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Breaking news: Unconfirmed reports suggest that Argentina captain and 2014 World Cup Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi had three slices of toast with his dinner last night. Mr Live Wire understands that Diego Maradona could have put away five and still had room for bagels.
Football discussion has descended into farce ever since the FIFA technical committee decided that the best player on the planet and the best player at the World Cup were one and the same.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/TTFA Media)
In Trinidad and Tobago, farce is wearing camouflage these days as soldiers have apparently taken control of Laventille in the search for the killer of Lance Corporal Kayode Thomas while also kicking in doors and kicking down residents as far as Toco without warrants or any legal authority.
On Wednesday, the Trinidad Guardian alleged that “men in camouflage worn by T&T military” snatched Duane Skeete—whose brother is wanted for “questioning” in relation to Thomas’ murder—in Grenada on Wednesday with the assistance of Grenadian soldiers. Relatives have not heard from Skeete since.
Surely a coordinated arrest on foreign soil could not have occurred without the blessing of Chief of Defence Staff, Major Kenrick Maharaj. Did National Security Minister Gary Griffith or Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the head of the National Security Council, approve this?
Is Trinidad and Tobago under martial law?
Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams vowed to reign in the “Inglorious Basterds.”
“I have directed my officers that if they get any reports in relation to soldiers abusing citizens and carrying out searches,” said Williams, in an I95.5 FM interview, “they need to investigate those matters; and if necessary prosecute these soldiers, just as we, the police, prosecute our police officers.”
A turf war between soldiers and police? The irony could only be more complete if Imam Yasin Abu-Bakr calls Maharaj and Williams to a peace summit at the Jamaat.
And if Williams is the solution, Mr Live Wire would surely like to hear the question again.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is recovering from her tour with Spiderman while Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is using Parliamentary time to find out about Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi’s great grandpappies. If Ramlogan wants to marry into Al-Rawi’s family, can’t he just proposition him at a bar?
Recently, the police service responded to queries about the Dana Seetahal murder inquiry by suggesting it would not sacrifice speed for accuracy; as if Williams and his men know what either looks like. Clearly, if Seetahal was a lance corporal rather than a Senior Counsel, her killers might at the barracks as we speak.
Elsewhere, Trinidad and Tobago citizens who do not live in Laventille and are not yet required for intense interrogation by the “Soulja Boys” continue their lives in the usual state of blissful ignorance. Like chickens at an Arawak farm who think they can fly away whenever they are ready.
Thank God that David Rudder lives in Canada.
Editor’s Note: Duane Skeete, according to the Trinidad Guardian, is being held at the St George Parish Police in Grenada. On Friday, two days after his arrest, he allegedly had not been charged with anything.
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A valid question.
In Trinidad and Tobago, we glorify the big thieves and despise the little ones.
We beat children with shovels and kiss the feet of politicians and their financiers.
That is a simple question to answer.
We place greater tolerance for crime expending on the class of the criminal.
We civilized eh?
What criminal elements do you refer to in the army? I think the army has been seen as more pliant than the police of late.
A case in point was in January 2014 when the Defence Force stopped all its servicemen from participating in sport and cultural activities to help combat crime. And the Police, whose business it is to arrest criminals, made no such request of its own officers.
Why the soldiers doh beat up a few financiers and government officials for information on bid-rigging, illegal quarrying, use of government equipment for private gain, email-gate, life sport, waste water treatment plants, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,…..?
I just waiting for the soldiers to touch somebody outside of the East PoS hotspots in their ‘law unto themselves’ pseudo-investigation. Plenty people who supporting their actions now will start singing a different tune…
Are they buying these guns? Or are they being supplied these guns by the Mr. Bigs who using them to push the drugs, run the cocaine blocks and fuel the gang warfare for fat security contracts??
But the thing is the other area is now the source. destroy the source and the disease will eventually fade away. another thing if these people so poor that they have to rob and kill, where they getting 15 and 20,000 thousand dollars to buy a gun? this money could buy food and fix their house. wotlessness!
It would be an interesting expose for some objective investigative reporting on discerning the relations between the executive and the DF. Are they doing their own thing and if so why? Have they got implied permission from the GoTT to do so or nor? Were there always criminal elements in the DF and who’s been courting them in the past… Lots of quesstions indeed. Anecdotal impression is that the increased criminality in the country in the 90s and beyond and the intermittent deployment to support the police has led the politicians to rely on them far more than they should not realising that its not the wisest substitute for an effectively functioning police force. But Lasana, I’m wondering since we became such a big player in the drugs transhipment industry whether this happened in spite of the politicians. The DF – Shah and Lasalle episode aside has been pretty well behaved for much of its history.
Horrific state of affairs. Who is governing?
Timothy …and we love democracy?
And the lunacy is catching!
If I’m not mistaken, since the soldiers started patrolling, there has been only 1 gang related murder in the area…
The lunatics are running the asylum!
It is a class war, many of the army thuggery supporters are Afro as well.
Suppose the army enjoys being a law unto itself too much to stop? What then?
If Gary Griffith has any control over the army at present, he is doing a great job of being reactive and appearing clueless.
Suppose Kenrick decided to give himself leeway. What then Kala Ramnath?
Suppose Kenrick decided to offer some soldiers as the PM’s security detail? Or if he felt that he would be the best person to offer advice to the PM and insisted they meet once per week?
In other words, without answers about what is going on I am suddenly considering whether the identity of the country’s most dangerous gang has changed.
Lasana, do you know what is the scariest part of your statement here? The fact that is is not an unrealistic proposition …
I’m with you Kala Ramnath. I think the “them against us” scenario in Trinidad and Tobago may not be racially driven.
It could easily be about class or perceived common interests.
This government like a classic ten-days work. It have a foreman who acts like the boss and who people have pseudo-respect for. But really and truly nobody answers to nobody. Come and go as you please. Do what you like. Go to the site, look like you working. Old talk, go home get pay. This is the government of the day, where nobody even have the decency to address citizens concerns. The ones supposedly in charge quiet like lamb. Unless you dress up two effigies and beat them in public of course. Army abusing citizens is one thing, but beating fake politicians is certainly frowned upon..
Soon enough
Sorry but killings happen in areas without regard or fear of police. When a soldier is killed in a crime infected area, the criminals start crying before the soldiers even descend because they know that soldiers do not allow anything to hinder their mission. I’m not in agreement with a number of laws in this country and results are what matter to me. In my opinion let the ones who can get the job done do what they need to do. That’s my opinion.
You cannot hold people accountable to the law while breaking it. Create a legal framework for the soldiers to operate or purge the police force.
For the last curfew crime went down to 0% problem -freedom,solution-no freedom.Is time government released the DOGS OF WAR and crime will surely end.
The US will never allow that to happen we need to deal with crime now and start with Laventile first.Time to release the Dogs Of War.
But is it only race though. I detect quite a humongous amount of class discrimination interlinked with it. Middle class people – whatever their colour, many of them talk of ‘those people behind de bridge’. And of course there’s that ‘aliens amongst us’ thing still hanging over. The idea that these people are ‘small islanders’ which people use to cast aspersions. But of course, the race stereotypes loom large. But political expediency can get in the way even of supposed ‘racial solidarity’ as with that Highway issue in Debe. So lots of lil dynamics in there too…
The fact is UNC supporters by and large agree wholeheartedly with this bit of state sanctioned vigilantism just as they did when Jack Warner commandeered the defence force to dismantle the Highway Reroute Movement’s camp.
You see for a great many Trinidadians crime in and of itself is not a problem, the problem lies in who is percieved to be committing it and it just so happens those they perceive to be the real culprits all dwell in east Port of Spain and resemble John Sandy!
At the risk of incurring a deluge of hateful response from a particular segment of the national community, I would like to pose the following: Is this examination of lineage wise for a person who comes from a people who themselves routinely claim Brahmin lineage when few, if any, Brahmins actually made the trip to T&T as an indentured labourer? Really? Is this what should consume national thought in 2014 and beyond?
Lol
Brilliant as always Lasana Liburd. Worth being late-)!
Remember when a soldier was beaten in St James many years ago? The army cut everybody’s ass on the st James stretch that evening. This always happens when a soldier is attacked in this land. This is just heading to ” the next level” we wait loudly and silently.
Lasana, I don’t think that the head of the army would just be doing this on his own. They take orders from the political directorate. Maharaj is the top soldier and he has a boss. That boss is the Minister of NS. I think he should be asked a few serious questions on this.
Which is why the inevitable scenario is on the cards.Lasana.Menwhile ,we are distracted by Spiderman and marvel.
Melville Foster, I have doubts about if the army is taking direction from anyone at all on this. And that is even more worrying.
At least our inept politicians were elected. Kenrick Maharaj was not.
I think despotic govt is pushing it a bit. Its certainly inglorious but as ever we must remember the history to figure out our destiny, For decades we’d go through crime peaks, which would see the politicos summoning Scotland yard to sort out the incpompetencies in the force. These reccs were usually never even considered. Just filed. The result of this politics as usual type of non-action was usually things like Burruoughs’ infamous Flying Squad who terrorised many.
They were a law unto themselves. Dozens of reports and lack of attempts at implementation later, we are still resorting to policy on the hock, making it up as we go along, throwing in the army from time to time and we see what a fat lot of ‘good’ that’s doing. Its a shambles but our politicians – inc this Govt – have never had the courage to reform the PS and make it relevant to the needs of 21st c T&T. I really hope whoever forms the next govt seriously addresses this. But there is usually no pressure from citizens’ groups on policy issues like this, sadly. There should be, but even where it exists, they ignore.
Yes,but what starts as army obeying a fledgling despotic government ends in a hail of bullets at said despotic government .I wait.
I would love to hear from Donna Cox and/or NiLeung Hypolite on this…
lol. I wish journalists would take them all to task for dwelling on these irrelevant issues and focus instead on crime, development strategy, social policy, reform of the police service. really challenge people to get excited again about the country’s prospects. Knowing who Al Rawi’s antecedents or indeed Ramlogans’ is not exactly going to help us sort out the big bogeys breathing down our collective backs, nor indeed the most pressing issue at the moment. But alas, a so it go…
Kala, that man is so uncouth, it is indescribable. You know we have have a saying here….you could take them out of the gutter, but….
Just political picong it seems. Probably not the wisest as it involves the head of one of the world’s biggest faiths. Anand’s not known for subtlety. But still, they really should not be engaging in all this trite stuff when there’s so much that needs their attention.
But Kala, this was from an interview 4 yrs ago! The real question is why did Anand need to bring it up NOW??
Why did he feel the need to declare this lineage in the first place. Well before this latest bacchanal. And he produces this incredible scroll for the benefit of the punters. *you cannot make this stuff up*
Take note, for when it hits us, I’m citing the SoE and this incident as the point when the floodgates creaked open.
‘Martial Law ‘..as lightly as it mentioned the reality is that’s where we are… Martial Law combined with state endorsed vigilante justice. I wonder what would be Anand’s response if armed mobs of civilians start moving around seeking ‘justice ‘. Also, where are the constructional scholars..the Martin Dalys, the Lawrence-Maharajs who always have an opinion on constitution matters…why the silence on this??
And this genie is armed to the teeth at taxpayers’ expense.
I’ve been saying this since the SoE….this is how police states and military dictatorships start….
To back? Hoss, you ever see how hard it is to entrap a genie once free?
These are desperate people…you ain’t seeing that? Time running out inno. Lawlessness starts at the top and there’s no turning back now eh, cause whoever takes office next will use the same or better excuses. That’s what we get for having too many liars, ah mean lawyers running things, look at the justice system for a clue!
The army seems to be openly acting outside of the law. Who is to say the genie goes back in the bottle after Maharaj’s men satisfy their thirst for revenge?
“Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is recovering from her tour with Spiderman while Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is using Parliamentary time to find out about Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi’s great grandpappies. If Ramlogan wants to marry into Al-Rawi’s family, can’t he just proposition him at a bar?”
I hope when he proposes you not there nah, FB go have to give we more storage space.
This is not a fete in here…
A…as in asshole? Because last I check the army defends, not attacks, its citizens.
I would like to know whether or not we are under martial law. It looks as though the Defence Force has turned into a souped-up A’ Team!
This is crazy!
Ahhhhh. I thought was just me seeing the diversionary tactics!