Jack Warner is Minister of National Security: Mr. Warner's baggage

Trinidad and Tobago's new Minister of National Security Jack Warner oversees the destruction of a protest site. Minister in the Ministry of National Security Colin Partap stands next to Warner

Disingenuously masked as a reconfiguration of the Cabinet and State boards, this is the firing of John Sandy and Jack Warner's redemption or demise. Warner's baggage deserved closer examination before handing him unrestricted access to private lives and public institutions. In failing to do so the PM's judgment must be questioned.

The biggest concern is that this could be further confirmation that along this Government's path, good governance is overtaken by political survival and personal enrichment. Amongst other things Warner remains associated with unpaid bonuses for the celebrated national football team; untidy accounting for funds provided to the World Cup campaigns; allegations regarding donations meant for Haitian earthquake victims; and more recently the ownership of the FIFA-owned and funded Centre of Excellence.

Concacaf's Center of Excellence

The international media has not forgotten Mr Warner. Apart from Reuters' and the BBC's tongue-in-cheek announcement of Warner's new appointment, last month the UK media referred to Lasana Liburd's news website wired868.com which published documents linking the Warner family in a personal way to the Centre of Excellence. Liburd, the former Express journalist who famously broke the Simpaul Travel/World Cup 2006 ticket scandal over the 2005 Christmas season referred to an $11m mortgage held by two Warner family companies, Renraw and CCAM, and secured by the FIFA-owned property.

Of all the people involved in allegations against Warner, he deserves to have them investigated and his innocence established. At a minimum, both Warner and the PM should have an interest in determining that nothing in Warner's FIFA and personal dealings makes him unsuitable for Cabinet. The public's agony is the fact nothing is happening and Warner, his party and his leader simply press on. The public also has an interest in the details of Warner's relationship and financial dealings with Chuck Blazer, his long-time CONCACAF colleague and a man once described by a Manhattan judge as being "without credibility". These matters, above any other investigation consuming taxpayers' resources, deserve priority.

Unless we answer the Warner allegations, the country would question the lessons of working hard and playing by the rules.

Denesh Ramdin's awkward celebration: Freedom"s sticky wicket

The headlines: "Abdulah out''; "Ramdin fined''; "COP activist resigns''. On this Labour Day celebration of freedom there is sufficient evidence that freedom is never absolute, its enjoyment not without consequences. In many cases it comes down to doing what is right without being wrong.

West Indies' Denesh Ramdin sends a message to cricket legend Sir Vivian Richards

With Denesh Ramdin, wicketkeeper, batsman and pamphleteer, we may have missed the real story. Focused on four words scrawled on a piece of paper and deemed inappropriate, there were a few other things which stood out as Ramdin released the shackles of low scores and dodgy performances. In the first place Ramdin was willing to take on his critics, and silence them with results. Unlike our politicians Ramdin did not ignore the noise, sputtering on, voices of concern inconsequential. He took criticism to heart and fashioned a fitting response. He needs to remember that Viv Richards' message to him was about consistency, not lack of potential.

The legend- Sir Vivian Richards

Second, Ramdin's triumph is in the fact that he kept this pamphlet in his pocket as he started the fourth day of the Test, he on 60 runs, Rampaul on a few and last man Tino Best still to come with a batting average under ten. Remarkably, Ramdin actually needed the sheet of paper, a moment of celebration and defiance becoming necessary, his second Test 100 achieved. Ramdin's continued belief in the face of those disheartening odds is a more significant story than disciplinary action appropriately condemned by Geoff Boycott.

What People's Partnership?- The PM's challenges

As part of the dwindling hope the PM's vehicle for change barely lives up to its "People's Partnership" name. Sure enough people create much of their problems but political parties promise to make them all disappear. No political-party-turned-government can deliver on such impossibility and the People's Partnership has worked no miracle, Ministry of the People notwithstanding. The Partnership is singular only in name. It is made up of a series of partnerships, some impossible, others ill-conceived and a few well-intentioned getting nowhere.

Amongst the people promises the fight against crime topped the Partnership's list and moved quickly from top to flop. A still-unexplained national security threat provoked a national lockdown. Initial praise turned to criticism, then cynicism. In a comparison of fish, no big ones ended up in the net and we know that no government elected without transparency in political funding will likely reel the big fish in. Rotten politics is still the crucible of crime.

Protesting poor road conditions and social services

Of the partnerships forged in search of government, the one which appeared most significant at the time was amongst potential rivals, each conceding an opportunity to split up the non-PNM vote. All that remains of that political ceasefire is self-interest, demonstrated in no less way than the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) clinging to a position in the Senate while shedding board appointments. It is incongruous for the MSJ to allege poor governance at the level of boards and board chairmen and stand aloof of that allegation as part of the Government in the Senate.

In any event that partnership amongst political rivals is not the most significant within the People's Partnership. That honour belongs to the sometimes uneasy bond between the UNC's chairman and its political leader. Despite compelling governance and political reasons, the UNC chairman remains in the cabinet, a senior minister in the PM's team.

The Army called out for crime-fighting (Andrea De Silva photo)

It is a low threshold of governance the PM has set for herself and her Government and the rest is therefore unsurprising. Out of that mould, the ministries and State entities proceed, shamelessly repeating the mistakes of the predecessors. Nothing about the Partnership's handling of the State sector is refreshing; the pervasive odour is rancid and not necessarily unrecognisable. It is the inevitable product of a country pushed into decline by smartmen and showgirls.

Shooting at Eaton Centre, Toronto: The Canadian example

One person dead and others injured as a bold targeted shooting shocked the city of Toronto on Saturday. Within hours the media were briefed by the city's chief of police Bill Blair, the popular mayor Rob Ford standing close enough but definitely in the background. In the discipline of governance and responsibility, bullets are not marked with political party symbols.

With the police and not the politics in charge, the CoP provided the communication, clarity and confidence lacking 4,000 kilometres away, Trinidad and Tobago regressing problem by problem. Civility has been lacking but a recent Express editorial used the word "crassness'', another step down.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Numbed by relatively high homicide rates since 2001, in Trinidad and Tobago it is only the killing of children which still creates a stir. Even so reaction lasts a couple days because there is no shortage of headliners. But for Canada and its 34 million people, there are memories of once-rising gun violence and high homicide rates, so even the prime minister reacted to the shooting, saying that "Canadians should be assured that such depraved and monstrous acts will be met with the full force of the law".


It is not something our Prime Minister may say, the neutrality of emotion having set in and the pervasiveness of "spokespeople" increasing distance between the PM and issues.