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Page 12 ISSUE 146 Friday 4th MARCH, 2016 T&T POLITICS HAS NOT REALLY CHANGED OVER THE YEARS quotation and state what, CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY if anything, in the political administration of T&T with T G. MENDES has really changed in the entire illusion of “Independence” century between 1884 and body politic readily afforded T&T with 1984, save a “browning” of “Our is tainted by indecent haste in 1962 by the leadership, a deterioration the mephitic breath, the deadly influence of the Crown Colony system of a war weary ex Colonial power. A politically unprepared and weary nation in the quality of same and a degeneration into the politics of race? Government. Until we has and is still paying a bitter Having expired in office uproot that curse from the face of the land, those things and others of the price for that indecent haste. One need only recall the 25 years after acquiring power in ‘56, the warped genius that was Eric Eustace same nature must continue gubernatorial autocracy Williams ensured via to blast every effort at establishing and maintaining those public institutions the life and breath of which, in all civilised communities is publicity. Our system of Government is founded on secrecy......Crown and arrogance which TT’s first PM appropriated from the departed Colonial Governors in ‘62 and the veil of secrecy behind which he and his PNM attempted to conceal his objective of constitutional dictatorship a malign legacy that the euphoria which attended his PNM’s first defeat in ‘86 was of brief duration. By ‘88, as a result of his ex deputy’s, new found Prime Ministerial arrogance and a Treasury pillaged by the Dr. ERIC WILLIAMS BASDEO PANDAY JACK WARNER Colony with scathing contempt PNM administration which Government is killing us, let us, at any cost get rid of it.!” The quotation above was written in 1884 by a French Creole advocate for efficient, transparent and progressive self governance. Phillip Rostant’s plaintive closing cry for transparency and equity in politics - “let us, at any cost get rid of it” - the very essence of political necessity. It has remained as relevant today as when he wrote it more than a century ago. This is so despite the for a deluded electorate, including its firmest supporters. So what has really changed politically, economically or socially since 1884? The answer to anyone old enough to have experienced the pre Independence era, is of course too much and too soon! Consider the first 28 years of PNM maladministration, corruption, arrogance and ignorance. Now substitute the political acronym of “PNM” for “Crown Colony Govt” in the above preceded them, the NAR, which defeated the PNM 33/3, was by ‘88 reduced to a helpless truncated shadow of the victors of ‘86. It was thus no accident that having barely survived an attempted coup in ‘90, like a ripe plum that deliberately truncated NAR fell back into the lap of an even more corrupt and inefficient PNM in the GE of ‘91.Sufficient to state that had the ULF Indo led component of the NAR, sine qua non of its victory in ‘86 not been frustrated out USVI Senate passed DNA Testing Bill ST THOMAS, USVI - The US Virgin Islands (USVI) Senate last Friday unanimously passed a Bill which would require DNA testing of persons arrested for violent felonies. The Bill will now be forwarded to Governor Kenneth Mapp for his consideration. DNA testing is widely considered to bring criminal investigation practices into the 21st century, since DNA is more likely to be present even if fingerprints are not. Currently, 28 states have passed legislation to allow DNA testing for arrestees. This legislation, commonly known as “Katie’s Law”, is named in memory of Katie Sepich, a New Mexico graduate student who was brutally raped and strangled. Her murderer was found three years later, only after DNA taken from an incarcerated felon serving time for aggravated burglary was identified as the perpetrator. If legislation had been in place, Sepich’s killer would have been linked immediately to the crime. Senator Novelle Francis, chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Justice, said the bill has immediate value for law enforcement. “Law enforcement needs all of the tools at its disposal in order to create safer communities,” he stated. “Collecting DNA from arrestees can help law enforcement to identify criminals and also catch repeat offenders sooner.” Francis met the Sepich family last year while attending the Legislative Summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Renee Gumbs Carty, deputy attorney general for the US Virgin Islands Department of Justice, called the Bill “smart, sensible and timely.” It has been hailed by the Attorney General’s Office as one of the strongest crime fighting measures the 31st Legislature has created. Federal funds are available to assist states and territories with implementing DNA analysis. In addition, recently enacted legislation sponsored by Francis, which establishes a forensic crime lab, also supports the territory’s ability to collect and analyze DNA information. Governor Mapp signed act 7810 into law on January 21, 2016 of the successful coalition by the racial intolerance of its flawed PM, which it invited to lead them, the NAR would not have had to face the unsuccessful coup attempt of 27/7/90. While never proven, it is still widely believed and claimed by the. coup leader himself that the PNM in opposition were aware of and encouraged that failed insurrection! Be that as it may, by 1994 Rostant’s crie de Coeur of 1884 was as topical and apt as it remains today, save that the “curse” which Rostant railed against then was replaced in 1956 by the malign Williams legacy and its by product, the scourge of racial politics! By 1994 the ULF - the real victor of ‘86 - under the same Basdeo Panday who was denied his logical leadership of the NAR because, allegedly, “T&T was not ready for an Indo PM”, was challenging the PNM under the acronym “UNC”. In the premature GE called by an embattled PNM in ‘95 only that scourge of race denied the Indocentric UNC outright victory. It won instead a parity of seats with the majority vote with 17/17 seats. The other two Tobago seats were retained by the same Afro ex PM who had destroyed the NAR. “At the end of the day,” the UNC formed the govt. and that destructive ex PM was elevated to President. That deal was to prove as unholy for T&T as any struck in its name with the Devil! Suffice it to state that from ‘95 to its obscene Presidential removal in favour of a minority supported PNM on.24/12/01 the nation enjoyed its first, and last, progressive and equitable political dispensation to date. This is a fact reinforced by increased margins of victory in the GEs of both ‘2000 and ‘01 available only at the expense of the Afrocentric PNM, an embarrassing fact which few non Indos are yet prepared to acknowledge! The depths of ethno/political obscenity dredged by my homeland since 24/12/01 is in direct proportion to the apathy with which that racially motivated political obscenity was accepted. Nothing is a more powerful lament for the future of T&T than the warped genius of the first “Father of the Nation,” whose dead and corrupt hand was obvious in that obscenity. Williams had already devoted his genius to either silencing, or suborning the descendants of those like Phillip Rostant, whose powerful protests would have ensured that such political obscenities were not accepted with the apathy which has since attended them! For that abdication of their democratic responsibility, those demonised “descendants of an exploitative French Creole,” now mercantile minority who sold out their nation to Williams, their demoniser, for higher profit margins these many years later, still have much to answer for. Sufficient to state that via the ongoing mercantile exploitation of their own customers, they have effectively justified Williams’ earlier demonisation of them as a class of exploiters! Sadly, by ‘62 all voices of political integrity were effectively stifled at the post independence prospect of Williams’ bid for constitutional dictatorship. They had all by then long either been exiled, or effectively and profitably suborned by Williams. In their absence, if Williams’ dangerous objective is not yet to succeed under some other leader, it is vital that the nation escapes the ongoing political stasis of 2 party racial politics, in which any third party, however equitable or viable is rejected as an opportunistic interloper. Such is yet the power of that lingering malign legacy of a long dead Eric Williams. Its powerful influence still confuses saner counsel, like the proverbial “elephant in the room”! If T&T is ever to be free of the political scourge protested against in 1884, it will do so only by implementing Rostant’s message of 100+years ago “let us at any cost get rid of it” That vital requirement, presupposes the existence of a credible and effective racially nonaligned political alternative capable, experienced and responsible enough to adequately fill the vacuum created by popular rejection of both racially oriented current political dispensations. If only therefore, in honour and memory of those long dead political patriots who paved Eric Williams’ path to political independence, which he prostituted in his bid for constitutional dictatorship, let T&T, recognise and elevate, rather than denigrate the only individual capable of effecting national salvation. Will the Warner ILP please step forward!..
ISSUE 146 Friday 4th MARCH, 2016 “Bookies” proposing instead of 10 percent betting tax to pay… PERCENTAGE OF GROSS PROFITS Private bookmakers are making a proposal to pay a percentage on their gross profits instead of the current l0 percent betting tax paid by punters. This was among proposals put forward for the new Gaming legislation when officials of the Betting Levy Board (BLB), representatives of the private betting shops and Ministry of Finance met last week in Port of Spain.. - in new betting legislation Former Finance Minister Larry Howai, under the former Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration had set up a Task Force, comprising members of the BLB and the Arima Race Club (ARC) to make recommendations for the drafting of the Gaming Bill, which was laid in parliament a few days before it was prorogued to make way for the September 7 general elections. The bill is expected to come back to Parliament within the next few months. Although the Task Force had held consultations with stakeholders in the racing industry and even the Tobago House of Assembly, new Finance Minister Colm Imbert said more consultations were needed on the Gaming and Betting Bill in his 2015/2016 budget presentation in Parliament last October. One of the recommendations that were made by the BLB was to computerize the betting shops to ensure that the l0 percent betting tax is collected. But the BLB is considering the new offer by the “bookies” to pay a percentage of gross profits instead of the l0 percent tax. The BLB has set up a three-member committee to examine the proposal and come up with a percentage which can bring in more than the current $15 million the nine betting HORSE RACING ACTION By Azad Ali Page 13 shops are currently paying a year. Some racing officials feel that a realistic percentage may be around 40 percent and the “bookies” will get 60 percent of the gross profit. Current and past racing officials claim that punters are investing close to a billion dollars a year- most of the bets come from English racing. But the “bookies” have constantly argued that betting has declined over the past years due to competition from the National Lottery Control Board (NLCB) games, casinos and underground betting. However, BLB officials said it is only when the betting shops are computerized then the true volume of betting would be revealed. A source said that a tamper-proof software would be installed in the computers to record the volume of daily bets. A Gambling Commission will be established to regulate gaming at casinos, amusement shops and betting on horse and dog racing. Happy connections of Always Ready in winner’s enclosure. Right is trainer HAROLD CHADEE and left is Dr MERLIN LEELA. Owner STEVE MADOO (left) and his son ALLAN, lead in Luck Stranger into winner’s circle with Barbadian jockey Jalon Samuel astride KAMLA MAHARAJ and Trainer WALTER DEBYSINGH with Layla with winning jockey PRAYVEN BADRIE. Owner MERLIN SAMLALSINGH (left) and his wife CARMEN lead in one-two in the Infallibility Stakes event- The Gatsby (left) and Wall Street. Jamaican trainer ANTHONY “BABA” NUNES is at centre.
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