Wired868 Wired868 for smart sport news and opinion
Now this is more like it. The PNM Government has finally demonstrated a new era of accountability with State funds and a fearless willingness to root out corruption wherever it can be found.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
And by that, of course, we mean the “criminal mastermind” that is Dr Ryan Wellington who slipped off to Ireland on a State scholarship worth TT$1,734,994.30 of taxpayers’ money and never returned.
We don’t tolerate wrongdoing in these parts, Ryan!
But, er, might we suggest you look a bit closer to home for your next stance against corruption, Dr Keithos?
There is an elephant in the room. Figuratively speaking, of course.
Let’s just say that the Prime Minister apparently offered to stand guard outside the wrong bedroom door.
If the stream of documents unearthed by Fixin’ T&T on Housing Minister Marlene McDonald and her common-law husband Michael Carew are as straightforward as they seem, it would appear that the one thing Marlene and Mikey love more than each other is the treasury.
Mikey, there are many things that you can do in Marlene’s constituency and be sure that Mr Live Wire will not harass you for the details. Padding your love nest with taxpayers’ money is not one of those things.
(Courtesy LoopTT)
And, Keithos, surely you already know that the economy is not strong enough to take that kinda load. Might we suggest a retrenchment?
It is a hypothetical question. Marlene is roadkill already. The only question now is which PNM Ministers are willing to tarnish their own political careers to guard the rotten carcass.
And Mr Live Wire is looking right at you, Faris. Keep talking if you must. But know that you are sounding more and more like those car product salesmen we try to avoid at shopping centres.
And, yes, it is true that allegedly gifting NHA houses, skimming constituency funds and misappropriating relatively modest poverty eradication funds, isn’t quite as bad as using NGC as a piggy bank or offering to buy million dollar properties with cash.
But Mr Live Wire has no intention of debating which treasury rapist was packing and which had a pecker in the toolbox.
No means no! Don’t touch me there!
Six months on and the Prime Minister’s slowness to act, which exacerbated his decision to make dodgy appointments in the first place, is becoming as cringeworthy as listening to the Sport Minister say: ‘Ivor Archie.’
Although, to be fair, the Chief Justice’s names do have more syllables than ‘Prin-cess.’ Just like ‘gym-nas-tics.’
Here’s another word to enunciate: ‘e-lect-ions.’ And we are talking about, for starters, the local government variety.
The public, faced with a faltering economy, low job security and a rising crime rate, is in no mood to be messed about at the moment.
Tim Kee is out, Thema is in and Marlene might be next.
You can do without the Sugar Momma drama, Doctor. Get rid of Mrs Big.
(Scene: A dapper gentleman examines a humble lodging with notable admiration.) FAR: I love the more intimate office space, boss. Read more
24 December: The Ministry of Health urges citizens to ‘keep the festivities at home this year’ and ‘celebrate responsibly within Read more
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and with Trinidad and Tobago recording an average of 23 deaths a day, Read more
Faris (pronounced far-risk) Verb: (1) to half-arse a task for the superficial benefit of being seen to do it. ‘When Read more
This week, Trinidad and Tobago witnessed a breathtaking lack of administrative foresight accompanied by a paralysed executive branch with a Read more
(Scene: A private room. A mainstream reporter, whose identity has been protected to avoid her being trolled half to death, Read more
Mr. Live Wire is an avid news reader who translates media reports for persons who can handle the truth. And satire. Unlike Jack Nicholson, he rarely yells.
Whatever Marlene McDonald has done, it is really disgusting and disappointing to see the jokes about her weight being made by “respectable” people and even some media outlets. There are legitimate reasons to condemn her without resorting to gutter behavior.
Big Ma Ma need a break she will realize but its to late too late shall be my cry ..
Bbbbb-sssstttt
People remember empty vessels makes the most noise.
I am so upset today fixing Trinidad and Kamla asking to fire people what is wrong with The PNM are you afraid of these thieves you are in government and still letting these people run the country what are you all afraid of they did all kind of wrong things to the people of T&T for five years you all talk till you blue in the face and they ignored you now they dig up some old thing since before 2010 and you are listening to these fools what did she do I think I wasted my time to support the P N M I am so disappointed I feel to cry I have never voted for any other party in my life I am sure you all have enough evidence to jail these thieves stop twiddling you thumbs while T&T burn
Well…no self respecting criminal is going to plead guilty to make life easier for us.
It might also help if the obviously guilty pleaded that way.
I love it! Don’t touch me there!!!!
I feel nauseated when I hear the opposition talking we don’t stand for nothing .When the late A N R. put Mr. Manning as PM was for the Spirit of the Law! You can’t pass Law on Morals! They have no moral authority. They mash up the country…
What they need to do is throw out cases for minor drug possession.
Nah removing bail would only result in the unmanageable overcrowding of the prison system.
Due to length of time it takes for these cases to complete in my opinion citizens should lobby the parliament to remove bail from these offences. We will see all the parliamentarians who are serious about stamping out corruption.
Lester guess who is ah legislator?
Yeah……Marlene!
Yuh see d problem now?
Those crooks will be on bail. They will not see the Remand until the legislation is amended that these offences have no bail.
Hesma it takes an eternity for criminal cases to get to court in Trinidad and Tobago, what do you think all them fellas are doing on remand?
Nerisa I believe that by putting Stuart Young in to the PM’s office he is ready to get cracking on crooks who raided the treasury whether they were under PNM or UNC. I want to see the scamps of the last five years quaking in their stolen boots.
Congratulations PM Rowley! When I thought about this matter and your acceptance speech I hoped you would do the right thing. It could not have been easy for you – she is one of the people who supported you through the last 5 years! But country first is how you moved here by removing her! Keep strong!
So is it that you get to steal money from taxpayers and ride off into the proverbial sunset? Is anyone going to make jail for the billions of dollars haemorrhaged from our ‘government’ funds over the last 10 years?
Would you believe five stories on Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s sister, Hema?!
And guess what? I want Marlene McDonald gone. In fact, I don’t think she should have been hired in the first place.
So I think this entire fiasco is partly Rowley’s fault.
I was tempted to search the website and post a link to the search results eh. But I ended up doing a type and erase lol
She’s gone! Just heard it on the news
Lol!…we have some real characters here yes
Hesna I think it is a mistake to brand anyone who speaks out against potential corruption within the PNM as someone looking for revenge.
Lester is right. If it was wrong for one, it is wrong for the other. And there are many many people who are fedup of the same old same old from EVERY administration and will speak out against any wrong they believe they observe.
And most of us are capable of following more than one issue at a time. Lord knows if we were waiting for one issue to be over before being able to focus on another, we would have no chance.
On the button LL!
Thanks 🙂
Lester in a perfect world that will be acceptable but when bandits raided my treasury and are now sitting down cool as cucumber and pointing fingers at others I want to vomit and find it hard to believe that these dogs are getting away with bold face banditry and there is nothing that we can do other than look for revenge at this new administration.
This new administration has a responsibility to ensure all that they have made public is investigated and those responsible are held to account. However, history has shown us that it is only talk as we lack the institutional capacity and the necessary legislation to do so. Whilst we focus on crimes against the person it is corruption that brings down a country. History will also show that the UNC and PNM parties have paid the price for ignoring perceived wrong whilst in government . 2010 and 2015 are the recent examples of this. Yes you are upset with the last party in power and you have a right to be. Therefore by right you should not turn a blind eye to this issue. They must not be allowed to divide us and rub it in our faces. They did it prior to 2010 elections and paid the price. They did it in 2015 and paid the price. Must we wait till 2020 or demand the changes in governance we were promised in 2010 and now 2015? Every five years is a long time for us to show we want change and if we continue seeing we and them all we will get is exchange. We want to be assured that it is not business as usual election after election. Let the change start from within. It is not about revenge as the governments were elected by the people. Should the honourable PM stand by his Minister like his predecessor did and expect us to accept it? The honourable PM took a stand that certain members of his party did not agree with but his political stock grew because of his stand. Now is the time to improve on those gains made by walking the talk. Now is not the time to allow that stock to slide by inaction. Whilst you are looking at the removal of the Minister I have gone beyond that. Not only must Ministers be removed but the necessary legislation is enacted where these breaches are crimes that have terms of imprisonment attached for all the parties involved. Until then the we are just fooling ourselves and it will continue to happen. It happened before and it will happen again. Legislation to close the loopholes as much as possible, forfeiture of assets and a hefty prison sentence are the deterants we need followed by qualified public investigators and a Court dedicated to deal with these cases only. Without meaningful changes it will not matter who forms the government, the saga continues. No change only exchange.
Lester Logie…and what about the public servants who neglect to protect the public purse in these instances. We have seen the argument that Ministers do not sign off on cheques etc. The public servants do themselves and us a disservice. There was also a scholarship fund that was abused and I see the gov’t is reviewing GATE. Let us not return to the days of state resources being used to reward party supporters but to benefit all our citizens. And lest we forget, both parties are guilty -there should not be degrees of corruption. And need I remind the PM he inducated he would be going after Calder Hart? Ok. Let us see how soon we can start recovering some money. And I hope the PM realises if allegations of corruption come up under whistleblowing legislation, and the response is ‘bring the evidence’ or an internal committee clears persons, it makes a mockery of such legislation.
The honourable PM has his work cut out for him if he is to deliver on campaign promises of transparency and accountability. He will encounter stiff resistance as we are a corrupt society. It is left to be seen how much he can accomplish as public sector reform has been spoken about for years. Getting corrupt practices out of the sector is a challenge especially when public servants are independent and fall under independent Service Commissions. Let’s see what legislation comes forth that will hold individuals to account as that is the most they can do as they are not responsible for hiring, firing or disciplining them.
I have to say that I am both surprised and yet not surprised at some of the comments here. Surprised because Trinidadians are passionate about defending corruption because it is “only small thing”. And yet I should not be surprised that this because for the past few decades I have been observing Trinidadian behaviour, I realise that most of (not all) Trinidadians are unable to think in a logical or rational manner. It is one of the reason why Kevin Baldeosingh has so strong a column. He has plenty of fodder to work with.
Some years ago, around 2009, Marlene McDonald was minister responsible for scholarships… Anyone remember that? Evidence showed there was a definite PNM link and corruption: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,111861.html. Marlene was big and strong in refusing to answer any questions regarding the recipients one of whom I recall was that then PNM Port of Spain mayor’s daughter-in-law, who received nearly half a million dollars to study law with no evidence of the law degree being completed or repayments made… As an aside, I wonder if legal action will be taken against her for repayment?
Since then I have never trusted Marlene McDonald, viewing her as one of the more corrupt and craven members of the PNM. The cookie monster who spent thousands of dollars on cookies at the Hyatt was small in comparison.
But what people are missing is that corruption/cronyism no matter how small is a bedrock to building a failed state. It means resources of the state, rather than being used to build up those who lack, are being leached to those who have and who are undeserving. It means that those who lack will never get no matter how small their needs. The poor will remain poor in a vicious cycle trickling down the generations.
For those who do not see anything wrong in this, I hope that your future generations will not suffer. But alas, while you are shortsighted, your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be the ones who pay.
Well said. And I’m glad you shared that!
Lasana, is that you boy?? 😉
Smh
Give her a sack to put the money she collected from State funds…..she’ll bring it back to the treasury!!!! Hope the PM has sacks in abundance to give to all who used the State funds to help their famalee!!!!
I hope that de pp government does de same to, bring back all we focking money they stole from us tax payers.. what good for de goose good for de gander…
Dexter Guadeloupe Hutchinson that is exactly what they are trying to avoid, but as the rises everyday they will be held accountable.
Let the pp tell her where to buy the sack!
Teresa Simmons so true, God don’t sleep; my grandmother always use to say what sweet in goat mouth does sour in de bam bam….
No problem if Marlene go but most of the opposition have to do the same
Bring the evidence Robert boy we bought the evidence hahaha and it have more to come
Wait and see
Robert Samuel, only a destructive racist UNC sycophant would contest your veracious initial response to the circus post of wired868 then your brief and blistering assertion to that destructive racist UNC sycophant!(laughing)
True
Elections are over. It is one government we have to deal with. UNC got there chance and we voted them out. Now is the PNM’s turn to prove they are different. Let us not go down that road about PNM peo[ple. The government is not there only for PNM supporters. They are OUR government and must accept the criticism whether fair on unfair. That is expected of anyone who offer themselves for public service. We cant use what UNC do to justify what PNM doing now. It is one government after election. Give praise where praise is due and criticize also when it is deserved but don’t get drawn in in the we vs them. We sell ourselves short and fall right in their trap.
Until then Lester we will fight to claim the space that we have and no set of crooks will tell us that Mac Donald has to go. I am tired of seeing PNM people being railroaded by these bunch of jokers.
It is the we and them attitude that has us where we are. When will we understand that whether the PNM or UNC holds the corridor of power they are OUR government. It is a comment like the one above that justify the opposition winning 18 seats when they should have won less. We can’t see past race and the colour of our jersey. To look beyond our political bias and being objective on any issue is a serious challenge we face as citizens. The citizens who voted wanted change the result being 23 – 18. If they wanted the same they would not have changed the party in power.
People only digging up for garbage, with the bacchanal posse, allyuh fire ya selves, give we a rest nah! smh! all citizens have a right to work on the land where they were born, how many of us are not related? how many of the past regime hired their families? this is a dot on the map, with 1.3m people, how much $$ was Vidwatie paid? the parties always hire their known supporters to run their constituency offices, faithful/trusted, you all only bashing the woman non-stop, whenever you change an MP, the whole ministry comes to a HALT, as a new MP may have new ideas, whilst the people suffer for mechanisms to be put in place, some homeless some hungry, just to satisfy egos….I may sound as though Im encouraging what others may deem as offensive, not so at all! but that is small ting, it seems that a group of persons are out there trying to torture the woman, whilst the people’s business needs to be taken care of urgently. We have suffered for so long, is it every little thing we trinis making a big bacchanal about? go clean you all houses, make some $$, get busy doing something worthwhile, like feeding the poor, why not channel those energies to food prices that is escalating so much that we cannot feed ourselves?
Let’s check your heads and find out if you all wanted Kamla to resign as PM when her sister and family was living like a boss at taxpayers expense. If you can’t show me proof where you were outraged and called for her head then SHUT UP.
on point.
Minor in the scheme of things?
I will agree only if “the scheme of things” refers to the consequences of and the lies told to us in 2010 about ridding the country of corruption but the very day they got into office that lie became manifest and we all were taken for fools in the month of May 2010 to the month of September 2015 as we soon began to see, and saw, both men and women who couldn’t even afford to buy two doubles suddenly became owners of several palatial homes during and thereafter!
Agreed.
Big women need loving too
I can see why your ancestors were called Silly!(laughin)
The black struggle
And so we wait. Hopefully this time around, (and for once), doing the right thing versus trying to justify or defend the wrong thing will actually make sense.
I’m not assuming there’s proof in black and white, I know
She should not have been appointed in the first place.
lmao……so we gone from Mr. BIG to Mrs. BIG now?
Lasana!
Yet another piece that I would happily perform!
Of course, if they were disposed to give credit where it is due, they might consider a different headliner or, at leas,t a strap: “PM ROWLEY FIXES T&T” Not so, Kirk?
I can see it already. Marlene goes and, following your lead Mr Live Wire, all the newspapers headline “NO BIGGIE!”
If I were PNM PR I’d tell ‘Keith’ give her the axe but train your guns on Anil & others in Lifesport! There’s enough evidence to make her look like a bread crumb in comparison
Fair enough Nicholas. I agree.
Me 2✔✔✔???
Yeah, he should have unloaded himself of Marlene months ago…..figuratively speaking of course.
A howler! :):)
Sugar momma to the max!
But everyone prefers to denigrate school children. They are supposedly everything that is wrong with us. Not the immoral adults.
The children are exactly a reflection of the adults. People act like they drop out of nowhere.
Precisely. People will defend a MP and her boo screwing taxpayers in her office. But lose their minds about children getting too frisky in school.
The kids need guidance. It is the adults who need jail.
Just another day in our so called paradise….
You aint never lied, Lasana Liburd.