22 thoughts on “Leave the Human Capital in Dominica”

1. SK wrote: “This unilateral decision taken by PM Rowley that is inconsistent with our Immigration Act to open our ports and country to an unregulated influx of Hurricane Maria refugees from Dominica will have the effect of decimating and draining the much-needed current human resource capital of Dominica. There are only 76,000 people there.”

   Thanks for your concerns Stephen…. Here…>

   *Free entry for Indians, Russians
   Published on Dec 30, 2010, 10:44 pm AST

   In an effort to boost tourism and investment in this country, Indian and Russian nationals now have free entry into this country and will no longer require a visa, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan said yesterday.

   Rambachan said the visa requirement was lifted one month ago. He was responding to questions from the Express on the issue at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, where Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar hosted a luncheon for the media.

   “Indian nationals require visas to come to Trinidad and Tobago. We have removed it for a period of 90 days for business or pleasure. It is to facilitate easier access to Trinidad and Tobago in terms of tourism and people wanting to do business with Trinidad,” Rambachan said.

   “We also removed it with respect to Russia,” he said, adding that a lot of Russians have been travelling to Tobago for holidays.

   Rambachan said there is also a large sector of Indian nationals in the United States who want to come to this country for a vacation or business, but are deterred by the visa requirement.

   Rambachan added that in order to facilitate persons from Japan coming to this country, their visas are now being processed at the Jamaican Embassy in Tokyo, which takes just three days. He said previously, Japanese had to wait up to a month for their visas to be processed, as it had to be sent from Tokyo to Manila, Philippine.*

   http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Free_entry_for_Indians__Russians-112696514.html

   1. No free entry there son. They had to pay for everything unlike the Dominicans who will get everything free.

2. There may be families with young children, older ones, handicapped people and others who they would like some help with while they rebuild. Providing they can get accommodation here, such people, among others, should be allowed to stay in Trinidad and Tobago while the more able ones assist in rebuilding the country.

   I understand some may be concerned about the added strain on dwindling resources. But I suspect the concerns of some others may be racially motivated.

3. I agree with you point of view TEACH THEM TO FISH I hope all these people who want to allow them in Trinidad please take them in as a foster child be responsible for all their actions I am sure the will not cause its all ole talk

4. Disappointed: PM reacts to uproar over Dominican invitation
   THE reactions of some citizens to the invitation for desperate Dominicans to seek refuge in Trinidad and Tobago temporarily, has disappointed Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Rowley appealed to people “not see race in everything we do in Trinidad and Tobago”. On TV6’s Morning Edition show on Friday, Rowley said he was disappointed that some were saying that Dominicans accepting temporary refuge in T&T, was a means of the PNM secure votes in upcoming elections.

5. The opposition can bark, howl and whine, but at the end of the day they’ll be voted into oblivion– by Dominicans in the marginals!

6. You open your nation doors to refugees.Refugees are people fleeing persecution. Example there was a time when Cubans show up in Florida, they were received as refugees fleeing a brutal regime.

   In the late 1960s the PNM received 50,000 Islanders who became the most loyal set of PNM supporters. They were employed in the government service mainly as nurses and police officers. Many settled in Point Fortin and worked in the oil industry. The main reason they received them was to increase their voter base.

   Rowley is essentially doing the same thing bringing in the poor and dispossessed to savour the fat of the land giving them housing ID cards and a happy life.

   He is using the hurricane as an excuse. Many homes are still standing with a lot of debre surrounding but in a few weeks time things can return to normal. Will they return? Most will not.

7. I do not think that Rowley was suggesting mass migration from Dominica. I believe that children, the sick and disabled should be assisted even if it means refuge in T&T. Since the schools were destroyed, I support the placement of students in T&T classrooms. Teachers should tolerate larger class sizes on a temporary basis. T&T should open their homes to help these children. At the same time many of Kangals’ suggestions with regard to rebuilding should be considered by the government of T&T.

8. Prime Minister Rowley is establishing a dangerous precedent in opening our borders to Dominicans in the face of the devastation wrought by Maria. A look at the buildings show that most roofs and windows have been damaged. The structures are in place still and can be quickly restored if building materials are sent.
   Will we now open our borders whenever the other islands are similarly affected since hurricanes are always there to cause damages? Will other islands invoke this precedent in the future? The best approach is to help the Dominicans to stay and address the restoration of their property under their own supervision and effort. How can you be in Trinidad and rebuild your house or business or secure your belongings in absentia? Ah nah leaving Dominica fuh nutting at this time of uncertainty and community effort at reconstruction.

   1. `Oh Stephen… one would never think that you look like so many of my East African friends…
      But here we go..
      Ent yuh wrote “Manning’s Ethnic Quotas For Central” some time ago too…
      So what’s with all this ‘we’ and ‘our borders’ thing… An yuh doh want ‘Afro-Trinbagonians’ living in YOUR Central..

      “Manning has now opened a Pandora’s box on his unilateral pastoral declaration of Government’s policy and philosophy on diversity management/destruction in plural T&T. This is his knee-jerk, puerile and dictatorial response to the isolated Boot Hill-Felicity stand off. It is clear that he will capitalise on any opportunity to justify access to, relocation and redistribution of his Afro- supporters to lands that he now regards as the national patrimony. But the houses that the HDC builds and other state lands located outside of Caroni lands are also the national patrimony.”

      http://tinyurl.com/yd95dhsq

      An allyuh… Stop barking so loud nah… Allyuh waking meh up…

      Stuppes..

   2. Perhaps the Low caste Indentured Coo…..er…indians should Go Back to india and make room fir those people Who actually Belong IN the Caribbean.
      When the Indentured “gov’t” was running (Down) the country, Ain’t nothing change BUT more Corruption and Criminal Activity.

      1. Jay bell, you have the courage to say what many really feel but are not courageous to express their true feelings.
         We are fully aware of this popular, antagonist and racist sentiment especially among PNM people and that is why we must remain constantly vigilant and turn inwards to protect ourselves.

9. Wow. It is interesting to see what people really think. Even in the caribbean community?. (Refugees won’t want to go back home?) Like there is gold on t&t streets or something.) I expected a better response and more understanding from a caribbean nation prone to the same disasters.

   Dominica will rise!

10. Sat hits Govt’s offer to Dominicans
    day after Prime Minister Keith Rowley urged citizens to open their homes and hearts to Dominicans in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Satnarayan Maharaj yesterday insisted doors to the homes of locals should remain closed to their distressed Caribbean neighbours.

    1. This issue shows how racist some people are in Trinidad and Tobago. The government should offer as much help as possible including allowing those who wish to come and stay here for a while the opportunity to do so. Let all those racist others head over to Dominica to help the country rebuild fast if they want to see them out of Trinidad.

11. The pnm since 1956 has built and maintain power by encouraging Islanders to come and settle here. Eric did it in 1956 by flooding the nation with them. Point Fortin is known as “little Grenada”, the East West corridor became the pnm voter bank.

    Today Rowley is continuing that tradition along with Guyana. The Guyanese President invited all of the Caribbean to come and live there.

    These Islanders who come get government housing and jobs, in the oil field, nursing and policing. The rest turn to banditry.Rowley figures like Eric if he could flood the marginals with at least an addition 2,000 Dominicans,he will not lose the next elections.

    Any talk about this is deemed racist. Already creating an anti UNC ideology before the immigrants arrive. The most loyal supporters of the pnm has been Islanders. Even when the pnm lose the 2010 elections their voters were out in large numbers unchanged.

    The truth is that it is easier to replace a blown off roof. But if you are getting an ID card, free house and a job. You will move.

12. Before deciding to add my piece, I read with interest, the comments of those before me. While I did not look for guidance from them, I wanted to get a feel for genuine passion and reasoning from those who feel compelled, to lend their voices
    to wisdom and compassion, in the face of the severe hurricane that devastated the island of Dominica. This is a national disaster of unequal parallel and sympathy should be the first instinct any rational human being can offer. The survivors of this disaster need all the material help and moral support one can offer and it was a little distasteful, when I read the comments of some of my fellow bloggers , whose thoughts were geared towards the balance of the voter ballots than towards the empathy we should all feel for the victims.

    I have a hindu friend who suffered a criminal loss of his sister one year ago, and my first instincts to this brutal murder were both furious and compassionate for him. Neither his race nor religion became a factor in any of my considerations. My concerns were for my friend who, as a human being needed to be consoled and find peace from a horrible act, by those who killed his sister and disfigured her body. Hate is a learned behavior, many of those who write, have learned the skills of using written language to disguise their lack of compassion or hatred for those who do not share in their community.

    One can disagree on how these survivors should be helped or what we can give to help them from this calamity, but when our first thoughts are what is going to happen to our ballot boxes if we let them in, we are not addressing the issues at hand but parading our own fears of how to share the balance between the UNC and PNM ballot counts. That to me is a flawed contribution in the aftermath of such a horrible disaster. When people are displaced, their first act of survival is to find shelter, food and lodging. That is a natural human desire in these circumstances. After assurances of this very personal desire, family and community becomes the next immediate concerns. Therefore, it is deplorable that those who question the accommodations to those displaced, that they would come here only to add to the PNM ballot counts.

    In this respect, I find the writings of Stephen Kangal (a born Guyanese), turned Trinidadian to be dishonest and possibly racial in context. People gravitate to home, family, community and commonplace first, before deciding to use elsewhere as their fixed place of abode. It is therefore dishonest to assume that these people, who have been displaced, will first consider settling in Trinidad, rather than go back to their properties, family and familiarity of country and nation. It is also an insult to assume people’s desires without an expression of those desires. In my view, Kangal, Sat Maharaj and people of that ilk are expressing their ballot fears (and probably racial antagonism) rather than a true desire to see these people settled
    back to normalcy.

13. Grow me born here and have Caroni roots in me veins.
    Look at this:
    PM’s offer suspicious
    The discussion currently dominating social media revolves around an offer made by the Prime Minister of TT, extending an invitation to citizens of hurricane-ravaged Dominica welcoming them to this country. This, according to the PM, is his idea of lending assistance to a fellow commonwealth nation.
    I have observed as the discussions have turned vitriolic at times, with supporters of the PM accusing opponents of being “racists,” simply on the grounds of disagreement. And in a nation politically divided along ethnic lines, we’re asked “not to see race as a factor.”
    While Irma and Maria created havoc, it could not have come at a more opportune time for members of the power structure in TT, providing them with a distraction from the “fake oil” and the Tobago ferry. So it is only fair that we as citizens express concerns of a hidden agenda of the PM in welcoming citizens of ravaged Dominica.
    Recognising that politics is simply about power–getting it and holding on to it–inviting citizens of a commonwealth nation to T&T allows them voting rights after one year of being residents. So the PM just might be assuming that citizens of the nation are idiots.
    I listen to the conversations and monitor the discussions, like most, and have heard the analogies about being our brothers’ keeper. Yet this nation saw one of our senior citizens die on the lawns of the nation’s hospital with not so much as a squeak from the PM. We have had citizens from Guyana turned away from “Mt Hopeless” simply on the grounds that they were “foreigners.”
    While helping others in need is a noble pursuit, inviting them to our homes is not such a brilliant idea. I, for one, am not accepting anyone into my home; not even family members are welcome.
    One cannot help but suspect a hidden agenda with the PM, as we have never heard it suggested that Haitians should be welcome here, even after their earthquake. So save us the BS Mr PM.
    Rudy Chato Paul, Sr
    D’Abadie

    1. You have just confirmed exactly what I am talking about. You would have no lack of qualifications in replacing Sat, when his time comes!

       1. Hi Kian, the first line of SK’s post was his own, the rest was a cut-and-pasted letter to the editor from one Rudy Chato Paul.
          But you’re probably right, the said Mr. Paul could replace Sat,,,,,,

14. My brother Kian, these are the caliber of people representing Trinidad and Tobago’ foreign services, as a former junior diplomat or what ever, Stephen Kangal should act with a level of statesman hood, but then again, we can try to take a man from the gutter, but never able to take the gutter out of him,i wonder what would have been his position as a Rohingya fleeing Burma/Miryama? this is the Former Diplomat that uses London as a laboratory to study the world, very sick minded.

    1. It is very unfortunate Cooper that the characters who espouse leadership are very flawed and under-achieving.
       Take for example Kamla, remember she did not know that she can lead until Jack Warner and Gypsy told her that she can.
       Until then, she was satisfied to be ‘the abused dulahin’ that Panday treated her. She is yet to rise to that level by convincing the adult population that she can raise a ‘universal’ issue that does not portend to be racial or ethnic. Kangal is of the same calibre. His knowledge is only limited to Indianism.

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