tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64051134422797547232024-03-25T17:05:03.966-04:00iBlogTruth SpeaksSharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-46331675547566495052023-03-13T07:08:00.000-04:002023-03-13T07:08:01.694-04:00Panorama Re engineered:It Is Now A Hustler's Paradise.<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc0hpC8syHHHkksX0y1AypNCu4QrAUWzej2QBVf1jjOoisRCHp3Ljr7k6mRtbfALhdPDPlXMjorF_YsnhdQbyApGQ1kiBC8F9U1YxkpsyfkEGr6siDhuPG86WGTl3OBJUEayEl1Ei-08qwaK6_e0SIBFi0aofAKnzll58D0QxNWfbYct7G-wGaDW3qcg/s1040/charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="780" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc0hpC8syHHHkksX0y1AypNCu4QrAUWzej2QBVf1jjOoisRCHp3Ljr7k6mRtbfALhdPDPlXMjorF_YsnhdQbyApGQ1kiBC8F9U1YxkpsyfkEGr6siDhuPG86WGTl3OBJUEayEl1Ei-08qwaK6_e0SIBFi0aofAKnzll58D0QxNWfbYct7G-wGaDW3qcg/s320/charlie.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dennis Phillip (at right).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one had to dare him to speak publicly, for the records.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was about time. And that was evident in his tone strident but respectful, as is the nature of the man who was part of the team that built the structure for all the financial benefits that accrue to steelbands competing for Panorama, at least.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ironically, for the post Covid Panorama (the Jubilee year, no less) his band was starved of funds.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For starters, Birdsong Steelband (Academy and Social Enterprises), born out of the University of the West Indies, has been denied access to TT$60,000, which Dennis Phillip says is owed from the 2022 Taste of Carnival.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indeed it was a bitter taste for the band that did not "qualify" for a place on the stage at the Queen's Park Savannah, as Pan Trinbago’s President Beverley Ramsey Moore arbitrarily ruled their exclusion on the grounds that they did not play a bomb tune.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“She deemed Andre Tanker’s Forward Home as a calypso, even though it earned Birdsong a third place in a Jouvert Bomb competition at Victoria Square in Port of Spain about ten years ago.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Was she uniquely qualified as a musical anthropologist to make that call for a song that was never perceived as calypso?” Phillip asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Again, she said the band did not play with the required numbers on the night when they passed through the yard in what they said was a courtesy call and not a judging moment. “What was the mechanism ascribed to the executive to play the role of adjudicators for the large band for a Taste of Carnival?” he asked, again.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since no one knew the parameters of the Taste of Carnival her decision was challenged in the High Court. But Birdsong, in the spirit of pan, withdrew the matter which was set for 11 AM on Saturday, hours before the show.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consequently, Philip and his team were punished. A withdrawal of government funding is a painful blow to any unsponsored band, especially in an environment where most bands were held hostage by players as the post Covid Panorama morphed into a big time hustle.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In normal legal practice, if you withdraw a matter there are no costs involved. She says her lawyer's fee was $100,000, while our lawyers charged $23,000. Her reasoning, as we understand it up to now, is that she has to pay that bill and that's why she has not yet given us the money,” Phillip explained. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charlie, very much a man who prefers to remain behind the scenes, is not just an architect of Birdsong. Starting as a UWI graduate at the age of 24 years, and working through both Pan Trinbago and the National Carnival Commission (NCC), he was part of the team that shaped the business side of pan, giving birth to PANVESCO, eventually, after years of riding the bull to ensure that money was wisely invested in the steelband communities.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Against this backdrop, his tone became more strident. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Righteous;">Elite Hustle</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The powers that be perceive pan as another CEPEP programme. The entire commentariat (educated people and so called experts) see pan as a way to keep the ghetto quiet. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">It all has to do with money passing through like a dose of salts to keep us quiet after Ash Wednesday.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The Tobago connection has a lot to do with it,” Phillip said during an interview last week, as all bands went into post mortem mode after Panorama 2023.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You must understand that Tobago politics is on a knife's edge since the two parliamentary seats on the island are critical to national politics. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beverley Ramsey Moore has always been in opposition to the People's National Movement (PNM) in Tobago. She now has Rowley by the ‘short and curlies’.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It won’t be surprising to see her take it to another level and contest an election for the PNM, just as Bertie Fraser ( a former President) when he fought for the Tunapuna seat in the 1976 elections.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Anything she comes up with she gets it,” he stated, matter of fact.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“She has traction and access to government funding and determines where the corn is being shared, and there is a certain kind of arrogance that goes with that,” he charged.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“They are distributing the largesse as if it is their own manna from heaven,’ Philip said, starting to build a case against inequity in the distribution of resources.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Tobago is ,therefore, an elite hustle.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“One young player boasted to me that he called a price of $7,000 to play for a Tobago band, which did not factor in the cost of transport to the island as well as accommodation and meals. Their bands had the advantage over all others, having also received money In October from the Tobago House of Assembly ,THA as Chief Secretary Farley Augustine pointed out, added to the money from the national body.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“That’s in addition to other funds easily doled out by the THA, on request, which they are fortunate to have,” the Birdsong founder said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If you approach any young person under the age of 22 years, they ask one question; how much are you paying? That’s the mentality that is now haunting every steelband,” he said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Yet, musicians from England, France, the United States and Japan and other parts of the world, who come to Trinidad to play at the Panorama, pay their airfare, accommodation and meals .</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Perhaps the most damning thing I have heard over the season was a young player saying , "I don't want to be a musician, I am a panman. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are people playing for 15 bands and can't tell you who is the arranger or what is the name of the song. Can they really play music?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“These entitled young people are not interested in where the steelband came from and really don't care where it is going because they are in it for the hustle," he said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “After 40 years of a University of the West Indies program , that is clearly an indictment on us. Even worse, there are students begging for funds to do post grad work abroad, which does not reflect well on our institutions and our self described nomenclature as the mecca of the steelband,” he put it nicely.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Why are people leaving the mecca to do graduate work when others should be flocking here to do post graduate work in the Trinidad environment?” Charlie asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“At the last International Conference on Pan held in Port of Spain (2015) there were 30 odd learned papers presented, only two of which came from Trinidad,” he recalled, removing the plaster from deep sores.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If we can't tell our own story, what do you expect?” Phillip mused.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Righteous;">A False Sense of Reality.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Essentially we have a national culture that can't distinguish between Public Relations and Philanthropy. "We need perceptive donors who understand that society needs art and are not just looking to ride on a wave of popularity.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Unless the elites see all art and culture as intrinsic to the evolution of society, we have nowhere to go,” he said, challenging the commentariat to open their minds.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Whereas the perceived narrative is that the steel pan is a national instrument, it is instructive to note what is happening in the Schools' Panorama. Bands that were champions in the past like St Augustine did not take part in the 2023 competition because under the Ministry of Education, the schools’ panorama is more reflective of the endowments of the schools, rather than the talent," Charlie continued with the stream of consciousness that's badly needed in the current narrative contrived by Pan Trinbago.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“UNIPET gave a $35,000 cheque to the Combined Naparima College who also received donations from Tiger Tanks and the San Fernando City Corporation .</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Compare that to a Medium Band; the only private money Pamberi got was a donation of $5,000 from Nestor Sullivan's widow,“ Phillip revealed, to drive home the point of the growing divide.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Seven out of ten bands in the finals were from Board schools with the only government schools being South East Port of Spain, Pleasantville and El Dorado Secondary Schools.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yet, for years,they have been mamaguying bands and saying the categories serve as a stepping stone to move up to a large band. How many bands have graduated?” he asked, adding another thought provoking question to the list, bringing the narrative to reality.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Pan Elders won the Medium Band category about five or six times, is anybody sponsoring them?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is the playing field level for a band with just $300,000 in sponsorship, when compared with a band collecting $1.3 million which will allow it to nurture a core of players on retainer fees and not be subject to the mercies of the hustlers?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What was the audience at the small and medium band finals?” he asked rhetorically, knowing both shows operated at a loss.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“These are conversations you are not hearing anything about,” he reminded us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Righteous;">Stand Pipe Politics</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The President of Pan Trinbago is very much into gaslighting. So she says we collected more revenue in Panorama 2023 , but what is the comparison?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What was the arrangement with the Greens at the semi finals, for example?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If you make a few million dollars in gate receipts ( and that is stretching it) </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">please say what is the total cost of the Panorama? Give us the overall budget and show us what is the share of gate receipts,” Charlie said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If you have a show on the scale of Panorama whose main revenue is gate receipts then you are spinning top in mud”, he repeated what we all know.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“At events around the world, they collect more money from the global audience rather than the gate receipts.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no global audience except for a few people in the diaspora and still the live broadcasts are of poor technical quality,” Charlie said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yet, with this false sense of what reality is, Pan Trinbago acts with a kind of condescension when they give you a small portion of the money due and have you hanging on, using the tactics of a two-bit politician playing stand pipe politics.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What is the revenue stream from all the Panorama music for which they own all the rights?” he asked again, the questions piling up.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The fact that we are one of the best in the world does not mean it will be so in the next generation, because we are heading down that slippery slope, " he added, after throwing light on the messy situation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWyetaf0VgN-24ckegvddyfxn51pkv-ohUWI62q66QsBERsvjIEQllp2VJpnC8mlcEPyuo3Fri0F2G9753UXfqoDu6XxxbDP8BlMfCQIn7DLm9rVnxoasbvEmDubzCIBN_tDPjfLS1X49Q9iuPr15pumlwe9970y_ZKHJ8cS2b-GFswN0HETJigeQ9A/s690/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-03-12%20at%205.58.47%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="523" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWyetaf0VgN-24ckegvddyfxn51pkv-ohUWI62q66QsBERsvjIEQllp2VJpnC8mlcEPyuo3Fri0F2G9753UXfqoDu6XxxbDP8BlMfCQIn7DLm9rVnxoasbvEmDubzCIBN_tDPjfLS1X49Q9iuPr15pumlwe9970y_ZKHJ8cS2b-GFswN0HETJigeQ9A/s320/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-03-12%20at%205.58.47%20PM.jpeg" width="243" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Righteous; font-size: large;">Thunder Across the Table.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dennis Phillips is immensely qualified to break the glass ceiling for all the men who have been terrified of offending Pan Trinbago first woman President Beverley Ramsey Moore, unwilling to upset the apple cart for fear of victimisation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among them have been men who did nerve wracking negotiations, among other things, to make it possible for the current executive to float around on the raft they built. The intention was equitable distribution.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was no payback for the men who fought for tens of millions of the national purse to be allocated to steelbands.But passions fulfilled was enough.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dennis Phillip is a founding member of Birdsong (1973) and became manager of the band two years later, even as he held jobs at the UWI Campus, the Ministry of Finance and BWIA. By 1978 there were three members of Birdsong on the Pan Trinbago executive under George Goddard who resigned after the Panorama 1979 boycott, when Arnim Smith moved up the ladder from Vice President.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Righteous;">Fighting For Assistance</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the time, the appearance fee for steelband at Panorama was $300 which was essentially the cost to tune a tenor pan. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arnim and myself negotiated with the Carnival Development Committee (CDC) led by the late Jack Lewsey and Ivan Williams was a member of the Board which meant there was thunder across the table when we asked for the appearance fee to move to $5,000.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The 1979 boycott marked the first time that panmen demonstrated outside of WhiteHall including Staunch PNMites like Eddie Hart .On Desperadoes did not heed the boycott.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We resumed the negotiations in 1980 and they said if we raise the appearance fee from $300 to $5000, all interest groups would want more. Eventually we agreed to raise the fee and the rest came in the form of assistance to steelbands to make up the $5,000 for which they negotiated,” Phillips said giving context to the benefits now enjoyed in the movement.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Righteous;">And Then Came The Scoresheets</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With that settled, the next step was to bring back the Steelband Music Festival after an eight year hiatus.Pat Bishop who was working with Kirpalani’s the largest retailer on the island at the time, along with Damian Holder and Kenny De Silva helped to facilitate. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Two of us, Greaves from Starlift and I, met with Roy Boyke, Kenny de Silva and the Chairman of Kirpalani, Shaffique Sultan Khan at El Socorro and we agreed to use the Jean Pierre Sports Complex.. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“By the night of the finals in 1980, tickets were sold out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We created a professional environment, at the end of which all the players and their bands lined up and listened to the remarks of the adjudicators, when the results were announced, as it was in the format of the Music Festival," Charlie, who was the stage manager for the ground breaking event, said.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It was the first time that score sheets were used to give the results which was also introduced for the first time in Panorama the following year. Previously, bands were given a final score. There were no marks or comments.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“After the roaring success of the Music Festival, Pan Trinbago was awarded theTrinity Cross at the National Awards in August. In 1981 we staged the School’s Steelband Music Festival, moulding a new crop of professionals.” he said, tracing history that has seemingly been erased for a generation of small hustlers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Righteous;">Payment For Excellence Killed</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Then came the landmark in 1991 when the international courts awarded millions of dollars to Trinidad and Tobago in the Tesoro Bribery Scandal, the only time that the country ever received money from a corruption case.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Prime Minister ANR Robinson gave TT$7 million to the steelband movement, which was a lot at that time and we decided that it would remain as capital for steelbands, which gave birth to PANVESCO, with Clary Benn being the architect as we involved a broader section of the community namely Reginald Dumas and Joe Esau to come on board with their expertise and experience. It was launched with three steel bands playing inside the lobby of the Central Bank building.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“When the idea came for payment to players, it was meant to incentivise excellence in Panorama by awarding graded stipends to players from the first four bands.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">BWIA had pumped one million into the Panorama and had collected all the names and prepared the cheques.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“But Patrick Arnold came and created the hustle when he said give money to all players,” he said, adding it has evolved into one of the most corrupt processes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /><br /></p>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-51251637536754003142022-07-18T12:29:00.069-04:002022-07-20T11:54:21.358-04:00 How to Knock Out Watchman? Gary Plots and Plans, PSC on Pins and Needles.<p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: arial;"><b>Blocking a Nation's Prayer:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There was a sense of purpose, when decades ago, he declared his mission in the name he chose. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost always with a serious expression, but with the ability to make you laugh at yourself anytime, he said his duty is to be, for Trinidad and Tobago, the Watchman: “to look out for people, to warn people and to stop people from doing wrong.”</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfn_8TUaQoFiaX_eiNSwHdydkGuUUqC_6a0fldY85IFNAyom8AVtk1pZRLmZSYnJUgZt1Efi4yJzKAVvEdNGQsjQf6jKEAItS-vlAOQ6PmjFKHaTt8-DDHuA95DAsWVOa7eb_DiaDxe0q7el2LShslv5sWx2GgbxJPt0-DIgL6oTorXvRDWkg8iyXWg/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-16%20at%206.33.17%20PM%20(1).jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfn_8TUaQoFiaX_eiNSwHdydkGuUUqC_6a0fldY85IFNAyom8AVtk1pZRLmZSYnJUgZt1Efi4yJzKAVvEdNGQsjQf6jKEAItS-vlAOQ6PmjFKHaTt8-DDHuA95DAsWVOa7eb_DiaDxe0q7el2LShslv5sWx2GgbxJPt0-DIgL6oTorXvRDWkg8iyXWg/w320-h213/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-16%20at%206.33.17%20PM%20(1).jpeg" title="Wayne Hayde (Gary Cardinez)" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wayne Hayde (Gary Cardinez Photo)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is he still too serious for them? </span><span style="font-family: arial;">When the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Headquarters was car bombed in the 1990 attempted coup and police men were utterly demoralised, as a police constable he was among a small group that led from the ground and from the ashes came the Police Second Division Social and Welfare Association that successfully bargained for resources and respect.</span><div><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The homegrown, incorruptible, police officer‘s decades of experience in international conflict zones-in a non-military capacity- in Africa, the Middle East and Asia has groomed him for the job at hand. He sees the challenge as bringing T&T to an even keel.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once again, Wayne Hayde has applied for the post as Police Commissioner, four years after they created the circumstances to make him ineligible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2017 , they rendered him unqualified on the basis of his age, although he is far younger than the man who is Chairman of the National Security Council and US President Joe Biden, no doubt.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did his fair and fearless social commentary in calypso in the decade of the 90’s, especially, place him at a disadvantage, he wondered. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, he refrained from taking legal action because he did not want it to seem like a case of sour grapes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hayde quietly left Trinidad and witnessed, from afar, all the drama unfold as a result of the tainted process that took Gary Griffith into office as Commissioner of Police. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was no different from every night he performed in the Calypso Monarch Finals, even when thousands of patrons at the Queen’s Park Savannah chanted “sing Watchman sing.” As he walked off the stage, he jumped in his car and headed home to watch the results on television, knowing it was the respect of the people that mattered and not the status quo.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, as a candidate, the Chaguanas born and bred Hayde is setting standards for the newly appointed Judith Jones led Police Service Commission (PSC), by his vigilance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“This is a new day,” he declared recently, in a voice message to senior police officers in a What’s App Chat Group, many of whom pushed him to apply for the job as top cop.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Not to undermine, challenge or damage anyone, we are all seeking a fair assessment, a confidential process, which gives confidence to the public that the person selected has been chosen by fair means,” he stated.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the process between 2017 and 2018, there were major breaches of confidentiality (that could have been challenged in court) when Griffith paraded, in the media, the scores of the candidates on the Merit list, showing himself as the man with the most points. And no one asked how he got access to that information. As </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">it unfolded, Griffith was a repeat offender when in 2021, as a candidate, he was copied directly on confidential emails from the PSC leading to the eventual resignation of the Commission.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In 2022, there was an interview on July 2nd with the candidate saying that he has “complete confidence in this new PSC, after he met with them”, Hayde noted in the dialogue with the senior officers, wondering “ if we are going through a tainted and biased process, again, where the outcome has already been determined.” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">Days later the PSC issued a statement clarifying that the meeting with Griffith was not connected to the selection process. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">But that was not all. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCQTaAFQNru8uwQEszcIlSkjhUgdEbleJ1fDZsabItiPh9BCW3EdJvoFqJAqg3rSPE9-alzcDT-iHrU12CbnBONTOfMVJDyMELKb7np9jJ52e83RfXZKM_4mXAacvPsepzFJbLROsxNkuZb50dTxBigiU33dpWj6Y19U1M_Opp3hVQSXVWYGxu1EsXA/s1200/griffithONE.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="982" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCQTaAFQNru8uwQEszcIlSkjhUgdEbleJ1fDZsabItiPh9BCW3EdJvoFqJAqg3rSPE9-alzcDT-iHrU12CbnBONTOfMVJDyMELKb7np9jJ52e83RfXZKM_4mXAacvPsepzFJbLROsxNkuZb50dTxBigiU33dpWj6Y19U1M_Opp3hVQSXVWYGxu1EsXA/w262-h320/griffithONE.jpg" title="Gary Griffith" width="262" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gary Griffith</td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still unreported to date is a recent attempt by the former Commissioner to lobby a senior Tobagonian police officer to apply for the post promising him second in command, in what appears to be a desperate attempt to get the support of senior police officers. He is trying to give the impression that he has some power and influence over the process again and is sure to win.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the Watchman is on the alert.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More than three years ago, in 2019, when he last visited Trinidad and Tobago from Uganda where he lives and works, for a reunion with his Batch, I met and interviewed Wayne Hayde the night before he left the country. There was no right time to publish this interview because it would have been lost in the loud sound of the TTPS crashing into an abyss of politics.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one knows who the Watchman is, really, except for the on stage calypsonian.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The transcript of the recorded interview is broken into bite sized pieces.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read on to understand why, under given circumstances, he is the answer to a Patriot’s prayer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #073763; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wish I had the challenge to lower the murder rate.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those who were there in the Executive of the TTPS did not deserve to be considered for the job because they were part of the colossal failure, in my opinion. There are those who will argue that things were fine, I beg to differ. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me tell you, I want to be able to come home and feel comfortable and work with anyone who is committed, competent and willing to do what it takes to bring the country back to an even keel. Because we are all part of the problem letting the police service sink so low. But of course, I reserve the greatest amount of my disappointment with Stephen Williams, who was a friend of mine, who remained and kept fiddling while the Service was burning.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6IAGJWuTZOs-HoEcrS7er4te-IrX2MRRzA4QH0P4rP2rjWs-r0r2wJufZWyG89SB4lGD8PrQgjDm5hRlkDuVrzZYcjRzLtrdyWgapgQZDFZfshbo6bR5jaL_22JspYfvkeERJL3aPIVrhZVLDku6-MdqSsE-yHSn_ljc1xL73U00aaPcGeHzr39RxFQ/s1104/stephen%20williams.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="597" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6IAGJWuTZOs-HoEcrS7er4te-IrX2MRRzA4QH0P4rP2rjWs-r0r2wJufZWyG89SB4lGD8PrQgjDm5hRlkDuVrzZYcjRzLtrdyWgapgQZDFZfshbo6bR5jaL_22JspYfvkeERJL3aPIVrhZVLDku6-MdqSsE-yHSn_ljc1xL73U00aaPcGeHzr39RxFQ/w108-h200/stephen%20williams.jpg" width="108" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Williams.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">That is the reason why I applied. Had it been a national vote, in 2017, and the both candidates were allowed to talk and make their case I am positively sure, I would have won people over, even though I had been out of the country for so long and half of the young population don't know who I am. But this is the age of the internet and people can simply check and make their own judgements where that is concerned. </span><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it’s a thankless job. There is no way you are going to score a definitive victory. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What you have to do is hope that your positives outweigh your negatives. And the greatest negative right now (2019) is the question of the murder rate and that is really what I wish I had the challenge to do. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #073763; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I got older and as I went to different places, I have seen a lot of death and destruction.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I have gone to places in Rwanda where they killed and buried 45,000 people (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden). Overall, half a million Tutsis were killed in the genocide, victims of the Hutus. I interviewed people who, I know, if they get an opportunity will cut your throat and drink your blood. I have been to places where people don't have water or basic amenities. I have been to places where had it not been for the grace of God, it could have been me. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihq7NJ4dgi7MpcRu6g938aVOZeY5ZoszVkvF1zFiTm9nZ3yBaqoAJ6YKG0TPf1vF3eU1_81IXi-Dlj7r046vPZdfof6QO6TM2Z-yP8RQmDEM4rALlyRz_kbUvrHFT3BLHPeTxLT3JQ8PouqtrBbbmR-ILMWN6evDDDG775rFrQBjxNfw2FIOAWKWCI0w/s976/rwanda%20befpre.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihq7NJ4dgi7MpcRu6g938aVOZeY5ZoszVkvF1zFiTm9nZ3yBaqoAJ6YKG0TPf1vF3eU1_81IXi-Dlj7r046vPZdfof6QO6TM2Z-yP8RQmDEM4rALlyRz_kbUvrHFT3BLHPeTxLT3JQ8PouqtrBbbmR-ILMWN6evDDDG775rFrQBjxNfw2FIOAWKWCI0w/w400-h225/rwanda%20befpre.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AFP Photo: Rwanda before the genocide.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I lived and worked in East Timor, we used to take a flight and go to Bali. Two weeks after I passed through there, suicide bombers blew themselves up and killed people at Mata Hari Mall .</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From Sudan, I covered Somalia, Addis Ababa and been to Nairobi at the West Gate mall, a place that all the expats like me will go. They killed them there. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do not know when is your time to go. So, I have learnt now to be thankful. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A potent mixture of academics and experience: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, that is what I was doing. It is conflict and that’s my forte. In 1998 I got a call from the United Nations, two years after I applied, and they offered a contract for me to work with the International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda, starting as a P2 , paying ten times what I earned in the TTPS.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was a witness support officer to ensure the protection and safety of witnesses to the genocide in Rwanda. I also served as an investigator, going to different places and interviewing survivors of the genocide and taking statements and collecting evidence. I went to different prisons in far out places. I stayed there for one and half years and then I got an offer to go to East Timor where they had broken away from the Indonesians and there was violence. The UN set up an international mission there with the stated purpose to turn East Timor into an Independent country in 2000. I spent six years out there. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZuf2K8LeYpZYIxjpirCwPqSUMwjIanacM55-6FCPGqrkY_69DlxeSHXa38ip3S0--LpUic3np_RFkhhI_OdXIZCsZQwxN6-sQ5eunbeugcUpwSSPvaB1HyIkshN7UUQKH1LiDgep1g32ex-4FkaVopc78inFs48x6kYkQmJDn8LRTYtWGpfU4h_wZQ/s1200/timor%20fight.webp" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZuf2K8LeYpZYIxjpirCwPqSUMwjIanacM55-6FCPGqrkY_69DlxeSHXa38ip3S0--LpUic3np_RFkhhI_OdXIZCsZQwxN6-sQ5eunbeugcUpwSSPvaB1HyIkshN7UUQKH1LiDgep1g32ex-4FkaVopc78inFs48x6kYkQmJDn8LRTYtWGpfU4h_wZQ/w400-h240/timor%20fight.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UK Guardian: Timor fight for Independence</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was the Legal Adviser to three Police Commissioners and training adviser to another, setting up the police academy and creating programs for the new recruits because they were creating a country. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I even drafted the Police Service Act for them. I drafted the Road Traffic Act, parts of the Firearms Ammunition and Explosives Act and part of the Criminal Procedure Act dealing with Juvenile Justice, as well. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because the country was being run by the UN, we had that kind of ability to write laws so I used my experience from different places to write the laws. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">Especially road traffic because at home in Trinidad, I knew every law in the road traffic book. I was promoted twice during that stint.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After allegations of abuse, the UN decided to set up the Conduct and Discipline Unit and I applied for a post and moved to New York where I stayed for one and half years and was again promoted to P5 before I was sent as the UN Chief of Conduct and Discipline for Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, and Italy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spent a year and half in Lebanon and got another promotion to D1 and they sent me to Darfur and it's where I spent just over seven years and retired from there. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">It is impossible for me to see people through the prism of race and class because of where I grew up</span> 🙌 </b>and that is o</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">ne of the things that has assisted me greatly in life</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was always comfortable going anywhere. That first became important when I became President of the Student’s Guild at the University of the West Indies, UWI. I can’t lose my accent. I don't know how to pretend. If I need to address any formal gathering, anywhere in the world, I know how to use English. But I still sound like I am from Chaguanas. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was born on Henderson Street, Chaguanas, in the area near the Lion House that is featured in Naipaul’s novel, The House for Mr. Biswas. But I grew up everywhere. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first school I went to was the Seereram Memorial Vedic but I didn’t stay there long because we moved to Chase Village and I went to Orange Field Hindu. And then when my other relatives came, they moved me to Carapichaima Anglican. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">👏I now hold a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Law, Law Education Certificate, Master of Science in Protection Management, Master of Commercial Law, Doctor of Business Administration and I am completing a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building at Kampala International University, in Uganda.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are over qualified for the job? Why apply?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Several years ago, when they were going to advertise the post, (when Dwayne Gibbs ended up taking the position) people had called me and asked why don't you apply. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I knew from listening to the politicians that they were not ready to accept a local boy even though I had this international experience. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">They were dead set on bringing somebody, a foreigner. So I did not apply. I was proven to be correct. Then when there is a need now, I got many calls from both civilians and police telling me that I would make a difference. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuC2iICJp96QMaiGzUgWNle5-w61i4BhSTyvw0xqEjGY1N3tyDXZe_fE51-psciD6fyRANfiqPiBdtfiQd4ppBemWSlzkCLLtMWp2kTeuKOobuBh-KnWO2NQW6v9yy3f0PUNyMNLFcPmYAd01qcZ55Ol0CP2YAWD68XxrYdV1Q4bvSYySM8-XLmkyocg/s350/dwayne%20gibbs.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="275" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuC2iICJp96QMaiGzUgWNle5-w61i4BhSTyvw0xqEjGY1N3tyDXZe_fE51-psciD6fyRANfiqPiBdtfiQd4ppBemWSlzkCLLtMWp2kTeuKOobuBh-KnWO2NQW6v9yy3f0PUNyMNLFcPmYAd01qcZ55Ol0CP2YAWD68XxrYdV1Q4bvSYySM8-XLmkyocg/s320/dwayne%20gibbs.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canadian Dwayne Gibbs</td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Against my better judgement I decided that I was going to apply. (2017)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Against your better judgement?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yeah, because I still felt that people judge you not by who you are but by how they assume you are. And sometimes people, hearing the things I sang as a Calypsonian, and not knowing what I did outside of Trinidad and Tobago would never understand the level of expertise and so on. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many times, I had downtime and I would just beat the books, you know. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes when you ask people Wayne Hayde, who is he? People do not always know. People see me through different windows. There were those on UWI campus with me, who knew me as I was and would judge on the basis of that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They made up their minds to let the ship sink.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the whole process of selection in 2017-2018 the intention was to maintain the status quo. I was told by the Police Service Commission, they were given advice by some senior counsel ,that because of my age, because I was over 60 and I am coming in from overseas, that they should not put me on the merit list. That is after inviting me twice from Uganda to Trinidad ,Transatlantic flights and jet lag and sleep loss, to do interviews, at which I did well. You understand? And then suddenly they decided to put Deodath Dulalchan— I have nothing against him I know him very well, and Harold Phillip, these are people I worked with and I like them I don't have anything against them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I knew that was the game. So, they put them on the list. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was Deodath Dulalchan, Stephen Williams, Harold Phillips and Gary Griffith. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I still think I have a case against them but you cannot spend your whole life litigating. For what purpose? Would it prove something? Would it improve my life? All it would do is give me bragging rights at this stage. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So that’s what they did. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">They did not look at international experience and the fact that you were not part of the problem so you could be part of the solution. They were prepared to put the people who created the problem back into office. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Police Service Commission is occupied by different personalities at different times.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Does the PSC have a culture, even though they put different people in the Commission? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When people work together and they make decisions of a particular nature, the organisations develop a culture. Every Commissioner comes in and meets a support staff: the administration and personnel department, the lawyers, etc. some of whom have been there for donkey years and enforce a certain understanding of how things are, and how things ought to be. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Commissioners being in daily, monthly, weekly interaction with the officers who are already part of that executive, can develop an understanding or a likeness. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like me, when I started singing calypso there were people who were afraid of me and felt that I was very, very, very radical. and then after year one and year two, they would come and say I listen to you and there is nothing wrong with you. And they have that understanding. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I felt that the PSC had made up their minds to maintain the status quo and let the ship sink with who was already on it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheS5WLdv2iNdKof-xCyOKcll-J5z-C9K4BN80RVTnG6CJF2d6GT3jLdh-JVl_urMrTmxr6X89wfKEcG8PXcfdXeKQVL3xaHdFLxKfamXWuVDlLKTz41uLOx7tsShDBDJ4Cx_t60OpRVe1uOVrycIqnhkl4eEHycpXTmjr1Nxm6rhG0j_-jVZ8uOAqAJA/s1024/PSCsupport%20staff.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1024" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheS5WLdv2iNdKof-xCyOKcll-J5z-C9K4BN80RVTnG6CJF2d6GT3jLdh-JVl_urMrTmxr6X89wfKEcG8PXcfdXeKQVL3xaHdFLxKfamXWuVDlLKTz41uLOx7tsShDBDJ4Cx_t60OpRVe1uOVrycIqnhkl4eEHycpXTmjr1Nxm6rhG0j_-jVZ8uOAqAJA/w400-h244/PSCsupport%20staff.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newsday Photo: Members of the Commission appear before the JSC, December 2017.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #073763; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That Police Service Commission Lied to the JSC </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And they lied, for example, they never asked me if I wished to be considered for the post of deputy commissioner and I heard them go before the Joint Select Committee of Parliament, and said they asked all the candidates. There were two candidates whom they did not ask that question. Gary Griffith and I. Because we applied for the post of Police Commissioner alone. And they know they did not ask me that question. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know they were recording part of the interview. Sure, they would never produce that interview with me to say I was asked that question over the course of two interviews because I would have told them what I told the press, I did not apply for Deputy Commissioner. I applied for Commissioner. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Dulalchan, I knew, did not apply for Commissioner and Philip told me himself he did not apply but they leap frog everybody else and then try to change the whole process and say that they were looking for a talent pool. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are creating a talent pool, once you apply you will be assessed and those with the talent pool will be rated against any of the two posts. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was never done. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #073763; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trinidad’s Perfect Crime Storm</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You created a system where young people went into schools unable to learn and so develop a culture of violence within those schools. We should focus more on technical schools which provide the trade and skills that allow the whole country to run. The artisan core is the basic core of the society. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You introduce people to frustration and isolation, they found themselves where they had no real communities to provide solace, with community leaders who were gang leaders. Once that happened there was no pulling it back, except by drastic measures. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For me, I look at cause and effect. I tell people there are many reasons that have all dovetailed to create a perfect storm of what we have here now. I am not a sociologist or psychologist or a community activist. So all the arguments about breakdown of the family structure and alienation of people, all these that could give rise to a culture of violence, I would leave to the experts.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like to talk as a police officer because that has been my major experience. But also because of what I have seen, how other societies operate. I would say the biggest problem is that this country is overrun with guns .</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUeAZ2H7cJVjqhFk3z5R8SR8vxrnKPuCOo05D7qr0AMizTGn4SxNOoDorgWkDkdpPsJpgmykE9sdSv4YE6UgatmdiTBS5Cq2AY0ByN-74wsJGJMRmt44sg8h-nA65ITX1HJ8qi6AJm6h1is2L1-fFeSwDDfddgshigAkxt8E3o7OS3RwEMNHAGjgId7g/s1024/uns.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUeAZ2H7cJVjqhFk3z5R8SR8vxrnKPuCOo05D7qr0AMizTGn4SxNOoDorgWkDkdpPsJpgmykE9sdSv4YE6UgatmdiTBS5Cq2AY0ByN-74wsJGJMRmt44sg8h-nA65ITX1HJ8qi6AJm6h1is2L1-fFeSwDDfddgshigAkxt8E3o7OS3RwEMNHAGjgId7g/s320/uns.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trini gunman.</td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: arial;">The reason we are overrun with guns is because decisions were taken that loosened our controls over our already porous borders like closing the Police Marine Branch rather than building it together with the Coast Guard to create a concentric ring around the island, especially the Venezuelan side which is so close anybody who could walk on water will reach here. <p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We must remember that we are part of this transshipment route from the major countries in South America where cocaine is being created. Unfortunately, we are on the road to the United States, which is the biggest and major user of drugs. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you have drugs of that nature the guns are there to protect it and we did not do anything to help with reducing the access to guns, given that we have a porous border and are so close to large countries that can do us harm. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we had what was a failed system where we felt that every child was entitled to go to secondary school whether they had the ability to do well academically. We created all these schools and put students in it even if they were marginal in passing the SEA.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #073763; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Police don't scare gunmen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have a miniature version of the garrison turf. On one side of the highway or the other side. It is all fed by one thing: guns. Once you remove the guns from their hands, nobody is going to rush across the road with no cutlass and go chop up the guys on the other side. That will only happen in the old steel band clash days. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The unfortunate thing is that it is the ordinary people who are being misled into believing that the police are the enemy. That is what you have to conquer. if you do not conquer that view you will never get the intelligence, the support and all of that to help the police to solve crime. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is far gone because of the availability of guns. Without the guns we will go back into our Trinidad old talk and fight, but without causing too much harm. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our legislation is too weak based on what I know elsewhere. If you get caught with an illegal firearm in Uganda it will be a sad day for you, let me just put it that way. In one year, our murder rate was 500 and Uganda was 4000 but Uganda has population of 43 million (about twice the population of New York) .When you extrapolate you will see our murder rate is five times what the Uganda murder rate is given the population and then in Uganda, ninety percent of people were being killed by things other than guns- , with knives machetes, arrows, rockets. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Trinidad, how do you scare the gunmen? You're not going to scare them by just having a police presence and a police response. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">The judiciary and the politicians must join hands to ensure there are strong laws and expedited trials. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you do not expedite trials you are going to have people targeted for execution because the longer you stay the more likely they are to be killed. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having a witness protection program does not work as well as you think unless you are in a big country . Where are you going to put them, on another Caribbean Island? It is just a plane to go there.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPOmuCDaDVc5ueoQw5a9XzFZFI9XTQmKFtb2uYX4Ktsh2Tj1AbqYwJOi5bbS6CX1PLplQ9zoJ7KU6V-3tqXxIovh23K4RvRN7EdLhjtnMrf-EW5iLfdeDOzVA8j6xRS5vX6RClE7Pwvi4Y-j1gr9U8Y6CnJlEAO5BxiZk-XhVn3b46MOEkcsF7q9QEAA/s474/alexander'.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="474" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPOmuCDaDVc5ueoQw5a9XzFZFI9XTQmKFtb2uYX4Ktsh2Tj1AbqYwJOi5bbS6CX1PLplQ9zoJ7KU6V-3tqXxIovh23K4RvRN7EdLhjtnMrf-EW5iLfdeDOzVA8j6xRS5vX6RClE7Pwvi4Y-j1gr9U8Y6CnJlEAO5BxiZk-XhVn3b46MOEkcsF7q9QEAA/s320/alexander'.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Vice News</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An Incompetent Officer Can Soon Become a Corrupt Officer </span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For me, even though I am a police officer at heart and I love the police service, we cannot hide our failures., We now have people coming into the job to spend some time, to eat-ah food and build a CV. </span><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We need to fix the discipline problem and do everything we can to get rid of the officers tainted by corruption and incompetence. An incompetent officer can easily become a corrupt officer and I want to get rid of both of them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There must be a process other than using suspension as a punishment. Rather than just put the person on suspension with pay and forget them for the next five years because they are not charged and tried departmentally.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have to set up a disciplinary system within the service to get rid of them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that has to be rigid and has to be consistent and you have to not care. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of the officers bring their wives, girlfriends, concubines, children, aunts, uncles, in the wuk, so everybody seems to have somebody in the wuk who could look out for them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">When a policeman was respected....</span>.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I grew up poor, with difficult circumstances and I made up my mind very early that I wanted to be a policeman, I felt then I would earn respect and it would put me in a place where nobody could take advantage of me. I wanted to go to university because where I grew up in Chase Village, people who wanted a recommendation for their passport had to go to someone who was a police corporal and above, or a university graduate and you would see, people would have to go and line up by one man man’s house to get documents signed. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe it was the best thing that could happen to a young man in terms of creating a sense of discipline. A police training college is not a school. It is a place to take young men and women and turn them into policemen, creating a specific sense of belonging, an identity, a discipline you would not have anywhere else. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LzBTf9MPzR6OxeASlhYVPBN58WJk7M5WDEvbqReHJ9oWmu_qi4U0ySCm5aydiaX-AmykgY3zItbSIeI-B5NxniCVxRn4xE4QQr13nCpFded5JsHJlSZp2LBej35nWvuzDMX5WELagj9pVqWYOrp1f6t9AaqeTlb39nKho5CzEGJCb94ftouIwGg1JQ/s1280/watchman.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LzBTf9MPzR6OxeASlhYVPBN58WJk7M5WDEvbqReHJ9oWmu_qi4U0ySCm5aydiaX-AmykgY3zItbSIeI-B5NxniCVxRn4xE4QQr13nCpFded5JsHJlSZp2LBej35nWvuzDMX5WELagj9pVqWYOrp1f6t9AaqeTlb39nKho5CzEGJCb94ftouIwGg1JQ/s320/watchman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police Constable Wayne Hayde.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #0c343d; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">…..And did not overstep the law</span><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People would think I am militant. My attitude was if I see something is wrong and it can be put right, then why can’t I? Yes, I was always careful about overstepping the law.. There are times when you go to arrest people and they want to fight with you. If you want to fight me when I arrest you, we will have to fight until somebody wins. But I operated a lot by force of personality. I was not a physically big person, even now, but I always had a determination that if you are doing something wrong, I would tell you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If I am going to arrest you, I would tell you, but I also had a sense of knowing when to step back and apply irresistible force. If I go into a situation and realise this might lead to physical confrontation, and I don't have back up, I am not going to proceed. Still, even though I may be armed. I would say let's retract, come back with reinforcements and then take everybody. I tend to operate like that. I wasn’t afraid to arrest people. I arrested a lot of people. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for my superiors, If I had something to say I would say If I had something to ask, I would ask. But I am not disrespectful. I always had this ability to speak my mind. If something is wrong, I would say it is wrong. I hate bullies and if a fight started, I would jump in. I don't like it at all. Maybe I was stupid, or fearless or whatever, but I always felt there was a need to protect people if they are being disadvantaged- or being taken advantage of. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do not take things for granted and I don't mind sitting for the entire day and I have the capacity to argue for a long time. I could be with people doing this for hours and eventually wear them down and wear myself down and it avoided a lot of fights.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">I never lost my temper. Let us discuss it and we would find a way out. I used the same approach throughout my life. When I was writing lyrics, I also understood the need for humour because if you could make people laugh when you are saying something very serious you can get away with it. I understood that because I used to listen to all the calypsonians, listen to their songs and reason it out to know what is wrong and right, hear the clever ones and be wowed by it. </span> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rescued from “abandoned dog kennels”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were always dissatisfied about the leadership of Trevor Bailey at the time. So, I decided that I was going to challenge them. I organised a meeting in the Training College. A few people came, not the crowd that I expected. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following day Holder called me and said he had the same idea and asked for us to join forces. It was 1990, after the coup attempt in which the Police Headquarters was blown up and so we started going around to Stations and Divisions throughout the country. By 1991 we had established the Social and Welfare Association with myself as President. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then we applied for bargaining status for police officers in the second division and it was granted to us because we had the majority members. When it was granted, they challenged the decision which was tried in the High Court- around 1993. I was sitting behind the two lawyers who were arguing the State’s case. They asked me to help them with the intricacies of the regulations and I remember that because one of the lawyers was Sharon Rowley. I was studying law but not yet a lawyer. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We continued representing police officers in the second division . We highlighted the conditions of police stations throughout the country and the first place we started was the Mounted Branch where police officers were actually using abandoned dog kennels as their dormitories. We went down there and shut that down. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In other cases people were working in police stations that were rat infested. They were bitten by bed bugs and it was bad. The law was that the Minister of National Security was the one who had to declare a building to be a police station. But I read the law further which stated that the building had to be approved for human habitation by the Ministry of Health. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, we quietly went behind to the Ministry of Health and had them inspect some stations and give us certificates saying the buildings were not fit for human habitation. And then we took our own money from the Association and identified buildings to rent, to become police stations. We did not want to be accused of closing stations and putting the public at risk because the police officers are not working. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We paid money to rent it. The government did take over the rent from us when they decided to do it. That's how, specifically Sangre Grande, Mon Repos and Four Roads police stations were built. We had discussions with the Minister, Joe Theodore, and the government agreed and asked for six months to start the process. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People have these nice stations and do not know the genesis. (laughter). </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvIN50T_BB7HQfmnDkKElZboPJYuomtkwAbQDugG3K4EyRlcfw4Pntf7yZxr3sL_7SCayOAfmPMQJ31dFif1FcA5iAIeorjjskl6Pg9b6fyXwzrV-446ibob7erx47vTqaKDCeVC3ENlbrtI8lIf9dEoGHqEsjjl4X9tY5njeKqaksggeGEOToyWKsw/s1008/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-18%20at%2012.48.29%20AM%20(2).jpeg" style="background-color: transparent; clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="756" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvIN50T_BB7HQfmnDkKElZboPJYuomtkwAbQDugG3K4EyRlcfw4Pntf7yZxr3sL_7SCayOAfmPMQJ31dFif1FcA5iAIeorjjskl6Pg9b6fyXwzrV-446ibob7erx47vTqaKDCeVC3ENlbrtI8lIf9dEoGHqEsjjl4X9tY5njeKqaksggeGEOToyWKsw/s320/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-18%20at%2012.48.29%20AM%20(2).jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Watchman on stage<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">T</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">hing to Cry, You Wining?<br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I only started singing when I wrote my first calypso in 1985 while at the University of the West Indies It was “ </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As a policeman, one of the things that you had to do was work extra duty at shows.. Sometimes I had nothing better to do after work, than to work and go home. So, I would work extra duties at the calypso tent, especially opposite the jail on Frederick Street, at Shadow’s Master’s Den. I worked there so many times that I could sing everybody’s songs. Then, too I would hear someone say something and know I could say it differently. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I entered the university calypso competition as a first-year student. I called myself Calypso Fresh, and I beat them badly. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then an Independence Calypso competition came up in August 1988 and I had written a song called Boots and Brains for the third time at campus competition. They did not seem to understand what I was saying, so they placed me fourth. I took the same calypso and changed the lyrics to make it national, on the urging of my friends. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I got the form to sign up, I did not know what to call myself. I was watching Gayelle one night when Shorty-I and his family were singing a song called the Watchman on the walls of Jerusalem. And I said that is a good name. </span></p></span><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I went to the auditions where nobody knew who I was. I spent two days there. On the second day I got my chance to sing, as I hit the first verse and chorus and Dr. Fedo Blake who was one of the judges jumped up. And calypsonians who were outside started running in to hear. I got scared, but when I was finished, Peter Ray Blood asked my name and he wrote an article saying "hold on to your crown Cro Cro, the Watchman is coming strong. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cro Cro decided not to defend. I ended up winning. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was the Students Guild President, at UWI Roodal Moonilal became the Secretary and then moved up to become VP in the second year ,and I was President a third time when I was doing my postgraduate studies. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moonilal was always a very sharp guy- always politically motivated. When Club 88 was formed he asked me to sing in the Aranguez savannah. I had just won the Independence Monarch title with Boots and a Brain, but I refused to sing on any political stage. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-au6VIc6lFarhRzM-LwO0-mQWvHpuDooBjx9u_bkN2QATEM1vYrf3u7cMkM_HggZbnGvUwL2RoRjdybspNzwumAXSOXHI4Fz38YpEv4JGC-oFY5pChVrM-pHGfRrZbU6V7jpFnkNSAxEYLSwR8qhL1ssd06pd_MDCUZy5h1Dy3xwKnA-x3fzuWwX8g/s1008/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-18%20at%2012.48.29%20AM%20(2).jpeg" style="background-color: transparent; clear: right; display: inline; font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: 700; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0c343d; text-align: left;">Victimised for my lyrics</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would say yes, though you can never really have any definitive proof of it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me give an example. In 1995 I sang a song called the Ladder, about then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday and the charges brought against him before he was elected to office.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was the same year I applied for a Commonwealth scholarship to go to Canada or England to do a Masters in Criminology. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I went through the process in which seven people were interviewed and I emerged at the top of the list that included three others. The only thing left was for the list to be taken to Cabinet for approval before December 31st. The interesting thing is that the other four were sacrificed because if they gave approvals for 2,3 and 4, I would have had a case for discrimination, so they gave no scholarships that year. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But then too I felt my career was much better as a singer. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_sf6BwXaJ3cp1zklMxszyjgl_9d-RyTPvfTrX3faAGD0ok5cpD8xXHRHCwQg1GY0OlI6D5XEjF25O7fXek6l6IiTlZkFRvrJoX1QV2NW3RWbJ7XneuqY4Lf-ddaItRrQOFhVPJxiiDg-Z-WZdV02bGcRjZHZAegw6WJtUOrozKD3i10pXdi73UGIaQ/s1008/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-18%20at%2012.48.29%20AM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="756" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_sf6BwXaJ3cp1zklMxszyjgl_9d-RyTPvfTrX3faAGD0ok5cpD8xXHRHCwQg1GY0OlI6D5XEjF25O7fXek6l6IiTlZkFRvrJoX1QV2NW3RWbJ7XneuqY4Lf-ddaItRrQOFhVPJxiiDg-Z-WZdV02bGcRjZHZAegw6WJtUOrozKD3i10pXdi73UGIaQ/s320/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-07-18%20at%2012.48.29%20AM.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ever serious, Wayne Hayde.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I placed higher in competition in the years when another party other than the PNM was in power, whether it was NAR or UNC, if you check my records. I felt that the judges had their own biases which were often applied to calypso and calypsonians, in a subtle way. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now it's easier for the judges, because the people have forgotten to sing political commentary. They don't have those challenges anymore. It's a question of music and who has a better voice, who went to the right school and who is managing who and all that. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I made up my mind, very early, that I would basically sing for the people. I remember where I grew up, the people I know, who I feel comfortable with long before I became a singer. I never lost friends. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the disappointment of 1995 I decided to pursue a master's degree in criminology. I wanted to go to Cambridge University but it was expensive, So I looked for an alternative and applied to John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NY to do a Master's Degree in Protection Management. I gathered the money I made from singing calypso and I took vacation leave and went to the US in 1997.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I spent two semesters and completed most of the course. My GPA was 3.92. And I was poised to go to Brown’s University to pursue my Ph’d when I got the job offer at the United Nations... and that decision informed my life for the past two decades. I learnt everyday that I lived.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J9EahZlWOt0" width="320" youtube-src-id="J9EahZlWOt0"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">1994: "Rise up my people let the world know you are alive. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Let them see that despite all struggle, my people are bound to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span>survive.🙏</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /></span></div>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.com0Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago10.6603196 -61.5085625-17.649914236178844 -96.6648125 38.970553436178847 -26.352312499999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-69003644961690826852021-04-21T18:23:00.002-04:002021-04-23T17:07:11.117-04:00 PM Under House Arrest : Police Under Duress<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5f49dfbe-7fff-5182-8aab-8bece929d320"><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Fitzgerald Hinds, in his first incarnation under the
Patrick Manning administration, was largely a backbencher and his role as
Junior Minister in National Security was one in which he seemed to revel more
in the appearances since there was nothing he could fundamentally change even
if he knew how to do it.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> Now, almost two decades later e</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">ven as his
boss, Prime Minister Keith Rowley sanctioned the passage of 50,000 careless
Trinidadians to play in Tobago over the Easter weekend, Hinds , on the
orders of Rowley and in his first edict as new National Security Minister has
threatened to create special police squads for public health regulations to make citizens "feel it in their
pockets", as a cover for the government’s role in the post </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Easter</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> surge of cases.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwsbUTUaM6aWhYeiqXVxJtRGoeJhIg7Tt9v5bVcwbbw65zwsXxGXZ-skgJTJWnHN6gtcK7Ns-xHuG7P0vr4tzrDMc2v06z42FX3tIjf2ipRCHtEOHV-mI2t5NSjTksp8HeSOjrFaKfhqFA/s1440/hinds+and+rowley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwsbUTUaM6aWhYeiqXVxJtRGoeJhIg7Tt9v5bVcwbbw65zwsXxGXZ-skgJTJWnHN6gtcK7Ns-xHuG7P0vr4tzrDMc2v06z42FX3tIjf2ipRCHtEOHV-mI2t5NSjTksp8HeSOjrFaKfhqFA/s320/hinds+and+rowley.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Masmen: Rowley and Hinds.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><br />Lets track backwards. On Carnival Tuesday 2006, I
earned his anger- which he let me know through a third party by sending a
message to me, after I took photos of him, wearing an afro wig and bathed in
black oil in Tico Skinner’s Carnival band, having a ball. And one of the pics
showed him gently painting the face of a female member of his security
detail. It raised eyebrows when the photos were published in the T&T
Mirror.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Hinds, we all know, is not connected to
the ground even if you (like Nafeesa Mohammed) think he has a good heart. Folks
like him believe they serve the ground best by being an example of a man who
made it to the upper class. That’s been his thinking, even when he studied law
and came back home wanting to do something, he is, like Rowley, trapped inside the
thinking that the man who wears the three-piece suit should be respected. Even after
our revolutionary history of 70’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Maybe he means well. Who knows? But the
road to hell is paved with good intentions. In his days as a backbencher, in
the Manning regime, I remember Camille Robinson-Regis coming to his rescue when
he made an error in a simple matter of debate in Parliament. She was bright on
her feet, far more than he was and rescued her colleagues many times. It is all
in the archives at the TT Mirror. I have managed to salvage my two photos </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">of</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Hinds reading the T&T Mirror on the backbench and entertaining the former San Fernando West MP, the mother of AG Faris al Rawi.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdc69bBByDUlWyfO0ToGDPlBZDo399vIOdjP8i2N2j5TuUH9Lsgyc5eISCugEGLm6RBJL8SM76u3lo9SQJiPh-I4wk7EzRdyzvOlaRB8GjRgd_8owMF3EZgTXdVDCUNhR0HK5xBfpS3gD/s2048/hinds+and+AGmother.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdc69bBByDUlWyfO0ToGDPlBZDo399vIOdjP8i2N2j5TuUH9Lsgyc5eISCugEGLm6RBJL8SM76u3lo9SQJiPh-I4wk7EzRdyzvOlaRB8GjRgd_8owMF3EZgTXdVDCUNhR0HK5xBfpS3gD/s320/hinds+and+AGmother.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Anyway, Hinds' thinking is limited.
There is a cap on his ability. Lately he has been more vocal in Joint Select
Committees, when he is not on the floor of the Lower House, ranked as perhaps
the best barking pot hound in Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s kennel. He does not
need to be told when to bark. With experience he snarls, at just the right
time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">In a Rowley led government there is no
need for an international level of work/ discourse. There is outright
manipulation and even in the’ “intellectual” part of the job there is stasis,
to the point of gangrene, I daresay. To survive in a Rowley administration,
you just need to know how to play up to him, in the way he knows to
be with his close associates who brought him COVID-19, cos surely his
family did not and sister Sharon and her grandchildren are good at home at the
Diplomatic Centre.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Hinds has evolved into that. Because he
has had no choice. Rowley never embraced him as anything of value, the way he
valued Rowley as a black man. It is simply karma. Hinds, is far removed from
his Black constituency, and is not liked at all in Laventille West, since 2016,
when he rode up the hill on the strength of Desperadoes' Panorama victory which
signaled a revival of the Hill’s prized possession, after more than a decade as
if he was heralding the dawn of a new time claiming "1,2, 3 New We".<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The real PNM, on the last standing rock in
Laventille, knows that he is part of the clique that has disenfranchised them.
PNM, they know, is a thing of the past, an uninspiring brand which could only
be revitalized for die-hards with several massive injections of rum and roti,
UNC style. The wise among them no longer expect good ideas to set a
foundation to redress the living anarchy in Laventille West.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">That's the bigger picture, however. Hinds
is on his last leg.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Rowley is running out of ideas because he
is, by God's design, under house arrest in Tobago. No one is allowed to go near
him, except his security and I am not sure about the people who cook for him
or put clean sheets or keep the residence clean.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">He cannot speak face to face with anyone,
to make subtle threats, to manipulate, coerce, or all in one. And if he is
operating via social media only then he must be very discreet in his language.
That is a steep learning curve for the prime minister, in addition to the fears
of COVID, every morning when he wakes up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">By shuffling around the Ministers after
the unexpected death of Franklyn Khan, he has done a few things for political survival.
Stuart Young was always the man in the know of all major negotiations that
Rowley has embarked on, thereby grooming him not just for the Ministry of
Energy, but for the position as Prime Minister. That was obvious in the 2015
election campaign.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXC1bw9Pij6Idb9SfMR0Nz-jnGqrif8cL85FHD0U4wtK6VxgQ_ohcN7KEFUcL1S4QNhpMu-Y6oRczt8u5J2HMHbutDkjPoTQynVpvIiqvh-Vug6XYv8_RQ5BeEEojZblcUF-Zsti5gUNs/s1024/2392400-1024x982.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXC1bw9Pij6Idb9SfMR0Nz-jnGqrif8cL85FHD0U4wtK6VxgQ_ohcN7KEFUcL1S4QNhpMu-Y6oRczt8u5J2HMHbutDkjPoTQynVpvIiqvh-Vug6XYv8_RQ5BeEEojZblcUF-Zsti5gUNs/s320/2392400-1024x982.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young and Rowley, Copyright TT Newsday.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Having been through National Security and
now Energy and as an understudy in the Office of the Prime Minister, the one
percent- not necessarily of Syrian heritage- is grooming a CEO of the PNM
government. Chinese, with strong links to the mainland, who have been awarded a
small portion of Port of Spain are comfortably poised because China is
T&T's largest creditor. Local Chinese' real estate has increased
exponentially across the island and they are very much an underrated factor in
our economy, underground or otherwise. T&T is in it so deep that we have recently
“signed a non-disclosure agreement for Sinopharm vaccines” from China, which
has not yet been approved by the World Health Organization, WHO. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Young has been part of all negotiations relating
to oil and gas, traveling to Venezuela for the failed Dragon Deal, up front
with the PM in Texas, a close ally of Wilfred Espinet the man who was called in
to dismantle the Petrotrin Refinery and is also there to keep an eye on the
energy companies where the PM has placed his trusted comrades like Newman
George, for example. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">If indeed there is intrigue because the financier
who ushered in the PNM from opposition and the man with whom Rowley has danced
like villagers doing cocoa in the sun, Andrew Gabriel, is now backing Faris al
Rawi who was admittedly bubbling in the Lower House four days after Rowley was
declared COVID -19 positive, then it only means that another faction of the one
percent is vying for their man to be well placed as the CEO of the PNM
government. And that they have worked together, successfully, for the outcome of the 2020 General Election. Gabriel gained some extra experience in Guyana while there for the March 2nd , 2020 General Elections, leaving just before the borders closed, like an employee of the Elections and </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Boundaries</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Commission, EBC.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1c86jbPzSbA27hCVvhRkOwAhxZJv9Jl5X3FD0yrjioE62FNp0k8LxQnnhtn8mE8r5ZCHJwt7568_ywNRIdkgBAxPG9ssOtFzoAu14TCsV4Es65DvV4F1YP9FOMTkfmQtik80ktx5tnOJ/s2048/165670281_1566673376851540_2932288657951431747_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1c86jbPzSbA27hCVvhRkOwAhxZJv9Jl5X3FD0yrjioE62FNp0k8LxQnnhtn8mE8r5ZCHJwt7568_ywNRIdkgBAxPG9ssOtFzoAu14TCsV4Es65DvV4F1YP9FOMTkfmQtik80ktx5tnOJ/s320/165670281_1566673376851540_2932288657951431747_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faris al Rawi.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Everyone resident in any part of Trinidad
will know there has been an unprecedented influx of Syrian nationals. They are
mostly men who pitch gyro and fast-food stalls throughout the island. Very much
unlike the Venezuelans, many of whom are qualified professionals doing hard labor
for small money, these are well appointed by comparison. No longer will local
Black henchmen be needed, as it was in the days of the old man Anthony Sabga,
for protection against extortion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Neither, by the way, will Trinidadian women and children languishing in Syrian Refugee Camps be allowed easy entry into the country, by the way.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Add the Syrians and the Chinese who are
highly visible, but untouched, to the Venezuelans and see the changing national
insecurity landscape. The only benefit is the strengthening of the alternative
economy. Note also to whom foreign exchange is readily available without
question as containers of goods, many non-essentials, are still shipped from
China and the great grandchildren of the late Naim Sabga are importers of
almost everything they sell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">In that brief sitting of the Lower House,
the first after Rowley tested positive, which lasted less than two hours
because of an Opposition boycott, the body language of both Faris and Stuart
was very different. But there was enough hubris in the room, albeit
petty, to make you see how easily the disparate group of Rowley loyalists, who
were groomed not as a team but via the divide and rule method, would easily
crumble.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Whatever semblance of a team they had
among themselves would have deteriorated after a year of Zoom meetings and not
even a social distanced cabinet meeting like there is a social distanced
Parliament. The inner cabinet, they knew, in any event, was meeting all along.
The rest of them, like Hinds, are only there to keep up appearances.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQ3dPhyfZKZuEV6I7NHefy1gdsV4laVbnleXgxQL57EYIpkpdJrYOiYYmWQshDnwSjgHTfdDHo90zJPZmxBlTCLCvHgXtKaTyUbkybG26HH75MQ_lX2VLGMeilRxCQF-Hb1v2aBlaVb8G/s2048/camille+penny.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQ3dPhyfZKZuEV6I7NHefy1gdsV4laVbnleXgxQL57EYIpkpdJrYOiYYmWQshDnwSjgHTfdDHo90zJPZmxBlTCLCvHgXtKaTyUbkybG26HH75MQ_lX2VLGMeilRxCQF-Hb1v2aBlaVb8G/s320/camille+penny.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penny, standing and Camille, in better days.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">That's why, try as hard as she wants Penny
Beckles, who is likely to take up the mantle of the diehard PNMites, does not
stand a chance at the leadership, even though Rowley would have called her back
home, ostensibly, for the job, at the same time cutting her down when she had
ascended to President of UN Women within the United Nations when she served as
Ambassador. At that time, he did not want to win the 2020 elections and it was
evident in his body language on election night. He would have resigned and
Penny would have taken the responsibility of the party in Opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The Office of the Prime Minister, now, is
a playground for quite a few unqualified people. Rowley, one suspects, did not
have much to say about its composition. He allowed Andrew Gabriel the luxury of
feeling like a White House Intern, disrespecting and eliminating a cadre of
trained professionals in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">With all that, as described above, where
is Hinds?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">You tell me. None of the names I have
called above have a genuine care for the thousands of boys who are falling
through the cracks. Foster Cummings, a rising black man in the PNM, was given
that responsibility. But he too will use it as a means to elevate himself
further, now that he occupies the position of General Secretary of the ruling
party and has been promoting himself on Facebook since he became the La
Horquetta/Talparo MP, not because he is well loved by all, but because he, in a
few months, spent more money than Jerlean John did in two and a half years, while
at the same time the foundation of the DSS was growing, until they
became overconfident a few months after the elections and was dismantled.
Cummings will be the face of the forever Black caucus which is encouraged in
the PNM to keep up the front.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_sXJw-ywfOWfccvRvzOh3snfIZNcB0ihpBxjNV8XbQ3EdbHjP8ZEPUYyflvywtEAkw3v1Or9SgQvcGJhPkaokGJEguqgWvQfqUPN-9wnHLfceHD4hAQOcRhROcLvXIubGpofGs55EvwZ/s1599/cumm.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1599" data-original-width="899" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_sXJw-ywfOWfccvRvzOh3snfIZNcB0ihpBxjNV8XbQ3EdbHjP8ZEPUYyflvywtEAkw3v1Or9SgQvcGJhPkaokGJEguqgWvQfqUPN-9wnHLfceHD4hAQOcRhROcLvXIubGpofGs55EvwZ/s320/cumm.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cummings, left, and Hinds</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The battle for leadership of the PNM will
be between two powerful sets of people with lots of money, who have massive
projects in their vision, none of which involves improving the standard of our living.
Your prime minister, being under house arrest, will now for the first time have
to think and work his way out of the mess he has made, even with the
constitutional mess in Tobago made worse by reports that the Leader of the
Tobago Council of the PNM Tracey Davidson-Celestine, "is not listening to
him".<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">There on the sister isle, can you imagine
driving through Blenheim every day and passing by the official residence
knowing the money it took to build and knowing that your prime minister is only
there during a normal working day because he has covid-19? And because he has no
choice? They know the island is a playground for him, where he can have
backyard jams of all kinds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Blenheim House has quickly become a place
of not good repute. Because the average Bagonian can't even make an appointment
to see Rowley during his longest ever stay on the island, in the past six years
at least. If that isn't house arrest, by the grace of God, then what is?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Under house arrest, the least he can do is
juggle the people he thinks are loyal to him, as incompetent as they are. There
is hardly anyone of quality who will volunteer to become part of the Rowley
Cabinet. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">In the meantime, self-proclaimed Rasta man
Hinds, who needs security to go to his constituency, will inherit a jep nest of
nasty politics in the TT Police Service where concerted efforts to remove Gary
Griffith as top cop are underway. The systemic removal of Mark Hernandez from
SORT, has pulled the rug from under Griffith, a mere three months before his
contract as top cop ends. Hernandez was also popular among police officers to replace Gary, incidentally.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5roNFUNvH8wGhMFwy3k0qwGL3Ka4ZmQ-P6pO2Ipg7Tss472UPRSygC4xbRm2_9oLcNb5B7fSOtybK98sqhGp1iNrLCnWYbFt8o_d_N62rCDCo7vTc_cTijP6bRHAIQD2juAdeQ9s1Ho5p/s540/griff.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5roNFUNvH8wGhMFwy3k0qwGL3Ka4ZmQ-P6pO2Ipg7Tss472UPRSygC4xbRm2_9oLcNb5B7fSOtybK98sqhGp1iNrLCnWYbFt8o_d_N62rCDCo7vTc_cTijP6bRHAIQD2juAdeQ9s1Ho5p/s320/griff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8pU1BOnNyL9vwhuOCjvRxPHlT_woqUPG3t7GgNYUWGfXKQ4fdaYLpey9RvxfMn4YyLK0rQpy-ooY58ZhHp0jsDA6AzcP2P4D-DxEAq78FentWrKHyXymVJBUxTLscFiEZK4x3gPhcPx8c/s540/griff.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a> </div><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On Wednesday morning, in his first appearance as the new MONS, Hinds was already </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">interfering</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> in police business, without discussion with the top cop, hinting at the creation of </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">special</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> squads in each Police </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Division</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> to penalise those who breach the regulations.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Neither Fitzgerald Hinds nor his dawg
Rottweiler Rowley will be able to handle it when the lid blows. Trinidad's
national security landscape is a toxic mix of Chinese, Syrian and Venezuelan illegal
immigrants added to trafficking in guns and ammunition, drugs, human
trafficking and even organ harvesting and your regular “little black boy”
gang violence.</span></span></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p></span>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-4032299248344747042021-01-13T15:21:00.005-04:002021-01-14T11:29:06.341-04:00 A Real Steelband Man.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At three score and ten,
plus six, with a mind as sharp as it has ever been, it turns out worshipping
took a toll on his knees. How did that happen? Well, for a couple of months, on
mornings, he would go to the pan yard, in St Barbs, which he built from scratch
for his community having successfully negotiated the value of the steelband,
just as inventor/ leader/musician Rudolph Charles did, in the days of the first
prime minister Dr. Eric Williams.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawxSlrOOo3PpmdRIyHa3MAGcLh5nFuyQx4RmTY80LE1jM4F0Kj9Kwsc2m-Liaug141WzS9TGW21DATlUCRndbvGLZvIT0h2VNEbgge8CC9O_hoylsXqxzInHiKLs75wUa_xNr-GyAk2Ss/s1192/138827808_888419871926889_6254771637967341626_n.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="708" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawxSlrOOo3PpmdRIyHa3MAGcLh5nFuyQx4RmTY80LE1jM4F0Kj9Kwsc2m-Liaug141WzS9TGW21DATlUCRndbvGLZvIT0h2VNEbgge8CC9O_hoylsXqxzInHiKLs75wUa_xNr-GyAk2Ss/w190-h320/138827808_888419871926889_6254771637967341626_n.png" title="Anthony Kinsale, Bend Up." width="190" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anthony Kinsale, Benup.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">At the pan yard, for at least two months, Anthony
Kinsale, Benup, took out his double seconds and played for a couple of hours,
the gentle hands sending musical notes around a community locked down by COVID,
no less. The soothing sounds of gospels would flow up the hills and fill the
little valleys. By its mystic the Steelband is community work and he
was still paying his dues. At six o’ clock in the morning, after he turned off
the lights in the pan yard, Blessed Assurance </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">(see Bands performance below) and How Great Thou Art would lead
to a few Christmas carols that lifted hearts and souls in the early morning
silence.</span><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For that he was brought
to his knees. It was too long to be standing, as he now pays the price for the
rigors of always being on the move , lifting heavy drums, decades
of Panorama seasons here and in </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">England and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18.6667px;">New York where he played for Panorama and arranged music for the Harlem All Stars, sometimes also</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> playing for six hours at Penn Station or underground at 116</span><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">th</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Street. Add to the work in Jamaica, Cuba, France and US States of San Francisco, Texas and Miami. Thankfully, he is better now, after treatment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kinsale’s greatest worth
to his people and community came from the decision to buck the status quo and
the fearmongers and stay in Laventille, that priceless real estate owned by the working class that is the
vanguard for the rest of the country, perched on the edge of Port of Spain
which is historically the enclave of the rich and famous.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">He stood resolute, like a light on the Hill, while all else abandoned base.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18.6667px;">Read on for a brief history, in his own words, of how he was instrumental in bringing an end to the steelband riots, how the former Vice-Captain of Desperadoes was a close ally of Charles and a community inspiration whose resilience created the Serenaders on the edge of the basketball court in St Barbs keeping Steelband alive on the hills when the Mighty Desperadoes ran away and Tokyo all but folded up.</span></p></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span><b><i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A Community Inspiration.</span></i></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPYp0Q03aooDxurA7UL4R10j9ymu9490EJjqC016OwwpkSLa4QKf-Q1feQzx-9yZ_6ZuZkNFCrDz-9AVYeDhzYF0_fOnfngF_Pm2NbYwnHFYaJ-E4HG-hqtyCctbXsmbmZLInYTtG_EQp/s1040/138948215_702849920381392_994807147579482769_n.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="780" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPYp0Q03aooDxurA7UL4R10j9ymu9490EJjqC016OwwpkSLa4QKf-Q1feQzx-9yZ_6ZuZkNFCrDz-9AVYeDhzYF0_fOnfngF_Pm2NbYwnHFYaJ-E4HG-hqtyCctbXsmbmZLInYTtG_EQp/s320/138948215_702849920381392_994807147579482769_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bend Up opens up the yard.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">“I love the people of Laventille. In 1996, I
left the Desperadoes and revived the Serenaders which started in the 50’s and
became dormant in the 80’s when some members left the country for the US and
England. I left Desperadoes ten years after Rudolph Charles died because I
wanted to be my own leader. All kinds of bands tried to build on that spot,
next to the basketball court in St Barb, but it never went beyond four posts
and two sheets of galvanise.</span><p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Always I would see the youths- some nine and ten years old- by
the gas station just doing nothing, so I said to
myself I am going to see what I could do make them into something. Ricardo”
Shortman” Mapp, Frederick “Shakala” Jones, Noel Oba Luke, Wayne Shabba Best as
well as Jermon Ashby who shared the vision and became the backbone of the
Serenaders. One year afterwards, Mikey McDowell joined as and became the band’s
PRO. Florence Watson of Louis Clarke and Associates, a Custom Brokerage firm, started with us and sponsored all our uniforms for competition from preliminaries
to finals, until she died in 2018.God bless her soul. Barbara Ross, who plays
scratcher for the band is the seamstress who made all the uniforms. Florence’s sister,
Diane Clarke, continues to help the band.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everybody chipped in: San Juan All Stars
donated a few instruments and I worked my taxi to contribute to buying pans
while the late MP Eulalie James donated four tenors and George YoYo Grifith
tuned our pans. We were a single pan band until 2006 after which we joined the
Conventional Small Band category. We started with the band practicing on the
side of the road, and when it rained, we went under the pavilion. The owner of
the bar on top of the hill kept the pans for us. The people up here respect me
and what I am doing. When we started it was like Christ came here. The youths
became interested and when parents saw their children off the streets, they
supported us.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nobody comes around here to look for anybody
because we said we don’t want anyone involved with crime to come in the band.
Some wanted to join but it did not make sense. But in this community, they all
look out for me, even the miserable ones. Nobody plays a bad john here either.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuWiCFufsiMMaPH4znqBGxRV_lytGqN5cS0LGL3KaZMJ4dopT-6Pi6X0U-dAjs8Qoduia0Z6l2klGbPIvqyrHNX4kT2awBXVUDZYCMFnvYSdtEmS25YByA4pOkpJKHzoPA-yZqOPoHpzVQ/s1560/139086566_321752442432260_3761672673335835256_n.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1170" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuWiCFufsiMMaPH4znqBGxRV_lytGqN5cS0LGL3KaZMJ4dopT-6Pi6X0U-dAjs8Qoduia0Z6l2klGbPIvqyrHNX4kT2awBXVUDZYCMFnvYSdtEmS25YByA4pOkpJKHzoPA-yZqOPoHpzVQ/s320/139086566_321752442432260_3761672673335835256_n.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We eventually started construction of the
building under the Basdeo Panday United National Congress (UNC) and then the
People’s National Movement (PNM) came back into power and piece by piece we
finished it. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">The old Serenaders, before us, tried to put up
something and they just could not make, it was registered under their committee
and they signed over everything to me at Town and Country planning. When they
handed it over to me, I made it a reality.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And we have competed in Panorama for 23 years.
No players were afraid to come up here as we had some from Cascade and we go
for them and take them back when practice is done. There is no disrespect
towards me or the band or anyone who comes to the band. At Panorama time, it’s
not just the band that gets money. It’s the community. When Panorama is over
even the guys under the pavilion get some money because they help us.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: #4c1130;">Framed and Jailed for Nothing:</span></u><i><span style="color: #20124d;">Benup’s Prison Band Unites Rioting Steelbands</span></i></b><i><span style="color: #20124d;">.</span></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">It was about 830pm on July 5</span><sup style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">th</sup><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> 1963,
when police officers of the Special Branch (then the Intelligence Unit of the
Trinidad and Tobago Police Service) ambushed us at the corner of Laventille
Road and Ovid Alley. They came shooting. At the time we, the Desperadoes, were
on the corner, planning to go and make a raid on our enemies, Renegades. We
gathered with all different type of arms, with the aim to go look for Papito,
Dr Rat, Mighty Kincaid, Peas Eye, Lil Axe and Tan-Tan who were the heavy
gunners down there. It was supposed to be a run-through, an invasion of their
base on Observatory Street. But then the police cornered us and two members of
the gang were shot. They raided us, but we never fought against them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We appeared in court and the case was called
and adjourned for three years and we even appealed until November 1966 when
they jailed us. By that time, we had changed our name to Thunderbirds and we
were still getting on miserable. One or two members skipped the country
and left for England before May 23<sup>rd</sup> 1966 when Justice Corbin
handed down a sentence of 60 years to be divided between the twelve rioters
from Laventille whom they also described as a menace to society.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The police switched the evidence and put it
across like we started shooting when they approached. It was a very sad moment,
indeed. When I was charged, I gave my father's name Junior Mackenzie, instead
of using my real name Anthony Kinsale because my uncle was Teddy Kinsale, the
leader of the notorious Red Army.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> We were featured as rioters in a photo
on the front page of the Mirror newspaper which captured us going into the big
Black Maria. Some faces on the papers were looking sad but I was like a bird,
with two hands in the air, as if I won something. We even made the BBC
news- as people told me, though I never actually heard it.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our crew consisted of Al Capone, Jeff Wan,
Bend Up, Budzin, Fonrose, Major, Len we call him Popeye, Edwin we call him Poi,
Donson Williams- Troy, Killer Annie, Sandy. They divided us. Two were kept in
the Royal Jail on Frederick Street and ten of us were sent to Golden Grove.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One month after we arrived there, I made a
request to the Prison Superintendent for some instruments from Desperadoes to
be brought to the prison. He relayed this to the Commissioner of Prisons who
gave the okay and Rudolph Charles brought the instruments. So, we had a
band and they gave us the authority to practice every time ahead of an event
from 5 to 7pm. A couple members of the Thunderbirds used to practice along with
other inmates from the prison. We were people from Renegades, John John in
Laventille, and from all over the country.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> It was a cosmopolitan institution with
the music inside there. Calypso Prince was one of the musicians from John John
and Dennis “Merchant” Franklin, was in prison at the time too playing the Six
Bass along with Crawl, another bassman from Desperadoes. Merchant was a good
six bass man and the majority of calypsos he sang were composed while he was in
there- he came out and sold songs. I was a tuner, arranger, and I also
blended the pans and was in charge of the prisoners who were members and were
allowed to stay out from 5 to 7 in the night.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In prison, we used to listen to the Panorama
on Redifussion and because we supported different bands there was a kind of
tension when the bands were playing, but it used to be fun and we never fought
despite the shooting outside and when we were running one
another with cutlass and dynamite. We realized how nice we were living inside
while outside we wanted to kill one another. We were the peace makers; we
played football and cricket together and shared a brotherly love for five
years.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> By the time we came out we started to visit new found friends in their
area where we could not do before. We ate, drank and party, without fear or
favour. The relationship between the two bands changed. Indeed, it was a
valuable experience for me even though when I came out, I was 24 years old and
still kind of ferocious.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I returned to Desperadoes after my release
from prison because I last played with them in 1966 when we made a clean sweep
of titles playing Sparrow’s Melda before we were convicted. </span></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Most of my run in
with the law was with the police. I used to beat them when they tried to take
advantage me in the bars on Charlotte Street. They used to try to manners
me, Randy Babb and a lot of other bad police like Leach and Serpico, some of
whom pulled gun for me but other policemen moved their hand.</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In one incident at York’s bar at the corner of
Prince and Charlotte Street, Corporal Lambert was talking rough to me and he
pushed me. In return I cuffed him down and kicked him in his face— five of them
came at me and they held me and took me down. So, I was making a criminal
record.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My mind reflected on what a nun told me inside
prison, after listening to the musical repertoire of the band. She told me I
had too much talent to be in prison and so I started to take the pan seriously.
Rudolph talked to me and told me to cool myself. I had a position in the
band, as vice-captain and he advised me to stay away from trouble, saying
anywhere the band was travelling to perform he would carry me. But In 1970 when
the band was going to England, I did not have the full repertoire so I
stayed at home and was captain for the rest of members who stayed back.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Desperadoes started to travel; in 1976 to
Jamaica and Cuba and at a Trade Fair in Dallas, Texas and then in 1977 when
Penny Commissiong won the Miss Universe the government. sent us to Miami for a
parade and concerts.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The experience was good. That time as
Vice-Captain was an eye opener for me and developed my leadership skills.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #20124d;">I lifted Rudolph’s dead body and felt
he was alive.</span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSCtlX0Y2NqYhveyKrg4J_Ck3nzEaNsoUWT4t5U3nkLLzaCivCAzIF580bvRc3_AWjIsMvCxPWXHJCkSuKoFZ3sIPtkw2kWDvgJTBao2DwGi2eN_1bXJbdaz-HDcctVso4S9Ez-GgI-NbP/s640/138796882_174062084467298_5855606182597774590_n.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSCtlX0Y2NqYhveyKrg4J_Ck3nzEaNsoUWT4t5U3nkLLzaCivCAzIF580bvRc3_AWjIsMvCxPWXHJCkSuKoFZ3sIPtkw2kWDvgJTBao2DwGi2eN_1bXJbdaz-HDcctVso4S9Ez-GgI-NbP/s320/138796882_174062084467298_5855606182597774590_n.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">On the night of March 29</span><sup style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">th</sup><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, 1985,
Rudolph Charles was walking from the Charles’ family home on Picton Road to his
home, near mine, and when we found him, we realised that he had fallen down a
small hill about nine feet landing on the hard rocky ground of what was once a
quarry and hit his chest. A young man who was walking along the road at the
time heard him groaning. He ran down to my home and called for help. I, along
with Rudolph’ brother, Errol, and a neighbor went out in the back and saw him
on the ground.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We lifted him and walked him through a track
and took him to his house which was just in front of mine and we tried to
resuscitate him, not knowing he was gone already. They called the ambulance and
Errol and I went with him in the ambulance and we kept checking his pulse and I
felt a faint beat.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we arrived at the back of emergency room,
we stood and looked on as they put an oxygen mask on his face as the doctor
gave the signal to shock him and then ordered a stronger one, as we watched as
his body just lifted off the table and dropped back down. That’s when the
doctors turned to us and said if we had brought him 15 minutes earlier, he
would have lived. We thought he had just fainted. There was a bruise
on his chest which indicated that he hit a rock when he fell. We left and went
home,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By that time people started to gather and is
sister-in-law and brother who were living nearby said they could have told us
that he died, but we would not have believed them. Rudolph believed in me as he
often said that I was a man of principle. When he made mistakes, I used to tell
him, and he liked me for that and there was a mutual respect between us. Days
afterwards, I was in a different world. It was shocking that an aggressive,
powerful, healthy man had died so suddenly.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One year before Rudolph died, in1984 I left
home and picked him up and I drove down Picton to go to the Royal Bank on
Independence Square. I dropped him off and he went into the bank. Right there
in front of the bank is a bus stop. While he was inside a bus arrived to pick
up passengers. And when he came out of the bank instead of passing in the back
of the bus, he walked towards the front and just as he crossed the road, a car
came and hit him right there where I was standing, waiting for
him. I had a hatchet in my bag and was angry to the point of wanting
to wound the driver but Rudolph stopped me from hurting the fella. I took him
to the hospital. Little did I know that he would die one year afterwards.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NomTn8Olbbo" width="320" youtube-src-id="NomTn8Olbbo"></iframe></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p></div>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-39062999381422224772019-11-08T17:25:00.004-04:002019-11-08T21:35:16.733-04:00 Exposed:Love Triangle From MSYA to Whitehall, Committee staged to fail<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM2nld4lVuit9xpcUlzHqC2cROjAsVBWFqcTI2Qg47V6rNXk2xL5AgUS6g4qxDHJfV-EXkwKxum3ma2vgkJKsA2TNjCOd2ycEg9VUOruI3Zx_cyHh45Llwf4x0iKVitJRkAavVLvbqfyf/s1600/74951481_1124308114432160_6974156766984536064_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1170" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM2nld4lVuit9xpcUlzHqC2cROjAsVBWFqcTI2Qg47V6rNXk2xL5AgUS6g4qxDHJfV-EXkwKxum3ma2vgkJKsA2TNjCOd2ycEg9VUOruI3Zx_cyHh45Llwf4x0iKVitJRkAavVLvbqfyf/s400/74951481_1124308114432160_6974156766984536064_n.jpg" width="300" /></a>The full letter, published, below is not just an expose- unintended as it is- on the shortcomings of the Committee mandated to probe sexual harassment claims against former Minister of Sport Darryl Smith but also throws a glaring spotlight on the manipulation of the highest-ranking non-political post in the public service, the Permanent Secretary (PS).<br />
And that TT$150,000 was peanuts compared with the millions that will be paid by taxpayers for unfair dismissal claims as a result of the love triangle involving Smith.<br />
In the end while Carrie Ann Moreau, is being paraded as the only victim of Smith’s run at the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs(MSYA), here on the official records, is an account of the journey to the TT$150,00 payout on what was a claim of sexual harassment and how a PS was moved out of the Ministry and sent to the boondocks to ensure that Moreau got her just due.<br />
Moreau, incidentally, is the niece of two top-ranking government officials, Education Minister Anthony Garcia and Noel Garcia who is the Chairman of the Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (UDECOTT) none of whom may have gotten involved in the affairs of their sister’s daughter.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4TC_V87bKTpfgIQpnAFXSgCGNurtSClgdH9RhumAFw4rnbU76CiKRP9474a4qpb-YneeBsecklbGzM5Iup22b7syet8jxo2ENxEFZlVBpVj_OjNaU_QRNnf39zKgZhTAiGo8KmcU4OWO/s1600/iconic+by+abraham+diaz.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1054" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4TC_V87bKTpfgIQpnAFXSgCGNurtSClgdH9RhumAFw4rnbU76CiKRP9474a4qpb-YneeBsecklbGzM5Iup22b7syet8jxo2ENxEFZlVBpVj_OjNaU_QRNnf39zKgZhTAiGo8KmcU4OWO/s320/iconic+by+abraham+diaz.jpeg" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PM Rowley, Smith and Anthony Garcia. Photo: Abraham Diaz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It points to how the Prime Minister’s attorney Michael Quamina intervened, pro bono, with a letter purporting a settlement of the matter when it appeared that the claim of sexual harassment was heading to the Industrial Court and/ or the TT Police Service, as a matter of procedure.<br />
Again, it was Head of the Public Service Sandra Jones, who at the time was Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, according to the account that is published in full below, who called in to the MSYA and enlightened the Acting PS Ian Ramdahin of the “former female officer who was going around making claims that she was sexually harassed in the MSYA”.<br />
And eventually when, under mounting public pressure, a three-member committee was appointed to investigate the claims of sexual harassment Jones’ former Executive Assistant Ms Racine Bowman, acted as the Recording Secretary for the Committee.<br />
Bowman was well placed to know what was happening every step of the way with the Committee comprising former PS Jacqueline Wilson and which included women’s activist Folade Mutota and attorney Elaine B Green.<br />
<i><b>“Regarding Independence of the inquiry process I would have noted that the presence of Committee’s recording secretary Ms Racine Bowman, former Executive Assistant to former Permanent Secretary Sandra Jones who will also have to appear before the said Committee represents a material conflictt of interest because of their prior working relationship,“ </b></i>Ag Permanent Secretary Ian Randahin noted in his letter to the current Head of the Public Service, Maurice Suite.<br />
The letter, dated May 14th 2018, two weeks after Ramdahin met with the Committee was, however, intended to place on record the fact that Mutota, Green and Wilson interviewed Ramadhin, just once, without having access to the Legal File at the MSYA which actually chronicles the sequence of events leading to the $150,000 settlement.<br />
Is the file missing? That’s the big question.<br />
<b><i>"At the start of my interview, I would have observed that there were photocopies of loose documents on the table before the Committee members and I immediately asked “Does the Committee have the MYSA legal file on the subject matter?” and they all responded in the negative.</i></b><br />
<b><i> Having observed the Committee’s casualness about not having the main legal file before them to guide their inquiry I would have expressed my grave concern about “how could they possibly expect to conduct a proper and fair inquiry without first securing the original MYSA legal file?” given that it has all the pertinent information and records documenting my queries, concerns and the position I took in not signing off on a settlement proposal".</i></b><br />
Ramdahin goes on to explain that he waited for two weeks to know whether the Committee secured the file and when he got no word, it appears he “took in front” by sending this letter documenting the process in a way that he never got a chance to explain to the Committee.<br />
And also how he probed Judith Joseph, the Legal Officer 11 at the MSYA, who could not confirm the matter was reported to the Police or whether the victim of sexual harassment, Moreau, had EPA assistance to deal with her troubles.<br />
And how he never knew whether she prepared a report, as requested, to submit to the then Head of the Public Service Sandra Jones, which up to the time that he was replaced by Natasha Barrow did not arrive on Jones’ desk.<br />
Clearly, he was blacklisted for following procedure and refusing, as part of the negotiations, to also re-employ Moreau in the MYSA.<br />
Police Commissioner Gary Griffith’s decision to open an investigation into the claim made by the young woman, who was alleged to be in an extramarital relationship when she was hired as a Personal Secretary to the Minister and barely completed half of her term, may well backfire<br />
Any probe that is deep enough should uncover a love triangle at the MSYA which also involved Smith’s now estranged lover, Kate Balthazar, which fell apart leading to the claims and the payout as a punishment that was eventually forgiven.<br />
All is reported to be well with the Minister and his accuser who, sources at the Ministry reported, showed up at the MSYA a few weeks after she was fired and had a long morning meeting with Smith where she may have negotiated her payout, in what is clearly not a classic Me Too case.<br />
More importantly, however, is the story behind it. How Ramdahin was blacklisted and removed from the MSYA because he refused to pay out the money requested opting instead for the matter to be dealt with at the Industrial Court until he got a call from the Head of the Public Service, Sandra Jones, informing him, for the first time, that it was a claim of sexual harassment.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkVysZyLj43syfYGlB8b7wU5K8P8TTgev4DgfWBsA2Ssi7pHhXjPXyrsSVHvfGb5mk6AZyGEl0Yoq2NfanWOi9z3wy7jQ3I6S_6MueQE4wPsabHzccmuwoNmcBGtJZAtOH8svhQehFUya/s1600/natasha+barrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="1024" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkVysZyLj43syfYGlB8b7wU5K8P8TTgev4DgfWBsA2Ssi7pHhXjPXyrsSVHvfGb5mk6AZyGEl0Yoq2NfanWOi9z3wy7jQ3I6S_6MueQE4wPsabHzccmuwoNmcBGtJZAtOH8svhQehFUya/s320/natasha+barrow.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Natasha Barrow signed the TT$150,000 cheque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And that he was subsequently replaced as PS by Natasha Barrow who signed off on the cheque. He was sent to the Secretariat for the National AIDS Coordinating Committee in the Office of the Prime Minister.<br />
At the Industrial Court, Shabaka Kambon, who had worked just five months on his three-year contract was seeking $1.8 million. He refused to comment on the true value of his final settlement for unfair dismissal.<br />
Lisa Granado, who was also sent packing by Smith, is still before the court in her claim for $1.2 million.<br />
PS Ramdahin, it should be noted, was shipped to the MSYA - seen as a demotion-in June 2014 after a stint at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs where he busted the now-infamous diesel racket. He landed in the Lifesport era and helped to dismantle the illegal systems he found and the budget documents will show that be brought recurrent expenditure at the MYSA down from $50 million to $30 million.<br />
“They were easily stealing $20 million and maybe you should call Ramdahin to find out if he now understands there is no sense in having integrity,” an employee of the MSYA, who busted the Romping in Tobago scandal that preceded the sexual harassment claims, told me.<br />
“He got into Smith’s bad books when he wrote a letter requesting Health and Safety Certification for the Ministry’s Office at Elizabeth Street, St Clair when workers were reporting ill,” our source noted, adding that the Minister penned a letter to higher authorities to express his dissatisfaction.<br />
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, it should be noted, was basically lenient with Smith when the story, first exposed on this blog, of spending TT$92,000 of the MSYA’s funds on a weekend trip to Tobago with his girlfriend and others. Smith was removed from Sport and placed as Minister in the Ministry of Housing.<br />
Angry sources within the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) suggested that Smith was expected to lie low for a while until he landed the job as Minister of Housing which was originally promised to him, before Port of Spain South MP, Marlene Mc Donald who while noting that Smith was a just come to the PNM fold, especially given her track record as Rowley’s Opposition Chief Whip, threw a tantrum and demanded the plum post.<br />
Smith’s chances were apparently wiped out after the sexual harassment story broke.<br />
Still, PNM sources insist they know why he may have been protected by the Prime Minister.<br />
The common denominator is love triangle squared.<br />
It is a story that will not be published but will be whispered in PNM circles for decades to come.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<b><span style="color: red;">The full letter:</span></b></h2>
<div>
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<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>From <b>Ian Ramdahin</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Permanent Secretary (Ag)</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">To <b>Maurice Suite</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>May 14th 2018</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Inquiry into Sexual Harassment Allegations made against former Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Reference is made to the Inquiry commissioned by the Honorable Prime Minister into the sexual harassment allegation made against the former Minister Darryl Smith when he was at the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs (MSYA) which is being conducted by an Independent Committee.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Please note that my interview was held with the said Committee on April 30th, 2018 at 10 30 am to provide information on what would have transpired during the period October 3rd, 2016<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to January 6th, 2017 when I would have served as former acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry MSYA.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">At the start of my interview, I would have observed that there were photocopies of loose documents on the table before the Committee members and I immediately asked “Does the Committee have the MSYA legal file on the subject matter?” and they all responded in the negative.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Having observed the Committee’s casualness about not having the main legal file before them to guide their inquiry I would have expressed my grave concern about “how could they possibly expect to conduct a proper and fair inquiry without first securing the original MYSA legal file?” given that it has all the pertinent information and records documenting my queries, concerns and the position I took in not signing off on a settlement proposal.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“I would have also highlighted to the Committee that they must place urgency on securing the Legal File from the MSYA because of risk of the file being misplaced or tampered with. If this Committee is able to secure said file then there would be a detailed traceability account on the movement of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the said Legal file addressing the following</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1">* the date the Committee requested the Legal file from the MYSA</span></div>
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<span class="s1">*<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the date the Permanent Secretary at the MYSA requested the legal file from the Legal Officer 11 to facilitate the work of the Committee</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>*the date the MYSA handed over the said legal file to the Committee</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>*details on where the Legal file was routed</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>*names of persons other than the committee members who would have had access to the said Legal File.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">It would be very unjust if this Committee was to produce a report referencing excerpts from a file obtained after my interview which may have been altered and without giving me an opportunity to validate as part of the due diligence process.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b></b></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Having waited for two (2) weeks without hearing from the Committee on whether they were able to locate and secure the said Legal File for seeking my further input for verification purposes, I am now obligated to inform you about this matter.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b></b></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">In looking at the possible worst-case scenario where the said Legal File cannot be located, in ensuring that my statements made at my interview are not misconstrued, misrepresented and matches what is being presented in the Committee’s final report, the following details on what would have transpired during my tenure as Acting Permanent Secretary in MSYA are being submitted for your records.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>1<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>I told the Committee that I first became aware of the sexual harassment allegation after Ms Sandra Jones former Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister called me personally in October 2016 to inquire whether I knew anything about a former female officer who was going around making claims that she was sexually harassed in the MSYA.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I told the Committee that when I received the call from former Permanent Secretary Sandra Jones, I did not know who she was speaking about and thereafter she enlightened me that it was a recently dismissed officer who previously worked with the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs. Not having the facts, I promised her I would follow up with Ms Judith Joseph MYSA’s Legal Officer 11 on contract to get a report. This Legal Officer 11 was responsible for interfacing with the Industrial Court, Claimant’s Union, Solicitor General and the mediating Conciliation Officer at the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development (MOLSED).</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">I further told the Committee that when I probed the MSYA’s Legal Officer 11 on the allegation she confirmed it was Ms Carrie Ann Moreau, former Personal Secretary to the former Minister Darryl Smith who was making the allegation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Committee was informed that I also probed the Legal Officer 11 to clarify whether the matter was reported to the Police and whether the Ministry’s Human Resources had provided EPA assistance which she could not confirm. I also highlighted to the Committee that once the matter is before the Police the Court will not proceed pending outcome of the Police investigation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">After discussing the matter I then gave an instruction for the Legal Officer 11 to prepare a report for submitting to the attention of the former Permanent Secretary Sandra Jones. Up until the time, January 6th 2017, when Ms Natasha Barrow replaced me as Permanent Secretary in the MSYA, the Legal Officer 11 had not submitted a report on the allegation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>2</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Committee was informed that the MYSA had three<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(3) wrongful dismissal claims pending over the Industrial Court seeking a settlement with collective liability surmounting to over $3,000,000.00 which are detailed as follows;</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ms Carrie-Ann Moreau’s was claiming settlement just over $300,000</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Mr Shabaka Kambon’s claim for settlement was projected at $1,8000,000</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ms Lisa Granado’s claim for settlement was projected at $1,200,000<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In lieu of the State’s exposure to this collective liability, in mitigating damages to minimize cost, I took a decision to start MYSA’s negotiation offer for the Carrie-Ann Moreau’s matter at $75,000.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">I told the Committee that in the negotiation process the Claimant’s Union did not accept my $75,000 offer and subsequent incremental increases thereafter but they kept lobbying for settlement in excess of $300,000 which I kept declining.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Please note that, prior to any knowledge of sexual harassment allegation being raised, the matter before me was being treated as a normal Industrial Court matter. However, when I was made aware of the sexual harassment allegation by Permanent Secretary Sandra Jones<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and without a Report forthcoming from the Legal Officer 11, I approached this Ms Carrie-Ann Moreau’s settlement matter with great caution. When the Claimant’s Union started to realize that they were not getting anywhere with me they told the Legal Officer 11 that they had information pertaining to the sexual harassment allegation for leverage their bargaining position. I informed the Committee that I refused to negotiate and yield to Union demands. Given that I was not willing to sign off on the arbitration settlement for Ms Carrie An Moreau’s matter it implied that the matter would have to go before the Industrial Court for a decision.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>3</b> The Committee was informed that in addition to financial compensation the union was requesting that Ms Carrie-Ann Moreau be re-employed at any one of the MSYA’s Sports facility. This request was denied by me after consultation with the acting Human Resources Director. The MSYA’s Legal File contains the record on the Minute Sheet to document my actions in declining the claimant’s re-employment proposal.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>4</b>. Regarding Independence of the inquiry process, I would have noted that the presence of Committee’s recording secretary Ms Racine Bowman, former Executive Assistant to former Permanent Secretary Sandra Jones who will also have to appear before the said Committee represents a material conduct of interest because of their prior working relationship.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>5</b>. During the course of my interview, I found that the settlement was signed on January 26th 2017. Upon reflecting on the fact that on January 6th 2017 former Permanent Secretary Sandra Jones would have assigned another Permanent Secretary to replace me in the MSYA it dawned on me that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>had<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I remained as the acting Permanent Secretary in the MSYA during the month<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of January then there would have been no settlement in the arbitration proceedings and the matter would have definitely gone forward to the Industrial Court for trial.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>6</b>. The Committee discussions with me were centred around a legal letter from Attorney Michael Quamina purporting to have negotiated settlement of $150,000 with Ms Carrie Ann Moreau in which it was mentioned that the said settlement was discussed with a Deputy Permanent Secretary whose identity was not stated and until today remains a mystery.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In trying to clarify this document I highlighted to the Committee that the MSYA’s Legal File was required to deal with the letter from attorney Michael Quamina because the Minute Sheet has records to demonstrate that I instructed Ms Judith Joseph, MSYA’s Legal Officer 11, to forward the said letter to the Solicitor General’s Office and Conciliation Officer at MOLSED to seek clarification as to who assigned this attorney.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The Committee wanted to find out the role I played if any in this negotiation process with Attorney Michael Quamina and I responded by telling them that:</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">a) I never met interacted or communicated with Attorney Quamina nor was I ever aware of anyone under my purview holding any discussions with the attorney to negotiate or endorse a settlement.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">b) when the letter from Attorney Quamina was received, I initialled it and personally entered it on the file and wrote a minute to the MSYA’s Legal Officer 11 seeking clarification. (Anyone who produces a copy of this letter means they would have taken it from the MSYA’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Legal file.)</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">c)Being concerned about who will be responsible for paying the attorney? I took the MYSA Legal File with the letter to the former minister Darryl Smith to seek clarification and he responded by saying there would be no cost to the MSYA.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">d) The letter purporting a $150,000 settlement was never accepted or utilised by me because a Permanent Secretary cannot negotiate or utilize a document prepared by a private attorney without requisite authorization from the Ministry of Attorney General and Legal Affairs.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Submitted for your attention and records</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Ian Ramdahin</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Permanent Secretary (Ag.)</b></span></div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-9004146704654903862019-04-29T16:05:00.002-04:002019-04-29T16:05:40.009-04:00 Big Pappies press the panic button<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Part Three:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Randolph Burroughs, the legendary Police Commissioner (1978-1984) in his own words, explains that in 1984 amidst “overbearing politics in the Police Service” he travelled to the US<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to take files to the </span>FBI, ATF and the even the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA. At home in Trinidad, the white-collar criminals panicked. ( Read Below)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhcdWAXKu3PyMU4dJzajzee4NfBUn6iEwZYj5o3Gf3IkjMWDzDTotk2CuQo3ABtJ-5_oemC4_i-PvVVZfWM-_4tzWSKCVacOBWUG7NhpP8BFkWe3giA6xx_9iEr4da5YdenoiZ9VscpLzf/s1600/randy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1168" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhcdWAXKu3PyMU4dJzajzee4NfBUn6iEwZYj5o3Gf3IkjMWDzDTotk2CuQo3ABtJ-5_oemC4_i-PvVVZfWM-_4tzWSKCVacOBWUG7NhpP8BFkWe3giA6xx_9iEr4da5YdenoiZ9VscpLzf/s400/randy.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
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<div class="p1">
Part Two: Outlines how VIPs created his downfall as he investigated the Foreign Currency racket and traces how businessmen and drug dealers became entwined and also crippled<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>his<span class="Apple-converted-space"> effectiveness and</span> by extension, the TT Police Service.</div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Part One: Burroughs established that the Narcotics Squad was involved in the Cocaine Trade, worked with police in Tucupita to bust an arms smuggling ring in the Chatham -Erin-Cedros area and suggested an amalgamation of police</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">, customs, immigration,</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Coast Guard and Army to deal with the problem.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The excerpt is from his unpublished biography which explains, in detail, how he was framed to be removed from office and which also, through the cases he worked and solved as a detective, chronicles TT’s crime history.</span><span class="s1"></span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: red;">A Criminal Intelligence Unit that was sabotaged.</span></h3>
<h3>
During the early part of 1984, I spent a lot of time establishing new units to fight crime. Harking back to the cocaine explosion and EC-O crackdown, a Piarco Police Post was set up with members of the Police Flying Squad and the Narcotics Unit, as well as Customs officers.</h3>
The Narcotics Unit was also revitalized by some members of the Flying Squad who had done work in that particular field.<br />
Assistant Superintendent David Jack, who had formerly headed the Flying Squad was put in charge of a Special Robbery Squad and the Criminal Intelligence Unit was created at the old Flying Squad office and was headed by Assistant Superintendent Cecil Carrington, a founding member of the Flying Squad.<br />
And then, to back them all up, a Support Services Unit comprising 56 men was established at the St James Barracks.<br />
In reality, the Flying Squad was not disbanded as rumor had it at the time.<br />
The rearrangement was done in such a way that, at a moment’s notice, the units could all be merged to effect the same operations as before.<br />
If anything, the squad had been decentralized in order to provide an easy opportunity for its personnel to perform under immediate supervision from the police hierarchy.<br />
I knew I would not always be there to lead them.<br />
In fact, I had decided to apply for accumulated leave-167 days- from June 1984.<br />
It was a chance for me to see about my wife Sheila’s health and to get away from the overbearing politics in the Police Service.<br />
I would give those who felt they could run the Service and undermine me a chance to perform.<br />
Let them have a go at it.<br />
The leave was subsequently approved on condition that I could be contacted, on short notice, to resume duties.<br />
I travelled to Ocala, Florida where Sheila had an appointment to do some tests, with the possibility of surgery at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.<br />
But while I was there I became very ill with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized.<br />
During that time, however, I kept in contact with Trinidad and found out about the many changes that had taken place in the short time I had been away.<br />
For example, all the units that I had recently launched to deal with the escalating crime situation, had been disbanded by Clive Sealy, who was acting as Commissioner. Persons who had been transferred during my time, for whatever reasons, were also brought back to the CID.<br />
Among them was Ulric Sanoir, whom I had transferred for an act of indiscipline after an investigation by Cyracius Liverpool.<br />
As time went by the news from home became more disturbing.<br />
By then, they were working feverishly on the Garvin Scott Drug Report, which had been commissioned in February of that year, and my information was that several of the persons who had crossed my path- and many of whom had been transferred- were called in to testify before the Commission of Inquiry headed by Scott, a former Court of Appeal judge.<br />
For example, they got Superintendent Owen Quintin- whom I had reported to the Police Service Commission (PSC) for trying to seek his individual claim for promotion ( which was a serious breach) to give a statement.<br />
So that by the time I returned home in October I was ready to start preparing a dossier to present to the probers.<br />
But, I waited and I hoped for a call to testify, but it never came.<br />
In January 1985, I decided to take my wife back to Miami for medical treatment.<br />
Before leaving, however, I spoke to Lance Selman, who as Head of the Special Branch at the time was in liaison with various Embassies.<br />
I asked him to inform the US Embassy that I would be in Miami and that I had information which I would like to pass on to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).<br />
Those instructions were obviously obeyed, as while I was staying at the Tides Hotel on Miami Beach, I received a call from Gerry Forrester, the Caribbean Liaison Officer for the FBI, and we arranged a meeting the following morning.<br />
Forrester took me to the FBI Director in Miami and I was eventually turned over to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Branch, whom I presented with a file on persons involved in gun running in and out of Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
Even though I was on vacation and had not resumed duties, I was acting officially and collecting a lot of information from the US Authorities.<br />
When I finally returned to Trinidad on March 1st I wanted to show them that I was ready and running.<br />
For the first time, that year, I missed being at home for Carnival.<br />
It fell on February 18th and 19th but the Miami police asked me to stay on, and the investigations were not yet completed.<br />
So that while Sheila returned home on Carnival Saturday, two days before the mas parade, I did not get home until late Ash Wednesday (February 20th).<br />
It was only later that I would remember a telephone call that came to me while I was at the ATF office.<br />
It was from a Special Branch Officer who was an inspector at our foreign office in New York, Lloyd Joseph.<br />
How did he know I was there?<br />
He said he had simply called to get some information and they told him his boss was there.<br />
Little did I know that some big shots in Trinidad had become scared knowing I was talking to the FBI, ATF and the even possible the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA.<br />
It seemed as if people were trying to track my every movement in the USA.<br />
Even the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) had started to press the panic button because they didn’t know what to expect.. and I was about to return home and resume duties.<br />
Knowlson Gift who was then a local diplomat in Jamaica travelled home on the same flight with me, and I later dropped him off at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel before I went home.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGg-_Gz5RGXE06Dq-SPJX0CD_SjmQtMYg5PQOCklOnWaR2GrZyXNGY4-QpdXdKkJ1cjm_ozGRxnTh_6T08ojDG-_gGYDbgVevp9vMy9KdIS4SmYM8dAKyn94uNVP9q3ri8aE1xPc3kLTD/s1600/gift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="405" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGg-_Gz5RGXE06Dq-SPJX0CD_SjmQtMYg5PQOCklOnWaR2GrZyXNGY4-QpdXdKkJ1cjm_ozGRxnTh_6T08ojDG-_gGYDbgVevp9vMy9KdIS4SmYM8dAKyn94uNVP9q3ri8aE1xPc3kLTD/s320/gift.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knowlson Gift<br /></td></tr>
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On the following day, Thursday, I stayed home to rest and prepare for an after carnival function I was hosting on Friday, for all my relatives who had come home for the festivities. Among the officials I invited were the Minister of National Security John Donaldson and his wife, Eustace Bernard, David Busby and Max Awon among others. And on Saturday night, the same night which they later claimed I had been at Carli Bay offloading cocaine with Dole Chadee and the Ramlochan Brothers, Mohan and Sham, I attended the Champs in Concert show to get a taste of what I had missed during the Carnival season.<br />
The next day, Sunday, I left for Tobago to complete my vacation, taking with me all the documents I needed to prepare to resume duties the following week.<br />
I still had no idea whatsoever of the catastrophe and bacchanal that lay ahead.<br />
Stay tuned for Part Four.<br />
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</style>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-2178360173680856902019-04-10T14:07:00.002-04:002019-04-10T15:01:18.161-04:00Rag Storm Drama Continues....WTH! Fake News?<br />
Nope, it’s true.<br />
So you thought that the Panorama Drama ended on February 22nd when Justice Kevin Ramcharan granted an injunction that cleared the way for Exodus to change their tune of choice for the Finals of the 2019 Panorama competition, from Rag Storm to Savannah Grass?<br />
Clearly, it was more than simply a change of song or a challenge of the rules.<br />
Fact: Exodus Steelband and Ainsworth Mohammed, by choice, are now seeking more money from Pan Trinbago. And that’s beyond paying the cost of attorneys as the steelband body was instructed to do by the judge.<br />
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Band manager Mohammed is not owning up to that. He insisted it’s “attorneys’ business.” And what he said in a telephone conversation (see transcript below) does not line up with the court action that was filed on March 26th, in his name and in the name of the Exodus Steelband.<br />
“I am surprised that it has come up, again,” Mohammed said. One is therefore left to wonder if the attorneys acted without his consent.<br />
That was one day after the March 25th deadline when, if it intended to appeal the decision of Justice Ramcharan, Pan Trinbago could have filed a defence.<br />
Accepting the judge’s decision and with a promise that the rules of Panorama- which was at the heart of the High Court matter- would be settled by the membership before the next competition, Pan Trinbago bowed out hoping that it would die a natural death.<br />
Now the plain truth is that Exodus and Ainsworth, in black and white and in print will be seeking “further reliefs deemed just and expedient in the circumstances,” as instructing attorney Antonya Pierre stated in her affidavit, also dated March 26th because Pan Trinbago failed to file a defence.<br />
And, on May 17th, 2019, in Courtroom POS 20 @ 10 45 AM at the High Court of Justice in Port of Spain, the application for a default judgment will be heard before Madame Justice Margaret Mohammed.<br />
That’s when we will know what “damages” were suffered by the band (which placed last in the Panorama finals) and what, in terms of compensation it will be asking for.<br />
And that, folks, is the makings of a landmark, unprecedented, court matter involving a steel band. Read on to get a better understanding of how it has reached to this stage. If you can figure what they're fighting for.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Ainsworth's Contradictions</span></h2>
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For starters, Exodus Steelband and Ainsworth Mohammed were represented in court by a high powered team of attorneys: Mr. Elton Prescott SC, Mr. Farai Hove Massasai, Mr. Issa Jones instructed by Ms. Antonya Pierre. That would chalk up a high bill. Justice Ramcharan was, however, merciful and ordered Pan Trinbago to pay the costs for one Senior and one Junior attorney.</div>
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Pan Trinbago’s newly elected executive, having barely crossed 90 days in office after inheriting a bankrupt organization, could only muster a pro bono effort.</div>
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President Beverley Ramsey Moore went after her cousin attorney Christlyn Moore for help.</div>
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Come hell or high water, Exodus Steelband and Ainsworth Mohammed (Claimants) would have to pay the costs of the remaining two of the four attorneys listed in the action.</div>
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At<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>6 01PM on April 9th, after publishing a teaser on Facebook, only, that Exodus Takes Pan Trinbago to Court again, I received a call from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mr Mohammed. This is what he said.</h4>
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“The steel band has nothing to do with it, love. That is the attorneys' business.</div>
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"The Judge has handed down a judgment that they made the cost of it and the cost he has reduced it for them. and that is it. That’s it, the steel band has nothing to do with it.</div>
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“I don't have the details between the attorneys. “I just don't want a post as though that we are being antagonistic- that’s all that I want to make sure that does not come across.</div>
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“That thing between the attorneys has been decided already. I am surprised that this came up again.</div>
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“It was decided for senior and a junior and that is the final decision.</div>
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“None of the attorneys can go against that, you with me. That has already been agreed.”</div>
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“None of the attorneys can go against that, you with me. That has already been agreed.”</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhce7kKLBcJyVbbyAvMe0uTyu8DcXH3HI_r0dRs7U2ACYUAOOfm92mpXU9MCSJ7PuR7ES9Kxzg7PL_T3nSI2UCiyGpuylkz6RI-rvPnPJWaeqelEd2AoDt8PvuaJNVqS74cZy326T0G7YMC/s1600/56819175_383369095721461_7537487782789251072_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="color: red;">War declared..</span> via WhatsApp</h2>
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With the documents in hand, I still wondered why Mohammed's attorneys are seeking relief, or damages as we know it? Even if he did not know about it.</div>
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And then a flood of WhatsApp messages was sent to me, the thread showed the support which Ainsworth sought from his colleagues in what is loosely described as the Large Band Caucus back in February when he took Pan Trinbago to court. </div>
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It was a chat group that included the members of the seven finalists in the 2019 Panorama who all agreed that Exodus had the right to change its tune of choice 10 days before the finals. </div>
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They included Massey All-Stars, Champions Bp Renegades, Desperadoes, Skiffle, Supernovas Fonclaire and Birdsong. </div>
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Only five of the seven were actually in the Finals. Not Foncliare nor Birdsong.</div>
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However, the two bands, Silver Stars and Tropical Angel Harps, that were also playing Rag Storm, the original tune of Choice which Exodus wanted to change, did not engage in the WhatsApp conversation, based on the messages that popped into my inbox.</div>
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..” the fact that I am going legal now, I shall embrace the opportunity to sue for monies owed to XO and maybe put them into bankruptcy as their audited accounts have shown that Pan Trinbago is insolvent,” the message shows Ainsworth as saying back then.</div>
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Was it a threat? A joke?</div>
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Naturally, you would want to ask whether he is, in the matter that comes up on May 17th in which he and the band are seeking relief, following up on those stated intentions?</div>
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The large band caucus, by and large, was engaged, as Ainsworth updated them on the matter and also left it up to them to “determine whether you collectively wish to make representation.”</div>
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WhatsApp messages made their way into the court and helped in the final determination by the judges who noted that the “majority of the bands in the finals have no objections to the First Claimant (Exodus Steelband) being allowed to change their tune.”</div>
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But the tone of the messages<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;"></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;"> quoted above and the follow-up action, filed on March 26th, fly in the face of Ainsworth’s most recent comments which I have transcribed and written above.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;"> </span>Almost as if the highly respected<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;"></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;">Manager of the Exodus Steelband will turn a Rag Storm into a Desert Storm.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The large band<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> caucus having the best real estate and resources<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> at its disposal has not generated a<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> single idea for a movement forward.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Even in the darkest days of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago, immediately preceding the October 2018 elections for a new executive, Mohammed did<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> not stir as much as when he activated the caucus to come to his defence in February 2019.</div>
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Numerous groundbreaking ideas have been floated in the caucus.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And with the execution of the Big Five concerts, few seem to have borne fruit.</div>
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<span style="color: magenta;"> Breakdown of the bacchanal..</span></h2>
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..for a panist to understand</h3>
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Taking into consideration the legal action pending, a local attorney, who wished to remain anonymous broke it down into layman’s terms to show that indeed, Exodus and Mohammed are going after the money. </div>
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‘It’s simple. They have asked for a date for their damages to be assessed which means they are claiming that they suffered some damages and they want the court to quantify that. </div>
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"Ordinarily, when you start an action you start an action by Claim Form and Statements of Case and it progresses normally.</div>
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“When you have an urgent release, for example, I want my band to play tonight or I want you to stop breaking down my house, an urgent release, you go by Claim Form and Statement of Claim but you file a third thing which is your Injunction.</div>
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"In the case of I want my band to play or I want to stop the band from playing when the Injunction is heard you have gotten what you want.</div>
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“It’s a straight case of whether your band can play or your band can’t play.</div>
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“Normally, while it doesn’t technically end the matter, because the person has gotten what he’s wanted, that is it.</div>
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"It’s not like, for example, somebody broke down your fence and they threatened to break down the rest of the fence. When you get an injunction you cause them to be stopped but still, you got a broken fence that needs to be mended.,</div>
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"Somebody has to pay for that. So, of course, you will continue with the matter because there are other issues to be dealt with.</div>
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"This is not that type of matter. There are no other issues to be dealt with.</div>
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"Although there is technically a matter in the background.</div>
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"These people have applied for final judgment.</div>
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"This is about getting damages. Getting money.</div>
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"They have already been awarded cost certified fit for Senior Counsel and a Junior.</div>
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"Ordinarily when you start your Claim form and Statement of Claim, your normal action. If you win, costs are awarded.</div>
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"Given the value of the matter, you can compute cost.</div>
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"In this case, this matter had no value it is deemed to be a TT$50,000 matter and if you win this matter your costs are TT$14, 500.</div>
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" But this matter was finished before. So your costs are substantially less than TT$14,500. </div>
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“You cannot tell me they are doing this because they want a fraction of TT$14, 500. </div>
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“The second thing is that on the injunction they got cost certified fit for senior counsel. </div>
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“They still have to tax a bill to get that. They are not going to court to tax a bill. What they are going to do is, from the documents, it seems they want the court to assess damages.</div>
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“It is not simply about cost. </div>
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‘The cost of the injunction is manifestly less than TT$14 500 which they will get anyway.</div>
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"This is about them asking for damages.</div>
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“The only fee that can be worked out on their application- because they have an application coming up- they only fees that can be worked out is the proportion of the TT$14,500 and that is not done by agreement. </div>
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“An attorney just has to look in the book, find the page, read down format and will see what it is.</div>
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“You don't need to work that out.</div>
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“They could have taken their money for the senior counsel and ended it,”</div>
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the attorney explained, adding," they want more."</div>
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<style type="text/css"> p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} </style>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-83833831616239924722019-02-15T17:09:00.003-04:002019-02-18T13:06:23.944-04:00The Renegades Revolution.<br />
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It was at the start of the seventh year of famine that Duvone Stewart and the Renegades crossed the bridge.<br />
When Joseph interpreted Pharoah’s dream (Genesis 41:30) he saw that seven years of abundance would have been reversed with seven years of famine.<br />
Then would seven years of famine be followed by seven years of plenty?<br />
Indeed, it was in 2018, the seventh year since Duvone Stewart accepted the responsibility as an arranger for the Renegades Steel Orchestra, that he won a Panorama Championship.<br />
If he nipped an extra year of drought, it did not make a difference because of the debilitating politics of Pan Trinbago and the National Carnival Commission (NCC) which deprived the legendary steelband, one of the oldest in the country, of its million dollars prize money until the end of the year. And the honour reserved for champions.<br />
The victory did not turn into a national celebration either. Not even for the social work that kept a lid on turf wars around the band until the Panorama was over.<br />
One year later, having raised the bar for his generation of music arrangers, the 42-year-old is proving that he is truly in a league of his own now that he finally grasped the baton that was held out to him since 2012. And now that the Renegades, whose trademark is loyalty, laid to rest its late arranger, Dr Jit Samaroo,.<br />
He's bubbling with excitement, too. And now embarks on the journey to create his "dynasty as a champion arranger".<br />
But, he knows- and willingly accepts- that “it’s gonna be a very competitive stance going forward because a new crop of arrangers and musicians have embarked on a journey where they can become what they want to be, in their own sphere”.<br />
While 2018 was more than a Year of Love it was, too, a year of evolution for a man who has paid the price through blood, sweat and tears that flowed at 138 Charlotte Street in 2017, when they fell second to Trinidad All Stars' which snatched the crown from Desperadoes the band that re-introduced popular music as a choice for steelbands, rather than songs dictated by a few composers.<br />
After evolution, there comes the revolution.<br />
When he emerged as a storyteller in 2018, with his interpretation of Voice’s Year for Love it was powered by the hurt inflicted on the East Port of Spain community by gang warfare.<br />
His interpretation was a statement.<br />
It’s no less in 2019 with Hookin Meh where “the lyrical content reflects the man/ woman reality, a fundamental thing in the community.”<br />
“I have a story to paint with it,” he said in an interview on January 5th.<br />
The trademark of Stewart’s leadership, which manifests itself in the music, is loyalty and community which has been the heartbeat of the Renegades institution.<br />
Each night, during the 2019 Panorama season leading up to the preliminary round, like a good football coach, he drills his players by motivating them. Feeling them and knowing them helps to pull the best out of each one.<br />
Jit Samaroo, he confessed, taught him leadership by example.<br />
"No fight. No cursing. No heavy deliberation on what is supposed to be done", Stewart said.<br />
In between there, Duvone explains to the players, in explicit details, what he puts into the music they are playing, in order to get them to tell the story he is sharing.<br />
Take it one step further. His 2019 arrangement is Interactive.<br />
Note the connection with the audience he creates by leaving room for his players to sing the two most popular lines of Hookin Meh. No doubt the Drag, the Grand Stand and the North Park will be singing at the top of their voices. (<a href="https://soundcloud.com/panorama_live_2018/sets/2019-panorama-large-prelim-in">https://soundcloud.com/panorama_live_2018/sets/2019-panorama-large-prelim-in</a>)<br />
It's part of the theatre and drama with which he can easily capture 40 points for presentation in the Panorama competition.<br />
It’s all in his mission statement: “I want to make the blind see and the deaf hear.”<br />
How Stewart uses his access to the years of plenty will determine how the band fares in times of drought like the one that followed the end of the Jit Samaroo era (1971 -2006).<br />
Read on. You will understand, through his unedited words, how and why the scope of the Panorama is changing and how it can help to shape the revolution that can bring the steelband movement back to its moorings in the community, from which it originated.<br />
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Q : What was your vision for change?<br />
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A: I saw it happening all the time because the music was evolving.<br />
I still have lots of respect for all the work I have listened to in the past from Tony Williams to Leon Smooth Edwards and all the other Panorama winners.<br />
We are all artists. Some artists paint a different picture that you have to take long to see if you analyze.<br />
Some artists paint a picture that you can feel and see at one time.<br />
From the characteristics of the individuals mentioned before, they were doing homework and concentrating on bringing their A game but it was just a matter of time for someone to break the ice.<br />
I did it. It just opened a new dimension for the younger arrangers to come out and let their voices be heard. It’s gonna be a very competitive stance going forward into the future because a new crop of arrangers and musicians have embarked on a journey where they can become what they want to become, in their own sphere.<br />
I still continue to live my dream and will continue to pave the way for the younger ones and the ones who are there who never got the chance to feel how I felt at this point in time in being a champion arranger.<br />
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Q: What are your thoughts ahead of the 2019 game?<br />
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A: The 2019 Panorama is going to be another challenging one. Repeating as a champion arranger in a large category will be very difficult and the only way it can become easy is that we take whatever positives and go with it 100 per cent more.<br />
I know the arrangers in the large category. They ain’t taking what happened in 2018 lightly, with me still being available to work with BP Renegades. The band is on a high, confidence is on a high. Love and togetherness are high.<br />
As for me, I am just about to accept the fact that a dynasty of Duvone Stewart has begun, that I have to be focused, be very concentrative of. I have etched my name in a space where it cannot be erased anymore which has gravitated to me becoming a more powerful household name, locally, regionally and internationally among the fans that love steelpan music, and just me the individual at a high level of excellence and performing to the best that I can at any given point in time.<br />
It’s about continuing to build a reputation and making a generation feel confident and comfortable knowing that there is somebody who is there to take up the mantle after the virtuosos that they have seen in the early era as Leon Smooth Edwards and Len Boogsie Sharpe.<br />
It is a cycle for them. Now they are seeing that somebody new has broken through the glass and come out with this powerful statement and Year for Love was just the fitting title to send me through the gates ,opening it for young arrangers, pannists, band leaders to come through the ranks to make them successful as I am embarking on my dynasty as a champion arranger.<br />
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Q: The songs that are available this year represent a radical shift from where your frame of mind was in Year for Love. What determined your choice from what is available to you out there?<br />
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A: The titles of songs that present themselves this year really don't have what happened in 2018. I know a new frame of mind is required.<br />
While Lord Kitchener, De Fosto just to name a few were taking time to compose and arrange songs for the instrument because there was a point in time when Renegades could have just closed our eyes and picked anything that Kitchener sang. The band was like Kitchener and Jit Samaroo. De Fosto was the same.<br />
But one of the things that I have learned over the years is that transition has taken place and we have to accept the level of music we have at our disposal right now. Personally, it is not as great as we were accustomed to receiving in the early times, but we have to get with the time and accept change.<br />
I am not saying that I am disappointed in the level of material that is out there. But I believe that the popularity in songs is what will set the trend for the bands going forward now.<br />
The whole paradigm shift was, so luckily, seen by me after 2016 Panorama when Desperadoes came first with Different Me. That song was so out of the box for Desperadoes but it was one of the most popular songs at the point in time. In 2017 All Stars took the title Full Extreme (the Road March) from the Ultimate Rejects- although pan songs were coming out.<br />
Year for Love was like a divine intervention for me to receive this message from God, internally, that whatever happened with my friend Wayne Alleyne who was shot and killed on Dec 11th 2017, was in place for me to express myself musically.<br />
For 2019 its a different ball game.<br />
The DJ soca artiste singers have created a different scope for non-composing arrangers to go to the drawing board to accept whatever is there for them to play because when we go to the savannah, we go with what is popular.<br />
There are some popular songs for 2019 and I just have to readapt the mindset of what I or any arranger wants to bring across.<br />
Players are also feters and they tend to call me and say what is hot in the fete. Is it popular to fit on the instrument properly to send that message across?<br />
Last year it was an appeal for love.<br />
This year Hookin Meh is a reality for the families that reside around the band. The lyrical content is like the man-woman reality.<br />
I have a story to paint with it. I am not leaving you.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A band that prays together stays together</td></tr>
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Q: Clearly, you bring strong leadership to the band. How would you describe your leadership style?<br />
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A: If it’s one thing I learnt through my arranging career is that you cannot please everybody in one band. I never really had the opportunity to please everybody.<br />
Being humble among your band members and your executive team is the key in having a band together because me, personally, when I go into every band, I go down to the level as a player.<br />
I was also a player. I get to see how players react towards situations. I never went into a panyard saying yeah I am the arranger, I am mighty high. I want to get my message across on a level playing field with everybody in the band.<br />
That stems from being a member of the Renegades in the era of the 80’s and 90’s when Dr Jit Samaroo was very humble in getting his words across to the members.<br />
No fight.No cursing. No heavy deliberation on what is supposed to be done. Only a cross-section of information will come from the members to the arrangers and he will listen politely and take it into consideration.<br />
That is the leadership style that I adopt and I transpose as I grew into a more self-motivated individual. I have never had a problem dealing with the players or dealing with the management because I am a people person.<br />
We are all human beings and we ain’t better than anybody else out here.<br />
I always try to send that signal to the bands that I work for.<br />
It worked very well..but it was a task for the first three years with Renegades because the band did not accept that Jit Samaroo was dead and I had a problem getting my music across because they built a culture around him. They eventually got to understand that the word transition and confidence is what can get them to regain confidence in becoming a champion band.<br />
That is what happened in 2014. In Renegades, the leadership that I presented filtered down to the players, the supporters, the community that I reside in with the band and it globally sends that message when the band performs music they see a unity, a passion, a leader guiding 120 Spartans into musical war.<br />
For Pan Elders they see me as a rightful role model down in San Fernando.<br />
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Duvone Stewart is seeking a new record in the 2019 Panorama. All three bands that he arranges for were leading up to the semi-final round Medium Champs, Pan Elders going for the 6th consecutive win under his baton, TT Defence Force which has grown from Single Pan into the small band category and Bp Renegades.<br />
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-92025315053518355242019-02-14T17:22:00.000-04:002019-02-18T13:16:57.568-04:00Arrangers are people too, but Panorama is a brutal beast. It was my first ever night time assignment. And my first foray into steelband journalism, if we can call it that.<br />
Being the kind of boss that he was, the late Editor/Publisher Patrick Chookolingo called me into his office and asked whether I could make it while assuring me that he had assigned a photographer who would ensure that I got home safely.<br />
The assignment: to interview all the conductors of the bands participating in the 1982 Steelband Music Festival-Pan is Beautiful Two- that was being staged at the Jean Pierre Sporting Complex (JPSC) in Port of Spain.<br />
So said so done. It was just a few months into the life of the T&T Mirror newspaper of which I was a founding member and Choko (as he was fondly called) was all about getting the news that needed coverage. He was more than motivated by the fact that the mainstream media ignored almost all things related to steelband where he saw excellence.<br />
Enthusiastically, I went on the assignment and came back with stories from folks like Desmond Waithe and even the late Anthony Prospect who conducted Iscott Casablanca which eventually won the Festival with a still mind-blowing rendition of the 1812 Overture.<br />
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Prospect’s son, Sarge, worked with us as a proofreader, at the time. And there were more. Sadly, my recollection is not as vivid as it should be.<br />
It was published as a spread (double page) with the headline “Conductors are people too.” Under each photo of a conductor at the semi-final stage of the competition was a little human interest story, as much as my naivety could have harnessed from these iconic musicians.<br />
Thus started the journey, 36 years ago.<br />
Two years later when I moved into Port of Spain to live, it became clearer. My first Panorama in 1984 found me walking from my home and meeting strangers from Phase Two as they pushed racks up to the Queen’s Park Savannah for the Panorama preliminaries. By the time I got there I had a few new friends whose names I did not know and a Phase 2 T-Shirt. It was the year of Boogie Sharpe’s own composition I Music which I followed enthusiastically, but always from a safe distance, until the band bombed out after a “slow count” from Boogsie on the final night.<br />
Later that year my fate was sealed. On a full moon night, no less mystical it was, I made my first journey up the Hill to Desperadoes with journalist Keith Shepherd who walked the ground and gave room for culture in any newspaper that he edited.<br />
The late Pat Bishop was called in to help prepare the band for the music festival of 1984 when they played Tchaikovsky’s March Slav.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pat Bishop (Photo :The Lydians)</td></tr>
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It was another moment in history because, after Merle Albino de Coteau, Pat was the first woman to musically command an army of steel band men.<br />
In between there, the memories , in no particular order, include a brave and fearless me walking up to the man reputed to be unapproachable, the late Rudolph Charles, who was in a wheelchair at the Savannah at the time after hurting his leg in an accident on Independence Square in Port of Spain, to be interviewed for Radio 610AM, the State-owned radio station that recorded and also provided live coverage of all Panorama events ( and Music Festival). Charlo was amused, obviously, and so went to our broadcast team willingly. It was a kind of feat. The usual broadcasters were not anxious to approach him.<br />
And then not long afterwards attending his funeral at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and watching them place his coffin in the Chariot pan (his invention) for the journey to Caroni for cremation.<br />
Add to that the precious memory of being turned away, with a sweet smile, by the late Dr. Jit Samaroo, after the Renegades performed, because he just did not give interviews. I was forewarned but dared to go ahead.<br />
There were long nights for years after that when we trolled the Savannah for off-beat stories for the Mirror, or whether as part of the support team of the 610 broadcasters or jamming in the North Stand. And then pushing racks, or being squashed unto a rack, on Jourvert morning with whoever the Panorama winner was.<br />
Fast forward a decade. And a daughter arrives. And the scope of long nights changed. The reporting dried up. Taking her to the drag- and watching her reaction- for Panorama was the highlight. By that time the drive for excellence which I got in my introduction seemed to have disappeared.<br />
And then, as a player, she took me into the belly of the beast. There, for the first time, I struggled, for weeks on end to keep my health and myself and my life together as I joined a small group of parents at the Silver Stars panyard where I got a bird’s eye view of Liam Teague working with the youngsters. None of it can be reported on. I was trusted to be there in my capacity as a parent, only.<br />
So the snippets of information I got from the iconic conductors in 1982- and how I wish I had more experience at the time to be able to chronicle more than what my naive questions delivered to me- was nothing really.<br />
A whole new world opened up. Teague had not just the Trinidad players but a host of foreign students for whom he was their treasured teacher. He has a unique skill in pulling it all together, standing in front of them like a classroom- and then heading up to the rhythm rack from where he motivated them all. And the children loved him.<br />
In between, I would drift to other panyards to get a sense of what was happening.<br />
It is always evident that the person most under pressure in any steel band at Panorama time is the arranger. He is jammed between a rock and a hard place. Because everyone is a judge.<br />
Fast Forward, again, to 2019. The daughter is a sophomore at a US college and I am working hard again. There is no money in steel band journalism, really.<br />
But there are countless stories to be told.<br />
Once again, Teague is leading the charge at the Silver Stars. Up in Lopinot, Amrit Samaroo, also bubbling with sweet music, as well, is toiling to bust through the status quo.<br />
And even the veteran Robbie Greenidge, up to a week ago, had only a semblance of a band to work with until the players flocked to Birdsong and took their energy there. A man, like Teague, of international stature in steelpan and who is not given respect at home.<br />
They, along with Carlton Zanda Alexander and Leon Smooth Edwards and Len Boogsie Sharpe and Arrdin Herbert are among the most hardworking people in the country at this time of the year, at least.<br />
Each night, in Port of Spain alone, they command hundreds of people towards musical excellence. Many times, without structural support.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liam Teague (left) and Robbie Greenidge</td></tr>
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In both Liam and Robbie’s case, they have, through experience, been refined into pure gold overseas.<br />
Here, each year they are put through the alchemic process, again, as if they are less than gold and that we can make them into gold, again. There is no known way to get gold from steel- and these men have accomplished that.<br />
I can say the same for young Andre White- who, in his final year at Berklee College arranged for three steelbands in London and the US.He arranged for Mangrove, the winners of the 2018 Panorama in the UK. I suspect he will be put through the process as well. Trinidadian arrangers go overseas and win Panorama after a short stint with a foreign-based band. Teague and Greenidge are automatically made to step down from excellence, in order to achieve our version of excellence.<br />
I have danced and been healed by Clive Bradley’s music. How did he die? The iconic arranger was thrown out like garbage.<br />
Scores of smart young musicians - and the makers of instruments too-in Trinidad who want to move forward in steelpan can only head out of Trinidad for a fate that awaits them like Liam and Robbie.<br />
And that is because we have not created any avenue for the talent that we have. Panorama is the only avenue and these men are thrown into the sea of tribalism and tossed around. It must be a stressful experience for a professional.<br />
Arrangers, dear folks, are people too. They are not made of steel. I write with experience, compassion and understanding.<br />
Duvone Stewart, currently leading in the 2019 Panorama race with his arrangement of Hooking Meh for Renegades is another story.<br />
Next up: The Renegades Revolution. <br />
Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-86682853199712744402018-12-10T19:23:00.003-04:002019-01-09T21:12:34.787-04:00Beverley signs up for debt: Queen of $0.00<div class="p1">
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The politician that she is, Beverley Ramsey Moore is making the job as President of Pan Trinbago seem far<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> more important than it really is.</div>
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Still riding the<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> wave of being the first woman to be president of the ”World Governing Body of steelpan, the Katzenjammers frontliner is falling into the mould set by her predecessors bringing nothing new to the table at the same time pulling in “her people” closer to fortify her position.</div>
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That's even though she reported to an Extra Ordinary General Meeting<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on December 5th that “Pan Trinbago is insolvent, way over debt.”</div>
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That was backed up by her Treasurer Gerald Mendez: “We have inherited hell,” Mendez<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>stated just over a month after he seemed<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to be the happiest man alive, pacing the floor when his slate won the elections held on October 28th at the Mucurapo East Secondary School.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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And just about ten<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> weeks away from the grandest<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> international steel band festival, it is a clear case of culture<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> shock for the new executive. And it is like they are almost in denial while they<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> try to maintain the shell of the organization that has crumbled.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Don't look for money outside of the eight million dollars<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to treat with your debt,” is what Chairman of the National Carnival Commission, Winston Gypsy Peters is<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> reported to have telegraphed to the new Executive when<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> he met with them.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But that was<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> not translated to the membership<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> on that Tuesday afternoon.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Instead<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Ramsey Moore (in photo by Clayton R Clarke) decided to jump on the train and ride the cycle of debt declaring that she had taken a loan to repay a loan, and that she was engaging the Prime Minister and the Minister of Culture<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to lend her money to make up the prize money, admin payables and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>players’ remittance, a total of TT$ 20 million by her estimation.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Still “proud and elated to be elected by you as the first<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> female president,”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Ramsey Moore (seen celebrating in the video) said she<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> “never thought we would be in the wide ocean”. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space">Never mind it was willful ignorance. It was there to be seen <a href="https://sharmainbaboolal.blogspot.com/2018/10/pan-in-real-danger.html">all along</a>.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxvKUC5SdEG6kDlttGk1nRWDpuMqfb9Ni_M5XknY7exWqX9Rluhytne7rH14_WKywP_4CfV7ch96Y7F7BsLgw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And then she tried<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> to console the members present<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I am not afraid of the challenge. You have good swimmers and divers here in the ocean of debt.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Clearly, they are at sea. It is all in the hands of the National Carnival Commission (NCC) and Treasurer Mendez, in his report,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>while bringing no new idea to the table declared “we need to mend fences with the government and the NCC.”</div>
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“The debt is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the vicinity of TT$60 million<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>because a number of bills and figures<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>were not presented to the auditors<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"It’s not TT$30 million, as they said before, but more like $60 million. We have to reduce expenditure and increase revenue.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Where did the figures come from?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>No one knows.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Later on in the meeting<span class="Apple-converted-space">, </span>Ramsey Moore<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>admitted that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>she “did not have access to the (audit) report from the Ministry of Community Development and Culture, but "town say it really bad.”</div>
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But then she declared to the membership: “the recommendations of that report will guide us”</div>
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Clearly by her utterances the President, who is drowning in debt,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>intends to remain afloat riding<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> on the raft provided by the NCC, as Mendez indicated.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>As the meeting wore on, Ramsey Moore who introduced all her executive members, wavered in her views. The meeting, after all, was very subdued.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We want to renegotiate the <a href="http://sharmainbaboolal.blogspot.com/2018/08/steelbands-without-balls-scrotums.html">(Memorandum of Agreement)</a>,” she eventually said, making the first reference to the document. </div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"The government must provide an enabling environment,” she added going<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> for good<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> measure as if she<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> was in a position to call any shots in the government.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Indeed, Mrs Ramsey Moore does not have the mandate of the divided steel band fraternity.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>None of the persons who contested the elections against her slate, except for Peter Morancie, showed up at the Extra Ordinary meeting.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Still on a high Moore declared “since the elections I have been congratulated everywhere I walk and we need to inspire others to invest in us.”</div>
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But she was less than inspirational, town say, when she was introduced to banker<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Richard Young at the Starlift panyard recently.</div>
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'You is the man with the money," she was overheard saying, as Young seemed to have mentally recoiled.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The adulation, however, has prevented Ramsey Moore from reflecting<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>. Indeed no<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> one on the executive saw the need to find<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> a way to bring the forces<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> together, to mend relationships in the steel band community.</div>
<div class="p1">
On that basis, she has no strength going to the NCC to renegotiate the MOA- and as St James’ Power Stars’ Gregory Lindsay reminded her, speaking from the floor, there is a difference between a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).<br />
Everything she had to offer to the membership was<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> coming from the government. That, after all, was the riot act read to her by the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley when they met at The Invaders’ Parang and Pork. There she<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> was admonished and told not to dare oppose the NCC.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
Given the number of financial members - 190- the quorum for last Tuesday’s meeting should<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> have been 110.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But 98 bands showed up.</div>
<div class="p1">
Ninety-two bands that voted in the October 28th elections failed to show.</div>
<div class="p1">
Another meeting is carded for Dec 11th at the Scherzando Panyard in Curepe.<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
Continue reading below for a blow by blow of the first Extra Ordinary meeting hosted<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>President Ramsey-Moore.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: red;">Beverley’s borrowings:</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
“There was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>$24,000 available for spending when we entered.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXCmO3uT9lyrHA86zc9FftngRyhTlu9esrgAuiP143dAYmN53YU0FvAX8-tmjmNJQaxkTd4qyRYIfDxKi8gRCyeKIOZsKyMuKuUG2CrZ0g14fvZhAEJwueisBICccDwfmkEmhMNSZSRsm/s1600/48086123_444075279455260_4725976180505706496_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1161" data-original-width="1548" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXCmO3uT9lyrHA86zc9FftngRyhTlu9esrgAuiP143dAYmN53YU0FvAX8-tmjmNJQaxkTd4qyRYIfDxKi8gRCyeKIOZsKyMuKuUG2CrZ0g14fvZhAEJwueisBICccDwfmkEmhMNSZSRsm/s320/48086123_444075279455260_4725976180505706496_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Central Executive. Photo Sharmain Baboolal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>“We owe the bank TT$1. 5 million<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“For 2018,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>we have TT$7.6 million as the balance. We need TT$12.1 million to pay prizes and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>TT$3.6 for players remittances and TT$3 million for admin payables<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Basically we need TT$20 million to clear off all of 2018.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We borrowed TT$276,000 to pay the rent and we<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> get out- give us a round of applause,” she declared without clarifying<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> that indeed TT$300,000 was borrowed from PANVESCO.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I have spoken to the Prime Minister and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> Madame Minister and hope to organize to get a loan from the NCC to get the prize money.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I borrowed money from the Tobago Region and the Eastern Region,” she declared without specifying the sums of money and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> what repayment plans there are.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The staff must be paid by the 15th as well as judges and the people who worked for Panorama," she said.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Bands that owe PANVESCO, your money will be deducted from the prize money,” she declared, without giving in to a request defer payments until 2019.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Pan Trinbago owes PANVESCO<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>TT$3 million, bands owe TT$2.2 million</div>
<div class="p1">
“We need the money to pay off PANVESCO to take another loan.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We have to make hard decisions. Mrs Ramsey<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Moore alone cannot sacrifice.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I am sleeping<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> in a small room without a table,” the politician said.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘I don’t know what the 2019 allocation is and I cannot make a commitment for 2019," she replied when asked by a member on the floor.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I have been minding me since I got voted and will make the necessary sacrifices until we are out of the woods.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We have decided not to pay salaries<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> and bonuses- maybe a stipend to the Central Executive," she reported.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Simpson's short<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> sight.</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbtM3lqYpBrAXh_WH2OaVA8NUZ41TvkrPSYJkUwf6C3Z_WjWzCbmYGGpaBWfKtDN63yWs5Q9vh08wPpzuFSly-SmWDNaegHsLxKu3qx0LJRAZYSuOI3VwuXmrsUU7XX5xWnkJ3dhOvLBSA/s1600/48089026_560958121018124_3609189021739122688_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1548" data-original-width="1152" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbtM3lqYpBrAXh_WH2OaVA8NUZ41TvkrPSYJkUwf6C3Z_WjWzCbmYGGpaBWfKtDN63yWs5Q9vh08wPpzuFSly-SmWDNaegHsLxKu3qx0LJRAZYSuOI3VwuXmrsUU7XX5xWnkJ3dhOvLBSA/s320/48089026_560958121018124_3609189021739122688_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith Simpson with Denise Hernandez .<br />
Photo Sharmain Baboolal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Trustee Keith Simpson :“I am the trustee and I am responsible for all the assets of Pan Trinbago.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
Yet he did not identify the assets- including the ill-fated Headquarters in<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> Trincity by giving details that the pan fraternity is hungry for in a transparent manner. Nothing has been clarified.</div>
<div class="p1">
“I have had to identify the vehicles in the hands of some officers who do not want to hand it back," he stated.</div>
<div class="p1">
“I have found about<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> TT$200 000 worth of items in CDs, DVDs and T-shirts, watches etc.</div>
<div class="p1">
“We got a gift shop at the Cruise Ship complex to sell the stuff we found 400 watches, books in a cupboard.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>What Simpson did not report to the Membership is that</div>
<div class="p1">
1. former President Keith Diaz returned a Mercedes Benz</div>
<div class="p1">
2. Darren Sheppard returned one car to the South Central Regional Office.</div>
<div class="p1">
3. Advisor to the Former President Melville Bryan has two vehicles to return (up to last Thursday, Dec 6th)</div>
<div class="p1">
4. A car used by former Secretary Forteau was flooded out in Sangre Grande in the October floods.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>These are five of the eleven vehicles on Pan Trinnago's list of assets that were accounted for.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>VP gets a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Vaps.</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
For all of three hours that the meeting lasted the only new thing appeared<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> to come from Vice President Carlon Harewood. But it was a recycled old idea.</div>
<div class="p1">
As he offered the schedule for Panorama 2019 -without knowing what is the allocation and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> without clearing debts for 2018- Harewood’s big bombshell was a Jourvert fete.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was intended to be on the morning<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> of Panorama Semi-Finals from<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> 2 AM<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>until 10 AM.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Semi finals will start at 1PM</div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3VwVhBHi9SY9L3Hx61mDswiLdkfWluu2uBqaFCh1uktKo2io3HhiuqjgMg1RJVPFkWUhBCFSbkE7U58RRE3Qx0rX95cnuc4RjbtIeCf_JwE7QC-JU-UV16hBCbur_gxbD5-aaxGso4ey/s1600/carlon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3VwVhBHi9SY9L3Hx61mDswiLdkfWluu2uBqaFCh1uktKo2io3HhiuqjgMg1RJVPFkWUhBCFSbkE7U58RRE3Qx0rX95cnuc4RjbtIeCf_JwE7QC-JU-UV16hBCbur_gxbD5-aaxGso4ey/s320/carlon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carlon Harewood. Photo gov.tt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>What is the target audience? Clearly, the Veep did not think of it before.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He just caught a vaps. And while it is a fundraiser in the vein of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Greens, clearly the timing is bad. It would eliminate all the people who would be preparing for the semi-finals- and those who hoped to attend<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the semi-finals, as well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But give him the credit. He took TT$ 200 from his own pockets to print out the agenda<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> for Panorama 2019 which was floating around in the meeting.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The VP announced four<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> changes for Panorama 2019.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“1. Single Pan from Preliminaries to<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> Finals will be from<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> January 22<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to January 29.<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“2. A Jourvert fete- 2 AM to 10AM… the Sunday morning before the semis- up in the air still.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“3. A<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan man cool zone for semi-finals where players can relax and watch and listen to Panorama.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“ 4. Judges- we will pool<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> all judges capable of any category- and then do a random picking through the<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> NLCB.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And then there is the return of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Zonal final which is also up in the air. We are looking for looking for additional sponsors and are gonna<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> push for it.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The rules for<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the competition are<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> not yet fleshed out but the start<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> time for finals at 6pm,” he reported.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;"> Ah-we life raft</span></h2>
<div class="p2" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>John Arnold, HBM Gold, has all the accolades on paper. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A combination of event management, music and business.</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>His biggest foray into event management thus far has been with the Tobago Jazz Festival, which has never<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> pulled in a profit. He is, however, the President of the Copyright Organization of Trinidad and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> Tobago COTT.</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0NjeoYd0L4IJEqdmYTxRfI9H_KI1hYSW4COaJHil5MfLKlO_Y1JzLsGI4nCF5MEGBY_yhSWklPG4RqMUv95iu7zlm46teNiitTYybx1J2vw30lHcp92sjpNOl11-nhidX0PYmkbAO723/s1600/arnold.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0NjeoYd0L4IJEqdmYTxRfI9H_KI1hYSW4COaJHil5MfLKlO_Y1JzLsGI4nCF5MEGBY_yhSWklPG4RqMUv95iu7zlm46teNiitTYybx1J2vw30lHcp92sjpNOl11-nhidX0PYmkbAO723/s1600/arnold.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Arnold.<br />
Photo John Arnold<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>Arnold will fortify the Pan Trinbago President as she ventures into her first Panorama. And Marie Toby, former Chairman of the Tobago Region of Pan Trinbago, will be the new Liaison Officer for all steelbands, obviously sitting at the right hand of the President.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He will join Janine Charles Farray a marketing strategist and publicist, Colin Greaves, a marketing and steel band event management consultant and “ the man from Jet Blue” who gave away free tickets to the previous<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> executive.</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Toby’s appointment was ratified by the Central Exec after Ramsey Moore declared at the extra ordinary meeting that she has to “create a Liaison unit, the liaison officials are lazy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan is a social institution that can<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> be used for social progress,” she said.</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They are all on Board for Panorama 2019. That has been decided.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In 2012, funds were used to pay a consultant for Panorama. The middlemen were creaming off the milk and we don't need a consultant to tell us how to run our show,” Ramsey Moore told the meeting a few days before the decision was taken to pull in Arnold and company.</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It is easy to assume that Arnold is on board for voluntary service.</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So too, the membership is hoping that Woodbrook Modernaire’s Douglas Williams - a part of the Team Rebuild-who was brought in<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Office Admin for Pan Trinbago, <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>will also be<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of voluntary service.<br />
And there is controversy brewing in the sister isle as Tobago Bucconeers has been grantedthe approval from Pan Trinbago to enter the large category for Panorama 2019, on the suggestion of the arranger who already has a medium band on his hands. Where will they get the players? That is the source of future contention.<br />
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: red;">Awai goes away before AWOL</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“On<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>November 28th Sandra Awai tendered her resignation to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>executive, for private medical reasons .”</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We are down to three females on the executive,” Ramsey Moore said, in reference to Secretary Denise Hernandez, Assistant<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Secretary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Lauren Pierre and herself, after<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Awai resigned, barely one month into the new term.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was suspicious and made you wonder why health concerns surfaced a month after she offered herself up to work on the Pan Trinbago Executive with<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> her slate headed by Keiron Valentine.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The resignation was dated<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>November 22nd and submitted on November 28th,” the President reported to the meeting, saying nothing more.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Who would be the new Public Relations Officer, PRO? No one dared to ask.</div>
<div class="p1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz6PsTU1VS1B3k3-w9fnAXnYLtvQ1EgZiQ4VX8Y1kfBYCBL7ob5yA9KzSmNf3_JKFdw7HOXR4xc-inKQZgM7Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Awai, as the video from the elections, would show was welcomed on board when there was a tie as<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> Ramsey Moore told her after<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the vote count that she was willing to work with both her and Salisha James of the Tobago Region who eventually<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> lost by one vote in a recount.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Awai easily<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> grew disenchanted with what was happening around her and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>quit to her benefit.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>She did not feel part of that crew<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> of females on the central executive as Ramsey Moore made it out to be when she reported to the membership that had voted for her.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The resignation was in the air, even as she worked<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> along with the executive.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: red;">Ash into the 21st Century</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>While everyone else was on<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the slow boat, Marcus Ash, the Education officer, jettisoned himself into the 21st century.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The Youth Arm executive was supposed to be ten but is now down to four members,” he reported.</div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcTo-GBqV6nwxyL9Sbhit3vN7pJHnCg2n1xCOPoSiJnatv7u5_oxSEsFue1X52a8SkD7WyXizp1ar3a57PGZ1M-_ETNVjWYrn-vrcBuIR3HJNtLVdurMO4PN0ZmRRq3UttLDaB1hQJVVqY/s1600/48062929_295945954368390_6068478031184265216_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1548" data-original-width="1152" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcTo-GBqV6nwxyL9Sbhit3vN7pJHnCg2n1xCOPoSiJnatv7u5_oxSEsFue1X52a8SkD7WyXizp1ar3a57PGZ1M-_ETNVjWYrn-vrcBuIR3HJNtLVdurMO4PN0ZmRRq3UttLDaB1hQJVVqY/s320/48062929_295945954368390_6068478031184265216_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ash (left) with defeated candidate Michael Dinchong<br />
Photo Sharmain Baboolal.<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They have TT$4,321 left in an account from the money that should<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> have been theirs and they should have been given that money", Ash said. The role of Education Officer, as defined in the constitution was not clearly explained in that meeting, either.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“But their affairs were handled by the Central Executive. By March the youth arm should get its own Board, have its autonomy and should be able to conduct training and seminars.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We are seeking a 21st Century upgrade; Ministry of Education Pan in Schools, Curriculum,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and Junior Panorama. By the way, the winners are also owed money.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I met with the University of <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Trinidad and Tobago<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(UTT) steel band Faculty- young persons are interested.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“There are 100 countries with no pan and we need more outreach there- a museum and a library as well,” he said<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> suggesting a<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> steelpan interpretation centre in the interim, again with no idea of how it will be funded.</div>
<div class="p2">
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<h2>
<span style="color: red;">Denise Diary</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Secretary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Denise Hernandez is close to the President. She was keeping<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> check on the meetings.</div>
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Therefore all of the above-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>which amounts to little or nothing- was accomplished with hard work, Hernandez reported. <span class="Apple-converted-space" style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">"We been in </span>term<span style="text-align: center;"> for one month and attended 30 different meetings.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"We have had four Central Executive meetings and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> 26 stakeholders meetings for debt owing since 2014. The drum factory where the staff has not been paid for six months.</div>
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"We attended 18 different functions," she noted.<br />
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-21878302097109922622018-10-26T21:42:00.001-04:002018-10-26T21:47:31.828-04:00PAN IN REAL DANGER<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red;">Election charade, Panorama Bankrupt.</span></span></h2>
<br />
Keith Diaz, having busted through almost every loophole in the Pan Trinbago constitution as he powered his way like a raging bull, is now the biggest shadow over the hastily convened 2018 elections for a new executive of the “world governing steel pan body”.<br />
Under the glare of the spotlight of the international steel pan diaspora, the incumbents and the aspirants have represented themselves as nothing short of an embarrassment.<br />
And while they campaigned far and wide they have only opened up the gap between the so-called administrators of pan and the growing movement of players who will be the ones to determine whether Panorama 2019 comes off as planned.<br />
As it stands, some bands may not be able to make it to competition.<br />
Players who are owed money may just take a back seat if they are not paid.<br />
If money from the National Carnival Commission’s (NCC) 2019 allocation is used to pay prize money and players remittance for 2018, then what becomes of 2019?<br />
That is one of the numerous questions which no one on the campaign trail has dared to ask and for which no one has an answer.<br />
Granted the aspirants and the incumbents are walking into Diaz’s track, heading into the darkness without even a flambeau, far more a flashlight, they are hoping that the NCC is the light at the end of the tunnel.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAM98I2SHKDqVejlr9lOjLG8Mukm4lPkdhSZXt-QyTUZM3ER9RhSvtuMIReBfn7FJRQDykpus7ojZ29-2O5H0gfKZi7fGYQ7KzXk7l9NmD8PPNankEXnX-dnBYQkLsFA0kbSU90gZ64lz/s1600/keithdiaz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="805" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAM98I2SHKDqVejlr9lOjLG8Mukm4lPkdhSZXt-QyTUZM3ER9RhSvtuMIReBfn7FJRQDykpus7ojZ29-2O5H0gfKZi7fGYQ7KzXk7l9NmD8PPNankEXnX-dnBYQkLsFA0kbSU90gZ64lz/s320/keithdiaz.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith Diaz (Photo by Trini Talks)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
NCC, however, through the candidate which it is backing in the race is only promising to pay money due to steel bands and saying that Panorama 2019 will be on, as scheduled.<br />
So here's the scenario. There was a significant shortfall in the disbursement of the 2018 allocation to NCC from the Ministry of Finance which was TT$147 million. But in fact, it was only TT$90.4 million which was actually disbursed and that represents a 40 percent reduction in the actual allocation which means the NCC has payables to the tune of more than TT$30 million which will have to be financed from the 2019 allocation.<br />
The 2019 allocation, however, has been further reduced to <a href="https://www.finance.gov.tt/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Numbered-Draft-Estimates-Statutory-Boards-2019.pdf">TT$139 million</a>.<br />
Apart from having to make do with less for 2019, the NCC also has to meet a significant part of the 2018 commitments.<br />
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</div>
Pan Trinbago's incumbents and aspirants who were hoping to a get a bligh from the NCC, after the incumbents recklessly dipped into the 2018 allocation without regards to their overall commitment, are now on very tenuous ground as the NCC is clearly under pressure.<br />
All they are likely to get from the NCC will be the TT$8 million even while the Pan Trinbago executive says the amount outstanding is TT$16 million.<br />
Nobody knows where that money is coming from and as it stands, given current trends, there is little or no hope of getting the money from the government.<br />
The NCC, therefore, is also complicit as it kept on disbursing the money to Diaz’s Pan Trinbago without any notion of what were Pan Trinbago’s overall commitments.<br />
Diaz made commitments to the bands for the prize money without being supported by the resources that he knew were available from the NCC.<br />
Sadly no one has been asking the questions and the aspirants for office have been carrying on the charade hoping that money will materialize out of thin air, as it always has. <br />
Panorama, therefore, which is the sole annual event on the national steel band calendar, is bankrupt.<br />
When the delegates from 190 steel bands gather at the Mucurapo East Secondary School to vote in a new executive, after less than a month of heavy campaigning, mostly on social media, they will be like ‘gouti ready to run on the track that Keith and his cohorts made.<br />
It will be a hard road to travel in guava season<br />
And you can expect nothing different from a new executive. For the very meeting after which this election date was announced was gerrymandered to simply ratify the election date.<br />
It was endorsed by all. Obviously endorsed by all the candidates contesting the polls, the meeting on Tuesday, September 18th, which was a continuation of a previous meeting that did not have quorum was clearly a "ratchify".<br />
Even Richard Forteau, who claims to be the guardian of the Pan Trinbago Constitution looked on and did not challenge what was happening in front of him.<br />
If the outcome is unfavorable would Forteau then trigger further court action?<br />
There is no record of what transpired in that meeting except for the notes taken by one woman on the request of Keith Diaz.<br />
Granted the sound man, who usually recorded the meeting, was not present, Diaz asked her to take notes of the meeting which she agreed to even while the beleaguered Secretary Forteau sat and looked on.<br />
And then when the President moved a motion for elections, there was a vote but no vote count on the record.<br />
Instead, people put up their hands and it appeared to be in the majority and no one knew whether those with their hands up in the air were observers, genuine members or whatever.<br />
And so the date for the elections was announced and accepted. Keith Diaz was in control. This meeting was a follow-through of the chaotic, messy encounter on August 23rd, which one of the aspirants in Sunday’s elections described as the worst meeting he ever attended.<br />
There will be an election on Sunday, but there will be no Annual General Meeting (AGM) at which the President should have given an account of his stewardship like the Treasurer and the Secretary.<br />
The auditors PKF have refused to do any more work for Pan Trinbago because they are among the numerous creditors.<br />
With Diaz opening the door, the horses, some of which had been chomping on the bit since they started, ironically enough the campaign to get rid of Diaz on January 1st 2017, all bolted from the stable.<br />
Those who were once united in the “Get rid of Diaz “ camp, are now ferociously cutting each other’s throats.<br />
The election machinery cranked up.<br />
Two weeks ago there was a preliminary list of 300 bands, stamped and approved by both the Secretary and Treasurer of Pan Trinbago, that were financial members.<br />
Most of them did not actually pay the membership fee. They just signed the waiver forms made available by the incumbents. Pan Trinbago, as it is now configured, contends, on the basis of a court judgment, that once the organization is owing a band, that band remains a financial member.<br />
The list, padded with bands that are nonfunctioning, was eventually whittled down to 190 by the time the comprehensive list of delegates was released.<br />
Every candidate is a delegate and every delegate is a voter.<br />
Of the 190 bands on the final list there are twelve large bands who, by failing to come together as the group with the largest stake in the steel band movement, have given up their rights to an overgrown cadre of small and single pan bands that everyone knows were created to ensure Keith Diaz remained in office.<br />
The Single Pan registration almost rivals the combined Conventional categories.<br />
The padding occurred under the eyes of the Regional Chairmen two of whom are back in the race seeking higher office.<br />
“From an annual subvention of $240,000 prior to the famed Cabinet Minute of 1998, by 2015 over $46Mn of taxpayer’s money was flowing through the organization’s coffers and the administrative structure of Pan Trinbago never did evolve to adequately accommodate this startling new reality.<br />
“Fit for purpose professionals were never engaged on its administrative staff.<br />
“The 1998 Cabinet Minute effectively challenged the steelband movement to take control of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.<br />
“ Nevertheless, Pan Trinbago continued to man the bridge with a fishing boat crew, “ a document that emerged at the end of the large band caucus earlier this year, noted.<br />
The big question is whether any of the contenders are ready for the challenge.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"> AND WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?</span></span></h2>
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“In recent years mistrust has developed over the Secretary ’s handling of the Election. Therefore, there should be an independent Election Commission/Committee to oversee the process right through to completion.<br />
All aspirants to office should agree that their term of office shall be one year during which an independent constitution review commission must be established to draft a new Constitution with monthly consultations towards that completion. They must also develop a plan to manage, reduce and eventually eliminate the debt while managing the day to day affairs of the association.<br />
Failing that there remains this option:<br />
“Under the provisions of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with a debt of close to $40Mn, Pan Trinbago seems to satisfy the legal definition of insolvency.<br />
“Creditors may petition the court for a receiving order which places the organization in the hands of a receiver.<br />
“Given the little prospect of a bail-out by either public or private benefactor or itself generating the cash flow to liquidate its liabilities, a petition by its creditors is highly likely to trigger its ultimate liquidation.<br />
“A replacement organization will thus be unburdened by the host of negative legacy issues that currently "hamstrings" the organization,” the document, which has been pushed aside in favour of the Pan Trinbago eat-ah-food politics.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="color: blue;">THINGS THEY ALSO WILL NOT CONSIDER.</span></h2>
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<br />
The National Carnival Commission (NCC) is actively engaged in campaigning by placing candidates on the various slates and lobbying for their votes.<br />
It is rather an underhand way of trying to implement changes that have already been discussed for the Panorama 2019-2021 in a bid to make better use of the money and implement changes for the better administration of steel band.<br />
Even though that document has been prepared several months ago complete with a financial plan to make the transition there was no attempt to allow for a discussion on the proposed changes.<br />
Pending for 2019 was an immediate merger of large and medium bands with small bands getting a two year period to transition, so eventually, there will be one category for competition.<br />
There will be small bands in 2019 and 2020 after which small bands will merge into one category. Medium bands would immediately merge into the large band category with appropriate adjustment in numbers.<br />
Everyone should be merged by 2021 if all plans go ahead. Included in this new plan is another leg of competition carded for the Wednesday before the Panorama final.<br />
It’s part of a bigger plan that envisages two active weeks of competition through the various stages. It will be pan almost nightly, a steel band festival helping to energize the carnival. After all steel band is almost on the fringes of the festival.<br />
The single pan will revert to their natural environment which is pan on the road and therefore re-engage a broader audience in the peak pre-carnival period.<br />
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-27040210296263742362018-08-24T14:48:00.000-04:002018-08-24T20:19:00.268-04:00Steelbands without balls, Scrotums already sold<div class="p1">
</div>
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All that remains is just a name. And a dirty one, at that.</div>
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For<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>President Keith Diaz has delivered Pan Trinbago, by the balls, to the government of Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjVzUptNJhcI34uGxZSEh_7K1TREICwdU7dtmU3XCvTvGJ5UgaFtJhr7sGRu_w-NEcYiWmgy-QuY7wQDC7uf6Tk69a7YTrFWPsRjFeb-hW_8eA34qxJxNTvT5wlMoKHKGzu3dHXWIOoIx/s1600/keith+diaz.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjVzUptNJhcI34uGxZSEh_7K1TREICwdU7dtmU3XCvTvGJ5UgaFtJhr7sGRu_w-NEcYiWmgy-QuY7wQDC7uf6Tk69a7YTrFWPsRjFeb-hW_8eA34qxJxNTvT5wlMoKHKGzu3dHXWIOoIx/s320/keith+diaz.png" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pan Trinbago President Keith Diaz</td></tr>
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</span>And the National Carnival Commission (NCC) is the vice grip that will hold the steel band body<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by the testicles<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>according to the draconian terms of a Memorandum of Agreement<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(MOA) which was signed and sealed- but never delivered to the membership- never mind that substantive issues are yet to be determined by the Court of Appeal.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Not only has the President weaseled his way out of a deep hole<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>into which he sunk with the weight of allegations of financial impropriety, but<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the MOA<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>which will be in effect<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>until 2021 binds <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the incoming President- and executive of Pan Trinbago making them redundant for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the remaining term of this<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>government</div>
<div class="p1">
It’s the boldest play, yet, in hostile takeover bid which started under the current People’s National Movement (PNM) regime when the interest groups (representing Pan, Mas and Calypso) were absent from NCC Board meetings.</div>
<div class="p1">
Still<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>there is light in the tunnel for some as the terms of the takeover- as outlined below-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>are still up in the air pending the NCC's appeal of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a court order by Justice Vashist Kokaram, who, in a 73 page judgement<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>overturned a decision by Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby Dolly instructing the NCC to manage the gate receipts for Carnival 2017’s pan event.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Kokaram said it was illegal for the NCC to retain the gate receipts as it breached an almost 20-year-old settled policy and practice, set out by a 1997 Cabinet decision, for PanTrinbago to control the receipt of tickets and retain the revenue.</div>
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Never mind that.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>With the steel band fraternity at its most vulnerable and while the large bands work together to bring some life NCC<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>drove a stake through the heart of Pan Trinbago.</div>
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And while the “new model”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is aimed at eliminating fraud by any Pan Trinbago executive it paves the way for NCC to benefit from the largesse that could turn things topsy-turvy when the meagre spoils are being shared.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Indeed the backup plan for full government control of Pan Trinbago was to install former Port of Spain Mayor Keiron Valentine ( Manager of both Newtown Playboyz and Hadco Phase Two) as the President as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Valentine was reported to be in the process of putting together his slate- and manifesto.</div>
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“ A new model will be established for the allocations<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and disbursements of approved financial assistance funds by the NCC to Pan Trinbago, the quantum and timing of which allocations and disbursements shall be determined<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by the NCC and the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in their sole collective discretion, utilizing two separate disbursement channels, one event-based and the other organization based,” the Terms of Agreement states, setting the tone for the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>punishment at the altar of political expediency for the next three years.</div>
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Still hanging in the balance<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is the prize money and performance fees for Panorama 2018 which steelbands fear will be drastically reduced as the NCC plays out</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWqdpq27cm9LoWj5jNQ-Wd7v6QRCKU7g20ebchwUbFAsfkXZ7wu8MaDXcRyBzsEvrh05i7AY22kPrsYhePLcNKxhevtzoPsfgN455WRw-e0FwVasHtCgX5sf15zVm5WzLQ6FUOAHyoS0E/s1600/lucas.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="800" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWqdpq27cm9LoWj5jNQ-Wd7v6QRCKU7g20ebchwUbFAsfkXZ7wu8MaDXcRyBzsEvrh05i7AY22kPrsYhePLcNKxhevtzoPsfgN455WRw-e0FwVasHtCgX5sf15zVm5WzLQ6FUOAHyoS0E/s320/lucas.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly and NCC Chairman Colin Lucas</td></tr>
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</span>“The NCC will be responsible for all financial matters relating to the events, including but not limited to approving the respective budgets, printing and selling tickets, selecting and entering into contracts with the providers of goods and services, performers, issuing payment for goods and services etc. All invoices issued by such providers of goods and services, performers etc. shall be made out to the NCC,” the MOA which was signed by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Diaz and Treasurer Andrew Salvador, without ratification from the Central Executive and unknown to the membership.</div>
<div class="p1">
The NCC, in the future, if the agreement holds, will provide event based finding “in relation to carnival and steel pan events including but not limited to Panorama and other steelpan even approved by the NCC and Pan Trinbago. The NCC<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>will take direct financial and operational control of the events,” ruling out the independence of thought for Pan Trinbago.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And guess what the spoils will be shared 80-20.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The NCC will contract with Pan Trinbago on an al basis for the provision by Pan Trinbago of services (creative and technical) necessary to implement the NCC's plan for the events in consideration of a management fee equivalent to twenty per cent (20%) of the gate receipts derived therefrom. The remaining 80% of the revenue from gate receipts shall be retained by the NCC and used to offset any incurred expenditure in relation to the events. The balance of the revenue from gate receipts, AFTER the payment of the said management fee and the offsetting of the expenses incurred in relation to the events, shall be paid to Pan Trinbago".</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago will be given a subvention that “ will be determined annually by Cabinet in its sole discretion after receiving representations from the Ministry of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Community Development, Culture and the Arts, NCC and Pan Trinbago.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Pan Trinbago will provide any and all financial information as requested by the NCC” and “ shall submit a Monthly Financial report to the NCC setting out both its expenditure and its earnings during the subject month,” the MOA says.</div>
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And if they fail to comply, all funding shall cease.</div>
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<h4>
About the MOA</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhidBJoBI_K2fajLHdG0d89CS0FHayjEdRUONKk-Dd3_xU5NWCNyV-vqC87-c0ytI7kaguu5kOQ_AK3_AdGcFMknAPCfSDmvtw9_DhsmrSKHqq2ycsLyBIXuKj3hP5NKoOEPsSk6t5pFmc0/s1600/scobie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="1140" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhidBJoBI_K2fajLHdG0d89CS0FHayjEdRUONKk-Dd3_xU5NWCNyV-vqC87-c0ytI7kaguu5kOQ_AK3_AdGcFMknAPCfSDmvtw9_DhsmrSKHqq2ycsLyBIXuKj3hP5NKoOEPsSk6t5pFmc0/s200/scobie.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">“We met with the NCC Chairman, Winston “Gypsy” Peters and he decided that he did not want to get involved in personal affairs and call a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>meeting with the President as a private person to see how to work things out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>We were to meet again with CEO Colin Lucas who came with this document.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>He had two copies and he gave us one.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>We asked for a copy and they said no because it was not complete. So we said it did not make sense talking of the document was not complete.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The following Monday they sent this<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>copy to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>office and we<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>forwarded this<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to our lawyer who gave us advice.</span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The document is not binding on anything and we were advised not to get involved. Instead, we wanted to get a commitment from NCC to withdraw the appeal where<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Justice Kokaram ruled that we should get gates etc.</span></h4>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The Constitution says the Central Executive has to ratify the document.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>High Court has given us control of Panorama and Gate receipts and the NCC appealed that so they cannot take any action," said <span style="font-size: small;">Michael “Scobie “Joseph: PRO Pan Trinbago</span></div>
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<h2>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Bacchanal and Chaos = Diaz and Forteau</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
President Keith Diaz flew out of Trinidad and Tobago the day after an appearance at a circus under the guise of an Extra Ordinary General Meeting.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
The first step towards the election of a new executive that was carded for September 16th was catspraddled when the President failed to get a quorum at a meeting which he called at the Communication Worker’s Union Hall on Thursday evening.</div>
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On what was supposed to be nomination day in Trinidad, Saturday, August 25th, Diaz will be at the London Panorama with his return date set for September.</div>
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He “gave the warrant to appoint to Andrew Salvador ( Treasurer, who along with Diaz signed the MOA with NCC)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to coordinate the business acting as the Chief Executive Officer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But what transpired at the meeting?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
In the first instance, there was so much bad blood that the fractured executive could not even act in a manner it gain the respect of the membership that was present.</div>
<div class="p1">
“There were two factions on stage and they did not get the seating protocol correct,” Gregory Lindsay, Manager of St James based Power Stars and a foremost member of the Concerned Individuals for Pan (CIP).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gregory Lindsay (left) with Aquil Arrindel.</td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The Secretary Richard Forteau was sitting where the <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>President was supposed to be and was flanked by the External Relations Officer (ERO) Darren Sheppard.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Other officers were seated next to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Diaz and I asked through the membership that the officers make that change.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They acquiesced to my request and went back to regular seating order with the Secretary and Treasurer to the left and right of the President.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>But the business of the meeting discussions about the triennial convention and election never got off the ground’ because the quorum could not be determined.</div>
<div class="p1">
"We asked the Secretary to produce a list of bands that were financial and he said that while there are 224 bands only 110 are financial.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They could not produce the list when asked for it and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>he responded by saying<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“come to the office in the morning to get the list.”</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“That started a furore that never ended.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The 88 bands represented there did not make the quorum- which was 110.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But it went on not as an official meeting but as a discussion.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘Diaz made a number of moves to make that meeting legal with the 88 bands.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Earl Morris of Belmont HiLarks moved a motion- seconded by Marie Toby-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(Chairman of the Tobago region) to legalize the meeting, but there were a number of dissenting views.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘It was agreed that using that approach was ultra vires and that they burnt us in the court already, so a decision was taken to rescind that motion.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>Marie Toby rescinded her secondment of the motion and Morris rescinded too so no motion put forward to accept the 88 bands as the legal quorum.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>Then they decided to postpone for a continuation so that at the next meeting 88 will be a quorum.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">" </span>I used the opportunity to clarify a matter in which the ERO Sheppard claimed in a pre-action protocol letter that I slandered him.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">" </span>I asked the President whether the ERO<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>collected TT$95,000<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for his role as Events Manager and he said that it was true. He also said that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Fusion Steel got TT$25,000 from the Greens and TT$15,000 for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Junior Panorama.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> " </span>Naturally, I asked Sheppard why is he taking me to court to answer allegations that the president validated as truth.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“There was no substantial business. This means that nomination for election of officers slated for Saturday at 4 pm won’t happen because the purpose of the meeting yesterday was to pass the nomination date.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“As for Panorama Fees owed, there was no word and the Memorandum with NCC was never tabled, Instead a copy was circulated among the membership by Diaz’s nemesis, Richard Forteau.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“There was a lot of consternation from delegates, a clear indication that membership would like the executive to go," Lindsay said.</div>
<div class="p1">
<h2>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>No Donkey Head"</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
Candace Andrews Brumant, Captain of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>2018 Panorama Champions BP Renegades attended the meeting and gave her position:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;">9</td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘If I am on the Executive and I have a problem with the way things are going I would resign and step down- would not pull aside and fight.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Everybody is power hungry.. they are holding on and playing tug of war.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It is so bad we are fine like chilibibi..or splinters, as they would say.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>listened to everyone and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>then I told went on to say that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the wrong practice has been happening all these years, we’ve<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>been having meetings without a quorum</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mow its problem..but we have to start doing the right thing somewhere.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Constitutionally the meeting cannot go won without a quorum.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Everybody coming to microphone to say step down.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The executive has less than a month in office. ..they are on the way out.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>If the whole membership so dissatisfied, it is clear they won be voted back.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Who are we going to put there to take it forward? That is the big question.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There’s backbiting on the floor, about who wants to be President before we come together and select the right candidate to take it forward.’<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Corporate T&T do not want donkey head after this Executive mash up the whole thing.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>This is an opportunity to start over-</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Six people want to run for President... out of the six, there are only two good candidates.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>People are thinking of self, not the organization.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You cannot be an Education Officer- and you cannot write or be President and you don't know the right protocols.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘ After I spoke at the meeting people came up to me to shake my hands and say they are supporting me for President.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You don't have to be the President-. I am willing to work with anyone who comes in. If I am not the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Captain I will not stop doing work for my band.”</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Even the Chairmen of the Regions are standing up and fighting Pan Trinbago but the regions are not better</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Northern is one of the worst in all the regions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Everybody is greedy,, I say and I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>don't powder it up.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We won the Panorama and I want a million dollars<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don't want less than a million.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Single Pan bands were paid the same amount they got in 2017 so they cannot come to tell me I am getting less than a million.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>That is a serious court.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They were not supposed to play anybody before anybody else but we all know that come "election time, single pans will jam for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Diaz.</div>
<div class="p2">
<h2>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Worst Pan Trinbago meeting"</span></h2>
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<div class="p1">
“I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>sat down for two and half hours for them to decide what makes a quorum, then a motion was moved and withdrawn. I had things to do and I got up and left.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the worst Pan Trinbago meeting I ever attended.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nothing about Panorama fees.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>What is going on with the election?</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nothing on the agenda was discussed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Somebody is pissing on my back and calling it rain.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I am too young for this.<br />
Marcus Ash,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Secretary Eastern Region of Pan Trinbago.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-76210551989682947762018-08-14T15:07:00.000-04:002018-08-14T16:00:12.209-04:00 Part 2 : Randolph Burroughs: Exposes foreign currency racket, informs US on Chadee<div class="p1">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Randolph Burroughs displays seized firearms<br /></td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This is just the second in the four-part series, the voice of Randolph Burroughs, the legendary Police Commissioner (1978-1984), explains, in his words, how the Ministry of Finance (perhaps unwittingly) the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>banks along with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>parts of the local business sector profited from the drug trade and crippled<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>his<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>effectiveness<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and by extension, the TT Police Service.</span></div>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The excerpt is from his<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>unpublished biography which<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>chronicles, in detail, how he was framed to be removed from office and which also, through the cases he worked and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> solved as a detective, chronicles TT’s crime history.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">Blows the whistle on Foreign Currency Racket:</span></h2>
<h3>
...<span style="color: blue;"> Money Laundering Takes Root in T&T</span></h3>
<br />
"In May 1983, I headed a party of police officers<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>which raided the home of Dole Chadee (NanKissoon Boodram) and we found a quantity of illicit drugs.</div>
<div class="p1">
More importantly, we came across a letter sent to him by a Colombian national who was then known as a top man involved in cocaine trafficking into the USA.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drug Kingpin Dole Chadee</td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
He was asking Chadee, (who was convicted<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> for murder and executed by hanging in June 1999) to join forces with his operation.</div>
<div class="p1">
I had that letter and other information sent to the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Port of Spain, Mr A. Don Bramante.</div>
<div class="p1">
The Embassy subsequently contacted us and informed that the Colombian national was arrested on board a vessel off the Florida Coast in May 1978.</div>
<div class="p1">
The vessel was found to be transporting some 112 tons of marijuana.</div>
<div class="p1">
The Embassy also disclosed that the man was charged with the offence but jumped bail and returned to Colombia.</div>
<div class="p1">
It was around that time that the foreign currency racket took root in the country.</div>
<div class="p1">
I had always asserted that since we did not plant crops<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> and our currency is not accepted in the producing countries, that local financial institutions were involved in the best money making rackets in town.</div>
<div class="p1">
And I had also predicted that public officials—including politicians, judicial officers and other influential persons in society- would become tarnished.</div>
<div class="p1">
To me, it was crystal clear that some of them were already involved.</div>
<div class="p1">
By the late 1970’s I had become painfully aware that a number of top local businessmen, who had been denied licences to carry firearms, had taken to buying illegal weapons for their protection.</div>
<div class="p1">
So it seemed only natural that several raids were carried out on such persons residing in the posh Goodwood Park area..an activity that was tantamount to digging my own grave as it turned out.</div>
<div class="p1">
Since my retirement, I had time to reflect on how these VIPs could have helped to create my downfall.</div>
<div class="p1">
Some of them had previously been involved in smuggling activities.</div>
<div class="p1">
I am satisfied —<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and I will go down saying so — that some of these people became involved in cocaine trafficking because of the huge profit margins it offered.</div>
<div class="p1">
They already had contacts established in high places through which they could easily secure foreign exchange.</div>
<div class="p1">
Theirs was a white-collar crime that capitalized on obtaining foreign currency from financial institutions, ostensibly to make legal purchases, which was used instead of buy cocaine.</div>
<div class="p1">
The whole system was legalized in the 1981 National Budget<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>when a new method of obtaining currency from the Central Bank, instead created loopholes for fraudulently getting it,</div>
<div class="p1">
This one is still referred to as the EC-O Racket.</div>
<div class="p1">
Importers were required to obtain prior approval of EC-O Forms seeking the release of foreign exchange to purchase imported merchandise.</div>
<div class="p1">
They would apply for the money after orders had been placed and the goods were shipped from the country of origin.</div>
<div class="p1">
A new dimension was brought into the picture, however.</div>
<div class="p1">
It was made mandatory for the Ministry of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Industry, Trade and Commerce to approve the forms before they reached the Central Bank.</div>
<div class="p1">
After this measure was introduced the cocaine trade really thrived.</div>
<div class="p1">
Many businessmen who had easy access to foreign exchange would sell it back to drug dealers at twice the rate they would pay for it.</div>
<div class="p1">
Many such traders ended up with hefty profits, and so they started setting up dummy companies to hide their tracks.</div>
<div class="p1">
The tentacles of money laundering were only just starting to get hold of the financial system.</div>
<div class="p1">
Inflated invoices were able to pass easily.</div>
<div class="p1">
Once you had the approval of the Trade Ministry, “business fix” as Trinidadians like to say.</div>
<div class="p1">
Even in instances where huge amounts were deposited into bank accounts, bank managers did not ask questions.</div>
<div class="p1">
Once they got the business, they were happy.</div>
<div class="p1">
Some racketeers possessed copies of official Central Bank stamps from the Trade Ministry, and this gave them even easier access to the US dollars that the cocaine suppliers craved.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But it is not to say that the politicians were blissfully unaware of the networking that was creeping into the legitimate financial system.</div>
<div class="p1">
And, strangely, I was to learn the extent of the currency racket during an afternoon meeting called at the office of the then Prime Minister, Dr Eric Williams and attended by Melvyn De Souza (then Minister of Finance) and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Victor Bruce., the Central Bank Governor from 1969-1984.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Late Victor Bruce</td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
The meeting was called by Dr Williams following the discovery that a local businessman<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>, in the Syrian Community, had obtained large sums of US dollars on the pretext that it was to pay for a shipment of horse medicine.</div>
<div class="p1">
The amount of money requested did not correspond with the needs of the local horse racing industry, however, and the government<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was suspicious that fraud was used.</div>
<div class="p1">
As a result of the meeting, I detailed Superintendent Hugh Roach of the Fraud Squad to serve as Special Investigator in this and other cases with respect to major transactions involving financial institutions.</div>
<div class="p1">
He was to report directly to me, as Commissioner and to Bruce, the Central Bank Governor.</div>
<div class="p1">
In a bid to get to the bottom of what turned out to be an even bigger racket than we had estimated, a number of top businessmen, including the late motorcar magnate, Bolan Amar, were charged under the Exchange Control Act for taking money out of the country.</div>
<div class="p1">
For, in addition to supplying Roach with a team of detectives to systematically investigate the case of fraud, the Customs Department was also assigned to cover the Piarco International Airport exit.</div>
<div class="p1">
They intercepted and searched a lot of passengers during that time, and many citizens arrested for such transgressions were forced to answer to<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the courts.</div>
<div class="p1">
But it was not all plain sailing for the investigators..especially Roach.</div>
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He and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> his family fell victim to a spate of terrorist tactics and telephone threats that<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> were clearly intended to scare him off.</div>
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First, his guard dogs at the government quarters he occupied near the Police Mounted Branch Headquarters on Long Circular Road, St James, was poisoned by persons unknown.</div>
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And later, a portion of the home was firebombed. However, this did not dissuade him from pressing on relentlessly.</div>
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In fact, he was still on the case when I proceeded on accumulated vacation leave in 1983..more than two years after the investigation had been initiated by Dr Williams, shortly before he died.</div>
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Up until then cocaine users and importers had remained a select group.</div>
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Many of those who became involved did so because of the easy access to foreign exchange which the EC-O system provided, and the big profits that beckoned.</div>
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It seemed to me at the time that Central Bank Governor Victor Bruce was turning a blind eye to this.</div>
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In fact, on one occasion, I remember him ordering us to return some foreign exchange we had seized from the Woodbrook home of a well known Syrian businesswoman.</div>
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So, by the time he died, years later, under strange circumstances in far-off Sierra Leone, it was being alleged in many quarters that he had protected many Syrian and French Creole businessmen who were involved in the racketeering and drug trafficking—some of them were reported to be “Lodge” members like himself.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQR_5tTPkC543P6tUZnETUBB3laAKJUh8Y4wDAAFz44FrxsobB6_HsaozH1mHVsFI-Fzkl4-bnLnMPu3kGnFemN7dyIyD7P33jg3NNKJh8YqgR-QIjRb7usLhe21cEt-6mc5vN-QDB-ppP/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-08-14+at+2.55.33+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="941" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQR_5tTPkC543P6tUZnETUBB3laAKJUh8Y4wDAAFz44FrxsobB6_HsaozH1mHVsFI-Fzkl4-bnLnMPu3kGnFemN7dyIyD7P33jg3NNKJh8YqgR-QIjRb7usLhe21cEt-6mc5vN-QDB-ppP/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-08-14+at+2.55.33+PM.png" width="249" /></a>Although the police tried to crack the high society network of white collar crime we were dealing with, those involved continued to flourish because of the protection they got from the political, judicial and financial authorities. Although the initial investigation was botched I was somewhat surprised when, shortly after I left for Miami in late 1983, taking my wife, Sheila, for Medical treatment, the new police administration suddenly transferred Roach out of the CID and into the uniformed section of the Police Service.</div>
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He subsequently made several complaints about the way he was treated, believing it to be a clear case of victimization.</div>
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As a result, he became very disenchanted with the Police Service and later retired.</div>
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Regrettably, the career of a first-class police officer had ended on a sour note so that corruption could continue."<br />
The end.<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: red;">Coming Up Part 3: Politicians press the panic button</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span> <span style="color: blue;"><span class="s1">The above</span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> was first published</span><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">on December 5th 2005, in a special edition of the TT Mirror, with permission from his son Edison Burroughs,.</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>This is being republished against the backdrop of Gary Griffith’s appointment as top cop and his threats to become what can only be the 21st-century version of the late Randolph Burroughs TC.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>At the age of 66 years, Burroughs died in October 1996, after the entire biography, (which I worked on with the late Mirror Editor Keith Shepherd) was completed before he passed on.</span></div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-37271347587261390022018-08-06T15:15:00.001-04:002018-08-06T15:19:36.932-04:00Randolph Burroughs Speaks: Predicting T&T Crime Chaos<div class="p1">
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This is the voice of Randolph Burroughs, the legendary Police Commissioner (1978-1984) as recorded in an unpublished biography which not only chronicles, in detail, how he was framed to be removed from office but gives an unprecedented insight<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;"></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;"> into Trinidad and Tobago’s crime history. </span>On December 5th 2005, in a special edition of the T&T Mirror, with permission from his son Edison Burroughs, we published excerpts which I will reproduce here in a four-part series. It is timely because it gives a perspective on crime in Trinidad and Tobago, explains how drug<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> trafficking and money laundering and the foreign currency racket took root and most importantly details how the politicians -who ignored his calls for help to deal with the growing drug trade- eventually engineered his removal from office.</div>
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<span class="s1">The Chief, as he was fondly referred to, often told anyone who visited his home at Pinewood Gardens, Petit Valley that the Office of Commissioner of Police would never be the same again.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This is being republished against the backdrop of Gary Griffith’s appointment as top cop and his threats to become what can only be the 21st-century version of the late Randolph Burroughs TC.</span><br />
At the age of 66 years, Burroughs died in October 1996, after the entire biography, (which I worked on with the late Mirror Editor Keith Shepherd) was completed</div>
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<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="color: blue;">Part One: </span><span style="color: blue;">Narcotics Squad in Cocaine Trade</span></h2>
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<span style="color: red;">National Security Minister John Donaldson knew about it</span></h3>
Around the start of 1984, I suddenly realized that my concern and fight against the growing narcotics trade had made me something of a nemesis for many people who appeared to be decent and respectable.<br />
Only later did I become aware that those involved in it would have done anything to get me out of the way..including members of the Narcotics Squad. At the time that it was being played out around me, however, I just could not put my finger on the web of deceit that was being spun.<br />
We continued to arrest violators at Piarco International Airport mostly trying to leave the country with marijuana and cocaine concealed on their person or in their luggage.<br />
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But there was little evidence of people using the airport to bring in drugs.</div>
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This gave rise to the suspicion that Trinidad and Tobago was a dealer’s haven as well as a transhipment point for cocaine.</div>
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It meant that our miles and miles of unprotected coast were being used to the fullest advantage by the drug barons.</div>
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By this time I had worked out that US Currency was the mainstay of the thriving drug trafficking business</div>
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This was easy to deduce, as none of the countries we dealt with in the cocaine trade- Colombia and Venezuela- were aligned with our domestic currency.</div>
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And, this was compounded when hand in hand with the drugs trade, more sophisticated weapons started appearing and there was a steep rise in drug-related crime.</div>
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Even though we mounted an operation we codenamed FAN -Firearms, Ammunition and Narcotics- we were unable to make significant inroads into the spate of violent, armed robberies that suddenly became the order of the day, or arrest some of the big importers that our informers fingered.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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After all, we had to catch them in the act— and in possession of drugs.</div>
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Armed robberies are a natural offshoot of the firearms and narcotics trade.</div>
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So while we wanted to get at the financiers and the originators, we also had to keep some control over their careless, wanton foot soldiers who were not averse to blazing paths of death and destruction.</div>
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Meanwhile, we kept getting leads and information that showed how widespread the drug tentacles had reached and that kept us on our toes as the scourge kept turning up in different parts of the country.</div>
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For example, we discovered that six nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, two Cubans and two Venezuelans, operating out of an Indian village on the banks of the Orinoco River had established a thriving arms and ammunition trade in the Erin-Chatham-Icacos areas of South-West Trinidad.</div>
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Working together with Inspector Pedro Meza of the Tucupita Police, the local police were able to arrest some members of that ring.</div>
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Meza and I later collaborated and discovered that six Trinidadians had set up a similar camp on our Blue River at the El Socorro Road extension (across the highway).</div>
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In addition to arms and ammunition, they also trafficked in drugs.</div>
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Furthermore, in South Trinidad, we found that a Colombian connection had been brought in.</div>
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A Savonetta woman was the “Kingpin” in this gang.</div>
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Her son-in-law, a Colombian national who worked as an engineer at the Ministry of Works in Trinidad, looked over things on behalf of his home cartel which had three boats docking at Claxton Bay with cocaine merchandise every 15 days.</div>
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One night we got lucky and arrested two crew members of one of the boats.</div>
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They were held at a San Fernando nightclub with over TT$300,000 worth of cocaine in their possession…probably waiting for a transaction to take place.</div>
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I also learnt that a Customs Officer operating out of its Preventative Branch and the proprietor of a haberdashery store on Henry Street were also involved in a similar fishy business.</div>
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The bossman held several banking accounts outside the country, supplied nationals of Venezuela with foreign exchange and issued cheques that were to be cashed overseas.</div>
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I passed all this and other information to the then Minister of National Security, John Donaldson, in an official memo.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyv2tE-QTsxmo79sec1ad90dxbDLzmsLFwC-h0NiJYHyuJbF82914f9g1OjF0QGsTQqei2WVihOHqZf-rAK3U6jMc9XSSTqhVxmdZbR4OZbr2xDjgVPXmH_aCFjRwBiSisnGNKdlCIyGM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-08-06+at+2.51.37+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1311" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyv2tE-QTsxmo79sec1ad90dxbDLzmsLFwC-h0NiJYHyuJbF82914f9g1OjF0QGsTQqei2WVihOHqZf-rAK3U6jMc9XSSTqhVxmdZbR4OZbr2xDjgVPXmH_aCFjRwBiSisnGNKdlCIyGM/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-08-06+at+2.51.37+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Donaldson (left) and Burroughs.<br />
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I further noted that the Godfather of the Henry Street operation was a wealthy Colombian living in that country, owned hotels in both his country and Miami and was in the process of establishing a business connection with a Woodbrook businesswoman (who was alive at the time of writing). The long and short of it is that I was not twiddling my thumbs on the ever-worsening drug situation, as the story still goes.</div>
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I even called for a meeting with Victor Cockburn, the Comptroller of Customs, Commander Jack Williams of the Coast Guard and Signoret of the Civil Aviation Department.</div>
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We were under an external threat by land, sea and air, as I recommended that an amalgamation of the Police, Customs and Immigration, Coast Guard, Regiment and Civil Aviation people and the air wing of the National Security Ministry should embark on a joint plan of action.</div>
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At the time it seemed strange to me that some ten years after I warned the People’s National Movement (PNM) administration that local drug lords were setting up shop<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> these people had flourished so much.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Some people accuse me of all sorts of drug-related crimes but the record of those years will show that I was always involved in fighting the National Union of Freedom Fighters (NUFF) and other terrorist gangs, solving the Malik murders and generally pinch hitting wherever and whenever a big crisis arose.</div>
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While I was pressing on with the job, however, there had been no political will to wage a concerted battle against the treacherous trade in cocaine, especially.</div>
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In addition to doing my work I spoke to thousands of school children and other young people on the danger of drugs. I only now realize how threatening I must have sounded to some big people in society when I spoke at such gatherings</div>
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I was always like a voice in the wilderness even when I was telling people that drugs were exchanged by criminals with easy access to huge sums of money supporting an underworld economy that was bigger than the gross national product of many developing nations.</div>
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I also noted the distinct possibility that persons of high social standing could be corrupted<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> by drug money and that public officials could also be taken in by bribery.</div>
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I could clearly see that it was a bigger problem than I could handle.</div>
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It was out of my hands.</div>
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And I also realized that the entire criminal justice system that existed in the country needed to be upgraded dramatically!<br />
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Part Two: Foreign Currency Racket ...how money laundering took root.</div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-32299853009256234202018-07-18T14:47:00.002-04:002018-07-18T14:52:05.106-04:00 Lawsuits fly faster than bullets @ blinging Pan Trinbago<h3>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;">“It was rumored that Pan Trinbago money went into all the legal fees…..?'</span> </span><br />
‘Yeah right, Yeah Right,” he said fishing at first for a response to the question sprung on him, sitting on a chair behind a desk full of papers which by<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> a wild stretch of the imagination he thought made him look important.<br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Mr.PanoramaMillionaire/videos/10155405070672019/">Facebook Live </a>broadcast courtesy Marcus Ash, Secretary of the Eastern Region of Pan Trinbago.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“You see there are people who will recognize when you have a good case and when you have a good case somebody will have to pay for their losses,”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Richard Forteau Secretary of Pan Trinbago, under scrutiny for the first time,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>said.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“ Are you saying it is on record that Pan Trinbago…?” Marcus Ash continued. But Forteau shut<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> him down, forestalling the direct question that may<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> have cornered<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> him into telling an outright lie.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Never mind that ten weeks before on April 19th, 2018, the first cheque, 0000959 for TT$22,500, was cut for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Attorney Farid Scoon, who five days later brought a claim, on April 24th, 2018, against President Keith Diaz and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Northern Regional Chairman Gerard Mendez and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Tobago’s Regional Chairwoman, Marie Toby who were part of an interim committee appointed to run the affairs of Pan Trinbgao following an Extra Ordinary general meeting.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was followed by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Cheque #0000960, issued eight days later for TT$40,000.That was one day after the High Court claim.<br />
And guess what? More money will be spent as Forteau and company with a life expectancy of just a few months have decided to appeal<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>one part of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>judgment handed down by Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh.<br />
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All this time, the entire steel band community including the most prestigious and legendary steelbands in the world, along with all the downstream suppliers who collectively make Panorama the largest<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> revenue generating<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> event for the annual carnival festival are<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> spiraling downwards<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> in a financial drought.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But playing smart with foolishness, however, Forteau manipulated the truth. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Pan Trinbago has friends and there are some people who recognize that when you have a good case who lose will then have to pay. That is as best as I can put it for more than one reason”, he is on record as saying.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was an outright lie, boldfaced and without remorse.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago’s Pan Factory Account at RBC Royal Bank, #55 Independence Square<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>shows by Pan Trinbago’s spending patterns it was a mere pittance the money withdrawn<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to pay Scoon for representing Forteau and five other members of the Central Executive in their quest for survival when steelbands from across the country met and fired<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the executive.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Indeed for the<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> period March 20th to April 30,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the Pan factory Account was depleted by TT$ 612,673.68.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>With TT$620,000 in the account at the end of March,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago ended with TT$19,681.97<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at the end of April.<br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;">The records would show</span> there were<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"></span> consistent and steady withdrawals<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"></span> via cheques, with the single largest being<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px;"> TT$50,608.35.</span><br />
That as both<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> Forteau and Diaz put<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> on their best sorry faces when explaining that<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> not even the administrative<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> staff at the Pan Trinbago’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Headquarters and by extension the support staff at the various regional offices have been getting their stipend.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And that the<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> bands that have not received their prize monies, except for the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Single Pan Bands who were paid shortly after their leg of the competition ended in February.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was a highly unusual move. But they, after all,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>are instrumental for keeping Keith Diaz in the Presidency of Pan Trinbago and so, while he was able to, before the outcry against his leadership, which began in<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> January 2017, grew any bigger (as it has), he settled his base first.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But since Carnival Pan Trinbago has<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> all but declared itself bankrupt, waiting on government funds to bail them out of a financial dark hole which the longstanding Forteau and other members of the executive masterfully dug themselves into.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And not even the long arm of the law, via a sadly helpless High Court<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh could make a difference.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In his 14 page judgment often quoted by both sides, conveniently, the judge sets out the crux of the problem which is conflicting information about the membership of Pan Trinbago as both Diaz and Forteau gave conflicting information- to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>build their own case for and against the constitutionality of the meeting in which Forteau and the executive were fired ad an Interim Committee set up.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Not since the High Court judgment handed down in May, has anyone had the decency to clear the air about the true<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> number of steelbands in good financial standing that<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> are members of Pan Trinbago which would make them eligible to request the extraordinary meeting?</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And the Judge opted to stay with the official figures handed down by the Secretary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Forteau based on the statistics which Forteau provided to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development and Culture who would then disburse funds based on the number of steelbands listed.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We all speculate the list is padded and in the interest of fairness and integrity neither Forteau nor Diaz have provided information<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> to clear the air,.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The number of financial members signing the requisition is critical to the validity of the vote that was eventually taken at the meeting to remove the central executive.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Having ruled on the law as<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> it was set before him, Justice Boodoosingh chastised the Executive- all inclusive, in the final paragraph of his judgment.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘Finally, I note some disturbing allegations are raised on both sides. It has not been necessary to identify them at this stage it is not for me to make the findings of fact on them. I would hope<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>however that if it will not be business as usual, but that some consideration will be given to the fact that the substantial number of members whether or not they have met the high 60% threshold to call the meeting did feel sufficiently moved to express their dissatisfaction with how the organization has been managed. The executive members might well remind themselves that they were elected to serve and they are required to do so with integrity, competence, and skill.”</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>What has happened since?</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Only to make matters worse,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Forteau, Salvador,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Joseph, Sheppard, Augustus and Reid appealed, effectively filing a lawsuit against <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago Incorporated which was a claimant in the first matter.(See Photo below).</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And that because<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Justice Boodoosingh declared ”the decisions taken at the 17th April meeting were<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> taken in the name of Pan Trinbago. It was therefore notionally a decision of Pan Trinbago acting through members. The claim should proceed against Pan Trinbago and the members of the Interim Committee assuming they continue to defend the actions of the April 17th meeting,” he said when he struck out Pan Trinbago as the first claimant and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> added it as the first defendant.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Forteau, using the money of Pan Trinbago has moved to file an appeal against the<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> entire steel band community in Trinidad and Tobago on May 14th.<br />
It was another piece of information that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>he held back during that Facebook Live. He flipped the coin and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> it would cost far more than he has already paid Scoon. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>If that wasn’t enough, Darren Sheppard fired<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> off his own legal notices.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The External Relations Officer at Pan Trinbago who landed the enviable job as Events Manager- a post which was previously<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> held by Pan Trinbago’s Vice President Bryan Serrette, before his fall out with Diaz which triggered<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the beginning of<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the end of Diaz.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago’s Financial difficulties mean that Sheppard was not being paid his full contractual fee for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>April 2017 to February 2018.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But when his contract expired on March 31st, 2018, Pan Trinbago found the money and paid him the sum of TT$95,000 which was owed.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In the current climate of unrest this did not sit well with Gregory Lindsay the leader of the Power Stars Steel Orchestra, one of the most vocal campaigners for the removal of the executive and San City’s Aquil Arrindel, both of whom<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>have been among the men leading the charge against the Keith Diaz executive since January 2017.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Well, using the heavyweight of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s Freedom Law Chambers, Sheppard fired off pre-action<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>protocol<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>letter to both men saying that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>his public image has been adversely affected by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>defamatory<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>statements which constitute serious slander and Libel and that he<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“suffer serious irreparable damage and financial loss.”<br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning would have put it all - all that you have read from the top until now- as “Wajang behavior.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Still, the substantive issue: that steel bands by<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the dint of their work and very existence who generate the income for Pan Trinbago are<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> still sucking salt, five months after he 2018 Panorama Competition, has not been dealt with.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>None of the large, medium and small bands have been paid.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>These bands whose “asset base, personnel, equipment and real estate is the largest in steelband anywhere in the world”, who “represent so much of the best of leadership ability, organization and success in steelbands and are the main attraction in any steel band event.”</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And then there was the large<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> band caucus.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Phase Two, Starlift, Silver Stars, All Stars, Desperadoes, Renegades ( reigning Panorama Champs) Invaders, Exodus, Birdsong and La Brea Nightingales met.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And they seemed to have accepted responsibility for allowing some of it to happen, showing that NCC played with<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the fire too.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘1. The executive of Pan Trinbago committed bands to a prize structure in excess of the monies allocated by the NCC</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>2. “Bands participated in the Panorama with full knowledge there was a financing gap between the NCC allocation and the Pan Trinbago Commitment</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>3 “The original defunct between the NCC allocation and the proposed<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago Prize structure was worsened by advances to the latter by the former during the course<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> of 2017.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>4. Bad faith negotiations by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pan Trinbago in treating with its debt to the NCC compromised efforts to bolster the resources available for prize monies and appearance fees.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>5. On directions from Pan Trinbago NCC continued to make partial disbursement at 2017 levels which could not have been sustained with the 2018 allocations’<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>6. As a result of 1-5 above from the 2018 allocations, approximately $8.1 million is currently available to service a reputed commitment of<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> TT$16 million.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>These bands want a prompt disbursement of the remaining allocation of TT$8.1 million to bands currently owed for Panorama 2018 and financing existing deficit<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of 50%</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span> Outside of that, there is not so subtle campaigning for the executive of Pan Trinbago b with Newtown Playboyz and Phase Two pan Groove’s manager, Keiron Valentine, the former Mayor of Port of Spain throwing his hat in the ring, without an official launch.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Valentine is waiting in the wings with his manifesto<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> and his support staff.</div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-69765622193659261512018-04-15T19:01:00.001-04:002019-02-22T12:53:15.404-04:00 Duvone’s Music Activism: Who Feels it, Knows it.<style type="text/css">
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Duvone Stewart opened the gates of hell and met them face to face; the killer and the man who killed the killer. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizgcMZyktdJU9-lHILHCzEOVsNh0lWb0omwM8ci8PIZ2UJQAq9-eAPmtD-F4Kw2yqh8Dg5HVE072CclgmLy5olhb3P36sPGby8gONM3w_LtifJKxQtjxHFl6fFTchY7kSfcvw4JPlSnIo2/s1600/cried.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizgcMZyktdJU9-lHILHCzEOVsNh0lWb0omwM8ci8PIZ2UJQAq9-eAPmtD-F4Kw2yqh8Dg5HVE072CclgmLy5olhb3P36sPGby8gONM3w_LtifJKxQtjxHFl6fFTchY7kSfcvw4JPlSnIo2/s400/cried.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duvonne Stewart hears the results. Photo Maria Nunes</td></tr>
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He faced the demons, conquered them and had love<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> to spare, with a little bit of help from his “close friend, mentor, motivator, critic”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Wayne Alleyne whom he saw lying in a pool of blood on the ground just outside his home on Queen Street in Port of Spain.</div>
<div class="p3">
A murder statistic for the rest of Trinidad and Tobago, but this 59-year-old man was another one who was killed only to send a message to the other side in the turf war in the battle zone of East Port of Spain; the heartland of the island’s top three steelbands; Desperadoes, Renegades and All Stars.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They made an example of Wayne. He was so close to me that it was real. It hit me hard. Every single thing that was expressed musically in the performance of Renegades, I turned around that experience and transformed it,” Duvonne said about the murder on December 11th 2017.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yet when he cried, in front of the whole world to see, he stifled the tears in the soulful and expressive arrangement of Year For Love which ended a twenty-year-drought-long transition for the Renegades from its record-breaking success in the 90's with the late Dr Jit Samaroo.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was more than a high<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for the accomplished arranger of the Single, Small and Medium bands who ,stepped into the hallowed halls of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Trinidad’s music history as a musical activist, leading a cadre of international players from the bands he has arranged for in the US, UK, France, Japan and St Vincent here in the Caribbean.</div>
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The Renegades, also, got a chance to breathe. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
To manage the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Charlotte Street band throughout the restless season, required more guts than the glory they achieved with the victory at Panorama Finals on February 10th.</div>
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In a community splintered by gang warfare-Nelson Street at war with Duncan Street, Prince Street at war with Queen Street and Laventille Road at war with the rest, for example- they dared to go from block to block- the band’s executive and administration- moving around inviting them to the pan yard.</div>
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And, at practice, in between sharing notes with the players Duvone would preach to his<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> team and the<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> immediate neighbourhood which included the TTPS Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) next door.</div>
<div class="p3">
The community held it together and there was peace and love, under a watchful eye, for a season. The music triumphed.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It was a year for a purpose. It was a mission that everybody understood and it was well executed with the passion, the true, real, playing ethic of a song that was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>infectious because many players in the band lost a loved one through the hands of the criminal and they played a significant part in saying This Is The Year For Love,” Duvone said.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
Never mind that ten days after Carnival the tension that was held in check overflowed when 25-year-old Akil James was shot dead at Calvary Hill, a stone’s throw away; a Rasta City top ranker who was killed on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Rasta<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>City turf.</div>
<div class="p3">
Parts of East Port of Spain bordering the panyard - Observatory, Bath, Oxford, Basilon Charlotte and Piccadilly Streets -erupted as they burned debris, ironically enough,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>smack in front of the Renegades on February 20th.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKV-QFVdG8YRoPN9DrILu3c5gLvQAErriQrL2iKKMd1c2nJecw4NVgqOEUY0bMSWuYMkV84sDnsr6KHr5mMt0mfJnqSTCSF3_Rw1NzFV__WvVDu5l_6Srkb-KN0GRP7lVHptlfcm5F0f3X/s1600/east+port.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="400" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKV-QFVdG8YRoPN9DrILu3c5gLvQAErriQrL2iKKMd1c2nJecw4NVgqOEUY0bMSWuYMkV84sDnsr6KHr5mMt0mfJnqSTCSF3_Rw1NzFV__WvVDu5l_6Srkb-KN0GRP7lVHptlfcm5F0f3X/s320/east+port.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo:Trinidad Guardian</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Finally, Stewart is on the international circuit and is freeing his mind as he shares the story behind his captivating arrangement<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to music students<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>starting<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at Howard University in Washington D.C in March and extending to the University of West Virginia in June and then a recall at Howard, followed by Berklee School of Music after which he will move on to Europe<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to familiar ground at the University of Nantes , then on to Paris before England. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Renegades’ Year for Love was a soulful cry from the belly of Trinidad’s hell vocalized by instruments in a manner that no journalist, teacher, preacher, priest or community activist has verbalized.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the definitive moment of protest in Trinidad Carnival 2018.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A thesis waiting for a social scientist.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was in hell. I see what could take place down there. In there I had a conversation with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Wayne, the guy who killed Wayne and the guy who killed the guy who killed Wayne, a man with a Pump, talking to the killer. Fire will bun dem.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“For me, it was an audiovisual production for the world that came from inside. I planned it out, the pyrotechnics, everything,” the 41-year-old father of one, said about the band ’s statement<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> on Final Night.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Read on for the mitigating factors, to understand how the landmark arrangement came together, spiritually, in a year when Duvone also conquering health issues literally became<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>fit and ready to finally grab the baton from the late Jit Samaroo and run his leg of this race<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to also take<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a new breed of arrangers into the promised land.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="color: red;"> <span style="background-color: white;">The Genesis</span></span></span> </h2>
<div class="p3">
It all started on December 11th, 2017 when “they made Wayne an example”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“On that Sunday afternoon, I was looking to go in the panyard. I came downstairs and heard the gunshots. He had come downstairs to throw out the garbage.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I did not see what happened but he was shot in the head. I saw him on the ground lying in a pool of blood and I knew what the repercussions are like. I was traumatized.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“On Monday morning I was expecting to hear him say “Yow! Duvon\ne, come outside let we lime nah.”</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Me eh hear that. For four or five days I was out of it.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It hit me like my mother died. He was so close to me that everything was real. Every single thing that was expressed musically in the performance of Renegades I turned it around and transformed it from that experience,” Duvone revealed on his return to Trinidad from sharing his story with the students at Howard University in Washington, D. C.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxP-cUFh9BHSgPuYKxfMqswKNiZPUeB4-jSQFW0ja8KkdXkRYVKI9yhhn-bk1P0aFkgZbzQXYpUjUzYnploTlYbTGkI9P7VylJoTg8qUFCHmdbdYRm-VH6LEakhd0hiio-qfzNim_Ln8jG/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-04-15+at+6.23.12+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="747" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxP-cUFh9BHSgPuYKxfMqswKNiZPUeB4-jSQFW0ja8KkdXkRYVKI9yhhn-bk1P0aFkgZbzQXYpUjUzYnploTlYbTGkI9P7VylJoTg8qUFCHmdbdYRm-VH6LEakhd0hiio-qfzNim_Ln8jG/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-04-15+at+6.23.12+PM.png" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As Loop TT reported</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The actual gunshots that took place..another young one gone. Bram!.. and then meh boy Wayne and so I started to transform myself in telling the story," he said, giving words to the arrangement.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“In hell, I met the killer, the man who killed Wayne, we are face to face and I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>am asking what you kill Wayne for? <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“He was about 21 years old and he died about three weeks afterwards when we were full into the carnival season.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I heard people<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> say yeah boy, they now kill the man, the man dead.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“But, I didn't feel relieved. The same saga continues. The man who killed the man who killed Wayne.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was repeating and replicating that incident musically in this arrangement,” he said.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Moving forward to the February 20th protests Stewart said<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“the incident sent a negative outlook to what Renegades was portraying for Carnival, and people want to know why and how these things happen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Well, it’s the system that causes things like that to happen,” he said, from his experience living on the frontline of the battle zone that his community has become.</div>
<div class="p3">
“This is just how it is on the Eastern side of Port of Spain,"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>he intoned.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"When we first advertised the song as<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> the choice for the band we were going from Block to Block around the Eastern side of Port of Spain, the Renegades' Executive team… the administration. We were moving around inviting them all to come in the panyard. To bring back the love.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“They came into the yard, talking and liming. Everybody put down their guns.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And then the people around told us they liked what we were doing down in the panyard.</div>
<div class="p3">
“They told me they were hearing what I was saying.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They knew who the song was dedicated to; what the song was a reflection of. They knew Wayne.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“From the time they heard me call Wayne’s name in explaining the arrangement to the players the phone would ring.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They would tell me he’s a good one. We will fix that, they promise.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“But it’s not about fixing that. It's about bringing that love and vibes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“There was a part of the song where I was actually talking to the killer in hell and I went back into my subconscious where I ran up the stairs and knock on the door and the door opened and all I could see was the Garden of Eden, a peaceful, tranquil place where I brought in the line from the hymn Let There Be Peace On Earth,” Duvonne explained.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was trying to talk to the community now. Let there be peace in Trinidad, throughout the world.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Then I brought them together, let us talk, all ah we is one family. It was all in the song. The day ended and the next day came and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I tried to bring all that into the arrangement and I went back to the person who killed Wayne for him to talk with him.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"Yow! Put down your guns. ‘When you kill this is what will happen, fire go bun you. Full stop.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<h2>
<br /><b><span style="color: red;">The Process</span></b></h2>
<div class="p2">
"From the first day I came into the pan yard on January 2nd, 2018, to distribute music I demanded the use of a microphone and a Public Address (PA)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>system so every line, every sentence, every statement, every passage made evident to the instrumentalists what they played.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I had to describe and explain to them, off the bat, what it meant so the passion of executing the feeling of what I was doing in different parts of the song was fully understood by every single member.</div>
<div class="p3">
“Because I had the opportunity to speak with everybody like it was one on one, they were very attentive, very understanding, very patient with the process. As I said I wanted to bring the story real.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘It wasn’t something that I could have done in a Jazzy way or even with BeBop and have people think I was just doing music.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I wanted to be clear in the arrangement. I wanted to be real. I wanted to be clearly looked at with the arrangement “Year for Love” because for the past five or six years as the Panorama Arranger for Renegades I was trying to mimic the Renegades’ style due to the legacy of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Dr Jit Samaroo that we inherited from the early 70’s 80’s and 90’s.</div>
<div class="p3">
“I wanted to make that transition, for it to become evident, where Duvonne Stewart could be heard in the entire arrangement.</div>
<div class="p3">
“When people hear Pan Elders(the Medium Band<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Champions) everyone said yeah, this is a Duvone.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“ During that time though when they came by Renegades for them it was like Duvone was trying to do something like what Jit did.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“But then again reality did not hit the band in such a way for me to be ME in arranging for Renegades,” Stewart mused.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And the calling came in 2017 when I arranged Voice’s Far from Finished” for the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Ebony Steel band in London.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Ebony won the UK Panorama.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
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<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /> </span>“And that was the get-go. When I heard Year for Love, as I said, I wanted to be clean and clear and to be understood in all aspects of doing the arrangement.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The lyrical content of the song was so powerful that I wanted to bring the story unto the instrument because I wanted it to be how the singer brought it over, just real.</div>
<div class="p3">
“I wanted the people to understand what it was like being in the mind of Aaron St Louis while he was writing the song, this being an extended version of what Duvone Stewart did with the arrangement.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The creative minds that came together for this arrangement was a true story in which I had two friends who lost their lives through the hands of the criminals in December.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It just naturally came to me what I wanted to say to these criminals, you know, bun dem.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Just about 3 minutes and 40 seconds into the song there was a passage that I used ” this is my time for Bunning” a line from Black Stalin.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“That was the hell, when Judgement day comes, you are getting fired.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“I tried to incorporate it with the Year For Love theme and everybody understood what I was doing and so it became easy to articulate.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In another part, just about five minutes into the arrangement<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I incorporated Let There Be Peace On Earth. I tried to bring the peace and the love- that was my story about what this place is supposed to be.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“That was an inspiration that I received from within that God did not make this world to be how it is right now.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“Everybody is supposed to be living in love, with harmony with peace; stop the killing the fighting.</div>
<div class="p3">
“And then at about six minutes, I brought in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“all ah we is one family,” using a little Nelson line to let them feel how the Year For Love was supposed to be… and at the ending let them continue during the fire.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I was just trying to send the message clearly, without trying to be difficult or two or three notches above the average listener, without them being misled, without them coming into the panyard and just listening to a bunch of notes, a bunch of phrases and a bunch of lines. I wanted to tell the story real and true.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“So I had to come right back down to grassroots and let them understand<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> what I was trying to do.</div>
<div class="p3">
"If it doesn’t start with me, it doesn’t go anywhere. It has to start with me. I had to be mentally ready to make these players feel comfortable every single night from January 2nd until the 10th of February.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
Duvone was leading from in front.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<br /><b><span style="color: red;">I was very scared to take the baton, until...</span></b></h2>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"When Dr Jit Samaroo was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2006, the band wasn’t ready for the transition in terms of life after its premium arranger.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“While I received a call from the management, I declined, the reason being that I just wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t ready to fill those shoes. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMKqx2aYb4XGCfw7ts98sHfWNASkVE26e3b01q0ecOfvR1hYRZNYCffAQtvANRA4rC-0VTyanDvFnmh2joLwAwbIiaazLdqm6fEZAoDEznWU8RxQTO1VazAgDJmLLDWv3LEedONUaJbpS/s1600/duvonne+and+jit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMKqx2aYb4XGCfw7ts98sHfWNASkVE26e3b01q0ecOfvR1hYRZNYCffAQtvANRA4rC-0VTyanDvFnmh2joLwAwbIiaazLdqm6fEZAoDEznWU8RxQTO1VazAgDJmLLDWv3LEedONUaJbpS/s400/duvonne+and+jit.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duvonne and Dr Jit (Photo Duvonne Stewart)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p3">
“Amrit Samaroo attempted and he was very successful in his ways. He then left and started his band Supernovas.</div>
<div class="p3">
“In 2010, they called again. I declined again. I still was not ready. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“The band did not make Panorama finals in 2011 and then there was a call that I received from BP directly saying to me "no is not the answer".</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Come and take this band and do whatever you want to do with it", they told me.</div>
<div class="p3">
“So 2012 was my first attempt at arranging for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>BP Renegades. On<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>January 7th<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was doing Vibes by Mark Loquan, sung by Denyse Plummer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Before going to the panyard, I was very, very scared. Because as I said before it was not something that I had planned, to come and work with Renegades.</div>
<div class="p3">
“But when the calls came I had to answer in a very professional way. Walking through the gates of the panyard I found about 100-plus people with open arms saying welcome back home. And that was the start for me accepting the fact that I was being loved, I was being appreciated; that I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>have been gifted from the people who made me who I am because I was also a player for Renegades in the late 80 ’s and early 90’s.</div>
<div class="p3">
“ I performed in the Junior Steelband Festival in 1992 where Jit Samaroo saw me and invited me to play with Renegades. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was here since Bees Melody…my first tears crying as a young kid playing on the frontline when we thought we won the Panorama,” he recalled.</div>
<div class="p3">
“Due to consistent results over the years 2012- 2016, (when we placed third) a dynasty was in the making and a new legacy was coming of age, the one that Dr Jit Samaroo started.</div>
<div class="p3">
“So they saw a promise that this guy is knocking on the door so we have to take care of this guy, try and make this fella feel comfortable in himself, That was the vibe from the band. The message did not come directly from the players to me, but I heard it through the grapevine.</div>
<div class="p3">
"I was 430 pounds at my heaviest weight. Concerns were brewing throughout the panyard. Duvone getting too big, Duvonne you have to take care of yourself and stuff like that.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And being this young person in a fraternity where I had been respected by many young people, locally, regionally and internationally and working for one of the best steel bands in the world I had to make a stance to preserve me as an individual with good health.</div>
<div class="p3">
"Renegades actually pushed me in that direction because of a feeling I got from every single player inside of here.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"We have to keep Duvone here for long. And I tried many, many programs until I made up my mind to do the Gastric Sleeve surgery in 2016.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
Nobody knew that I went to do it.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I lost 100 lbs in 2017<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and everyone looked at me and thought something was wrong. At the first gathering in the panyard we all huddled and I told everybody what I did and there was an emotional change in the band.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"Everybody greeted me with tears and the vibe of the band changed drastically.</div>
<div class="p3">
"Now, it’s 2018<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and I have lost about<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>230 lbs in total and the general reception was that I made them feel comfortable knowing I would be here for a long time, health-wise as long as God says yes.</div>
<div class="p3">
“Take the baton, run with it, because you are here to build a new dynasty. you are here to stay, we want you here to stay. That gave an added confidence boost to me to deliver me to Bp Renegades.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The management team of Mr Michael Marcano and Candice Andrews Brumant, all endorsed me: Duvone this is your band now. Its history is Jit’s history. This is your time, they said, and so everything evolved into making Year for Love Duvone Stewart’s Year for Love.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I finally took the baton this year.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In the years in between, I was trying to make Renegades sound like how Jit Samaroo was. Being in his shadow and<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>thinking that I was doing something good. Yes, I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was doing something good but I wasn’t really expressing who Duvone Stewart really is.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"How could you not move out of Jit’s shadow?</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“ I was a student of him. I was an understudy. Everything that he did I idolised it. Coming to the band that he made and he also groomed and made me what I am<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I thought that what I was doing was the right thing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"In the five years before 2018, in that transition period I was just sending the information from my head to the players, everybody knew when a double tenor solo was coming up, cos Jit used to do it, a Cello solo coming up because Jit used to do it but that time is all gone, now.</div>
<div class="p3">
"It just happened. It just naturally happened because I was in that frame of mind" he said.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"And people might draw reference to your middle pans?" I asked</div>
<div class="p3">
“ …which is a trademark of the band. Letting go of these nice fluent cello lines and quadrophonic lines? That’s what I learnt him, taking it away is like taking the heart out of Renegades," he responded.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"That is how the band was built. That is how the instrument was being used inside of here.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"Telling the story of what he was doing from before. But everything else is just 100 percent Duvone," he assured.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> </div>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">Sheer ecstasy was a sign of intimidation</span></h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘I never led from in front like I did this time. If you go back to the image that I had before with Renegades, I was like a rock in front of the band. I was just like being still, being stagnant, just watching around and waving my hands.<br />
<div class="p3">
"Losing all that 230 pounds made me more energetic. I felt more real, more athletic.. running from one side of the stage to the other.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="p3">
"It made people wonder who is this man in front of the band?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
'And when they were told that is Duvone? They were saying<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nah! "Everybody was like let me take a good look. Wow, Duvone transformed this band.</div>
<div class="p3">
"Hell yes! I was out to shock people! Everybody was gravitating to see me in front of the band this year.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"The new image, the new personality, the new energy. I was just loving every minute of this carnival season.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"It was humorous but yet still interesting and inspiring to a lot of people who saw the transformation of what I made myself to be.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And that all came to a head for a semi-final performance.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQ6CRHr2klsdIsYIGutVzUraylc4g3QhGJVnmm8R6HKwY_54dfEqL9dm0mR2FTe5XOX6iqf91RfM3CvF0tjjUU0_OBcyzx3IedNDhsYETYEmviQNLMzaBmzvfDFLjsm5Tgckg5uXSDntY/s1600/popssessed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQ6CRHr2klsdIsYIGutVzUraylc4g3QhGJVnmm8R6HKwY_54dfEqL9dm0mR2FTe5XOX6iqf91RfM3CvF0tjjUU0_OBcyzx3IedNDhsYETYEmviQNLMzaBmzvfDFLjsm5Tgckg5uXSDntY/s320/popssessed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A man possessed (Photo Gary Cardinez)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p3">
“After the preliminary round, the word on the ground was that Renegades is the band to beat this year. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"The National Semi-Finals was four days later and we had to go out and make a statement to John and Jane Public so they would know the reason for Renegades being that band on top.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"And we had to make that statement clear from the word go.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"The draw for the semi-finals was very, very strange. It was the first time I had ever seen something like this. All the bands that played the same songs performed consecutively one after the next.</div>
<div class="p3">
" I know that Desperadoes is a Champion band, I respect the band big time. And that performance that was given by Renegades on stage was totally spontaneous to the point where the energy, the vibe, the performing values that played a part on that said Sunday night was just sheer ecstasy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"The players just gave me what I wanted at that point in time because everything that was said in the panyard; every stanza, every line that was articulated by me to them was well portrayed and executed on the stage.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"I had a fire torch in my hand. Nobody knew I had that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
" I did use it on the drag but I did not plan to use it on the stage because it may have sent alarms to the Fire Service, but I said to myself<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Duvone if they have to lock you up tonight, they have to lock you up.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“If they have to charge you tonight, they have to charge you tonight. Tonight is the night to make that Semi-Final statement that Renegades is out for blood, is out to make that cut above the rest.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"A sign of intimidation to the rest of bands that we coming to bun people.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><span style="color: blue;">Turf wars erupt in cyberspace </span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">.. as a new breed walks through the gates</span></h2>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
There was an unease among some bands and steelband turf war went into cyberspace after the semi-final performance, with the management of All-Stars and Desperadoes and Renegades issuing<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span> statements to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/sharmain-baboolal/year-for-love-wounded-pride-and-a-love-triangle/10215412620977214/">keep their players on chill</a>.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I felt that nobody expected that a new breed, a new name arranger could be on the scene so dominant that he and his band were on the verge of winning National Panorama holding the lead from the preliminary straight up.</div>
<div class="p3">
“ Messages, comments and all these things of a certain nature were coming to me. I heard it, I saw it and I felt it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Again, it was a distraction to make me be less of what I am to my organization and to my band. Again, I had to come here every single night prepared to make every single player comfortable with their confidence level high above everything.</div>
<div class="p3">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5G1x0-TRYS4pLo-9ZWiuQjTrauvDnQM32l8EqCFyO6vrZj5Jsvbxay7_UJqOTsaWyPCezszIFFG1t_kSKtjNCzbqqdzkMxm7wh4p8_cTqXzeP89B-dYPdE_bM2vFv9uisAcDVfUCOEqp/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-04-15+at+6.58.20+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5G1x0-TRYS4pLo-9ZWiuQjTrauvDnQM32l8EqCFyO6vrZj5Jsvbxay7_UJqOTsaWyPCezszIFFG1t_kSKtjNCzbqqdzkMxm7wh4p8_cTqXzeP89B-dYPdE_bM2vFv9uisAcDVfUCOEqp/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-04-15+at+6.58.20+PM.png" width="400" /></a>“Among the comments, they said that Duvonne is a rookie arranger. "That Duvonne wasn’t ready for this war as yet.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“He now come. Another band will beat him. Renegades peak in the semi finals, they said,</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"But<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I guess they did all they could have done and little did they know that those comments made me stronger in coming to the panyard here every night to execute and build a final night production to wow that Queen’s Park Savannah.</div>
<div class="p3">
Again, at 41 years old, I could see the transition process of a new generation of Arrangers<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
Somebody had to open that door. And, being in a band like Renegades with a managing team like they have and structures as well, I was given all the tools to work with.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“It was just a matter of time to break down that door and the time was right in 2018.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"The life-changing image that I have, the music that I had embedded in me, the confidence that I got from the managing team to be me, was all integrated to what this production lent to itself on February 10th.</div>
<div class="p3">
“No distraction. no confusion. no night-before-jumbles in the panyard. Everything was just flowing clockwise inside this panyard here from the day go.</div>
<div class="p3">
"All the distractions, all the darts that were coming, I expected it. Now that I have achieved what I have achieved in winning National Panorama with Renegades I believe that I have opened the gates for young arrangers.</div>
<div class="p3">
"There must be a lot of arrangers that do not have the band that I have to go forward but yet still I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was still determined in opening that space, letting them know this is our generation’s time to say something, to make that statement, and that goes<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for Seon Gomez, Arddin Herbert, Carlon Harewood, Liam Teague, the three amigos from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the US<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Kendall Williams<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Odie<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Franklin and Mark Brooks. and all the young arrangers who<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>have the know-how to send their voices out through music.</div>
<div class="p3">
"I am not taking full credit for it but this is what we have to do now, rush in the gates and make it happen.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"No disrespect to the virtuosos that existed before who paved the way for us to be where we are now.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They may say<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Duvone is sounding like Jit, but who you want him to sound like again?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"That was the guy I was learning under. Then again I have to find my own purpose in terms of being me and that was one of the key things that made it possible in 2018.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"Len Boogsie Sharpe, Leon Smooth Edwards Ken Professor Philmore, Ray Holman and you go on, these guys did what they had to do and I say thanks very much to them, but the generation has changed. The generation has evolved to come into this game to make a new sound for the next 10, 15, 20 30 years.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I won’t be here forever but what I thought I did was make the new breed arrangers feel comfortable in walking through the gates now to make themselves be heard in Panorama.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"The older generation will be in the competition still; they will bring their game on and again Nuff respect to them, but now a group of young arrangers is coming at them with fresh and new music.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<br /><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Straight Up, Aggressive, Unedited</span><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><span style="color: blue;">My Dynasty is Now</span></h2>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
"I could speak for ME personally. I am being myself. I am being real. Uncut. Unedited. Unplugged with the ideas that I have to bring whatever composition is being led to me. "There is no other way to be right now.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04mWpCY8LfNqFSrNGCr7cVD1fhJ-JdOoheBCgiWhYV-ne-GpMbbPiEVyWNrgQtaKfFjEyYfJ206fwky8tucABrxhyphenhyphenStJGZNLvXk7GUgJNA6hY-PH5okLQ2JGo1EQPszkQ11ewDDUaJBBm/s1600/duvonne1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04mWpCY8LfNqFSrNGCr7cVD1fhJ-JdOoheBCgiWhYV-ne-GpMbbPiEVyWNrgQtaKfFjEyYfJ206fwky8tucABrxhyphenhyphenStJGZNLvXk7GUgJNA6hY-PH5okLQ2JGo1EQPszkQ11ewDDUaJBBm/s320/duvonne1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Photo Bp Renegades)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p3">
"In the 80’s and 90’s the arrangements that came from the virtuosos were very technical to articulate. A new generation has evolved we have to try to make them understand what we are doing in terms of being transparent, in being straight in your face. That is what it was like arranging this said piece, this composition.</div>
<div class="p3">
"Carlton Alexander’s approach to Year For Love and Duvonne Stewart’s approach was completely different.</div>
<div class="p3">
"He is of the soulful, jazzy, very orchestrated type. Sometimes the young generation may not tend to gravitate to it. I am not saying that he is not doing something good. For me, he is doing something good, but then again there is a flavour and taste for people to understand.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"My version was like up in your face telling you that fire go bun yuh directly without you trying to understand three or four or five times what Duvonne really doing.</div>
<div class="p3">
"That is just the real straight minded approach that I have. bringing everything directly to your face without going left or right.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes, aggressive.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I go with the lyrical content of the song and build from there. For example, the line<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"another young one gone, brap!", It’s like a gunshot! "There was total silence in the band.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was just saying that a criminal walks up to the band and killed somebody. So I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>explained that to the players.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In teaching them I explained everything in detail so they understood what they were playing.</div>
<div class="p3">
"When it's your time, it's your time. I believe my Dynasty is now. I could win come second, third, fourth, come tenth. Nobody knows what next year holds or even what song is available.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"Everybody goes in at zero, it’s up to the judges.<span style="font-size: 12px;">I don't take time to critic what a man does with his own creation. "You can’t go inside his mind and tell him what to do. This is what he feels, what he does and sees fit to bring it to the table. Every single arranger</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">did what they did best in what they brought to the table.</span>"I am not saying that Quincy Jones can’t do what we do. I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>see us as phenomenal musicians, exceptional musicians. All of us, the new breed, the Grand Masters who did what they had to do.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-size: small;">"Len Boogsie Sharpe, for me, is the greatest I have ever seen arranging and playing. To be consistently in the top three over three decades .. I can say the same thing for</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">(Clive) Bradley,</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">(Jit) Samaroo and Alexander. "They are all phenomenal in re-creating and repositioning music that was given to them.</span></div>
<h2>
<b><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span></b><span style="color: red;"><b>A Billion Dollars waiting</b>…</span></h2>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
After his stint with Ebony Steelband in London, Duvonne<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Stewart was invited by Billy Ocean to be part of a project at the Music Arts Department at Liverpool University which involves a lecture and workshop on the steel pan.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The instrument is growing big time in London. It is compulsory in most of the schools in the UK.</div>
<div class="p3">
"We need to take time to pay maximum respect to this instrument. This is supposed to be compulsory in the school system. Start it from the school system, make it compulsory that every single child in Trinidad and Tobago learn this instrument.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>At the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary levels make this instrument a study because there is a market for steel pan outside.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsO8wAZTDnVBWhyZQTTa2vLMftcVztAnJOmgIu_FX1H62GpvT8nRgjZM9Phcbd7rV-_R9q88tr6gUf1CW7J_5eaRSgnOwv4WD16y7y2tEDv3OOOAMXArgVwKL2Nyj_eu791baYWUVls1b/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-04-15+at+5.40.06+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="708" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsO8wAZTDnVBWhyZQTTa2vLMftcVztAnJOmgIu_FX1H62GpvT8nRgjZM9Phcbd7rV-_R9q88tr6gUf1CW7J_5eaRSgnOwv4WD16y7y2tEDv3OOOAMXArgVwKL2Nyj_eu791baYWUVls1b/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-04-15+at+5.40.06+PM.png" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Billy Ocean (Photo Duvonne Stewart)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p3">
"Andy<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Narrell, Victor Provost, Robert Greenidge, Liam Teague Robert Foster, just to name a few are living comfortably internationally off this instrument and they are living examples to the people in Trinidad and Tobago to know there is a life out there with steelpan music.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“If we don't have the right measures, procedures, the right template back home to make a child feel encouraged to make pan an occupation it will never get from where it is right now.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
“That is why Robert Greenidge lives outside, Ken Professor Philmore is more outside, Len Boogie Sharpe is here but there is nothing here for him to do after the carnival. That is why I travel a lot to make name for myself.</div>
<div class="p3">
"Outside of that, we have University program in Trinidad at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) run by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Seon Gomez, Mia Gormandy and Leon Smooth Edwards. There is one in the University of the West Indies and one at COSTATT. Multiple students go there to get Diplomas, Certificates and stuff like that and then after there is nothing for them here. There is not a school steel band program in any of the schools in Trinidad. None.</div>
<div class="p3">
"At some schools, there is not an instrument in the school.</div>
<div class="p3">
“I went to Signal Hill Secondary in Scarborough and I received multiple book lists and there is a part in there which says music. So you go buy your manuscript, you buy your Trinity or Royal School of Music Grade One or Two and the instrument that you use is a Recorder.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"Why it is a Recorder when you are living in a country with an instrument that is national and indigenous. The steelpan supposed to be the instrument used to teach people music in Trinidad and Tobago. Everyone should know what is “doh ray mi fa so la ti doh”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on every pan in Trinidad.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"We should take time to invest in nurturing and respecting the instrument for what it is because this instrument is a billion dollar industry.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"The connections that I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>built over the years working with bands internationally, So players from all the bands that I touched came back to Renegades to help with the mission.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>CASYM in New York, Starlift in St Vincent, Ebony UK had had over 20 players here,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>we had two players Calyps Atlantic in France and a couple of Japanese players I normally work with.</div>
<div class="p3">
" And then again I have a fan base of international pannists that also love Renegades and want to play with the band, they came back, because of how I did the music.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I wrote the Score and sent it to all the players internationally,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>so they had a fair idea by the time they landed in Trinidad.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I score my own music using the e-pan<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a midi steelpan interface that is triggered with any music compatible software<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and I go about writing the music by actually playing pan and I am like 120 players doing the song.,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
"It is easily accessible for me to do things like that. when they come two days before preliminaries. It's just to fall in and play with the band.</div>
<div class="p2">
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</style>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-61063647877542081922018-03-08T17:01:00.000-04:002018-03-09T15:04:05.504-04:00Let the truth be told: How Shorty deceived the status quo to create Sokah.<div class="p1">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garfield Blackman<br />
(Photo Winston Peters)</td></tr>
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He confessed that he thought he was going mad.</div>
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What he did not know at the time was that it would be his next musical step.<br />
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Going down by “the line” in Marabella for a sea bath, sometimes three times day, was the meditation that brought Jamoo the musical upgrade to Sokah which he invented<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and for which he lost many friends along the way.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Africans and Indians alike chastised him for blending their rhythms.</div>
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And while he<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>seeded 14 children with Claudette time has proven the late Garfield Blackman, Ras Shorty I, gave an entire nation a formula for love and unity which was largely ignored.</div>
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“What they condemn me for is what they are using now,” he said, three years before he died.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>With a grieving heart, just a few years<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>after Sokah descended, by and large, into vulgarity he admitted that he felt like he was a voice in the wilderness when<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>he changed the formula, again.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The hardest part of my life was the transition and the way people dealt with me and I had to maintain my integrity. But I am doing something, regardless of what anybody says about me I am pressing on because I am guided,” he said in an interview which I recorded on a cassette in 1997 and which<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I have transcribed simply to bring the truth.</div>
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Herein lies the unedited transcript in which Blackman, who died<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>three years<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>later on July 12th 2000, gives in details the raw truth about that woman Indrani, how he beat a charge of indecency for The Art of Making Love, how he was forced to deceive the status quo to make the Dougla rhythms<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to create a sound for a people for all time.</div>
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In between there is the story of how<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Trinidad and Tobago’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>iconic songbirds Ella Andall and Carol Addison came into the spotlight and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>subtle changes from Dholak to Tabla that made the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Jamoo music.</div>
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And he speaks about what grieves his heart.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: red;">Making a Dougla in the 70's.</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>early in the 70’s in Trinidad and Tobago when<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>there was an undercurrent of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>uniting the two major races politically. A<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Trinidadian<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of African descent growing up in Lengua, Barrackpore, Garfield Blackman was witness to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>real deal in his daily life. It became his musical mission<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and he was pushed forward when it seemed, in those days that calypso was dying and reggae music was on the rise.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Someone told me “people like you and Joey Lewis should be able to bring something together to touch people. To make calypso come alive.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was angry and I left there with that anger and I went home in search of something and then I started to put things together and this is how I came up with the Indian and the African rhythms, with Indrani in 1972.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The idea is to unite Indians and Africans. It was first an idea. How could I do that?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Let me put Indian music and African music together, make a Dougla rhythm.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I start with the Dholak and the calypso rhythm.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The Dholak has a kind of downbeat.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dholak</td></tr>
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Calypso in those days was not so much down.<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">“ Calypso in those days wasn’t the kind of music that you could sing a love song. And I, in my youth</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">had a desire to be able to sing a love song that the young people could be a part of. So it was the combination of both.Unite the Indians and the Africans with the music, make a Dougla rhythm and make a rhythm that the youths could be a part of.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Like now, in those days it was still a situation with the radio stations propagating American music and the young people would go for whatever was the music played<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at that time.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I am a stickler for my own and I feel that we ought to have a music that our young people could be a part of.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“That is where the whole thought began. Now I need a song to sing and then the idea of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krTCh3pBMJw">Indrani</a> came into being.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Her name wasn’t Indrani. Meh brother had a woman and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>we used to call she<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Bhowgee. "And when he and she come from the garden and drink their Puncheon rum, she used to sing like<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>tingy tingy (high pitched voice) and dance around him and thing and everybody know that they going inside and have sex in a few moments.</div>
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“So I take the thought from that and made as though this Indian woman is my woman.describing her “she skinny and bony like a whip”, the exact description. But she wasn’t sixty years old.</div>
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“When I went into the studio to do that song it was actually my own first production<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>because I used to work with other production companies in those days, I went to Mac Serrao studio in Woodbrook.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The label was Shorty Records.<br />
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“In those days it was only four tracks they had -no overdubs and things like that. Everybody sing and do their thing one time.</div>
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“Robin Dindial played the Dholak, Tatsil<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>played the mandolin. They were both from the ACME Dil E Nadan Orchestra.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYQuYLvQAI7Z6d0Gag5NKOnao-80UwbZvnf5LCxWMfMHUYQfP-GxoZmcYZ-kqgrTHShQ8phlOsOszkr9bk8fCDPz7DXM1sU1Tysbv6teQ2uw-8t5qRmot3e1etKXT9zo2v9tOBxpt5O3h2/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-03-08+at+4.04.35+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="919" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYQuYLvQAI7Z6d0Gag5NKOnao-80UwbZvnf5LCxWMfMHUYQfP-GxoZmcYZ-kqgrTHShQ8phlOsOszkr9bk8fCDPz7DXM1sU1Tysbv6teQ2uw-8t5qRmot3e1etKXT9zo2v9tOBxpt5O3h2/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-03-08+at+4.04.35+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shorty(left) with guitar working on Indrani<br />
(Photo Winston Peters)</td></tr>
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“I used the Dholak, Mandolin and the Dhantal. what I did was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>first I put down the calypso with Ed Watson and his<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>band. He was totally against what I was doing. When he finished do his work and they get paid I bring in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Indian musicians and I used two tracks for the band, one for the Indian musicians<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and one for me and the choruses.</div>
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“That kind of work was unheard of in that time. Nobody was doing that. Max Serrao said you could do that if you want and I said yes, I am going for that because I have options and I want to try it.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The combination of the Indian rhythm and the African rhythm, which was calypso blended so nicely in Indrani, it was a big hit for me. It buy meh house, car everything for the first time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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“Previous to that I could not even buy a bicycle.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Sat Maharaj started to complain right away that I was degrading Indian women and all that. "I fought them in the sense that I find that was ridiculous because Indian women were like anybody else.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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“In those days all things about the Indian woman and their culture was a hidden thing only for Indians. And here I was as an African, breaking into something that was totally traditional East Indian and Sat Maharaj was one of the first fellas<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to start talking.</div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Outsmarting Dr Eric Williams<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></h2>
“ That very year I had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_sPouLjYFw">Art of Making Love</a> and the Prime Minister<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(Dr Eric Williams) had me charged with indecency.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It was a whole big publicity thing. It was two 45’s. One was Indrani and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the flip side was Calypso is Ours and then there was Art of Making Love Parts One and Two.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I had two hit songs and I really sold out.<br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The Attorney General Karl Hudson Phillips dropped the charges eventually because I was making too much of a big thing out of it.</div>
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“ You ever see anybody go to look for a Summons?</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I take my lawyer and said allyuh have a summons for me, I want it.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I carried a photographer and made a big splash of it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Every day my picture on the papers and people was buying records.</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Before Indrani</b></div>
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My first album was recorded in 1963, Cloak and Dagger<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and then there was The Follower, Fish is Fish and Female Opposition where<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I decided to take all the prostitutes and make a political party and then "Indian Singers" before Indrani.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was speaking about the Indian singers coming into nice melodies and lively music. The song started by saying<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Them Indian singers bound to hire/ day by day they getting better/ long time when ah Indian come to sing/ he use to start off as if he groaning. But now that change entirely/ if you hear them with a sweet sweet melody.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I Sang it on calypso rhythm, but the whole mood of the song was that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That was in 1966</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In 1970, Don't Chook Yuh Mouth in Woman Business, that was a big one.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And then in 1971, the big song as not one that I sang but it was a song that I wrote and gave to Baron Severe Licking, they used to call it Ah Lick She.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Deceiving the status quo<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></h2>
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“I decided that I would make my first album. In those days nobody made albums but Kitchener and Sparrow. Another artist with an album was unheard of.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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“It was a great challenge because people would say you playing Sparrow, yuh playing Kitchener. And I was financing it. I produced an album called The Love Man with ten tracks. I used the dholak in every track, the mandolin and the dhantal.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was condemned for it. Everybody say I was playing Indian, spoiling the music.</div>
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“ All that time everybody was doing their traditional thing. Nobody was doing anything different. And I was sure I had something.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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“So what I did in my next recording which was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPnsxU3vNRk">Endless Vibration</a> , I transferred the Dholak rhythm to the drum set so nobody could say ah playing Indian anymore.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“That is how the drum rhythm changed from what it used to be to what it is now. And then I gave it a name SOKAH. That is to represent the soul of calypso. Kah was the East Indian influence (the first letter in the Sanskrit alphabet).</div>
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“Endless Vibration was recorded in 1974 and released in 1975. It was the turning point of the music., “Everybody accepted it because it didn’t have any Indian drum on it. They didn’t understand what was happening there was the same thing they were listening to, but it was a different format.<br />
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“What it did<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was that it allowed the music to flow more. it was a freer flowing song. I was able to use shorter lines, sweeter melody patterns,].<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was able to swing my voice in a totally different way.</div>
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“ I expressed what I meant by that in 1975 when I made another album called Shorty and Friends, Love in the Caribbean and I presented Ella Andall, Ricky Gibson and the Grooving Millers. We did basically songs with the Sokah rhythm</div>
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“Second Fiddle, Love in the Caribbean and Who is she, which I sang were the most successful of the ten tracks. When you make an album is ten tracks in those days.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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“In 1976 with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJiviqdjGig">Sweet Music </a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was able to go in deeper into what I was experiencing, what was the movement.I began to hear now and what it enabled me to do.</div>
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“I did not hire a band. Not Ed Watson nor Art de Coteau. I picked up musicians to get a particular sound. It was rare at that time. In those days you look for a band. They were the two big bands.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I wanted a different sound and I also did something that nobody else did. I used females in my chorus for the first time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The chorus group in those days was the Sparks, that eventually became Wildfire. I took Carol Addison and her sisters. She had two sisters who used to work with her and I hired them. <br />
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Carol and her sisters had an American attitude about them and changed the color of the whole musical thing.</div>
<div class="p1">
On that sweet music I had<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Angus Nunes on bass,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>On keyboard was Junior Brown, Toby Tobias was on the drums. I transferred everything into the drums, it’s still the same thing they are playing up to this day and nobody wants to recognize that is where it came from.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
They calling it crossover chutney and all kinds of things but it’s Sokah music.</div>
<div class="p1">
“I had my band called Vibrations International and I run my first calypso tent, the Professionals. Upper Frederick Street, we only did one season. We had<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Mighty<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Duke and a lot of new<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>fellas like<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mba who started and got their break there.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<h2>
<b><span style="color: red;">Sokah runs into Jamoo barely six years later</span></b></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“ By 1978 I was in the sea bathing. I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>used to go by the sea everyday-sometimes three times a day- on the line by the wharf. I used to walk from Vistabella and go down on the line to bathe by a place called Iron.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And while I was in the sea I began hearing Jamoo and I knew that God was giving me a different concept of music. Because I was hearing calypso but of a different nature.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I actually felt like I was going mad in the sense that so much things was going on in my mind I could not capture it. I tried putting three tape recorders together to capture the bass, the drums, to sing them out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“ And then I said to myself your mind is the greatest computer man</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I then began to develop my mind to maintain all those sorts of things. And in a short space of time, for the first time, I was able to write a song without even using a paper and pen.</div>
<div class="p1">
“I never did that before. That song was Jamoo. It was released in 1984 along with songs that were written between 1977 and 1984.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>How is Jamoo different?</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It remains with the East Indian side. more classical. but I have adopted the Tabla rhythm rather than the Dholak.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Jamoo is the next stage in the development of <span style="background-color: yellow;">Sokah</span>, what I see with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Jamoo is what I was seeing with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Sokah. I wanted a music that young people could relate to. Jamoo is still that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“As a matter of fact, most of my fans right now are young people, they appreciate what I am doing. The music has changed from the carnal to the spiritual.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“Sokah<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>make you feel to wine, whereas Jamoo does not. It moves your whole body. It moves your mind even when we play it uptempo, because Jamoo had two aspects male and female.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“The male is the aggressive, dominant<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and authoritative. The female is the more passive ,mellow and smoother reflection of the music. The male resembles <span style="background-color: yellow;">Sokah</span> more because the music comes out of <span style="background-color: yellow;">Sokah</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“It is still calypso music. I call it born again <span style="background-color: yellow;">Sokah</span> or Caribbean Gospel Music.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It is not the kind of classical music like what you hear in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Black American churches. This is the kind of music that relates to the rich and poor alike. Not something that you could run from because it relates directly to your spirit.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5RKJji8xUWGJuV2nQbOI1TWLMqgmY4v33DEv_Y2WJyzOopncqyIPJP-VpzazhQbzS04W3720j7qFP6QVd3Az5S_1sL7npZ7Bo4riQk6DqRs1W4Xju3BD7Uk39nacK1VH2KJyGwEo_nPW/s1600/love+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="598" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5RKJji8xUWGJuV2nQbOI1TWLMqgmY4v33DEv_Y2WJyzOopncqyIPJP-VpzazhQbzS04W3720j7qFP6QVd3Az5S_1sL7npZ7Bo4riQk6DqRs1W4Xju3BD7Uk39nacK1VH2KJyGwEo_nPW/s320/love+circle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shorty I , Claudette Blackman and the Love Circle.<br />
Photo Discogs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>“ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYT-8ynOUqs">Watch Out My Children</a> is the most successful Jamoo song that I had.</div>
<div class="p1">
“I have been doing it since 1977, 18 years ago. People now begin to understand <span style="background-color: yellow;">Sokah</span> and probably appreciate<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the crossover of the East Indian and the African rhythms.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“What they condemn me for is what they are using now.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<h2>
<b><br /></b><b><span style="color: red;">Quest for Indian and African Unity<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>revived in the 90’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b></h2>
</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“My mind is working in the same direction with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(Basdeo) Panday’s call for national unity and I had been fighting for national unity for years. There has always been this deep-rooted thing between the African and the Indian. When you and an Indian fella is good,good partner and you want to become his enemy, mess with his woman.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I had a partner and the only time we became enemies was when he heard I was going to meet his sister.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Trouble start! I found that ought not to be.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“From as a little boy I would lime by my neighbor Narine, who was a musician and every morning I would find myself by Narine in Lengua. Sometimes I used to try my hand on the Dholak. He used to get up every morning and play his music. It was a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>religion to him. He used to play his Ramayan.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“The division in the races and the desire to bring them together because they come from basically the same area, and came to Trinidad basically on the same attitude.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Why then do we have this big difference? My desire was to help to make that contribution towards uniting the thing</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I had no problem as a child with neighbors. Yes, it was natural in the sense that I had it in me from a child.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Living in Barrackpore and I went to see an Indian movie and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>one stayed in my mind until this day. I used some of the effects from Nagin in this song. The oboe flute.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gNM2rhxcfgmINerfbG8DhmvaHgjz2gPcU5221xbm9IKxDQxg5DtJMPzCUNXjpLPoaFe1cgl1oxzzQKy1O6eGxsylISAj6Iwgg4cRJWvF8Mg8fVllz9UdrdbReqhIJ39FHZmteRgnlUTP/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-03-08+at+1.04.49+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="709" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gNM2rhxcfgmINerfbG8DhmvaHgjz2gPcU5221xbm9IKxDQxg5DtJMPzCUNXjpLPoaFe1cgl1oxzzQKy1O6eGxsylISAj6Iwgg4cRJWvF8Mg8fVllz9UdrdbReqhIJ39FHZmteRgnlUTP/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-03-08+at+1.04.49+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="p1">
“The national unity thing is so big now. this is why I decided to lift my voice I have always been fighting for that.<br />
“This is what I chose now to make a statement musically. I chose her(Ramraji Prabhoo) because she is a full woman, beta, son and big brother bhayia. I wrote it and the Hindi was translated by a woman in Williamsville.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The song does not say anything about national unity but the idea that I am using a woman as a duet shows the unity on all front.</div>
<div class="p1">
“Most of the East Indian and the crossover music that is used now there is very little or no East Indian musicians playing in it. Africans<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>are interpreting the Indian music. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“In this song, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv4OjwRklos">Respect Woman</a>, most of the rhythm is used from the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Tassa.“I desire to use the classical influence of the East Indian music. so I used the Timtal.. at the beginning of the song Rajkumar Krishnapersad is the voicing .<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">
What grieves my heart</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“What grieves my heart about the music now is the whole vulgarity of the thing as though nobody or little or no one at all is writing anything to uplift this society but only to help the society go further down into degradation by one mental thought, just party wine jam on both sides of the Africans and the Indians.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“There was a time you would never see an Indian woman wine at the side of the road.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“That was something if you see that you know she is a prostitute. Now in every little inn, all over the place, you see these Indian women just letting go they self.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“But Ramraji once said in an interview they used to do it in the bedroom well now they coming into the bedroom.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"The desire to do these things was always there but because of their religious beliefs,it was held back. "So now religion has gone to the wind and they are allowing themselves to be just drawn into this whole syndrome of immorality and vulgarity.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<h2>
<b><span style="color: red;">The future foretold for Trinidad and Tobago, sadly.</span></b></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
“My question is where is the nation going ? Where are we going with this kind of attitude?</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“What is going to happen to the children tomorrow?</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They are going to be worse than us, you know.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And somehow the people who are voices in this society have to make their voices heard- you with your pen and me with my music.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Sometimes it seems like you are the voice of one crying in the wilderness. But that voice of one crying in the wilderness made its presence felt.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Elijah in the days of Jezebel thought he was the only prophet available. He said Lord they kill all your prophets, I am the only one remaining and they want to kill me too.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“Then God told him don't worry I have seven thoughts prophets who have not bowed to the God of Jezebel.</div>
<div class="p1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiurzrYJC_Wa1uo0Y_FOGfZbanmE8sSKG7cawp26hwpn1WqU6DGRWXmzFfbTg39ojW-TQvBmIuYdSI1uWTIUsPI8w-xWkYGDTRijoR5hdjuyXjDktsdotxPWFYyx6yxl9LKJWTTNcvoCqPi/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-03-08+at+4.58.05+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="722" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiurzrYJC_Wa1uo0Y_FOGfZbanmE8sSKG7cawp26hwpn1WqU6DGRWXmzFfbTg39ojW-TQvBmIuYdSI1uWTIUsPI8w-xWkYGDTRijoR5hdjuyXjDktsdotxPWFYyx6yxl9LKJWTTNcvoCqPi/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-03-08+at+4.58.05+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I know that I am not the only one out there working. I know there are lots of people out there working.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“God is using them to put things in place because he would leave himself without witness.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“If the religious people fail to do the work God will appoint people who may not even be considered religious and Godly.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I have been doing it since 1977, 18 years ago. People now begin to understand <span style="background-color: yellow;">Sokah</span> and probably appreciate<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the crossover of the East Indian and the African rhythms.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“What they condemn me for is what they are using now.</div>
<div class="p1">
“What is the worst thing you do through as a result of fusing.</div>
<div class="p1">
“The hardest part of my life was the transition and the way people dealt with me and I had to maintain my integrity.</div>
<div class="p1">
“But I am doing something. This is where I am going. I am doing something. Regardless of what anybody says about me, this is the direction I am going.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“I ain’t turning back for nobody. I conducted myself as though I saw he that is invisible. I saw Jesus, even though I did not see him. I am sure that He is guiding me. So regardless of what anybody says I am pressing on because I am guided. I know the lord is with me and He is telling me go in this direction. If<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>God speaks then who is man?</div>
Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-14602088187689392752018-02-10T11:53:00.000-04:002018-02-15T11:04:50.664-04:00New World Steelband Order : Teague's minor changes make a major note<br />
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9wYVT5fIu2Z1fVfaIw7878SOHy-Cxy8DKYBHZbQBfHssb3oTeViCi9Ajz3jGufZrjgeyNpx7iOFq2b_1PI5REYGkP15ziPX6kh9SVqeGKmx6P_89VJopYdtan6V-u309RwoLQ6HuqmRn/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-02-10+at+11.06.23+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="728" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9wYVT5fIu2Z1fVfaIw7878SOHy-Cxy8DKYBHZbQBfHssb3oTeViCi9Ajz3jGufZrjgeyNpx7iOFq2b_1PI5REYGkP15ziPX6kh9SVqeGKmx6P_89VJopYdtan6V-u309RwoLQ6HuqmRn/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-02-10+at+11.06.23+AM.png" width="340" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor Liam Teague (Photo <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Frederic Dubray)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "I am a Dreamer," he declared. </span>And he’s got ideas. But, here in Trinidad,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Professor Liam<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Teague<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>does not speak unless spoken to except when he is teaching. You would have to seek knowledge. And it is only then this humble man with an unmatched steelpan performance resume and teaching history would give some insight. Usually stoic and measured, Teague steers clear of controversy. Being in a panyard is not quite a normal experience for him anymore. The greater part of his life is now in the classrooms and the concert halls.</div>
But it has become an annual pilgrimage, a humbling one.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And while the internationally recognised steelpan virtuoso is honoured to be among the thousands of musicians and players of instruments he hungers for more people, in Trinidad, to be able to truly appreciate what we have.<br />
All year he works with students who sight read music. In the panyard, he adjusts his game to become a different kind of teacher.<br />
Teague, who distinguished himself before he left Trinidad when he was just 18 years old has clear and workable ideas of how to bridge the gap between generations. He has a radically different - and very workable-take on music education in the panyard.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Even with all the <a href="http://liamteague.com/index.html">accolades</a> attached to his name, most of which go unnoticed in Trinidad, when Teague enters the arena he explains how he is honoured to be lined up alongside the legends in what is the largest steel band music gathering in the world.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
In his own words, learn how Liam “Hands like Lightning” Teague who under the guidance of Trinidad Dr Cliff Alexis before him, has laid another cornerstone in the foundation for the bridge into the new world steel band order, starting with the Panorama experience.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="color: blue;">Demystifying Panorama</span></h2>
"I think a big part of what can help Panorama is actually education.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;">It’s simple. For example, a lot of people who come to the panyard just sit and they listen and many times they aren’t</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;">aware of what’s going on, like</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;">the intricacies, the subtleties and</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;">that’s one of the things I would actually like to do where we spend five, maybe ten minutes speaking to the audience explaining</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;">what’s going on. </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br />
<div class="p1">
"For example, we can say listen to this particular motif that is in the original, now hear it in the cellos and while the cellos are doing that this is what the tenors are doing. In so doing we can give them a deeper appreciation of what’s happening. And I think a lot more people may be more inclined to visit panyards because what they are hearing won’t be a mystery. it’s also about packaging and marketing. "And that goes beyond Panorama.</div>
<div class="p1">
"So many times we take this instrument for granted. It is all around us and truth be told so many people think of the steelpan as noise and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I know if I was a layman and my only experience with steelpan was Panorama then a lot of the bands may sound the same and would just sound loud.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"And it goes back to where people are not aware of intricacies and subtleties. This is where education is important and getting to young people from early.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>It’s not just for young people that play the instrument but for the masses. By<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>educating them explaining to them what is happening so even if they don't go on to become professional musicians at least they have a love for it, a profound respect for it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"And they may be more inclined to attend different events.</div>
<div class="p1">
"A lot of times people may walk into a panyard and they start talking to the players during rehearsals and are very nonchalant about it.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>They won’t even realize they are being disrespectful but this is a serious social experience going on here.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"This is part of the education process and again, beyond Panorama for steelpan in general, education is key. You see it in the classical world and in the jazz world where people like Leonard Bernstein would have broken down the symphony orchestra and created music for young people.</div>
<div class="p1">
"It's all about making it more marketable and easier to appreciate, I think.</div>
<div class="p1">
"In some ways, it is being done at the tertiary level in places like the University of the West Indies<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(UWI) and the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).</div>
<div class="p1">
"A lot of the students that are playing with Silver Stars when they talk to me about the music it is very very profound.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They are not just making general statements<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to say I like that part or something. They say<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I really like that whole tone part that you are using , I would not have thought to use that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"They are speaking very specific and that tells me you are seeing changes.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOuuJr5o1oX0X8oayjYLpceK2DUkAv809TmmaW8a-tnuZgQ9ROn2BcBVh4ycH6bJg7vEhqLllEGXsUYeVQ1RcPn7XrGfgtOIxMlrLneJApPLKdn8QOMqB0MMTrAE2qpvUGxF092ueEGjQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-02-10+at+11.26.33+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="894" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOuuJr5o1oX0X8oayjYLpceK2DUkAv809TmmaW8a-tnuZgQ9ROn2BcBVh4ycH6bJg7vEhqLllEGXsUYeVQ1RcPn7XrGfgtOIxMlrLneJApPLKdn8QOMqB0MMTrAE2qpvUGxF092ueEGjQ/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-02-10+at+11.26.33+AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">@Silver Stars Panyard <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">(Photo </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Frederic Dubray)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="p1">
"I really wish that adjudicators would come to the panyards routinely; they could be anonymous because this is the level of respect that is afforded to Symphonies.You know nobody is gonna fully appreciate Beethoven’s Fifth without multiple listenings so why do we treat our own like that?</div>
<div class="p1">
"We cannot decipher every single thing about the arrangement in eight minutes.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I always try to keep one foot in traditional and also genuflect to what’s happening in the contemporary world.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I am just a fan of Panorama music, so outside of the competition I just love listening to the arrangements</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">"</span>When it comes to music I do not believe in absolutes, to say that I have a favourite arranger.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>But there are arrangers who have influenced me more than others.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>Probably the biggest influence would be Jit Samaroo. With him being musically literate and very organized he did the majority of his arrangement at home and still left a bit of space to create in the panyard and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I am very similar."</div>
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<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: blue;">Impartiality is important....for all</span></h2>
<div class="p2">
"It is just listening to all Panorama arrangements as works of art, the same that you would be if Shostakovich performed next to Mozart and next to Beethoven or any piece of art for that matter be it a Van Gogh painting lined up against Salvador Dali. They are all great for different reasons.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Obviously, it will be fantastic if I win, if Silver Stars win.</div>
<div class="p1">
"But win lose or draw for me it’s about the music first and foremost.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Symphony orchestras do not play the work of just one composer.<br />
"I think it is very very educational for players to learn different styles and appreciate different arrangers and listen with impartiality because it is so important and it will help us to grow and bring us together as a fraternity.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>I am a dreamer. One of the things that bothered me at the semi-final round (2017) I was listening to a band on the Drag and a gentleman asked me what I thought of it and I said it was brilliant and he could not believe that I said that. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"He was expecting me to shred the arrangement and the Arranger and then he went on a diatribe.</div>
<div class="p1">
"People don't realize how much work this is. These are symphonic movements. It doesn’t come overnight.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>For you to just say an arrangement has no vibes, it is simplistic and if they really come to the panyard and really try to understand the music- I am not saying you are gonna like everything or enjoy everything, but have some respect for it.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisXe85Js93i7mhb4G79BKTScv_tRu4Vgs8Xbwm9wtu3I8gDh-j1scyqGvq7GDC_TkYp7nVDbyUDkkrf7NQMBEE_sHikkuw4RJMxQySljtkkSGcR8PYLg7zowBlZ1kQplGiyAzGNCc2WLQH/s1600/steelsymphony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="1000" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisXe85Js93i7mhb4G79BKTScv_tRu4Vgs8Xbwm9wtu3I8gDh-j1scyqGvq7GDC_TkYp7nVDbyUDkkrf7NQMBEE_sHikkuw4RJMxQySljtkkSGcR8PYLg7zowBlZ1kQplGiyAzGNCc2WLQH/s400/steelsymphony.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Every steelband is a symphony orchestra at Panorama</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="p1">
"It should not be a rare occurrence for an arranger to say something good about another arranger or a player or a band.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Yes, I agree that you are preparing them for going to war. "One of the reasons this instrument developed so quickly is because of the one-upmanship with people trying to outdo each other.<br />
"However, that could break things down as well.</div>
<div class="p1">
"We can have bands going to other bands and performing even without the competition aspect, naturally, people want to play well. When I play with the symphony orchestra, of course, I am going there to give my best, but it is not a competition.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: blue;">We have to be honest with ourselves</span></h2>
<div class="p2">
"I go all over the world and most people if they have heard about the steelpan they know it as the steel drum.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They hear it in the stereotypical way playing the classics. By the classics I mean the Yellow Birds the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mary Anns, you know, the kind of music that is associated with the beach or tourism and that is their experience with the steelpan.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>When they hear me or any virtuoso pannist play The Flight of The Bumble Bee which is something a little more demanding they are shocked.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>There are pockets of people that really understand the potential of this instrument. In the US it is going to the High School and University system, no doubt about that. Every year we have had students from the university system come and play with Silver Stars and of course, the other bands have that as well.</div>
<div class="p1">
"A lot of times I think we tend to exaggerate where we are and what the international market understands about this instrument and we have to be honest with ourselves.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="p1">
"First of all, we call ourselves the mecca of the steelpan. What does that actually mean? Sometimes these terms are used because they flow off the tongue nicely.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvNphspw0ovxTzbqdaM77L2YTr2-LT-DD0GmXHPxkkSWAw6dH2bZjyFUygECog68DFk2aSK-Rs8kgC0yPUwzyrtzNaQmztJ7toeb654neroCWTrliDs5bAlY4GeEtmCfXb352KY4N_PxN/s1600/boogsie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="829" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvNphspw0ovxTzbqdaM77L2YTr2-LT-DD0GmXHPxkkSWAw6dH2bZjyFUygECog68DFk2aSK-Rs8kgC0yPUwzyrtzNaQmztJ7toeb654neroCWTrliDs5bAlY4GeEtmCfXb352KY4N_PxN/s320/boogsie.jpg" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Len Boogsie Sharpe (Photo Newsday)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
"Perhaps we could have a Len Boogsie Sharpe Monday and Ray Holman Tuesday.. .if it was actually a national instrument, the masses. would be engaged in that kind of way. That’s not happening. It may not happen in my lifetime, but I do hope it happens.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Still, there are a lot of positive things happening especially with the young generation, not just musically but they are becoming more business savvy.</div>
<div class="p1">
"They are starting to see there is more to life than just Panorama. It is great if you can win but two to three weeks after Panorama, that what happens with your life?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"Can you actually make a consistent career out of this instrument?</div>
<div class="p1">
"This is one of the things I advocate for. This is my life. It is the greatest joy in the world to do what you are absolutely passionate about. And I am very, very fortunate to be doing that and I want that for everybody who may want that."</div>
<h2>
<br /><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Reverse brain drain</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
"I left Trinidad when I was 18 years old to pursue a Bachelors in Music<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Degree with a specific emphasis on the steelpan at Northern Illinois University.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>At the time it was the only institution in the world where you could specifically study steelpan and get a degree. I did my Masters and they invited me to Faculty and I went through the ranks, Assistant to Associate and now full Professor.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>While doing that I managed a healthy performing career and also creating music and also kept one foot in Trinidad and Tobago, whether it was arranging for Panorama or coming back and speaking to students at UWI, because a number of my students are now professors at UWI and UTT : Mia Gormandy, Seon Gomez who directs the program at UTT and Akua Leith conductor for the National Steel Symphony Orchestra (NSSO) and they are all arrangers.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSinbki9f-3-3S9SVvckdseIZa7STxfcW5GWuIJQiuagILcpeFsZs-ScgLFNzNGU9oRYxOcOzc8UNzmCanexKx7ksmufWSl8TpCXU8cUEpFepSzviJiiNgzJmu6GelGHf_NrL_XDP62KUk/s1600/akua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSinbki9f-3-3S9SVvckdseIZa7STxfcW5GWuIJQiuagILcpeFsZs-ScgLFNzNGU9oRYxOcOzc8UNzmCanexKx7ksmufWSl8TpCXU8cUEpFepSzviJiiNgzJmu6GelGHf_NrL_XDP62KUk/s400/akua.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Akua Leith, Artistic Director/Conductor of the National Steel Symphony Orchestra.<br />
(Photo NSSO)<br />
<br /></td></tr>
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</div>
<div class="p1">
"What I enjoy about that is that we are getting away from the brain drain cos so many people will go abroad to study and will stay there.</div>
<div class="p1">
"It is very important that we do have some people that come back home and contribute.</div>
<div class="p1">
"In my case, I always try my best to come back and contribute in different ways.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I teach at a camp in summer in Wisconsin, Birch Creek Music and Performing Center, and it’s mainly for high school age kids.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>For the past few years, I brought students from Trinidad and Tobago to attend that camp and open up new worlds for them, offer them different ways of thinking creatively.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"They could take that new found knowledge and bring it back to Trinidad and change things.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>V<span style="color: blue;">irtuoso on a garbage can...<br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It is not a percussive instrument, something you can beat”</span></h2>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"It is discrimination in more ways than one. Again, I mean for example, when I play as a soloist with symphony orchestras many of the musicians see the steelpan as a novelty. They haven’t been exposed to it playing some of the most difficult kinds of music; profound music.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"When I step on the stage for the rehearsals I can see many of them looking at me in a sceptical way probably thinking what is this guy doing here with this garbage can.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I am a little cheeky.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Because I used to play the violin back in the day when I am warming up I would actually quote violin pieces while I may be standing and playing next to the violins. It’s just to get a little reaction from them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So I see their faces change I can imagine them saying “Wait a minute , he is playing Paganini”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"Once I play the concerto and what have you I think it brings a new found respect to the instrument.The most important thing is that people get this new vision of the instrument.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>When I think about the steelpan I don't necessarily think about it as a percussive instrument something that you beat.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">" </span>I think of its melodic characteristics. And truth be told ,the steelpan is one of the most beautiful instruments in the world and in the wrong hands it could be one of the ugliest because if you overplay it is very jarring.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">" </span>Some of my early heroes would have been Robert Greenidge and Ray Holman who play with this degree of finesse and sometimes it is deceptive because they make it look so easy and it is some of the most virtuosic music out there.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTFwb8FgVL5Ha7_wBR8Rgq7AzJ_Mk1f0G1MXta17ZXBpdKTWQInwgVBLTHFj_KdHu7tcPghhiNqSTGMoPelI3Y6Wmw1oFNwg4oludYZ4-JCbDE0Ru-wLYmPwFjqh_opq7oZhDlatWYJ5O/s1600/rayholman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="433" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTFwb8FgVL5Ha7_wBR8Rgq7AzJ_Mk1f0G1MXta17ZXBpdKTWQInwgVBLTHFj_KdHu7tcPghhiNqSTGMoPelI3Y6Wmw1oFNwg4oludYZ4-JCbDE0Ru-wLYmPwFjqh_opq7oZhDlatWYJ5O/s320/rayholman.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Holman (Photo FOBA)</td></tr>
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</span></div>
<div class="p1">
"So that finesse is very important. We don't always address that in the steelband world. We look at speed, but not playing with a consistent tone, coaxing the beautiful melody out of the instrument and part of that has to do with my violin background again.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The difference between a mediocre artiste and the great artiste is that the mediocre artiste makes the easy look difficult and the great artistes make the difficult look easy.</div>
<div class="p1">
"The technique is important and I see tremendous skill. I am not always a fan of how loud they play the instrument.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The mere fact that traditionally when we try to get the attention of the band we strike the instrument, is not good.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You will never do that to a piano or violin but this is something in our DNA which I want to see it stopped. I personally use the jam block or the cowbell and hopefully, that will influence change."</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<h2>
<br /><span style="color: blue;">The difference I can make</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></h2>
<div class="p1">
"Education. Going beyond the status quo. Think about future generations.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I never set out to be a teacher. I was thinking this is consistent income, I will make it work but over the years it has been so gratifying to know that we have had a small part to do with someone else’s development and they, in turn, do the same. That’s the cycle.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Mia, Seon and Akua are all contributing in small ways.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iLNvNGZojvvb-HSTDbjbGBvZuQDz0djb9DHmAZb9OG5_b2ADEuPUozEB7h83uZgkPMXNbitJ1YcktWLmerkJwjrq6L8DfqLW9B2r7EBVjajKC8bBct_ToSsykRd-z3AVPUIEun6E1txR/s1600/mia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iLNvNGZojvvb-HSTDbjbGBvZuQDz0djb9DHmAZb9OG5_b2ADEuPUozEB7h83uZgkPMXNbitJ1YcktWLmerkJwjrq6L8DfqLW9B2r7EBVjajKC8bBct_ToSsykRd-z3AVPUIEun6E1txR/s400/mia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr Mia Gormandy. (Photo YouTube)</td></tr>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-51288885237651005512018-02-08T15:47:00.002-04:002020-02-27T11:16:35.259-04:00Journey to Desperadoes : Zanda's Untold Story<h2>
<span style="color: red;">
A community leader redefined....</span></h2>
Not until he was proven to be the gift sent from Siparia to Laventille, to bring the lost and wandering band from atop the Hill back to its spiritual moorings, that eyes opened to Carlton Alexander.<br />
Brother of Clive Zanda, Carlton, the lesser-known of the two, was on the threshold of three-score and ten when he gave the iconic Desperadoes Steel Orchestra a Panorama victory that pulled them out of a 15-year slump.<br />
<div class="p1">
But it was not just a journey from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>South to North Trinidad, via Canada and the USA and more lately<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Soweto through his project with the late Hugh Masekela.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5CJIGu5XpWpQ2FzagH9uno_Rbg5YSoajC4mz0hemAy-ITNEj0m4Q-Hx1eBiye-O70N5V4_8QGLZMU4GpOW6S6coiCHMTILWaN6L0e7pCFcFYelcSAraZTbCH_DnvMXS7sqnUjehBUIgt/s1600/zandas+and+masekela.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5CJIGu5XpWpQ2FzagH9uno_Rbg5YSoajC4mz0hemAy-ITNEj0m4Q-Hx1eBiye-O70N5V4_8QGLZMU4GpOW6S6coiCHMTILWaN6L0e7pCFcFYelcSAraZTbCH_DnvMXS7sqnUjehBUIgt/s400/zandas+and+masekela.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carlton@left with Hugh Masekela and Clive.<br />
Photo Trinidad Guardian.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
Clearly, he was divinely prepared to recover the voice that was muted by the hard times (not financially) on which the band had fallen<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with the residue of Rudolph Charles’ leadership legacy in the dust. Desperadoes also lost its legendary arrangers, Beverley Griffith and Clive Bradley.<br />
When<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the definition of Islam for the majority of young Muslims in Trinidad is in sync with the goals of ISIS, Carlton who embraced the religion formally in Toronto in 1975, but was introduced<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to it in Trinidad, might appear to be an oxymoron wearing his<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Taj drilling a band of musicians who are pleading in his arrangement of Voice’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Year for Love, “Tell me what they fighting for?”</div>
<div class="p1">
Lifting the 2016 Panorama Championship was a process<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that began more<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>than 60 years ago<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>when the sound of Desperadoes first resonated within Carlton<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>as a young boy growing up in Siparia, located 81 kilometres away from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Laventille.</div>
<div class="p1">
Not by radio or television or any kind of technology, as you would imagine.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The mystical messenger was his cousin,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Reggie Peters, who left Siparia in the 1950’s and headed to “town”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>where he became a ‘Rados player.</div>
<div class="p1">
When Reggie visited the village where he grew up he would play the songs and so Zanda revealed as a child he was in tune with Despers and even though his musical experiences took him far and wide it never left him.</div>
<div class="p1">
Zanda's hunger for music eventually took him into the Deltones Panyard as a teenager even while he enthusiastically embraced the Combos against his father's wishes.</div>
<div class="p1">
Today he straddles both<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Desperadoes and Deltones.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLmvLO-Dj1Txhr9RsW3JQff9F7vjr0puMmbK9Q7YHgkMy2z8dqk-FEW5Xtz8QK0gZX4qZdSs7kiDdMPd-ISxI8xRIFABJaok6_FmQ8FdnKAdB0Obp1zehC6a-NJdGBpi5PLdcgjyicl8w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-02-08+at+3.50.30+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="783" data-original-width="929" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLmvLO-Dj1Txhr9RsW3JQff9F7vjr0puMmbK9Q7YHgkMy2z8dqk-FEW5Xtz8QK0gZX4qZdSs7kiDdMPd-ISxI8xRIFABJaok6_FmQ8FdnKAdB0Obp1zehC6a-NJdGBpi5PLdcgjyicl8w/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-02-08+at+3.50.30+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="p1">
It was in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> ’70s</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>after he migrated to Port of Spain when, as if by divine order, Rudolph Charles walked into a band room on Quarry Street Port of Spain seeking the leader of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Third World<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Reflections. It turned out to be Zanda.</div>
<div class="p1">
But it was a long and winding road on the journey which took <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Carlton back to Desperadoes and within there is the story of the cross migration of musicians from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>South and North of the island.<br />
The rivalry in music and football was epic.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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Carlton explains his journey best.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>For fear of misrepresenting what he brings to the table as a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>leader this interview is broken into six parts which, if you read through, will give not just an understanding of his contribution, but a significant piece of history as well.<br />
Zanda was born into a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>family of musicians but was the teenage renegade among them and persisted when his father pulled him out of rehearsals with the Beatnix Combo for "playing devil music", Rhythm and Blues.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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A woman like Daisy Voisin was just another part of the landscape. Bertram Innis, he saw in action for the first time when at 14 years old he was stolen away from Siparia to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Sparrow’s Hideaway to accompany a calypsonian who wanted to make it to the tent in town.</div>
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And there’s Albert Bush one of the best bass players in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Caribbean. They bonded musically through their late teens in Fyzabad and in their early 20’s in Port of Spain before<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Zanda left for Canada.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
He explains his journey best.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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This is broken down into six parts which are meant to give a deeper understanding of the trials, tribulations, joys and bliss in the DNA of this Panorama arranger. One for the history buffs.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Finding Despers’ Voice…</span></h2>
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“The challenge I have with Desperadoes?”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Carlton Alexander said slowly repeating the question that I had asked at the start of an interview at his Siparia home in April 2017.<br />
“Despers had very good orchestrators in the history of the band and here I am coming now, so my challenge is to meet that,” Zanda said putting his work into perspective.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“By the grace of God, it was done in 2016. What I was trying to do is retain the sound of Desperadoes as I remember them,” he explained.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I thought the band was losing the sound. That was one of the things the people of Laventille and the people of Trinidad and Tobago, who are Despers’, lovers were happy about. They heard the sound,” he added without really acknowledging the deeper effect of the music which turned jaded players into warriors.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘I did not listen to ‘Rados for a long long time before I took the responsibility to arrange for them in 2016.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“But I always liked them and I believe it is because of one of my cousins Reggie Peters who left<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Siparia in the 50’s and was playing with ‘Rados in town. You know when you have a cousin playing with ‘Rados and you feel happy.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"He used to come home and play a little song for us which was usually the song he was playing in town with Rados. So a certain tonality stays in your head, certain movements," he added.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“That has to do with voicing; what you put where you put. Playing the piano is fine voicing, but the voicing might be different on the pan,” he said.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>As for Panorama, Zanda said it shows that “we get too busy doing a whole lot of notes all over the place and I like Desperadoes because it was never a band to be playing one set of unnecessary notes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“It is more about colour and shape,” Zanda explained.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGm3vVmuv1j89iA1_2NvpdseRe2D3S3Ov7ef9nTgw0Yr6DT6PELBLVEKamhCtC9afCN0CihsstbXv57qRFEMYGxzPcEQSkMM2hiQDalh5LsynL53rFowtmLGbm0yR3AStDKTMh32EW4dq/s1600/bradley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="340" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGm3vVmuv1j89iA1_2NvpdseRe2D3S3Ov7ef9nTgw0Yr6DT6PELBLVEKamhCtC9afCN0CihsstbXv57qRFEMYGxzPcEQSkMM2hiQDalh5LsynL53rFowtmLGbm0yR3AStDKTMh32EW4dq/s320/bradley.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clive Bradley</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“So if people told me I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>sound like Bradley. I won’t say no.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Remember when Bradley had Esquires and I had<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Third World Reflections?” he asked recalling they both emerged from the Combo era in Trinidad music.</div>
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“Bradley was a solo piano player and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Queen’s Royal College (QRC) jazz workshop doing the same things.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was about 18 years old when I met Beverley Griffith as we both used to play with Clarence Curvan and he was one of Despers’ early arrangers who laid the foundation for their sound.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Seeing that we came from a Western-type orchestration, the way we voice will be the same. It will be different from how a pan player will voice,” Zanda noted while emphasizing their similarities which made the transition easy for him.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Now, imagine Rudolph Charles the legendary innovator who ruled the Desperadoes with an iron hand walking up Quarry Street and hearing music,</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the kind that made him stop and walk upstairs to the band room where the guys from South were rehearsing with Third World Reflection Revival; Zanda, Albert Bush, Patrick Drakes and Slim who had moved up to Quarry Street. They were joined by singers.</div>
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They had come to town to play music; they were told the guys had instruments but not musicians.</div>
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“David Rudder and those guys used to pass up Quarry Street and come by our window because our building was close to the road. They would stand and listen to us," he said.</div>
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“One day the deceased Rudolph Charles came and knocked on the door and announced himself as the captain of Desperadoes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I am always passing up here and hearing this band practice. I like this band,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>who is the captain of this band?” Zanda recalled Charles asking.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“They point to me with this big Afro playing in the corner. He said it would be a nice idea for us to play together and from then we started to play in the Hollows together every Sunday: Desperdaoes and Third World. That is where it started, between 1972-1974,” he said, speaking of the years before he migrated to Canada.</div>
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Another twenty years would pass before<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Zanda made another connection with Desperadoes. It was when he returned in the early 90’s to arrange for Deltones and “Slam” one of Rudolph Charles’ brother took him from Siparia to Port of Spain.</div>
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<h2>
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<h2>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: red;">“.......Playing “devil music”</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was a little boy’s dream. The lure of playing an electric guitar and the final pull of a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“nice red Fender Strato,”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> which </span>propelled Carlton Alexander across the divide from gospel into pop music.</div>
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Daisy Voisin who was friends with his sisters, he would meet for the first time on the street in Siparia on her way home. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Bertram Innis, the legendary combo bandleader whom he could not have truly understood at the age of 14 years, declared him a good guitar player on the night he has stolen away from Siparia and taken to Sparrow’s Hideaway in Petit Valley to accompany a calypsonian. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Other nights his father pulled him out of practice with the Beatnix Combo.. and had to run to catch him too. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But music is in his DNA. It is the knot that bonded his family.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“My mother’s maiden name is Louisa Andall coming from the roots with Ella Andall who is my first cousin. My father a was a shoemaker, a tenor vocalist, a guitarist and the choir conductor for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Siparia and he had five girls and four boys, all of whom are musicians in some way.<br />
"Some became vocalists some became guitarists like my father. My mother was a soprano vocalist in the choir as well as a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>designer/painter who made flowers and handicraft. <span style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">“</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAbEcRP4JoCrZ0eDx9RU1UIWsTHXdArrHLjAYMxdJTGMejNytOBDx3pdrTAG_Lx2moM_t4KftMGV9ionciP4XkaEZvxzjOYgLZ5_2WM8R5Kf9zAZE4Yy6ryNBlKS0ojn-zJ-snad_Oakp/s1600/ellaone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAbEcRP4JoCrZ0eDx9RU1UIWsTHXdArrHLjAYMxdJTGMejNytOBDx3pdrTAG_Lx2moM_t4KftMGV9ionciP4XkaEZvxzjOYgLZ5_2WM8R5Kf9zAZE4Yy6ryNBlKS0ojn-zJ-snad_Oakp/s320/ellaone.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella Andall<br />
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“We did not have a pan in the house but we had a guitar.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My elder sisters played the piano. My father’s sisters, the Osbournes were piano teachers in the community.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Where we are sitting now (under the family home in Siparia) is my father’s workshop and my mother’s flower design shop. I had a small guitar school right here when I was 16 years old and taught most of the guitarists on the SS Erin Road going right down to Palo Seco.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In the ’60’s I was always mingling with the musicians in Siparia who were mostly pan players. They did not play western instruments like the guitar or the piano, for example.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“And so I started to meet other musicians in the community who were not gospel-based as I was because of my father’s strong affiliation with the church. </div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I used to carry my guitar to the Pre University High School which I attended when I was 14 years old. It was located just a short distance from our home at the top of Mary Street. During break time<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I would sit on the back step and play the guitar and on one of these occasions Aldwyn Marchand, whose family had the Beatnix Combo,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>said that he was amazed by my playing and asked what band I played for.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> " </span>And then when I said that I only played at the church he told me about their band and that they had an electric guitar and that excited me because at that time I never played an electric guitar.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
"He told me they would be performing at a bazaar at Victoria Street at Dudley Commercial<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>School- where the late Cuthbert Joseph (Minister of Education)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was born and raised. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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"I ran away from home to go and hear them. Coming from the Adventist background I was not allowed to be around that type of music. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space">"</span>I happened to be peeping through some holes in a fence because I could not go into the bazaar and heard them playing and saw them performing with their nice red fender strata guitar.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>So I decided one day I would go where they rehearsing. I eventually went across the savannah where they practised at the family home and I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>got a play on the guitar which I really wanted to experience; an amplified guitar.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "Naturally</span>, they asked me to join the band. I was not too sure about that because my father would not want me to be in that type of environment. He did not mind me playing music but he did not like that type of environment. He preferred the gospel, and that was a struggle.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>I was part of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Siparia Better Village and was there when the Siparia SDA Church joined with other churches to go to a Music Festival.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>I remember, too, around that time, I even got an endorsement from our legendary parang singer and composer Daisy Voisin. One day she stopped when she saw me on the corner of Coora Road and Mary Street with two of my friends who were pan musicians.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvQJ-TEp9tP0uPIKTiOCC5or5ZFU6p7WE-HHAi_7bAUT7KlyR18ytgGZbL7APtC07LSfpY3uBb8Wo6CBZBjUUfVifzfnVHEgNu_ShTYkG5FLTicIy5twI-ksLQRvEKXPCcmS7t4G-f0oJ/s1600/daisyvoison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvQJ-TEp9tP0uPIKTiOCC5or5ZFU6p7WE-HHAi_7bAUT7KlyR18ytgGZbL7APtC07LSfpY3uBb8Wo6CBZBjUUfVifzfnVHEgNu_ShTYkG5FLTicIy5twI-ksLQRvEKXPCcmS7t4G-f0oJ/s320/daisyvoison.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daisy Voison</td></tr>
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"She always had a beautiful smile and she told me that I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>looked like an Alexander. I did not even know who she was but she said she heard me playing some nice chords and that she wanted me to show her the chords.<br />
"I ran away home to my mother who told me that it was alright because Daisy used to be home with my sisters</div>
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"The desire was there to try other things. There were things I was doing simultaneously like backing up a lot of calypsonians in the community. It went so far that Lenore Charles- whose brother, Ralston Felix, aka Smokey whom I used to back up, helped to sneak me out of the house one night when he had to go to an audition at Sparrow’s Hideaway.</div>
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“That year he had a nice calypso called “They cyar keep me back for this carnival”. This was a good experience. So one day in the week she actually stole me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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"She told me Carlton go and bring your guitar. And they put me in a car and when I went in the car I saw Ralston, Lenore and one of her other brothers who was the driver. I did not know where I was going.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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"All they told me is that I am going to back up Smokey at Sparrow Hideaway.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The drive was nice and I went up in his place on Simeon Road and auditioned.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>I never forgot that experience because when it was Smokey's time to perform I remember Betram Innis who was with Sparrow's band came knocking to Sparrow beneath his chair and said listen to the little boy with his guitar. I will never forget that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Unfortunately the Birdie wasn’t too pleased because that boy Smokey coulda sing. When he finished singing his number Sparrow asked him, Yuh cyar sing something else, you come to compete with me or what?’ and he never got in the tent.<br />
"I think up to this day that affected Ralston. He was really disappointed.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I was a little boy and did not know what was going on. I came back down the road easy like that.<br />
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“By that time I was a member of the Beatniks Combo and went through a real pressure with that. "My father used to come to the rehearsal room, pull me out and run me down. </div>
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"My older sisters who were living in the US and England at the time started to write letters telling him to go easy on Carlton.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Eventually he eased away from me. I joined Beatniks in 1965 and by '67 he eased away.</div>
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<h2>
<span style="color: red;">
Even at Deltones..<br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘ They thought I was too outta the box”</span></h2>
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If playing the devil music was bad enough, Carlton took it a step further, into the panyard.</div>
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Ellis Knight, whose statue stands proudly as an icon on High Street, Siparia, was the founder of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Deltones. History has it that Knight, known as “Lively” packed his clothes and moved out of Laventille, taking the train from Port of Spain.</div>
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He came out at the last stop, in Siparia. There, at the end of the train line, ironically, is where the Deltones panyard is now located in the historic old railway station.</div>
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It was a fair exchange when Zanda became the gift to Laventille for Lively was the gift to Siparia.</div>
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After two years with Beatnix, the ever-hungry<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“young Alexander”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>made the next musical mark in his village in the Deltones panyard.</div>
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"My friends Beverly Pierre (Slabby) and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Fred Julien (Rodo)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>were going to Deltones practice and I was going to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Beatnix neither of which was far from each other in terms of location.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>When I reached my location- and they had to continue a bit- they said Zanda let's go by the panyard. "I said I doh play pan, but Fred said boy you is ah musician. I liked him for that. He was always a challenger.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“So I say you challenging me? I told the guys in the band room I am coming back just now, I am going down by the panyard.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"When I got there the arranger was playing a song by the Beatles and I think at a certain point he was having problems to continue the bridge of the song. It could have been “Michele my belle” as far as I remember.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
"I was in the middle between Slabby and <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Rodo and I could not see the arranger because he was in the corner but there was a second pan facing me and the captain the deceased Ellis Knight (Lively) who was friends with my brother Clive was looking on.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78cHLjxN1FJ84VVBnAARRztP4Y3SinREI_Sw51FkVwLIiOnGXnHQSIQhrRBNDuRQWw_vUXk0lvS6giQ4mS1NszOhRHoJPR9E8atLsZ_i8pG1kuA0Zw2W64Me6DkG4eqq5OXmsAOUsFE4P/s1600/knight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="668" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78cHLjxN1FJ84VVBnAARRztP4Y3SinREI_Sw51FkVwLIiOnGXnHQSIQhrRBNDuRQWw_vUXk0lvS6giQ4mS1NszOhRHoJPR9E8atLsZ_i8pG1kuA0Zw2W64Me6DkG4eqq5OXmsAOUsFE4P/s320/knight.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A statute of Ellis Knight in Siparia</td></tr>
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"When the arranger was getting lost in the progression I saw the notes written out on the pan so I borrowed sticks from my friend and I walked to the pan and started to block out the progression and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Aldwyn King who was the arranger of Deltones, they used to call him the Hawk,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was surprised.</div>
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"He did not think that anybody in the band at that time had that knowledge to complete the cycle of that progression of the bridge of the song.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"So he asked who is that? and my two friends said that is Zanda and he told Lively that he must let "this little boy do some songs for the band". That was the year I became a member of Deltones and started doing a few songs for the band.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Two things happened at the same time for me Beatniks Combo and Deltones. Some of the people in Beatniks were in Deltones and in the Best Village some were in both Deltones and Beatniks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>But I eventually broke off with Beatniks and started doing more work with Deltones and I was searching around and then met some guys in Fyzabad.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>In 1967 I was in Form Four when we went to Fyzabad to play school’s football: The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pre University High School versus Fyzabad Intermediate.</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>After the match, I saw this guy sitting on the bleachers with a four-string guitar. So I said to him you will make a good bass player boy. He watched me and laughed. It was just a casual meeting.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But that was Albert Bush one of the best bass players in the Caribbean who played with David Rudder and Charlie’s Roots.</div>
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"When the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Seventh Day Adventist Church sent my father to be the deacon at Fyzabad he used to take me to church.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was carrying a guitar when I met Chester the man dubbed the best guitar player in Fyzabad.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In those days it was the normal Trini thing that where there were two guitar players there would be a jam out.</div>
<div class="p1">
"And with the Kitchener song<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Hold On To Your Man, Chester, the man considered to be the best guitar player in Fyzabad at that time, got lost in the bridge and that is when<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I got crowned in Fyzabad.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I was a kind of adventurous musician doing things differently and you will find at your own home they thought I was too out of the box, "all them kinda big chords Zanda like to use" they used to say.</div>
<div class="p1">
"In Fyzabad I was more relaxed, however.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Another guitar player eventually joined us and we opened a band called<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Professionals.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was on keyboard, Bush on bass and Slim was on guitar.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">" </span>I always use to pound a piano anywhere I met it. I played all the strings, bass, double bass, cuatro and we used to play all over in South Trinidad.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>We did not last very long, however, and by 1969 after a stint with the Peter Vin Courtney Orchestra from Palo Seco, I would have been about 18 years old, we moved into Port of Spain.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: red;">Rural, Raw and Uncut in Port of Spain</span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">
....until Toronto called </span></h2>
<div class="p2">
"We learnt that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Port of Spain had instruments but they had nobody to play it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So four guys, Albert Bush, Patrick Drakes, Slim and myself, went to Piccadilly Street and we had a jam session and that is how I ended up in Port of Spain.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“I was employed at the Ministry of Works as a draughtsman at the same time, so I got a transfer. By that time Clive came back home in 1970 from England with his wife from South Africa and he worked with Winston Moore.</div>
<div class="p1">
"So I started to live with Clive at Upper<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Bournes Road in St James.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>One day some guys were playing ball on the road and I went and joined them and they did not mind.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"I heard a pan playing and I ask them if there was a pan side around here and they pointed me to Pan Am North Stars. I stopped playing football one time and I walked towards the sound.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"As I entered the yard I was amazed at the sound that was coming from those Cellos and we made friends. The leader, Anthony Williams was watching me, knowing that I was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Clive’s brother.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Then<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Bush, Slim, Drakes and myself opened a band called Third World, in 1970.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>By that time I had moved and was living on Quarry Street and Prescott Alley and there were some guys from a singing group in that area called Reflection Revival namely Ellsworth James Andrew Perry and Alan Nicholas who wanted to join our band.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"We gave them a break and called the group Third World Reflection Revival.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"There were other combo bands around, Needle in a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pin Cushion from St James,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and then the Boothmans had a band Rockerfellers. They were the guys I met in POS at the same time. There was Esquires which turned into Esquires Now, all those bands in town were hitting it hard in 1973 or thereabouts.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Steelpan was always musical territory waiting to be reconquered by Zanda.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“At one point I went to play with Starlift just after coming into town.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But the line of people waiting to audition was too long and I turned away even though I loved Ray Holman’s music at the time. It was exciting," he said.</div>
<div class="p1">
But there was a turning point when his brother Clive returned from England.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“That is when I began to understand certain jazz qualities and sounds that Clive had brought and opened up our ears to and he did influence a lot of other players, as a matter of fact, all of us.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“In 1973 I returned to Siparia for a time and arranged the first<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Shadow song I ever orchestrated in my lifetime for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Deltones.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> It was </span>‘Prance”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and we did it for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Panorama in South", he recalled. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
Third World dissolved and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Carlton headed to the Ontario College of Arts to study Environmental Design.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Since then I can say I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I have not really moved from Toronto.</div>
<div class="p1">
He extended his musical experience and played “top 40 music all over Toronto with people’s bands.”</div>
<div class="p1">
By 1979<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Carlton graduated and married his first wife, as well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A few years later he moved over to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>New York, to work at HTI in downtown Manhattan.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
But the music education continued and he paid his hard-earned money to study with the legend of Bebop, the Grammy Award-winning<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Barry Harris. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdG1iUtxEUtE2YNYATgJehy0RnrW75Ajzu1PlCifTBeotvx0xdix9mCA7D3Wb0CTrir3Xv8woGfY2wjdO6H3HbB9uIDxRFYEjfOidNEZu-G78bBGum-MpVmIajugFp75yTIWppRL_ZAdFq/s1600/barry+harris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="643" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdG1iUtxEUtE2YNYATgJehy0RnrW75Ajzu1PlCifTBeotvx0xdix9mCA7D3Wb0CTrir3Xv8woGfY2wjdO6H3HbB9uIDxRFYEjfOidNEZu-G78bBGum-MpVmIajugFp75yTIWppRL_ZAdFq/s320/barry+harris.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barry Harris</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="p1">
"It was there that I started to open up," Zanda declared.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“Intermingle” was the name of the little band which he formed with a group of friends and then while he returned to Canada in the late 80’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>they had already started Pan Fantasy in New York which placed second on two occasions in the NY Panorama.</div>
<div class="p1">
Another decade passed before he formed another band The Coal Pot which takes credit for being the first West Indian group to perform in Canada at the Bermuda Onion one of the biggest jazz shows the same week with Ahmed Jamal. That was a big thing for us,” he declared, adding “and then we played for the Montreal 350th<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>birthday.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">"</span>The repertoire was Caribbean music. I do not like to use the word jazz. We are not jazz people.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"It is Caribbean folk. Jazz is a culture, it is a life, it is eating cornbread and black eye peas. It is an American thing," Zanda said.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">
A revolution: Panorama players get paid.</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
"Deltones called me to arrange for them in 1992 which I did with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Kitchener’s Bees Melody. But the following year I did my own song called “Give we something."</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">" </span>I was always out of the box. They did not give me much support with that in Siparia, saying Zanda coming with his own song<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“But what motivated that song was important. When I came back and saw the pan musicians were not getting anything I felt very bad, even though I paid lots of money in NY for my own knowledge.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It’s hard to work with a band when the players are not taken care of. I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>did not think I would get out of them what was required. It is natural.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Working with a musician in the yard you would hear him say Zanda I hungry boy and I would go up to the house and ask my mother to make bake and saltfish for the players who were so hungry.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“When I returned from Toronto I saw the truck man getting money and everybody else for that matter getting paid and knowing that before I went to Canada Steelband groups used to be playing in fetes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"When I came back home<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I saw the DJ just taking over. No bands were playing in the fetes. So I called the song “Give we something.”</div>
<div class="p1">
"It was done in Leston Paul's studio. Deceased Eddie Quarless did the horns for me and Albert Bush played on it. Blaxx who was living right next door to me did the vocals and it was one of the first songs he recorded.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Blaxx’s father had the Gerry Stewart Combo, I used to teach him to play the guitar.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>The people at Deltones were not too happy that I did my own song.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "It was afterwards that Pan</span> Trinbago paid the pan players a stipend and they eventually settled on the TT$1000 fee. I will say Deltones was the forerunner in even motivating that.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>By 1994 I told Deltones I could not arrange for them because I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was a judge for the national panorama competition.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Two years later I returned and arranged music for Pan Ramajay and we started building again and doing better.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> "</span>In 1997 we had a challenge. The social dynamics had changed. Young people were no longer coming into the panyard and just playing because of the love of it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Y</span>oung people had children by this time.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Deltones got most of their players from Point Fortin and when<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Lively and I went to Point to ask the guys to come and play they said they were getting jobs in the Dunlop factory and they would play in Tornadoes, the Point Fortin band which Dunlop sponsored. <span class="Apple-converted-space">It started a decline.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">"</span>The first national competition we won really was with the youths when we arranged Melda and then we won in the Small Band Category," Zanda recalled.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>…as for Panorama judging?</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIhfY4N4FvjGb_MuK4B63O8rospkMVSPmyTfqUVZmXQEQegW4R_zAF1wdD_zoqjxAAVxKCfQV-bltHJaqFnIgvrihvM6g6VoVpSMmTOl6Xco19BA-RaKLOX2UN8jl9QxHYbAP_qqFVz4m/s1600/desperadoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="552" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIhfY4N4FvjGb_MuK4B63O8rospkMVSPmyTfqUVZmXQEQegW4R_zAF1wdD_zoqjxAAVxKCfQV-bltHJaqFnIgvrihvM6g6VoVpSMmTOl6Xco19BA-RaKLOX2UN8jl9QxHYbAP_qqFVz4m/s400/desperadoes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“O’rama means fete you know.</div>
<div class="p1">
“It is not an environment where you sit down.</div>
<div class="p1">
"We as orchestrators have to be very careful with that. I learnt that from this year (2017): don't get too caught up with the set of musicality.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"I am saying what is the use of having all these criteria for reharmonisation and motif development and then throw away because you are not using that to judge anything.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"Forget that!</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"It became a lot more clear to me that it is not necessary to do those things.</div>
<div class="p1">
"Pan is a people’s thing and people don't care about all this motif and thing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"We have been doing it before they call it motif development and melodic development and all that stuff like that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"The judges are not using the criterion. I know what is reharmonisation.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"I don't know if they know what it is<span class="Apple-converted-space">. </span>Most of those guys they are not doing that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"The next thing is you cannot tell an orchestrator that you think you should hear the verse one more time or the chorus.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
"That is your business, you should be judging music based on your criterion.</div>
<div class="p1">
"I could tell you are not doing that. Ms Jeanine Remy is a bright lady- she actually wrote it out on the scoresheet, if you don’t write that I am not sure you hear what I am doing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
“We need to look at that seriously.</div>
<div class="p1">
“I really want to say what it is you are doing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But just forget that musicality. I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>would say a lot of things I done this year they are far from it. If I ask them I know they can’t tell me what I do," Zanda, speaking with the wisdom of threescore and ten, declared.</div>
<div class="p2">
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-23824411870874785362017-08-10T13:11:00.000-04:002017-08-14T08:47:58.749-04:00When The Thief Has Stolen From a Thief : God (and Jack) Laughs<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Little Jack Warner</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Sat in the corner,</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Waiting to be extradited.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">When he won a judicial review,</span><br />
He put on his shoe</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">And walked away quite excited.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p3">
Behind closed doors Jack Warner is confident that he will not be extradited to the United States.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p4">
Even though buying time is his first line of defense, in just a few weeks the former FIFA Vice President who is wanted in the USA on 14 counts of FIFA related racketeering and corruption charges will know whether a loophole in local law will delay his extradition to face the consequences of flipping the script on the world power, for his role in turning over the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjishFX2WweSu1wCMf1Yeb2FXPsT5-Liuud0ZJREHT5LXXks2vYmEccfzemc4NahuAlq22GLQcfEhig1pgvqQ3O_9bUgdhG4UvZSIpdBmW5NqsFmpu2WMMG_ONsWAX7IVIsJx-L5SBf9wl0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.59.32+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="471" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjishFX2WweSu1wCMf1Yeb2FXPsT5-Liuud0ZJREHT5LXXks2vYmEccfzemc4NahuAlq22GLQcfEhig1pgvqQ3O_9bUgdhG4UvZSIpdBmW5NqsFmpu2WMMG_ONsWAX7IVIsJx-L5SBf9wl0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.59.32+PM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack Warner smiles as Cersi becomes unhinged and FIFA's Game of Thrones' plot intensifies.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="p4">
There is excitement in his legal camp which one year ago claimed Round One when Justice James Christopher Aboud dismissed an application by the United States to join the proceedings in which Warner is seeking a judicial review of the decision by Attorney General Faris al Rawi to sign off on the extradition request from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in September 2015, just after the General Elections which swept the People’s National Movement (PNM) into power.</div>
<div class="p4">
It was a proverbial slap in the face when the judge ordered the US to pay costs for Warner’s attorneys. The US wanted in, contending that the issue before the court had never been argued before and was bound to have an impact on all other extradition matters between both countries. But Justice Aboud said differently.</div>
<div class="p4">
Even now, among the 14 persons charged in the FIFA sweep Warner is the only man who has challenged his extradition.</div>
<div class="p4">
Given how slowly the wheels of justice turn in Trinidad and Tobago it is more than likely his strategy of buying time will work in his favor.<br />
Warner’s second line of defense, it appears, was to bank on the People’s National Movement (PNM) not signing off the extradition request given the pivotal role he played in the run up to the 2015 General Elections keeping voters in intrigue after he threatened to drop bombshells after an acrimonious fall out with the People’s Partnership (PP) in which he served as a member of Cabinet and which ended with him spending a night in jail before he walked out on TT$2.5 million dollars bail, having surrendered his passport.</div>
<div class="p4">
He promised to deliver fire like Khaleesi on her dragons (#GOT) but barely created a spark, though his stories damaged the credibility of former Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar for whom he was once a right hand man.</div>
<div class="p4">
Under the circumstances of his on going extradition matter Warner declined an interview last week, politely stating that he is being careful about what he says, via his newspaper, in the lead up to a decision which Justice Aboud has deferred from July 31st to September. No specific date was given.</div>
<div class="p4">
Warner is just one casualty of American aggression which intensified after Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup, and is often personified in an oft quoted newspaper report of Bill Clinton (Honorary chairman of the US Bid committee ) smashing a mirror in Swiss <span class="s2">Savoy Baur en Ville hotel in Zurich in December 2010 </span>after hearing the news.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi26rMh9RbGPTYnjdhljQv1TGfhueVYkP9Ds3G6WX5tL0AYoFl6rA2ngCnfjMrQ0elxuD9cL8lwAgEhp0lLITZAd1KST7jkc2OJigm3wI8qSCF7vSAQVvplNaFVSdoIQ2r7NbMILFHHYkcN/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.32.56+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="622" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi26rMh9RbGPTYnjdhljQv1TGfhueVYkP9Ds3G6WX5tL0AYoFl6rA2ngCnfjMrQ0elxuD9cL8lwAgEhp0lLITZAd1KST7jkc2OJigm3wI8qSCF7vSAQVvplNaFVSdoIQ2r7NbMILFHHYkcN/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.32.56+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bill Clinton (Photo Rex)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="p4">
Clinton , you could say, became unhinged like Cersi (#GOT) .The tables were turned on not just the US bid , but his most treasured philanthropic Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) even though there is only a hint in the report by "Independent" investigator Michael Garcia that the CGI may have benefitted remotely. There is no hint of what favors ,if any, were traded.<br />
The Department of Justice (DOJ) with its self described FIFA Slayer Loretta Lynch’s first foray in sharing out corruption charges literally beheaded the FIFA executive committee with the intention of rebuilding one that is reputed to be free from corruption, but reflects US ultimate supremacy in the geopolitics of world football.</div>
<div class="p4">
It was Warner, ironically, who with Chuck Blazer, engineered the ascendancy of the United States in international football ensuring their qualification for the 1990 World Cup 28 years ago when in 1989 he set the stage for Trinidad and Tobago to be denied its place, by any means necessary , in a 1-0 historic loss at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtUkqSirWjgt4ePEcfzoRYmfLBunODporXoi7pbkt_X8qxZQkwFnmdK2OJ7srBrvQuVJd3Ci8Bkhkc2mnA06XWV5b3CQJYbwin-NKG1dkWmZ94tStv5hFkgAh7SlTy6XJAL_Z58rhUSKh/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.39.50+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="577" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtUkqSirWjgt4ePEcfzoRYmfLBunODporXoi7pbkt_X8qxZQkwFnmdK2OJ7srBrvQuVJd3Ci8Bkhkc2mnA06XWV5b3CQJYbwin-NKG1dkWmZ94tStv5hFkgAh7SlTy6XJAL_Z58rhUSKh/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.39.50+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack Warner engages the late Chuck Blazer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="p4">
The US, without a top national league at the time, had, one year earlier won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup in nine cities.</div>
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And though he declared that he voted for the US bid , his relationship with Qatar's Mohammed bin Hammam who travelled to Trinidad allegedly with suitcases of money, led to CONCACAF’s voting power going behind Qatar 2022.</div>
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Surely he sees the gathering storm because he flipped the script on the US, even though he maintains that he voted for the US bid for 2022.</div>
<div class="p4">
Operation Strip Qatar -not the official name-moved into overdrive in May 2017, even though well placed sources suggest the plan was hatched in 2011, when the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) stepped in with a mandate to, under no circumstances, allow Qatar to host the World Cup.</div>
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Former US government officials, who may have benefitted from the bid process are using all their diplomatic strength and other influences to make it happen.</div>
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AIPAC after all is the most powerful force in shaping US politics in the Middle East .</div>
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The Saudi Arabia led coalition which includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt with the blessing of the United States created not just a diplomatic crisis with a blockade on Qatar, ostensibly to punish the richest country in the world for funding terrorism.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGdrDJYFferoNdSj3L4vWI1CXbMAxJpSRRNr7BhGaV1qhdd7Ie3o7QGGPa-ttOC4_jPO6AbQj6cHveYqbTIkqg4FNyx2bcikMBe42F5vqvY5SCAFKPOw6IomMMPN17xqnal7vDboWM_N1/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.52.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="611" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGdrDJYFferoNdSj3L4vWI1CXbMAxJpSRRNr7BhGaV1qhdd7Ie3o7QGGPa-ttOC4_jPO6AbQj6cHveYqbTIkqg4FNyx2bcikMBe42F5vqvY5SCAFKPOw6IomMMPN17xqnal7vDboWM_N1/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-08-10+at+12.52.13+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and President Donald Trump</td></tr>
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It is meant to starve Qatar of all that is necessary to move ahead with plans for the IAAF World Championships in it’s capital Doha in 2019 and the Confederation Cup in 2021 a forerunner to the 2022 World Cup.</div>
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And so, in the process, they can bleed Qatar dry as costs will escalate. The consequences are far reaching, way beyond what is now disguised as a spat over World Cup hosting rights.</div>
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In all the ensuing international intrigue arises one allegation that Israel whose first and only appearance in a World Cup final was in 1970 was promised a berth in 2022 in the US, as the powers that be would have been in a position, as they have done previously, to gerrymander the draw to make it possible.</div>
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Honestly speaking, where else would have Israel been able to play safely and without a boycott because of its involvement?</div>
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Just as it was in 2006 when Trinidad and Tobago made it to Germany with a little bit of help from fixed fixtures to validate the only black man from a small Caribbean island who ascended to the post of Senior Vice President of FIFA.</div>
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Was Germany 2006, a justification for Warner’s rise to fame and a way of giving back to the country that he sacrificed on the altar of ambition to facilitate his rise in CONCACAF, after the 1989 heartbreak?</div>
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In Trinidad and Tobago we would rather give all credit to our football talent.</div>
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Given the tsunami of activity at the DOJ to round up the 14 persons, including Jack Warner, what has slowed down the FIFA slayers?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXmEJkqdCbMQXoQMlbuKWHHAIQS6-WKLNsRZ49BJXtssfzivQolmFcSFoAeLXlYN9_1C4F-84GKEGbF0lKjfY_ag0vlzErsckYdqMXXIBGSpWe9s4WBMhEFLvDmJ-X3F-o4QnAm7h7q3tD/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-08-09+at+4.27.54+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="402" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXmEJkqdCbMQXoQMlbuKWHHAIQS6-WKLNsRZ49BJXtssfzivQolmFcSFoAeLXlYN9_1C4F-84GKEGbF0lKjfY_ag0vlzErsckYdqMXXIBGSpWe9s4WBMhEFLvDmJ-X3F-o4QnAm7h7q3tD/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-08-09+at+4.27.54+PM.png" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former US AG Loretta Lynch</td></tr>
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Speculation is that the information which the US has used to dethrone a few will be released after Russia 2018, as part of the Strip Qatar movement which is gaining momentum.</div>
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There’s a confluence of activities.</div>
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For example, along with the blockade of Qatar is the publication of the report by US investigator Michael Garcia, released at the end of June 2017 which found<span class="s3"> that either Qatar had not broken any rules or there was not a sufficiently well established link but listed instances of FIFA Exco members benefitting financially.</span></div>
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Somewhere in the report however it was noted that the “US Bid committee reimbursed some travel expenses for a FIFA ex co member when he attended a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2010 that was not related to the bid effort”. <a href="tps://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2017/m=6/news=fifa-statement-on-recent-media-coverage-regarding-the-garcia-report-2898791.html">Garcia's 349 page report</a>.<br />
“That reimbursement was an area of concern that warranted further investigation,” the report stated. Whether there will be a follow up, is yet to be seen.’ </div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s4"> One week ago came news that </span><span class="s1">Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy could become the subject of a criminal investigation into Qatar’s World Cup because he is alleged to have profited from multi-million dollar business deals that includes the sale of Paris Saint-Germain to a Qatari investment firm.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Add that to the Swiss investigations and the US indictments and it’s like all guns aiming at Qatar, again.</span></div>
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And then there was the fake news story last month which FIFA was forced to deny, after it was reported that all the Arab countries wrote to FIFA with a formal request for Qatar to be stripped of the 2022 World Cup, because it was a “base of terrorism.” A natural follow up to the blockade.</div>
<div class="p7">
Jack Warner’s troubles may pale by comparison. And he has a ringside seat with an insider scoop. The plot unfolds as Cersi is unhinged.</div>
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Is it to his benefit that Trinidad’s wheels of justice will continue to turn laboriously slow or does Warner have a bombshell to trade which leaves him, behind closed doors, smiling from ear to ear?</div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-89351983607013863492017-05-25T14:15:00.003-04:002017-05-25T15:41:59.042-04:00Romping in Tobago Part 3 : Email Witch Hunt<div class="p1">
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An email witch hunt, ordered by the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs (MYSA) Natasha Barrow has failed to find the person who leaked the information which led to iBlog's expose of the TT$91,910.43 joyride to Tobago by a delegation of 12 persons led by Minister Darryl Smith.</div>
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Ironically, the emails requesting the witch hunt and outlining the conclusion have also been leaked.</div>
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Ms Barrow went into overdrive on Tuesday May 23rd to find the source of the leaked email "which was featured in an online blog post".</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik82BnPn2M6Ma7tXIzmFn_gkMm5tSh_pgyt_10iwvf3VoS5XNonSuC3LJHuto5kUa0Noiy6IiWiewTNyGwez5PEX39FQCo_10dWVc5a6gW1ev2ojRqlkbY3JsGNVpxJDVgbtwpqSFH-DJ0/s1600/18745142_10213158597508036_1834474547_o+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik82BnPn2M6Ma7tXIzmFn_gkMm5tSh_pgyt_10iwvf3VoS5XNonSuC3LJHuto5kUa0Noiy6IiWiewTNyGwez5PEX39FQCo_10dWVc5a6gW1ev2ojRqlkbY3JsGNVpxJDVgbtwpqSFH-DJ0/s640/18745142_10213158597508036_1834474547_o+%25281%2529.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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It was on Tuesday night that she made a telephone call to Andre Hanief, the Manager of Information Communication Technology asking him to look into the “unauthorized circulation of an email message possibly originating from the Ministry’s Domain.”</div>
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Haneif, however requested an independent person to witness the investigation in an email which he sent the following morning at 8 22 AM. </div>
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In less than an hour, Ms Barrow recommended Deputy Permanent Secretary Mrs Denese Arneaud as the “independent witness.”</div>
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When nothing was found in the email accounts of the five persons who were copied in the original email from Sports Minister Darryl Smith’s Personal Secretary Maria-Elena Phillips the Deputy PS Arneaud then recommended that the accounts of two other persons in the Ministry Ian Ramdahin and Michael Seebarran.</div>
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Still “ no evidence was found of emails surrounding the THA Sport Awards- of being forwarded from any account listed above,” the IT Manager concluded.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOYgQ4abrYf5ToRalDM2-Gr8bspKqO2HbDHScQs4MQNrLiNNsCZEUyGbD3u1BeFNKg-E1n4S_5n0LAccd6dg5icbAmmtPdkBAuDoSUG-DDaJHAttzwGxp07mpf8Pj2qf1YmWpRfO8n1eN/s1600/18721090_10213158593347932_139332526_o+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOYgQ4abrYf5ToRalDM2-Gr8bspKqO2HbDHScQs4MQNrLiNNsCZEUyGbD3u1BeFNKg-E1n4S_5n0LAccd6dg5icbAmmtPdkBAuDoSUG-DDaJHAttzwGxp07mpf8Pj2qf1YmWpRfO8n1eN/s640/18721090_10213158593347932_139332526_o+%25281%2529.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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</style>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-75227922061349063372017-05-24T13:29:00.001-04:002017-05-24T14:17:48.209-04:00Romping in Tobago: Part 2<div class="p1">
The email requesting the inclusion of three uninvited guests to the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Sports Awards Ceremony originated from the Personal Secretary in the Office of the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Maria Elena-Phillips. <br />
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Minister Darryl Smith must say whether he authorized the email because he has already deflected responsibility for the twelve member TT$91, 910.43 all inclusive party at the Magdelena Grand (May 19-22) to his Permanent Secretary.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZQXlHqfdLaazYN-hpG0IYaOmdEu33oY0JrTnJzHSG3KPHCEldE9vsZvrPufRYq4SlRv4ZUNZV1U8w6ZIJTRH0Jocim6Zy-6AUNe82DmTEdqNvQLynEWgCTxBu2Xd_GT5p8SLukcyP2KA/s1600/18720820_10209917708401869_879235669_o.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZQXlHqfdLaazYN-hpG0IYaOmdEu33oY0JrTnJzHSG3KPHCEldE9vsZvrPufRYq4SlRv4ZUNZV1U8w6ZIJTRH0Jocim6Zy-6AUNe82DmTEdqNvQLynEWgCTxBu2Xd_GT5p8SLukcyP2KA/s640/18720820_10209917708401869_879235669_o.png" width="514" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1">The email from the Minister’s office dated May 17th, and which requests the inclusion of the trio of Ms Cindy Cupid, Ms Melissa Assam, and Ms Kate Balthazar was sent one day AFTER the airline tickets for Assam and Balthazar were booked. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">The question arises in light of the response of Minister Smith to the firestorm created by the expose of the money spent for a weekend jaunt for Smith and 11 other staff members for the award ceremony which lasted for all of one hour and 15 minutes, followed by a cocktail reception.</span><br />
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<span class="s1">Admitting that “everywhere I go I take one of my assistants with me,” to the Trinidad Guardian <a href="http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2017-05-23/storm-teacup">http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2017-05-23/storm-teacup</a> the Minister said “ the other persons, you would have to talk to the PS. I think the two people’s names I am seeing is the Permanent Secretary’s assistant, who wouldn’t be invited and also communications,” he told the Guardian, throwing the responsibility on the shoulders of the PS.</span><br />
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<span class="s1">This email, however, did not come directly from the PS but was carbon copied (cc) to the Permanent Secretary from the Minister’s Secretary and his assistant Cindy Cupid.</span><br />
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<span class="s1">It should be noted that the email requesting the “necessary arrangements” was preceded by another sent from the Minister’s personal secretary to the Permanent Secretary, dated May 16th, which shows that Caribbean Airlines Flights for both Melissa Assam and Kate Balthazar were booked on the day before the formal request was sent to have the trio accommodated for the weekend.</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8yvJe6O5AYQdHIpDy2VEg2GRuBeTUXiAvM-NGv0hMVOfwZsgoV09Om8lS-eRTlXFcRmaoiKZRSvcfylTW20dIoCytqdQOtbrLZ9s1H2NXJpynuYTJtUl04CgRlmc5NS7B9AXVzRfbRicE/s1600/18601411_10209917708321867_1839675040_n.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8yvJe6O5AYQdHIpDy2VEg2GRuBeTUXiAvM-NGv0hMVOfwZsgoV09Om8lS-eRTlXFcRmaoiKZRSvcfylTW20dIoCytqdQOtbrLZ9s1H2NXJpynuYTJtUl04CgRlmc5NS7B9AXVzRfbRicE/s640/18601411_10209917708321867_1839675040_n.png" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Permanent Secretary, Natasha Barrow, who stated the cost incurred would have resulted from ”planned meeting with the THA” is now being asked to state why the official financial records of the Ministry of Sport does not reflect this. Instead all documents outlining costs refer to the Tobago House of Assembly Awards.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Finally here is the flight itinerary of the 12 member delegation which attended the awards ceremony on Saturday May 20th at which ten awards were handed out by the THA.</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj84bm_oJ5lxGI_xuohi3kK1RNq6UDjpUSj026AzAwA4O87XOhi1ajcYVdn46Z2D7WdASbCKKW_Y5KIOjffHH6TM_WQV-BaEbWSoV8EaCDL_XTiG_8cXQCYopU_Xfb6QD0eZNrUiuWUoPAk/s1600/18678936_10209917708361868_1618000023_n.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj84bm_oJ5lxGI_xuohi3kK1RNq6UDjpUSj026AzAwA4O87XOhi1ajcYVdn46Z2D7WdASbCKKW_Y5KIOjffHH6TM_WQV-BaEbWSoV8EaCDL_XTiG_8cXQCYopU_Xfb6QD0eZNrUiuWUoPAk/s640/18678936_10209917708361868_1618000023_n.png" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-45053807234505968882017-05-23T13:57:00.000-04:002017-05-23T16:02:13.784-04:00Romping in Tobago @$92,000 courtesy Ministry of Sports.<div class="p1">
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Inserted at the last minute, three women who “did not receive invitations” for the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Awards turned out to be the guests of honor of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (MYSYA) at an all inclusive weekend for a party of 12 at the Magdelena Grand, costing taxpayers TT$91, 910.43.</div>
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The hotel bill for the traveling party, including Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Darryl Smith, was TT$77, 910.43 for the three night stay (May 19th -22nd ) for the Awards ceremony, which was hosted at the Ballroom of the hotel where they were staying, on Saturday evening.</div>
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The MYSA booked 11 Deluxe King Rooms and a Deluxe King One Bedroom suite, no doubt for the head honcho of the Tobago joyride, all of which came with Buffet Breakfast and all you can eat lunch and dinner as well, which this breakdown, as provided in the hotel bill, shows.</div>
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An additional TT$10, 400 was used to rent four vehicles from Rollock’s Car Rentals even though the hand written quotations, approved by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Natasha Barrow, stated categorically that the trip was to attend the THA Awards which was held in the same hotel.</div>
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Airline tickets for the traveling party cost TT$3,600, bringing the grand total to just under TT$92,000 for what was clearly more than a grand one night stand.</div>
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The event was stretched into a three nights all expenses paid trip for eight of the 12 member party whose flights left on Friday and who stayed until Monday .<br />
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Three others, including the Minister, Darryl Smith, left Trinidad on Saturday but their return, as shown on the Ministry’s travel itinerary was open ended. </div>
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On the night of the Awards, according to information released by the THA”s Information Department, it was only Minister Smith who presented Awards at the ceremony.</div>
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The THA Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles and the Secretary for Sport and Youth Affairs Jomo Pitt presented the trophies to the Sportsman of the Year and the Male Student Athlete of the Year respectively. </div>
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Two days before the date of travel, an email was sent, on the Minister’s request, seeking the addition of Ms. Cindy Cupid , Personal Assistant to the Minister, Ms. Melissa Assam Executive Assistant to the Permanent Secretary and Ms. Kate Balthazar of the Communications Unit to the traveling party. The email stated “did not receive invitations for the Awards but will also be part of the delegation.”</div>
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The traveling party which at most could have been four persons, spread to twelve because of the preferences of the Minister.</div>
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Three representatives from the Sports Division made the trip: the Director of Sport Mr Patrice Charles, the Deputy Director Darron Charles and the man directly under Charles in the hierarchy Ronson Hackshaw who is the Minister’s riding partner.</div>
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Hackshaw was the first choice for the weekend jaunt. Charles was an afterthought when it was realized that protocol demanded that according to the hierarchy in the Ministry he should have been invited before Hacksaw.</div>
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Permanent Secretary in the MYSA, Natasha Barrow, travelled to Tobago with her executive assistant, Ms Melissa Assam. Both women are well known as friends who hit the social circuits continuously together.</div>
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The Head of the Communications Unit, Mrs Michelle Savary was sidelined for her subordinate, Kate Balthazar ,who is seen in this leaked photo with Minister Darryl Smith which was taken at the MYSA and with whom the Minister has shared a level of relate that is beyond professional.</div>
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Her addition to the delegation was justified three days later on Tuesday morning when shortly before 10 AM, the MYSA Facebook Page posted 26 photos taken at the Awards ceremony, 15 of which featured the Honorable Minister, most of which were badly focused or taken from bad angles.</div>
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Ms Cindy Cupid who is listed as a Personal Assistant to the Minister was also inserted into the delegation, “as a friend of a friend”.</div>
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The others on the Tobago joyride included MYSA attorney Tyrone Marcus, Director of Youth Affairs Earland Kent ,Youth Officer 3 Emmanuel Charles and Adviser to the Minster of Sport, Garvin Warwick of the National Basketball Federation of Trinidad and Tobago.</div>
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Why wasn’t a four member delegation, as originally suggested, not sufficient for the one night event, for which a smart businessman, in a bid to save money would have booked flights into the Sister Isle for the event leaving on the last flight of the same night or the following morning at least?</div>
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As the document shows to date, almost all of the half million dollars that was released for traveling and subsistence TT$542, 000 has been used up by the MYSA.</div>
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The evidence is here and the expose comes on the heels of the Tourism Minister’s still unexplained TT$59,059 phone bill for data used during a four day conference of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, CTO, in the Bahamas.</div>
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-53448624593771521532017-05-05T13:16:00.002-04:002017-05-05T14:13:18.425-04:00A journalist’s well kept secret.<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><b>A Tony Sabga Chronicle </b> </i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The first time that I set eyes on him, he was planting coconut trees on the Pigeon Point Beach with his wife Minerva. It was a Carnival Tuesday in Trinidad and Tobago circa 2003.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Walking along the beach with plants in his hand, the venerable Anthony Sabga, a man who was legendary especially among those who knew that his business empire was built on being grounded and street smart was normal like everyone else around him.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">No drama, no fanfare, no visible bodyguards as he walked along a place that was clearly close to his heart as I later learnt. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVog1Onu2jdjrJdkaLMafn6xTXDFZ0Vqjd1T4PG3P1opEbspJU4-55gk9bPdrN9G0WIZHCZhaj_EsCQHV7TMWH090xSGXKGkI-LHxr8DiGW0BP5lvm0VR0xgTRNl0LdA6QM7TghifCMd9O/s1600/sabga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVog1Onu2jdjrJdkaLMafn6xTXDFZ0Vqjd1T4PG3P1opEbspJU4-55gk9bPdrN9G0WIZHCZhaj_EsCQHV7TMWH090xSGXKGkI-LHxr8DiGW0BP5lvm0VR0xgTRNl0LdA6QM7TghifCMd9O/s320/sabga.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr Anthony Sabga</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: center;">So when two masqueraders, covered in black oil and beating a paint pan for music and another with a wooden fork in his hand</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: center;">surprised me demanding that I “Pay the devil”, I nodded in the direction of</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: center;">Sabga.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">‘Mr Sabga own this place, he have money,” I teased, at the same time pulling out the camera which was my constant companion.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The old man, who was just about 50 feet away, did not flinch and may not have even batted an eyelid when he too was asked to pay the devil. He continued looking after the coconut plant in his hand. Minerva did not seem alarmed either.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So, I took the photo of the devil taunting Tony Sabga with a wooden fork, knowing that I had a real Mirror exclusive. That’s in addition to the stories about the coastal erosion at Pigeon Point and the concerns expressed by Tobagonians about how many permanent concrete structures were on the strip of beach that was the frontline of the 60 acre property which he had acquired.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On the next edition of the T&T Mirror, the photo appeared with the caption, “Tony eh afraid Tobago Devil.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A couple of days later , after the story was published Mirror Editor Keith Shepherd called in the midst of a hectic working day to explain that he received a phone call from Tony Sabga.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Mr Shepherd, I know you are a fair man,” was the opening sentence in the conversation which Sheppy recalled fondly.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It had nothing to do with the newspaper poking fun with the photo that portrayed his encounter with a Tobago Devil.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Instead he wanted to give his side of the story about Pigeon Point at a time of deepening controversy over whether any beach in T&T should be private, 30-odd years after the people took it back during the Black Power protests of the 70’s.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So in the haste of his work day, Sheppy told him that the reporter who did the story will follow up as he took the contact details.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Shepherd later confessed to me that he regretted saying that as he would have loved to have a sit down with the old man, the owner of Guardian Media Limited, face to face.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I got a number to call Mrs Moonsammy, his</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Secretary/Assistant to make the appointment.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_f9WPx80uIx24lKpZSjIEBZqvx-GYgEk3srqchAdq4ox_FTCp9uq7vsPm-NrjktAnOmiFFczNBitO4qj6ys57xEftcmU_9pGGyCuElHFie4ncksaxyAcylitMmzcg04eJFY5HSqMbT__M/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-05-05+at+1.10.23+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_f9WPx80uIx24lKpZSjIEBZqvx-GYgEk3srqchAdq4ox_FTCp9uq7vsPm-NrjktAnOmiFFczNBitO4qj6ys57xEftcmU_9pGGyCuElHFie4ncksaxyAcylitMmzcg04eJFY5HSqMbT__M/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-05-05+at+1.10.23+PM.png" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mrs Hazel Moonsammy</td></tr>
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<span class="s1">And then I kept the appointment, enthusiastically walking to the Ansa McAl building in downtown Port of Spain, where his office was located. It is the same building that was damaged by fire on two separate occasions earlier this year.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">His was an open door policy, it appeared. A warm and friendly Mrs. Moonsammy greeted me and had me seated while I waited. It was more like the old man was sizing me up while there was distance between us, so he would know how to deal.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Usually restless, I did not remain seated. I stood up and walked to a painting on the wall showing the original spot of the family business on Queen Street in Port of Spain, knowing that he was keeping an eye on me, even while he was taking with a couple of local guys (not businessmen) through the open door.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He was dressed in a dapper three piece suit. You could see it was expensive. But everything about the man’s face spoke “ordinary.” And that was reassuring. When I entered his office he led me to an area where we both sat comfortably on chairs with a coffee table between us . I was grateful for the respect. He did not choose to conduct the interview with him behind a desk and me in front.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On the coffee table were maps and plans, all about Pigeon Point.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And so he started to show his plan for developing what he called the Pigeon Point Heritage Park making it clear that he simply wanted to preserve the area, having already spent millions of dollars and considerable time and energy dealing with coastal erosion. They would never deny access to the fishermen who used the beach, he said, in the face of growing opposition to his plans for the beach front that included a large area of mangrove.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4-h8Itmn_Y6yfO99tG3fKvkKQEEnD6vRlzOCSknYyudN9EMre2lTfQLEcqb7fV-8xfvsK7-nlokblmBmUdki7MVjAthzxGFw_sCiylPemwXqxVljP3gdR0h-rsCg0VYw1R-K7odx3GTq/s1600/%255Bigeon+point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4-h8Itmn_Y6yfO99tG3fKvkKQEEnD6vRlzOCSknYyudN9EMre2lTfQLEcqb7fV-8xfvsK7-nlokblmBmUdki7MVjAthzxGFw_sCiylPemwXqxVljP3gdR0h-rsCg0VYw1R-K7odx3GTq/s320/%255Bigeon+point.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pigeon Point Heritage Park</td></tr>
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<span class="s1">It was also an issue that persons who wanted to use the beach facilities had to pay a fee and wear a wrist band; because no beach in Trinidad and Tobago should be private.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now, in hindsight, and based on the way the events unfolded thereafter, it was evident that he knew he would have to give up that treasured piece of property. In an off the record response to a question, he destroyed one myth in my mind at the time by saying that “government can frustrate anything, we don’t have that control.” He was reading the signs well.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A couple of years later the government declared it would acquire the property, even if by compulsory purchase order.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The information gleaned during my interview with Sabga was published the following week. Sadly I do not have access to the exact date of the publication without access to to the valuable T&T Mirror archives.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">But it was in the midst of the interview, which turned into a discussion, Mr Sabga said “You know you can’t quote me on this.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> “I know”, I responded, nodding, grateful for just the opportunity to interview him .</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> “You know I have my own newspaper,” he said, not arrogant but just matter of fact, because I think he was hoping that with the confidence I displayed in front of him that it was not lost on me that I was having an opportunity of a lifetime.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Indeed on a personal and professional level, I had one up on every Guardian journalist! and Express and Newsday too!!.For those at the Guardian, he would have been their boss so whenever they came into his presence the level of relate would have been automatically different. I don’t know how the other journalists would have reacted if they had the opportunity.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Being a seasoned newswoman I clearly did not blush or gush about it afterwards. It was a straight case of trading respect for respect. He respected our weekly newspaper with a circulation far less than his behemoth The Guardian, whose editorial policy we often maligned and that said a lot.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He could have easily used the pages of his newspaper to answer the questions that arose in our publication, as many others have done. But it was clear that he also respected the power of the T&T Mirror’s editorial team and how far reaching we were at the time.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tony Sabga, a Trinbagonian Emeritus, seemed to have had everything in the world but he had to give up on that one dream at Pigeon Point.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He did not get his way with Pigeon Point and after spending considerable time and energy on his personal project he sold the peninsula property for TT$106 Million into the hands of the Tobago House of Assembly.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was not the first time that the people demanded the right to public access on that beach. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">In the hey day of the Black Power movement in the 70’s the gate to the property was torn down by protestors who demanded access to parts of the country that would have been the enclave of the rich and powerful.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Robert Amar got his hands on it</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">before Anthony Sabga created Club Pigeon Point</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">a division of his conglomerate the McAl Group of Companies and</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">controversy reared oftentimes, including one incident that led to the shooting death of a man, allegedly by security at the Pigeon Point Beach</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Club.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">It was against the backdrop of this controversy that he realized he</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">should set the records straight.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> That was the last time the property was in private hands. More than twelve years ago it fell into the hands of the THA and what have they done? Nothing short of a watered down version of Sabga’s vision for the cherished spot. Years later and the grandiose plans have not materialized.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Why write this? In all fairness to the giant of a man who passed away at the age of 94 years, on May 3rd 2017. It’s not kiss and tell, but a small insight, a drop in the bucket to help us all better understand the iconic businessman whose family fled Syria in 1930 and came to Trinidad where through the dint of hard work they laid the cornerstone for the Sabga Empire.</span></div>
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</style>Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6405113442279754723.post-9248819442271918362017-03-22T16:06:00.001-04:002017-03-23T11:00:10.366-04:00 Messy Morace : Working With "Sheet".<div class="p1">
<b>Taking the Warriors out of TT football </b><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">If it was a prison in Canada, it is slavery in Trinidad conducted by a</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">woman who was imported- along with her dog and cat- into this Banana Republic</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">where she is being</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">treated like</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">a Tin God.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Deservedly so, based on her impressive resume and brilliant football mind, Carolina Morace is a long overdue gift to the Women Warriors.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzvQqDi4X31Y-svvuiKPl8TAORubRQlKMVbKfNDW2lvWAuBECw6tomSApSTFDpiDb0Z1Rnol3vtOU6cr9JcmpDAjrcgss2JHxwty-ksCeE8GpzR74JJkWOLorOG6KdivsyL3EbHSz8-4l/s1600/carolina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzvQqDi4X31Y-svvuiKPl8TAORubRQlKMVbKfNDW2lvWAuBECw6tomSApSTFDpiDb0Z1Rnol3vtOU6cr9JcmpDAjrcgss2JHxwty-ksCeE8GpzR74JJkWOLorOG6KdivsyL3EbHSz8-4l/s320/carolina.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carolina Morace</td></tr>
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<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Sadly, the Italian Hall of Famer was never fully investigated before she was hired by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association ( TTFA). Her last stint as a national coach was in 2012 in Canada where she left football scars caused by an “aggressive Italian regime” which turned that country’s World Cup adventure into a “micro managing prison camp,” according to a report in the Toronto Sun.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">After just eight weeks in TT, her impressive resume is a distant memory as her new found reputation, from all reports ,includes “verbal abuse”, “disrespect” and “nightmare” as the newly appointed Technical Director of Women’s Football tries to get a grip on her first Third World assignment.</span><br />
<a href="http://wired868.com/2017/03/22/morace-my-players-have-smiles-on-their-faces-wwarriors-coach-plays-down-absences/">Yes, she insists all is good in her camp.</a><br />
Why did she settle for coaching TT , not even considered a CONCACAF powerhouse? That’s a question which only Morace can answer.</div>
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<span class="s1">Three cornerstones of the current Women's football have walked away, hanging up their boots.Though fit and match ready they are broken hearted.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The trio, captain Maylee Attin Johnson, Ahkeela Mollon and Kennya Cordner, in their respective rights are leaders who fought with their lives as part of the history making Women Warriors team that united TT in 2015, setting the foundation for Morace’s appointment in Trinidad.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Already attempts are being made to smear their characters in favor of the Italian whom , informed sources say, seems to be creating alliances in Trinidad and Tobago to impose her own culture.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RL8yCSjE6f3Cs9bDUagvZroa9iaYnA7xrM93uA2b61-a1m91pJFdT6H00jbnZkRhFhZfmViERbGcOGBvZJN8MHibEXPjvFAWMoIysxhCV1NUazOE9lGhOGf_tlFrBLVZJttvmW6NBbdO/s1600/salazar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RL8yCSjE6f3Cs9bDUagvZroa9iaYnA7xrM93uA2b61-a1m91pJFdT6H00jbnZkRhFhZfmViERbGcOGBvZJN8MHibEXPjvFAWMoIysxhCV1NUazOE9lGhOGf_tlFrBLVZJttvmW6NBbdO/s320/salazar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joanne Salazar (right)</td></tr>
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<div class="p3">
What role is there for the VP of the TTFA, Joanne Salazar, to whom Morace has aligned herself , in a move which is transparent to the players.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Therefore, is Morace's relationship with the TTFA evolving in a way that she does not want her coaching to interfered with? </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Everybody is beginning to ‘fraid Morace,” as she has them</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">all believing that they are less-than-professional. </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> Among the first</span> to be sidelined, unofficially, of course, is the TTFA’s Coordinator of Technical Programmes Jamal Shabazz, who shut down the discussion when I called him.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">“We have a working relationship, I do what is necessary to get the job done. I do not have to interact with her a great deal, but I do go to watch the players,” Shabazz deadpanned refusing to acknowledge that Morace clearly does not speak with him and there is obvious tension when they relate. </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> But has he heard of complaints from both staff and players?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“It is not my jurisdiction,” he answered, adding “I don’t fit into the equation.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “I read about what transpired and it is unfortunate that the situation has reached to that,” he said, refusing further questions .</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> “There is time for the matter to be resolved, I trust that the Technical Director , Muhammed Isa, will get a total feedback and I will know what happened eventually,” Shabazz ended.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The main bone of contention, at this time, is Captain Maylee, described as a woman with strong opinions but all in the interest of the team and the program and one who has fought with her life.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl68w8AajIEetd087OD0kiV5C6862gFFIpCKSEcZ7KeART-cqPwFeqXwKmfZ3mg98-kODHZgRbuIjRCu3PL5agzpQjjHfzfhFjOeIgnLY6RP8MfX54ETY-gQyQUZdu4t83NyQLKwePN9y5/s1600/maylee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl68w8AajIEetd087OD0kiV5C6862gFFIpCKSEcZ7KeART-cqPwFeqXwKmfZ3mg98-kODHZgRbuIjRCu3PL5agzpQjjHfzfhFjOeIgnLY6RP8MfX54ETY-gQyQUZdu4t83NyQLKwePN9y5/s320/maylee.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maylee Attin Johnson</td></tr>
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<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Highly respected by her team mates, Maylee clearly sets her standards for respect . Attin Johnson untied her laces obviously walking away from further confrontation which seemed imminent given Morace’’s blunt and demoralizing disrespect.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> Football trumps all .By the time Morace started her stint in Trinidad, all the Women Warriors were lining up to give up two and half years of their life for the experience, not knowing what they signed up for.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Described by those who know as a woman with a “tendency to burn her bridges,” Morace’s most often used phrase in training at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium has been “This is sheet,” the last word being her pronunciation of “sh*t”.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> With that, in a few weeks all Trinbagonians- players and staff - are thinking that she has turned her back on her declaration at a news conference in Port of Spain “We are more open. What we want to do is put our experience into place but at the same time we have to match with your culture .For a good system the two cultures have to match”.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">This is how it is being dismantled;</span></div>
<div class="p4">
The core of the Women Warriors team are players who have been through the US College system. Almost all college based players were home for the Christmas holidays and returned stateside in mid January.</div>
<div class="p4">
Not having played a game since November, they were summoned back a couple of weeks after they returned, at great expense ,to the TTFA, for a one week assessment by Morace.</div>
<div class="p4">
“She did not even put them into a game situation, but had them do simple drills and passes and summed it all up as “sheet ,” another source explained, sad about how demoralized the girls seemed after their encounter with the Italian.<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">“The College players were told their technique is bad - they were not fit enough to be on a National team.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
“Khadidra Debisette, who has played at the national level for several years- left a meeting literally crying,” returning to the US with the hopes of once again playing for the national team dashed.</div>
<div class="p4">
"In front of everyone, she declared that the College system is crap, telling them they would be worse off as players.“ </div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> Is it professional to be disrespectful? “She has all the knowledge but is a dictator,” my source explained.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaG8xhh1lhYs61jqO7a5sfBPTKLMcZIm78SRNF9WAqDAm1PwmD7DVuO4Nu8JAPUC7wJKpnn-r-8eo5PYARxNpgHAZ10Ty_IgSZlXToj3X0u4M8ZiJeIGxJy0A6pcAW1DNLG24789GRb5BH/s1600/mollon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaG8xhh1lhYs61jqO7a5sfBPTKLMcZIm78SRNF9WAqDAm1PwmD7DVuO4Nu8JAPUC7wJKpnn-r-8eo5PYARxNpgHAZ10Ty_IgSZlXToj3X0u4M8ZiJeIGxJy0A6pcAW1DNLG24789GRb5BH/s320/mollon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ahkeela Mollon</td></tr>
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<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “Next to go was Ahkeela Mollon who was fit and ready and turning a blind eye to the negative criticism that became a hallmark of training sessions on the field from 6pm to 8 pm, after which the players stretched and had ice baths where necessary, before leaving for home in various parts of Trinidad.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “Thinking of her safety, Mollon who lives in Longdenville, on the border line with Enterprise asked her Manager for the ice baths to be taken at home,” my source said.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">“The Coach responded with a loud comment across the field ‘ Why do they even come out of their houses?” mocking the clear and present danger posed by crime.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “One day later two men were shot and killed a stone’s throw from Mollon’s home. One year earlier she ducked gunshots as she made her way home from training.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> Morace, incidentally, lives in South Trinidad- not far from where her team trains at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium which is the base for the women football programme.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
“She came here to be a mentor, but now the players are clearly suffering , players are low on self esteem , they need help.</div>
<div class="p4">
‘She walks around the field and pinches people, telling them they’re too fat,” my source said.</div>
<div class="p4">
The women who have been exposed to international coaches and training in the US and in Europe have never experienced someone like the Italian, whom they say is “running amok” with no one to control her.<br />
For the sake of professionalism, this woman who signed up to work in a Third World country ,handed it to the TTFA again, when she showed up in Tobago earlier this month to try out players for the National Team.</div>
<div class="p4">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> “The field was not marked and she left the 40 innocent players stranded as she </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="color: #232323; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px;">made an about turn with her technical staff and returned to Trinidad. </span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">‘It is commendable</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">that she stood up for professionalism, holding up the bar for the TTFA, but was there another way to go about it?</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “There is no indication that she truly cares about reform and pointing in the right direction.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “There are some girls in training who do not have food, or even a roof over their heads, the players work with each other to make it to training and it’s far worse than boot camp,” my source added.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “If indeed it is all that bad in Trinidad, where even the coaches are “sheet”, I feel sorry for her, after all,” a veteran TT footballer said, weighing in on the discussion.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “Because of her resume she is obviously coaching down, this was not a lateral move, so it begs the question : What did the TTFA offer her?</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “There are cases where women coaches believe they must behave worse than men in order to get the job done,.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “But you don’t get <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0%C2%A0">respect</a> by shouting down people. You must treat people like people.</span><br />
‘It is clear she left Canada with a bad taste and remember most Canadians came out of the US College system,” he added.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> “These girls here are not gonna learn to play the short passing , that is not our style and we cannot even get the men to play that way,” he noted.</span><br />
“Morace is yet to show that she can merge the cultures, because clearly she has no respect for our culture,” he ended, with a sigh.</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> What appeared to be one step forward for women’s football in TT is turning out to be another nightmare.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"> Especially for the footballers who grabbed at the opportunity having been left unattended since 2014, until Morace appeared.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
It appears that TTFA President David John Williams was so eager and enthusiastic to make a statement because of the pressure he was getting for his leadership, he wanted a high profile coach.</div>
<div class="p4">
They clearly did not take time to get someone to come in and understand the culture. Just as the Toronto Sun reported, she worked on taking the Canadian out of Canada’s team, so too, she is well on her way to removing all warriors from the TT’s women football.<br />
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Sharmain Baboolalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18082792074125213695noreply@blogger.com0