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.