Ethics in the Legal Profession- My column- April 2011

In Canada last week the profession had to deal with a different kind of ethical risk, but a risk which also emphasises the public duty of the profession. Eric Victor Cojocaru, had suffered brain damage during his birth at a British Columbia hospital. At the end of a 30-day trial of his medical negligence claim, Mr Justice Groves awarded over $5 million in damages. Or did he simply plagiarise his way to the award?

 

 At issue on appeal was whether the judge plagiarised the written submissions of the successful party. To use the more technical description of the question on appeal, the issue was whether the judge "committed an error of law in delivering reasons for judgment that consisted largely of a reproduction, without attribution".

Ethnic talk in Parliament- My column- Sept 2010

Anil Roberts's unsettling and unfunny "Tobago lips" comments seemed out of sync with his Government's multicultural agenda. Days after, occasional Prime Minister Jack Warner topped Roberts with an incredible self-description as the HNIC, an acronym whose "N" stands for the reviled "N word". These are weeds, innocuous weeds being sown, in what over time could get out of control in Kamla Persad-Bissessar's multicultural garden.
Fifteen years after Sumayyah Mohammed's hijab case shone the light on the word "tolerance" among the country's watchwords, Parliament's new breed of jesters seem prepared to use the self-deprecating style of comedy to get their kicks.

Beyond Dookeran's 2010 Budget- My column- September 2010

With the 2010/2011 budget statement delivered, it is communication and not economics which becomes the real challenge for the Minister of Finance.An annual budget statement is what it is and the theme of the latest is that the last Government did a horrible job and this one will do infinitely better. These budget statements are much like a well stocked ten dollar store.


On the surface there is a little something in there for everybody who is interested enough to check it out. Surely, all the details and fine print do not matter at this stage; what matters is that everything is there and there's a bargain to be had. Stripped of the packaging, some of the things may make sense and may actually be of use. Not necessarily long-term use but some use. Others will be no more than beautiful or perhaps clever packaging, enough to bring a smile or fulfill a promise, with little chance of utility. In between, some things will not last the trip from the store. Still, no one returns to complain and no one returns the products. After all, it is what it is.
And therein lies the communication challenge because this budget could be the making of a manifesto.

The SSA/SIA- The buck stops with the PM- My column- Jan 2011

Politicians are human, take my word for it. Their natural tendency is to blame somebody and if that fails then blame somebody else. At first this Government blamed the previous PNM government and in the dodgy world of politics it was fair enough.When that rhetoric had run its course the blame was backhanded to the permanent secretaries and then shifted to Keith Rowley. Now the country's assault on a most irresponsible appointment to the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) is brushed off by the Prime Minister as a red herring served PNM-style. At the tail end the Deputy Director of the SSA is left holding the bag.
If the reports on the short-lived Director of the SSA are to be believed, this is no red herring and this is not the work of the deputy Director of the SSA. In this SSA fiasco the most disturbing fact is that the Prime Minister, as both head of the National Security Council and the Cabinet, failed to exercise sober and mature judgment in the selection and appointment of an "authorised officer" as the recent legislation describes the Director of the SSA.

The AG's statements in Parliament- My column- September 2010

In the movie industry, sequels are well-known. Sequels are rare in calypso, but an opportunity looms for Eric Taylor, once known as Pink Panther, to pen a sequel to his popular "Misprint". Panther could start with "I say Al Rawi and Hinds are my friends", they print "Al Rawi and Hinds in the ten". And there are other cases of misquotes, mistakes and misreads. It is all understandable, because since May 2010, there have been two sides of the Opposition. MPs have treated the Hansard like a tabloid, filling it with all that was wrong with the Manning-led PNM and the Panday-led UNC. In the Upper House, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has stuck to this script and has regaled that House with the tales of Manning's PNM, now gone. Ramlogan's latest contribution has drawn immense attention, with the online Express version garnering over 400 responses.

Tribute to mommy- Mommy's Magic- My column- January 2011

Dear Mother. Tomorrow you will be 66: a youthful, vibrant and healthy 66. It's funny how the older I get, the older my idea of old gets. When I was 20 I thought a 50-year-old to be a geezer, but now I think of everybody as youthful. I know your grandchildren will disagree with my self-assessment but who cares: I don't hear half the things they say anyway and I don't understand the half I do hear.

Am I really expected to make sense of "OMG like whatever"? Or am I hearing you say "so be it" because you yourself never understood "hardest hard", "fresh", "cork" and "sick", the expressions I may have been clouted for using?

Fazeer Mohammed gone- Who next? My column- Nov 2010

Expect large shipments of "Play Doh", the Government's choice of material, for making State sector bosses and employees like Ken Ali, a man once jailed for defying a court-ordered ban on reporting a news story. Some existing State employees will not survive the barest scans in the rumour mill. For sure, the PNM bar code will be picked up, but other things will make some persons wholly unsuitable for a senior, or any, State job. The obvious defect is their spine, especially one which encases a working spinal cord. In this Politics 2010 version, one must not expect to be able to think independently of the central system, and stand up on your own at the same time. And this is not new, just the updated versions of the politics built for us since 1956. Fazeer gone, who next?