It would perhaps make sense for an honest, no-holds-barred, stripped-down debate on security management—beyond proposed internal reforms of the police force—and how the state security system might cooperate with those of private firms so that they can craft appropriate models for cooperation and find the synergies that lead to greater efficiencies.

We agree with Peter Bunting’s admonition against sensationalising or politicising the problem of crime in Jamaica. 

But it wouldn’t be Mr Bunting’s intent, we believe, to foreclose debate on what is a crisis of security and possible solutions thereto. 

For there needs to be serious questions asked by Jamaicans whether they are getting best value for the money they spend on security and how that expenditure might be more efficiently utilised.

We, of course, anticipate and appreciate a challenge by the authorities to our characterisation of the state of criminality in Jamaica. After all, the official data show that all reported major crimes have declined so far this year, as has been the case in recent years. All that is, except homicides, which is the real benchmark for crime.

Up to the start of this week, there were around 775 murders in Jamaica since the start of 2015, or 2

0 per cent more than last year. On the current trajectory, there will be 1,200 this year, for a homicide rate of around 45 per 100,000—a statistic that is not uncommon for this country. 

Jamaica, for a long time, has had a notoriously-high murder rate, reaching over 60 per 100,000 towards the end of last decade when murders were upwards of 1,600.

There, indeed, have been gains since then. Homicides have fallen by a third—including last year’s 16 per cent decline—with the apparent catalyst being the 2010 security forces operation in the West Kingston enclave of Tivoli Gardens that routed the private military of the gangster and community strongman, Christopher Coke. 

But the post-Tivoli frightened retreat of criminal gangs has not endured. 

They, mostly, retained their guns.

Nor does it appear that policing strategies are effective.

While we agree with Mr Bunting that security operations won’t of themselves fix the range of problems, including dysfunctional family life that leads to crime, people need to be assured that they are getting best return on the country’s investment in national security—that the security forces receive the best training and are being properly managed.

In this fiscal year, for instance, taxpayers will spend around $30 billion on the constabulary, or about five per cent of the national budget. 

That figure does not include the budget for the task force that targets organised crime and corruption. 

Another $12 billion is being spent on the Jamaica Defence Force, which regularly assists the constabulary in domestic policing. 

Overall, the Government spend on security will be $49 billion, or eight per cent of its budget. 

In addition, Jamaican firms and householders spend billions more on private security because of the weaknesses of the state security apparatus.

It would perhaps make sense for an honest, no-holds-barred, stripped-down debate on security management—beyond proposed internal reforms of the police force—and how the state security system might cooperate with those of private firms so that they can craft appropriate models for cooperation and find the synergies that lead to greater efficiencies.

It may not be too far to suggest a commission of enquiry into crime in Jamaica and on the overhaul of the security forces, but, more specifically, the constabulary. 

(Guest editorial courtesy Jamaica Gleaner)

If is true that the surest sign of genius is the ability to entertain contradictory propositions simultaneously, Y’Boy telling he-self that T&T have to be jam-packed with genius on this Independence weekend, becaw, until Monday night, the whole population celebrating the 53rd anniversary of what we call our Independence—and, out of the whole one-point-five million ooohing-and-aahing at the fireworks, it have must be a few thousand who could really make it on their own; most of us still selling our vote once every five years for a box drain or a standpipe.

Is make Y’Boy catch a glad, like a man who just get select for a safe seat in a Trini election—but then it does remind Y’Boy of one of Trinidad greatest sayings: “Laugh and Cry does live in the same house”; and, the longer he live, the clearer Y’Boy understand that Laugh renting and Cry is the landlord.

Go anywhere in Trinidad—or even Tobago, which uses to feed itself not so long ago, but where the only thing they does grow nowadays is more firetrucking idle—and see if you find any real independence; you’d quicker find a poor Cabinet Minister, a woman-respecting Muslim (or Christian) or a Rasta with a crew cut. 

From Chief Justice to cocaine-spranger, from chamber of commerce president to coup-maker, everybody making mas with a foreign product or concept, whether is rule of law or Sharia law; and the one local product that does make money, we can’t make that money for we-self: multinational corporations find oil and gas, mine it, refine it, store it, sell it and move it away; all we does is charge them a coward tax to cross the road to go into work or to the port to take ’way the major profits. 

T&T oil and gas industry come like gamblers in a casino on a winning streak: we could call for rib-eye and Johnny Blue for the moment but, no matter long the streak run, the most expert or most luckiest gambler bound to lose and the casa bound to win; James Bond coulda win on baccarat; Trini could only win on bacchanal.

We have three sectors producing anything we could sell for real money in the real world economy, which Y’Boy does think of as the Four Ems of Economics: manufacturing; marijuana; and Machel Montano. Trinidad always-struggling manufacturing sector, does somehow stay alive, like Ti-Marie in football field. The ganja planters—who could give us Weed Boom like we had Oil Boom—are by definition criminals, so we arrest them when we should be encouraging them.

As for the soca, the biggest legal moneymaker we have, even as he recognise how good Machel is—and he real firetrucking good at what he does—on Independence weekend, Y’Boy does get nostalgic for the good calypso music he grow up on and will go out to (becaw is “Calypso Music”-self will play when Y’Boy coffin leaving the rumshop). 

All his life, until now, when computers, not composers, making it, Trinidad music coulda hold it own against all other music anyone pelt at it in any party they throw. 

And, yes, it still have the David Rudders and Shadows soldiering on, and you could see the Ataklans and the jointpops passing baton to a Mak It Hapn here, a Malo Jones there—but soca music nowadays come like what people uses to call “novelty songs” in the Seventies, childish tunes like “Disco Duck” and “My Ding-a-Ling.” Y’Boy does wince when he recognise the nursery rhyme and Sesame Street melodies in soca.

So even the soca not really independent.

But Y’Boy done know, before he even set finger to keyboard, that he will collect his usual fake-Independence boof for lacking the patriotism to pretend T&T is the world’s greatest nation, whereby it invent the wheel, land on the moon and design the iPad; it extra hard for Y’Boy becaw his problem with that false-national pride is one of, and by, definition: T&T is not a country; is a place. 

If we were a country, at least the country Y’Boy like to think he come from, it would be a place where the individual would be taken seriously, would not have to play himself, to get a bligh. In a real country, people wouldn’t still be treating the government as if it was the Great House of Parliament.

From the LGBT community through the community centre-community to the community-community, it really don’t have no community in Trinidad and neither Tobago. 

Y’Boy tired point out that we still aping the jacket-and-tie, like the proud monkeys we is: we can’t even dress we firetrucking selves.

And Y’Boy start to grin as he realise that, in the Land of the Trinity, it only have three forms of real independence: first, that of the savage, to ignore every rule we doesn’t think should apply to us, phrased succinctly by one fella in Y’Boy’ Trini to the Bone feature, two Mondays ago, who say we free to go in the river and drink and make as much noise as we want and nobody go stop we; second, the independence of the mega-rich, who buy their way out of the worst effects of our complete dependence on people and forces greater than us.

And, third and last, the self-reliance that must arise, becaw it have nobody else willing to help, and the only place genuine independence could possibly germinate in our otherwise intellectually-barren societies.

Whereby Y’Boy always there.

In the haram community.

n BC Pires is a maverick and, as the long-time TV show theme does sing, “Maverick didn’t come here to lose.” You can email your one-eyed Jacks to him at bc@winetonline.com

Any individual who travels regularly to the USA will observe that in many residential areas the front of the home is open to the road. Indeed, in many areas, the homeowner is prohibited from installing a fence at the front of the property as there is a desire to maintain a certain appearance to the entire neighbourhood. 

This is completely different to the situation in the Caribbean where in the majority of neighbourhoods the entire property is surrounded by some type of fence with fencing types varying from chain link or wire wall, to brick wall, combination wall and iron rails, and in some cases, galvanise sheets. In this series of articles, we will examine the use of fencing for residential properties. 

Purpose of fencing

The primary purpose of fencing is to clearly identify the boundaries of the property and so be able to clearly identify that an individual is trespassing. Fences also provide a physical and psychological deterrent to people who are contemplating unauthorised access onto the property. 

Fencing can also have the effect, on certain types of properties, of subtly suggesting that within these boundaries certain behaviour is expected. Also on certain types of properties, fences help direct vehicular and pedestrian traffic to safer locations that are easily observed by security officers, passing pedestrians or vehicles, and to authorised points of ingress and egress. 

Fence material

The most commonly used fencing material is chain link fencing as it is simple to install, relatively inexpensive and low in maintenance costs. From a security perspective, the heavier the chain link, the better that the fence stands up to the passage of time and the more the difficult it is to cut the fabric. The smaller the mesh openings the more difficult it is for someone to unravel the fence or climb over the fence.

Where a property is sited in areas that are very close to the sea and so is exposed to heavy concentrations of salt laden air (commonly called sea blast) which causes metal surfaces to rust very quickly, it is recommended that the fencing should be coated with a polyvinyl chloride resin. The resin is hot extruded coated and is up to 22 mils (or .025 inch) thick. This type of coated fence is smooth to the touch and will not rust, so it is ideal for installation in marine locations.

Where a fence has been erected for security reasons, the absolute minimum height should be six feet (not including the top guard). Fences that are of greater height such as nine feet are even better. At a height of nine feet, the top of the fence is out of standing reach of most intruders which provides a psychological deterrent, plus increasing the difficulty of going over the top of the fence. 

Fence installation

If a fence is improperly installed, there is a strong possibility that it will sag and lose its deterrent value. The US National Fire Protection Association—Guide to Premises Security provides good guidelines on fence installation and we have drawn from those to provide the guidelines below.

For a fence with 7ft-high fabric, the posts should be set in concrete. Line posts should be spaced equidistant at intervals not exceeding 10ft when measured from centre to centre between end posts.

A top rail or top tension wire should be provided as support for the fence fabric.

A top rail improves the appearance of the fence, but also provides a handhold for someone attempting to climb over the fence. For this reason, it is usually recommended that the top rail be omitted and replaced with a top tension wire. The top tension wires should be stretched taut free of sag, from end to end of each stretch of fence, at a height within 1 ft of the top of the fabric, and be securely attached to the end posts. A bottom tension wire should also be provided. Some fences can have a bottom rail in place of the bottom tension wire.

In Part two of this article, we will continue looking at fence installation, while in later parts of this series we will look at the use of top guards for fences and alternative fencing material.

• The Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety offers a full range of security, law enforcement, OSH/HSE and public safety courses to private and public organisations as well as individuals. 

Contact us at 223-6999, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com.

Brian Ramsey MBA, 

chairman, CISPS

There are 22 nations around the world where voting is mandatory and failure to vote carries a fine or community service. This may seem extreme to most and is really the state intervening to ensure that its citizens recognise the privilege of being able to choose their government.

Countries like Singapore which has achieved global recognition for its ability and unique circumstances of achieving First World status has made voting mandatory but at age 21. Other countries like Argentina, Thailand, Peru, Mexico Egypt and Greece all have mandatory voting and the estimated global number of people who are under these laws total 744 million.

Compulsory voting is an attempt to increase voter turnout and make the government’s mandate more legitimate. It’s almost like paying taxes, jury duty or compulsory education. This scenario is solely intended to highlight how important voting is to establishing of a government for the people by the people.

T&T’s 2010 voter turnout was 69 per cent and was a three to four per cent increase from 2007. 

However, at our last 2010 general election, just over 30 per cent representing 200,000-plus eligible people did not vote.

Compulsory voting is not the answer for T&T as we have a fairly good voter turnout, but we need to motivate our citizenry to see the need for everyone to vote for the candidate or party of their choice as their democratic responsibility.

In the exercise of your civil duty on September 7 there is the expression of care and consideration for the future of this country. 

I appeal to all citizens to cast your vote with national consciousness and also in the spirit of putting country before party.

Your vote is a choice that only you can make and the basis of your decision should be the issues that affect your daily lives and the policies that will work in the best interest of your children. 

Your vote has the power to install the best people who you think can act in your interest and that of the country.

To those that duck this civic responsibility, recognise that every vote is important and act in the best interests of your country.

Ronald Huggins

St Joseph

In responding to comments made by Dr Roger Hosein regarding the impracticality of lowering the VAT to 12.5 per cent from its current 15 per cent rate, Dr Keith Rowley stated the following: 

1. “Clearly, the UNC and its friends have no interest in lowering the cost of living in Trinidad and Tobago;” and 

2. “He has ignored the fact that after the PNM adjusted the income tax regime in 2006, by increasing the personal allowance from $24,000 per year to $60,000 per year and reducing the overall tax rate to 25 per cent, the collection of personal income tax increased by over 50 per cent, from $4 billion to over $6 billion.”

Clearly it seems that the PNM had no understanding of the way economics work when they were putting their manifesto together. That said they are correct in that, historically, the reduction of income taxes has produced an increase in tax revenue in countries across the globe. 

This comes as a result of the positive impact that lower tax rates have on employment, production and output, due to the incentives provided to increase these activities. 

But whereas the reduction of income tax directly relieves tax burden on individuals, VAT is infinitely more complex and therefore its reduction does not guarantee savings by consumers. For example, I am sure we all remember the numerous instances in which food prices were reduced by the current government, either permanently or temporarily, however these discounts were not always realised by the public as a result of the capitalistic manner in which merchants conduct their businesses. 

In the cases in which flour was reduced, bakeries refused to lower their prices, citing the reason that they had purchased their main ingredient before the reduction had commenced, even though they would have also purchased flour for future use, during the time of these concessions. 

It is therefore not unusual to assume that businesses would take full advantage of this VAT reduction to increase their own profits, while maintaining the current prices of goods and services that they provide for sale. 

Many supermarkets, fast food restaurants, parlours, hardwares, convenience stores, salons and basically every retail store in the country has their VAT calculated in their advertised prices. Take fried chicken for instance, where a two-piece combo is currently $28, which means the net cost is $24.34 and the 15 per cent VAT included in the price is $3.66. With the proposed reduced VAT rate of 12.5 per cent however, the price of the same combo should now be discounted to $27.38, but I have no doubt that this price will not be reduced, and as such, the chain will obtain an extra profit of $0.62, as has occurred in the past. And this goes for all of the other businesses I listed as well, because why should they reduce their prices if customers are already willing to pay full price.

Now this will also negatively impact the revenue collection as well, because not only has the purchasing power of money not increased as expected, but the VAT has been reduced meaning those same companies, now including the manufacturers, distributors and importers, are now contributing less to that agency. 

And while this reduction may have an effect on inflation in the long term, this will definitely cause a deficit in the revenue collected in the interim. As such the government will lose, the citizens will lose and the business owners will be laughing all the way to the bank. 

The only substantive item this reduction may affect is vehicle fuel, although with the subsidy as high as it is, I don’t have much hope for that either. 

Once again the PNM have failed to put any substantive thought into their measures, hoping that their audience will be too swept away in its grandeur to pay attention to any details. Because, aside for the reasons mentioned above, there is also another aspect that they have neglected in proposing the reduction of the price of VAT, which is the seven thousand non-VAT items already available to consumers. 

So how they expect that a 2.5 per cent reduction of nothing will make any impact at all, either to the consumer or the Government, is something the PNM still needs to figure out.  —Ravi Maharaj

It is said that a week is a long time in politics. There is still a week to go before the elections and it would be very interesting to see what happens in that time.

There are no friends in politics. All politicians are opportunists and are only in the game for their own personal interests. Whatever may have motivated a person to get involved in politics, it all goes out the window when that person attains political office. This is why the foolishness of the so-called Debates Commission was a colossal waste of the people’s time and a distraction from the serious events in the country.

Everyone knows that the overwhelming complaint by citizens is the absence of the member of parliament, who is always ready to promise the moon and the stars in order to get your vote, and the abysmal failure of everyone of them to keep any of their promises.  

It is therefore amusing to read the statements of the political grasshoppers who readily condemn their erstwhile colleagues while extolling the virtues of their former enemies. The very ones whom they were distancing themselves from very recently are now their best friends, invariably because of some personal relationship which it was not convenient to reveal before.

Politicians will never understand, or if they do understand, will never care for the purpose for which they were elected into office, that is, the Prime Minister’s exhortation, “Serve the people, serve the people, serve the people” which resounds hollowly now. So many of them are quick to condemn what they so recently embraced, but equally so many of them can find fault where they saw none before.

It is bewildering what passes for politics in our land but one can only hope that one day we will achieve that level of maturity to be able to make the choices that are best for the country and not what is politically expedient.

Karan Mahabirsingh,

Carapichaima

Amidst the political clamour and clatter of voices making extravagant claims, we here in T&T and the rest of the Caribbean should take time out to recognise the greatest sprinter the world has experienced. 

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and this week’s demonstration of superiority at the World Athletic Championships in Beijing, China once again proves that he stands above the greats from Jessie Owens, through the likes of Carl Lewis and the half dozen or so truly great sprinters. 

Since his emergence at the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008, Bolt has vanquished the opposition in style and with a measure of disdain like no other human being over the last 60 years. Frankly, Bolt has seemed and been unbeatable over the 100 and 200 metres sprints. 

He continues to hold the records of 9.58 for the 100 metre sprint and 19.19 for the 200 metre event. He has won gold at two successive Olympic Games and in three World Championships and led his country’s teams in the 100 and 200 metre relays, exercising a kind of dominance that has shattered all that we had thought was possible before.

And as he approaches his third Olympic Games, repeating his feats of the last two is expected rather than hoped for.

Only injury seems capable of stopping Usain from dominating once he gets to Brazil in good shape. 

Bolt surely ranks amongst the truly great sportsmen of the English-speaking Caribbean such as Garfield Sobers, Vivian Richards, Brian Lara and the great team leaders, Frank Worrell and Clive Lloyd.

What is truly compelling about Bolt’s development and feats is that they have essentially been home grown.

He has continued to use his hometown as the base from which to conquer the world. 

Adding to Bolt’s greatness has been his refusal to succumb to the modern athletic disease of doping. He is acutely aware that one false step can seriously mar all his achievements and sully the name of Jamaica and the Caribbean.

There must be quite a number of lessons which can be drawn from Bolt’s development, nurturing and success. Mentally he is far superior to his challengers. He has shown on a number of occasions his ability to focus when there are contentions swirling around, even if they may involve him. 

Our Caribbean society has too often looked away from the accomplishments of our athletes, our artists, perhaps considering them freaks of nature rather than being representative of what is possible in the Caribbean Man.

We have to extract the greatness of the likes of Bolt and seek to bottle and distill to our people whether their pursuits are art and literature, sport, medicine, technology or in scientific research.

As to the disappointment of the performance of the T&T team at the World Championships, there are lessons for administrators and our athletes.

The development of a tradition in athletics and other Olympic-type sports in the manner consistently pursued by Jamaica is surely the fundamental building block.

The primary and high school systems and the clubs for the graduates of the school system have been the foundation blocks. Lively rivalry and competition, support bases and funding and other forms of support from the government are needed. Governments must take the responsibility for the physical infrastructure.

But money is surely not all, otherwise T&T would be way ahead of the rest of the competition in the region. A clear long-term vision and the discipline to follow the start are needed. Coaching at the primary levels with the appropriate age groups is an absolute requirement and one that involves official government coaches and the village and community coach who understands the young aspiring athletes. 

Convulsions over the availability of US currency surged in intensity over the past few weeks. They were expressed passionately by president and group CEO of Massy, Gervase Warner. 

Describing greenback rationing as a crisis, Mr Warner put the group’s monthly US currency bill at $10 million, bemoaning the fact that the conglomerate was reduced to purchasing “chirrip-chirrip.” Mr Warner explains that their international suppliers, with whom they were once cheek to cheek, now view them with suspicion, demanding cash up front. 

Instead of “making it rain” as the business community would have preferred, Central Bank Governor Jawala Rambarran fuelled their anxieties with a decidedly cryptic remark. He suggested the key to their foreign exchange woes would be to avoid doing business with companies with terrorist links. That head-scratcher certainly didn’t assuage private sector fears. 

I believe the media missed an opportunity to dig deeper, creating a better understanding of how this all works. For example, if the Massy Group uses, on average, US$120 million each year to conduct business, how much foreign exchange is it earning in the same period? Also, what then, is the total annual consumption of foreign exchange in the wider business community?

I haven’t been a journalist for years so I don’t have the resources to ferret out this information. What I have, are questions. Perhaps an infographic published in the newspaper or broadcast on television outlining how much foreign exchange is earned by the local business community measured against the amount used in pursuit of their commercial activities, would contribute immeasurably to our understanding of this issue. This graphic should also give a breakdown of exactly what our exports and imports are. What are the principle generators (besides oil and natural gas) of foreign exchange? 

The Central Bank Governor fared better last year in a speech meant to illuminate the challenges. 

He explained that foreign exchange comes into the country via two routes: the payment by energy companies of their quarterly taxes and conversion of US dollars to meet their local commitments. This supply, he suggested, is always outstripped by demand, which is consistently high. 

There is another inescapable factor. It is estimated that, in just two years, Trinis spent approximately US$1billion dollars in online credit card purchases. We see it all around us, companies offering skybox services are sprouting up everywhere to feed a full-blown national online shopping addiction. Banks have to pay those bills before they can attend to the fist-thumping demand at their counters. 

You will also have noticed the increasing number of luxury vehicles on the roads. The Porsches, Range Rovers, Jaguars; close to US$1 billion dollars in just two years, blown on posh rides. 

In his speech the Governor asked an important question, do we take all our foreign currency reserves and make it available to the market? Would that not leave the country exposed if we are buffeted by global financial turbulence, such as the current perturbations of the Chinese economy?

For the private sector, the solution would be for the Central Bank to put more bloody US currency into the market. That provides a tidy ending to this saga for corporate T&T. What does that mean though, for the wider economy? 

This country is awash with distributorships and large commercial concerns with ravenous appetites for foreign exchange, merely importing foreign products for resale. 

It would appear that all of these companies are simply hoovering up money in local circulation. How much of that money is simply redistributed government revenues in a stagnant economic pool? 

When the People’s Partnership government first came into office, the business community was extremely nervous about the length of time it was taking to appoint state boards. 

This conjured images of a fair segment of the corporate sector queuing for government contracts, equipment sales, construction materials and services for the anticipated housing/infrastructure/box drain boom. 

How much of our economic activity is predicated on state expenditure and the capture of wages paid by oil and gas revenues? 

Just how much foreign exchange can the Central Bank realistically continue to supply to meet the demands of import businesses with little or no foreign currency earnings themselves, particularly in the light of dramatically depressed oil revenues? 

The business community needs foreign currency to sustain their operations and maintain employment; that much is undeniable. The figures, however, don’t lie. Torrential US capital outflows coupled with low oil prices with no upward trending in the immediate future paints a picture of unsustainability, foreshadowing grim prospects for the economy. 

It is beginning to look like the “life after oil” that we have been talking about for decades is here. Apart from being laughably unprepared, it’s business as usual. 

Not nearly enough has been done to boost foreign exchange earnings. We still haven’t created a foundation to exploit markets abroad with uniquely Trinbagonian products. 

All we are left with are the fevered anxieties of the business community in the grip of a foreign exchange crunch, and a media corps reluctant to ask why.

Government suffered a defeat of sorts in recent days when it lost by three votes, its bid to host the Arms Trade Treaty headquarters in T&T.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran who confirmed the numbers on Thursday in Mexico, was on his way back home after representing T&T at the event. It’s likely to be the last event outgoing Minister Dookeran would represent Government at, due to his retirement from politics. 

His colleague Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, another non-contestant, says she’s been busy concluding Public Administration Ministry programmes. And Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine is assisting campaigning in several seats.

They’re three of almost 20 non-contesting incumbents in the ruling PP whose different campaign format has been a talking point, certainly by PNM leader Keith Rowley who remarked at his Point Fortin meeting that the PNM was the only party “campaigning.”

While the PP’s lack of nightly public meetings has allowed time to focus on constituency groundwork, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, campaigning in another format, remains on-message with daily appearances at business and other non-party forums. 

PNM on a nightly roll with large numbers, has increasingly focused on detailing its plans for government and Cabinet arrangements for the smaller team its leader says his government would have. 

Test for the main contenders on September 7 will be how traditional voting patterns mix with a handful of factors including leadership.

Outgoing Mayaro MP Winston Peters whose rejection prompted his resignation from the UNC, may not necessarily have had to say the PM needs a reality check. Latest example of this was PNMites’ jeering when she went to open the Carenage Health Centre and at Tuesday’s Orange Day anti-violence campaign day in downtown Port-of-Spain. 

In 2010 Persad-Bissessar’s forays downtown attracted adoring fans. Kamla 2015, at Tuesday’s Orange day event lead a small group downtown, with silently-staring spectators and one woman in red at the corner of Frederick Street and Independence Square waving at her. 

The PM waved back, but the woman chortled as she waved, “bah-bye Kamla, bah-bye,” echoing PNM’s latest anthem.

Peters, saying he’s working—mum on what and with which party—says people will be seeing him: “I’m an entertainer...”

PNM was nearby in Moruga last night and the PP follows in Mayaro tomorrow where a spot assessment of Peters’ departure might be obtained. The PP hasn’t held meetings in Tobago, reinforced PNM turf since 2013, though six candidates are contesting in Tobago East. 

It’s one of two areas where this highest number of candidates—out of the total 132—is contesting; the other being Diego Martin West. 

At Thursday’s COP Lopinot meeting, which attracted yet another small COP gathering, speakers emphasised the need for members to bring out votes. Concerns are valid in the East-West corridor where PNM’s support has increased and where the strongest support Jack Warner’s ILP has, is for ILP’s Lopinot candidate Nigel Reyes.

Less concern may be necessary for the ex-COP dissident foursome who provided visual support for PNM’s recent San Juan meeting. 

Despite sporting COP T-shirts, three resigned in 2014, one of them—Rudy Hanamji—confirmed. Kirt Sinnette said he’s from a PNM family joining COP in 2006 and leaving in 2014, and Satu Ramcharan, PNM’s Women’s league PRO in the 1990s and a defeated St Augustine candidate, fell out with the Manning administration and left PNM. 

Hanamji said the group contacted PNM two weeks ago and have requested a meeting for which they’re still waiting.

Warner’s US extradition matter is on hold until September 14—after the September 7 election—under arrangements by the Attorney General due to the upcoming poll. Whoever the Attorney General is then—usually the second appointee in a government—will have to deal with Warner’s matter.

At this point, slightly more than a week away from poll, analysts like Dr Hamid Ghany see the race as “tight” though with the PP ahead, and spokesmen of both the PP and PNM each feel they can win with 20-plus seats. Next Saturday’s final rallies by the PP and PNM—at Aranguez and Eddie Hart grounds, Trincity respectively—will give the final insight.

Semester One for the 2015-2016 academic year at UWI St Augustine Campus has begun with more excitement than expected. Yesterday, administrative staff protested, feverishly blocking the entrance to Lloyd Brathwaite Student Administration Building. 

The UWI staff who are also OWTU members went on strike in the midst of the registration process for the new semester for continuing and new students.

Staff members indicated this strike was due to what they claim is the Government’s paying of millions to UWI lecturers in salary raises and back pay but has granted no raise of pay for administrative staff among others. 

New and continuing students were seen in long lines awaiting assistance but no staff were on duty. This caused a major back-up and frustration among students who were seeking assistance or coming to drop off their fee sheets and fee receipts along with Gate forms for this new academic year. 

No help was offered, leaving new students along with their parents confused and uncertain as to what to do next as from September 5, 2015 there is a late fee of $200 attached to late registration. This strike is said to be continuing until September 23.

Is this a sign of more strikes to come? Has disruption of critical UWI events and processes become a norm? This is putting added stress on us and our academic workload hasn’t even started yet. This is what we have to face. 

This is becoming unbearable and has the potential to disrupt our learning at said tertiary institution. 

Tenisha Sylvester

UWI Student

Former workers of Caroni (1975) Limited are heartened that outstanding matters concerning them are being addressed on the political platforms but disappointed that the UNC Partnership is silent on monies due to them.

The political leader of the PNM is addressing the matter head-on and has promised to pay monies due. However, he seems to be mixing obligations to cane farmers while mentioning the ex-Caroni workers. These are two separate entities.

The ex-Caroni workers were promised some $52 million from the profits of the VSEP investment which made $104 million. This was offered by the Prime Minister during the Chaguanas West by-election 2012. So far nothing has been paid. The workers are very angry and threatening to vote PNM if Mr Rowley would only clarify his position.

Also, thousands of workers are yet to get their VSEP housing lots and agricultural lands 12 years since losing their jobs. The sugar unions are very upset. There are plans by the workers to boycott the UNC as they believe that they have been betrayed yet again.

Billions are being spent here and there, but none for the ex-sugar workers and cane farmers. Please clarify matters, Dr Rowley.

Winston Ramdhani

Couva

Kevin Baldeosingh

Would you like to raise a smart child? Then don’t call him smart. Especially if he’s smart.

Several research experiments have shown that praising children for being smart when they are successful at some academic task can lead to the child slacking off later. 

This is because children who are told they are smart come to see intelligence as an inherent part of themselves, like their nose. So they believe that being smart means being able to understand schoolwork without any effort. This particular attitude is so widespread in our society that we even have a phrase for it: “He have natural brains.” 

The problem starts when such children encounter problems which they cannot easily solve. 

Facing difficulty, they either abandon trying to understand the subject matter or conclude that they aren’t so smart after all. By contrast, children who are praised for the effort put into performing well academically (“You got an A! That must have taken a lot of hard work.”) come to see intelligence as linked to striving. Once such children are also taught that failure is essential to learning, they have a better chance of excelling academically.

Perhaps even more important is having conversations with your child. Studies in developed nations show that, by the time they’re three, children of talkative parents have heard 30 million words whereas children with taciturn parents have heard about 20 million (and if you have to look up “taciturn”, you probably are). 

It also matters what you say. In his book Intelligence and How to Get It, psychologist Richard E Nesbitt notes that “professional parents made six encouraging comments to their child for every reprimand,” compared to working-class parents whose ratio was reversed with two reprimands per encouragement. “Degrees of encouragement by parents is associated with intellectual exploration and confidence on the part of the child,” Nesbitt writes.

Children who are exposed to complex conversations do better in reading, writing and spelling in school. And the effects are independent of socioeconomic status—ie the children of poor loquacious parents did better than the children of taciturn well-off parents.

I must emphasise that the key here is conversation. Exposing the child to words by plumping him down in front of the television or even playing him an educational DVD is going to have no beneficial effects and may even have some harmful ones. Given this, it is particularly pernicious that the main buyers of such products in T&T are lower-middle-class parents, whose children are more likely to need real assistance to succeed in school. 

“Human learning in its most native state is primarily a relational exercise,” writes scientist John Medina in Brain Rules for Baby. “Intelligence is not developed in the electronic crucibles of cold, lifeless machines but in the arms of warm, loving people. You can literally rewire a child’s brain through exposure to relationships.”

None of this means that, if you follow such guidelines, your child will win a national scholarship. Genes account for about 50 per cent of IQ. But, even if your IQ genes aren’t top of the line, the 50 per cent that’s mediated by a nurturing environment helps ensure enough academic success for your child to make his way in the world.

It is upon thorough observation and being subject to the most ridiculous of excuses for tardiness, poor performance and other aspects of personal lives of employees I write this.

When one accepts a job, he/she accepts the terms and conditions, salary and hours of work. Why is it that people suddenly have the right to arrive late almost everyday with excuses such as living far, having children, sick parents to attend to etc? 

From a point of managerial perspective, that’s your personal life. Employees that do this deliberately, especially using children as the excuse for such unacceptable behaviour must suck it up and deal with it! You chose to have a job, family and responsibilities, if you can’t manage your time effectively, make a choice. 

In other parts of the world, this nonsense is no excuse for compromising the productivity, output and economic growth of the country at large.

Such excuses can be easily deemed as insubordination; not caring about the job and can hinder one’s chances of promotion. Yes, if you can’t manage yourself, how can you manage others and lead an organisation to reach it’s optimum potential? Management begins with self. I know that many may view my words as harsh, however, we in Trinidad have it nice. Other countries dismiss for tardiness, there’s little or no maternity leave and employers that don’t permit women in particular to work. Let us be grateful for what we have. 

We should treat our jobs with the same respect and dignity that we would treat our own business. I’m sure that none of us would appreciate children or distance being an excuse for cutting productivity on a daily basis if we own a business. If people respect their jobs, by the law of attraction, greater things will be added on to them. 

Let us take example from those that juggle work, family, business, social activities and multiple factors while doing exceptionally well in all aspects of their work ethic. Usually, those that manage all these things, have unquestionable respect for time, understanding that time equals money and is a scarce commodity that cannot be replaced.

So, it is my fervent hope and that of many business owners, that employees embrace what is in front of them and make the best of their circumstances until they take the step to explore existing options.

Xaviera Rampersadsingh

Princes Town

Very early in this election season I knew that my mind could also be swayed if any political party puts forward concrete measures as to their plans to address the deficiencies regarding the education and therapy for children with developmental diagnoses, since my son is on the autism spectrum. 

Not surprisingly, neither party addressed this issue in their manifestos other than flowery drivel which serve no purpose.

However, it is clear after seeing the two-page spread by the Ministry of Education in Thursday’s newspapers that all of my concerns were just wasted energy since the listing of accomplishments clearly addresses these issues. Among the notable accomplishments were:

• The Ministry has exceeded the global Gold Standard in Education by ensuring that there is one teacher to every 14 students in primary schools and one to every 12 students in secondary schools;

• Established 25 Special Needs Schools providing care and education to approximately 2,500 special-needs students;

• The Student Support Services Division (SSSD) has been expanded to over 700 professionals to include guidance counsellors, school social workers, clinical/behavioural psychologists.

Since I obviously have not been privy to this information before, I would greatly appreciate anyone being able to direct me to these schools with student to teacher ratio of 14:1 (other than the extremely high-priced private schools). I would also appreciate anyone telling me where these special needs schools are and how do I access them for my child. 

It’s quite ironic that student services were unable to advise me of these schools when I visited in June. 

Michelle Foreman 

(Mom of a high-functioning autistic seven-year-old)

Some people took offence at my blanket statement about party supporters being “sycophantic and illiterate” in last week’s column. I apologise for that blanket statement to the people of this country. I want to put the statement in context, something I failed to do last week. Let’s do the math.

Illiteracy is widespread in a small oil-rich economy. According to Alta (the Adult Literacy Tutors Association) that teaches in 52 locations countrywide, some 500,000 of us may be functionally illiterate. That’s almost half of our population. Take this section of the population, add them to the school dropouts and the numbers get higher. What is almost half our population qualified to do? Most of them are qualified to wait, perhaps do a trade, or join a make-work gang to survive.

It’s chilling to think how little else they can do but wait, helplessly, or angrily, to be placated by the parent state (which provides employment, or buys goods and services from over 70 per cent of our population).

This cannot be sustained in a country that already has the tenth highest murder rate globally. What will happen when the money runs out?

But let us not say we were not warned. Former independent senator and past president of the Law Association of T&T Martin Daly, attorney, recently wrote: “At the moment, the current Government is promising to continue unrestrained expenditure on social programmes for which dollars and cents accountability is weak and difficult to trace through the myriad agencies that spend the money.

“Not surprisingly the Opposition can only hint at the need for financial responsibility because Trini lifestyle assumes that good times will always roll. Lack of serious concern for the future is a normal feature of our general elections. However serious commentators on the economy have detailed the downturn in oil and gas revenues and the use of capital to sustain the good times. We have a Carnival costume economy, that is, spend plenty cash on declining material.”

Now, take our tribal, winner-takes-all Westminster system, which lacks checks and balances (such as an enforced procurement legislation which could mean that up to 20 billion dollars or ten-12 per cent of our GDP is going down the drain).

What do you create? Sycophancy and corruption. The recent reports of how easily money was allegedly siphoned off the State in the Life Sport programme, headed by the former minister Anil Roberts, is an example.

When a people depend on the State or party to provide them with an income, it means that we are disenfranchised. It’s like telling a grown son or daughter who lives at home, is fed, clothed, housed, and financially dependent on the parent, okay, now go and be loyal to another family or, be independent. Too late. The child is already crippled by dependency. Our politics has made the State our parents. Those of us who follow blindly, who, without studying a manifesto, (blithely unaware of the role of the State to provide sustainable development (jobs), security, education, health, housing, strong institutions) go in busloads to support various leaders dressed in yellow or black, are waving a flag as if to a parent ‘look at me, I showed up, I'm a good boy or girl. Now, will you support me? That is, give me a little money, or contract nah.'

I don’t know what kind of politics that creates. I know for sure it doesn’t create a strong, independent population that can lobby for, and legitimately ask for an account of every penny of their tax dollars. The State creates up to 70 per cent employment in this Trinidad. That figure is higher for Tobago. That’s why I referred to supporters who have not had a chance to study various manifestos or the track record of political nominees as sycophantic. They are compelled, thrust into this position as they have no other choice if they want to survive. So they are rounded up, hoarded like sheep in buses to show support, to make up the numbers for the photographers. The not so subliminal message is 'come, be part of the winning side.'

That brings me to, as I see it, some points of hope in T&T.

The first is civil society. Someone once said we have among the highest number of NGOs worldwide. I have seen their work first-hand. They help children in remote areas, neglected teens in hotspot urban areas, with autistic children, with battered women, with the disabled. The list goes on and on. We all suspect they are doing the work that the State should be doing.

The second is the middle class. Gate, free tertiary education is the best thing that the State has done for this country. This means that despite the high numbers of functional illiteracy, substantial pockets of professionals, lawyers, economists, doctors, accountants are qualifying each year. Businessmen are doing well. The alleged ‘box drain’ contracts awarded by governments which cut up a large contract into many small bits has allowed cash to filter down and spread. A reasonably strong middle class is the backbone of our society and it seems to be holding up, for now.

The third point of hope is that as Timothy Hamel-Smith said, “Young people are moving away from race-based politics. The two bases are shrinking. The middle is growing. Political parties have to be alive to society. If they see the base in the middle growing they have to change.” Whatever the outcome of the September 7 election, we know for sure that a large section of the population will feel disenfranchised. That’s why the first task of the new government must be constitutional reform.

Lawrence Lessig is a professor of law at the Harvard Law School and the director of the Edmond J Safra Center for Ethics. He is a political activist who takes on both sides of the political aisle. His numerous campaigns include amending the US constitution, changes to copyright law, supporting net neutrality, and taking on special interest money in the political system.

Following the suicide death of Aaron Swartz, Lessig’s friend, colleague and fellow copyright/internet activist in 2013, in what many commentators say was a witch-hunt by the US Government, Lessig stood up to the US Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz. And a battle that went all the way up to the attorney general at the time, Eric Holder, called out her disproportionate procedures, overreach, and corrupt desire to make an example of Swartz. 

Today, using his fearlessness, vast legal knowledge, and political activist skill set, Lessig is taking on corruption in democracy. To a combination of much support and ridicule, he has launched a single-issue campaign to become the Democratic nominee in the upcoming US elections. His single issue is corruption. In particular, fixing the corruption of US democracy and the political system generally.

To do this, he recently introduced his “Referendum Presidency.” A referendum president is one who seeks power solely for political reform. As soon as they achieve this reform they step down. The reform Lessig wants is of a political system “rigged to help the very few, those with the money to fund the politicians’ campaigns.”

Now many people think Lessig’s idea is not only foolish but also impossible. For example, say he somehow won the nomination and the presidency. What would a single-issue president do if a war broke out? Or as someone asked Lessig on a recent Reddit AMA, “What happens when early in your presidency, something happens outside of your wheelhouse? Say that a Supreme Court justice passes away and you need to nominate a new one, or Congress puts forth a bill defunding planned parenthood, what do you do?” Important questions, and if you read his campaign he has answers for them.

Others call his single-issue campaign egotistical, delusional and a charade. Perhaps these criticisms are warranted. However, on another level, the Lessig campaign is strategic. Lessig is highly unlikely to win the Democratic nomination, but by getting political reform talked about and into the mainstream it forces other candidates to talk about his issues.

It’s similar but different to the Donald Trump effect. By bringing Trump into the race the Republicans temper the hard-right extremism and racism of their other candidates. Lessig’s campaign isn’t about tempering Democratic rhetoric on the left, but it does force Democrats across the board to discuss his reform ideas and shift albeit, in a small way, their political positions.

Now, the question Lessig’s campaign raises for T&T is, is it possible to have a single-issue political party here? Supported by enough people from across the two main parties and floating voters to gain power? And could this party run on a single issue to reform our political system before resigning and calling new elections under this new system?

Perhaps many would say no, it’s not possible. Not least because who locally is a charismatic figure, trusted by enough people to be our own reform party leader? Is there anyone with the sort of experience and background as a Lawrence Lessig here? And could they get others to stand as single-issue reform candidates alongside them too? 

In our upcoming election, change is merely window dressing. Our options are either the simplistic binary of maintaining party and/or ethnic loyalty; voting for the lesser of two evils; or the despair at the failure of the whole process that makes many—especially young people—tune out and decide not to vote at all. 

All this leaves the elephant in the room—constitutional and political reform. Often hat tipped, but never truly embraced by our professional political class. And why would they embrace it? It’s common knowledge no politician changes the political system that gets them into power; Otherwise they dilute the same power.

Yet, in 21st century T&T, in a nation 50+ years old, perhaps Lessig’s campaign holds lessons for us. While maybe no single-issue party can win our local elections in the near future. A single-issue party might be one way to jump-start an already damaged and ill-functioning political culture. Democracy after all is only as good, representative, and inclusive as the electoral system it stands on allows it to be. 

Dr Dylan Kerrigan is anthropologist at UWI, St Augustine

If you live in a safe UNC seat, you should vote PNM; and if you live in a safe PNM seat, you should vote UNC. Doing anything else is a waste of a vote.

This is perhaps best demonstrated by Laventille (East and West), which have been safe seats for the People’s National Movement ever since the party’s inception. Both these constituencies typically have the lowest voter turnouts in any election (64 per cent even in 1956 compared to an overall 80 per cent turnout, 52 per cent in 2010 compared to an average 70 per cent turnout) but neither loyalty nor apathy has helped Laventille get more social services or better infrastructure from successive PNM administrations than other constituencies, including areas the PNM has never won.

This makes political sense. Like any other group, politicians have limited resources to deploy in an election campaign (though the messages blitz might make it seem otherwise). So what is the most effective way to use such resources? In Trinidad’s political demography (but not Tobago’s), the answer must be to use most of the resources in the marginal constituencies and, as far as possible, to target the undecided voters within those constituencies.

But what happens outside an official election campaign? Elected MPs would want to use their five years in office to solidify support within their constituencies. But MPs’ powers are limited, and so the infrastructural initiatives that happen within a constituency will be dictated in large part by how many votes the party in power thinks it needs to win in any particular constituency. Hence, if even a safe seat seems to have an increase in voters disenchanted with the party, the Government will pay more attention to it. The constituents benefit no matter which party is in office: faced with such a phenomenon, either the Government will attempt to win back its supporters in its traditional seats or will try to win more supporters in seats it normally loses.

I myself live in Caroni Central, a safe seat for the United National Congress and, were I voting by candidate or typical motives, I would vote for the Congress of the People candidate contesting as a UNC, Dr Bhoe Tewarie. According to American clinical psychologist Drew Westen in The Political Brain, the typical voter bases his ballot choice on four questions: (1) does the candidate/party share the values that matter most to me and do they care about people like me? (2) Can I trust them to represent me faithfully? (3) Do they have qualities that will ensure they will represent my values and interests, such as integrity, leadership and competence? (4) If there is an issue that really matters to me, what is their stand on it?

This, of course, applies to American voters; in T&T (3) and (4) are irrelevant. But, even for Americans, Westen notes, “People vote for the candidate who elicits the right feelings, not the candidate who presents the best arguments.” This fundamental point has escaped those political commentators who have been taking the PNM and UNC leadership to task for not treating with the economic lash that will soon hit T&T. But such a criticism is puerile: no party in any democracy in the world ever won an election by telling citizens that things are about to get worse. As economist Bryan Caplan notes in his book The Myth of the Rational Voter, “A good politician tells the public what it wants to hear; a better one tells the public what it is going to want to hear.” 

Indeed, I doubt that even the commentators making this argument would have their vote swayed by the party or candidate who raised this matter. And even politicians’ vagueness on key issues is a rational strategy. “Faith helps explain politicians’ tendency to dodge pointed questions with vague answers,” Caplan writes. “How can refusing to take a position (or changing the subject) be strategically better than candidly endorsing a moderate position? Put yourself in the shoes of a voter who opposes the moderate view but has a degree of faith in a candidate’s good intentions. If the candidate announces his allegiance to the moderate view, faith in him dissolves. But as long as the candidate is silent or vague, it does not tax your faith to maintain, ‘He’s a decent man, he must agree with me.’ From a politician’s point of view, the critical fact is that voters on both sides of an issue can ‘reason’ in the same fashion.”

According to the four factors outlined by Westen, I should readily vote for Dr Tewarie. He is the only candidate in any political party who has written books; he’s similar to myself in having an academic background in Literature but a focus on empirical research; and I know him well enough so that, when he’s elected, I could approach him personally for assistance.

But, in my safe UNC seat, I think my vote will be more useful—or, rather, less useless—if I vote PNM. And I don’t know (or care) who that party’s Caroni Central candidate is. 

Kevin Baldeosingh is a professional writer, author of three novels, and co-author of a history textbook.

A recent Trinidad Guardian report estimated that, over a six-day period, the People’s Partnership had outspent the PNM in traditional media advertising by six to one. Of the estimated $5 million in advertising expenditure, the PP was responsible for $4.3 million, the PNM a meager $700,000. In terms of actual numbers, the PP had placed over 100 newspaper advertisements, while the PNM had placed a paltry 17. That is quite an outrageous disparity. 

Political analysts Winford James and Maukesh Basdeo both thought that the PP’s spending was on the high side, but nevertheless would not charaterise it as unusual given that the party in power normally has greater access to campaign finance. Yes, but to the tune of six to one?

Mr Basdeo’s explanation for the PP’s disproportionate spending was rather anodyne. It was either, the tautological, that the PP was able to raise more funds or, the circular, that financiers are “more comfortable supporting the party in power.” 

Mr James was far less circumspect. One explanation for the PP’s veritable cornucopia is the contributions undoubtedly made by contractors in receipt of state largesse. According to Mr James, the “normal contributions of members” could not by itself account for the PP’s war chest bursting at its seams. “The level of spending is just too high for that to be so.” 

I share Mr James’ misgivings. The share magnitude of the assumed contributions raises the concern that something sinister is at play, that in fact taxpayers money has been indirectly funneled from the state’s coffers, through state contractors, and back into the PP’s political war chest. 

I find it disappointing that the Third Force, which has made campaign finance reform one of its bellwethers of political support, has unconditionally endorsed the PP without even asking where its campaign contributions are coming from, and in what amounts. 

Mr James also averted to the phenomenon of what he called “the comingling of state and party funds during election periods.” This occurs when government ministries use state funds to advertise the achievements of the outgoing government, a transparent ploy which doubles as a not so subtle invitation to return the authors of such alleged successes to power. 

Mr James thinks that, in this regard, there is a “blurring” of the line separating propriety from notoriety. That may be so in some instances and in a different context. For my part, I have no doubt that the line has been crossed time and again. 

An incumbent party is unquestionably entitled to boast about its accomplishments, or at the very least to defend its record from attack by those seeking to unseat it. It is therefore clearly unobjectionable for the Minister of Housing to proudly trumpet the delivery of so many housing units to members of the public. 

Where the line may have been crossed, however, is if, as is suspected, the distribution of much needed housing was deliberately delayed to coincide with the election season, or, which is more likely, the actual timing of the roll-out of 100 units every week right up to the eve of the election was engineered as an election gimmick. 

It is bad enough that the Minster’s control over the timing of the delivery of public housing is put at the disposal of his political party’s campaign strategy, it is even worse that each event is accompanied by an advertisement, paid for out of public funds, replete with photographs of the smiling minister “bringing the dreams of a nation closer to home.” One such advertisement appeared in the Guardian on August 21 concerning a roll-out which occurred on August 15. And just in case you might have thought that this was an ordinary, if ill-timed notification of a government event, well how do you explain the repeat of the same advertisement two days later other than as a crass attempt at political advertisement? 

As it happened, on August 21 there also appeared a two-page advertisement heralding the opening of the Children’s Hospital in Couva. This is an important milestone by any measure and one which was deserving of public notification, no matter when it occurred. It is one of the Prime Minister’s signature projects and it was therefore not in the least bothersome that the advertisement contained obviously staged photographs of her at the official opening ceremony. But the temptation to misuse a national event for narrow partisan gain was obviously too much for the copywriter who could not resist the closing refrain: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”

And if you were in any doubt as to whether all of this is not part of a coordinated plan, it should be clear that from now until you cast your vote, we will be bombarded on a daily basis with similar, thinly disguised partisan political advertisements, all financed with hard-earned taxpayers money. Thus, on August 22 and 23, the Ministry of Tertiary Education placed full page ads about the placement of graduates of the OJT Programme; on August 23 and 25, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed us that T&T had applied to host the Arms Trade Treaty Secretariat, an application which had been made since July 2013; on August 26, again apropos of nothing in particular, the Ministry of Local Government reminded us that for the last five years it had been faithful to the Peoples Partnership’s 2010 manifesto on local government; and on August 27 (the date this column is being written), the Ministry of Education extolled the Prime Minister’s vision for education and the efforts it had made to fulfill her mandate. The only thing missing is the clarion call: VOTE PP.

Any future campaign finance reform legislation must address the misuse of public funds to finance the re-election campaign of an incumbent government.