By Raffique Shah
December 14, 2015
Central Bank governor Jwala Rambarran was the unlikeliest man to kick the hornets’ nest, but that he did when he named the firms that used the most foreign exchange (forex) over the past three years.
Amidst a cacophony of complaints from businesses and individuals about being denied adequate sums of forex for legitimate uses, Rambarran went on the offensive by identifying the 18 biggest users.
His revelations elicited praise from ordinary citizens who felt they had every right to know “whey de money gorn”. The Government was not amused. Finance Minister Colm Imbert said he was checking to see if Rambarran breached the Bank’s confidentiality clauses. And business organisations cried foul over the name-game.
As the brouhaha gathered force, praise and condemnation competed for media space and time.
I think, though, that most people missed the real story in those names and numbers.
It was not about who got what and who didn’t. It was all about people’s almost insatiable appetite for foreign goods and the nation’s multi-billion-dollar over-dependence on things foreign.
What do you think would happen if, tomorrow, the Bank or Government were to say to Price Smart or Massy Stores, “Not another US dollar for you!”
The tens of thousands of trolley-pushing consumers who throng these supermarket chains would riot, move with brute force to overthrow the Government, break down the Bank’s door to find Jwala and put a severe licking on him-if he is lucky.
Add to that cauldron short-changing Courts, stifling Smith Robertson (a pharmaceuticals distributor), squeezing Nestle, WITCO, Carib, National Flour Mills….
If you want to see real revolution, make the mistake of tampering with Trinis’ right to purchase what they wish with their money.
The root problem is not the “parasitic oligarchy”, not the “commission agents”, those who buy in bulk (using forex), mark up and distribute, and the retailers who add something more.
The real problem is that oil dollars have reduced us all to “petro-jumbies”, a people who have never explored our creativity, our talents, our potential. For generations, we have been lazy slobs, knowing that the oil dollars, down today but up tomorrow, will rescue us from ruin, cushion fuel prices, allow us to enjoy dog-cheap water, electricity, low- or no productivity.
Let me adduce some statistics on spending forex that will show that the 18 firms named by Rambarran are not the main cause of our woes.
The country’s average annual imports (visible trade) amount to US $8 billion, or approximately TT $51 billion. Of that, roughly 50 percent are energy related (mostly crude oil for Petrotrin’s refinery), meaning that the remaining US $4 billion is used for other goods.
The 18 firms named accessed US $3.462 billion over three years, hence US $1.154 billion a year. That is approximately 25 percent of forex used for all imports. What of the remaining 75 percent?
Well, we know that we eat (literally!) about US $700 million a year in foreign foods, mostly staples but also gourmet items, and much bought at Massy (formerly Hi-Lo) and Price Smart.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in 2011 we imported US $48 million in wheat, $47 million in what they call food preparations, $33 million cheese, $32 million alcohol (yes, you read right!), $50 million raw and refined sugar (69,000 tonnes), $17 million pastry, $14 million frozen potatoes (chips, I imagine), and so on.
For ages we have been dreaming of feeding ourselves, which is really a piper’s dream.
Try offering your friends ground provisions (which I eat at least twice weekly) or breadfruit/chataigne (a delicacy) or a vegetable cook-up for Christmas! They will cuss you in parang.
In other words, the little local foods we can produce on the remaining unpaved land, our own people, especially the children, hardly eat them. So you end up in the same Massy, or in Chin’s or Singh’s grocery, pushing a trolley loaded with genetically-modified, forex-paid foods.
We no longer have a thriving garment industry: the few entrepreneurs still in business face mountainous problems, especially as online shoppers, who, incidentally, rack up US $500 million a year in purchases, can stay at home and shop at Macy’s.
Local furniture-makers, good craftsmen who produced quality, durable items, must be a dying breed, if not long dead, slaughtered by foreign competition.
The importation of new and foreign-used vehicles (more than US $300 million a year) is absolutely necessary: every family must own at least three cars even if they do not own a house.
And as we degenerate into a sicker society, we must buy more medications and expensive-but-bogus miracle cures, all of which are foreign.
So, you see why I say that we, the society, are the problem.
Unless we intervene with a heavy local hand, foreign go kill we!
Comrade, best article you have ever written.I am laughing while reading your stats.This is a third-world-wide problem that cannot be reversed.The seed has been sown, the tree has grown and here are the fruits.
“Whey the money really gone???”….
This esteemed lady may very well know…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=giF0pa9X7IE
Maybe this fella know. 18 trips to Dubai last year alone. Dubai is the investment capital of the world.
According to Jearlean $9 billion in NHA disappeared no accounting for it whatsoever. This fella was housing minister ask him Winnie.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=60ygveP3npA
Slavery is still around and it is called “mental slavery” that is the false belief that everything that come from “white man” country is good for you, local is bad.
That fact is everything in these colder nations are getting the genetically modified label not that it is good for you, the only reason for it is that it would last longer. Now I go to the store that does not sell gm food because the food cook faster and taste better. In Russia GM food is band and in some Nordic nations the same.
Trinidad is blessed by have all the natural weather system to produce the best food. The meat that is produced in the US is mass produce with all kind of cancerous additives to make it reach faster to your table. Potatoes are also genetically modified to last longer. Further the vegetable oils are cancerous when heated something that is used to cook everyday. Coconut oil has been proven to remain in its molecular state despite heating.
Buying local is great but my advice is to know your vendor, sometimes they use carbite to ripen the food, carbite is a known cancer causing agent. Also the liberal use of roundup and other chemicals cause a host of developmental problems.
Simply watch what and where you eat and eat boil it is better, also juicing is great.
By far, your very best blog Mamoo. We must concentrate our efforts on eating well and healthy. Our best foods do not come from the foreign lands. They are produced right here and all that is needed, is a little more effort to make them palatable for the dinner table.
The Health Ministry have to play a greater role in the schools by educating the children. Kian when I went to school I learn Algebra, sin/cos/tan and I still remember the formula o/h a/h o/d. To date I have never used that formula for anything. They did not teach us about the tax system (something that affects us everyday). In Agri science I learn about soil type but no real understanding on how to grow a tomato tree for tomatoes.
Today I have a back yard garden and I understand through trial and error what works and what dosent. This year was a bad year for reaping but I learn that poor plant DNA determines the type of plant also the poor soil that I planted on thinking it was good soil. And the over flow of rain. To produce a harvest requires a certain level of understanding all the variables that go into growing a crop.
Every 5 years all school carriculum needs to be critically evaluated and revamped to suit the current needs of nation building. Food, clothing and shelter still remains the center of our mortal universe. Merry Christmas my friend.
Not brain surgery this. Most people understand what is wrong with the country in economic terms. But no one in politics has the testicular fortitude to make the tough decisions.
Raff has given a good analysis of the “real problem”, our high propensity to import, as the economists would call it. Nevertheless, there are two separate issues. When we ask, “whey de money gorn”, what is riding along with that question is “who t’ief, how much, and is that why the ordinary man kyah get forex”.
The question of import propensity demands a response from the Finance Minister of the day to craft fiscal policies to dampen import demand. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that you dampen import demand by making it more expensive. There are two key financial instruments that may be used to reduce import propensity. One is strictly fiscal: increase import duties. The other is strictly monetary: devalue the currency.
I say *financial* instruments, because there is always and also corresponding *physical* instruments that may be used. On the fiscal side, one may put outright bans on certain classes of imports, e.g. anything classed as “luxury” goods. On the monetary side, one may put physical restraints on forex allocations, as it was in the bad old days when one had to stand in line at the Central Bank to obtain authorization for a strict ration of forex.
I doubt the society will accept a reversion to physical constraints and all their associated evils. Therefore, what is required is prudent fiscal policy. If anything good has come out of the CBG revelations, it is precisely to highlight the massive scale of our import propensity, for the biggest receivers of forex are precisely the big import houses, which however are merely middle-men, acting on behalf of a local consumer with a voracious appetite for foreign goods.
That still leaves unanswered the *real* question the public wants an answer to: who t’iefing, and the scale of the theft. The first of these is really the subsidiary question, it being a matter ultimately for forensic examination. But the primary question, the scale of forex demand to fund capital outflows, is very much the responsibility of the Central Bank Governor (CBG) to elucidate. This he has not. PriceSmart and Massy are a giant diversion that now has Raff asking a good question, but still not the *real* question.
We want to know the *use* breakdown of forex, and the *change-of-use* pattern. If there has been a huge increase in capital outflows, that will tell a lot. If after subtraction of legitimate imports (e.g. by PriceSmart and other retailers) and legitimate capital outflows (e.g. repatriation of profits by foreign business owners), there remains substantial forex demand, in there somewhere will lie the tale that we are waiting to be told. It is in such “excess” (shall we say) forex demand that will be hidden the capital outflows required to fund the purchase overseas of condominiums and shopping malls, and to fund forex accounts overseas in Japan and elsewhere, by the miscreants recently ejected from office. That is the analysis that the CBG has still not given us. Therefore, in answer to the *real* question, we still don’t know, “whey de money gorn?”.
The nub of the matter is that the scale of that “excess” forex demand, and the increase pertaining thereto, may go a long way toward explaining the unavailability of forex in the market for the ordinary man.
Btw, the question is not yet the fall of fresh forex revenue available to the country, because there has been drawdown of available forex reserves in an attempt to meet ongoing normal forex demand.
Of course, the Government of the day will have to craft judicious policies to address both the high import propensity of the T&T consumer, and as well, the reduction in forex earnings available to the country. Raff is right to raise these questions. But let us in examining these questions, lose sight of the *real* question: what impact did the t’iefing miscreants have on the forex market, and is that the explanation in some of large part for the drying up of forex availability to the ordinary man.
May the Most High expose the wicked in this matter. May He also grant the wisdom and understanding needed by His servants, our leaders, to treat responsibly and well with both aspects of this issue.
Shalom.
Raff wrote a masterpiece here but the racist pnmites on this Forum fail to acknowledge that by spreading propaganda about the former govtt…pnmites know that the 18 top scamps/money launderers are their financiers & that is cause for the “spin”..a forensic must be done to trace who is laundering the $USD after profits!
For all its faults, the PNM has not ever preached or practiced racism. Quite the opposite, the PNM laid the foundational moral principles that have guided independent T&T: here ev’ry creed and race… together we aspire together we achieve … discipline, production and *tolerance*. Etc. Without PNM leadership, this country would not have the forex revenue streams generated by gas-based and other industrialization. It would not have free secondary and tertiary education. But most important, it would long ago have gone the way of Guyana and other countries faced with the curse of hindutva and indo supremacism.
By contrast, I refer to the Indian Policy, items 1 and 2 of which are:
“1. Make the country ungovernable.
2. Our people must undermined (sic) this nigga (sic) government from within the ministries and work assiduously in collecting and disseminating information to our personnels (sic). This is very important for our return to office. we (sic) must not allow ourselves to be ruled by monkeys (sic). Give them on (sic) support.”
This statement meets the objective definition of racism: the doctrine or practice of oppression based on race.
I speak btw not as a PNM party member, which I am not. I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the PNM or any other party. I speak rather as a patriot. I am actually less worried about the debt that the coming generations will have to bear than the suffering that they might have to endure under an unchallenged, racist, Indian Policy.
May the Most High continue to expose the wicked, the wicked deeds that they wickedly do, and protect the innocent. And may the Most High fulfill the promise of putting the wicked to flight.
Shalom.
“…but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” (Isaiah 17:13-14)
Yaaawwwwn, hello anybody in there? You are off topic and sounding very much like a religious/racist nut… Please keep such ideas to yourself.
The PNM increase gas, increase VAT (put vat back on items and say they reduced it), introduced property tax, told public servants go sit at the back of the bus and shut up no back pay, cut gate and I am sure they will reduce scholarships,no laptops, sending home hundreds (once they say administrative leave, you gone), refuses to pay workers, Dukie in a tizzy (wait till government boots and dogs come after he). Yes papa for a tribalist like you Yoruba and Winnie they could no wrong. But that my friend is only 3 1/2 months in power. More to come….
Great is da PNM, great is da PNM, great is the PNM…… Yoruba you can’t fool people with your PNM appologist rhetoric.
Liar! An obvious lie, reflexive, moreover gratuitous.
Why feign boredom, when you are obviously propelled into a response? Which then ducks the issue?
Let Yeshua’s condemnation prick your conscience, it it can:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
Shalom.
And further:
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
Anybody who disagrees with you is of the devil. That is a sad commentary on a person who quotes and misquotes Scripture.
Yoruba you must rightly divide the word. I don’t want to get into any theological argument, but if you are a true follower of Yeshua then you give up the right to hate people and make judgmental statements. For Yeshua said “love your enemies, do good to those who dispitefully use you” A true follower of Yeshua must follower this teaching. You cannot go around pronouncing judgment on others when you are instructed to love those same people that you are judging.
Learn to love Yoruba your little heart cannot see beyond your race sadly…
Yoruba…my esteemed colleague & brother ‘in arms’…DO NOT get caught in that psychological TRAP!…Although your psychological fortitude is way above Moomoo’s flacid thrusts…it’s the ‘arrow by night’ that you/we must be concerned about…it is DRAINING!…WHY WHY should You have to explain to Mamoo (indian community) that you are not a PNM….so what the HELL if you are??? This ‘tussle’ is wayyyy beyong THAT…it doesn’t matter if you carry a party card..Mamoo & his family use that label to put you on the defensive & relieve the pressure on the issue at ha d as well as THE main issue…we have two distinct ideologies ‘tussling’ for political/state control of these two islands, their resources & ideology under which the masses must submit…UNC & The Indian community (Brahminists/Hindus, Pesbyterians & Indian Muslims) led by
Brahminists/ Hindus (whichever disguise or Moniker they hide behind) & The PNM (you define it)…any how you look at it we must choose between them…so whether or not one has a party card is irrelevant…we are supporters or allies of the PNM by way of support on issues…time to stop having one foot in & allowing the wannabe Aryans to abuse us like Untouchables with our state power…NEVER AGAIN must be the cry…
BTW many local whites, ‘almost’ whites (light skinned/’mixed’ Africans),Self Hating, colonial minded,Africans & Honourary Whites(Indians,Chinese etc) & general anti african racists have always been UNC/NAR supporters…they would never have a card or attend meetings per se (until 2010) but ideologically they support UNC AGAINST PNM (N^% $#÷$ in power…)…this is what i call the Straight Hair/
Soft Hair Coalition…united as followers of White
Supremacy…use your social sxientific tools..observe the machinations of socialization & intermarriage in T&T…this merely plays out in the politics…
NO APOLOGIES! NEVER AGAIN!
Alyssa, you are perceptive and incisive as usual, and I agree with your take…
Butttt … I learned long ago to parry and riposte. The principle applies in boxing, in fencing, in football, even in chess. In this case, the thrust being as weak and flaccid as it is, the parry that is necessary requires barely any effort. And the riposte brings us back squarely to the issue.
But I take your point nevertheless.
Also, when I take on Mamoo, I do so with my face toward my afro brethren. I *want* to make clear that I do not speak as a political partisan, which I assuredly am not, but as a patriot.
In making that stance clear, I want to make clear also that in saying so, I am *not* also saying I am in any way shape or form *against* the PNM, as PNM. I am against wrong-doing, and I will certainly not excuse PNM wrong-doing because it comes from miscreants wearing a PNM tie. One of the reasons I support PM Rowley at this time is because he said clearly and simply that he will swiftly fire any ministers guilty of wrong-doing.
And if I’m against the UNC, or any variation of an indo tribal political formation, it is not because of any racism on my part, but quite the opposite, because I am against racism, and in particular anti-afro racism.
Item 3 of the Indian Policy says in so many words, “make the niggas (sic) your slaves”. Can there be a more racist statement than that?
Many of my afro-brethren dismiss that document as emerging out of some far-right hindutva fringe of the indo community. Like you, having studied the matter, I am persuaded that that is in fact a mainstream view. We see glimpses of it in the Leladharshingh remark about “gullible niggers (sic)”, and more recently in the remark of a pundit that is close to Mrs Bissessar, to make the “afro-trinis suffer”. Mrs Bissessar herself, like Mr Panday when in opposition, vowed to “make the country ungovernable”. I do not consider it coincidental that this is Item 1 of the Indian Policy.
It is my reluctant duty to point these things out to my Israelite brethren of the seed, because to a fault, we are a people, like Nathanael, without guile; John 1:47; and so we do not impute evil to others.
Butttt… as a spiritual man, a servant of God, I am under an obligation to search out truth, and submit humbly to it, no matter how distasteful.
So in that spirit, may the Most High continue to expose the wicked, and the wicked devices they wickedly devise, and put them to flight as indeed He has promised He would.
Shalom.
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things…” (1 Corinthians 2:15)
The webmaster has blocked my comments…PNM taking over
“The webmaster has blocked my comments.”TMan
As they should Tman.That’s because your party is no longer in charge,and Kamla’s spell checker /former journalist in Andy Johnson,is looking for a job.
Next up confiscation of several state land plots that were given to the tribe,so dat the great grand pickineys of African ex slaves ,can plant local foods,and have a back yard ,Kitchen garden like the country hating neo revisionist weasel called Mamboo.
I luv dis land ,Y tu?
Mamoo posted a video of Dr. Rowley wining on 17 yr old Ravina…he (Mamoo) must be frustrated that he didn’t get to Marry Ravina himself ‘under the bamboo’ 5 years prior…
Hehe she is too “hot to handle, too cold to hold” but I know you lil jealous of Keith there Winnie because of the Nubia rejection. But say what that is water under the bridge, the man is holding the reigns and we must respect that….as they say life goes on. Merry Christmas.
The Syrians are making Rowley dey boy.
Rambarran FIRED! About time…
I give thanks to the Most High that our leaders found, in the face of massive online petitioning and UNC support for Jwala, the belly and the backbone to do what clearly was necessary.
May the Most High continue to expose the wicked, and destroy every one of their wicked devices to make the country ungovernable in an effort to get back into government.
Shalom.
“…but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” (Isaiah 17:13-14)
The start of a dictatorship. The minute Rambarran offended Rowley Syrian friends it was just a matter of time. The PNM always destroy what it can’t control. So much for open and transparent government. Great is da PNM.
Rambarran misconducted himself, violating Section 56 of the statute establishing the Central Bank. As a matter of fact, under that statute he is more than liable to be prosecuted for misconduct, he “shall be prosecuted”.
But the misconduct that exercises me more is not that committed under Section 56, but that he is party to a racist indo plot to “make the country ungovernable”, and destabilize the “niggah” (sic) government; see Indian Policy, specifically Items 1 and 2.
It is telling that I hear nary a word here from you of disavowal of that monstrously evil plot, let alone the condemnation that it deserves.
Shalom.
It is in the interest of the Africana party to promote such erroneous ideas. Unfortunately people like Yoruba is caught up in this diatribe and continues to use this medium to promote hate and division. Yoruba for the hundredth time stick to topic or take a chill pill. We all know where you coming from.
Hardly think so. In any case you have demonstrated no such thing.
Which part of “Let *Yeshua’s* condemnation prick your conscience, if it can…” don’t you understand? Condemnation belongs only to God. I don’t see where I have taken upon myself any such prerogative.
You err in your understanding of what it means to be a follower of Yeshua. He gave us a robust example by driving the moneychangers out of the temple with a scourge. Also:
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things…” (1 Corinthians 2:15)
You cannot be a follower of Yeshua and remain silent in the face of a monstrous evil such as the Indian Policy. Neither can you bury your head in the sand and pretend it does not exist.
If you are to “rightly divide the word”, you must fit Yeshua’s example and Paul’s admonition into your theology. You do not, and so you err.
I am not a follower of namby-pamby theology that would suffer fools and hypocrites gladly. Yeshua certainly did not. Neither does the scripture you cite necessitate such foolishness. Hypocrites and liars both shall end in the lake of fire. That is Holy Writ; Revelation 21:8; not what I say. Unlike the members of the IRO, I do not make such an elementary mistake.
It is my reluctant duty to bring the afore-mentioned monstrous evil to the attention of all my countrymen, whether afro or indo or otherwise. I expect my indo countrymen to acknowledge and repudiate it, or else be counted a part of it. And I bring it to the attention of my afro brethren that they might accordingly be warned.
May the Most High continue to expose the wicked, and the monstrous evil that they would bring upon this nation. And may He also in his mercy bring peace and comity to this land regardless of the wicked evil that the wicked wickedly devise.
Shalom.
“…but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” (Isaiah 17:13-14)
Obviously, you are a firm believer in the “Indian policy” document. I don’t subscribe to it but u certainly do since you and Winnie are the chief spokesperson for such a document. Quoting liberally from it as a document to be greatly feared. My friend such maginations exist only in a twisted mind.
Here is what the African policy document is doing to TNT.
This is obviously very dangerous because it is only 3 1/2 months. And they are cleaning house.
Three months ago, we were talking Progress, development, Hospitals, Roads, Bridges, Schools, UWI Campus, Drilling School, Welding Academy, Nursing Academy, Aviation Institute, Water for All, 100 Houses per week, Land for the Landless, Health Tourism, Sports Tourism, Recreational Tourism, Green, Blue and Silver Economy.
Three months later, we are talking, increase gas prices, property tax, Doom & Gloom, scholarship program closed, laptops gone, Retrenchment, Austerity, No Money, IMF. HINI, How did we get here so quickly? Simple, you replaced the best performing government ever with the most incompetent government of all time. With ministers who are better suited for OJT work. Many of them do not have the education or expertise to run anything. While their boss only assume office and has taken 3 vacations already.
While all government departments were told not to spend on Christmas party, the champagne was flowing at the diplomatic center for the bourgouise class. With not one but 3 catering companies hired to wine and dine, all taxpayers money. Massa day is back Yoruba. Let’s say you don’t have to worry about your Indian policy document because wealth was distributed equally. You do have to worry about the Africana policy document….. Lol
Why then don’t you denounce it?
Surely you can denounce Item 3 and acknowledge its naked racism and its fundamental sectarian disloyalty:
Item 3: “Hire niggas (sic) only if you have to, make them your slaves…”
Shalom.
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things…” (1 Corinthians 2:15)
This is the 21st century people have long passed such thinking. Public servants are historically Africana during the 70s, 80s, 90s 80% of civil servants were Africana. In the last 5 years they have benefitted more than anyone else under the KPB regime.
My friend this “Indian policy” is a figment of your imaginations. KPB regime gave them over $5 billion in wage settlement. Over 132 wage negotiations were settled, included in those agreements were government housing and stellar pension packages. The lazy civil servant was laughing all the way to the bank.
Mr. Manning was planning to shrink the civil service and was getting rid of government temporary employees just prior to losing elections. Enter Dr. Rowley, his minister of finance said no increases to government employees. No back pay and staff reduction, no Christmas party, not a union dog bark. This after the Minister of Finance announced the highest budget ever in the history of TNT a $63 billion budget.
Now Yoruba I hope you pass your standard 2 examination because it appears as though you fail all your examinations. Sound judgment and good reasoning appears to defy you and Winnie. Please don’t respond by quoting Scriptures something you like to do. Rather examine the facts I present and give an educated response. The bloggers on this board will appreciate it. I don’t have time to engage in your race hate exposè. Let us not allow our false perception to color our judgment. KPB gave them everything and yet they vote PNM explain that. Personally I think she gave too much, Errol gave them everything and yet like you they blast him. PNM brain washing is still effective, but the PNM still have a few years left so tighten your belt….
This is interesting, because I had you pegged for having at best a Standard 3 education. Now that you pretend to see me as achieving only Standard 2, I see that I was right. Yeshua admonishes us to be not as a horse or mule without understanding, so on such slender clues, reliable inferences may be drawn.
I would never have called you out on your meagre Standard 3 accomplishment. But you have opened the door.
Nevertheless, I can see that you are in an advanced state of auto-didactism, so I will leave you unmolested in your delusions, and wish you the best in attempting to punch above your weight.
Oh, as to the rest of your flailing, flaccid verbiage, I see nothing that need provoke any response from me, except for your plea that I desist from quoting Scripture. Fat chance!
Shalom.
“Is not my word like as a fire? saith Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
Rambarran deserved to be let go. I dare those that are sullied over his dismissal, explain in plain English language what has this token ex-governor done to advance the cause of the monetary policies for Trinidad and Tobago? Based on all that have been read and written about his selection for the job, there appears to be almost universal agreement that he was chosen because of his familial connection. His second consideration for selection was obviously – race (being Indian). And thirdly, being UNC may have helped tremendously. He was chosen over more qualified and experienced candidates and was never put up for public scrutiny. Those, being his pre-requisites for the job, cannot be considered as valid qualifications to manage the nation’s economy and monetary policies, overseeing the inflow and outflow of foreign reserves. Being Governor of the Central Bank, is not a position where the occupant’s main concern is whether he/she carries a party card. It is an independent position, but the independence that has to be exercised is not one of political or idealogical will. It means that the Governor should be able to work with whomever is the government of the day, to carry out policies that would bolster the nation’s economy and foreign assets. He/she needs to understand first and foremost the nation’s financial and economic needs, work with the government of the day and foreign customers to ensure a strong and vibrant currency for trading locally and internationally. Jwala’s tenure, has been one tempered more by his political connections than by his abilities to carry out the job of Governor of the Central Bank. During the past five years we as a country have had occasion to experience some embarrassing international mismanagement of money, exports products being used as carriers for drugs, money laundering, foreign reserves dwindling and a host of other problems that do not put a good light on our country. Jwala’s leadership have never helped us through it all and to make matters worse, his US currency distribution has been talked about almost constantly as an inhibiter to foreign trade.
Trinidad is a major exporter of illegal drugs and in order to detect the source of financing for these illegal transactions, there need to be a vigilant and competent financial overseer of our currency. Jwala has never shown exhibited and prowess in these respects and to make matters worse, he plays politics with the way he does his job. The new government need someone who has the country’s need at heart. The politics of race should not be a consideration in doing this job and every effort should be made to keep that kind of politics out of the Central Bank. I am sure that Jwala’s successor would do a much better job in helping to run a better economy than he ever did.
During his now INfamous ‘forex’ speech…lol…did you pick up how he obnoxiously stated he had “20 months to go” ??…lol…irony…that same speech invalifdated his “20 months to go”
He thought he was untouchable, hahaha.
What I cannot understand folks,is what this TMan,and his pal Mamboo have against our fellow Syrian/Labanese-Arab Trini brothers and sisters?
Did’t we accept the fact that Kamla look out for her UNC finanlial supporters from Central and environs ,during her reign?
Was this guy ever charged people? ‘Me think not.’
http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=5677
Didn’t she almost pass her now famous Section 34 law, to protect two major UNC high financers Ish,and Steve,who would quicker feed their Mamas,and kids , to Emperor Valley Zoo lions,than allow themselves to be extradited alive to Yankee land-white color bandits,and cowards that they are ?
Repeat after me Mamboo,and TMan-‘… every creed and race finds an equal place….!’
When de Faddah of your nation,in ‘National Divider in Chief’ Baz ,could not manipulate the globally respected,savvy,Political Statesman ,ANR Robinson, he embarked on a most destructive course of action ,that helped tarnish the good name of our country.
He encouraged his gullible/herdlike tribes people ,to run to chiefly Euro -White fiefdoms,using racial persecution,and refugee cries,as a backdrop.
Now that the much dreaded, Tobago born African,and party is back at the helm,you two can start a pro refugee movement again .
A word of caution however.Stay away from Islamopohic Europe ,and worst yet,future President -Donald Trump- America.
Dem folks ain’t care how much Christian ,or Hindus you are,or pretend to be. Same difference.They will always view you guys as suicide bombing ,crazy gun nuts ,who wish to kill all anti Mohammad -White people.
Since T&T has now degenerated into a “dictatorship,”and mob rule is now the order,you can sell all you have here to grateful Chinese, Nigerians, Guyanese, Venezuelians,and Jamaican ,then join the long refugee lines to Canada,where Pierre’s fake Socialist son, is now in charge,for the time being.
Let me see what that would mean politically,if 30 -50 thousand Indo Trini renounce their T&T citizenship.
Yep,I get it!!Instead of 25 years,stuck in the political wilderness as I predicted,your UNC will remain out of office ,for no less than 40 years.
I can live with that,and so would many others.
I luv dis land ,Y tu?
This is it folks.
I’m not going through this ‘South of de Caroni ,’ Water buffalo crap ,otra vez.
It’s getting quite tedious indeed.
Hey Uncle Shah,tell your cyber police, to quit playing footloose and fancy free with my posts.
Are you guys still trying to protect the fledging image ,of your discredited Sipria Queen Kamla?
This is one of the principal reasons I avoided Trini Center for quite some tme.
Their uncanny penchant, for only displaying posts that advance their not too subtle agenda/not offend the senibilities of their beefactors in business/ or out of political power.
No ,Nyet,Non!!!For last time I checked,this ain”t non democratic China ,Putin KGB dominant Russia, or backward,anti female , Wahabi fiefdom Saudi Arabia,where censors rule.
Ok Neal.Enough with your rant!It’s time to up de ante/step it up a notch ,as we like the say on the streets.
Your own blog is the key , mi amigo.
You have talked the talk , and now it’s time to walk de walk,hmmmmm?
Good griefs , and for all the pretence of independence/ objectivity, as a new aged media outlet ,de irrelevant, UNC dominant /Kamla PP minnions , are still holding sway across Trini Center,even as the former political bunch, waddle in midiocrity ,on the political sidelines of irrelevancy.
Country hating bums!
That’s it.
In de words of the wisest woman dat ever lived,in my late Tobago Granny-“Every dissapointment is for a good,’so go get em Neal!
‘Ain’t’ life beautiful people? ‘Me think so.’
Stay tuned.
So much have been said already. During the years I lived in T&T agriculture brought fresh foods to the table, we were poor but healthier. I lived in affluent countries and still is, where the foods are in abundance, but not very healthy. lots of GMO, and disgusted food advertising. We who live abroad travel distances to get fresh W.I. foods. Foods you buy from foreign countries may make you sicker. 3rd. world countries are undermined by foreign corporate giants foods that may taste good but not good for you. Most of us living abroad suffers from diseases not suffered by our parents or grandparents. We may have a little more money, live longer but less healthier and highly medicated. Pleases get back to the lands. It may be the only way for better health. For a country to grow most of the money made must be spent back in development. Thanks
Rafffique, I want you to address a situation with respect to the property tax the new Govt. is putting into action. I am not a political sycophant, yet a tax payer.
Fact: I was involved in a “regularization of squatters” with the last Govt. This project was very advanced and now jobless. We noticed that in areas such as Diego Martin, La Brea, Laventille, Morvant, Sea Lots, Pt. Fortin, Never Dirty (most occurrences), the squatters are very present and regular. In fact in some cases, over 50% of the persons are squatters.
Fact: Persons who are squatting, DO NOT pay property tax, yet enjoy the “rights” as a property owner such as water, waste removal etc.
Fact: The People’s Partnership did not impose the property tax because most of the real estate owners became exempt as they were registered to pay property tax.
Fact: The property tax will not affect the squatters as they continue to live off the state, encouraged by the state.
Fact: This is a bias to law-abiding citizens. Still yet some squatters are not poverty stricken.
Fact: In 99.9% of law abiding countries citizens PAY property tax. Kamla used the ‘no property tax’ policy only to gain favors with the voters. The country suffered as a result because the government still had got provide you with roads, electricity, telephone services, sewer and water services. How is that paid for if the government does not tax the people. No property tax only prolongs sufferings, it does not help as you can see now. That is when government is run by gimmick!
Kian, it’s worse than you think….who benefits from no property taxes??.. (Most Important to the UNC)…INDIAN Businessmen & Businesswomen….which is basically the entire UNC party & supportbase….Many have cash cows that they make even MORE money by NEVER oaying taxes ANDDDD, all thes land that was strategically stolen (encouraged) & also unfairly distributed between 2010-2015…without the taxes they REMAIN ‘under the table/off the radar’…THAT is the real sleight of hand/trickery…remember all those caroni workers (INDIANS/UNC Supporter) loved not having to pay taxes on the ‘gift’ Patrick Manning gave them 2 plots of land….follow the rBbit hole Kian….unbeknownst to many African Trinidadians….The Big Fish (Wealthy Indian Businessman) have been buying up the Land alotted to them from Patrick as part of the VSEP….yesssss…there are Businessmen who have bought out 30+ caroni workers….i didn’t say plots eh i said 30+ Workers i.e. 60+ plots gone in the ha ds of upper middle class & already wealthy INDIAN Businessmen. ..What a disgrace!! Thank you Patrick Manning for giving away VAST AMOUNTS of T&T’s land EXCLUSIVELY to the Indian Population….and still they didn’t vote for you (good)…Kian, WHY do you think Kamla-Baba & Co, went to cabinet & approved the RIGHT Of the ex-caroni workers to SELL their Patrick Manning donated Land at PREMIUM prices???sooooooo, just like athe Bamboo, where the land was allocated to Indians to do agriculture & feed the nation, and they turned around and waited some years && then turned it into a business centre/Neighbourhood/UNC Voting Resource….so too will ALLLLL those areas where Patrick Manning gave them Land…African generations to come will have to spend their salaries in RENT(doh sell to
Rawan) and all their disposable income on The Business that WILL (have already) been put there….MY GOD IN HEAVEN…..Will Africans get Justice??….ohhhh BTW did you Know that Jaishima worked/s at COOSAL’S??? HR Manager among other things???……..After Queen K’s term 2010-2015, African people should be able to too-too much easier & faster than ANY OTHER Ethnic group in T&T. ..think about that!