crossed the floor, and an election would have had to be called on the old boundaries. The fear was that the Denzil Douglas Government would lose on the old boundaries, as indeed they did last week. So the Speaker did not schedule the debate on the motion despite a rising chorus from civil society that democratic principles were being discarded.

The Opposition went to court to force him to schedule the debate. He then took the position that he could not schedule the motion because the matter was in court. So the Opposition discontinued the court case. Not to be undone, the Speaker applied to the court to revive the matter, and then claimed that so long as his application to revive the case was in court he would continue his defiance. And so it went for the ensuing two years.

Not once did any Caricom official intervene, publicly at least, to give guidance in relation to a clear breach of parliamentary democratic principles which dictate that it is the majority of the elected representatives who determine the composition of the government.

And then there was the fiasco on January 16 this year, when the Speaker convened Parliament with no more than 30 minutes notice to debate the Report of the Constituency Boundaries Commission which sought to change the boundaries to favour Denzil Douglas’ party. The debate was completed in quick time with opposition members’ contributions being cut short. Within a half hour the Governor General signed the Proclamation to give effect to the boundary changes and Parliament was dissolved.

The Prime Minister stated publicly that he had shepparded these extraordinary events, precisely to prevent the Opposition from going to court to challenge the commission’s report on constitutional grounds. It took the intervention of the Privy Council to set the matter right. 

Again, not a peep from the regional political community. At least, they raised their voices to ensure that the supervisor eventually did the right thing. But, as a friend of mine cynically quipped, this was only after it was clear that Denzil Douglas was on his way out.

Before the Carnival of our politics (as Ricky Singh and others have so aptly framed it) takes back centre stage, let me reflect a bit on the one that just wound down.

Mine was incident free. Unless you count the Paparazzi masquerader who threw up into his darkers and speckled my shoe. Unless you count the fun I had pushing ropes around bathsuit-and-shorts bands back towards the roadway, to reclaim walking space on the pavement for the guntas and me. You can’t take over both. The ropes, in my mind, were a buffer for jamettes from the deafening of their trucks, from their sewage and feathers.

One young man hired for the two-day job of holding rope (like one who may have stabbed 21-year-old father of two, Kyson Bell, to death at las lap hours later) threatened to buss my head for cussing when he objected to my pushing. I invited him to summon his supervisor first so he could be seen doing his job well. An older man holding the rope lifted it and invited me to step into the band. Others in the untrained security force wore black jerseys marked “Extraction.”

Unless you count the fact that I spent most of Tuesday morning texting “Where d band?” over bMobile’s network, and all my friends’ responses displayed a time earlier than I’d sent mine. With the disappearance of imaginative big bands, this year I joined a handful of gay friends in a fledgling designer’s effort out of his house in the East.

The crooked sound truck he hired arrived on the parade route at 3 pm, never mustered more than a few decibels, and eventually broke down. Roses Hezekiah, Sheila Besson and a similarly-sized band paying tribute to their sister welcomed ours to jump across the stage with their truck—“for Allyson.”

In my decade of making Carnival hajj home, there was always a moment—usually as my band wound itself around Cipriani statue in the slow afternoon sweetness after the South Quay stage—when all ambivalence about the hassle of the trip and the disorganisation and inefficiency of the Carnival disappeared—and the transcendent meaning of the mas made itself manifest through the rum.

There was no such moment this year. Carnival felt empty. Like the streets appeared—at J’Ouvert; on Monday; and on Tuesday. Only laslap’s traffic seemed thicker. One radio station ran a story headlined “Onlookers and vendors not allowed on Carnival parade route.”

I think even my all-inclusive vomiter—and the drifting, glassy-eyed breakfast feters pretending this was the best time they ever got drunk for $1,000—might agree with a growing chorus about the need to re-examine and reimagine Carnival.

Unlike the annual hand-wringing or Raymond Ramcharitar’s ethnic savagery, newspaper columns this year have been full of thoughtful reflection, including Roy Mitchell’s appeal to find value in our Carnival mentality, and Marina Salandy-Brown’s acknowledgment of how the festival has grown alongside her observation of “a resurgence of interest in the modest.”

It is the economic excesses and kilkitay management in Carnival that seem most troubling.

Ropes around bands and pointlessly loud sound systems continue to drive me tizzic. I can accept a need to protect celebrities or enclose bars. But there ought equally to be a safety rule that no rope can extend more than one street block, and a passageway at least two people wide be maintained on either side of a band, either on the pavement or—if the pavement is obstructed—in the road. No sound system should boast it is “the loudest” and endorsed by Shal Marshall.

The comical annual Carnival ordinance Sheila Rampersad lampoons well, which bans the very things that define our Carnival: throwing powder, nastying people, paying the Devil, lewdness, and drunkenness; the National Carnival Bands Association anti-family ban on minors from the traditional parade; the politically heartless timing of this year’s proposed ban on street vending; a reported investigation of a wining police officer—are all examples of the disconnect from the sensible that our approach to managing Carnival has displayed since Captain Baker in the 1880s.

Simple solutions are begging for implementation: this year on the Savannah drag, there was finally a cool, safe and hygienic place to do it like a boss, not just the usual mobile cesspits. Bands can routinely give masqueraders both condoms and earplugs. Police officers standing on a street directing traffic can have clear answers to a motorist’s: Can I park here?

Private band security personnel can be required to be trained—by state security. Their role can return to what it included when they belonged to a band—keeping masqueraders safe from parade route hazards like potholes. Police officers must expect people of the opposite or same sex to wine on them, and be graceful and professional.

Mas must engage with the communities it passes through. Woodbrook and St James residents must accept this interactivity or move to Santa Cruz or Westmoorings. Children must be part of our mas, David Lopez. What I remember most about Carnival 2015 is the young boy standing in the awning of his mother’s Charlotte Street shop snapping pictures of the passing band.

One female masquerader wined on him roughly, and the camera fell to the ground. Another behind her, likely a mother, signalled to him, took off her headpiece and placed it on the head of the child she held next to her for the mother to photograph.

Inspector Michael Seales, secretary of the Police Second Division Association, referring to the incident where a policeman was seen wining on a patron at a fete said in a newspaper article on Friday, “We would want to applaud him and not reprimand him, as he was fulfilling his marital responsibilities, while doing his job, because we are talking about him maintaining his marriage.”

Inspector Seales said that the best person to gyrate on the officer's wife was the officer himself. It was reported many times in the newspapers before Carnival that anyone "who was found wining on a policeman" would be charged (fined). Do we not have any upbringing? This behaviour is for behind closed doors, not to be displayed in public to innocent children looking on.

Patricia Blades
Cocorite

The United Kingdom affiliate of Winchester Capital, the company hired by CL Financial to advise it on the sale of three of its European alcoholic beverage companies, is now chaired by Andrew Mitchell, QC, the English lawyer who served as the legal advisor to Lawrence Duprey, the former CL Financial executive chairman.

Apart from representing Duprey, Mitchell has appeared in T&T courts on behalf of local businessman Ishwar Galbaransingh, in his fight against extradition to the US in connection with the Piarco corruption matter, according to Guardian newspaper archives.

A July 29, 2010, article states that Mitchell was one of two UK Queen’s Counsel who submitted legal advice to former attorney general Anand Ramlogan arguing that T&T was the proper forum for the prosecution of those charged with corruption in relation to the construction of the new terminal at Piarco International Airport. Mitchell also represented Mora Ven chairman, George Nicholas, in his private prosecution brought against the Mora Ven chief executive Krishna Persad. 

An August 14, 2013, a news story quotes Jack Warner as saying that he was being advised by Mitchell in responding to the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) report into corruption allegations authored by Barbadian jurist Sir David Simmons. The Winchester Capital Web site states that Mitchell was appointed as the chairman of the company’s UK affiliate in May, 2014.

The Business Guardian reported on Thursday that Winchester Capital, a company based in the UK and the US that specialises in mergers and acquisitions, was engaged by the CL Financial board to be its financial advisor for the sale of Thomas Hine & Co, a cognac producer, and other European assets.

Hine was valued by PwC in November, 2011, at US$33 million, but CL Financial received US$77.4 million for the asset when it was sold in August, 2013, after Winchester Capital targeted 123 potential buyers in 23 companies, according to a CL Financial document made available to the Guardian.

Winchester Capital also advised CL Financial on the sale of Dugas, a drinks distributor for Burn Stewart, Hine and Angostura products in Europe, targeting 66 potential buyers in a process for which the distributor was valued at US$4 million by PwC but sold for US$10.5 million. Winchester also advised CL Financial on the sale of S Fassbind AG, a Swiss distilling operation, which took place in April, 2014, but which was not disclosed in the CL Financial document.

Mitchell was appointed as the chairman of CL World Brands, CL Financial’s European drinks subsidiary on November 15, 2010. His appointment on the CL World Brands board was terminated on September 4, 2014, according to information on the companies house.gov.uk Web site. The Web site also reveals that the CL World Brands accounts for 2013 are labelled overdue as they were supposed to have been submitted since September 30, 2014.

While Winchester Capital represented CL Financial’s interests in the sale of the three European drinks companies, the advisor was on the other side of the negotiating table with regard to the April, 2013, sale of Burn Stewart Distillers to the Distell group of South Africa. Winchester represented Distell in the sale of Burn Stewart, the Scottish whisky producer that fetched net proceeds of US$137 million for its owners CL Financial (83 per cent) and Angostura (17 per cent).

In January 2010, Winchester Capital also served as the buy-side advisor to Mizkan Americas Inc, the wholly owned subsidiary of the Mizkan Group, Japan on the successful acquisition of World Harbors Inc, which was described as a wholly owned subsidiary of the House of Angostura on the Winchester Web site. That transaction is not recorded in Angostura’s 2010 annual report.

In the same month, Winchester also advised Mizkan on a strategic distribution agreement with Angostura Bitters, which is owned by Angostura Holdings Ltd. Contacted on Friday, the first response of a CL Financial source was that he was not aware that Mitchell is/was the chairman of Winchester Capital and that he had never declared that interest.

After checking, the source said the appointment of the advisors for the sale of CL Financial assets was done by a sub-committee of the board comprising CL Financial managing director, Marlon Holder, and director Robert Ramchand. The source said CL Financial benefitted from the valuations and the  process used in the sale of the European drinks companies and that in the case of Thomas Hine and Dugas, the valuations were conducted by PwC and the sales process advice was provided by Winchester Capital.

The sources, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, explained that Winchester, like all the other advisors hired, worked on commission for a percentage of the value of the final sales price. These commissions were within the normal range for such work, he said, adding that for some of the larger asset sales, sell-side advisors would get up to three per cent of the final price, while for the smaller ones about one per cent would be appropriate.

He said that Winchester Capital bid for several other jobs, including the sale of Lascelles deMercado, which went to UBS, and the Burn Stewart sale, which also went to UBS (with Winchester acting for the purchaser).

The source, who is close to the divestment of CL Financial’s asset, said that when Mitchell served on the CL Financial board, he was always a stickler for conflict of interest issues and that there was “never any hint that he tried to lobby the CL Financial board to favour one investment advisor over another.”

Contacted for comment by e-mail, Mitchell said: “Knowing how conspiracy theories can be groundless, and wishing to ensure you have full facts and transparency, please send the article and any questions you have. 

“I can already see from the terms of your e-mail that you are short on facts. By example the Fassbind sale, took a very long time but was, as I recall, part of a sale side mandate for a trio of businesses, two of which sold (including Hine) and sold well but the third Fassbind (not a hugely valuable business) took a while to complete. “I hope that helps.”

The article was not sent to Mitchell, as he requested. But in response to Mitchell’s e-mail, the following was sent to him:
“The article is a work in progress. As you would have gathered, it will lay out the facts of you being on the CL Financial and CL World Brands boards, which were looking to sell assets, and hired Winchester as its advisor for the sale of three assets. About a year later you were appointed to Winchester's UK board as its chairman.

“The article will also look at Winchester's prior relationship with the CL Financial group, as outlined on its Web site. “If you can bring clarity to these issues and relationships, I am sure it would prevent the development of conspiracy theories.” 

In the Thursday Business Guardian, CL Financial had said: “Valuations conducted in respect of each of the companies listed above amounted in total to US$560 million for the foreign companies and to TT$94.75 million for the two local companies—Valpark and Atlantic Plaza.

“The actual proceeds from the sales of the foreign companies totaled US$841 million, which was US$280 million or 50 per cent higher than the valuations that the group had received. In the case of the local companies, sales proceeds of TT$158.5 million amounted to TT$63.75 million or 67 per cent more than the original valuations.

“Each of the eight companies sold had several liabilities that had to be treated with from the sales proceeds, resulting in net proceeds of US$258 million in the case of the foreign assets and TT$ 1 million from the local companies. “These funds are being held in escrow accounts pending the full resolution of the repayment of debts to CL Financial’s creditors, including the Government.”

What is a portfolio and why is understanding how it works important to wealth creation? What are the challenges that holders of financial assets face today in T&T? What, if anything, can they do about it and what are the opportunities that present themselves and how do investors take advantage of them?

Portfolio basics

Essentially, a portfolio is very much like the mental picture it evokes; collection of different parts to make a whole. In financial terms, the portfolio is made up of different investment instruments, whether they be cash, property, bonds, equities and the like. The investment options are referred to as asset classes and the allocation of assets to the various classes within the portfolio will depend on the individual investors financial goals as well as their risk tolerance.  

Diversifying investments among the different asset classes prevents an investor from facing the risk of having too much of their money tied up in one area. A portfolio can be managed by the individual investor or professionally managed. Ideally, as goals and circumstances change over time, a portfolio can be realigned to meet these by shifting the level of investment over the various asset classes to bring maximum returns.

Financial repression and returns

However, what if the situation is such, as it has been in T&T over at least the last decade, where interest rates have been low. Add the recent volatility of energy prices, the concomitant reduction in foreign exchange earnings and its associated issues and implications for the country, a stock market that is fully or overvalued, along with a real estate market in similar circumstances. 

How does an investor balance a portfolio in such an environment to create returns, particularly for the medium to long run? It is an issue that crosses investors of every age and social strata.  Independent financial analyst Ian Narine says local investors are subject to something of a “stealth tax”, which punishes people who try to save.

“The bottom line is you have a situation where it actually makes less sense to save,” said Narine. “Why save $100 today when in five years time, because I am earning a rate lower than inflation, I will be able to purchase less with the $100? The logical thing to do would be to spend it now. The problem is I am going to need to spend the money in five years.” Narine said in this case, the issue of financial repression arises.

“Financial repression is a situation where there are policies that result in savers earning returns below the rate of inflation.” This, he said, was particularly detrimental to retirees, as their investments are no longer generating the returns required to support them when they stop working.

The Sunday BG asked Narine what would be required for the local investors to balance and earn returns in their portfolios especially over the mid to long term, given local circumstances. He said that creating viable returns required the intervention of the Central Bank and a change to its policy of prioritising foreign exchange allocation for imports, to one of allowing US dollars to made available for investment purposes as well.

As of writing this article, the rate of inflation as mentioned in the Central Bank’s monetary policy announcement of January 30, was 81/2 per cent (headline inflation). Meanwhile, the return on GORTT bonds averages around three per cent. Below is Narine’s e-mailed response to the outlook for local investors who want to know how best to allocate their assets and construct portfolios that bring the best returns under the current circumstances.

Ian Narine, independent financial consultant:

It means that in order to generate a real rate of return, investors have to seek other assets. Bear in mind that the safest investment are those issued by the Government of T&T denominated in TT dollars.

In an unsophisticated market, where investors are typically risk averse, investors are left with two perilous alternatives. Either invest in government paper and earn a rate of return below that of inflation with the implication that upon maturity you will likely be able to purchase less goods and services with the sum of money that you would have been able to purchase today, or, seek out riskier investments.

The problem with seeking out riskier investments is that many times investors do not have the risk tolerance for, or the understanding of how, to manage those investments. This can lead to difficult financial circumstances. Situations such as these also open the door for all types of schemes that may not be in an investors best interest yet, they find themselves, gravitating towards these “opportunities” in search of yield.

With over 10 years of financial repression and a rapidly ageing population, T&T is facing a crisis down the road. For reference, appreciate that the rate on a 10-year Government of T&T bond is under three per cent while the rate of inflation is moving from five to eight per cent. So our problem is not just that interest rates are low, it is also the fact that they are below the rate of inflation.

In this environment, many investors have sought to invest in stocks, especially stocks of companies with a high dividend payout ratio. This is seen the local stock market rise over the past few years. However, the size of our market is limited in the context of the amount of liquidity that is created each year and so there is a natural limit as to how high the market can go without causing dislocations as happened back in 2005.

It is quite likely that the local stock market is approaching the point where valuations are becoming stretched so once again investors have to seek other options. Real estate has always been a challenge from an investment perspective as it requires significant capital outlays and, unless one is extremely wealthy, calls for very concentrated position. In a rising interest rate environment and one where economic activity is likely to slow on account, it also carries a fair amount of risk.

While each of these assets, bonds, stocks and real estate carry different challenges, an investor should seek to maintain some level of exposure to each asset class, with the degree of exposure depending on the stage in life and the financial goals associated with the investment.

Outside of T&T assets, I would always recommend some US dollar (USD) exposure for an investment portfolio. Over the long term, any dysfunction related to the interaction of local interest rates and local inflation will eventually be reflected in the currency exchange rate. Investments in USD can therefore provide a hedge against the issue of financial repression in a T&T context.

Further, given our economy’s reliance on oil and gas, it is prudent to hold US dollar denominated assets in a portfolio. This is because firstly, oil and gas prices tend to fall when the USD is strong and secondly when oil and gas prices are low, T&T dollar (TTD) assets linked to the T&T economy will, all other things being equal, become challenged. A portfolio that includes USD assets provides a hedge against any downturns on the TT side.

While there are many asset allocation strategies that investors can consider in terms of the mix of stock, bonds and real estate, it is extremely difficult to develop a proper portfolio in TTD because of the lack of investment opportunities available. Many have resorted to mutual funds to fill the gap, but they generally face the same issues. 

An analysis of the same type of mutual fund across different service providers will reveal that the funds hold basically the same types of assets. The only difference is the brand name and how it is marketed. That means that the investor is not really diversified by investing in the same type of mutual fund across various companies. To achieve real diversification in an investment portfolio, one needs to look for assets outside of T&T. 

However, accessing USD for portfolio investment purposes is extremely difficult as the Central Bank of T&T has, from inception, put such requests as the lowest priority item on the queue. The implications of this policy are not apparent today but, as the society ages and financial repression continues, the population’s inability to fund their retirement needs will become apparent and then it will too much to do with no time available to act.

While we lament the lack of investment opportunities in our energy sector, a reality that should be addressed by the Phoenix Park IPO, local investors, by and large, have also been unable to participate in the spectacular success of the global technology sector by investing in companies like Apple or Google because the access to USD for such purposes is virtually non existent. 

Beyond that, is the fact that 10,000 people in the US are retiring every day and this trend will continue at the same rate for at least another 19 years. This speaks to huge opportunities in healthcare stocks and businesses targeted to retirees and the over 55 lifestyle. Yet, exploiting such an obvious trend is beyond the reach of the average person in T&T as the vehicles to invest in TTD are non existent and the access to USD is the same.

The end result is that local investors have been forced to more or less disregard investment theory related to asset allocation and essentially hope for the best. Even in the unlikely event that they are able to acquire a stable TTD portfolio of stocks, bonds and real estate in the required mix, lack of liquidity in the market means that it is near impossible to rebalance a portfolio over time to take account of either changes to the market or your investment circumstances.

The private sector must take the lead in bolstering overall Caribbean economic growth in 2015 and invest more in the region. This was among recommendations put forward in the Caribbean Development Bank’s 2014 Caribbean Economic Review and Outlook for 2015 report which was released on Wednesday at a press conference at Hilton Barbados Beach Resort, Needhams Point, St Micheal. 

The CDB, in its 14-page report, is projecting regional economies will grow by an average of two per cent this year and there will be expansions in all of its 19 borrowing member countries (BMCs,) including T&T. “As was the case last year, most (economies) are set to grow by between one per cent and three per cent with strongest performances expected in tourism and construction, along with some improvement in commodity exports,” the report said.  

However, CDB president Dr William Warren Smith and CDB director of economics Dr Justine Ram both contended, on Wednesday, that the regional private sector has to be the driver of economic growth as the Caribbean continues to recover from the ravages of the global financial crisis. “The Caribbean is moving out of the recession. We are slowing moving out. But the overall level is not sufficient to lift people out of poverty,” Smith told journalists.

He said more gains are needed to get the region to a level of prosperity and this is where the private sector needs to step in. Ram, in his presentation, said that the region’s business community can make a significant contribution to increasing the rate of growth in 2015.

Ease of doing business
Ram stressed the need for countries to make policy changes that will assist in making transacting business in their territories easier. “The region is lagging behind with the ease of doing business,” he said. Ram, pointing to the strides that Singapore has made as an economically sound country, said that the region needs to make it “less costly and easier to invest” if the region expects higher growth rates. 

The report also suggested that there is a need for further fiscal consolidation and greater savings within the region and that means “much of the impetus for growth and job creation must come from the private sector, including through foreign direct investment.

“The private sector will also have to shoulder more of the financial burden of investing in the region’s infrastructure, both social and economic. To this end, BMCs are increasingly turning to public-private partnerships (PPPs) and CDB is rolling out new facilities to support them in this regard,” the report added. 

Governments were also called upon, through the report, to undertake “structural and other reforms to create the kind of legal and regulatory environment and broader governance framework that can attract investment, and within which the private sector can truly become the main engine of growth.”

Renewable energy 
The report also recommended that the region should seek to encourage the use of more renewable sources in the energy mix and greater energy efficiency; invest in universal education, emphasising science, technology and mathematics (STEM) and technical and vocational education and training (TVET), “with a view to closing gaps in quality and matching human capital development policies with changing private sector demand for skills.”

It also suggested the promotion of the use of technology in general, including connectivity and collaboration tools, energy-efficient and/or renewable energy-based systems and e-learning modalities, as a potential driver of efficiency gains was key to increasing economic growth. Ram, in presenting the report, also contended that “unemployment remains stubbornly high across the region.” The solution to this problem, he said, could be a regional one.

“Open borders to the movement of labour,” Ram said. While the CDB, in the report, contended it was cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the region in 2015, it anticipates a further strengthening of the regional recovery this year. This, the bank said, “would allow for a continuation of the reduction in unemployment that started to take hold in 2014. Nevertheless, lingering development challenges continue to dampen medium and long-run prospects in most BMCs.”

Falling oil prices
The CDB contended that further reductions in oil prices “could threaten the sustainability of the PetroCaribe arrangement, under which many BMCs finance petroleum imports on extremely concessional terms, representing a tail-end risk to fiscal and debt sustainability.” Smith, in responding to questions from journalists on the report, lamented that Venezuela is experiencing economic challenges and this will also have an impact on the sustainability of PetroCaribe as well. 

“We need to intensify the work we have been doing promoting energy efficiency in the region and we need to accelerate the (thrust towards) renewable energy,” he said. Smith said the region should not view the present challenges in commodity prices as a threat, but see it as an opportunity to be more resilient.

The CDB report also contended that T&T will experience growth between one and three per cent range, “albeit at the lower end, as unscheduled maintenance activities that have been disrupting petroleum production over the past few years are expected come to an end.” In its assessment of T&T’s performance in 2014, the CDB said, this country’s economic growth “slowed considerably to record modest growth last year.”

This came, it explained, in the “wake of operational challenges and the significant drop in oil prices during the year which suppressed petroleum output, thereby driving a decline in the mining and quarrying sector.”

Regional transport 
Both Smith and Ram said there is a dire need for improvement in regional transport, especially the inter-island air bridge. Smith did not mince words about the poor service at regional airline: LIAT. “There is no question that the type of service being offered by LIAT is unacceptable, inefficient by any measure,” Smith said. 

He said if the region had a more efficient inter-island air transport system then it would have the effect of bringing down the cost of getting around the Caribbean. “This is a matter that needs urgent attention,” he added. Smith also hinted at the possible inclusion of Cuba as one of the CDB’s borrowing member countries. He said the positive strides in the restoring of relations between the US and Cuba would impact on the CDB’s consideration of including the Latin American country. 

“Cuba is part of the Caribbean. Cuba will be an excellent addition to the CDB,” Smith said.