Caribbean countries continue to face an uphill battle in shedding the image that their offshore financial sector is a safe haven for wealthy tax dodgers and money launderers who can easily walk through immigration with suitcases full of money.
Suspicious persists particularly from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to blacklist such countries described as tax havens and which are also threatened with tough sanctions including the withdrawal of investment funding by the World Bank or International Monetary Fund.
Last year’s international scandal surrounding 60-year old Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, a naturalised Antiguan accused in the American courts of a US$8 billion Ponzi scheme only served to bring renewed negative attention on offshore centres in the Caribbean.
Given the stigmatisation attached to offshore centres, a joint CARIFORUM-EU conference was recently held on financial services in Antigua to review the current status of the sector in the region, the challenges it faced, assess the demands being made on the regulatory environment and how to move towards correcting it.
Given the importance of the offshore banking to countries in the Caribbean, it was a necessary conference to point the way forward for Caribbean jurisdiction, the fourth largest banking sector in the world, led primarily by Bermuda, the Caymans, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands.
In Belize which has a GDP of over US$1 billion, the international banking sector maintains deposits in excess of US$250 million.
In Antigua and Barbuda, the offshore financial services sector which comprise 16 international banks and one international trust has a significant multiplier effect on the economy. Some 700 Antiguans are directly employed in the sector with average annual salaries, statutory contributions and rental income amounting to approximately US$30 million.
A recent World Bank report also states that the Caribbean derives 45 percent of its gross domestic product from services.
Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Edwin Carrington spoke at the opening sessions and reminded his audience that in the 1980’s, international financial institutions encouraged revenue-strapped countries in the region to promote international financial services as a mechanism for economic diversification, income and employment generation and growth.
Many countries in the Caribbean, faced with economic decline because of the demise of the banana industry, their main revenue earner or the need to diversify their mono-economy, took the advice and turned to the financial services sector to attract investment, reap some revenues and generate employment.
Even the tiny eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis ventured into financial services and areas of tourism following the closure of its sugar industry in 2005 which provided significant foreign exchange and was a source of employment for its nationals.
It should be noted as well that Caribbean countries are among the most heavily indebted economies in the world with six having a debt that exceed 100 percent of their GDP and St Kitts and Nevis close to hitting the 200 percent mark.
Mr. Carrington pointed out that the success of a number of Caribbean countries in implementing international financial services seems to have attracted more punishment than reward.
Following the OECD 1998 Report on “Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue” Caribbean countries, along with other targeted countries have had to subscribe to the OECD Model Tax Convention by making amendments to their legislation and practices relating to international financial and banking activities and strengthen their network of double taxation treaties, to remove themselves from a blacklist which sought to name, shame and punish those countries that did not comply with the requirements of the OECD.
The goal posts were shifted from time to time, according to Mr. Carrington, as Caribbean jurisdictions were required to show a certain degree of compliance by signing at least twelve Tax Information Exchange Agreements with major capital suppliers.
By July 2010, the vast majority of the CARIFORUM international financial jurisdictions were able to do so.
The in-depth and comprehensive monitoring and peer review, decided by the September 2009 Global Forum Meeting in Mexico, will create further problems for Caribbean jurisdictions, according to the Secretary-General adding that these will continue to have negative implications for the Caribbean.
The stigmatising has also led to a loss of business in the Caribbean as some that have established business in the region are already moving out to other locations.
Port of Spain-based Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), an organisation of thirty states of the Caribbean Basin which have agreed to implement common countermeasures to address the problem of criminal money laundering has also been pushing for the countries on the tax haven list to implement the principles of transparency and to an exchange of information as far back as 2002.
Although there were some bad practices in the past, many member countries have moved to strengthen their regulations to keep with international standards, have robust regimes in terms of anti-money laundering and have been cooperating with their international counterparts.
Barbados which is on the OECD ‘white list’ of countries complying with the global standard for tax co-operation and exchange of information can also assist regional countries in ensuring compliance with international obligations.
Indeed, as Mr. Carrington pointed out, joint actions and strategies and the operation of joint and common institutions provide the most effective means of developing and strengthening the region’s financial services sector.
Some of these institutions include the following the Caribbean Association of Insurance Regulators, the Caribbean Group of Bank Supervisors, the Caribbean Group of Securities Regulators and the CARICOM Committee of Central Bank Governors.
He suggested that together with a ‘Caribbean College of Regulators’ would go a long way in addressing the credibility of the regulatory environment in the Caribbean for Financial Services.
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Somebody had to be ‘man enough’ as we would say in Trinidad and Tobago to inform the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) group of nations that the twin-island republic was not an ATM machine.
But it took a woman to say to the male-dominated leadership of the Caribbean what Trinbagonians have been saying for numerous years – harsh, brutal and unrefined as it may sound.
This is not to say that Patrick Manning, ousted from office two months ago by Kamla Persad-Bissessar did not have the fortitude to be blunt about the use and distribution of revenues from Trinidad and Tobago.
On this issue, Mr Manning and Mrs. Persad-Bissessar are ideologically poles apart. Whereas Mr. Manning saw himself as a ‘god-father’ type to the financially challenged countries, the current prime minister has set the tone that it does not want this burdensome title.
It’s ludicrous that Trinidad and Tobago should have to shoulder responsibility for the US$40 million needed for the CARICOM Development Fund when member governments have failed over and again to invest in the fund and help bear the cost of implementing a Caribbean-wide security system.
There has always been quiet rumblings about Trinidad and Tobago money going to Caribbean countries under various funds and development programmes when there was so much that needed to be fixed and put right in the twin-island state.
Trinidad and Tobago has never had a problem giving monetary assistance to the Caribbean and that will continue but under more co-operative regional efforts, according to the signals from Mrs. Persad-Bissessar.
Since the early seventies, Trinidad and Tobago made wealthy by its oil and gas revenues has always provided generous financial assistance to regional countries.
But as Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar noted in her speech to regional leaders in Montego bay two weeks ago, Trinidad and Tobago will have to be more circumspect in how it gives money to the Caribbean in face of dwindling revenues from the energy sector, mainly gas and ensuring that the needs of the people of her country are adequately taken care.
She may not have scored high points with Caribbean leaders on this and already St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has already criticised her, claiming she insulted all those big men –but she has won thunderous support back home.
Keith Rowley, the opposition leader in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the most vitriolic politicians in the country also felt Mrs. Persad-Bissessar insulted Caribbean leaders – she could have softened up her words– and warned that these countries may begin pulling out of doing business with us.
There has always been the argument that Trinidad and Tobago needs to support the Caribbean because it is their largest market for manufactured goods. And no can accuse the twin-island state of not showing that support in many tangible ways.
Jamaica in particular continues to grumble about manufacturers in Trinidad and Tobago out-performing them because they get energy subsidy from their government – and which does not level the playing field for Kingston’s manufacturing sector.
It has been hammered so many times across the waters that manufacturers in Trinidad and Tobago do not get energy subsidy from the government.
In fact the high industrial power rate manufacturers pay actually subsidises the residential power rate so homeowners don’t face high bills.
What manufacturers in Trinidad and Tobago have been doing is investing money into retooling their operations, retrain employees, add new technology and constantly improve their products or diversify products to bring them to internationally competitive standards.
Guyana President Bharrat Jadgeo is correct when he – in other words told the Jamaicans to stop belly-aching and take their grouse to the Caribbean Court of Justice if they felt they were on solid grounds.
Trinidad and Tobago could also be crying down the place from Kingston to Georgetown on how the twin-island and their lone oil company, Petrotrin were at a major disadvantage when all countries in the Caribbean with the exception of Barbados signed the Petrocaribe’s agreement, which allows governments to buy Venezuelan oil and fuel through in-kind payments and finance 40 percent of their bills at 1 percent for 25 years.
Petrotrin – already financially challenged has had to look for new markets outside the Caribbean because they were displaced by Petrocaribe.
It’s a well known fact that Trinidad and Tobago, recognising the financial burdens of the net oil importing countries agreed to suspend the Common External Tariff (CET) which allowed Venezuela to send their shipments to countries in the region without incurring any additional costs.
Recognising that the tensions between the manufacturers need to be eliminated, Mrs Persad-Bissessar, promising to find amicable solutions also invited the business leaders from both sides to become involved in a three-pronged approach to drive innovative improvements, deepen alliance and explore partnerships.
Later this year, trade delegations from Guyana and Jamaica are expected to visit Port of Spain and hopefully, business leaders on all sides can create synergies to not only take advantage of Caribbean markets but those beyond our shores.
Switching gears, there continues to be widespread criticism over the issue of governance in CARICOM and the recent Heads of Government conference in Montego Bay did very little to dispel the notions of the naysayers.
Commentary on the sluggishness and tardiness emerging out of the leadership annual meetings has moved from subtle and restrained to brazen and blunt in recent times – and this year’s was even more callous.
I thought the worst part of the entire conference was yet another agreement for more prime ministers to get together on the way forward for transforming the community into implementing decisions and on the whole issue of governance.
I have said in the past that for one reason or the other, the Caribbean likes to set up committees, then sub-committees, then sub-sub committees until the latter committee has no idea of what’s its mandate.
But seriously one would have thought that given the continued economic crisis that countries in the region are under, leaders would be resolute in self-imposing deadlines to implement programmes under the Caricom Single Market and Economy.
Last year, those very same countries were pleading that they could not fulfil their CSME obligations because of the global economic crisis on their countries.
Clearly, it’s the vicious cycle of inaction by the leadership that has kept the Caribbean under such shaky foundations.
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Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will attend her first Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government summit this weekend as the new leader of the twin-island state and will sit as the lone female around the table of male-dominated prime ministers and presidents of the region.
Fresh out of winning a major electoral victory in the southern republic just over a month ago, the summit in Jamaica’s tourist region of Montego Bay will provide an opportunity for Mrs. Persad-Bissessar to espouse her government’s relationship with the Community and how involved it plans to be in its affairs.
During political campaigning for the elections, Mrs. Persad-Bissessar rarely spoke on the issue of CARICOM or what relations are expected to be with the Community or with individual countries.
Following a meeting with Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo, the first CARICOM leader to visit her, she said that there were several areas of economic and technical cooperation to be explored between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.
President Jagdeo said Georgetown was looking forward to engaging the new government in Port of Spain on possible areas of collaboration.
What so far has been the signals coming from the new People’s Partnership government?
In its election’s manifesto, the People’s Partnership made its intentions clear that it will re-engage fully with the regional integration process and contribute towards the strengthening of the overall CARICOM framework, including the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Very notably, it firmly rejected the “divisive” initiative of the previous prime minister Patrick Manning who was seeking to establish economic and political union between Trinidad and Tobago and several states of the Eastern Caribbean.
Under Mr. Manning’s proposal, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia will seek to achieve economic integration by 2011 and political integration two years later – despite the widerCARICOM grouping which set a 2015 deadline for the formation of a single economy.
According to the People’s Partnership, Trinidad and Tobago will also promote, as much as possible, a common and proactive policy stand among the CARICOM members regarding critical issues such as the “forced returnees” from the United States and the UK, the reconstruction of Haiti, the “Bolivarian Alternative” (ALBA), climate change and sustainable development
In order to strengthen and deepen the relations with CARICOM and its various institutions, Trinidad and Tobago will appoint a special envoy/ambassador to CARICOM.
Quite recently, the government announced that freedom fighter Makandal Daaga was appointed CARICOM Cultural Ambassador Extraordinaire to bridge relations between Trinidad and Tobago and other regional countries.
From a foreign policy perspective, the new government planned to work in concentric circles, beginning with CARICOM and was also seeking to implement existing trade agreements in collaboration with its CARICOM partners.
No doubt Caribbean leaders will also be looking toward Mrs. Persad-Bissessar to see what role Trinidad and Tobago intends to play in the Community.
Historically, Trinidad and Tobago has played an important role in the Community as a political and economic leader mainly because of its abundant resources of oil and natural gas.
Going back to the seventies, Trinidad and Tobago assisted the Caribbean with an oil facility; with loans, grants and has written off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt owed by Guyana to the twin-island state.
Currently, Trinidad and Tobago contributes to the CARICOM Regional Development Fund designed to assist countries particularly in the Eastern Caribbean to develop their capacity to benefit from intra and extra regional trade among others – and the Petroleum Fund which seeks to give CARICOM trading partners financial assistance.
Earlier this year, the then government made an initial contribution of US$1 million from the CARICOM Petroleum Fund towards relief and recovery efforts in earthquake ravaged Haiti and again contributed an additional US$5 million to the Haiti Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Account established in the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
The then government also agreed to make a further US$5 million available to the account on the basis of a further needs assessment.
Trinidad and Tobago also committed US$50 million from the Petroleum Fund into a special facility to assist countries that were affected by the indebted British American Insurance Company (BAICO).
All these have been taking place as Trinidad and Tobago faced the brunt of the impact of the international economic crisis plunging oil and gas prices which heavily impact on the country’s revenues.
In 2009, economic output in Trinidad and Tobago declined by some 3 percent. Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams says the economy is expected to grow to around 2 percent at the end of this year but new Finance Minister Winston Dookeran reports that the economy was more likely to be flat.
Mr.Dookeran also paints a gloomy picture of the economy, saying there’s need for fiscal consolidation to bring expenditure in line with the sharply declining revenues – which could only mean cuts in expenditure or raising taxes.
Before doing any of these, the new government which came into office on an overwhelmingly popular support from the electorate would surely find difficulties in bringing any burden on the population – and may have to look at other areas that would not impact the pockets of its citizens.
Last year, in the face of falling gas and oil revenues and deficit in the budget, the previous Manning administration raised the possibility of cutting or stopping its contribution altogether to the Regional Development Fund but never took any action on it.
Instead, it created the very unpopular Property Tax which would have seen home-owners paying much more money towards the government. The then government was also moving towards creating a single Revenue Authority to ensure compliance with tax laws, minimize leakage in collection and increase efficiency across the board in revenue collection. But to achieve this, it meant about 2,000 government workers losing their jobs.
The new government has already rejected the Property Tax and the Revenue Authority shutting off new sources of revenues.
Given the financial challenges it faces, it’s going to be interesting in the coming months to see how the new Trinidad and Tobago government intends to balance the up-coming 2010 budget and what cuts it intends to make and whether its financial commitment towards CARICOM remains untouched.
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There are many reasons why Trinidad and Tobago ended up a with a new government in power last week.
As reported in previous columns, there were mounting dissatisfaction in the country over the administration of Patrick Manning.
There were allegations about the mismanagement of public funds, exorbitant spending on high rise buildings and hosting world leaders at two expensive summits last year which ordinary folks felt were a waste of time as it did nothing tangible to improve their lives.
But one of their biggest disappointments was the failure of the former government with all the billions of dollars at their disposal to tackle the maniacal criminal gangs in the country which are responsible for the runaway crime rate.
The former Manning government boasted of having a air ship or a blimp, 360 degree radar system to survey the coast for illegal drug traffickers, more helicopters and speed boats, more police vehicles on the roads and eye-in-the -sky cameras, yet all these have failed to make a dent on criminal activities particularly murders – and adding up to zero in the eyes of the crime-scarred public.
How then can a government convince the people that it should be voted back into office and even had the impudence to have an election campaign theme of a ‘caring government’ when blood continues to flow in the streets.
During the five weeks of campaigning in the run up to the elections, billboards sprung up along highways and bi-ways reminding potential voters about the 3,000 plus murders that took place over the last seven years under the Manning administration.
The United National Congress led coalition naturally made crime and security one of their main platform issues, tugging at the heartstrings of a population who have moved from being a very jovial, carefree people, hanging out orliming as we call it, at all hours of the night to becoming suspicious of every strange person they encounter.
The new government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has promised a full assault on crime and return the country to a lawful state where people can go about their business without having to look over their shoulders all the time.
The government knows that if crime and gang violence is not curbed, we can end up like Jamaica which is dubbed one of the most violent countries in the world, considering the size of their population and their skyrocketing murder rate.
The lawlessness currently unleashing in Jamaica also has lessons for all countries in our region to focus on eradicating gangs before they assume power even greater than that of a prime minister.
It’s well documented that the dons or gang leaders in Jamaica have been allowed to flourish as far back as the 1960s and were used by the two main rival political parties to enforce their political agendas and drive fear and terror in the hearts of their opponents.
Over the last week, security forces in Jamaica have been battling a well-armed group of men intent on blocking the execution of a warrant for the arrest of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke who is wanted in the United States on drug- and gun-trafficking charges.
The death count has been put at over 70 but former prime minister Edward Seaga and residents claim the figure is more than 100.
An ABC newscast last week quoted a U.S. government report which refers to Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding who was attempting to block the extradition as a “criminal affiliate” of Coke.
US authorities also claim that Mr. Golding and other senior Jamaican officials have been electronically intercepted talking to Coke in his fortified hideout.
Gangs are a worldwide phenomenon with millions of members who claim maginalisation and being outcast of the government system.
In the United States, there are about 20,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with approximately 1 million members who are criminally active, according to the FBI.
Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include drug trafficking, robbery, theft, fraud, extortion, prostitution rings, and gun trafficking.
In Jamaica, security official point to 200 gangs who are responsible for committing 80 per cent of the island’s crimes.
Trinidad police estimate that there are 81 gangs operating in this country with 10 – 50 members with an average age between 14 and 44 years.
Guyana also experienced the bloody rampage of armed criminal gangs in 2008 which resulted in multiple killings in two separate event.
Smaller islands in the Caribbean are not spared by criminal gangs. In tiny St. Kitts with a population of 46,000, the government reports a pattern of criminal gangs and increase in the murder rate.
In Central America, there are 300,000 gang members, some who have killed as many as 10 people by the time they reach age 15.
New Trinbagonian Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has appointed retired Brigadier John Sandy to head the Ministry of National Security and to take on the difficult task of shutting down criminal activities in the country.
Apart from the Attorney General’s office and the Legal Affairs Ministry to boost support, she created a Justice Ministry headed by former High Court judge Herbert Volney to help tackle the criminal element in the country through the legal system.
Her multi-pronged approach also including cleaning up the police service to ensure its effectiveness in the fight against crime. Police officers who sit behind desks doing administrative work will be put on patrol duties on the streets.
There’s now a clear squaring off between the new government in Port of Spain and the criminal element in the country.
Unlike the previous government which facilitated a meeting with gang leaders describing them as community leaders, this new government has given the clearest signal that the criminal element in the country is an enemy of the state. They will not be embraced nor coddled.
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From all intents and purpose, negotiators at the latest round of climate change talks in Bonn over the last two weeks seem determined to put behind the chaos and disappointment that emerged from last December’s Copenhagen summit and look towards the Cancun December meeting with some sense of hope.
Although it’s quite unlikely that the summit in the Caribbean tourist resort of Mexico will conclude with a legally binding treaty, negotiators want to avoid a repeat of Copenhagen where leaders, failing to reach consensus on the fundamental issues that will form the substance of a legally binding international agreement settled for an accord that fell far short of its stated goals.
Mexico’s Climate Change Ambassador to the United Nations Luis Alfonso de Alba perhaps sensing that a comprehensive agreement may not be reached because of lagging and unresolved issues in the negotiating text suggested that countries can go forward with adopting some decisions that can be legally binding while more steps can be built at subsequent meetings.
But in a sharp retort Ambassador Collin Beck, Vice-Chair of the Alliance for Small Island States (AOSIS) described it as “disturbing” that a country can begin making pronouncements before giving the negotiating process a chance.
The AOSIS and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are holding out hope for a comprehensive agreement from Cancun but many other countries are not under any such illusion given the complex unresolved issues.
Reaching agreement is fundamental and important.
According to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, mankind has already added enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to raise temperatures to a dangerous level and this is already leading to increased incidences of drought, heat waves and heavy storms.
The purpose of an ambitious and effective international climate change deal is to avoid catastrophic climate change and to help the most vulnerable countries adapt.
The world, according to the UNFCCC has only a very narrow window of opportunity to undertake a first dramatic shift towards a low carbon society and to prevent the worst scenarios of scientists from coming true.
Although there are wide and varying views about the expectations and outcomes from Cancun, the atmosphere at Bonn is far friendlier than what existed in Copenhagen.
Many of the negotiators including China’s Special Representative for Climate Change, Ambassador Qintai Yu and Lawrence Graff, Chief Negotiator of the European Commission felt rebuilding and restoring trust and confidence lost in Copenhagen was essential in Bonn.
Ambassador Yi told journalists that prior to the Copenhagen talks, some countries departed from the path of cooperation and dialogue and resorted to coercion and pressure.
And while countries will always differ on issues, it should not deter the negotiations from expanding into areas of consensus and strengthening the basis for future cooperation in fighting climate change.
But it has not been all smooth sailing in Bonn.
Island nations experienced a major setback when AOSIS failed to get support for the climate change secretariat to prepare a technical paper on the options for limiting global average temperature increase to below 1.5 degree Celsius and 2 degree Celsius.
Saudi Arabia who led the opposition suggested cynically that vulnerable countries can use Google if they want more knowledge about the scientific findings relating to their survival!
We all remember the 1.5 degree Celsius campaign the Caribbean and other regions of the world waged prior to Copenhagen for mitigating the effects of climate change.
Carlos Fuller, Deputy Chairman of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) points to historical data already showing a 1 degree rise in temperature in the Caribbean.
Climate change impact, he told me on the sidelines of the Bonn meeting, is already occurring in the Caribbean and referred to the bleaching of corals, powerful and damaging hurricanes, reduced annual rainfalls and devastating flooding when it rains.
The biggest shocker for developing countries is what many are calling the imbalance of the new draft text document issued Friday which omitted many important points contained in the old text and which seems to undermine the Kyoto Protocol.
Developing countries and many non-governmental groups accuse the US, Japan and Russia of railroading the negotiations by rejecting the need for binding emission cuts which could lead to climate catastrophe on millions of people in the developing countries.
According to WWF International, the new negotiating text could put delegates attending the next two rounds of climate change talks in August and October in a position to turn trust into traction in Mexico.
It may be wise for countries to reflect on the parting words of out-going Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Yvo de Boer who cautioned that the world cannot afford to postpone more stringent action much longer to halt the increase of global greenhouse gas emissions in the next ten years.
The 2 degree world is in danger and as a result the door to a 1.5 degree world is rapidly closing.
Using a football analogy to emphasize the urgency of reaching consensus on climate change issues including global greenhouse gas at the December Cancun summit, he said the world received a yellow card in Copenhagen.
If countries fail to deliver in Cancun, they may be handed a red card from the referee.
The referee being the millions of poor and vulnerable people who face a real threat by climate change.
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Over the last two weeks, Trinidad and Tobago experienced several unexpected surprises.
First, prime minister Patrick Manning put the country on alert that a snap general elections was imminent and gave his ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) little notice to begin the screening of candidates.
Three days ago, although not announcing the date for general elections, Mr. Manning advised the President to dissolve the Parliament, paving the way for fresh polls more than two years before they were constitutionally due.
No reason has been put forward by Mr. Manning on why he has chosen to take the ruling party to a snap general elections coming midway in the five-year term of his administration but surely it has to do with the apparent public pressure his government has been facing from all corners of the country.
It cannot be ignored too that calling for the dissolution of Parliament scuttled an anticipated no-confidence motion by the opposition United National Congress (UNC) against him.
Although the motion was bound to fail, given the PNM’s majority in the House of Representatives, UNC’s leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her team of speakers were well prepared to enumerate a long list of transgressions against Mr. Manning and the Government he leads.
They would have put into the Parliamentary Hansard records the scandalous findings of a commission of inquiry into the construction sector which found mass over-spending, suspicious contractual dealings, the omnipotent powers and the abuse of powers by the former head of a state agency, Calder Hart and the recommendation for a number of criminal probes.
Now, the UNC plans to take it to the political campaign which kicks off tomorrow.
Canada-born Mr.Hart, now a naturalized citizen of Trinidad and Tobago resigned from his high-powered job at the state-agency, UDECOTT (Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago) and from other State Boards he headed early last month after he was summoned to a meeting with Mr. Manning.
A day before his conversation with Mr. Hart, the Prime Minister met with his Attorney General John Jeremie who indicated that Mr. Hart may have a case to answer regarding an apparent family link between Hart’s family and a Malaysia based company which was awarded US$136 million to construct a government building.
Mr. Manning still does not find it inappropriate to meet with Mr. Hart who according to the AG seems to have a case to answer – nor has he disclosed the nature of the conversation with the controversial Mr. Hart.
A day after meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Hart whose combined salary and perks were an outrageous US$1 million plus annually up to 2006 left the country with his family but failed to keep his commitment to return home by the end of last month.
Mr. Manning has also been facing mounting protest and criticism over his spending of millions of dollars on the construction of high rise buildings in the capital, some which remain unoccupied, US$40 million to construct and furnish a palatial prime minister’s residence and diplomatic centre and over US$120 million to host the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year.
Added to this, the unanswered questions about who hired Shanghai Construction as the contractor for the construction of an imposing cathedral on state lands given to the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ Church headed by Reverend Juliana Pena, whom the local media has described as Mr. Manning’s personal Prophetess.
Shanghai came to work in Trinidad based on a government-to-government agreement to construct a number of buildings.
There’s also a criminal probe into an alleged land deal between Mr. Manning and the former leader of the 1990 insurrection, Yasin Abu Bakr; a runaway crime situation and many other ills that the public has expressed their concerns over.
But this is not yet a perfect political storm which creates the conditions for the UNC and other opposition forces to start claiming automatic victory.
Mr. Manning, the shrewd politician that he is, may have decided to call a snap election in the hope of catching the UNC and other opposition parties unprepared to form a unified team in time for the polls.
The UNC itself has not fully settled its internal problems with senior members including the founder Basdeo Panday not fully embracing Mrs. Persad-Bissessar since her overwhelming 12-1 defeat of him for the leadership position in the party polls last January.
There’s also the question of how an accommodation of sorts will be formed between the UNC which won 16 seats in the 2007 general elections and the splinter party, the Congress Of the People (COP) which although not winning a single seat commanded over 140,000 votes.
COP supporters include disenchanted former UNC members and floating voters, who are particularly crucial to the outcome of the very important marginal seats in the elections that are normally divided along racial lines.
The UNC and the COP would also have to convince the electorate that their unity team is not a marriage of convenience but can survive the test of time and whatever dispute that inevitably will arise.
The unified forces will also have to demonstrate to the electorate that they have workable ideas and proposals on governing the country fairly and along equitable lines.
Over the last year or so since Mr. Manning’s fortunes began its free-fall, the population’s concerns have evolved around what they see as wasteful spending on multi-story buildings; the lavish hosting of summits; the defence of public officials suspected of corrupt dealings; arrogance of public officials and questionable deals.
Prime Minister Manning and members of his party have been widely criticized by callers to radio talk programmes and from the public’s written feedback to articles on the online newspapers.
They have been booed and heckled and at least one person has physically restrained Mr. Manning from entering his yard.
What people want – and hope which ever party forms the next government would channel revenues from the energy sector into fixing their roads, having an adequate supply of water on a daily basis, proper schools for their children, improved beds and improved service at hospitals, increased in grants for the elderly and the differently-abled to name a few of their basic needs and expectations.
Ultimately, this is why people vote for political parties so their lives can be improved.
But watching billions pass through the country “like a dose of salts” – to paraphrase Jamaica’s now deceased Prime Minister Michael Manley about Trinidad’s wealth from the seventies oil boom – and not getting their just dues was the tipping point for them.
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Percy Villafana, an 81-year old Trinidadian is emerging as a modern
day type hero or as some people are referring to him a vampire slayer
for a single audacious act he carried out a few weeks ago.
Neither cloaked nor masked and without any special super power,
Mr.Villafana, who looks like any other jovial grandfather shot to the
public limelight when he physically blocked Trinbagonian Prime
Minister Patrick Manning from entering his yard to greet other members
of his family.
According to media reports, Mr. Villafana told an astonished prime
minister that he was not welcome to enter the private premises and
proceeded to cross his arms in the shape of an X to ward off what he
considered an evil presence.
There’s been overwhelming response from the public to Mr. Villafana’s
singular action of defying a prime minister who on his current
walkabouts was accustomed to heartily embracing and vigorously pumping
hands, kissing babies and stroking the heads of toddlers.
So popular is he in the twin-island, that Mr. Villafana is now on
Wikipedia, he has a growing fan base on his Facebook site created by a
couple ardent supporters titled ‘Percy Villafana – Citizen Supreme’
and according to him, everywhere he goes, people are praising him for
what he did.
He however wished more people would be brave enough to do what he has
done and break the delusions that politicians walk around with.
Interviewed by a television station, Mr. Villafana doesn’t sound like
he has lost his marbles or is going soft in the head. In fact, he was
quite astute on his actions and made it clear he would do it all over
again if he had to.
” A $2 million flag? You’ve got to be joking,” Mr Villafana said
referring to the gigantic flag posted in Port of Spain by the Ministry
of Sports intended to increase national pride but which has had the
opposite effect of a national disgrace.
“Not while the Croisee is so filthy and at any given time there are
four or five homeless people sleeping in the bus shed. Not while the
San Juan River is filled with filth. And have you seen the hospitals?
A disgrace. The windows are thick with the mess from birds and dust.
The facilities are hideous. Terrible. People are suffering. Would I do
it again? Absolutely,” he said in an interview.
Going beyond the mirth and knee-slapper moment, there’s a symbolic and
deeper meaning to Mr. Villafana’s unpretentious and unrehearsed
actions and it represents the suppressed and even repressed emotions
of the average citizen in the country.
Dare I say, that there may be many Mr. Villafana’s throughout our
region who quietly witness the naked abuse of money and power, the
corruption, the curry-favouring and the nepotism while basic amenities
for the average citizen in the country are badly lacking.
The fact that Mr. Villafana has transcended from an ordinary citizen
to a national symbol of sorts indicates a deeper malaise in the
society and that people are looking for a hero – any hero – a
geriatric at that – to latch on to and give expression to their
bottled up feelings.
The act of defiance by Mr. Villafana took the prime minister by surprise.
A brief physical contact with the prime minister to block him from
entering the private premises immediately drew the state’s security
men around him, reproaching him for touching the cloth of the high man
of government.
But maybe this is exactly what Mr. Manning needs. A dose of reality -
to awaken from what people say are his egotism and the
self-aggrandizement that he is attaching to himself more often these
past few months.
And it isn’t only a perception of the nationals of his own country.
During the hosting of the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain last
year, my bureau chief at an international news agency asked whether
the prime minister was always so cocky and arrogant.
Well, that might have increased a notch some may say, with him having
rubbed shoulders and hosted over 80 world leaders in one year
including US President Barack Obama and curtseying to Queen Elizabeth.
Sensing that the tide is quickly turning for the government, the prime
minister and members of his government are lashing back.
The Media that have been questioning and probing several suspicious
deals are accused by Mr. Manning of protecting drug barons who fear
him as the singular person in the country to break up their highly
profitable illicit trade.
On an earlier occasion, he accused the opposition forces and the media
of trying to bring down his government because they were questioning
his defence of the head of a government agency, now forced into
resignation and who, along with his wife are the subjects of a major
police investigation called for by the new Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP).
Taking up the cue from the prime minister, another government minister
accused members of the media of being in the pockets of local building
contractors after story after story probed questionable and highly
lucrative government contracts given to Malaysian and Chinese outfits.
Mr. Villafana’s action is also lesson for politicians, if they really
look beyond his anger. That they must never lose touch with the masses
and that they must feel the pain of the people. It’s the only way to
bring improvements to their lives and to the society in which they
live.
Politicians cannot get away with the crime that they can make all
manner of promises on the campaign trail and when they get into
office, the masses are handled out tokens – a few dollars increase in
their monthly pension allowance and welfare and disability cheques -
while at the top, they witness excessive and wanton spending as though
the treasury was their own personal limitless booty chest.
They have to account – and that’s what Mr. Villafana’s simple act of
defiance was all about.
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It’s a pity that Trinbagonian prime minister Patrick Manning has misconstrued – deliberately or genuinely that the citizenry call for transparency in the controversial building of a multi-million dollar church is tantamount to religious persecution against him.
In case you’re not familiar with the continuing drama in Port of Spain over the construction of an imposing cathedral on state lands given to the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ Church, controversy and questions arose over the involvement of Mr. Manning in the church because of his close links to its founder,Juliana Pena, whom the media describe as his personal Prophetess.
Scrutiny by the Trinidad and Tobago media and opposition politicians has raised a number of questionable issues surrounding the building of the church estimated at US$5 million.
Who is funding the massive construction of the church; why did the state-owned electricity company and water company provide illegal connections to the construction site; who were the top officials who instructed the state companies to break the law; why was the building under construction without the necessary approval from Town and Country and the regional corporation, how many times Ms. Pena has represented Mr. Manning overseas as a special envoy and who hired the China-based Shanghai Construction as the contractor for the church when Shanghai came to Trinidad based on government-to-government agreement?
Shanghai Construction has done extensive work for the State including building the prime ministers palatial residence and diplomatic centre at a cost of US$33 million, the National Academies of Performing Arts in Port of Spain and San Fernando for US$100 million and the executive jet facility on the outskirts of the Piarco airport at over US$80 million.
Instead of answering these pertinent questions and dealing with the issues detachedly, Mr. Manning threw out several red herrings, no doubt intended to distract.
A week later, his ploy to confound the questioning masses has apparently not worked.
During a statement to the Parliament a week ago, Mr. Manning who has a penchant for lacing his statements with biblical quotes skirted and danced around the questions concerning the church.
As though preaching from the pulpit, he said he had a right to have a spiritual leader just as the Hindus who have their gurus and pundits; he gave two journalists a deadline to publicly reveal an “epiphany” they received while they were at the site of the church and finally, he tried to tried to rile up the full gospel movement and born agains by telling them that they should get up and protect themselves from the persecution that has been taking place in the country against them.
I thought the latter was a veiled threat to incite religious war in the multi-ethnic country but the full gospel ministries have steered far from the controversy leaving Mr. Manning to deal with his own demons.
As to the journalists who were supposed to have an enlightening experience, none so far has come forward to support Mr. Manning’s claim of their “epiphany” but instead reported their visit to the site as an ordinary day on the job.
But Mr. Manning, with all his righteous behavior has fail to understand that the questions that have arisen simply have to do with the issue of transparency in the public domain.
Trinidad ad Tobago, a country with significant resources is perceived as a country with corrupt officials and it’s easy to see why when those in high office fail to adequately satisfy the population that their doings were above board.
Last year Transparency International International (TI) in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2009 ranked Trinidad and Tobago 79 out of 180 countries.
Barbados had the pleasure of being seen as the least corrupt among nine Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
St Lucia ranked 22, St Vincent and the Grenadines 31, Dominica 34, Suriname 75, Jamaica 99, and Guyana 126. Haiti was last among the regions countries, at 168.
To make matters worse is that there is no Integrity Commission in the country to carry out investigations into these sordid allegations of corruption and it is the reason why the citizenry has been calling on the government and Mr. Manning to clear the air.
No one is certain when an Integrity Commission Board will be appointed to look after the affairs of the people.
Early last year, the president appointed an Integrity Commission board but it collapsed after a week, when members began dropping out for one reason or the other.
That board was supposed to have replaced the previous Commission which collapsed after a judge criticized the manner in which they conducted an inquiry concerning former Government Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley.
Another major issue, with significant implications that Mr. Manning and the government continue to down-play and giving unsatisfactory answers is the apparent links between Mr. Manning’s close ally Calder Hart, head of the state-agency UDECOTT (Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago) and Sunway Construction, formerly CH Construction, a Malaysian outfit that was given a lucrative contract just three weeks after it was set up.
Their initial contract to build a multi-story Legal Affairs Ministry tower was US$50 million but new information reveals that the project given to Sunway by UDECOTT may now cost taxpayers over US$100 million.
A government-appointed inquiry into the construction industry last year raised uncomfortable information about collusion, corruption and lucrative million dollar building contracts to relatives of Mr. Hart.
But Mr. Manning who called for the commission of inquiry has stoutly defended Mr. Hart stating that there was no evidence linking Sunway Directors to Mr. Hart and his Malaysian wife Sherrine and that the main intent by the media and opposition forces was to bring down the government.
This week, the media dropped a major bombshell when they published documentary evidence clearly showing that Mrs. Hart was in fact the sister-in-law of one of the Sunway Directors.
The documents – birth certificates and a marriage certificates – were obtained from the Malaysian government by the Congress of the People (COP) party headed by former Central Bank Governor Winston Dookeran.
Despite the documentary evidence, government officials have again refused to admit a possible link between Sunway and Calder Hart and his wife.
It really begs the question: why is the prime minister intent on protecting Mr. Hart, going so far as to describe a former husband of Sherrine Hart, Carl Khan as the ranting of a jilted lover.
Whistle-blower Mr. Khan had presented documentary evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into the construction industry which shows links between Sunway directors and Sherrine Hart – but which went unchallenged by Mr. Hart’s attorneys at the inquiry.
Despite all the attempts by the government to ignore, distract or cover up, it doesn’t look like the media or the masses are about to let their concerns die a natural death.
This is not the last we’ll hearing or reading about these controversies until the government fully accounts to the people.
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After non-stop partying practically from the start of the year, Trinidad and Tobago’s famous two day Carnival dubbed ‘the greatest show on earth’ will culminate midnight Tuesday, signalling the mas has come to an end for yet another year and ushering the holy 40-day period of the Christian Lent.
Tomorrow when the early morning street celebrations of J’ouvert begin, revellers in tattered clothes will parade through the streets of the cities, boroughs and towns, painted in a kaleidoscope of body paint or bathed in mud and grease.
This celebration is also called ‘Ole Mas’ and it gives ordinary folks a chance to express themselves through placards and banners on how they view life in the country in humorous form.
Again, we expect the politicians to be the brunt of ridicule by Ole Mas revellers.
After the Carnival is over, revellers will revert to their normal lifestyles but for the politicians in the twin-island state, the mas, short for masquerading will continue for a longer time as a lot seems to be at stake on the battle for support from the masses.
In fact, all during the build-up to the Carnival, politicians seem to have been giving stiff competition to calypsonians and soca artistes in delivering some of the most saucy lyrics during this bacchanal season.
Admittedly, the politics have gotten more interesting over the past two months or so, particularly from the camp of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM), that formidable institution that has survived for more than five decades and its opposition rivals, the United National Congress (UNC) which has metamorphosed from several dissolved political entities.
The third political force in the country, the Congress Of the People (COP) has been forced into a back-seat position as the spotlight holds firm on the two major parties in the country.
The biggest news on the political front was the earth-shattering removal of veteran politician Basdeo Panday as leader of the UNC by Kamla Persad-Bissessar who trounced him by a 10 to 1 lead when the results of the party’s internal elections were released.
Mr. Panday who first entered Parliament in the mid-seventies until the present time has however not gracefully accepted defeat and one can certainly understand his consternation and disbelief since whether win, lose or draw at the general elections, he has managed to retain the solid love of his supporters, mainly drawn from the sugar field workers, whom he also represented at a trade union level.
Shell-shocked over what he might deemed the betrayal of his party, Mr. Panday has also not volunteered to hand over the position of Opposition Leader to Ms. Persad-Bissessar, but in sulking fashion has challenged her to get the required majority signatures from elected UNC parliamentarians and take it to the President for a change at the parliamentary opposition office.
Some elected parliamentarians including Mr. Panday’s daughter Mikela and his brother Subhas have also not thrown their support behind the new UNC leader, displaying an adolescent attitude and not the maturity and level-headed behavior of graciously accepting the will of the party supporters who overwhelmingly voted for change.
Up to the time of writing, Ms. Persad-Bissessar only needed one more signature on a letter already drafted for President Max Richards to appoint her as Opposition Leader.
In a move that could only be interpreted as malicious and vindictive, Mr Panday on Friday revoked the senatorial appointment of Lyndira Oudit who was on Ms. Persad-Bissessar’s slate and won one of the three posts of deputy political leader. He also fired two workers – again public supporters of the new UNC leader – from the parliamentary opposition office.
Mr. Panday’s defeat has not come as a surprise to the country.
The writing was on the wall and was made more obvious in the 2007 general elections when the newly formed COP led by former Central Bank Governor Winston Dookeran – estranged from the UNC – picked up over 148,000 votes although not winning a single seat as deemed under a Westminster system.
The COP’s vote, according to political analysts comprised disenchanted supporters of the UNC and floating voters who are not aligned to any political parties.
The UNC’s vote was 194,000, winning 15 seats. The PNM won 300,000 votes to win the majority 26 seats.
Mr. Panday was accused of being too comfortable in the opposition’s seat and devoid of passion and verve to get back into the reins of power while all around him jaded supporters were eager for their party to form the government.
Mr. Panday also failed to attract or impress the new generation of voters – bright young professionals who took their support to the COP or remained non-aligned.
Loyal UNC members however knew that the only way the party stood a chance of getting into Government and winning back traditional and non-traditional support was changing the leadership from the banal and apathetic to someone fresh, original and exciting who can draw on mass appeal.
The fact that Ms. Persad-Bissessar is the first female to lead a political party in Trinidad and Tobago has added an air of appeal about and around her.
She also created another first when she was appointed the country’s first female Attorney General under the prime ministership of Mr. Panday during the UNC’s administration from 1995-2000.
Mr. Persad-Bissessar’s first big test however is moving the UNC from being seen as an Indo-Trinidadian party into a broader entity that is supported by all ethnic groups across the board including Tobago where it commands very little support.
Another acid test for the new UNC political leader will be the Local Government elections expected to be called by September and winning back regional corporations in UNC strongholds that surprising went to the PNM in the last local polls.
Meanwhile the ruling party – sensing deep discontent among its own supporters over their extravagant spending and capricious behavior by government ministers -and with imminent Local government polls, already postponed four times – has started constituency tours, meeting people and hearing their complaints.
If the government was not convinced that a particularly malevolent wind was blowing against them, the fact that calypsonians, long-time allies of the ruling party are singing anti PNM songs, some directed at prime minister Manning should dispel any uncertainty of how the supporters were feeling about them.
Sports Minister Gary Hunt who was the main target in at least two calypsoes which the singers wickedly poked fun at his surname, daring listeners to mis-pronounce his name into an expletive - ended up – short of apologising but describing as a mis-step the spending of TT$2 million (US$317,000) for the erection of a national flag – just to say it was the largest in the Caribbean.
It doesn’t seem too that the population is easily forgiving the government for spending US$120 million to host the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year with nothing so far to show for it in tangible returns for the country.
Or the US$40 million it cost to construct and furnish a palatial prime minister’s residence and diplomatic centre. Or the wild west spending on buildings and the award of multi-million dollar contracts to Chinese contractors.
After the licentious spending, the government unashamedly could only muster US$1 million towards help for Haiti – a figure matched by Guyana – a considerably poor country compared to the twin-island state which likes to boast about its oil and gas wealth.
It’s two years before the next general elections but between now and whenever Mr. Manning decides that the nation should go to the polls, the twin-island state is going to be treated to sustained political fervor and yes – Old Mas behavior.
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