Breathalyzer Legislation- Trinidad and Toabgo (Click to read)

Trinidad and Tobago's Tobacco Control Bill, 2009 (Click to read)

Coalition Governments of the World

Going forward, the possibility of an increased role outside of Europe for coalition politics and the politics of cohesion is perhaps borne out of Henry Kissinger’s description of the place the world finds itself in 2008. Kissinger, writing in the Economist’s World in 2009, says that the world has gone through a period in which “the absence of restraint encouraged a speculation whose growing sophistication matched its mounting lack of transparency…an unparalled period of growth followed, but also the delusion that an economic system could sustain itself via debt indefinitely.” The comment carries with it more than a suggestion that the world will not move forward without greater transparency, greater accountability and greater public influence and those things will require a different approach to the business of government and governance.

Towards the end of 2008 most global opinion leaders have emphasised a new economic order, shifts in the balance of power and the prospects for the strengthening of the still emerging countries. Few have crossed national lines and said anything about the way in which the business of government and governance and the potential for coalition politics and the politics of cohesion across traditional party lines will influence national global economic policy and development agendas.

Click the link to read  this December 2008 Newsday column.

1974: Ras Shorty's "Om Shanti Om" caused a major uproar for itsd use of a Hindu Chant.(click for Song)

Terry Joseph recalls that "Ras Shorty, whose calypso sobriquet was a parody of his imposing height, first came to public attention in 1963 with the song “Cloak and Dagger,” catapulting him to the art’s major league at a single bound. A close friend and associate of the acclaimed calypso composer Maestro, Shorty carved his own space from the 1964 Carnival and rose swiftly in the calypso world.

Shorty's first Calypso title came in 1970, when he was crowned Calypso King of San Fernando, beating former monarchs Bomber and Black Stalin into second and third place respectively. By 1984, the was able to command the respect and trust of a stable of superior singers, who he presented for that calypso season in the yet upscale setting of Queen’s Hall, as The Professionals. But he was best known for premiering a new rhythm that fused Indian percussion instruments with the traditional calypso engine room to produce soca, defining the new beat as “the soul of calypso”.

In that vein, he produced some of calypsoes enduring masterpieces, including the seminal Endless Vibrations album. Apart from its infectious title-track and other catchy songs like “Zena”, the album offered an insight into revolutionary possibilities for calypso music, most notably the Hindu-oriented “Om Shanti”, a song that caused more than a mild uproar in certain quarters for its use of the chant in its chorus line.

Shorty went on to become The Love Man, singing songs in that idiom, some of which caused him to run afoul of the authorities. He was, however equally adept at social commentary, with his “Money Eh No Problem” (1984) becoming one of calypso’s all-time classics.

But by the turn of the 1980’s Shorty became disenchanted with the very image and music he had created, saying that soca was being used for all the wrong reasons.He then underwent a dramatic change of image, taking a deeply spiritual direction and going back to nature. In the process he became Ras Shorty-I, changing his style to composing and singing deeply devout songs.

In 1997 he released “Watch Out My Children” an anti-drug song that stayed at the number one slot throughout the Caribbean for many weeks and sold well in North America and the UK. The song was translated into several languages."

Surprise: I just turned 40.

When I turned 40 in October, there wasn’t a lot of time at that “Pirates of the Caribbean-” themed surprise birthday party for reflection. Most of the time went in trying to come to terms with the surprise and shock that a plan of that magnitude could be executed without my knowledge. Age slows you down but it would be an incredible thing if the rest of my life sneaks up and surprises me the way this party did. Speaking of age, more shocking than a room filled with people shouting you out on your 40th birthday, is deciding to leave your much needed eyewear at home that evening. The loss of that assistance coupled with the immaculate costuming of these pirates, made the first few minutes very uncomfortable.

Equally frightful is the fact that most people mistook that initial hesitation for the early onset of memory loss.

Click the link above to read my Newday Column.

Money is No Problem- Click for Ras Shorty's Calypso

Groupthink and grey Directors: A case for good governance

If groupthink and grey Directors are pervasive, then sweeping legislative changes must come to the National Insurance Board of Trinidad and Tobago (NIB), which will for once put an end to the board’s many tentacled reach beyond Cipriani Boulevard. At a minimum, the country and its Parliament must consider three things. First, whether there remains any value in having labour and employers occupy six seats in NIB’s boardroom and if so whether there is value in placing some restraints which will overcome many handed directorships; second, whether it is appropriate to have Members of Parliament sitting on the Boards of State corporations and Statutory bodies and third, whether it is appropriate to have persons, including Permanent Secretaries, their Deputies and State CEOs sitting on more than a handful of boards.

It’s the sort of thing which makes for stony silence: it’s also the kind of silence which seems atypical of firebrand labour and premier business association leaders, so heavily wedded to their respective bread and butter of workers’ rights and good governance.

Click the link and read my Newsday column.

Investors:Where there's smoke, there's fire. Click link to read my column.

If most of the financial meltdown of 2008 was driven by the collapse of complexity in global finance, Bernie Madoff was the absolute exception. There were no credit default swaps, complex options or asset backed commercial paper in Bernie’s investment arsenal. There was no fund either. With at least US$40 billion, Madoff’s “fund” somehow never managed to be anything more than a Chase Manhattan bank account. 

From a Caribbean point of view there is one common irony in the stories of Bernie Madoff, Allen Stanford and Lawrence Duprey’s Clico’s Much of the intrigue around this threesome has been built around their self-styled success. Ultimately, the thing which attracted the most scrutiny was neither their characters nor evident success; it’s their core business which over the years, seemed to attract persistent questions. All three had the penchant for the jet setting lifestyles of successful industrialists but the hard facts surrounding their core business suggested that danger was coming. 

The lesson to be learnt is that if investors pay attention to the smoke they may be prepared for the fire. 

Click the link above to read the Newsday column.

Trinidad: Time for action on money laundering

Reading Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira's contribution to the debate on the Act to establish the Financial Intelligence Unit led me back to the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), set up in 1995 as part of the State's global money laundering commitments. The SSA was established to "act as an office for centralising information that could facilitate the detection and prevention of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs." It was also set up to "assist in identifying sophisticated drug-related criminal activity and those who engage in it and help the law enforcement effort by identifying links between individuals and organisations involved in the drug trade".

Those were the early days of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and the global efforts to dismantle the world of secret banking which facilitated money laundering. The Minister did not mention all the legislative and administrative arrangements already in place for dealing with the money which fuels the killing on the streets.

The Minister also did not mention that the legislation is intended to complete the country's long outstanding international commitments to dealing with money laundering. Instead the Minister behaves as though this legislation is newly discovered ground and will be, in the way politicians usually assume, the magic wand to wave crime away.

The problem, Minister, has not been the lack of a framework but the lack of the will to clean up the town. Perhaps she should also read the most recent publication on the role of sport, and soccer in particular, in money laundering and consider including pro and semi-pro clubs in the scope of the legislation.

Let's hope the horses have not bolted.

The Gangs of Port of Spain (Click here to read)

In 2008, the world’s most dangerous jobs ranged from fishers, pilots and loggers to trash collectors, roofers and truckers. Obviously, the researchers and data collectors did not consider the job of “community leader,” an occupation which in Trinidad and Tobago has a fatality rate above 90 percent. Exactly three years ago local media reported that the country’s Prime Minister met “community leaders” at Crowne Plaza hotel in Port-of-Spain, ostensibly to “broker a peace pact among rival gang leaders of the Morvant/Laventille and Port-of-Spain areas.”

Of the 20 community leaders meeting in 2006, 18 or 19 have since been murdered.

Trinidad and Tobago, at current rates, will end 2009, second to Jamaica in the region, in homicide rates. Jamaica seems headed to finish 2009 just under its 2008 toll of 1660 or 59 murders per 100,000 citizens. Both Caribbean countries will keep company with regional counterparts Honduras, Venezuela, Guatemala and El Salvador in the world’s top ten murderous countries per capita. Jamaica, as usual, should end up with gold.

Click the above link to read my Newsday column.

The Electronic Wasteland: How computer disposal is endangering lives

This is a tragic story from 60 Minutes about how the lives of Hong Kong workers and their unborn children, are put at risk because of money hungry "electronic waste recyclers". The US disposes of 130,000 computers a day and this could increase with more computers being produced and more being discarded. Consider that Dell alone assembles 90,000 daily.

The BBC estimates that by 2010, 100m phones and 300m personal computers will be thrown on the rubbish tip. Most of these contain a toxic cocktail of substances including:

1: Lead in cathode ray tube and solder

2: Arsenic in older cathode ray tubes
3: Selenium in circuit boards as power supply rectifier
4: Polybrominated flame retardants in plastic casings, cables and circuit boards

5: Antimony trioxide as flame retardant

6: Cadmium in circuit boards and semiconductors

7: Chromium in steel as corrosion protection

8: Cobalt in steel for structure and magnetism

9: Mercury in switches and housing

Many of these discarded waste end up in poorly run recycling programs in Hong Kong. A 2005 study by the environmental group Greenpeace found that as much as 47% of waste found at 18 European seaports was illegal, much of it toxic and headed for export.

Click the link above and watch this story from 60 Minutes. You will never look at a computer monitor in the same way.

Canada's Ugly Asbestos Secret | CBC News:The National

A chilling story of how Canada's deadly asbestos is handled by hand without safety gear in India. In India asbestosis is regarded as a mystery ailment causing slow death.

Behavioral psychology and recruitment. Click link and read the Financial Post article.

Salad Creations, a growing global healthy-food restaurant chain, doesn't just look at resumes when hiring staff. The company says hiring right is critical especially in this economic environment. They employ behavioral psychology to help with recruitment. "Very few companies have extra cash or resources to spend on staff who are not going to add value," says David King, executive vice-president of staffing services firm Robert Half International. HR costs and payroll costs are the biggest expenses for most organizations. We've surveyed CFOs about how they stay ahead of the competition in this challenging economy and 65% said it was by having the best team in place. For a small company with a small head count this is even more important."

Click and read more about behavioral psychology and hiring.

Canadian Pension Fund takes $9 billion hit in 2008. Click and read Vancouver Sun story.

In its annual report released July 23rd. 2009, the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which invests the proceeds of contributions for the pension plans of the Canadian Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the RCMP and the Reserve Force Pension Plan, said its consolidated net assets dropped in fiscal 2009 to $33.8 billion from $38.9 billion.The loss of $9.5 billion was offset by about $4.4 billion more in contributions during the year, resulting in a net loss $5.1 billion.

This is the second year the board’s portfolio has taken a hit. Returns dropped 0.3 per cent for fiscal 2008.Board chief executive officer Gordon J. Fyfe acknowledged that performance lagged behind other large Canadian pension plans in 2009, but said the four-year average remains at the median.Board chairman Paul Cantor said the inflow of funds is expected to exceed pension obligations for the next 21 years.“Unlike many funds, we have no pressing short-term obligations to pensioners that will force us to sell assets today at a distressed prices,” he said.

Mark Boutet, vice-president of communications for the board, said managers changed their strategy in 2004 to go into private-market assets like real estate and infrastructure. These are long-term investments, he said.

Click link above and read full Vancouver Sun story

Personality more influence on job than education: Click and read about the Australian study

The study, by researchers at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, showed that in many cases, personality, rather than education or the occupation of a person's parents, played a bigger role in determining what job people ended up with. People in managerial roles tended to be more open to experience, more conscientious but less agreeable than others in different job roles. Clerical workers were the most conscientious, but least open to change, while salespeople were the most extroverted and agreeable. Office workers were among the least conscientious, but they had high levels of emotional stability.

Click link above and read the Vancouver Sun story.

Economic recovery is underway, says Bank of Canada. Click and read the full story.

The Canadian Central Bank says that "There are now increasing signs that economic activity has begun to expand in many countries in response to monetary and fiscal policy stimulus and measures to stabilize the global financial system".The rosier tone comes a week after the Bank released two key surveys indicating businesses were the most optimistic about their future sales prospects in almost a decade, and that obtaining new loans had become less difficult.

The Central Bank said in its statement that it now projects that the economy will contract 2.3% in 2009, which is less than the 3% drop it expected in its last economic update in April 2009. The economy is then expected to grow 3% in 2010, up from its previous 2.5% projection. In 2011, the economy is set to expand 3.5%, which is down from its earlier call for a 4.7% gain.

Click the link and read the full article from the Vancouver Sun

Democracy's dashboard light is blinking

NATUC’s President Michael Annisette would have banded with his government and business colleagues at the ILO Conference in Geneva a month ago to promote worker participation and democracy. Now, in an about turn, he and Independent Senator Gail Merhair, with roots in business, have joined the government in the Senate to defeat what must be the most sacred tenet of democracy, the holding of free and fair elections.

For a fourth time the government abused its simple majority for the postponement of local government elections. What’s more alarming is the fact that it did so, on the strength of the leader of the country’s free trade union movement. Equally alarming is the fact that in answer, not one elected Municipal Corporation representative from the parties opposed to the ruling party resigned in disgust.

Click link above and read the Newsday column.

What's delaying the crime plan?

It’s a horrible thought but another 291 persons will be murdered somewhere in Trinidad and Tobago before Old Year’s Day 2009. The murder toll and the Prime Minister’s now obsessive regional integration agenda became hot topics after the June 21, 2009 PNM Convention, not because they are related — but because they are a reasonable gauge of what the Government considers to be its priority.

The prospect of 600 or more murders in 2009 must be known to the country’s Prime Minister. His focus at the convention on regional integration and not the long awaited crime plan confirmed the view that there is much distance between the public’s fear of more death to come and the political reluctance to face the problems head on.

The divide between Whitehall and the rest of the country is widening and at least 600 bodies are going to fall in that gap in 2009.

Where is the crime plan? Click the link above and read the full Newsday article.

Martin Joseph and Michael Jackson: So much in Common. Click and read my letter to the Editor.

As the world mourns the loss of Michael Jackson , Trinidad and Tobago can reflect on its own MJ.

Martin Joseph, the Minister of National Security has his own version of the Jackson Five-MJ provides the lead role for James Philbert, the inept and inadequate still acting Police Commissioner, Brigadier Peter Joseph, head of the SAUTT also known as the BLIMP (But Like Is Make-believe Police), Prof Mastroski, the $80 million man and Commander Jim Something, the Retired Canadian General, unto whom taxpayers have already forked several million. After every murder, MJ tells the public that he Wanna be Startin' Someting, as though the mere utterance of a promise to make a plan will cause criminals to Beat It.

Click the link above and read more...

Five dangers of the Internet

The recent discussion on plagiarism missed a key element: the traditional rules are being pushed. The widespread availability of free online research and commentary on every subject puts information into a lot of hands, but this same easy accessibility tests claims of originality. Claiming ownership and failing to acknowledge use of original material are different: with almost everything being researched there is very little to be completely original about.

No one has fed the storm of originality and ownership more than Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online Huffington Post (HuffPo). Described by Time as the “web’s new oracle”, HuffPo attracts one million comments a month: the key word in the debate is “aggregator.”

The internet presents opportunity but also provides danger.

Click the link and read my column on the Five Dangers of the Internet.

Justice John goes looking for Green Horses. Click and read my letter.

Published in the Trinidad Express, June 12th 2009.

As though his attack on two magistrates was not sufficient, Appeal Court judge Stanley John is quoted as saying that the two would have to see "a green horse" before he apologises to them. Click and read what I have said to Justice John.

BUYERS BEWARE: Prices are actually falling. Click to read my Newsday column.

Though it was never really in doubt, it became obvious at the end of May that it’s a buyer’s market. Our real estate agent sponsored the Disney Pixar hit UP and treats to go along. UP was certainly a good choice, not only because it deals in a far-fetched way with moving house, but also because the sight of a house floating above the clouds sums up the global real estate situation up to 2008.The buyer’s market is not only in real estate. There are other areas where consumers are smiling, like automobiles, airline travel, cruise ships and at restaurants and department stores.

Still, like Disney Pixar’s UP there is room for reality. Just as Carl and Russell find themselves sitting on the curb after their adventure, consumers may find that lower prices may only be a fantasy. After all, jobs still have to be found to pay for even these low prices. Those jobs must come soon. At the start of June gasoline prices were pushing up and the Bank of Canada, fearful of a Canadian dollar in flight, inched up mortgage rates.

Click and read the full column.

The generational stall: One generation must make way for another. Click and read my Newsday column

With a select group of persons holding or being recycled through different positions of power, politics and leadership, the generation which might ordinarily be groomed to take over is stalled. They appear quite prepared to create and exploit new media for opinions and consensus, while the monopolists hold firm in their generational places. The pages of the newspapers and other forms of mainstream media remain populated by the usual array of commentators and views. In the interim, for the stalled generation, online social networks are the platforms for opinions and consensus building, if not organising.

Without training in writing or journalism and without much concern for the laws of libel and slander, this generation impatiently tap their views out on their keyboards and publishes them for the world to see. It’s an impulsive and informal form of publishing and commenting and two things are very obvious: they reflect the generation’s preference for function over form and they are instantaneous, reflecting the generation’s penchant for speed.

Click the link above and read the full Newsday column.

Expense accounts and ethics. Click and read my Newsday column on Gordon Brown's problems.

Labour’s chances of a fourth term of government in the UK took a major blow in the last ten days. It had nothing to do with the UK economy, severe job losses (highest since 1997) or the huge debt that taxpayers have taken on: it has to do with a story on MPs expense claims carried in the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

As that story made the rounds in the UK, a fast rising Canadian MP was before a Parliamentary Committee to answer allegations of enslavement made by two former nannies employed to work with her relatives. Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (1984 to 1993) was also answering questions relating to his financial dealings with a private contractor, before a Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Governor General. Integrity, transparency and accountability are the common threads running through those events.

So far one thing is certain. The way forward is to put more muscle behind the broad issues of integrity, accountability and transparency.

Click link and read more.....

Vancouver: One of the best cities to live in 2009. Click and read more.

As rival politicians haggle over the shortage of buses and the privatisation of the public sector, two things remain clear: Vancouver, a city in the Canadian province of British Columbia, is the best North American city to live in and in any event this is election season in BC and the haggling is to be expected.

It’s really hard to ignore Vancouver’s tremendous beauty and diversity. Mercer, in its just released 2009 rankings of the “Best Cities in the World” to live in, certainly did not and every day you are reminded of it, with its imposing fringe of snow capped mountains and alluring mosaic of water, green spaces and international flavours.

Only traditional rivals Vienna, Zurich and Geneva again managed to beat Vancouver this time around.

Click link and read full article in the Newsday.

Should the world limit CEO Compensation? Click and read my thoughts.

It is really not the time for global leaders to be quibbling over executive compensation and it is ironic that these discussions take place at a time when the industry requires the best talent money cannot buy. In its March 16th edition, Fortune says that “the storm is entering an entirely new phase that’s potentially more dangerous: a historic meltdown in the bread and butter business of credit card, home equity and mortgage lending”. America’s big four — Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo — hold US3.6 trillion in these debts and predictions are that they will write off nine percent of their loan portfolios at a rate of US100 billion a year (Will the Banks Survive, Shawn Tully, Fortune, March 16, 2009).

These are difficult waters which will require the best talent at the wheel.

Click the link above and read the full column.

What's the value of hosting a Summit of global leaders? Click the link and read more.

Trinidad and Tobago will discover after the Fifth Summit of the Americas that brand building is not cheap. Making a name stand out in the minds of people takes a lot of effort and a whole lot of cash. Citigroup is now maligned for its US$400 million investment to rename the Mets’ New York home Citi Field. Shea Stadium is no more and not everyone is opposed to the idea. Daniel Gross, writing in Slate Magazine (Three Strikes and You’re Bailed Out, www.slate.com) says there’s a reasonable case to be made for preserving the Citigroup spending, especially since marketing and advertising are essential for companies in highly competitive consumer markets.

The difficulty of course is that spending US$300 million over 20 or 30 years is far different from spending TT$500 or TT$600 million on a three day event, with the hope that the investment will keep tourists coming in the future. Many observers and experts believe it will take much more to build the Trinidad and Tobago name or place brand as a major contender- even regionally- in the business of tourism, conventions, conferences and events.

Click the link above and read more........

Should the Minister of Finance resign? Click link and read my views in the Trinidad Express.

The Root of Karen's problems Published in the Trinidad Express Monday, March 30th 2009

I am absolutely surprised by the lack of understanding of the law and underestimation of the public the Minister of Finance has demonstrated in her statement on the CL Financial matter. It's the same as saying that there is no obligation to disclose an interest in a contract because you will incur a loss on the project. That, the Minister knows well, is not acceptable in law. I make two points. The first is that the Minister fails to recognise that, at the heart of the public outrage and her breach of the law is her failure to inform the public that, more than being a client of CL Financial's subsidiaries, she was actually an owner. There is a significant difference in law, fact and in the approach to dealing with the issue of conflict that the Minister, in whatever capacity and for whatever value, is a shareholder of CL Financial. My second point is that the Minister ought to know that it is immaterial, except where the law fixes minimum dollar values for a declaration of interest, that the value of her interest in CL Financial was diminished because of the conglomerate's troubles. Again, the Minister's problems flow from the fact that she failed to share the information with the Parliament, public and the Integrity Commission and that failure is not cured by the fact that the Minister believes that she is left poorer. The issue of resignation does not arise for me: only a handful of persons in public office have ever felt the need to resign on matters of integrity and that culture is unlikely to change. The Minister's bigger problem is that, having refused to admit that she erred, she has now become more of a spin doctor and a terrible one at that. Clarence Rambharat

Public Safety must be the country's priority. Click link and read.

Patience running out, Mr Manning

Published in Trinidad Guardian: March 22nd, 2009

On the day we buried the body but not the memory and the pain of 14-year-old Zoreen Ansara Mohammed’s death, the media reported that a 12-year-old student was sexually assaulted in a secondary school in south Trinidad and that Cedros police were searching for a fisherman who reportedly took an 11-year-old student into some bushes and raped her as she walked home from school.

With the earth still wet around Mohammed’s earthly grave and the bloodstains still on diapers that the 12-year-old has to wear because the bleeding would not stop, the media also reported that Prime Minister Patrick Manning left on a whirlwind political peacekeeping tour of six Latin American countries to ensure there are no confrontations during the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain next month. Not a tear shed for the children and the adults of this country. It’s the same PM Manning who said to the nation in early March that he would reveal his plan to fight crime after the April summit.

Manning’s decision to turn his back and leave the campaign against crime to the letter writers, editors and columnists reminds me of the Biblical expression, “let the dead bury the dead,” and in that sense he is absolutely right and we are wrong. We cannot make the Prime Minister treat the citizens of this country fairly. We cannot force Manning to feel our pain. We can only allow our pain to cause us to do what is right with resolution and determination.

The nation of Madagascar has ended up with a young disc jockey, still too young to be the President, on its frontline with a message of impatience for change. Prime Minister Manning’s family is safe behind the walls of the Diplomatic Centre and in the heavily armed vehicles provided to them by taxpayers. We the people have to worry about the dead among us and we have been very patient about it, until, soon enough, our disc jockey runs the rhythm.

Clarence Rambharat

Natural Justice in dealing with disorderly Police Officers. Click link and read.

Use even hand in disciplining cops

Published in Trinidad Guardian: March 24th, 2009

The dismissal of acting Police Corporal Clinton Auguste is likely to be met with mixed reviews. Of course those opposed to Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the PNM will argue vehemently, without regard to the facts, that the decision to dismiss the officer was purely contrived.

Then there are those who will wonder how come it took so long to relieve the Police Service Commission of the responsibility for disciplining from the brass to the brass-faced in the Police Service, which in any event they exercised with great infrequency. That power, belatedly handed to the commissioner, must be dealt with an even hand and after Khemrajh Bissessar’s epic, the pillars of natural justice ought not to be rickety poles, swaying in the hot air and cold breezes that politicians can sometimes generate.

Ultimately, it may be fair to say that with the Prime Minister more of a complainant than a witness, Auguste never stood a chance. Now we would look to the many other cases in which more independent courts and tribunals rendered both guilty verdicts and uncharacteristic disgust to see if the boss will move with equal dispatch.

Clarence Rambharat

Private taxi entrepreneurs need to be legitimised. Click link and read.

Hourly buses at night the answer

Published: March 26th, 2009

I find this so-called crackdown on “PH” drivers and tints very amusing. I wrote in November last year about the PH drivers and commented that in the face of the crimes committed against night commuters and drivers, especially in PH cars, there has been no approach to the PTSC on the possibility of an hourly night bus.

Such a service (like Europe’s noctambus) will make a big difference to the many single mothers who work in the food places in Port-of-Spain and have to commute late at night to Chaguanas, Arima and San Fernando. I said also that there has been no recommendation to bring PH drivers into the public transportation system, since they fill a significant void in the public transport system, especially at late hours and throughout the day when it means accessing rural and some suburban areas. They form part of that public transport system the Minister of Finance described as “reliable” in her budget presentation.

Now the acting Police Commissioner stages a crackdown on the PH entrepreneurs who fill that gap in the public transportation. I reiterate what I said last year: if you Google the words “James Philbert” and “strategy,” the Internet will produce no results.

Clarence Rambharat

Jobs and Homes to live in: Click and read my column on getting the world's economies kicking again.

In a world where we least expected to hear the words “socialism” and “protectionism,” the April 2009 Summit of the Americas is a welcome respite for Barack Obama and Stephen Harper. Despite the high expectations for both the US and Canadian stimulus packages, it seems more likely that nothing will work until people are put back to work and mortgage payments are brought back in line with current home values. It’s on days like these the trade unionists will tell the free market adherents “we told you so” and the Republican faithful will call President Obama a “socialist” as he proposes a Government-led expansion of health care (the Canadian Press, 11 March, 2009) and other Government-led initiatives to stimulate economic growth.

This much- touted globalisation had two important dimensions: free markets across the globe and the movement of resources to any location where business could enjoy competitive advantages. What the world ended up with is rabid disregard for accounting fundamentals, half-awake regulators and problems which are unsolvable even by throwing money at them.

Based on the evidence so far and all the expert comments, it is clear that putting people into jobs and bringing mortgage payments in line with current home values are likely to restore consumer confidence, critical to the movement of the markets.

Click the above link and read my column on what it takes to get the world's powerful economies going again.

The Judiciary is too easy on criminal offenders. Click link and read my comments in the Sunday Guardian.

With the greatest respect for the judiciary, how can we ever fix this country if the penalty for possession an illegal firearm and ammunition is a fine of $7,000? The Minister of National Security has gone on record as saying that the high level of crime in the country is linked to the trade in guns and drugs.

It is so ironic that this shocking court decision is delivered on the same day a young German man goes on a shooting spree that leaves 15 dead and a 28-year-old Alabama man leaves ten dead. Did the court reflect on the number of gun-related homicides for 2008, and the noise around the world for mandatory jail time for offences relating to guns?

Did the Court reflect on the many judgments of then-Chief Justice Bernard, more than 15 years ago, when he said over and over that the court could not countenance the growing level of crime in the country? It is time for the legislators to intervene and remove some of the discretion given to the judiciary in matters of criminal sentencing where gangs, guns, drugs and money laundering are an issue.

Some people do take gang violence and murders seriously. Click link to read my Newsday column

It’s a funny irony that 7000 kilometres from Port-of-Spain, in Vancouver, Canada there is much debate about the extent to which the soft hands being laid on the business of marijuana has ignited a street war between rival gangs, in a city ranked in 2005 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as the best city to live in (CNN.com, October 5, 2005) and by Mercer Consulting (Business Week, 12 June 2008) in 2008 amongst the Top 4 cities to live in. The debate on gangs became so heated that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, put aside his own troubles of a minority Government and an economy unresponsive to fiscal action, to travel to Vancouver’s Metropolitan Area (VMA) and outline a response to the fear of rising gang violence and its implications for Vancouver.

Vancouver is, after all, one of Canada’s major gateways and the country’s critical link to corporate Asia. The position of Vancouver as a global centre of commerce and expertise in the mining industry is well established and there are some 800 mining companies headquartered in Vancouver. Global mining names such as Teck Cominco (CAD$13 assets in 2007), Goldcorp (11,000 employees worldwide in 2008) and Northern Orion Resources are among the largest mining companies in the world and provide a strong anchor for the entire industry, according to the Vancouver Sun (June 2, 2008). The industry contributes about CAD$7 billion to the British Columbian economy.

Apart from the well known mining and wood products industries, from a public safety perspective, Vancouver hosts over eight million overnight visitors per year and cruise ship passengers alone have amounted to over one million visitors annually to the city, according to the Provincial Government’s website. Nearly 90,000 people were employed in 2008 in the tourism sector on a seasonal and year-round basis, contributing $3.1 billion per year to the Province.

Click link and read more...

Mr. Manning waits until after Summit to deal with crime.

ADDING THEM UP Trinidad Express: Saturday, March 7th 2009

Now that Mr Manning has come up with the brilliant plan to unveil his new crime strategy after the April 2009 Summit of the Americas, let us work out what it means to us. With about 173 persons missing since January 2007, Mr Manning's decision to wait another 46 days should add another nine or ten persons to the missing persons list. With an average of 1.6 murders a day for 2009, the 46 days should cost us another 77 lives, so that by the time Mr Manning announces his blockbuster plan, our murder toll for 2009 should be 184. Certainly we will await Mr Manning or as the lawyers say "As His Lordship pleases." Clarence Rambharat

Mr. Duprey's exchange of hard cash for commercial paper. Click and read Part 2 of my Newsday column.

So far the CL Financial and the Stanford issues involve distinct events: CL’s liquidity, cash flow and “management” problems and, in Stanford’s case an allegation of civil fraud and a very recent criminal charge of obstruction. Eventually, both cases will converge at two points: (i) at the doorsteps of regional Governments and industry regulators and (ii) in the hands of Court appointed investigators, who must trace assets in and out of closely and remotely “associated” companies, to unveil a tapestry of interwoven dealings which put people’s pension and insurance funds further and further away from the safe oversight of the regulators.

In the next few months, in the search for these assets, industry regulators will have the task of guiding the politicians — in Trinidad and Tobago and the OECS — through unexpected public policy issues, like the recapitalisation of what is essentially private sector interests, the pricing of listed and privately held equity and the prospect of protectionist claims, and the return of inter-island nationalism in the contrived ownership of private assets by the State.

The focus will be on the quality of Clico’s statutory deposits, including the $5 billion paper issued to the fund by the parent company and Stanford’s alleged exchange of the Bank’s hard cash for personal paper. Getting swiftly and with precision to the assets which underlie those paper issues will require the encouragement of whistleblowers.

The Governor’s Carnival injunction certainly signals that, in the financial services industry, the fete is over.

Click link above and read full column.

The continuing story of CL Financial and Stanford Investment Bank: Click link and read my Newsday column

Whatever is the outcome of the current matters facing CL Financial and now Sir Allen Stanford’s investment business, the fact is that it highlights the need for much more stringent regulation of the region’s financial markets, in which trust, cash flow and liquidity are key elements. In the midst Stanford’s 20/20 series for the US$20 million prize — the largest sum ever at stake in a single sport match up – there were questions being asked about the impact of the global financial crisis on Stanford’s investment business. Seemingly in his defence, Forbes magazine (Duncan Greenburg, 6 October, 2008) painted a very favourable picture of Sir Allen, saying that “Stanford’s investment strategy can be described as sure and steady. It doesn’t compare its investment returns with any benchmark."

Then came the about spin and the spiral: on February 19, 2009, Forbes reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complained that Stanford and the officers of his company, “lied to CD purchasers by leading them to believe the bank re-invested their deposits primarily in liquid financial instruments, monitored those funds with a team of 20-plus analysts and subjected the portfolio to yearly audits by Antiguan regulators.”

Click link above and read more....

Minister Enill says "oil sands a viable energy option for T&T".Click link and read.

I am absolutely surprised that Minister Conrad Enill will even suggest that tar sands represent a viable option for Trinidad and Tobago’s energy economy. It is even more surprising that Minister Enill would hold up Alberta as a model. Canadian media reports that "on Nov. 17, 2008 Petro-Canada announced that it would delay the final go-ahead for the mining portion of its planned C$21 billion Fort Hills project in Alberta. Petro-Canada is Canada's No. 4 integrated oil exploration and refining firm. It said it will not make a decision on proceeding with the mine until 2009, instead of December as initially promised, because it expected costs to decline as oil sands projects fall by the wayside. Royal Dutch Shell postponed a plan that would have nearly doubled its production from the Athabasca oil sands project north of Fort McMurray. Suncor Energy, the second largest oil sands operator, reduced its planned capital spending for 2009 by more than a third to $4.9 billion. Nexen Inc. and others have all rethought ambitious oil sands plans that were based on strong prices and easy credit."

Click link above and read my Letter to the Editor.

Judicial review: Illegal for City Corporation to hire people from San fernando only

High Court Judge Carol Gobin has ruled that the practice by the San Fernando City Corporation to give priority to employ people only within the jurisdiction of San Fernando is illegal. Justice Carol Gobin, sitting in the San Fernando High Court on Monday, also ruled that the practice amounts to inequality of treatment from a public authority in the exercise of its functions and is discriminatory. Justice Gobin gave the ruling in a judicial review case brought by Princes Town resident Nimchand Maharaj.

Maharaj who resides at Buen Intento, Princes Town, was first employed as a casual or non-permanent employee with the corporation between June 30 and September 13, 2005. In his lawsuit, filed by attorney Sunil Gopaul-Gosine, Maharaj claimed that following this period of employment, he was told by the acting Administration Officer II Keith Aaron that “no further gainful employment would be extended to him by the corporation since he lived outside of the jurisdiction of San Fernando.”

Maharaj challenged the legality of this policy on the grounds that it was unlawful and amounted to inequality of treatment from a public authority in the exercise of its function and/or is discriminatory. Justice Gobin ruled that the defendants did not attempt to show any justification for the differentiation in treatment of persons living within and outside of San Fernando. “In the absence even of an attempt to do so, I can only conclude that the policy is arbitrary, capricious and irrational,” she said. In the circumstances, the court declared that the policy was illegal and discriminatory. Justice Gobin also ordered the defendants to pay the claimant’s costs.

Jack's "bail out" plan for HCU.

I think it is only a fitting reflection of some very confusing times that we should now see the HCU fiasco being a political issue. Apart from the complete naive, any slightly discerning person can spot the differences between a major conglomerate facing cash flow problems- albeit stemming from serious timing risks taken – and a series of limited liability companies made to look like a Credit Union, whose deposits are gouged out and placed into private accounts, with some being left to hemorrage in these companies to create the appearance of a highly successful “group”. The UNC were silent through the painful losses of HCU’s members and depositors, who suffer further pain through the hare-brained attempts by its former leadership to get even more dollars to stoke their egos. There will be little left after the liquidator is done and Mr. Warner’s $300 million old talk will be just that. The HCU is no CL Financial and Warner and Harinarine are not likely to be the saviours of the HCU investors. Their best hope is that, somewhere along, the assets of the many handed company will be traced and restored to its rightful owners. Perhaps Warner’s $1 million can be spent in getting to the assets of the investors. My guess is that it will require a few flights out of Trinidad to do that.

Thank God we have Governor Ewart Williams.

On mornings like this I find comfort in knowing that Trinidad and Tobago has an outstanding Governor of the Central Bank. I have said many time that Governor Williams is independent and brave. He writes constantly, posts his speeches and his views on the Central Bank's website and is a picture of calm and reassurance.

Click the link and read his statements on his strategy to help Mr. Duprey wipe more than sweat off his face.

Duprey says "we made a mistake". Satyam's Chairman Raju said "I sincerely apologize". Click and read his full statement.Sounds familiar?

At least we know what's going on with CLICO....finally....what about the others.....are you seeing the strange gains on the share price? $4.20 in one week...I smell a buyer.Do you remember when the BOMB had a column by the Bombbroker...in the 1980's he was writing week after week about interlocking directorships....of the Calder Hart and Duprey type ... ..the Governor now uses a different word...its called "contagion".

In my Newsday column in mid 2008 I wrote about the coming job losses in the financial services sector because they were all running a pyramid....and still we cannot get to their personal assets.These people sport our national awards and have their names on our business schools. They are held up as icons and praised for their vision. Not a single journalist wrote about CLICO's downgrading in August and not a single paper today carries more than a cut and paste of the speeches. No analysis, no independent view. Where were the journalists in all of this?