Our politicians do not automatically place limits on their behaviour, and the political culture is not one in which the actors and their parties are held responsible for their indiscretions, or their gross and irresponsible behaviour. Archbishop Harris and his team must know that politicians on all sides are prepared to go to great lengths to hold on to or to acquire power. Sometimes, after tremendous bouts of mud-slinging, politicians would pay lip service to public opprobrium by issuing non-apology apologies (“I’m sorry if I offended anyone”, rather than “I’m sorry”).

The past few weeks have shown that there are a number of important questions regarding the functions of the Council for Responsible Political Behaviour, which was established to monitor the electoral Code of Ethics. 

The group includes Archbishop Joseph Harris and representatives of different religious and civic groups. 

The big questions it faces are whether it will have the power of sanction, how it can effectively carry out its functions, and indeed, what it stands for.

Can chairman Dr Bishnu Ragoonath and his members consider and pass judgment on what may strike other members of the public as violations of the code—a code to which the leadership of the major parties agreed? Further would they consider levels of violations, as there are in the International Cricket Council code that governs the conduct of players, and under which they can be found guilty and sanctioned? Would there be higher penalties for the most severe violations? It would be interesting to see what the council makes of the “dog and cat” remarks by Opposition Leader, Dr Keith Rowley. And especially those of Minister Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, who not only made serious allegations against Dr Rowley but also indicted his father (who is unable to defend himself) for committing a serious sexual crime against Dr Rowley’s mother. And what of parliamentary privilege? Would the council be willing and able to take on MPs who make statements that violated the code in spirit but not in law?

If the Council is simply a supine body which has to implore politicians behave themselves, then the question of what is it there for becomes hard to answer. One function the Council has been given is to engage other groups to bring “moral suasion to bear on the conduct of political parties.”

Several groups and individuals have condemned Dr Rowley for what they perceive to be the disrespect of women inherent in his statement. Mrs Alleyne-Toppin has been severely criticised, and the intensity of the criticism shows no sign of dimming despite her apology. 

If government ministers and members of parliament can say the kind of outrageous things that the Tobago MP did with neither her colleagues or the speaker intervening to stop her, then the wider society needs its own court to police political conduct, besides the court of public opinion that is dealing so harshly with her.

Our politicians do not automatically place limits on their behaviour, and the political culture is not one in which the actors and their parties are held responsible for their indiscretions, or their gross and irresponsible behaviour. Archbishop Harris and his team must know that politicians on all sides are prepared to go to great lengths to hold on to or to acquire power. Sometimes, after tremendous bouts of mud-slinging, politicians would pay lip service to public opprobrium by issuing non-apology apologies (“I’m sorry if I offended anyone”, rather than “I’m sorry”).

As council chairman Dr Ragoonath has noted, the voters are the ones who will ultimately exercise leverage over parties and politicians. But the Council for Responsible Political Behaviour must be seen to be effective.

ST GEORGE’S—Former Barbados prime minister Owen Arthur says the resilience of Caribbean people rather than the content of programmes with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is what will likely determine whether regional countries succeed or fail. 

Arthur, delivering the Sir Archibald Need Memorial lecture on Thursday night, said the new type IMF programmes will “not in and of themselves solve all the problems of the Caribbean.”

“At best, they will function as catalysts which can trigger access to additional resources and help to generate new policy responses from others that all together may help to make a situation which started as being unsustainable, come into the realm of being manageable,” Owen said, as he spoke on the theme Can the Prescriptions of the IMF solve the economic problems of the Caribbean?.

He said countries facing such a “brutal reality must draw therefore upon more than what the IMF provides for.”

“Indeed, the totality of the adjustment that will be required to solve the problems will be the sum of those undertaken by the government in response to the national challenges, those undertaken by enterprises to improve and reform their balance sheets, and those undertaken by the people to ensure that they can enjoy successful livelihoods,” he said.

The Arthur said the contemporary Caribbean does not face the best of circumstances nor does it enjoy good fortune.

He said the longstanding and often cited difficulties that are associated with and derive from the region’s dubious distinction as the world’s smallest and most vulnerable set of nations, have persisted and have become more pronounced.

“In addition to its long standing challenges, our region, now has to grapple with stresses which are of a more recent vintage, which are gathering in scope and intensity and which are now so massive as not to lend themselves to easy resolution,” Arthur said.

He said the typical Caribbean country now faces the real danger of having to rely for their material progress on economic systems that are not viable.

“Conditioned for centuries to depending upon preferential access to foreign markets for their exports, on high levels of domestic protection for their industries and on generous access to concessional financing to support their development, almost every Caribbean nation has, now to face the prospect of building economic systems without the benefit of such props. “

Arthur said all the evidence suggests that the transition from the age of preferences to the age of competitive self-reliance has had devastating consequences, as is evidenced in the case of every banana producing economy.

“Our region has also been more adversely affected than most other regions, though unintentionally, by the economic rise of the South, especially China and India,” he said, adding “for much of the capital that our region used to attract to build for manufacturing and our informatics industries has been diverted to those nations, as they have embraced liberalization as their dominant economic ideology.”

“Ideally, therefore, the fiscal consolidation programme should go hand in hand with the growth programme,” Arthur said. CMC

The Central Bank has announced the fourth consecutive increase in the repo rate. The decision to increase it by 25 basis points to 3¾ per cent was made at the March meeting of the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. 

There will also be a continuation of the agressive programme to absorb excess liquidity to strengthen the impact high interest rates will have throughout the financial system.

These decisions were based on recent forward guidance from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on the medium-term path of US monetary policy, the potential for higher domestic inflation in the medium term and the relatively positive growth outlook for 2015.

Based on recent information from the FOMC, markets are expecting the first increase in the US Federal Reserve funds rate to occur between July and September and for US policy rates liely to rise at a gradual pace after that. 

The Central Bank said: “This normalisation of US monetary policy has implications for portfolio capital outflows and foreign exchange demand in Trinidad and Tobago, especially since returns on US dollar assets remain more attractive than TT dollar assets. 

“By mid-March 2015, the TT$-US$ differential on benchmark ten-year Treasuries had narrowed to 64 basis points, from 87 basis points since the end of January 2015. Higher domestic interest rates are necessary to enhance returns on TT$-denominated assets, helping to curb portfolio capital movements out of Trinidad and Tobago.”

In January the MPC noted that the domestic economy appeared to be approaching full capacity. The Central Bank said the situation remained unchanged, although headline inflation slowed for the third consecutive month in February to just over six per cent from nine per cent in November 2014. 

The slowdown in food inflation was due to higher food supply and favourable weather conditions and it contributed to the deceleration in headline inflation. 

However, the Central Bank expects this easing in headline inflation to be short lived, as inflationary pressures are expected to pick up during the rest of the year due to a number of factors.

“Growth of consumer credit remains robust, increasing by nearly 8 ½ per cent in January 2015, suggesting consumers are still willing to spend despite negative sentiment surrounding falling oil prices,” the bank said.

Current and expected settlement of wage negotiations for teachers, civil servants and other public sector workers with considerably large retroactive payments and salary increments will boost consumer spending and further stoke inflationary pressures.”

Government’s spending on its capital programme was up by seven per cent in the first four months of the financial year compared to the corresponding period last year.

In the final quarter of 2014, economic growth was buoyed by further positive momentum in the non-energy sector, even as activity in the energy sector was marred by maintenance work, the Central Bank reported.

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 12 securities of which five advanced, three declined and four traded firm.

Trading activity on the first tier market registered a volume of 848,180 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $4,448,585.06. 

Trinidad Cement Ltd was the volume leader with 767,623 shares changing hands for a value of $1,919,631.56, followed by Guardian Holdings Ltd with a volume of 51,604 shares being traded for $748,258. 

Angostura Holdings Ltd contributed 10,548 shares with a value of $147,672, while The West Indian Tobacco Company Ltd added 10,000 shares valued at $1,250,500.

Clico Investment Fund enjoyed the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.10 to end the day at $22.60. Conversely, Trinidad Cement Ltd suffered the day’s greatest loss, falling $0.10 to close at $2.50.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the mutual fund market, posting a volume of 45,830 shares valued at $1,035,550.

One day after the Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT) approved the US$3 billion merger of Cable and Wireless Communication (CWC) and Columbus Communication International, the Barbados Fair Trading Commission (FTC) has followed suit.

In a statement, the FTC said that it had considered the overall efficiencies of the merger and the anti-competitive effects it will create in the telephony and fixed data services and is approving the merger subject to certain conditions.

The regulatory agency has given 14 conditions. Among them is that CWC/Columbus divest one set of fibre cables in the zones where there exists total overlap of the Lime and Flow networks and that customers of the fixed voice residential and commercial business and the fixed broadband residential and commercial business “be released from any contracts, if they so desire, so that they are able to exercise the option to choose a service provider.”

The FTC further stated that during the transitional period customers are not to be disadvantaged and that the applicants submit an independent valuation of assets to be divested within 60 days.

“The responsibility lies with the merged entity to find a suitable buyer that has the economic and technical capacity to maintain a viable network. The company or companies interested in acquiring the divested assets must be approved by the Commission before divestment occurs,” the FTC said, noting that within 45 days “the merged entity must vest such assets in a holding company.”

The FTC will appoint trustees of the holding company who will be responsible for monitoring ongoing management of the divested assets. This will ensure the divested assets are maintained intact and made available for sale, the agency said.

In the event of the failure, by the merged entity, to find a suitable buyer for the assets of the holding company within 180 days of the announcement of the merger decision,” the Trustee(s) will also assume the responsibility to seek out a buyer for the assets for a maximum of five years.”

The FTC added: “After five years the trustee(s) will place the holding company for sale in the open market.”

The regulatory body gas also stipulated that within three months of the date of the merger being effected, the new entity “must offer the same prices, products and service standards to customers in areas not passed by any competing fixed voice network as those offered to customers in areas passed by a competing fixed voice network.”

CWC/Columbus announced their merger plans in a joint statement last November. They have said this will enable the combined company to significantly accelerate its growth strategy, improve service delivery to customers in the region, offer customers a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality products and services and strengthen their position against larger competitors.

The new Shipping Bill will bring T&T’s shipping and maritime industry into the 21st century, Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz said yesterday.

“When I came into the ministry a year and a half ago it did not exist. Cabinet did approve to establish a maritime policy strategy for T&T which is still a work in progress. You cannot build a maritime industry without a policy and proper legislation. 

“All of the people in the industry would know of its ills. We have finished the first draft of our new Shipping Bill which we hope will create the initiatives to build a proper and solid maritime industry,” he said.

Cadiz, who spoke at the 77th Annual General Meeting of the Shipping Association of T&T at the Radisson Hotel, Port-of-Spain, said T&T cannot build a modern maritime industry when the shipping industry is being run with archaic systems.

“The Single Electronic Window (SEW) will cut down on the filing and paper work that is being done now. It is horrendous how the shipping industry is being run. 

“I do not know how people who work in the industry do it. It sounds like a nightmare similar to the Licencing Office,” he said.

The minister said there will be rationalisation of the Port of Port-of-Spain and the Point Lisas Port..

“Should we move the Port of Port-of-Spain? It sits on TT $11 billion worth of real estate. Should the Government be reinvesting in a port or partnering with someone else and just provide the land? We have the investment in Point Lisas, what do we do with Point Lisas?” he asked.

He said a new port could cost between $5 to $6 billion in investment.

“A lot of work has gone into it with studies and reports, how we will get back our investment?” he asked.

The minister also spoke about the La Brea area and said the Shipping Association had advised that a port in that location will not be a good idea.

“What are we doing with three ports in T&T?” he asked. “The investment in Point Lisas will cost about $2 million to be able to improve their service. What we will look at for Brighton is a ship repair facility. We have the skill set to do proper ship repairs. It also provides far more employment than a modern port facility. A modern port facility does not have the thousands of workers needed as it is now all automated.”

You’re due to open an US$3.5 billion project on Friday. On Tuesday, you cancel; just three days to go. Embarrassing? A touch. That was the story last week with the Baha Mar mega-resort in the Bahamas. The original date was December, just in time for the peak winter tourist season. That target was abandoned late last year. Now March 27 hasn’t happened. It looks like early May.

The developers blame their state-owned Chinese contractors. Said Tuesday’s release: “In setting our opening date for March 27, we relied in good faith on the representations of the resort’s construction manager and lead contractor.” But “it has become clear that the contractor has not completed the work with an attention to detail consistent with Baha Mar standards of excellence.” By corporate communications standards, that’s blunt enough. Those comments are “wholly inappropriate and inconsistent with the history of this project,” says the contractor.

Stephen Wrinkle, past president of the Bahamas Contractors’ Association, says: “We shouldn’t continue doing projects in the same manner as this one, and expect different results. It’s not going to happen.” The contractors have a US$150 million equity stake. They’re both insiders and outsiders. The other US$850 million is held by Swiss-Bahamian investor, Sarkis Izmirlian. Then there’s a US$2.5 billion loan from the Import-Export Bank of China.

Meanwhile, Baha Mar has management contracts with big hotel brands—Grand Hyatt and Rosewood for starters. They will not be delighted. This is starting to look like fun for the lawyers. And the customers? Says Baha Mar’s Facebook page: “If you currently have reservations, please be assured that our team is in the process of reaching out to you.” Reaching out to a bunch of angry pre-booked customers is a challenge. 

Says Joanie Antonacci: “I have left messages, sent messages and still waiting patiently since yesterday. I would really like to speak to someone regarding this situation, I really hope that gets resolved asap please call me.” The response: “Hello Joanie, we are currently working through the inquiries by arrival date and will reach out to you as soon as possible. We understand your frustration and are doing our best to compensate you for your troubles.”

And from Tipton Law Offices: “I was booked for April 2-7. Been looking forward to this for weeks. $2,500 in non-refundable airfare. One week’s notice??? All I can say is WOW!!! What a black eye on this resort and PR nightmare.” There are other worries besides the delay. There’s a neighbours’ dispute with the adjoining SuperClubs Beaches property. And a tiff with the government over road diversion costs. The resort will gobble electricity, with monthly bills of perhaps US$3 million. Nassau’s creaking power system is already plagued with blackouts.

And the murder rate last year was higher than ours. Just last Wednesday, the US State Department warned that the crime threat is “critical.” But to be fair, let’s stand back a bit. One year on, these troubles may be ancient history. This latest setback is around six weeks. A late start is better than opening with last-minute mess-ups, consumer complaints and lousy reviews on Trip Advisor. And the US consumer market is on an upswing.

When it does open, Baha Mar will be mega-glitzy even by Bahamian standards. It will have 2,200 rooms in four hotels; plus 284 private residences, and 40 restaurants, bars and lounges. It’s a fair trek across this 1,000-acre site to get to the beach, but there will be six swimming pools, and a Jack Nicklaus golf course. And there’s the casino. That’s 100,000 square feet—around 2.3 acres, with more than a thousand slot machines; plenty ways to lose your money. When it does open, the economic whoomph will be enormous. 

The Bahamian economy has been drifting. Tourist arrivals are still below their 2005 peak. Baha Mar will bring around 5,000 new jobs, almost all of them for Bahamians. Trouble is, there’s some delicate fine tuning. Airlift into the Bahamas needs to be stepped up in line with new hotel capacity. ast week’s cancellation will annoy the airlines almost as much as the displaced hotel guests. Empty seats cost money. Looking forward, Baha Mar badly needs to keep June flight schedules intact.

On the upside, the resort has been talking to two Chinese airlines about direct flights from that fast-growing market. But forget China for now. The core market for Caribbean tourism is the north-eastern USA and eastern Canada. For the Bahamas to benefit from Baha Mar, its marketing blitz will need to boost new traffic. If it just diverts business from the existing hotels, that will spell trouble all round—not least for the 3,400-room Atlantis resort on nearby Paradise Island. 

Your vacation plans not fixed? Why not give it a whirl? The Rosewood starts at just US$630 a night—and right now, says their Web site: “The first night is on us.” When it opens.

Parliamentarians enjoy constitutional protection against civil and criminal proceedings for anything they might say in the course of debate in the House of Representatives or the Senate. This means that no matter how vile and slanderous their words might be, and even if deliberately fabricated, they cannot be sued in the civil courts for defamation, and they cannot be charged for a criminal offence.

There is a specific provision in the Constitution that says as much. It is a feature of all Commonwealth Constitutions inherited from the Westminster prototype. It is designed to ensure that our representatives can speak freely on our behalves in Parliament. The injury which might incidentally be caused to other members of the legislative bodies or to innocent third parties is thought not to be too high a price to pay to guarantee fearless representation.

If what our parliamentarians say within the confines of the legislative chamber stayed within the confines of the legislative chamber, we would have no reason to be overly concerned with the way they exercised the freedom. 

But debates in Parliament are carried live on a cable channel devoted exclusively to parliamentary affairs. They are recorded and replayed. Newspapers and the electronic media are permitted in law to relay what parliamentarians say in their debates, as long as the report is an accurate representation of what was said. The result is that parliamentarians are assured that their most depraved and wicked accusations will be given the widest publicity, without personal repercussion. 

The advent of social media fora has served only to amplify exponentially the injury which can be caused. A parliamentarian nursing some grouse against a fellow parliamentarian or a member of the public is as a consequence enabled to plot revenge and assassinate the character of anyone on whom she might choose to train her fire.   

In their investigative reporting, journalists are held to much higher standards. They are required above all to be responsible, which at a minimum means that they must ensure that their publications are properly sourced and that they give the target of their reports an opportunity to respond, with the concomitant obligation to publish the response they receive. This is common fairness at work. 

Mrs Vernella Alleyne-Toppin was not legally required to be responsible in her contribution to the debate on the Government’s no confidence motion against the leader of the Opposition. If she had thought about it, she would not have been able to seek verification of the allegation that Dr Rowley’s mother had been raped. Dr Rowley’s parents passed away some time ago. That by itself should have given Mrs Alleyne-Toppin cause to pause and consider the morality of what she was about to do. 

The other victim of the alleged rape, on the other hand, is alive and, as a report in a daily newspaper has revealed, available to shed light on the salacious allegations which Mrs Alleyne-Toppin was all too ready to believe and to disseminate. Had she taken the time to verify her information, she would have been bound to report to the House that the questions she was calling upon Dr Rowley to answer had already been answered by the supposed victim of the rape.

But that is just the point. Mrs Alleyne-Toppin’s purpose was not to use her freedom of speech to bring the truth to light. Her aim was to denigrate the leader of the Opposition, no matter what injury might be caused to innocent third parties. She gave new meaning to the free speech war cry: “Publish and be damned.” 

Freedom of speech in parliament is important. But because of its potential to cause irreparable harm, the unspoken and unwritten principle is that it is a freedom which will be exercised responsibly and with restraint. One of the safeguards against abuse is the power of the Speaker to intervene to protect members of the public who do not have audience in the House.

Proceedings for contempt of Parliament can be taken after the fact to serve as a deterrent against future infractions. The problem with these mechanisms is that when deployed against opposition members, the Government is susceptible to the charge of using their majority to silence uncomfortable dissent. And, of course, it is unlikely that these safeguards will be used against their own. 

Much therefore depends upon the honesty and integrity of individual members to police themselves and each other, lest the sanctity of Parliament as an institution be brought into disrepute. That virtue of self-restraint was in short supply last Wednesday. A horde of parliamentarians, presided over by a malleable Speaker, all of whom have mothers, sisters and daughters, sat and listened to Mrs Alleyne-Toppin declare that Dr Rowley’s mother had been raped and imply in no uncertain terms that a woman whose identity could be easily ascertained had been raped by Dr Rowley.

On the premise that they were taken by surprise, shocked silence would have been understandable. Instead, what was actually shocking was the desk thumping which greeted Mrs Alleyne-Toppin’s startling revelations. 

It was as though she was being congratulated for disclosing to the nation that a dead woman had given birth to a child conceived in an act of rape, and that the mother of a 45-year-old man, who now has a family of his own, had also been raped. Did it not occur to anyone at anytime the harm that could be done to people not seeking political office? 

The framers of our Constitution attempted to write down as much as they could to shape the future practice of democracy in this country. They couldn’t write everything down. A lot has been left to the development of a culture of respect for one another and for democratic traditions. We have singularly failed in this project.

Parliament has become less an institution in which our better angels are put on display and more a forum for mudslinging and backbiting. For that, all parliamentarians, government and opposition, are responsible. Mrs Alleyne-Toppin’s putrid descent into the abyss is just the most egregious manifestation of a broken system.

Watching young Trinbagonians exercise nation-building passion and skill is magical. Last week Cydelle Crosby flew to Washington DC and made history. The 21-year-old spoken-word artist brought special flavour to a formal hearing during the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 154th period of sessions. Her testimony was a six-minute performance bringing alive issues of age discrimination that ought to be protected by T&T’s Equal Opportunity Act (EOA). 

“Young people in their development as citizens also deserve a chance…to access information and get an education about our rights,” she urged. It was a breathtaking moment of national pride. Moreso because it was the first time in 15 years—perhaps the second in history—that Trinbagonians exercised our power as citizens of member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) to raise human rights themes in hearings before the commission. 

“If I can begin by saying how much I welcome this hearing,” said its past president Jamaican Tracy Robinson, “particularly the last piece of poetry.” “For me it was a pleasure to hear the issues relating to human rights articulated through the story about possibility and promise unrealised because of age discrimination,” she said. But the table opposite Crosby, David Soomarie, a man living with HIV, and me sat empty. No one from the T&T Government had shown up. It was heartbreaking. 

Later that day, I watched in embarrassment as foreign ministers from the Bahamas and Guyana, leading state delegations to hearings similarly called by their citizens, sat in the same spot Ambassador Neil Parsan and other officials ought to have occupied at 9 am, taking human rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Trinbagonian citizens seriously. Daniel Cima’s photograph on the commission’s Web site captures the empty chairs: https://flic.kr/p/rqscyd

 “I deeply regret the absence of the state, particularly in light of what you describe as a moment of promise, but a promise that cannot be meaningfully acknowledged without the full participation of the state,” Commissioner Robinson lamented, echoed by her colleagues as they each spoke.
Community Action Resource, representing people with HIV, Women’s Institute for Alternative Development, which teaches girls to be leaders, Crosby’s team of young people, the.art.IS, using art to change people’s lives, and Caiso, which pursues restorative justice and fair policy for LGBTI persons, went to Washington together to jointly engage the commission and government about strengthening the nation’s human rights infrastructure—the note of promise the commission clearly heard. We quoted Wade Mark and Ramesh Maharaj on the critical role of “machinery” like the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) in fulfilling human rights.

We talked about an overdue promise of human rights education; the EOC becoming an accredited national human rights institution; and expanding the EOA to include three statuses every international human rights body (and on Friday the commission) has urged since the law passed—age, HIV, and sexual orientation. 

David mentioned close to 100 violations documented by a short-lived HIV “human rights desk” that no one has done anything about. I cited two LGBTI people I saluted here last Independence whom the EOC encouraged to file cases knowing they would turn them down, who then fled the country to safety. You can watch our entire testimony here: https://youtu.be/fybngG2xwTs

I told the commission how I ended up in Washington talking about the EOA. How I was one of six LGBTI activists who’d written a Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament in 2007 offering input into the legislation and were ignored. How I’d written the attorney general in 2011 again asking to come to the table, and got no answer. How I’d written Chief Parliamentary Counsel Ian McIntrye, and he too didn’t think he was accountable to reply.

So I’d made sure the AG’s human rights unit, the Labour Ministry’s HIV centre, our new parliamentary committee on human rights, and Speaker Wade Mark (who chaired the 1990s JSC that developed the Equal Opportunity Act) all knew of Friday’s hearing and its goals.

I called our Washington embassy Monday to share my distress at the hearing no-show. A junior officer refused to share the name of her colleague responsible for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights when I repeatedly asked. Because you will call them, was her rationale. I needed to wait and be called back. How much further can T&T go to avoid talking with me about the EOA? I began this column arguing why human rights matter. But for the Government and the media who declined to cover the hearing, or T&T’s last human rights review, they don’t seem to matter at all.

Vernella Alleyne-Toppin’s attack in the Parliament is, in my view, the greatest gift to Dr Rowley and the PNM at this stage in the politics. Let’s face it, Rowley has been on the receiving end of a relentless plan to demonise him and so elevate the PM, spawned in part by UNC strategists wanting to capitalise on recent polls which gave her the edge over Rowley, and more so because the current crop of ministers has little or no appeal to the wider electorate.

And the plan may have been succeeding, placing Dr Rowley on the defensive so much so that he was obliged to apologise for his “dog and cat” comments. But that strategy, taking the turn that it did in Toppin’s attempt to further denigrate Dr Rowley and his family, has undone, in my view, whatever gains may have been made by the PM’s continuing attack on him and Al-Rawi. 

I say this because the response to it in the media has been one of anger and revulsion from a sampling of an electorate which has come to accept that which often defies rationality, good sense and as in this instance, good taste. Even a member of the Hindu Women’s Organisation, usually unequivocal in support of anything UNC, is quoted as saying: “I think it is appalling, it is preposterous and tragic that this lady can do such a thing.” 

A respected senior counsel, usually impartial and objective in his views, is quoted on TV relating to the new “low” in Parliament and is surprised that the minister in question is still in office. Also, the denial of Garth Rowley and his mother on TV does not help Toppin’s cause any. 

Expectedly, some ministers would applaud their colleague, one openly so at an official function and the others, feigning regret over the minister’s contribution in one breath, would in typical hypocritical fashion, lament the fate of the “victims” in another, conferring guilt on Dr Rowley, by innuendo.

There are many issues involved in this incident in Parliament, first and foremost being the extent to which the Government is part of this conspiracy, and also the degree of culpability for the official who had the power to end it but allowed it to go on. But that said, how is it that an incident can suffer an ironic reversal of malicious intent? 

This brings to mind a famous comment by Macbeth, in a Shakespeare play, as he contemplated killing the king who has been so generous to him: “This even handed-justice/Commends th’ ingredients of our poison’d chalice/To our own lips.” (Act1 Sc7 10-11). Instead of Dr Rowley suffering because of Toppin’s attempt to smear him, he has instead managed to win the sympathy of many in the electorate because of an attack hardly befitting the dignity of Parliament. 

All Dr Rowley has to do now, in my view, is to avoid tit-for-tat in replying in kind to his accusers and display true statesmanship in talking about issues that would serve the country for the future, allowing the poison which this incident has unleashed in the minds of the electorate to wreak the havoc it inevitably will on its perpetrators.

Dr Errol Benjamin
Via e-mail

Election season in T&T is now lukewarm with every sector and interest adding their tune to the symphony that will soon enough pronounce or denounce a government. The chorale includes, but is not limited to, police and pipers, captains and crooks, as well as those singing and blogging for their supper. Even within the depths of the major political parties the sheep are now being separated from the goats; with some of the older heads and errant young hearts being set out to pasture. 

People on the ground are, nonetheless, calling for more of the usual political breeding stock who are recycled in some way or the other into each flock to be seconded to new, fresh genes and hopefully patriotic agendas and policies. 

Given that political parties and their campaign handlers have been known to ignore the sure votes and safe seats as they think they know it, harping only on the importance of the so-called swing voters or marginal seats, it appears that they are aware of their limited power to persuade.

Joel Bradshaw, who is based in the USA and has consulted on over 300 campaigns for public office at all levels, in his paper, Who Will Vote For You and Why: Designing Strategy and Theme (1995) made the point that the key to successful strategy is not to try to appeal to everyone on his or her particular flash point but instead to select the types of voters you can most easily persuade based on the contrasts presented by the candidates. 

Many agree that the current atmosphere demands some resemblance of a track record and fine choice of candidates. It requires that those desiring greatness must desire modesty. It requires that those seeking the country’s honour must seek to be respectful to all. The People’s Partnership is, for the first time, paddling into a re-election campaign. These waters have been, to some extent, untroubled for some time as the T&T electorate is known to vote out a government as compared to voting in a win-win situation. 

Voters, who are more important to the election than candidacy and campaigns, are convinced that duty requires the monarch to swiftly acquire knowledge of all happenings among all men each day. The Prime Minister or any other person seeking such office must be in tune with the sounds of the ground. Though it is a mammoth expectation to conceive that a party’s implements must be controlled by one command, all involved in the politics of the day must be made to know that everybody is not your friend; regardless if incumbent or challenger.

Within the past week the country has been reeling from a compost of racism, statements from the Minister of Finance on salary negotiations for the police supposedly resulting in last Monday’s “Total Policing Day,” the perception that the country was under siege as the executive of the Police Service were supposedly clueless about who sanctioned the nationwide road blocks, the cost of the south highway, legal fees causing illegal unease and other bittersweet symphonies. 

The repercussion of the constant cat and dog battles is the open vulnerability of an uninformed electorate to manipulation. Since Dr Rowley’s vote of no confidence in Parliament and when Marlene’s gate is opened, all in a week when at least two of his current MPs were vetoed, the tune will change.

When your back is against the wall with punches below the wage and former sugar belt, unequal opportunities, victimisation, racism, arrogance, large for the largesse, and people totally out of control; the least we can do is protect and serve our own interests in the trenches. Many are perhaps jealous that they cannot ‘eat ah food’ more so because of its price; but they all would sing, as per singer Everton Blender, “it’s a ghetto people song, only dem can swing this one! It’s a song for the poor who’s facing sufferation.”

Omardath Maharaj

This election has started off in the proverbial gutter with the tactics displayed by the Government. No one has been knocked out of this political boxing match as yet but it seems as though the opposition is in the right place. The Government has placed themselves in a dark place with the public by Vernella Alleyne Toppin’s vicious attack on Dr Rowley.

I am happy to see that our society continues to have people who cannot be bought by politicians. I will continue to applaud the people in our country that won’t allow our children to witness personal gain take place at the expense and to the detriment of someone or people’s lives.

I have to continously make an extra effort to speak on the content of Toppin’s statement because it’s the lowest I have ever heard from any government minister and is seemingly endorsed by the Government. Two accusations of rape directed at Dr Rowley and his father with no evidence under parliamentary privilege is an abuse to the highest extreme. The attempted coercison toward an untruth by bribery is an insult not only to Dr Rowley’s family but to the public. 

It turns out that Toppin’s story is an improbable concoction. The teacher-student scenario was painfully dispelled when the mother of Dr Rowley’s son pointed out that she is only two years younger than Dr Rowley. The Speaker of the House said nothing during Toppin’s delivery. He allowed such horrendous statements to be made, and in my opinion this suggests a clear bias over professionalism. 

The entire government bench allowed this parliamentary disgrace to take place in an attempt to destroy Dr Rowley and possibly his family life. There are many decent and right thinking citizens in T&T that will not put a price on their integrity. Elections will come and go as well as material things do but your conscience stays with you always.

Ronald Huggins 
St Joseph

The longstanding California Women’s Windball Cricket League got a major boost for its 2015 season with sponsorship from contractors Super Industrial Services (SIS). The season opened on Saturday. 

Welcoming the partnership with SIS, founder and president of the California Women’s Windball Cricket League, Wilton “Flex” Griffith, said the funds would go primarily toward enhanced prize money and trophies for the various competitions.

“We are extremely happy that SIS has come on board once more to partner with us in staging this tournament which has been in the vanguard of promoting women’s cricket for almost three decades. We can now afford to offer increased prize money to the teams and present a more structured tournament for 2015,” Griffith pointed out.

Celebrating its 29th anniversary this year, California Women’s Windball Cricket League received the financial injection at a simple function at SIS head-office, Rivulet Road, Couva, yesterday. Representing SIS were Barry Ramroop and Vidia Rampersad, event coordinators, while Griffith and league official Kerina Laurie represented the league.

Ramroop said SIS was proud to renew its partnership with the women’s cricket league, noting that the sponsorship formed an integral part of the company’s corporate social investment thrust which encompasses sports, education, culture and other spheres in its home community and Trinidad and Tobago in general.

Apart from looking after prize money and trophies, SIS is also providing logistical support for the entire season. 

The league has proved to be a nursery for women’s cricket with several players, such as Britney Cooper, Stacy King and Kirbyna Alexander, going on to represent both Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies at a higher level. Ten teams, representing communities throughout Trinidad, have registered so far for the 2015 season.

The league launches its 2015 season with its traditional round-robin competition at Macaulay Park, California, on Saturday. Defending round-robin champions Tamana United have sounded a warning to all rivals that they are well prepared to retain their crown and the $1,000 first prize. 

The opening ceremony featured a Parade of Teams with a special prize for the Best Uniformed Team.

The season comprises four competitions, League, Knock-Out, the opening Round-Robin, and culminates with a three-over Knock-Out with a first prize of $1,000 on the final day which will also feature the distribution of prizes and trophies.

The 15-over league competition offers a first prize of $10,000 and a trophy. Winners of the Knock-Out (12 overs) competition will receive $4,000 and a trophy. 

The Druids Nephew came out best-in when Grand National weights were announced last month. This eight-year-old King’s Theatre gelding proved our time-handicap right when landing a fiercely-competitive Cheltenham Festival handicap and will line up for the World’s Greatest Horse-Race at Aintree, mount of Aidan Coleman.

Key to my assessment was a remarkable run in the ‘Hennessy’ over three and a quarter miles at Newbury during November when Neil Mulholland’s charge continually hit fences but then took off on the far bend and actually looked a genuine threat approaching the third last. Earlier lapses took their toll but The Druids Nephew finished a respectable 7th of nineteen.

Davy Russell was impressed but he’s out of action due to injury and so is Barry Geraghty, brilliant aboard TDN at Prestbury Park. I’m delighted with the booking of Coleman however, a likely challenger for the NH jockeys’ championship next season given that Tony McCoy will abdicate during, or after, the wonderful three-day(s) Liverpool spectacular. He wont be licensed in May!

If Shutthefrontdoor wins the National ‘AP’ will probably retire there and then but the current favourite (because Tony has declared he’ll ride him!) will have no chance of beating The Druids Nephew if the latter achieves his mark. Also his somewhat slovenly technique might just suit those unique fences ideally as it’s possible to rustle the fringes in the way the Red Rum did without falling one hundred and fifty times.

As we’re excited about a genuine prospect, in the meantime there are three jumping fixtures today, Chepstow, Warwick and Kempton where Destiny’s Gold looks destined for one of three placings in the Novices’ Hurdle over two miles which kicks off a seven-race programme.

I’m loathe to mention the time-handicap where jumping is concerned having found so many inaccuracies/discrepancies with timing but Destiny’s Gold is similarly-rated to the obvious principals, Argot and Brother Bennett, on offical ratings and justifies a punt.

At the Midlands venue Verano is a solid nap for the Novices’ Handicap Hurdle over two miles; thrown-in and napped with my favourite NH jockey, Daryl ‘patient’ Jacob on our side.   

If the West Indies players needed motivation for their upcoming series against England, the recent arrogant comments of incoming chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Colin Graves should have opened up their appetite for overwhelming success. 

Graves is quoted on BBC news as saying “I ‘d certainly be disappointed if we (England) don’t win the West Indies series, because I am pretty sure the West Indies are going to have mediocre team.” He was even more dismissive of the West Indies when he indicated that failure to defeat the West Indies will result in “some enquiries.” http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/32037349

Graves’s comments must be addressed from two interrelated perspectives. It must be out rightly condemned and at the same time taken up as a challenge to prove him wrong. 

As much as he would like to stamp his style of leadership on the ECB from May 15, it should not be done in a disrespectful manner at the expense of any country let alone the West Indies. His belittling comments insults the rich history and importance of West Indian cricket to the people of Caribbean and its diaspora world over. There is no denying that West Indies cricket is nothing compared to its glory days of the 1980’s but it is no reason for Graves to be so utterly dismissive.

As the governing body for cricket in the region the WICB should be offended and recently re-elected WICB President Dave Cameron should condemn and demand an apology from Graves. His remarks should not remain unscathed. 

The players of the region should also feel aggrieved and should use every opportunity to demonstrate to Graves that the West Indies is made up of more than ‘six stars’ as he claims. 

The players should all look at ‘Fire in Babylon’ to see how in 1976 the West Indian players responded to the then English captain Tony Grieg comment that “we would make them grovel.” Such a comment was seen as an insult to not only the West Indian players but also to the Caribbean people. Before the end of the series Greig was very regretful for his comments as the English literally felt the leather of ball on their bodies from the four prong pace attack led by Michael Holding and the blade of the West Indian batsmen led by Vivian Richards. 

It was the same ‘mediocre’ West Indies team without ‘three stars’ who reached the quarter-finals of the just concluded ICC World Cup while England were eliminated in the group stage. 

The West Indies have a new coach in Phil Simmons who has received several accolades for lifting Ireland from being a mediocre Associate team to being highly competitive by the end of his eight year tenure as coach. It was an Ireland coached by Simmons who defeated England at the 2011 ICC World Cup in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. And it was also an Ireland coached by Simmons who defeated the West Indies at the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. 

Therefore, if there is one surety, Simmons knows how to beat England and he is on the coaching side of the West Indies. As a player there was no questioning of his commitment to the success of the West Indies and the same will be expected of him as a coach. 

The inner desire of the players to succeed plus the inspiration provided by the negative comments by Graves should motivate the West Indies as happened in 1976 to send England packing home well beaten by the same ‘mediocre’ team. Colin Graves will then have the opportunity at the start his stewardship of the ECB responding to his own comments, “If we did not win, I can tell you now there will be some enquiries of why we haven’t.” 

Hopefully, there will be a West Indies series win and the opportunity will be there for him to eat his words and never ever again cast such negativity on the people of the Caribbean. As CLR James would have said, his comments is ‘just not cricket.’

Top local men’s beach volleyball pair, Fabien Whitfield and Daneil Williams made it eight straight wins from as many  T&T Volleyball Federation Beach Volleyball tournament when they played unbeaten for an eight straight time as well, without dropping a set at Saith Park Chaguanas on Saturday.

With the win, the Toco-duo are now well ahead in the race to earn this country’s qualification spot for the July Pan Americans Games in Toronto Canada, and on course to end the qualifying series as the lone unbeaten team.

Historic bronze medal winners on the NORCECA Beach Circuit two years ago, Whitfield and Williams have now won all e three qualifying tournaments in the local the Pan American Games qualifying series.

This after they also won all five qualifying tournaments  in the first phase of T&TVF Beach Qualifiers to select the national team to compete at the 2015 Norceca beach Tour opener in Cayman Islands from April 22 to 28, as well as half of the mens national team to compete at the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Olympic Qualifiers round one series here in T&T at the end of next month.

On Saturday, they recorded wins over  Josiah Eccles/Tevin Edwards 21-13, 21-18; Nathaniel Noreiga/Marcus Moore 21-11, 21-2; Kareem Thomas/Kevin Edwards 21-9, 21-15; Christian Francois/Kevin Rivers 21-17. 21-13; and Marlon Phillip/David Thomas 21-13, 21-16.

Francois and Rivers, who have represented T&T on the NORCECA Circuit in the past ended second with a 4-1 mark after winning their other matches, over Kareem Thomas/Kevin Edwards 21-13, 21-13; Phillip/David Thomas 21-13, 19-21, 15-11; Noreiga/Moore 21-0, 21-0 (by default), and Eccles/Tevin Edwards 21-19, 21-12,

Eccles and Edwards, who were second in the first phase of qualification and will also represent T&T at the Olympic Zone qualifiers took third after beating Phillip/David Thomas  21-0, 21-0 (default); Noreiga/Moore 21-2, 21-12, and  Thomas/Kevin Edwards 20-22, 21-18, 15-12,

Phillip/David Thomas had wins over Noreiga/Moore 21-19, 21-18, and Kareem Thomas/Kevin Edwards 21-18, 20-22, 15-8 for a 2-3 record and fourth while Kareem Thomas/Kevin Edwards beat Nathaniel Noreiga/Marcus Moore 21-0, 21-0 (by default) to avoid the cellar spot.

Only two women’s team showed up on the day as NORCECA Beach Tour opener bound La Teisha Joseph and Apphia Galsgow were absent.

In the lone women’s match, last week’s double-winners and new playing partners, Ayana Dyette and Malika Davidson defeated Elki Phillip/Shenelle Gordon 21-17, 21-14. Yesterday the penultimate qualifying tournament was carded to come off ahead of Saturday’s final series at the same venue.