Should We Smile?
“Do you know how many people are upset that the oil price has gone up? Accusing the government of wanting to live off the oil price, as if we should apologise for that? If the price goes up, shouldn’t the citizens have a smile on their face?” – PM Rowley
Oil price rising. Should we smile?
The world prices for oil are rising for every quality of crude. For TT, this means that today’s (May 10) price is about $74/barrel. (See Figure 1)
Well, that’s good news, isn’t it? Certainly, our PM thinks we should not apologise for “wanting to live off the oil price”.
In a way, he is right, isn’t he? After all, oil and gas are the country’s biggest sources of value and revenue.
We are in an economic depression, caused by the steep fall in the very prices of oil and gas since 2014, they say.
So, any bounce back in the prices of our most precious commodity should mean that ‘we might be coming out of this rough patch’ as our PM says.
Well, one problem is – We are not producing more oil. The oil price rise, then, means more revenue, but actually no better production. But, as the Finance Minister told us today, gas production is increasing, though gas prices are not.
Therefore, revenues are increasing because of oil and gas. This is ‘good news, the logic goes.
Notwithstanding that despite increased gas output, Growth is still NEGATIVE (Our GDP is still falling) though slightly less so. And, despite increased gas revenues (from more production) and oil revenues (from price rises), the Budget is still in Deficit by over $4Billion and that because we are topping up with 1-off Asset sales (like Clico assets) and mounting Public Debt (now more than 70% of GDP).
The economy is still in bad shape. But, it is ‘stable’ and ‘on track for recovery’, the Finance Minister says, ‘as long as we as a people are disciplined and productive’. (All official speak for endure more offloading of the burden through increased taxes, higher prices, higher debt burden, no pay increases, etc.).
So, still Should we Smile?  Not being, individually, owners of oil or gas fields, refineries or processing plants, perhaps we may not.
But, we must consider, why are oil prices on the way up. Is it just another point in the cycle of boom and bust, of rising and falling prices due to ‘market conditions’?
If it were that simple, perhaps it would not be of too great concern.
But, there are other issues. The simplest is that current oil prices are only where they were in January 2015. And, given a number of factors, they are not likely to increase much higher. Nor, are the increases likely to last. (See Figure 2.)
Examining matters more deeply, the recent increases have come with the threat or the actual unleashing of missiles by the US and Israel against Syria.
And, more recently, in anticipation of the US pull-out of the ‘Iran Nuclear Deal’. 
Today, missiles flew into Syria, from Israeli and Iranian launchers, it is reported.
Does our economic fortune depend on wars and rumours of war in the Middle East? Is the potential or actual unleashing of missiles and bombs and the attendant destruction and death to be regarded as our ‘good news’?
Or, should citizens not ‘have a smile on their face’ ‘if the (oil) price goes up’ as our Prime Minister suggests.
Should we Smile? Should we, if our fortune depends on the misfortune of others?
Should we, as citizens of the world, not have a care or concern if the cause of our ‘good news’ is but a continuation or new round of destructive and murderous war against fellow members of the human race.
Or are we to be so uncaring and smile at our good luck.
We are already numbed at the daily news of murderous death within our shores. Let us not, for the sake of ‘good fortune’ not now become unconcerned for the well-being of others.
Let us not lose our humanity in rejoicing at the smallest, even temporary fleeting or even illusory improvement in our condition which may even be a mirage in the desert of our economic crisis and the inability of our present societal construct to provide for our most important needs.
For our sake, I join John Lennon, and Imagine. (https://youtu.be/YkgkThdzX-8)
Clyde Weatherhead
10 May 2018

Imagine
John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Songwriters: John Winston Lennon
Imagine lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

What Eees Deesss?
This week in Parliament some of the more-than-usual gems were put on display for out viewing and listening (dis)pleasure by the occupiers of honourable positions which are supposed to be representative of the best interest of we, the people.
I can suppose it was because David Rudder was celebrating his 6.5 (3 score and 5) birthday with a show featuring “Dis is Not a Fete in Here” and “Welcome to Trinidad” among some of his more satirical pieces on our colourful socio-political landscape.
The bards at the Waterfront were also belting out their own ditties concerning the horrendous state of our criminal situation. None was to escape. Reminiscent of the old Reggae hit “Police and Thief”, the lyrics were remarkable in both directions.
Answering a question about the recent gunfight at the Ruby Tuesday Grand Bazaar gunfight, the National Security Minister, with little or no word of comfort for the patrons who had to be rushed upstairs to avoid the flying pieces of lead, dutifully announced that the ‘incident’ was being investigated.
With 2 emptied magazines, shells aplenty and bleeding bodies of men-in-uniform scattered on the ground, the Minister sincerely promised that an ‘Urgent Investigation was Ongoing” subsequent to which ‘the Necessary Disciplinary Actions will be taken”.
Shooting with intent, discharging firearms in a public place, are only some of the possible criminal offences committed by the trigger-happy duo of a reputed love triangle. And what does our Minister of Public Safety assure our Parliament – The Necessary Disciplinary Actions will be Taken!!!
One is left to wonder. Will these shooters suffer the same fate as those men in blue and grey who lost large amounts of cocaine en route from Icacos to a police station up North? Or will the necessary disciplinary actions be like those imposed on the officers at St Joseph who hid a stash of weapons in the station ceiling? Or the officer, travelling in a squad car, who narrowly missed a schoolgirl on Edward Street wounding her father in the hand that was not holding hers?
Think about it. What ever happened to all of them? Transferred to another District after urgent ongoing investigations by the Professional Standards Bureau or the PCA perhaps. No dismissals, No criminal charges. So, what can we expect, Mr. Minister??
Then, its debate on the Senate amendments to the Anti-Gang Amendment Bill.
Now, it’s the turn of the acting Attorney General (Minister in multiple Ministries) and ex officio Titular Head of the Law Association.
Saying his piece on the Bill, he found it necessary to announce repeatedly his astonishment, as a member of the Bar for 20 years, that he was “saddened to learn” that “persons at the Criminal Bar have been facilitating gang members in gang activity. And who have been participating in (il)legal communications with their clients and actually assisting their clients, it appears, in running their criminal empire”.
Whaaaaat! Lawyers who practice in the Criminal Courts helping in the running of ‘Criminal Empires’??
Did he just say Lawyers involved in criminal activity? Sounds so to me.
But, speaking under the cloak of Parliamentary Privilege, the man in the position of Titular Head of the Bar, even if for a 10-days, uses that opportunity to suggest that he knows (has learnt) of other Lawyers practicing in the Criminal Courts also involved in crime themselves.
To make a statement to at least one other person (publication) suggesting criminal activity on the part of another person (who is NOT) is to utter a defamatory statement. The Ag. AG suggested that it was a fact (he learnt) that Lawyers at the Criminal Bar (a whole class or group of lawyers including those who do criminal cases as part of their practice) are Criminals. It is what is called inuendo in the law of Defamation against a class of persons.
So, what was his EVIDENCE of this alleged Criminal Activity of his fellow Lawyers? Something he heard at the National Security Council.
Ole Talk, NOT Evidence. No mention of any Lawyer facing charges or even being investigated. But, a broad-brush attack on Lawyers with criminal practice. Wuhloss!!, as our Bajan cousins would declare.
The sad thing is that Lawyers like me, part of whose practice has been at the Criminal Bar are painted with the Ag. AG’s broad brush, but, we cannot sue him for denigrating our characters. Why? Because he said that wholly unnecessary diatribe in the hallowed halls of the Parliamentary Chamber, not on the pavement outside, where another Parliamentary colleague of his had invited others to join him recently.
Parliament is an occasion of absolute privilege. So, defamation suit is hopeless.
So, I have done the next best (the only thing really) that any citizen can in these circumstances, I have asked my Law Association of which the Ag AG, though momentarily, is the Titular Head to write him and the Speaker of the House to condemn his reckless action against his colleagues at the Bar.
The Police in a mess – gunfight endangering the lives of the public, lingeried beauty posing in their uniforms and murders running at 2,3, 4 a day.
The Judiciary in a mess – guess we have lost the CJ issues in the 5-day news cycle wonderland, case backlog bordering on lock jam.
Now the Legal Profession in a mess – thrown into odium and disrepute by the wholly-unsubstantiated statements of the temporary Titular Head of the vey profession (the Bar).
Are we still wondering about the state of our institutions, particularly those which are to guarantee our Right to Safety and Security?
As we record, 4 murders in 14 hours, now 8 in 24,  home invasions and killings in districts across the island and murder, murder, murder, these are the antics that we must endure from those elected officials who represent us only in their failure to Guarantee our Right to Safety and Security.
Happy birthday, Dr. Rudder……Dis is Not a Fete in Here, Dis is Madness!!! Welcome to Trinidad, the Country where Half de People Mad.
 
Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Who Refuses to
Give Up the Fight for
Democratic Renewal of
Our Society
 
5 May 2018

A Power to Deprive
-Real Participation in Decision-making Needed
 
The return of the street vendors to Charlotte Street and the over-ruling of the Mayor and City Corporation by the Local Government Minister and party bosses are once more proof of the archaic nature of what passes for governance in this land.
Some 126 registered vendors are to return to Charlotte Street from May 10.
The vendors were told by Mayor Martinez and City Corporation officials that there were to be temporarily relocated to George Street to facilitate cleaning and improvement works on Charlotte Street as part of a Central Business District Revitalisation Programme decided by the Corporation.
During this temporary relocation, the vendors were then told that they would be permanently located at the old Angostura Bond property. The vendors immediately protested this decree from the Mayor and the Corporation.
They voiced their dissatisfaction with the venue and with the deception of the City officials when it became obvious that they were misled with the notion of a temporary relocation.
This entire episode shows that the City Corporation is not representative of the interest of all the city users and the institution and its elected and appointed officials exercise a Power to Deprive which is in favour of the special interest of the big city merchants and businesses.
This Power to Deprive is the essence of the governance that remains intact in this society on behalf of the Minority and against the interest of the Majority.
The Power to Deprive, in relation to the vendors, is to deny them any participation (along with other users of the city) and any role in decision-making regarding matters of improving the city which directly affect them and their livelihood.
The Corporation’s Revitalisation Plan was decided without any consultation with the vendors. Worse, the relocation was undertaken with the use of subterfuge and dishonesty.
Even when city dwellers and users are engaged in discussion, it is not to give them a real say in the decisions that are made. For example, since 1973, several ‘initiatives’ for the redevelopment of East Port of Spain have been touted but with no improvement in the lives and conditions of the people of that part of the city.
The East Port of Spain Urban Renewal Council (1973), the Small Business Development Company (1988), Industrial Cottages Programme (1989), National Entrepreneurship Development Company (2002), Special Development Zone (2005), the ‘Laventille Initiative’ (2007) and Growth Pole (2013) – all of these are programmes and institutions of successive administrations promising the renewal of East Port of Spain. But, nothing has come out of it.
Whether at national or local government level, the nature of the governance is the same – the people are denied any real say in matters that affect them and the society and decisions are not made for their benefit.
For example, in 2001, Bills were taken to Parliament to amend the Municipal Corporations Act to give a definition of ‘Street Vendor’ in place of the antiquated notions of hucksters and peddlers and to make provision for the licensing and accommodation of street vendors. These Bills were allowed to lapse.
This situation has led to the continuing claim that the vendors are engaged in illegal activity – vending even though they are licensed under archaic rules by the Corporation.
Laws were, however, passed over the next several years postponing Local Government Elections supposedly so that Local Government could be reformed. In 2016, the ruling PNM campaigned in those elections claiming they were a ‘referendum’ on their Local Government Reform plans. Still, nothing is done to modernize the Local Government system. So, the Local Government Minister still has power to direct the Corporation, while the burgesses are powerless and are not even consulted in decision-making.
 This entire situation points to the Necessity for the Democratic Renewal of the political process so that the citizens, the burgesses in local government are empowered and have real participation in decision-making and hold elected officials accountable.
The exclusion of the vendors from a say in matters affecting their livelihood and for improving the city; the dishonest and disrespectful way the Corporation and Mayor dealt with them. These have all been justly met by the protest of the vendors.
Still, the Corporation is persisting by preparing to impose new Rules and Regulations which are to be issued by decree and the vendors are to vendors are expected to submit without question under enforcement by city police.
Without having a real say in decision-making and exercising control over elected officials to ensure that decisions to advance their interests are carried out, the people remain alienated from the exercise of power and are deprive of the possibility of governing themselves.
Whether it is the vendors, the residents and small business people of East Port of Spain or citizens of the entire society, there is need to discuss these issues of governance to formulate their own agenda to bring about Democratic Renewal of the electoral and political processes to empower themselves.
 
Clyde Weatherhead
3 May 2018