By Marlene Augustine
August 07, 2017 – newsday.co.tt
OWNER of Mode Alive Gary Aboud says success is not a crime.
Aboud was commenting on statements made by Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) President- General Ancel Roget during the union march on Friday last, in which Roget called on citizens to boycott Syrian-run businesses.
Speaking on the success of his business’ renovation sale, Aboud said, “The sale is going great. I am seeing a large turn out and I didn’t expect to see so many people. Ancil Roget would not be happy to know that the sale is going good.
The country has serious issues that Roget and the unions should be looking at, and success is not a crime the last time we checked.” He said the statement made by Roget seem to be a very complicated comparative analysis, and asked how does one measure happiness, by the amount of money in ones pocket? “Is there some spiritual equation about the values of a person soul? I don’t know what Roget is so upset if one person makes a stupid statement, he wants to condemn an entire group of people.
“Ancil Roget is showing hate and hate is blinding him from larger national issues that we need to work with each other on.” Aboud said the unions should try and work with everyone to help fight corruption in the country.
He said the Petrotrin corruption was overwhelming and Roget should be calling on the people to boycott Petrotrin.“He should be working with us and trying to find out why there is so much corruption in property rental. Why goods and services supplied to the government are at higher prices than the private sector. “Why there is so much corruption with NGC and the sale of gas? Roget should be looking and studying about whether Petrotrin is worth saving.” He continued, “The amount of money the country spends in subsidising Petrotrin, every poor man could have a house in TT. Billions per year in subsidies.
Petrotrin is the PNM Caroni.
When every country in the world is making money with sugar, our own people are thieving it out. Imagine the OWTU sits on the board of Petrotrin but they want to claim innocence that they don’t know. Every single document is available to the board of directors, but yet they want to criminalise people like me who working for 12 hours a day for the past 30 years. Aboud said Roget called on the country to boycott Syrian-run businesses but refused to call on the country to boycott Petrotrin.
I have not robbed anyone and the OWTU has a lot to answer to the country rather than they throw stones. They should be very sensitive about what they throw.
It is very difficult to respond to the diatribe continued to be uttered by Gary Aboud, while he embarks on his public relation paradigm. his message is directed to mostly miseducated blacks in Trinidad, willing to line up believing that they are getting a bargain,but in truth , his goal is to play African against African, thats always very successful in a colony. ANCEL ROGET, is not the enemy here, the message seems to be fitting the “CAP” you are presently wearing, there is no HATE involved, ROGET represents the voice of a people that your 1% have historically exploited, the baton have been change from the EUROPEANS to the SYRIANS, you being somewhat more inclusive, makes you the hypocrite that you are.We are aware of the nefarious activities of certain members of your community, where illegal transactions are made legit, did you ever go against your inner circle? political gov’ts come and go, and as leaches, your people continue to feed.Your enterprises are governed by your inner circle, how many blacks are on the boards? after benefiting so much over the years, what tokens have been given back to the people e.g centers for learning and development? as a responsible successful group, this is what is expected, its not always a gov’t concern. We are not as blind as our parents,the majority of us are not clouded, you don’t live in our rundown communities, you are not affected by the floods, when you drive the highways and byways, you don’t see the poverty that exist in TRINIDAD, yes ,the TRINIDAD you claim to be part of is a fake , while you continue to have homes in other caribbean islands and north America, a TRAITOR you are.While your dream is for the 1% together with foreign concerns to control the most important aspect of the economy, you point fingers instead of looking at yourself and the crooked part historically played by your people. A consolidated fool will remain unmoved, unless he is challenged, you are being challenged presently, GARY ABOUD and your entire community, the BOYCOTT will be very effective.
Stuppes.. Keep running those sales…
Ent God gave Allyuh the right to hustle on African People?
Stuppes..
The 1% has sucked the treasury dry. After all the PNM has been in power for over 40 years in this country, out of power their minions still controlled the destination. The 1% has been given contracts and their cost over run has been in the billions.
“The family of PNM local government campaign manager John Rahael received project contracts from the previous PNM administration which amassed more than $1 billion in cost overruns— Attorney General Anand Ramlogan” Rahael was the one who was shouting we bust them Indian throat, upon the closure of Caroni 1975 Limited.
Imagine emptying the treasury on cost over run alone. I was quite surprise that in many instances the PP came in budget for most projects, over budget because of additions and on ocassion under budget.
Yes aided and abetted by the PNM the 1% has total control over the treasury as evidence in the sea bridge fiasco where a “front company” was set up shortly after the PNM sept 2015 victory. They will be getting $346,500 per day as compared to what was paid to the Galicia $112,000 per day. The pillaging of the treasury whilst the poor is taxed in almost everything. Plus the recipients of vast sums of scarce foreign exchange. Rowley have to do their song and dance!
Roget will not be able to touch the 1% because their mansions are secured. Even if nobody buys from them (hard to believe) they will still laugh to the bank. Investments, drug trade, foreign capital, Swiss accounts etc. the truth is you cannot touch these billionaires. Get them angry and you could meet with an accident, kidnap any of them and the next day you are dead (don’t ask how they will find you).
The truth is I don’t mind people making money but if you pillage the treasury through cost over runs, the least you can do is set up a foundation and help the poor in the nation. Show some love to the citizenry at least instead of hoarding it all up and acting like you and Rowley not drinking buddies. Help those in need. Sadly businesses people can be all for themselves!
When the oppressed fight back the oppressor gets angry. Taking a stand, seeing something for what it is and NOT what you want it to be is living your truth. There is banditry on all levels of the society. Things have to be shaken up, action has to be taken. The resistance is occurring because people’s comfort and way of life is about to be disrupted. We can no longer stand by and see the apathy, the poverty and many other absurd otrosities and do mother about it. The world of the elite is one of win-lose not win- win. – hence poverty-rich. Please remember the ACTIONS taken by the civil rights movement with the bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama in the 60s. People have to understand fully what is happening and ORGANIZE. That is what the President of the Union is trying to do✌✊.
How dare Ye Syrians…..
How dare, you, Oh ye – 1% cloth-selling Syrians claim to wield power?
Know ye not that JTUM and NATUC hold the lever
By divine right to forever rule, misrule and not deliver
In T&T where the rest of us are dissed without bother
If we dare to ignore this Afro sacrosanct dictat
Even though the 35% within us are sure of that
ANSA investments have PNM in power today
With Rowley beholden to their sway, nay and say
Had to appoint Gerry Brooks in charge of NGC
As he fronting for the Syrian Lebanese
But Anglo- Lever still selling plenty Breeze without squeeze
Roget want to follow Mc Leod into politics with ease
Using JTUM and NATUC to promote his agenda of tricks
Profits say no the OWTU and Roget
Bringing Petrotrin to its knees like he gay
Depriving we of our patrimony and we say
“Is there some spiritual equation about the values of a person soul?”
Person= Principles + Beliefs + Values
Person= Body + Soul + Spirit
Equations are not only connected with dollars and cents but the values and moral conscience of a person.
Success is not a crime but a little charity does not hurt. How about a small contribution to the health care system, an orphanage, a home for battered women, etc.
One thing is noticeable is that over the years there seems to be some strain of venom running through the veins of Trinis of all different backgrounds. Indiscriminate murder, stealing, dis-respect for one’s neighbours and belongings and irresponsible statements, corruption at all levels are becoming more rampant and out of control. Billions of dollars spent on security and health care and everyone seem to be asking where the money gone? Doctors stealing equipment from the hospitals, nurses stealing items from patients especially what their loved ones from foreign land brought for them, maintenance personnel stealing supplies from the storage room, beds with sponge showing minus the plastic covering- meaning when one becomes deceased how well disinfected is the mattress, cobwebs seen on the wards, toilets malfunctioning and that is just few of the problems in the hospitals. There is a paradigm shift in the culture of most of us in this land of ours and that borders heavily on mistrust for one another and selfishness. The dependency syndrome appear to be limitless. How can a country progress much less sustain itself if it preaches religion ad nauseam but fail to practice what it preaches. The core of society need an awakening beit rude or otherwise. For a union leader making a call to take your platform and go and boycott selected businesses is taking a step back in this global village we live in. This is tantamount to Trump calling for fire and fury towards NK totally lacking elements of diplomacy. A snippet should be taken from Rodney King who was pummeled by LA officers but still had compassion in his heart in his renowned statement ‘why can’t we all get along’.
The 1% currently is poised to take over Petrotrin, that explains Roget behaviour. He is trying to put all his bargaining chips on the table as a warning to the 1%. His strategy is if the 1% takes over and start restructuring Petrotrin he can use the union as leverage for collective bargaining. But the 1% will get rid of the Union and hire people who want to work.
Currently there are 5,000 Petrotrin employees being paid $1.9 billion yearly. This at a time when most oil producing nations have sent home thousands of workers. Petrotrin even managed to bargain an increase putting the proverbial gun at Imbert head. No they don’t want less money they want more money. Petrotrin pays the highest salaries in the Western world and the third highest in the world after Australia and the Phillipines. Of course with the economic down turn Petrotrin might be the biggest cheese in the world.
According to Jawlla Rambaran. Here is a snapshot of Petrotin debt.
Petrotrin debt…
One single man in the form of Malcolm Jones under the not so watchful eye of the thieving PNM is responsible for the huge debts and constant losses that Petrotrin is suffering.
” In 2002, Petrotrin’s debt was just over TT$3 ¼ billion. By 2010, when the Manning PNM administration and the Malcolm Jones-led Board left office, Petrotrin’s debt had exploded almost four-fold to around TT$12 ½ billion.
At the end of September 2016, Petrotrin’s total debt (unaudited) was unchanged from its 2010 level. Petrotrin’s debt is the largest of any state enterprise in the wider public sector outside of the central government.
The main reason behind the sharp increase in Petrotrin’s debt burden was the issue of two euro bonds on the international capital markets, one for US$750 million in 2007 and the other for US$850 million in 2009. By issuing these bonds, Petrotrin incurred an additional TT$10 ½ billion in debt within the short period of three years. The bonds helped finance three failed mega-investments made during the tenure of the Malcolm Jones-led Board. More than TT$9 ¼ billion were spent on a Gasoline Optimization Programme (GOP), TT$4 billion on an ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) plant, and over TT$3 ¼ billion and counting on a World Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Project. These three projects were so heavily over budget and so far behind schedule, Petrotrin ended up wasting over TT$15 billion, a scale of mismanagement and loss to taxpayers rivalled only by the failure of CLICO, the country’s largest insurance company.
Not surprisingly, repayment of the two euro bonds has become a financial albatross around Petrotrin’s neck. It is paying interest at about US$45 million per year to international bondholders on the US$750 million bond which will mature in 2022. The company is also meeting interest payments of nearly US$83 million on its US$850 million bond which will mature in 2019. And in August 2019, Petrotrin must meet the bullet payment of US$850 million when the bond matures. This means Petrotrin must find over US$1 ¼ billion over the next two and a half years to meet its external debt service payments. This will be a very difficult feat given the company’s worsening financial situation.” ~Jwalla Rambaran
The word bobol is genetically Trinidadian. I have been hearing it since my entry into life on this island and latterly is called ‘corruption’. It is definitively bad for the practitioners and worse for the observers, for it it the observers who suffer the brunt or effects of the practice. And yet, after all of these years, we are yet to see ONE person or practitioner of this habit face jail or appear before a court of justice for the crime of corruption. This is not by guess or by bad omen that such people consistently and incessantly avoid the wheels of justice.
It is so, because the so-called 1% are tainted with heavenly halo that no system, government, police or institution can accuse them let alone confer upon them any suspicion of malfeasance.
This is a frightening concept for any form of government, especially one that ascribes itself as ‘democratic’ in principle.
All the responses to this article so far, has been laced with everyone calling the other ‘racist’, even though the exact term is NEVER used. But implied deep within the layered words is the charge of racism by one group or the other against ‘the white man’. We are a nation of complainers. It is so bad that when we hear something being said or done by another group of people, we satisfy ourselves by equating them with ‘racism’. Race is always the bogeyman where injustices exist in this country BUT no one is willing or attempting to address it.
It was refreshing yesterday on I95.5 to hear Dr. Sheila Rampersad advanced the idea that we SHOULD talk about race as an issue. It is an evil that is always the white elephant in the room or conversation BUT it is always avoided at all costs. WHY?
Racism started with our methods of ‘arrival’ into this country and nothing has changed since the paradigms were set by the ‘forefathers’, as to who controls and maintain authority. The order of controls set as European or white. The order of authority was set as white first, light after and then followed by brown and lastly black. Those were the parameters set by the founders and judging from all the remarks one might read about our circumstances, it is still very much the same today as it was when the colony was formed.
END PART ONE
Let us examine our ‘arrival’. The European or white came to this colony as Planters, Investors, Colonizers, Reformers,Foreigners, Owners, Slave Masters and in some cases Resisters of the Crown. The ALL enjoyed the privileges of power, wealth, fortune and authority. The light or Creole class were the local mixture of the foreign classes not far removed from their parents place of origin. The browns were conditional or contractual workers, brought here with their culture, religion and families intact. The main reason for their ‘arrival’ was to buttress the divisional line between the master class and the slaves of the plantation. Lastly, was the slaves or blacks who were required to plant the fields, reap the harvests, household help to the masters and their families. They themselves were deprived of their family, culture, religion, preference of stay, choice of mates and any form of familial continuity. The big questions: HAS ANYTHING CHANGED SINCE THEN?
By reason of our ‘arrival’ we were placed in an imaginary order of importance in societal terms, with each group maintaining their order of importance and intent upon arrival into this country. Is it any wonder that blacks in this country still have no economic hold, even though there were at the forefront of every fight for progress and prosperity?. Is it any wonder that
even though blacks were the object of sufferings, beatings, brutality, deprivation of services and care we still managed to provide paths towards upliftment? In world war two, when musical instruments were in short supply and where available were too expensive for the lower class, the blacks of Laventille became inventors of our now national instrument – the pan. What is today First Citizens Bank, was the brain child of black executives. What we know as Unit Trust today was the brainchild of black administrators. What we know as Clico or CLF today was the brainchild of a black man, who bequeathed his estate to his nephew, who later became the only true entrepreneurial investor in the resources of this country – Lawrence Duprey. Inspite of this history of black accomplishments, we are relegated to incompetence insofar as business is concerned in this country.
Throughout all periods of our development, corruption remained the one thing that every government promised us they will get rid of. Yet, today we see evidence of corruption by those entrusted with power and authority, with the construction of homes, that are in fact Palaces like that which Queen Elizabeth enjoys in Britain. Monuments of corruption are before our eyes in local places and yet no one is called to order for the waste and mismanagement of our Treasury. WHY?
END PART TWO
The Syrians took advantage of habits of trust and confidence that were placed in by reason of our history of preference. Even though they were not Europeans per se, they belonged to a class that is revered by sour society as privileged. Therefore they had an open door to the corridors of power, corridors of money (banks), corridors of opportunities and an acceptance that was given to them on a silver platter. That is how they managed to rise to the top 1%, as is now contested as the corridors of power in this country. A close relative of mine was opening a business in 2004. In order to gain some insights into what is needed to emerge into the field of business he went to the same Dr. Rowley, who is now Prime Minister of this country, hoping to get some words of comfort and inspiration from him, he was greeted with a reply from Dr. Rowley that was disappointing. Dr, Rowley asked him “did you pass this idea with the Syrians?” or words to that effect. This was a very disappointing response coming from someone whom we admire as black conscious and of importance to the black community.
As the issue of CLICO becomes a topic of national importance, what we see arising is the neglect of the plight of another black man who have proven his skills and inventiveness in the field of business and is getting basically the same treatment from Dr. Rowley. Why does the black man always have to be the one who is at the brutal end of sufferings when everyone is is being helped?
I don’t know Lawrence Duprey but I am following the issue of the fate of CLICO and find that he is the real victim here. CLICO, like AIG and many big Insurance companies suffering as a result off the financial collapse of 2008-2009, Mr. DuPrey went to the government and asked for help to save this big industrial giant.
Because of his entrepreneurial skills, Mr Duprey grey the Company so large that it was bringing in huge foreign reserves into this country. His workforce, I understand is almost 20% of the national workforce. This is impressive!!! The government of the United States helped these failing companies and today they have all returned the funds back to the US Government. Based on the arguments uttered publicly by Messers Imbert, Rowley and Brown about the CLICO issue, I find the one put forward by Mariano Brown most convincing and worthy of settlement than that or Dr. Rowley and Colm Imbert.
I listened with intent on Dr. Rowley’s clqim that the case for sale of CLICO has met legal standards of requirement, to satisfy the action by the PNM government. I find this claim to be morally reprehensible given the fact that Mr. Duprey is no ordinary investor. His company created jobs for thousands of citizens of this country and he, by his wizardry has been able to bring foreign reserves into this country, unlike many of the premier businesses in this country. Yes, it was unfortunate that he had to go to government for help but that should not be used against him. He deserves another chance to prove that he can repay his debt. The people of this country have waited for more than eight years, so what is the hurry to sell off the hard earned attainment of this erstwhile businessman? Dr. Rowley and Mr Imbert has reason to be concerned and have authority to do what they are doing BUT they are morally wrong to deprive this brother of another chance to prove that he can stand by his word. WHY DOES THE BLACK MAN HAVE TO SUFFER?
It is not hard to us, ordinary folks to figure out, that if Dr. Rowley and Mr. Imbert have their way of selling CLICO,NO BLACK PEOPLE WOULD be the recipient of such a fire sale. Those lucky enough to get these companies at the expense of Mr. Duprey would be those who ‘arrived’ first and last, definitely not those who belabored the industrial development and fortunes of this country.
I implore you Dr. Rowley, to do the right thing and allow Mr. Duprey to get back management of the company and repay the government.
END OF PART THREE.
Give Duprey his job back so he can mess it up. CLICO grew out of greed. Interest being paid out was very high and it became a Ponzi scheme. Like Murdock, Duprey should be in jail. But he attracted a lot of high government officials who raided the treasury to the tune if $25 billion.