Subject: Jack Warner's Speeches Thu Aug 29, 2013 9:38 am
Jack Warner's Speech - Piccadilly on the Greens - August 27, 2013 August 28, 2013 at 9:06am Jack Warner Address Piccadilly on the Greens East Port of Spain August 27, 2013
(KNOCK, KNOCK, VIDEO IS SHOWN PRECEDING THE SPEECH)(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153173736940564&set=vb.150598141805005&type=2&theater)
Knock, knock is the experience of many a child living within communities in Laventille, children who will never witness the sunrise in the arms of a father or gaze at the sunset in his lap.
Knock, Knock is the reality of the children of East Port of Spain and Laventille, children who have never seen their daddy’s smile. Knock, Knock is the sorry tale of children growing up in frontiers of violence without a daddy to stand in their defence. Knock, Knock is the sad story of too many children living in our communities.
Regardless of where we live, we all have a dream of living in a safe community where with our families we can sit in our porches and feel the calm assurance of the afternoon breeze.
Regardless of where we live, we dream about living in a community with neighbours whose names we know, whose children are like our children and whose love for each other drives the desire for communal success.
Regardless of where we live, we have that vision of the community shopkeeper who stocks that store based on the needs of the community and whose place is the unofficial liming spot for gossip.
Regardless of where we live this is our dream to watch our children laugh and play together while we grow to a ripe old age cuddling our grandchildren with the satisfaction that their tomorrow will be bright.
Knock, Knock the Hills of Laventille are no different.
There was a time when being from Laventille was the foundation of your strength; when your achievements and your accomplishments were the bases for a glorious tomorrow; when your unique sense of history and your culture offered transformation for a sustainable forever; when the uniqueness and worth of your sons like Winston “Spree” Simon and Rudolph Charles, like your daughters Singing Sandra and Karene Asche just to name a few, was a valid reason for celebration..
But Knock, Knock for today we stand between the memory of your history and the promise of a tomorrow. Today we stand in the present with choices that can take us forward or one that can keep us confined to the worrisome life in which we now live. Today we can choose to embark on a new journey, right here, right now and change the destiny, which promises for us a brighter day. Today is that day. This is the moment. We are the people. We can change our destiny forever.
The current narratives which face us are too disturbing. Children who played with each other, who lived as brothers and sisters with each other, who sat in the same schools and were taught by the same teachers, who were nurtured in some cases by members of the same family, are now murdering each other and defining Laventille as the Killing Fields of Trinidad and Tobago.
The stories are too painful to re-tell. Friends cannot visit each other anymore. Women cannot choose the man they love and vice versa. Men cannot cross boundaries without having to face a death sentence. Even the elderly are debarred from living happily to a ripe old age in your Laventille, in my Laventille, in our Laventille.
We who sit in privileged spaces demand an abrupt end to the gung-ho type of life but few of us if any really understand or are prepared to discuss the tragic past that has brought Laventille this far. Laventille did not suddenly happen yesterday. It did not happen yesteryear. The Laventille we know today is as a result of the human tragedy of abuse and neglect of a people whose voices politicians silenced, whose achievements politicians ignored, with whose faces we as leaders have refused to identify. This Laventille is not just a sudden disruption of life as we know it. This Laventille is the sum total of abandonment and broken promises from politician after politician to the present time.
Last Saturday I walked the Hills of Laventille, not as the former Minister of National Security, a position I held when I was a member of the People’s Partnership Government but as Jack Warner, the man vying to be the true servant of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. (Look at some images of that visit which your local tv stations will never show you - Video 1 shown)
I understand that for this country to rise every child must be safe, every child must be assured of a meal on his/her table every day, every child must have access to free education. All our schools must be tooled the same way, be furnished with the same trappings for success whether that school is located in Laventille, Siparia or Chaguanas West.
But what I saw as I walked into the communities of John John, Canada, Beverly Hills, Pump Trace, St. Barb’s and along Picton Road was the disturbing reality of a people who have been robbed of their inner self, of their dignity, mental and physical health and kept in a state of abject dependence by government after government.
As I walked through Laventille on Saturday last with members and supporters of the ILP, young men filled my ears with the desire to be considered on equal footing like the rest of citizens living across Trinidad and Tobago. The people of Laventille want equal access to tender for projects for civil works. They too want preferential options to complete contracts just as the opportunities, which are given to SIS and Danny's Enterprises, to name a few. The people of Laventille, they complain, do not want handouts. They want to feel the dignity of having to work fairly and honestly and not be discriminated on the basis of where they live, for whom they voted, the colour of their skin and the religion of their God.
As I walked the Hills of Laventille on Saturday last, mothers told me that Laventille wants no crying politician but leaders who can provide jobs for their children who are just as qualified or even better than the children for whom universities are being built in Siparia and Chaguanas.
Mothers told me, “Jack, we do not want any CEPEP or URP work for our children.” They beg me “Jack, no $69.00 a day job” and they walked with me and explained that for their children they want jobs that would permit them to be on a sound financial footing which would allow them to face financial institutions and build for themselves a glorious tomorrow.
This is what the people of Laventille want for themselves. Dignity of labour, pride in their rich heritage, a celebration of their glorious history and a government who not only say they care and suddenly know where Laventille is because they lost the bye-election in Chaguanas West, but rather a government who will partner with them to realize their lofty goals of being treated on par as every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. That is what Laventille wants.
The murders are not the only crimes committed in the Hills of Laventille. No! There are also crimes of abuse and neglect, which have diminished communities by eroding their sense of value, but we are not hearing anybody being arrested for that. The abuse and neglect,which have become a generational curse for families who are seeking a better life but cannot find a way out is creating much pain, but we are not hearing the opposition and government coming together to make a plan to deal with that.
It is the abuse and neglect that result in deprivation and discrimination because those in power refuse to share equitably the nation’s purse with the people of Laventille and to date no State of Emergency is being declared to treat with the arrogance of this government for allowing these acts to continue.
350 million dollars spent on the “Colour me Orange” programme and not even the aesthetics in Laventille have improved. The dilapidated buildings have remained the same. No water has been provided. Your community centres have not been built and I am not hearing the government and the opposition meeting to discuss that.
Government Ministers poorer than Job’s turkey that at least had a feather in its tail now have pockets deeper than the national treasury while people in Laventille sleep on beds with no mattresses, some on the floor, some in the dank and still others in the dark corners of a room. Yet I am not hearing the opposition or the government meeting to discuss how to get rid of that!
They now rush to celebrate Jehue Gordon as one of your sons but they conveniently forget that there are several others in Laventille with similar even greater potential than Jehue but nothing is being planned for them. It is only government boots, government boots, government boots and the people of Laventille have had enough of that.
After just a short walk as the Leader of the Green Brigade I have come to realize that what Laventille needs is not the heavy hand of the law but the soft hand of social and communal justice. Laventille does not need handouts but at this present time, a social welfare approach must be included in any plan to change the face of Laventille. Give them a hand which begins to extend the warm embrace that welcomes Laventille back into the fold of citizenship.
Mothers with children whose fathers have died in the gang wars cannot be made perpetual victims. If this government was serious about crime, just as how they fast-tracked approvals in Tobago and Chaguanas West, on the occasion of elections there, as one of their measures they should be accelerating the process of giving food cards in one day to these types of situations. They did it in Chaguanas West; they did it in Tobago; they can do it for the people of Laventille too, and not for their friends and family and concubines.
Come Monday, many children will not be going to school with schoolbooks in their book bags despite the fact that the ILP has given free book vouchers to over 100 families in Laventille. Many children will be staying home because mothers cannot afford their uniforms and shoes. I have another fifty requests from parents in Laventille asking the ILP to assist their children and even though we are young as a party, we will try.
Instead of politicking, Mr. Attorney-General, what Laventille needs is an office where genuine cases can be processed and parents be given vouchers to obtain these books at bookstores across the country if we are serious about fixing crime. The exercise last Saturday by this government, though a few children benefitted, was nothing but a disgrace. It is no wonder that when a little child was asked if she knew who the Prime Minister was she responded in the affirmative and named Jack Warner as that person. Let me tell the government that what you do for media and for politics on one Saturday afternoon, the ILP does every day as a matter of course. (Video 2 shown of the child's response to the AG's question)
If this government is serious about fighting crime then make sure that the children of Laventille and of this country are prepared for school.
Too many communities have no water I wonder what plans the government and the opposition have for that. What the ILP suggests is that while you are developing plans to deliver pipe borne water, you should find within the community, truck drivers. Provide them with soft loans to purchase water trucks, assist them in the establishment of companies and then contract them to deliver water on a regular basis for the people of Laventille. That is how you fight crime in Laventille, not only with government boots, breaking down people doors and profiling one set of people but through the provision of goods and services to lift up the people of Laventille.
In Chaguanas West contracts were given to people during the last bye-election. Roads were paved, box drains were constructed, slipper and surface drain contracts were distributed, all given vulgarly overnight to the people of Chaguanas West.
Would it be rude of us if we were to ask this government as we seek to fix crime in Laventille to make an exception and engage Laventille in the same way they engaged Chaguanas West and give out contracts to contractors in Laventille and permit them to start the rebuilding of their glorious tomorrow, right here, right now; starting tonight?
My people, I have come to the understanding that the dignity of Laventille will never return if brute force is the medium through which containment is to be met. What Laventille needs is a government to stand up in defence of Laventille instead of a government that treats Laventille as a bastard child.
Tonight I stand before you with the hope that the ILP can make a difference. Tonight I stand here strong in my belief that the hope, which withered as a desert flower under previous governments, will once more bloom. Tonight I stand here not with empty rhetoric but with a purpose to make the Hills of Laventille, the admiration of all and the envy of many.
Tonight I extend an open invitation to the people of Laventille to join with me and let us start the journey that will make every single child of Laventille proud. The ILP does not have all the answers but we know what was done wrong and together with you we can make that difference because Laventille children are children of Trinidad and Tobago too.
The ILP understands that if Laventille has to truly change, the neglect and abuse must stop; politicians must listen and act on behalf of the people of Laventille because the solution must come from the people of Laventille. Where is the partner in this government who was supposed to represent the voice of the people of Laventille? Is it that who was supposed to be your voice has fallen victim to the trappings of power, of CEPEP contracts?
For Laventille to change, politicians have to be real. For Laventille to change, the old methods of politicking must go. Kissing babies, hugging children and playing on the people’s emotions are no substitute for action that works and performance that liberates.
What the ILP offers Laventille is not a government to rule them but a government to partner with them, one that has a vested interested in Laventille’s development. The ILP will deliver.
The tragic gaps between promise and performance must be narrowed and the ILP, which promises to represent, act and perform for and on behalf of you, will deliver a better day. The ILP will not remain silent while you live in squalor and over 2000 homes are strewn about unoccupied in many communities across the nation.
I understand the lack of desire to distribute HDC homes to the people of Laventille because the Housing Minister sees us all as convicts and criminals of which he is the Landlord.
The ILP will agitate to get rid of the cabal and by extension advocate for houses for you who are being marginalized. We will refuse to remain silent because the heart of our democracy places our children as the touchstone of our value and if this government cannot find decent homes in which our children can grow then the ILP will not remain silent while our young people are violated.
The ILP will bring investors into the Hills of Laventille. The ILP will introduce a preponderance of social programmes to take care of the dispossessed. The ILP will return Community Sporting Programmes to the Hills of Laventille. Homework centres will be established to assist our children after their teachers are gone. The story of Laventille is one of abandonment but that will be no more because the ILP has come not merely because we believe that we can make a change but really to stand in defence of our children in Laventille. I repeat that Laventille children are our children too. In that regard the ILP will be meeting with residents of Laventille at the basketball court in John John from 6:00 am on Saturday August 31, Independence Day, to take note of your concerns and to tell you in what ways we will start to address those concerns.
As a first measure, we will be proposing the establishment of a Food Bank for single mothers as well as for families in need. In this Food Bank, we will be soliciting foodstuff such as rice, oil, sugar, flour, peas, etc and in our Food Bank we will work with volunteers from Laventille, in the main, so as to distribute these items on a daily basis.
Homework centres shall be established as well as a land programme shall be introduced whereby land will be given to the landless in Laventille similar to the programme which I had introduced for squatters in Penal and Debe. Give land to the landless in Laventille to build their own homes; to feed themselves!
We will introduce a system in Laventille where people of Laventille can become members of the protective service - the army, the coast guard, the air guard, the prisons and fire departments - and thereby have a vested interest in providing safety and security in their communities; we will try to remove immediately all those corrupt police officers, as few as they are, from abusing the people of Laventille.
The violence of the disinherited, the insulted and the hurt children of Laventille looms heavy over our city and deprives them of the right to dream. Just like every other child our children in Laventille must dream to become doctors, lawyers, scientists, politicians, just like any other child. What our children in Laventille need, is a place to stand, a shoulder to lean on and a people who will believe in them.
Archimedes, the Greek mathematician once said “Give me a place to stand and I will move the world.” Today I am begging every single adult living in the Hills of Laventille to join with me and the ILP and give our children a place to stand. Give them the opportunity to stand before Kings and Presidents to compete against the best in the world and like Jehue Gordon, give them the opportunity to make world history with feats too great to be imagined.
Together we can stand up for an ideal that will improve the lot of our children. Together we can strike out against injustice and send forth just a tiny ripple of hope for the children of Laventille. Together we can cross many barriers and remove mighty walls of oppression and resistance. The ILP cannot do it alone but together we can make it if we try.
Tonight you have a choice to make. It is a choice that will determine the destiny for our children. It is a decision you must make. Your considered opinion must not be distracted by political persuasion, race, religion or ethnicity; you have to decide to choose to align yourself with an organization that will stand in defence for your children. That is the ILP starting point.
I could have come here tonight and attack the PNM for its half century of neglect of Laventille but that would not help Laventille. I could have come here tonight and demonise Camille Robinson-Regis for using government funds to buy wigs for herself but that may have caused ripples of laughter but it would have brought no solace to the people of Laventille. I could have come here and discuss with you what I discussed with the Integrity Commission yesterday when I was summoned there and produce for you evidence to show how over the last three years this country's treasury has been systematically raped by the notorious cabal in the People's Partnership government but while that may have caused you to hate them even more it would not have caused you to dream dreams of hope for you and your children.
So instead, tonight I give to you the ILP. I ask you, when the time comes, do for yourselves what the people of Chaguanas West have done and get rid of the yoke of tribal politics. That was the message which the constituents of Chaguanas West took to Laventille last Saturday.
When elections are called vote green. Get rid of the colours that cause you to stop and be hesitant but appropriate the colours which challenge you to go full steam ahead and give your children the best opportunity for success.
There are some young people walking among you with registration forms, take the opportunity tonight to be a part of this great movement. We are taking over our country not because we believe we are better leaders but because we are confident that we are better servants of the people.
In Chaguanas West, we outperformed the might of the notorious cabal in the People’s Partnership Government and ushered in a new politics where representation, action and performance were the only things that mattered.
In Chaguanas West, the inducement of largesse to the people was not sufficient to woo them away from representation, action and performance and that resulted in the devastating defeat where the notorious cabal lost by a 2-1 margin in every polling division in the bye-election.........51 out of 51!
In Tobago they were totally rejected - 12-0. The people did not even want them to be a part of their opposition. The notorious cabal is on its way out. Soon they will be no more. Be a part of the movement that kicked this corrupt cabal out of office and instead promote green into the Hallowed Halls of government.
You have a responsibility to be true. Faithfully you have voted for the PNM and that party not for one moment demonstrated any gratitude towards you. My people do the same and finger them out of office. Their track record speaks for itself. You show the youths that you are not prepared to continue to sell their patrimony for a party that clearly is not in love with Laventille.
PHOTO INSERT LGE Seminar Our agenda is for this Local Government Election is about providing improved social, health and educational opportunities; developing our infrastructure and giving power back to the people. As we prepare for these elections, whenever they are called, I want to let you know that Nomination Forms for those of you interested in being Councillors are available. And if you have a passion for service then you may be already qualified to be an ILP councillor. Sunday I said that we will be coming to you for screening and so as promised, next Tuesday September 3, screening begins with the Chaguanas Borough Corporation. The exercise takes place from 10:00 am at the Office of the Member of Parliament, Chaguanas West Constituency, Caroni Savannah Road, Chaguanas. The next day Wednesday September 4, screening for councilors in the Tunapuna – Piarco Regional Corporation takes place at the Centre of Excellence from 10:00 am. On Thursday September 5, we are in Sangre Grande at the ILP Office in Guaico, again from 10:00 am. On Friday September 6, we will be screening for the Diego Martin Regional Corporation at LP 118 Diego Martin Main Road (opposite the West End Police Station. A schedule of other screenings will be placed in the newspapers and online. So check our Facebook page and website for further information. Hundreds of you are also clamouring for the formation of Party Groups and many have already formed Groups in your constituencies. I am therefore also pleased to tell you that the form now shown on your screen, the “Party Group Elections Report” form will be available in the newspapers for you to complete. Tomorrow Wednesday the form is in the Sunshine “Your Newspaper” make sure you get a copy not only for the form……On Thursday the form will be in the Newsday and the Express and next Monday, the Guardian.
Our next motorcade followed by a mass meeting will be in Tabaquite on Tuesday September 17, 2013. The motorcade begins at 1:00 pm from Nariva Junction and ends with the mass meeting at Gasparillo Junction from 6:30 pm. Friends, the Green Brigade is on the move. Don’t get left behind……
As I close, you all know that come Saturday, we will be 51 years old as an Independent nation. We may be getting older, but in many cases we have not become wiser. It is time to correct this. When elections are called let us vote for the ILP for Representation, Action and Performance. Let us vote out the current government and opposition because they can only offer us control and manipulation.
As we begin the restoration of Laventille let us make that beautiful song penned by Majorie Padmore the reason for our hope and let me invite all of you here tonight and those of you who are even in your homes following this event on radio and television to join in the singing of that beautiful song which must be on your lips everyday as we strive to make our country better.
Subject: Re: Jack Warner's Speeches Thu Aug 29, 2013 9:43 am
Speech by Jack Warner @ Public Meeting - Sangre Grande August 17, 2013 at 11:54pm Jack Warner Speech ILP Local Government Election Campaign Sangre Grande Regional Corporation Sangre Grande Recreational Ground Ojoe Road Sangre Grande Saturday August 17, 2013
My dear brothers and sisters, in the constituency of Toco/Sangre Grande, in the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation and in the wider national community of Trinidad and Tobago, I begin my discussion with you tonight by asking the Prime Minister and her People’s Partnership government to call the Local Government Elections when the elections are constitutionally due.
Prime Minister, I say to your cabal tonight that they can run but they cannot hide. They can postpone; they can prolong the date down to the very end as they did with the Chaguanas bye-election, but once again, I tell you, the result will be the same.
The right for a people to select leaders of their choice is not a privilege given to any government but is a right enshrined in our constitution. So when a government hesitates to call elections when they are constitutionally due, then as a nation we must never hesitate to tell them so. And the best way to do this is to put them out of office!! In other words, to use a long time phrase that was successfully used at the time - VOTE THEM OUT!
The People’s Partnership government has now become power-hungry and power- driven and this we must never tolerate. They are vulgar and they take this whole nation for a nation of fools.
This is the government that promised to do things differently – they had promised change, they have given you exchange. They had promised you service, they have given you abandonment. They had promised you democracy, they have given you autocracy but worse of all they had promised you honest government but instead they gave you corruption personified.
They have turned what should have been an honest government into "a den of thieves". How else can you explain the elevation of Mr. Keith Richards, a resident of Maloney, to the positions he now holds in the Toco/Sangre Grande constituency. He is the right hand man of Minister Rupert Griffith. He is the Minister’s unofficial adviser. He is the Chairman of the Sports Committee in Grande. He is also the Chairman of the Sangre Grande Carnival Commission which last year received its highest ever grant from the NCC. He is the Regional Manager of the URP Programme in Sangre Grande at a salary of $10,000 per month and yet he has a 6 team CEPEP contract where he also receives, in addition to his URP salary, another $30,000 per month.
So far for this year Sangre Grande URP has had over 100 URP contracts awarded to them, of course by Minister Suruj Rambachan (whom I will deal with later) yet less than 10 % of those contracts went to the people of Toco/Sangre Grande. More than 90 % of those contracts were sold at a percentage and Minister Griffith is fully aware of this. With regard to the sale of contracts in Toco/Sangre Grande, they are no respecter of persons. For I have information that, as late as last month, one such URP contract, KP Lands Beddded Footpath, was sold for $30,000 to a member of Mr. Griffith’s Constituency executive whose name is Jit Hardeen. He’s that constituency’s Vice Chairman and together with Keshore Satram, the constituency's PRO and Anderson Sookhoo, that constituency's Party Organiser and Keith Richards, all support Griffith in the raping of Toco/Sangre Grande against you the people.
Other URP contracts, instead of coming to the people of Sangre Grande, have been sold to gangsters from Matura to Matelot to Grande Riviere – one of whom was held during the last State of Emergency.
Richards and his Minister are doing so well that today both of them have their homes being refurbished at a cost of well over one million dollars each (Houses shown, first Griffith's and then Richards' - Pix 1 ), I am advised, and while all this corruption is taking place the lower order officials in URP Sangre Grande are being transferred willy-nilly so that they will not know what is happening here.
That is why the Assistant URP Regional Manager of Sangre Grande has been transferred to a sub office in Mayaro. Activists in Grande and environs are afraid to speak out through fear of victimisation.
But with the advent of the ILP and the Sunshine Newspaper more and more persons are now coming forward to talk, to produce evidence, to speak out. I intend to reward every whistle blower who comes forward with credible evidence of corruption at any level of this government and more importantly, with the help of the public, especially you the people of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation, I intend to protect them by saving their jobs.
Toco/Sangre Grande is unfortunately trapped in a small circle which includes Griffith, Keith Richards and Vijay Persad. Vijay Persad, the present Chairman of the Toco/Sangre Grande Constituency Executive, handpicked by Dr. Griffith, is a Director on the I.GovTT Board, under Griffith and it is also reported that this same Persad is now the purchaser and owner of a large tract of land in Black Avenue – an entire village in Grande. It is alleged that Persad, Griffith’s left hand man, purchased the lands from Parks Enterprises Ltd for $5M and he is now forcing villagers who have been living on the lands for years to now pay exorbitant prices or face eviction. Where Vijay got $5m from is anybody's guess.
What, for me, is very disgusting is that while all of these corrupt activities are taking place in Toco/Sangre Grande, you, the people who live in this constituency, are not getting the benefit of good governance and the opportunities that this provides. There seems to be no hope for the young people in this constituency. In 2010 Toco/Sangre Grande had the highest unemployment level in the country 40%, today it is worse at 55%.
In 2010 eco-tourism in Toco/Sangre Grande was about to lift off! Today it is stone dead. Not even the turtles in Grande Riviere and Salybia are safe anymore while all this is taking place an eyesore of a tourist booth in Valencia is allowed to languish....... the booth looking at the daily traffic jams to and from Sangre Grande in total bewilderment.
In 2010 the fishing industry in Toco/ Sangre Grande was thriving today it is virtually in a coma. Don’t reshuffle your cabinet,Madam Prime Minister fire them!!! First fire your councillors, all of them, by calling Local Government Elections NOW!!
Then fire your corrupt cabal!!! Don’t reshuffle the same pack of jokers! I am advised that you are planning to make Ramadharsingh your Minister of Local Government. Well, Prime Minister if you do that, heaven help this country!
I have read where Ramadharsingh is quoted as saying that he welcomes the probe by the Integrity Commission. Is this guy for real? I want to play for you tonight just a small clip on this minister from a CD I have. Listen good. (Clip Is played 2)
Apart from what you have just heard tonight, I accuse this Minister of other things. I accuse him of having a sex ring in his ministry where employees are forced to have sex for favors. I have names and places and dates of the persons involved. Futhermore when one employee complained to the then Permanent Secretary, Christine Sookram, that employee was promptly fired.
Tonight I accuse Minister Ramadharsingh of having numbers of persons in his Ministry who abuse the food card system. I have these persons’ names and telephone numbers and the value of the food cards. While poor people have to wait sometime as much as two years or whenever an elections are called for a food card, food cards have been issued like a bush fire to friends and family, some to buy meat for a wedding others for a cookout by the river. I have the evidence.
I have the facts, in fact I have received envelopes upon envelopes of food cards not delivered since last December all bound for the dump heap. And some of them found their way in my post box. Look at them (Food cards shown 3)
Will you still keep this Minister, Prime Minister? And Prime Minister, let me warn you, what I have said so far of this Minister is again only the tip of the iceberg.
How can you re-shuffle Suruj or even keep him as your Minister of Works, when he uses his office to benefit his friends and family and then lies to the nation. Let Suruj tell the nation if he did not give 3 contracts without any proper procurement policy to a company called Aidon and let him tell the nation if his daughter’s boyfriend is not one of the owners of this company. And while he's conjuring up another lie let him explain to this nation who are the principals of PR Contracting and advise the nation how many contracts they received for 2012 alone. Let Suruj initiate an audit in the RDC (Rural Development Company) and PAESL (Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprise Limited and let the nation see the level of corruption in these two state companies. Let Suruj tell this nation that he has not given any contracts to one of his neighbors who does not know the difference between a shovel and a trowel. Let him say that he did not participate in the over-budgeting of contracts especially in the Tabaquite constituency.
He told a radio station 91.1 earlier this week that he does not know the Vice President, Legal Affairs of NIDCO, one Dinanath Ramkissoon. Let him tell the nation that this Vice President is not living less than a stone’s throw away from his Ramsaran Park home. Let him also tell the nation that he did not give Dr Harold Ramkissoon, "Micro", the mobile number of the Prime Minister and tell him to text to her negative comments on Jack Warner. Let him tell the nation of the millions of dollars’ worth of contracts he gave to contractors to do work in Chaguanas West for the bye - election there from which there were heavy kickbacks.
But, worse of all, let this racist of a Minister, tell this nation that he never instilled fear and that he never spread racial slurs against me during his campaign in Chaguanas West. Last week I spoke to you about what the PM whispered in the ear of an old Indian women who was repulsed by what the PM allegedly told her and I said then that I wonder what Ministers Mc Leod, Roberts, Peters, Coudray and George would have said if they only knew. I refused then to tell the nation what the PM is alleged to have told the old Indian why she should not vote for me.
However today I have no qualms about exposing Minister Rambachan and I now play a tape for you from one of my constituents in Felicity ( DVD shown 4). The only other Minister to surpass that is Minister Devant Maharaj whose new wife is now championing his cause through some organisation or the other called Equality something..........a cousin of GOPIO. How can a Minister like Rambachan hold political office. The first day he went to the Ministry of Works he asked for a list of all the vacancies there and said is "we time now..........". The next day he attempted to change the complexion of the Ministry's Communication Unit.
I can go on and on and talk about more corruption and discrimination in the Ministry of Works but not tonight. I welcome more pre-action protocol letters on Monday, Suruj, after you have made another round of the media houses. All I will say for now is to bring them on. My English QC is anxious to have Suruj, Ramadharsingh and others under cross examination. I can leave Suruj for the time being and even talk about the insults to all his employees as well as to the members of the public from Minister Sharma when he was Minister of Local Government and even now as Minister of Transport but not tonight. Were I to speak about all levels of corruption under him as late as last week it will take me all night with to no end in sight.........so I will leave that for the time being.
Tonight is not the night for that. I can tell you tonight about a Minister who gave a contract to a company named Voltron a few months ago for millions of dollars when this company was not even one of the preferred bidders for a contract....... but not tonight. I have copies of a contract where this Minister has given a security firm to supply 500 TV sets for schools for some $14.9 million as late as last month. But again not tonight. When examined, this contract stinks to the high heavens but tonight is not the time for that. I can even tell you who is this country’s youngest ever holder of a diplomatic passport but tonight is not the time for that.
I can tell you much more about many things which I have since learnt on leaving this government – whether it is agriculture or trade, whether it is the environment or housing especially housing and lands but tonight is not the time for that. For I have learnt very early in life that there is a time and place for everything. Tonight is not the time. Because of the ILP and my new role I am hearing all kinds of rumours of my pending demise and I say to them so be it. If I go, copies of my evidence will still be alive.
As late as 3:55 am on Tuesday, one of their allies, Inshan Ali, breached my security at home and, with a black bag in his hand, said that he had brought some pepper sauce for me. Inshan Ali was the poster boy and campaign strongman for Ms Khadijah Ameen. He supplies Rienzi with food when there are meetings there but he comes to my home at 3:55 Tuesday morning last to bring pepper sauce for me. I told him to get to hell out of my yard and never return. I have since beefed up my security 100%. If I want pepper sauce there are 27,000 persons in Chaguanas West to whom I can turn. And you have to remember that in the cabal today are some of the same guys who shot up their own vehicle just before an election so as to blame the opposition! These are indeed dangerous times my brothers and sisters and desperate men do desperate things!
Of what value therefore will a Cabinet like this one do for this country with Ministers of the kind I have just described.
Madam Prime Minister, how will a reshuffling help when you have such persons from whom you take advice? Almost everything in this country is at a standstill except corruption and crime, both which are now galloping out of control.
Since you are not crying over the corruption taking place under your nose, Madam Prime Minister, do not bother to shed any crocodile tears over crime. Prime Minister, lead from in front, without the cabal, and implement even half of the anti-crime measures which I had started when I was Minister of National Security and, overnight you will see the difference. Madam, Prime Minister, let me remind you of some of the anti-crime initiatives which l had advocated:
· Establishment a Gun Court to treat with gun – related offences Re-introduction of Night Courts · Establishment of courts in the remand yard of the Maximum Security Prison · The return of the Prison Service under the Ministry of National Security. · Review of the legislation as it relates to firearm matter so that the burden of proof lies with the defendant and not the prosecution. · Enforcement of liquor laws especially with regard to the sale of alcohol to minors. In this regard, the appointment of Liquor Law Inspectors · Construction of new police stations throughout Trinidad and Tobago. I had begun work on 9 such police stations - Moruga, La Brea, Oropuche, Brasso, Maloney, Piarco, Arima and Cumuto. · Integration of a transformed Transit Police into the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and allow the traffic wardens to police Suruj Priority Bus Route. Just before I was transferred from the Ministry of Works, I had gotten permission to recruit 1200 Traffic Wardens, in the first instance. Up to today this has not been achieved. · Reintroduction of the highway patrol unit 24 X 7 along the our major highways · Establishment of 32 Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Community units (using the model which I had opened in Belmont). · Increase of the police fleet by over 300 vehicles including motorcycles.
Tell the nation madam Prime Minister why after my begging you and the National Security Council during my entire term as Minister of National Security, tell the nation why nothing had been done with regard to:
· The introduction of the use of radar guns and taser guns. · The recruitment of five thousand SRP officers and to have them trained at UWI during this summer vacation, and out of this group assign 3000 as community support officers. The University will reopen next month and not even one SRP will be trained there far less 5000. · The creation of a virtual/cyber command centre
Madam PM, there are over 30 other anti-crime measures which I had proposed including the creation of 5 Army camps in key coastal areas; the creation of police coastal stations in 12 locations which I had named. I had advocated that we address matters affecting the promotion for all ranks in the protective service and especially to address the Regulations of the SRPs so as to bring some much needed to the police and this included the regularisation of the method of appointing a Police Commissioner.
Madam Prime Minister, in the list of measures which I had proposed to you, were also measures to deal with corrupt police officers which measures had even been approved by the Ag. Commissioner of Police.
Madam Prime Minister, I had also advocated for a National Citizens Consultation on Crime. I suggested taking a two-pronged approach - a soft, preventative and proactive approach (parenting, relevant education) combined with a firm hand approach of the law.
But no action to date Madam Prime Minister! Why Madam, Prime Minister? Why?
To solve the recent crime spiral, instead of leading, you are crying!!
Free yourself from the cabal, Madam PM and instead of crying, you’ll be leading from the front for the first time!!!!
Don't reshuffle them Prime Minister, fire them!
Madam Prime Minister, how deep this level of corruption has affected the very lives of our people will surely be known when the date for the election is set. We will expose every known act of corruption practised by this Government to ensure that the billions, some of which we hear are being exported to off shore banks as far as India, will be returned and spent on the people of Trinidad and Tobago who are being deprived of their patrimony. But they will not want this level of exposure. I have been advised that there are plans to postpone the Local Government Elections retroactively through a simple majority in Parliament. I wish them well.
My brothers and sisters of Sangre Grande and environs, you must stand firm like your forefathers, who in the 16th Century fought the Spanish right here in one of the biggest battles ever, hence the name Sangre Grande – much bloodshed. Then they fought another battle, somewhat smaller a few miles east of here, hence the name Sangre Chiquito, little blood. Today I ask you to resist the People’s Partnership autocracy with the same force as your forefathers did against the Spaniards autocracy but this time not through bloodshed but through the ballot, through the Independent Liberal Party.
And while we are working dutifully, the Prime Minister, on her cabal’s advice, is telling her activists at a meeting at Rienzi on Wednesday last, to get five persons from each constituency to write saying good things about them in the media and negative things about us in the ILP (since the PNM is no longer their biggest threat).........…..her activists are to call the talk shows and do the same thing – all strategies of an age long past! I can only sigh.
As I begin to close, I wish to assure you that the ILP will be different because we will be a party that will represent our people, act on behalf of our people and perform to their satisfaction.
So tonight I am happy to inform you that the ILP has now decided to fight all the seats in all the Regional Corporations - some 131 in all. Screening of candidates will begin in two weeks’ time following a Local Government Convention which takes place on Sunday August 25 at Centre Point Mall Ramsaran St Chaguanas starting from 10:00 am. A full Agenda for the meeting will be published in the newspapers and posted on our Facebook pages and web site (Facebook and website now appear on the screen 5). All prospective councillors are invited.
For too long our people have suffered, for too long our people have been kept down, for too long our people have been fooled by phony, greedy and corrupt politicians. The ILP will make a difference through representation, action and performance.
The ILP will look after your best interest. This government must not be allowed to deny our people basic needs while lining the pockets of their investors. They cannot deprive you of improvements to your social welfare while they fatten their pockets through graft, greed and corruption. No government will deprive you of your rights and expect to hold on to the reins of power. The ILP will never do that. As your local government representative we will stand with you to represent, act and perform for you and on your behalf.
We have set up our own blog (ILP blog is shown 6) where persons are free to tell us about neglect in their area, along your street, in front of your home; what is personally affecting you and your family because we intend to govern interactively where every citizen is given a voice to air their concerns so that your ILP Government can respond. And you will be able to monitor how well we are representing you and you will hold us accountable.
We are now appointing Interim Corporation Committees headed by Interim Corporation Coordinators. These Coordinators and Committees will have specific Terms of Reference under which they will be expected to perform. The first of these Committees is to be established right here in Sangre Grande with one of your very own as the Interim Corporation Coordinator. I therefore now introduce you to Mr Dayne Francois the Interim Coordinator for the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation. Dayne is no stranger to you, being a former Councillor of Sangre Grande North West.
Continuing on our drive to ensure that you, our members, have a voice, we have also set up an 800 line, (800-4ILP shown 7), that will provide you with information and where you can also tell us of any corrupt practices you may be aware of - with evidence of course - taking place in your Ministry, in your community, in your district of which you may be aware. Corruption is a disease; it is a cancer. Together we can fight the cancer of corruption and together we shall win.
The ILP proposes to work for the people to ensure that we create a better TT for all our people.
The time is now and you are the people. The future of our country no longer lies in the book bags of our children but in the choices of our people.
Choose wisely and vote ILP.
No one would have ever imagined the power of the index finger. When the date for elections is called stain it for the ILP because you want performance, representation and action.
Come next Saturday, August 24th, from 1:00 pm, we will be walking the streets of Laventille, meeting the people there, eating with them, talking with them, listening to them as we share each other’s dreams for a better country.
On Tuesday, August, 27 we shall be holding our next mass public meeting behind the bridge at the Piccadilly Greens. Before that meeting, on the same day beginning from 1:00 pm the Green Brigade will begin its island wide "Meet the People Tour", starting from Carenage and traversing through West Moorings, Diego Martin , Diamond Vale, St James and other adjoining communities and ending with the mass meeting at the Piccadilly Greens at 6:30 pm.
More and more all over the country people are experiencing the touch of the Green Brigade. Wear anything green, say anything green and convert everything in your way green.
As you leave tonight, go home safely. Each one, reach one in your community and tell them of the unity we have in the ILP and encourage them to VOTE ILP.
Some people can’t sing One Love anymore because the nation hears pure hate in the music but as we say goodnight let us do so with the strains of the Mighty Stalin because you and I know that we can make it if we try! (“We can make it if we try” is played
Subject: Re: Jack Warner's Speeches Sat Aug 31, 2013 6:56 pm
JACK WARNER'S SPEECH, CWC MP CAMPAIGN JULY 12, 2013
Tonight I stand before you sad but not broken; hurt but not destroyed; betrayed but not devastated only because of your affection and your gratitude which have kept me going in spite of the politics of hate to which you, my constituents and the nation have been subjected over the past week.
I sit and watch my wife anguish over the allegations and hate narratives against our family from people whom we thought were our friends, people with whom we ate, with whom we planned, with whom we played; people whose homes we visited. Even as I speak here tonight we still cannot come to grips with the pain being inflicted upon my family and me.
But tonight I stand strong because of the determination and quiet courage of you my constituents who on the phone, through the social media and as we walk along your streets, speak words of encouragement that have strengthened my resolve to work even harder for you in Chaguanas West.
So, in spite of what your current leaders may say, in spite of the bitterness they hurl against me, in spite of the divisiveness they promote, I will never be discouraged because this campaign is not just another shallow political squabble to be a Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West but rather a campaign to ensure that the good representation to which you have grown accustomed is not sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and party politics.
Those who have come here tonight expecting to hear a tit-for-tat from me in response to the politics of hate being promoted by my Prime Minister and my former Cabinet colleagues are in for a great disappointment. As leaders we are supposed to show better examples, model loftier ways to behave rather than to sink into the mire of mudslinging.
It is not that I too cannot descend and tell the Prime Minister about the 200 and probably even more houses distributed by HDC through me to a few special constituencies and also tell you why only in those constituencies but then that would set up the People’s Partnership to be ridiculed by the national community.
It is not that I cannot respond to the Prime Minister’s query about the CEPEP contracts which she stated were given to me by raising questions about other CEPEP contracts, which have been given to other Ministers, their sisters, mothers, or even their friends but then that would shower disgrace upon the People’s Partnership which is not something I wish to do.
Of what value will that be especially to you my constituents of Chaguanas West?
It is not that I cannot talk about corruption in the procurement of contracts even as late as Monday last at MsAmeen'sConstitueny office through a Director of National Self Help Programme, Ms Allison Wilson and her side-kick, Kevin Williams, Senior Project Manager of the National Self Help Programme. But to do such would bring the People’s Partnership into disrepute. I can even talk about some 15 contracts which our mega Minister SurujRambachan gave out under the Rural Development Company this week with no procurement policy followed especially when the majority of those contracts were again given to two well-known contractors. But, for the time being, I leave that for the rest of overlooked contractors and the general public to act upon.They also all know that I can speak about how they behave at social functions, all of them know that, but then again, were I to speak about that, it will only heap scorn and dishonour upon our leaders.
My people, I prefer to lose this election with a politics that focuses on issues than to sink so low to a politics filled with lies, deceit and deception because at the end of the day Jack Warner must aspire to a level of statesmanship, which I would like to see the children of Chaguanas West model and, ultimately, all the young people of Trinidad & Tobago.
On Monday last when I walked from my Party Headquarters to the Nomination office, along the way hundreds of school children, many of them no more than 3 years old, were waving to me with tears in their eyes and hope in their hearts longing for a better tomorrow. I owe it to them to keep this campaign clean. Look at some of them (Slide 1 shown). A group of them even gave me a message saying "We love you, Uncle Jack". (Slide 2 shown)
Along the way to the Nomination office on Monday last hundreds were waving to me from their homes and places of work with the dream of a brighter tomorrow, I owe it to them to keep this campaign clean.
To the thousands of you who are here tonight and who have exchanged your yellow shirts for green as well as all those of you who are listening on the airwaves, I owe it to you to keep this campaign clean.
But, most importantly, to my deceased parents who struggled to send me to school to get a good education and a moral upbringing, I owe it to them to display, at all times, a clean and green character that can stand the test of time.
So tell them on the other side to go ahead and malign and cuss and mauvais-langue but tell them that Jack Warner will not be baited into going down to their level because the Independent Liberal Party promotes a politics of inclusion, one that builds not destroys, one that unites not divides, one that is sober not drunken with power so do not expect the ILP to ever sink to their level. Today we are experiencing the dawn of a new era with the ILP where we promise and will keep our promise to not only stay green but also to stay clean.
I expected after our last mammoth meeting at Pierre Road last Friday that after the lies of the Prime Minister were unmasked that at least recognition of the truth preached on the platform of the ILP would have been acknowledged and an apology would have been made.
I expected to hear the Prime Minister at least admit that she had made an error as it related to the travels of Jack Warner after I presented the documents to you to show that she not only knew of but approved my travels and appointed a Minister to act for me but, to this day, not a word.
I expected to hear the Prime Minister explain why her party chose to abandon its constitution and choose a representative not recommended by you the people of Chaguanas West but again not one word about their autocratic action that usurped and took away your power while demanding from you, your vote.
I expected the PM to walk with legal opinions, which advised her that the CONCACAF report had established a prima facie case against me but she never sought to address any of the lies that I unmasked. Only propaganda, lies and fables which further discredit their leadership and raises questions of credibility and then they want to accuse me of doing something they are doing very well for themselves which is bringing down their own party.
It has suddenly dawned upon me now why people cannot trust politicians especially at election time because they will tell you anything and even give you anything from food cards that are of no value after July 29 since they are for one month only; they will give you all kinds of contracts illegally; they will even give you some three year old cups and mugs with their face on them; in a crass display of caring, they will even distribute deeds for Caroni lands long sought after, just to name a few tricks, all in an effort to steal your vote to win.
They will manufacture lies and concoct stories because they think we in Chaguanas West are fools and illiterate so any crapaud dressed in yellow can be forced upon us and blindly we will accept.
One such lie is that Jack Warner abandoned the people of Chaguanas West. What trash! What offal! What gobhar! Every child with a modicum of common sense knows that it is the UNC and particularly KhadijahAmeen who abandoned the people of Chaguanas West in their time of greatest need.
On April 26, 2013, with the approval of the PM, I resigned as the Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West and Chairman of the UNC. Within one week of my resignation, Khadijah Ameen was appointed acting Chairman of the UNC. It was her responsibility as well as that of the Prime Minister to call the National Executive of the UNC and appoint a shadow MP or a caretaker representative to look after the needs of you the constituents of Chaguanas West.
For 63 days from April 26 to June 28, 2013, the UNC and KhadijahAmeen left you without a representative. For 63 days they abandoned you and left you without someone to look after your needs. For 63 days you were the bastard child of UNC politics but now all of a sudden they want to shower you with some old cups and mugs just for the moment and blame someone else for their abandonment. Give me your vote for a cup, they say! Give me your vote for a mug! A pen! A house grant! Give me your vote, they say, for a CEPEP or URP contract! How undignified! And while they give you cups, mugs and pens, I give you good representation. I give your children University education
I gave your children university scholarships - 9 so far and 3 more in September of this year. And while I do this they are giving you some three year old cups! In a word, today I give you the promise of a better tomorrow for you and your children.
I have never left you, my dear constituents. My office doors have always remained open at my personal expense from Monday to Friday looking after your business. Constituency days as you know them have never changed, I still come to the office at 2:00 am to look after the needs of my constituents and that includes even tomorrow, Saturday, as well. I never stopped attending your graduation ceremonies or visiting your homes and walking on your streets because my service to you has never been based on power; no, it was service predicated on love.
Even up to today, I have tractors cutting your playing fields, cleaning your drains and paving your roads and I refer here particularly to Bejucal Road to Ramathalie Trace. I refer to Adjodha Road, to Munroe Road from LP 100 to LP 119. I refer to Sumaria Trace and to Warren Road, just to name a few. I reefer to Ramlal Trace, to Moore Trace, to John Peter Road, and to Clarke Road, I have had box drains built all over Chaguanas West especially in Walker St, New St,Harris St and Caroni Old Road. I have been able to get renovation work started on Conqueror's ground - a feat never yet even attempted by any of my predecessors. Even as I speak to you tonight, I have also arranged for the Pierre Road recreation ground in Felicity to be lit and I am advised that this will be done in the next few days and do bear in mind that I am not even in Parliament as yet. Over the last few days, every recreation ground and every play park in Chaguanas West has been cut and maintained by me and that includes even those in MsAmeen's electoral district of St Augustine South/St Helena/Piarco.
But what of Ms. Ameen? Her track record is not one that is reputable. As a Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West, I have never had a protest leveled against me by any of my constituents for lack of performance. As a Member of Parliament, not a Councillor or another Member of Parliament ever penned a scathing rebuke concerning my stewardship. No letters were ever written against me in Parliament for not faithfully seeking opportunities to serve my people but both the former Chairman and the CEO of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation wrote letters of complaint against Ms. Ameen. Let me also say that there is no record of any letters written against me claiming that for 59 times I was absent from statutory meetings.
Look at some of the neglect in MsAmeen's electoral district, an area that is less than one third of Chaguanas West. Let's briefly look at some of these areas at some pictures which were taken out as recently as this morning (Slide 3 shown).
Charity begins at home...... so if you can't take care of your own small electoral district, how on earth can you take care of a constituency the size of Chaguanas West?
Is that the kind of representative you want in Chaguanas West? Is that the hard worker that the Prime Minister is speaking about? Remember, the e-mail against Ms. Ameen was not written by a political foe but a political friend, one who sat at the time in the hallowed halls of Parliament and was seeking to serve the interest of the party, the UNC party.
That e-mail was copied to the Prime Minister; she was aware of its existence and never contested it then or wrote against it even up to now. All of a sudden she wants us to bury our heads and support this non-achiever just because she says so? Is it the case of as Prime Minister, when I talk, no damn dog must bark?
Last week, at Pierre Road, a woman in MsAmeen's constituency spoke to you and told you that she waited for 9 years to see MsAmeen to ask for a wheelchair and for 9 years she had never seen her and I repeat this is a resident of Ibis Gardens in MsAmeen's electoral district. The lady also spoke to you and said in my walkabout she met me and, within 24 hours, I fulfilled her dream of a wheelchair. Well, let me refer you to a similar issue here again tonight. There is a gentleman by the name of Sholay who lives at Oropune, again in MsAmeen's electoral district. For some 9 years, he had campaigned for and with MsAmeen at every one of her political meetings. He miked every area in St Augustine and Tunapuna for her. He has been a staunch UNC. Today he's very ill, almost on death's door and begged MsAmeen to come and visit him before he dies. To date, not even a phone call has she made to him. He has begged for a wheel chair so that he can be taken outside to see the green fields once again before he dies. She did not give it to him. I did. He asked to simply meet with her before he dies. She refused. But I met with him. And this attitude is symptomatic of MsAmeen..............an unwillingness to serve. MrSholay and his family begged me to show the public some pictures of him and his family receiving the wheel chair and, regretfully, I do so now.(Slide 4 shown)
Chaguanas West must send a message to all politicians that it is service you want and it is service you demand. It is MsAmeen and her entourage who brought the UNC into disrepute by their arrogance and refusal to meet with the people. Chaguanas West must reject non-representation.
Chaguanas West, therefore, must say no to candidates who are here during elections and gone after they have won.
Chaguanas West must say no to representatives who continually lie to them. On 29 July 2013, when you go to the polls, vote for Jack Warner for quality representation that you know and quality representation that you have experienced in Chaguanas West.
Another lie, another propaganda that they are spreading is that a vote for Jack Warner is a vote for the PNM. Would you believe in your lifetime that you would have ever heard such hypocrisy from brothers and sisters with whom I have walked, worked and laboured to remove the People’s National Movement from the corridors of power?
The reason that I mounted platform after platform and covered miles of roads to preach the need for change was to ensure the PNM was removed from office because of their arrogance, because they lost that common touch and because they abandoned us as a nation.
Their PNM remarks are just so much rubbish, so much nonsense, so much gobhar! There are many of them in the Cabinet today who were in the bosom of the PNM one time or the other while I was never ever a member of the PNM! Never, ever! If I never helped the PNM in their best days, why should I be helping them now in their worst days! What their utterances prove is that they will say anything foolish just to get your vote!
Jack Warner is no fool and Jack Warner has a memory that is not convenient. You and I are aware of the role the PNM played to get rid of me from the Parliament. You and I are aware of the lies that they repeated about me in an attempt to destroy me. Are these the people that I will help? What donkey logic is that, Madam Prime Minister? My dear constituents, let me tell you, I do not know if rain will fall tomorrow but what I do know is that I will never align myself with the PNM to do anything.
But I have been closely watching my former colleagues over the past week and noticed how their preoccupation to make me look bad has them flip-flopping all over the place bringing the government into disrepute.
All I can say to that my friends is - how sad!
Last week at their Monday Night Forum, I was characterized as the most villainous MP that ever served in the People’s Partnership Government but after a mere five days, no doubt due to the national outcry against their dirty politics, they have begun to flip-flop. They say that Jack Warner is not so bad after all. My stewardship will always be remembered the Prime Minister said. Three days after I unmasked the lies of the Prime Minister, she flipped-flopped again, Jack is once more a villain. Will somebody ask the Prime Minister to make up her mind and stop changing her tune every time she opens her mouth? But again, don't blame the Prime Minister for this Jekyll and Hyde behaviour that is the effect that the cabal has on her. It is not her fault; don't ever blame her ! ! ! When she is manipulated by the cabal, she says one thing and when she's not, she says the complete opposite.
But the Prime Minister is not the only one flip-flopping within the People’s Partnership. Joining the Prime Minister is Minister Moonilal. The whole of last week was flip-flop, flip-flop all the week long. One day he is the landlord of criminals, the next day he is the landlord of some criminals. One day the Range Rover is for HDC use, the next day his wife’s life is threatened because she is using it. One day he gives the Range Rover back, the next day he still has it because he is waiting for a new one to come.
Flip-flop, flip-flop. We don’t know what to believe.
But this one takes the cake. I picked up Sunday’s Guardian of July 7, 2013 and was astonished to read the contents of the page 6 article under the heading “Jack Warner apologises to Panday - He was right on Kamla’s style.”
All the time everybody is denying the existence of a cabal. There is no cabal they say. But suddenly flip-flop, Minister Moonilal identifies Ministers who are in the cabal. In the article, Minister Moonilal identifies Rambachan, Ramlogan, Sharma and himself as members of the cabal. I, like so many others, have talked about a cabal but I never named anyone. Is Moonilal's admission a confession? Now that Moonilal has named the members of the cabal, let me tell you about the dangers of a cabal.
A cabal is a group of persons within an organization who collaborate for the purpose of advancing their own influence to control the wealth and the resources of the particular organization.............in this case the nation. Their behavior is generally sinister, deceptive and treacherous and they always work to protect their own interests whether it is based on race, class or gender. They are viewed as a nuisance and a parasite in all organizations.
Now tell me my dear constituents does this description fit anyone you realise it? And that is what this fight, this election is all about. In doing so I am trying to save the beauty from the beasts and the beauty does not even know! And an idiot of a Minister says my attacking the cabal is an attack on women.............what sewage! No pun intended…
That is why you and I cannot trust them. You cannot trust what they say. They come to you with stories of convenience. They tell you what they feel you want to hear. They are trying to be politically correct but their messages are confusing.
The Hon Prime Minister has accused me of having deep pockets and wants to know where my money is coming from. Hon Prime Minister, when I entered the UNC I had deep pockets to bail out the UNC and its members of Parliament several times. What I do believe should be of more importance to you Hon Prime Minister, is how come there were those in the UNC who, up to three years ago, had no pockets at all and today, in three years, their pockets are now deeper than mine. In some of them, their lifestyle is way beyond their income. Is that of no concern to you, Hon Prime Minister?
My brothers and sisters, that is why you and I cannot trust them. You cannot trust what they say. They come to you with stories of convenience. They tell you what they feel you want to hear. They are trying to be politically correct but their messages are confusing.
For example, if I am so corrupt why do they want me to pull out from the election and still be a part of them? If my contribution to the People’s Partnership Government remains so high why is it I can only be a member of the People’s Partnership under the UNC banner while others who do much less than I can stay under the People’s Partnership? Some of them in the People's Partnership today only have alphabetical value. What is okay for some is not okay for others. It is the same philosophy they used to trample the constitution to elect a representative for Chaguanas West that you the people have neither recommended nor supported.
But I want to get this clear lest my former colleagues misread my intention of the ILP seeking a membership within the People’s Partnership. The ILP is not groveling nor begging to be a member of the People’s Partnership. The ILP is simply seeking membership based on the premise that the People’s Partnership was established to harness all opposition against the PNM so as to ensure that the PNM never sits again in the seat of Government in your lifetime and mine.
If however the Prime Minister holds the view that the ILP is politically different from her values then so be it.
The ILP will still seek to effect the change that was promised to the people of Trinidad and Tobago; a promise that has not been delivered. The ILP thought that we could nudge the People’s Partnership back to the moorings of change to which it is tied but if they are not prepared to walk the talk then the ILP will have to become attractive to deliver a Trinidad and Tobago of which we all can be proud.
And that is why tonight I introduce you to one of our Party’s initiatives.
Earlier this week I read a message on my Facebook page requesting a meeting with me on an initiative a group of young people is working on. I met with a few of them yesterday evening... a passionate group of budding young politicians, young business men and women and young ambassadors who are eager to contribute to the positive development of Trinidad & Tobago.
They told me that they are in the process of establishing an official group which they wanted to name "Youths for Warner" and were seeking to get my blessings to do so.
Their Mission Statement - To develop a formidable force of politically aware and active youths who are passionate and eager to contribute to the betterment of their country and to provide a comfortable, free and enabling forum for their participation in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago, towards national development.
Their Vision statement - To encourage and foster the political aspirations and vision of the youths of our country and to provide the avenue through which they can assume leadership, networking and communicative roles in charting the course for the future of our nation, a nation we will inherit, in executing that vision, with the guidance of Mr. Jack Warner.
You heard those Mission and Vision statements? That my friends are statements from the future leaders of this country!
I asked them why don't they name the group "Youths for T&T" instead? They said and I quote "Mr. Warner, you are the change this country desperately needs right now and the youths of this country want to show 100% support for you and your vision for Trinidad & Tobago." I can't argue with that.... so I gave them my blessing to proceed.
They also asked to work with a youth representative from my staff so I appointed our Interim Youth Officer Virmala Balkaran as their advisor on this initiative, one who has been working tirelessly on this new project. MsVirmalaBalkaran, as of yesterday had to resign her job at the Ministry of Food Production because she showed her support for the ILP. I will have MsBalkaran's letter of resignation read to you now.(Slide 5)
July 11th, 2013
Senator the HonourableDevantMaharaj Minister of Food Production St. Clair Circle, St. Clair, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Dear Minister,
I am writing to formally notify you that I have hereby resigned from my three month internship at the Ministry of Food Production.
Over the past two weeks, it has continuously been drawn to my attention that my political affiliations have affected my presence at the Ministry’s office. Furthermore, it was indicated to me that because of my involvement with another political party and figure, and not the United National Congress, I was either to be terminated from my position or reassigned. I found this to be very offensive and since my position had neither become redundant nor did I commit any actions to question my ability to perform in my capacity as an intern, the options I was presented with were discomforting and unjust.
Moreover, it was drawn to my attention that my presence at the Ministry’s office had put several people, including yourself, in a compromising position since I was assumed to be a secret agent for the party which I openly support and thus, undoing the work of your present campaign for the Chaguanas West by-election.
Finally, I wish to emphasize that at no point in time did I fail to perform in my given duties as an intern. However, the repeated marked reassignments to other offices were very distasteful, as I understood that they were being done to remove me from the Ministry’s office in order to satisfy the needs of the United National Congress’s campaign for the by-election; thus constantly placing me on an emotional roller-coaster.
This step was necessary in order to prevent any further conflicts for you and the United National Congress, and more importantly to ensure that I did not continue to be a victim of political discrimination. I do thank you and your team for the opportunity to have been employed at the Ministry of Food Production and I wish you all the best in the future.
Regards,
Virmala N. Balkaran
But my grandmother always told me that when one door closes another one opens.
As of tonight, in my capacity as Interim Political Leader of the I.LP I hereby endorse the "Youths for Warner" initiative and also sanction this group as the Interim Youth Arm for the Independent Liberal Party.
All youths interested in joining this group can call Virmala at 353-9031. These young persons also told me that as soon as I make the announcement endorsing them, the "Youths for Warner" Facebook page would go live so that I expect in the next few seconds this will be done. I know the young people live on Facebook so if you are at home watching on TV and probably on Facebook at the same time... go and “like” the page; if you are in the crowd pull out your smart phone or iPhone or iPad or whatever notepad you are using and “like” the page.... I tell you... Youths and technology these days... you can't stop them. (Introduction of MsVirmalaBalkaran to the meeting)
Young people recognize, as do you, that the politics of the ILP is to liberate not to enslave. The politics of ILP is one that will be loyal to the voices of its people and will select representatives that the people choose and will not have friends of the leadership thrust upon them. Our politics will unite us in a way that makes our communities safe and secure. The distribution of wealth will be equitable so that no one will be left behind and in that way not some of us, but all of us, will rise. It will be a politics where our leaders will have to provide quality representation or the people will have the right to recall not in talk like what we are hearing but in action like what I am doing. So the ILP has its own vision to which we are committed, a vision that keeps us young, fresh and green.
A vision may I remind you, that has not changed. The only thing that has changed is the vehicle that is being used to represent you the people of Chaguanas West in the best ways possible. For example, we all know that one of the major problems facing Trinidad & Tobago is that of health care. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Trinidad and Tobago has emerged as the top Caribbean country whose adult population is too fat. The report found that we are ranked sixth among all countries worldwide with 30 per cent of its adult population overweight or obese. In addition to being overweight, there is hypertension, diabetes and heart disease which are the main lifestyle diseases crippling us today. I am almost certain that every person in this crowd here tonight either has or knows someone who is a victim of this crisis currently facing us. It is time we do something about this! Since I have been your MP, even while in opposition, I have been having medical clinics at the Constituency Office; I have referred and directed many of you to the major hospitals, to specialists as may be required.
I will tell you something tonight. Jack Warner is taking this one step further in meeting your health care needs. Come July 30th, 2013 I will be introducing to the constituents of Chaguanas West a new and revolutionary service that will provide an aggressive attempt to deal with the current health crisis facing our country. This service will be known as "Onsite Doctors - Doctors at your door steps”.
This initiative will provide a holistic, mobile healthcare service that would include doctors, dietitians, personal trainers, nurses and physiotherapists coming to YOU at your home or workplace. This service is for everyone in Chaguanas West, from children to elderly bedridden patients.
With this service you would be able to access healthcare at your home including blood tests, IV fluids (drips), medications, general medicals and chronic disease screening, just to name a few.
You will also have access to personalized weight loss and fitness programs at your home and if I didn't mention it before.... this service will be FREE to you and your children of Chaguanas West. So when you visit my office requesting medical assistance, instead of sending you to my doctors I will send my doctors to you.
Some might askso why only for the people of Chaguanas West? My answer is simple. Charity begins at home my friends. I must first assist YOU, my Chaguanas West family! And then the rest of the country ! ! !
So remember on July 30th, 2013 look out for 'Onsite Doctors' they will be here to help YOU the people of Chaguanas West to adopt a more healthy and green lifestyle.
Look at the screens and have a first-hand view of what is intended for Chaguanas West.(Slide 6 is shown) Last week it was the digi-green card for you ; this week it is Onsite Doctors.
But what is Ms. Khadija Ameen’s plan for Chaguanas West? You know my vision and you know my plan. You have seen my works such as reducing flooding, paving your roads, building box and slipper drains and erecting bridges, providing assistance not once but many times to those in grief and offering scholarships to the deprived. So you know what I have done and you know that I am always among you. But what really is Khadija Ameen’s plan, I ask of you again?
I can answer for you. She has no plan. All she continues to do, day in and day out, is to hold on to MsBissessar's dress tails for support. At some point in time however she will be forced to let go off Ms Persad - Bissessar's dress tails and the real Khadijah Ameen will be exposed............as nothing but an empty and vacuous vessel.
Don’t let anybody tell you that I am unfit for you. You ask them how come they did not know that I was unfit when I was running my blood to water defending the party to put it in power. Don’t let anybody come to you with their lying tongue to deceive you with any gender talk. Ask Ms. Ameen who was the only person who wrote on behalf of her when she claimed she was being victimized by VasantBharath? Ask her who else besides me wrote a letter of support for her? After she answers I will tell the whole truth behind the email from VasantBharath and what caused that e-mail to be written. But you ask her who defended her? And ask her again where were those then who are hugging her now? Furthermore, MsAmeen should have realised that before she was nominated, the Hon Prime Minister had asked all manner of men to go up against me, and they all refused. If Ms Ameen, foolishly believing in her own self importance chose to accept, why then should she expect special treatment now? Male crapaud, female crapaud, same handful of salt!
And meanwhile, what is the UNC doing to me and by extension to you? Continuing acts of vindictiveness that are certainly not demonstrative of the promises they are now making to you to get your vote. My friends, do you know that as of yesterday, Thursday July 11, 2013, the government dismissed two CEPEP contractors who have openly supported this campaign - Starbott Enterprises Ltd and Magicstar Enterprises Ltd. The Managing Director of Starbott Enterprises is the Interim Chairman of the Independent Liberal Party and Chairman of this meeting tonight. The managing Director of Magicstar Enterprises Ltd, Simeon Mahabir is one of the persons who has helped to form the Youth Arm of the ILP. The contents of both letters of dismissal to each company are the same so I will just read one to you now. (Letter read)
Not contented with taking away Simeon Mahabir’s contract on the pretext of investigation, they have transferred his father from the NIB office in Barataria to another NIB office in Rio Claro and only because there is no NIB office in Guayaguayare!
I have been advised that there are other contractors supportive of the ILP who are also to be dismissed and I do pledge here tonight to organise the biggest protest march against the government in Chaguanas West whenever that happens.
Mega-Minister SurujRambachan has invited all the workers of the two fired CEPEP companies to meet with him at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation this coming Sunday morning where he intends to advise the workers of the two companies that they will be having two new contractors - Imam Rasheed Karim and Narase David - both of whom have no equipment of any kind and have shamefully asked the two fired CEPEP contractors to lend them their equipment in exchange for a payment at the end of each month. Other contracting companies and persons are also down to be fired for supporting the ILP and I have told all of them that the price they are paying and the sacrifices which they are making by standing firm will not go unpaid. For if Mandela had not made the sacrifice that he had made South Africa would never have been free from apartheid today. For Psalm 30:5 says that, "…..weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning"...........and, in our case joy begins on the morning of July 30.
Their plan is to intensify their dirty tricks. I am advised that four days before the elections they plan to "organise" an accident in which Ms Ameen will be involved and from which she will emerge shedding crocodile tears. They are also planning to organise a break-in at Ms Ameen's office as well. They have now banned the ILP from using Pierre Road Recreation where we were at last Friday - a ground for which I am having lights installed shortly. I have been banned from using it until after July 28 while they use the Mayor's office, paid for by tax payers' money, for the conduct of their political business.
I am hoping that this type of behaviour is just time-bound given the silly season of politics. But the proliferation of collateral damage strewn across this campaign is raising credibility issues for Ms. Khadija Ameen’s camp to answer because having fought my former colleagues to bring unity to our national community all of a sudden they have embarked on a politics of divide; this for me is the twisted logic that is facing this campaign.
You know my vision and you know my plan. You have seen my works such as reducing flooding, paving your roads, building box and slipper drains and erecting bridges, providing assistance not once but many times to those in grief and offering scholarships to the deprived. So you know what I have done and you know that I am always among you.
My people tonight the nation stands at the crossroads of our destiny and the people of Chaguanas West are privileged to have the power to determine in which direction we should go.
My people tonight the nation pauses and with bated breath is waiting for you to act, for your actions will signal whether we are going to regress as a nation to crapaud politics or whether we will shift the paradigm and vote for service and representation for all.
This bye-election will close a chapter in our political history when the will of a minority held sway over majority rule because the people of Chaguanas West will not choose to be disrespected and ignored but will support its representative of choice. In this way you will truly enforce the popular saying where the voice of the people is most certainly the voice of God. Ms. Ameen is the choice of the UNC but I am the choice of the people of Chaguanas West.
They cannot ignore you and yet demand your vote. They cannot disrespect you and yet solicit your support. On 29 July 2013, every single member of the Chaguanas West family must come out in your numbers and register a vote for representation as a national referendum for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
People are waking up as the tide is beginning to roll, and I am here to tell you that if you do your duty as citizens of this great Republic, you will have a representative who will look after your interests, a representative who will seek to cultivate peace within your communities, a representative who will eradicate poverty among you and one who will improve the welfare of the people in Chaguanas West.
You know we have done it together even before I was your Member of Parliament,for example in 2006, when I was in far off Australia I was still able to call the then Minister of Works and Transport, ColmImbert, and got him to pave Assraff Road in Charlieville in time for the wedding of one of my constituents. Just yesterday, I was able to resolve the problems affecting the fire officers at the Chaguanas Fire station. Am I in Parliament now? I represented you well when I was in opposition and I did so after I became your Member of Parliament and I will continue to do so after July 29.
In Chaguanas West, we started a good thing let us all continue it because we know from where we came and we trust each other to make giant steps forward.
Together we will succeed in Chaguanas West because we all are one big family. On 29 July 2013 do not take it for granted. Remember to register your vote for the Independent Liberal Party, support representation and make a difference for the constituency of Chaguanas and the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
On Monday our walk-about continues in Warner Village, Charlieville where we shall be assembling in front of Holiday Foods at 4:30pm followed by a cottage meeting in Harry Dass Street; on Wednesday we shall start our walkabout in Felicity. Next Friday, July 19 the Green Brigade moves into the Munroe Recreation ground in Cunupia next to the Munroe Government Primary school where we shall be having another mass public meeting.
As we all leave tonight, I wish to remind you that we are in the holy month of Ramadan, a period associated with fasting not only from food but from wrongdoing. It is a period when our brothers and sisters of the Muslim faith are encouraged to find an opportunity to do something good for others.
Let us out of respect for our Muslim brothers and sisters find a way to be kind and to be nice to our fellowmen. Let us say something nice to each other as we leave, in keeping with the true spirit of humanity. This is what we do in Chaguanas West where diversity is celebrated.
Tue Oct 17, 2023 11:16 am by 
Subject: Jack Warner's Speeches 
