Is a tap out scene! Live Wire gets a whiff of the Ocean Flower and looks for Cabo Star’s teeth

It’s like deja vu all over again. Precious resources have been misused and abused, the Sister Isle has been cheated and mistreated, and morality and ethics—yet again—are all at sea.

And Trinidad and Tobago, once more, is in an uproar at the sight of brazen, stark naked corruption and a reckless disrespect for the property of others.

But enough about “Naughty Honeybee.”

Photo: If PNM wants that treasury tap out… I iz the girl for dat wuk!

The public ought to at least be equally concerned by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and his ruling party’s attempt to make common sense “tap out” as the country picks over the bones of the ferry fiasco.

On Tuesday, Rowley appointed businessman, Christian Mouttet—a man who has probably never made the leaderboard in Pokémon Go, much less collared a white collar criminal—to probe this most sensitive issue involving party financier, deputy political leader and Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan.

Mr Live Wire still remembers Sinanan as the nervous fellah who, immediately after his swearing-in, told the media: “Just so allyuh know, I ent going and tief anything eh… That not even on my mind!”

It brought an old Latin saying to mind: “He who excuses himself accuses himself.”

Even more important, Mouttet’s 30-day probe will be done under the supervision of… I meant with the assistance of the Attorney General’s Office rather than with members of the Fraud Squad. And the final report will be handed to the Prime Minister rather than to the DPP.

Photo: Minister of Works and Transport and PNM deputy leader Rohan Sinanan (second from right) and his family pose with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley (far left).
(Copyright Trinidad Guardian)

You see, while the Opposition party and skeptics contemplate Mouttet’s competence or impartiality, they ignore one key point: Rowley certainly is not impartial; and he is attempting to stage-manage an investigation into corruption at the heart of his own party.

Hear Rowley describe Sinanan’s worth to the PNM within minutes of victory at the polls on 7 September 2015:

“One of the big issues in this election, which we have just won, is that we had no policy. But we had deputy political leader Rohan Sinanan, policy and campaign manager for the 2015 general election.”

Would it matter if Sherlock Holmes himself was investigating United States President Donald Trump’s links with Russia if, once done, Holmes had to hand his report over to Trump?

Let’s review the case so far: The Gov’t scrapped the Superfast Galicia that served the route between the two islands before finding a suitable replacement—shades of The Donald’s war against Obamacare?—then acquired a new ferry with less due diligence than a $5 buy at a flea market, failed to deliver on time and attempted to cover-up the array of mechanical and technical issues discovered which made the ferries totally unsuitable for the job they were purchased to do.

And how has the State responded? By apparently suspending the whistleblowers.

Or, as Naughty Honeybee might explain without the salty adjectives: “Dais how we do… We in the bush and we ent acting stoosh!”

Photo: Can Mouttet look into Russia when he is done with the Cabo Star?
Oh, and tell Honeybee I like her style. Sometimes you have to grab em by the…
(Copyright Business Insider)

It is hard to shake the feeling that picking between red jersey and yellow jersey on election day is like deciding whether to leave the club with R Kelly or Usher.

By now, we know Rowley’s preference.

At Sinanan’s 50th birthday party two years ago, two special guests who caused a stir were dodgy contractor Ish Galbaransingh and football racketeer extraordinaire Jack Warner. Both are still wanted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for fraudulent activities and were fighting off extradition at the time.

“Ish has been a friend [for some] time and I have known Mr Warner for years,” Sinanan told the Sunday Express. “This is who I am and that is one of my strengths. These people have been my friends. It doesn’t mean that anyone can be compromised.”

Rowley did not bat an eyelid. In fact, despite his deputy political leader’s choice of friends, he made Sinanan his next Minister of Works and Transport—ironically, a position previously held by a certain ‘fire trucking’ Warner.

Yet when Marlene McDonald showed up at her swearing-in ceremony with a man ‘known to the police’—albeit one who, unlike Ish and Jack, is not facing criminal charges… Well, let’s say the Big Mac was binned so fast that she must wake up at night and wonder if she dreamt the whole damn thing!

Photo: In an expected and welcome turn of events, “Godfather Burkie” has allegedly turned his back on a life of crime to become a full-time meme.

Remarkably, some people wait expectantly for Mouttet’s report on the ferry fiasco in the hope that the Government will be more transparent in this matter, which affects it closely, than it has been with the Clico debacle.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT), the Integrity Commission, a parliamentary Joint Select Committee rush—or limp in the case of the IC—for front row seats to the farce. Everyone but the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.

Common sense tap out. Yuh done know!

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About Mr. Live Wire

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.

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109 comments

  1. Let me do the investigation and I sure Trinidad and Tobago will like to see what I come up with it will be are election date for sure

  2. The modus operandi of the UNC is PNM failure,sorry I have it wrong, ,the black man who is their Prime Minister to fail especially given the way they left the countries treasury and infrastructure.

  3. The minister clearly owns the boat .its obvious he try a ting and it didnt work out for him .and guess what they going to leave him right there doing that job because they can and they dont care

  4. Scotty, the new purveyor of bacchanal! Yuh leave de party or wot?

  5. You r so stupid for a pm come men u should take a time out cuz because u don’t know what to do with the boat fiasco who u r going to blame for ur stupid arrangement for one man to investigate that problem r u walking on ur head come on men cut the crap

  6. Dr. Rowley always holding up his hands in the air as If someone is pointing a gun at him.

  7. Social media and every other media will not stop “investigating” until we get to the bottom of this…fiasco or not. The voting citizenry must realize transparency and accountability…yuh cyar change a party and put in another party tuh rule with the same khaki pants. T&T is tired and fed up of the nonsense. Is doing it right so hard to understand?

  8. Tobago Ferry fiasco have all the same procurement and payment features of the the ‘Dog Rice Fiasco’ Ken or Kenny local leg of Bridgeman Ferry Services? Registered office is a house occupied by Ken or Kenny a former employee of Navarros!!! located in Freeport with a gardener as the person answering the door bell…connect the dots people…no need for a party financier to tell you which dots to connect…dont know when Trinis will get smart! …is a straight case of the wise living off of the foolish and we like it so!.

  9. I fed up with the Bachannal and Politics PNM needs to get the house in order

  10. he went babados now there is truble there

  11. Are we citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.please stop criticizing and work together .as children of God for all citizens of this blessed land .

  12. Dr Rowley,Dr Eric Williams,Dr Brinsley Samaroo not Rowley etc

  13. I find that when people are questioning things done by PNM they always have to say well you know the PP was not any better. Whether that is so is unimportant. Please just talk about the mis management NOW. I dd not hear the complaints between 2010 and 2015 having the comment well you know that the PNM was no better.

  14. One from one% leaves none,that’s what we getting from this investigation.

  15. Red and yellow. The devil and the deep blue sea. Sickening.

  16. Lasana Liburd this may be a silly question, however, can’t Mouttet simply turned the job down? He admitted he does have experience. I would hope nobody is holding a gun to his head to do this job.

  17. Lasana have you had any word from small businesses in Tobago? How have they been managing? Things were bad before this whole ferry fiasco so I imagine many of them must be struggling to survive.

  18. We are adults.Stop believing in ferry tales.

  19. Yuh mean “incident report” as one die hard put it…smh

  20. Once cannot my sister ‘relegate this to history’..These discourses should/must lead to corrective national political action..Very soon we have to join those who out there typing and texting in the streets and on their feet.

  21. On a completely unrelated note, while I applaud the creativity of this work, stop giving a voice to the morally degenerate of our time. Tap out is not funny, it’s pathetic and we should do our part to relegate it to obscure history as soon as possible.

  22. We are not blameless here..A man sells us a Corbeau, turns around and says “I have not 1 but 2 dreams” and we fall for it?

  23. “It is hard to shake the feeling that picking between red jersey and yellow jersey on election day is like deciding whether to leave the club with R Kelly or Usher”
    Analogy boi Lasana

  24. Besides let’s not ahead of the narrative.As a deputy political leader Comrade Sinanan enjoys diplomatic from prosecution in the courts and dismissal..Also the post he hold is a ‘buying’ job not a paying one, i.e you finance your way into it …So no one can fire you if you have hired yourself.

  25. Can we trust a Minister who was willing to buy A “Cobeau”..Read the techniclal reports..The boat did dead long time.

    • Read fb comment somewhere the engineer only reported what he was told. Smh. Is it so hard to believe this situation stinks to high heaven?
      Any enquiry should go back to why the Galicia was not offered a 3 year contract, despite recommendation from that Board.
      Then we have to answer why, if we were looking at value for money, we decided to go with older and more expensive boats.
      Then we get to the good stuff-when boats were bought, when was tender submitted registered offices, officials of companies etc.

  26. Lasana, if your name wasn’t Lie-burd, I wouldn’t believe a thing here. Lol

  27. Forget the boats. Build a bridge. Has to be more cost effective over the long term.

  28. This headline… ‘Sana, I’m going to ban you from the World Wide Web! Lolol

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