Essay on "The past not dead. It is not even past"
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empowerment and social entrepreneurship.” She also acknoweldged that 16.7 percent of our people still live below the poverty line; 11.7 per cent are considered working poor whereas 9 per cent are deemed vulnerable. The goal, she says, is to reduce poverty by 2 per cent per year.
These are noble goals. I suspect one way to get these people out of the poverty trap is to encourage them to work harder, plan better and respect what they do since small businesses are always the engine of employment and one way out of poverty. Yet, as in so many things, Prime Minister Kamla seems to say one thing while her ministers say another. Too many of her ministers are willing to defame anyone who seems to be doing his job in a conscientious manner.
Such behavior is becoming lamentably familiar. Justice Minster Herbert Volney besmirches the character of the Chief Justice. The Prime Minister describes his utterance as over enthusiasm and excuses his utterances as his “personal opinion (that is) in no way is the official position of the Prime Minister or the People’s Partnership Government regarding the perception, attitude or policy concerning the judicial arm of the state and, indeed, the honorable Chief Justice.”
One is hard put to understand the distinction. Usually a minister of government speaks for and on behalf of his government but now we are told it is not so. His opinion belongs to him. Under the circumstances, it would be helpful if the Prime Minister can tell us how to distinguish between personal opinion and party position and who makes the determination about same.
A similar thing occurred when Anil Roberts attacked Matthew Cassetta, Public Relations Officer of the Unites States Embassy on how visas are given to citizens of Trinidadians and Tobagonians who wish to visit the United States. When he was alerted by the Embassy that there is an official/diplomatic channel through which these matters are conducted his attitude seemed to suggest that his only consideration was what is in the best interests his constituents.
It was not really important to Roberts who his outbursts offended. Nor for that matter did he seem unduly concerned whether his outbursts affect bilateral relations between the two states (Trinidad and Tobago and the United States) or whether this is how one initiates discussion between two sovereign entities. It was left to Cassetta to remind him that these things are done better through diplomatic notes and exchanges and respect for representatives of countries.
In other words, respect for others matters. It something the Jamaica Gleaner reminded Justice Volney of and what the Public Relations Office of the US Embassy sought to convey to Minister Roberts.
This brings me to a similar unfortunate outburst by Education Minister, Tim Gopeesingh, when he made his contribution to the Budget Debate in House of Representatives last week. His target was the caterers of the School Feeding Program. According to Gopeesingh, the PNM Government spent 1.56 billion dollars on the program between 2001 and 2010. He says “there are 75 carters currently operating the program…These caterers currently make a total of $20 million…All of their friends, all their party supporters and all of their party financiers. These same people who came and cook food and gave it to the CEPEP workers” who had assembled in Woodford Square when a no-confidence motion was brought against former Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
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These are noble goals. I suspect one way to get these people out of the poverty trap is to encourage them to work harder, plan better and respect what they do since small businesses are always the engine of employment and one way out of poverty. Yet, as in so many things, Prime Minister Kamla seems to say one thing while her ministers say another. Too many of her ministers are willing to defame anyone who seems to be doing his job in a conscientious manner.
Such behavior is becoming lamentably familiar. Justice Minster Herbert Volney besmirches the character of the Chief Justice. The Prime Minister describes his utterance as over enthusiasm and excuses his utterances as his “personal opinion (that is) in no way is the official position of the Prime Minister or the People’s Partnership Government regarding the perception, attitude or policy concerning the judicial arm of the state and, indeed, the honorable Chief Justice.”
One is hard put to understand the distinction. Usually a minister of government speaks for and on behalf of his government but now we are told it is not so. His opinion belongs to him. Under the circumstances, it would be helpful if the Prime Minister can tell us how to distinguish between personal opinion and party position and who makes the determination about same.
A similar thing occurred when Anil Roberts attacked Matthew Cassetta, Public Relations Officer of the Unites States Embassy on how visas are given to citizens of Trinidadians and Tobagonians who wish to visit the United States. When he was alerted by the Embassy that there is an official/diplomatic channel through which these matters are conducted his attitude seemed to suggest that his only consideration was what is in the best interests his constituents.
It was not really important to Roberts who his outbursts offended. Nor for that matter did he seem unduly concerned whether his outbursts affect bilateral relations between the two states (Trinidad and Tobago and the United States) or whether this is how one initiates discussion between two sovereign entities. It was left to Cassetta to remind him that these things are done better through diplomatic notes and exchanges and respect for representatives of countries.
In other words, respect for others matters. It something the Jamaica Gleaner reminded Justice Volney of and what the Public Relations Office of the US Embassy sought to convey to Minister Roberts.
This brings me to a similar unfortunate outburst by Education Minister, Tim Gopeesingh, when he made his contribution to the Budget Debate in House of Representatives last week. His target was the caterers of the School Feeding Program. According to Gopeesingh, the PNM Government spent 1.56 billion dollars on the program between 2001 and 2010. He says “there are 75 carters currently operating the program…These caterers currently make a total of $20 million…All of their friends, all their party supporters and all of their party financiers. These same people who came and cook food and gave it to the CEPEP workers” who had assembled in Woodford Square when a no-confidence motion was brought against former Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
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