Wired868 Wired868 for smart sport news and opinion
I entirely agree that the Cabinet reshuffle announced last week is not likely to produce better or cleaner Government.
Our governance structures and processes are out of date, unreformed, tainted with partisanship and in some cases riddled with corruption. They lack public trust. By analogy to Chalkie’s “The Driver Can’t Drive”, we are in a situation where the State vehicle cannot be properly driven because it is defective.
(Copyright Stabroek News)
Many of these columns pointed out the decade of wilful blindness of the Patrick Manning-led PNM administration to violent crime, ceding the field to so-called ‘community leaders’. I have also described the pernicious undercurrent continuously drowning any serious approach to violent crime.
Put simply, if persons in authority are sleeping with the financier dogs of the drug trade and state enterprise corruption, we will have our blood sucked by the ticks on those dogs.
This week it might be useful to comment briefly on the current state of some principal governance institutions through the medium of which productive results ought to be obtained across the board. If the state of those institutions—including the level of public trust—has been compromised, the capacity for positive results also becomes compromised.
Starting at the top with the Office of the President, we now have the unprecedented situation of several serious challenges to the functioning, expenses and credibility of that office. Some of the wounds are self-inflicted because of attempts at activism beyond the constitutional boundaries of the Office.
Essentially the Office of the President requires a quiet exercise of the gravitas, that is the dignity and respect of the Office, in order to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to consider things that may not be apparent within the heated partisan political atmosphere in which a Prime Minister and his Ministers operate out of party political necessity.
(Copyright News.gov.tt)
There are of course, significant decisions that the Office of the President can take on its own or after specified consultation. It must be clearly understood however, that this area of Presidential decision-making is limited to making significant appointments to significant governance institutions.
Although this area of decision-making is of limited scope, its significance cannot be underestimated. Those whom the President appoints should provide checks and balances against unbridled executive power by having the bodies to which they are appointed run fairly and efficiently within their constitutional or statutory remit.
Parliament is a mess. Hardly anyone will dispute this. Parliament has degenerated into an unseemly weekly gathering of persons hell-bent on branding each other nasty and corrupt. There is no bi-partisan co-operation towards reform of those governance institutions, which can only be reformed by appropriate special majority legislation.
The appointment of a Commissioner of Police, currently hamstrung, is an outstanding example of the inability of the Members of Parliament to get together to revisit and revise the unworkable law relating to this appointment.
Likewise, if further action is needed on the Service Commissions beyond the delegation of powers that has already occurred, bi-partisan supported legislation will be required.
(Copyright 103FM)
Sadly, the non-partisan influence of the Independent Senators appears to have been compromised by a decision that those Senators must interact with the Government and the Opposition exclusively through the so called administrative leader of that bench, a term that is merely a convenient label with no legal underpinning.
This is an entirely wrong approach because there is no such thing as “an administrative leader” beyond the fact that the Independent Senator, who occupies the first in the line of those seats, for practical reasons, is consulted. That is the person that the Leader of Government business would consult about the arrangement of Senate business and to whom the Speaker might refer to receive some indication of the order in which the Independent Speakers might wish to speak in a long debate, such as the budget debate.
The ascriptions of any other functions to the administrative leader is unhelpful and a fetter on the individual exercise of conscience of each Independent Senator.
Even more sadly, the office of Chief Justice has declined in public estimation because of obduracy in the face of legitimate questions about overseas travel, a decline assisted by questions about travel expenses of the Office of the President. Travel expenses and absence overseas do not attract tolerance at a time when the criminal justice system is the subject of almost universal criticism.
The Integrity Commission has been a lightning rod for trouble, partly because of controversial appointments to it made by two successive Presidents.
(Courtesy Integrity Commission)
The bottom line of institutional malfunction is this: in the absence of institutional reform, shuffling the electoral pack from PNM to UNC and back to PNM cannot work for us. Consequentially Cabinet reshuffles of Minsters also will not accomplish much.
With acknowledgement to the witches of Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
Shuffle, re-shuffle, we still in trouble.
I begin this week with a thank you to those in the airport who welcomed me home on the Saturday Read more
It is 22 years to the day that my very first column appeared in the Sunday Express newspaper. It has Read more
“[…] Ever since she ran in 2015 on a leader-centric election marketing campaign that sold the virtues of Kamla The Read more
Last week’s column was forced to return to what I assert is the government’s unwillingness to take any responsibility for Read more
For some weeks this column had been focused on the good, the bad and the ugly of Carnival and its Read more
The centrality of the Panorama competition to the steelband movement cannot be doubted. However, there are some downsides to it Read more
D’Hot Critics You said that I am a Racist and I agree with you, you see there is a reason for me being so and that’s because people like you make me so and honestly I don’t care a Darn. You said that the PP thief can’t thief anymore, Well if they thief why don’t the PNM bring charges against them and what are they waiting for or afraid of . Look into the mirror and you would see what Racist really is. I am open for dialogue but apparently you can’t and hide behind assumptions and allegations of your ego and self pride.
Martin Daly opinions is worth shittt…
Economic crises world wide cause low oil prices yet unc continue to use that to believing that if she wss in government every thing she touches would of turn into gold as they continue their ethnic power struggle
PNM/UNC,Same shit different bag.
Seems he found out that they will not make him President.
Guess he is not going to be the next President
Whether reshuffle or no reshuffle is the same thing Government go Government come is the same thing is the Poor People who is walking the road saying vote for the UNC and the PNM that is suffering because when they get there they don’t even bother with you,All Politicans doing is dividing the Country they care about themselves and certain People,not the ones that walk the road,they think about those who have already,who don’t have have to remain like that,I am not interested in any of them they are all the same
Trinis yes u ever see a sabga or aboud vote that’s my point only d poor vote so only d poor suffer
What a thing!! What ah time!!
Of course things will remain the same….ent the citizens remaining the same. Sitting, talking and digesting everything
I like that well said
Bahaha what is new
The Rowley PNM government working against you.
Isn’t Daly the pnm candidate for the next president?
George who cares about your thoughts look rock so nah
this is a non-comment, pandering to the party in power
Novena Forde Could you explain why you say the PP Government was corrupt, self serving, greedy, hateful and evil. Please supply me with hard facts and don’t just cast assumptions.
The citizens of Trinidad and Tobago is calling for jail time for all ministers caught robbing this country and no more resignation salary starting with the UNC up to Min Inburte get evidence jail the people are asking this is the law only for the poor they the people are of the opinion the the voted in a patriot if proven wrong then MAY GOD HELP US ALL THE BLOODSHED HAS ALREADY STARTED PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING FOR SCRUMS
The more victimization is up on the back the more foolish they become (population)
Still changes nothing. Mc Al remains the head government ; Imbert and Khan remain the second head of government while Rowley still remains the third head of government. NO RESHUFFLE TOOK PLACE.
I don’t think he Martin Daly is defending any one party but writing about the flawed system that is Trinbago politics.
Face facts we have been voting out party after party and hoping for the best.
You think so. Lol
That is where he is hiding his true inteb
This is apparently where he is hiding his true of saying that whatever Rowley does it will not be successful because of the system.
It simply removes responsibility from the PNM to perform.
He’s right. The constitution is flawed. Too many people wearing too many hats
Rowlie did a good reshuffled nice job
And yet how many times did kamliar reshuffle her minions ?oh ye of convenient memory
Oh yeah. .Great is the pnm.. They shoving umbrellas..without Vaseline…
Thank YOU kindly S.C. Martin Daly! Words of Wisdom INDEED!
Great is the pnm in existence for 60yrs and still going strong
Ah weak
some people live a full life time and achieve nothing, achievement counts ….not age
What the hell u know me to know what i achieve hell wit u
And Martin telling no lies.
hahahaha
Daly appears to be an apologist for the PNM.
Remember his elaborate piece trying to exonerate Al Rawi in the children with guns scandal.
What became of that anyway?
The same thing that comes out of the plant like substance…
I would like police to hd a person with plant like substance at their workplace and then arrest the boss. Lol.
However, we cannot deny the childrens’ parents, can we?
Maybe you should put on (or take off, whichever is applicable) your glasses and read the article again, then wheel and come again. Iam putting my head on a block for no one but if you think the article to which you refer makes Mr Daly an apologist for the PNM, the problem is not he but you.
Give ALTA a call or get a private tutor.
By elaborate you mean that Faris didn’t give them the gun so he didn’t break the law? You consider that elaborate?
Even so they beating a dead horse,the ARMY said they have trained hundreds of 13 year old cadets with REAL GUNS for years!!
Lasana Liburd do you think that he was not aware of the act. Come on. Who os responsible for acts of minors especially when done with adult approval.
I think that Daly was trying very hard to say the opposite.
Lasana,don’t you understand,its a no brainer. The ARMY said………..so either no law was broken or it has been broken many times before,so let the guilty FALL IN LINE,a line that is as long as there has been CADETS
As usual PNM minions like Glenda Burkett have their own interpretation of the law
Glenn Burkett, there is a difference. There is a Cadet Act that allows them to train those boys. The Al-Rawi children do not fall under that act.
Lionel Seeram, my guess would be Faris was aware. But I’m not sure how involved he was in what happened and how vulnerable that makes him legally. I actually thought Daly spelt that all out in his article on the subject.
The Army doesn’t write law, Glenn. What the Army says actually isn’t relevant in this case. No properly function country allows the Army to do what it wants and act outside of the law.
BUT for now it is the Army that is implicated in this and not Faris. Although, like Lionel, I do not believe the AG was unaware of what his children got up to.
Lasana,so like l say,”no law has been broken,or IF one IS broken….”let who broke it fall in the guilty line. According to you the army has the line all to itself. Will check the cadet act myself! Bless!
Lasana,checked the regulations,saw none saying the army does not have the right to train people under their supervision,with weapons. Help me,give me an exact adress please.
Glen Burkett: Please read the Firearms Act, Section 7. The Cadet Force is listed there as persons who can use firearms for drill and target practice. It is a list of exempted persons…..Al Rawi’s children do not appear to be under that list.
Glenn, if there is a law saying that children cannot hold a gun. And another law saying that only cadets can handle weapons.
Then how can a non-law saying soldiers can put weapons in the hands of whoever they choose, override two written laws?
It doesn’t work that way. This isn’t a military state.
Yeah,the one that speaks to ONLY cadets can handle weapons under army supervision,thats the adress on google l would like to see. Checked all l could find,and none coroberated your statment. Bless!
Glenn Burkett Cadets are covered under the Cadet Force Act of Trinidad and Tobago.
When you do your checks try to be efficient.
Workplace you said, oh yes 5 day weekend. Any ordinary person with, well they don’t call it ‘plant like’ marijuana everybody, granny to going down. Since she worked from home then half the bar home too. Smdh
O’Brian,that request to Lasana was PART OF MY CHECKS,thought that was obvious! Anyhow thanks,off to look at the cadet force act,now! All part of my checks!
My personal opinion is that whoever or whatever political party we elect to govern this country we would be in the same position. Same politicians .. just different political parties .. our options are very limited
Which means we have to change. Because they won’t.
Nah! Corruption comes,if not natural,then eaisier to some more than others! There WOULD be signs,we have to keep informed,and vote accordingly!
I would say the same for the previous government.
How do you interpret this article as being about the PNM? This article has to do about all of us. We are all to blame for the mess we are in. Some of us are more blameworthy than others based on the office we hold such as Parliamentarians.
Lester Logie, I was referring to Mr. Mangray’s comment earlier. Therefore your comment is misplaced.
Lester Logie I am proud of you my brother, Illiterate like Alicia Richardson only know about race and blames Indians for her failures and cannot rationalize with herself.
Mr. Himraj Mangray where in my post did I mentioned race? Apparently you’re the illiterate one here and perhaps even racist and then accuse me of blaming Indians for my so-called failures. You don’t know me like that but nice try though.
Alicia Richardson Why would you say that the PP Government was the worst Government. Please supply me with hard facts and not assumptions and I am willing to send you a listing of all the things that the PP Government did with less than 300 billions in 5 years and face Reality what did the PNM did with 60 billion last year and you would understand who is the illiterate.
Himraj Mangray there is something called Google for illiterates like you. And yes the PeePee government is just as bad as this government with the amount of shuffling they doing is like a deck of cards. I don’t care what they did with $300 million dollars. I’m more concerned about dealing with crime in this country. What about the Dana murder? Or the corruption within Life sport. Or the previous sports minister caught smoking weed and our previous Prime Minister was drunk on stage. Explain that situation or better yet bring in some receipts since you’re more literate than me.
Alicia Richardson Apparently you don’t want to face Reality about the Performance of the PP Government , Tell me how are they responsible for Dana Murder and yes there were Corruption in the Life Sport and Minister Anil Roberts was fired and an investigation launched which was the right thing to do. Anil Roberts was the best Sports Minister this Country ever Had and the work he did is there for all to see and yes he is known as the two pull man. Well you stated that you don’t care about the Expences but the Crime in the Country, I am surprised at your response, With three Ministers of National Security under this PNM Regime Crime is a Runaway Horse and Idiots like you turned a blind eye. If Kamla was drunk on stage how does impact on Crime. What receipts do you want, and by the way PNM Keith Rowley fathered two sons that he hid from the Public and said he went to Les Coteaux to put down wuk and you are proud of that, Shame on you. All you have is Race and you can keep That, well if you say that I am an Illiterate it takes one to know one. Well you claim it have Google use it to see who brought FAKE EMAILS TO PARLIAMENT.
Alicia Richardson I am not selling anything so I cannot fathom what you are not buying and you keep straying and avoiding real dialogue which tells me that you are just fooling yourself and are not prepared to face reality. I maintain that you are stuck on Race, if you are on performance as you indicated you would not defend the wanton wastage of our Oil and Gas revenue under the PNM Administrations including the Current One. Sixty billions spent and nothing to show for It.
Again where in my post did I mentioned race? Apparently you’re the one stuck on race. And what reality are you speaking about? What about the last administration, what do they have to show for it? If they were so great how come the previous government is not in power right now? The reality is both governments have not a good job for their citizens regardless of race that’s reality. But let me go to class since I have a life and I wish you good night.
Worst Government of T&T.
Hahahahahahahahaha..really..lol
Ann Arrindell yuh hear d name wuh yuh expect. One of their own.
Angela Marshall dripping racism today are we
Keep on laughing ON and On And On And On Ann Arrindell Karma will catch up with you and Angela Marshall that’s my name and the first thing that came to your mind is Race nothing Else. That’s how narrow minded you are.
I agree with you Herraj sorry Himraj the PP was even worse than the UNC. Corrupt, self serving, greedy, hateful, evil no one Trump them, sick lot. Jail is not to ripe fig.
Himraj Mangray i honestly don’t believe in that B.S. what ever take me is my own doing.,and i believe i live a pretty honest life that’s y at my age i never spend a night in the hospital…have no ailments ..living really really comfortable..and so is my kids and grandkids……and whatever i achieve in life i achieve it honestly…….and i do wish u the best life have to offer for u….no karma…
Ann Arrindell i see that you don’t believe in the Law of Karma and I can’t and won’t blame you, I also wish you the best of life my sister, you see when a person suppress humanity in whatever way there are repercussions, and constructive criticism tends to lead someone to believe that the other one is offensive in some apparent way, Only with dialogue and understanding, consensus is attained and one would agree with the decisions made. So take care .
We keep relying on different institutions to deliver us but each one has failed miserably, but is it simply the institutions or is it that trini’s themselves have a unseen flaw in our personality? Because the people who keep falling short aren’t Martians they are from here.
We put up with it and confuse ourselves with the belief that one party has the solution and must be defended at all costs.
Lasana boi
doe say nutted before they come fuh yuh eh
We are all to blame. Some more than others for the structure of government and failed institutions we have. Where are the proposals for reform from citizens to Parliamentarians? We like it how it is. Let them propose and implement changes that they want. When those changes don’t work we chastise them. We are content with the system we have. The minority complain. The majority support it, from the Concordat, to the political appointment of heads of departments, to the disposal of state assets and the financing of political parties,etc, etc, etc.
Lester Logie…my position is that a democracy is for the ppl, of the ppl and by the ppl. When ‘the ppl’ hand over the reins of power to politicians carte blanche, what do we expect? Because we are too busy/lazy/carefree to actually participate in issues of national importance to actually take the time to educate ourselves on what we need to do to hold our leaders accountable. Like we forget we have a generation coming up who would be even more lost than we are.