OUR sweet country of TnT is sitting on a keg of dynamite, as the politicians persist in ignoring or turning a deaf ear to the saying by the older generation that “joke for school children is death for crapaud”.

Currently this government is hell bent on disrespecting the tireless voices of the working class masses, who stained their index fingers with the aspiration of betterment from a party which professed that it cares about the poor and underprivileged.

Alternatively, the People’s National Movement (PNM) has disappointed the masses and they are now experiencing the heartlessness of a prime minister and his cronies who are hell bent on doing what they damn well want, without consideration for the common folks.

Just look at the present state of the country: if it’s not one thing it’s another.

Protest seems to be the order of the times as it extends from the urban to the rural communities.

Voices are crying out loud from the ghettoes of Chaguaramas, Nelson Street, Duncan Street and surroundings where they want to illegally evict the residents to the “quito-quito” countryside of Chatham and La Brea, where foreign multi-nationals, ALCOA and Alutrint are attempting to construct smelter plants.

And as if these voices crying in the wilderness are not enough, the record spate of murders, lawlessness and criminal activities is crippling the nation without hope of any immediate solution.

The hue and cry of citizens from all quarters or communities has not been met with any satisfactory guarantee or any real assurances from the government that they would attend to the problems with alacrity.

The government is simply sticking to its guns of Vision 20/20.

This long term development plan has taken precedence over all the social ills, but it appears as if this vision 20/20 is really a division of the wealth, with the ruling elites controlling over 80 per cent and the hungry masses left with less than 20 per cent.

Senator
DANA
SEETAHAL

DPP
GEOFFREY
HENDERSON

President
MAXWELL
RICHARDS

CAMILLE
ROBINSON-
REGIS

So with all the boast of an economic boom this country is at present experiencing, it is common knowledge that the wealth is not trickling down to the poor and down-trodden.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the masses are on the verge of rebelling against this oppressive Patrick Manning PNM regime.

If the PNM has doubts that its policies are not reaching the grassroots folks in the ghetto, Manning should ignore what he’s being told by the representative of Arouca South, Camille Robinson-Regis, and visit La Horquetta.

The ghettoes are crying for leadership as the representatives are doing absolutely nothing to enhance their constituencies.

Imagine a simple request such as regular maintenance of the playground, toilets on the basketball court and minor amenities to make the environment comfortable, are ignored.

The representative is so petty, she’s only concerned with victimising sufferers with “he say, she say” bacchanal, while thousands of youths are on the breadline liming on the blocks without any real hope or direction for the future.

The anger displayed by the mob outside the Couva Magistrates’ Court is an indication of the resentment and frustration, as the citizens are grasping at any opportunity to vent their feelings.

If the government believes that this is strictly confined to the heinous murder of six-year-old youthman Sean Luke, I have news for them -- this reaction is a result of months and years of discontentment or vexation. Therefore, this issue is just a legal medium or channel that gave the disillusioned masses an opportunity to vent their grievances without police brutality.

Imagine this government squandered taxpayers funds, utilising millions of dollars for a retreat in Petrotrin without recognising the fact that the Grenadian technocrat, who conducted the sessions, cannot recharge dead beat politicians.

But, say what, the dude ended up with a fat wad of TnT taxpayers’ dollars.

Everyone is conscious that when a battery has dead cells they cannot be repaired. Instead, those cells have to be replaced, so Manning was just spinning top in mud.

Even President Maxwell Richards had to violate protocol and comment on the issue of Sean Luke by chiding the criminal justice system for the tardy manner in which it functions.

He upheld the principle that justice delayed is justice denied.

The main problem with the criminal justice system in this country is that the controllers of the various agencies use the unique preoccupation within the system, with independence as a shield to play themselves.

Therefore, the various agencies use independence as a barrier to resist scrutiny, reform and accountability.

No one can deny the fact that justice demands an impartial and uninfluenced exercise by each member of the various institutions of their powers and responsibilities.

However, at the end of the day the real concern with the criminal justice system is equality of treatment by the law of every individual.

Apart from being enshrined in the Constitution, this is a fundamental human right, according to the principles of natural justice.

This brings me to an incident that I observed last week Sunday about 6 p.m. on St. John’s Road in St. Augustine, while I was minding my own business, taking a cool drive with my son to Mt. St. Benedict.

Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood for I am not implying any improper motives. My concern is strictly with the legal ramification and the manner in which the holders of high office must conduct their affairs.

I was taken aback to see the DPP Geoffrey Henderson, in the cosy company of the not-so-Independent Senator Dana Seetahal exercising, jogging up the hill to the top of Mt. St. Benedict and back down.

Now this is a matter of serious concern to me as a member of the Jamaat al Muslimeen as it is common knowledge that the not-so-Independent Senator Seetahal, has blasphemed and slandered the religious organisation both in the Upper House and in her columns on the Sunday Guardian.

The Senator’s mantra was a vain attempt to tarnish the image of the Jamaat, especially for the fact that no member of the Jamaat was held for illegal mining.

Thus far, no member of the organisation is before the court for kidnapping, as she seems to insinuate.

These facts have clearly nullified her arrogant babbling, yet she was rewarded with lucrative State briefs.

It is also common knowledge that she has been the recipient of close to $2 million in briefs from the DPP last year and currently she appears for the DPP in the sedition matter against the Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and other matters pending before the court.

I don’t want to be presumptuous and judge the honourable DPP guilty by association because the constitution clearly defines the roles and functions of the office that he holds.

So I don’t want to believe that Geoffrey Henderson is a weakling and is part of any conspiracy hatched during his evening jog to destroy the Jamaat, lock-up the imam, and throw away the keys.

For the sake of everyone who observed them like two love birds last Sunday evening, Henderson must come clean and clear the air.

The president has enough grounds to terminate the appointment of Dana Seetahal, for she is supposed to be an Independent Senator, but she appears not to be so by her actions and comments.

On an equally important note, DPP Henderson must also make a public statement on the status of the Vernon Paul allegations and statements with respect to the political plot to plant cocaine and missiles in the water tank of United National Congress (UNC) politician, Sadiq Baksh on the eve of the 2002 general election.