TriniTuner.com | Latest Event:
Moderator: 3ne2nr Mods
Habit7 wrote:emoticons dont validate arguments.
zoom rader wrote:rfari wrote:zoom rader wrote:UML wrote:funny how Redman and rfairy never online the same time
How much account rfairy go hav so
Say it out in big unno. Doh brakes
<<<<<< Rfairy fix ur son teet nah bia
zoom rader wrote:rfari wrote:zoom rader wrote:UML wrote:funny how Redman and rfairy never online the same time
How much account rfairy go hav so
Say it out in big unno. Doh brakes
<<<<<< Rfairy fix ur son teet nah bia
Culture schols show up PNM links
By ANDRE BAGOO Wednesday, December 2 2009
CULTURE MINISTER: Marlene Mc Donald, Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs....
PERSONS who are members of, or have links to the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) are among the hundreds listed as recipients of scholarships from the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs.
The list was released last month to the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council under the Freedom of Information Act by the Office of the Attorney General on behalf of the Ministry of Culture. Among those listed are PNM Senator Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing, who received a total of approximately $500,000 in funding over the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 for the pursuit of an LLB in Law and Politics from the University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom.
In the year 2006 PNM temporary Senator Joel Primus, also a member of the PNM’s National Youth League, received a Culture Ministry grant of $15,000 for pursuit of a diploma in General Management from the School of Accounting and General Management St Augustine, as well as another $5,000 grant for pursuit of year one studies on a BSc in Computing and Information Studies at the same institution in 2004.
Former temporary PNM Senator Rain Newel-Lewis, who served as a temporary senator in September 2003, received a total of approximately $200,000 in funding over the years 2003 to 2004 for the pursuit of a Masters in International Business Economics at the University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom.
Kareem Allette, son of late PNM councillor Bert Allette, received a $63,000 grant for pursuit of a degree in quantity surveying from Jamaica University of Technology, Jamaica.
To date, the Ministry of Culture, which does not have a fully-functioning internet website, is yet to reveal the criteria used for the award of these scholarships, or to justify their awards.
The scholarships listed in documents provided to ITEC, but not yet made available to the general public, range from those for pilot studies to dentistry. For instance, a $40,000 grant was awarded to Afton Le Gendre for study at Université Rennes 2, France, in 2004. A $200,000 scholarship for “AB Initio Helicopter Pilot Training” was awarded to a student at Hummingbird Aviation Training Limited, Cocorite, Trinidad, in 2005.
Another student was awarded a $6,125 grant for “CXC O’Levels” at the Harmon School of Seventh Day Adventist, Rockly Vale, Tobago. Kareem Scoon received a grant of $20,000 for a certificate in business management at Scottsdale Community College, Washington, United States. Malika and Morineke Joseph got awards averaging $23, 000 for hospitality and tourism management studies.
Four students of the Pacific Lutheran University Wang Centre for International Programmes in Washington, United States of Amercia, got a $400,000 grant for the pursuit of certificates in “Caribbean Culture and Society”.
Public relations officers now employed with the State, such as communications officer for the Office of the Prime Minister, Paige De Leon, was awarded a $173, 640 grant for the pursuit of a masters degree. Wendy Campbell, then communications officer for the Police Service, received a grant of $5,428.50 for “mass communication” at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
There were also awards for degrees related to the humanities, like an $18,000 award to Keisha Donaldson for pursuit of a BA in English and Literature at the University of the West Indies.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Lezama-Lee Sing, an in-law of Louis Lee Sing, said, “can I call you back?” She did not.
Devant Maharaj of the ITEC yesterday wrote the Integrity Commission, calling for an “immediate and urgent investigation” into the award of the Culture Ministry scholarships over the years 2003 to 2007. He argued that Section 24 of the act, which calls on public officials to act impartially, may have been breached.
Maharaj also noted that while the list of scholarships was released only after the Culture Ministry conceded a court case brought by the ITEC under the Freedom of Information Act, the ministry has not complied entirely with the requirements of the Act, by not revealing the scholarship criteria. “We are pursing that,” he said. “They still have not complied with the entire application,” he added.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,111861.html
Habit7 wrote:While you are trying to make an issue that $42million was spent on the higher education the citizens of T&T of every creed and race, that every independent body found no fault in...one man took $34million for remedial eduction of disenfranchised youths, has not preformed the job, will not give back the money and until now, no legal proceedings are being made to retrieve it.
Let that sink in.
Behind the scholarships
Wednesday, December 2 2009
The revelations about the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs scholarship awards now need to be fully explained. While these awards were kept secret from the country’s parliament, on the tenuous grounds of individual confidentiality, concerned citizens went to the courts, and under the Freedom of Information Act, were able to expose what Minister Marlene McDonald had sought to conceal.
Several unsavoury points arise with the exposure. The main concern must be how the Culture Ministry was able to “award” all of these scholarships in fields having nothing to do with Community Development, Culture or Gender Affairs. And this leads to the question of Cabinet approval. Was this system of scholarship awards, and its financing approved by Cabinet, and if so when and under what conditions? The Minister, now that the courts have stripped from her the “confidentiality” protection she had sought, must stand in parliament, moreso in the Senate where she originally refused to answer the pertinent questions, and explain the genesis and system selection for these scholarship awards. We do not expect her to apologise for her earlier stance, for we are convinced that she will say she “thought that the information requested was confidential.”
But that was always nonsense and untenable, as the courts have now shown. Scholarship awards have never been secret, and have generally been the subject of proud announcements — both for the recipients and for the institutions awarding the scholarships.
So why did she then claim secrecy, under the guise of recipient confidentiality? This she must now explain to the country. And she must state under what conditions were government scholarship awards deemed to have been “confidential,” and indeed why?
When it takes a lawsuit to get a minister to divulge what should be standard information to parliament, suspicions are bound to be raised. And our suspicions certainly have been, along with most of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. And the suspicions centre upon who were the fortunate awardees of all of these Ministry of Culture Scholarships.
The lists of names will now be examined closely, by opposition and independent sources, to assess the extent of alleged political patronage in the selection of the awardees. There will be calls to ascertain how these scholarships were announced or advertised, who might have heard of them, and how many persons had applied for each scholarship available. And this research will of course lead to the persons who may have applied but who were rejected.
And herein lies the source of the original question put to Minister McDonald in the Senate. Clearly the opposition had become aware of what is becoming, according to the opposition, another slush fund of taxpayers monies being used to “further the education” of PNM stalwarts. And if the list of names of awardees bears out the suspicions of Senator Wade Mark, Devant Maharaj of the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council, and attorney Anand Ramlogan, what will Minister McDonald then say?
One thing though, the question of race, raised by some detractors, should not be an issue here at all.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/editorial/0,111875.html
Ex-Minister: Culture funds are not schols
By Andre Bagoo Friday, December 4 2009
FORMER MINISTER of Culture Joan Yuille-Williams yesterday said the controversial scholarships awarded under her tenure between 2003 and 2007 were part of the ministry’s social sector programme for persons in need of financial aid.
Asked yesterday to explain the criteria for the selection of scholars, the nature of the scholarship programme and whether there were attempts to have it publicly advertised, Yuille-Williams said, “This is Newsday? I know this is Newsday from the number. I will call you back.” She then hung up.
When asked, in a second interview, if the scholarships, valued at a total of $45 million, were ever advertised, she said, “It is in the social sector programme. It’s there.” But she would not specify further. “They are all over, all around. Don’t push it. I don’t mean to be rude but don’t push it,” she said.
Asked if there was a clear criteria for the scholarships, and in particular whether the scholarships were awarded to persons in need, she said, “yes, it was for people who need it.” She said the grants were not scholarships. “They are not scholarships, they are financial assistance,” she said. Newsday understands that Culture Minister Marlene Mc Donald is due to make a statement on the issue in Parliament today.
Yesterday, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday called for action to be taken against Mc Donald in relation to her handling of the disclosure of a list of scholarship recipient from her ministry. In a press release issued yesterday, Panday alleged that the list disclosed to the Indo-Trinbago Equalities Council (ITEC) “reeks of secrecy, corruption and lies.”
In relation to reports that there may be errors on the list, Panday said, “when the matter of the scholarships was raised in Parliament by the Opposition, Minister Mc Donald refused to divulge information. It took a court order to have her ministry reveal the information and now we are seeing that the list contains information that is not true.”
In relation to a separate matter, Panday made a request for the names of persons who received houses under the Housing Development Corporation and the recipients of loans through the National Entrepreneurship Development Company to be revealed.
“This is how the Government of the day deals with transparency,” Panday said. “Look at the Maha Sabha radio licence issue, matters of equal opportunities and that of Caroni workers. These are just a few of the issues which this PNM government refused to abide by when judgments were handed down by the courts.”
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,111993.html
UML wrote:ohhhhhhhhhh...God really works in mysterious ways
UML wrote:
Moonilal: PNM sold out to one financier
Gail Alexander
Published:
Thursday, October 30, 2014
UNC deputy leader Dr Roodal Moonilal has challenged PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley to say who paid for his overseas trips this year, claiming there were 15 trips and he has information on that. He made the call yesterday after PNM general secretary Ashton Ford said the UNC must be asked when it was having internal elections and if it held executive meetings, instead of calling for the PNM to say who paid for its convention at the Hyatt.
Ford responded after Moonilal said the PNM, as an alternative government, should, in the interest of transparency, say who paid for the Hyatt for its convention last weekend. Moonilal claimed the Government was aware a prominent businessman did so and wanted five ministerial appointments in return. This drew several PNM protestations, including Ford’s, but PNMites declined to say who paid for the Hyatt venue.
Yesterday UNC chairman Kadijah Ameen said the PNM should see to its own lingering issues after its May internal election, instead of “hounding” the UNC about internal polls, since the UNC’s executive, constituency and women’s arm elections were held on time. She said the only UNC election outstanding was for party leader and currently there was no challenge to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s leadership.
There could be no rush to that election, she said, as the UNC’s constitutional reform process had to be completed first because its proposals were critical to positioning UNC for the present political climate Moonilal claimed: “I will like Dr Rowley to say who paid for his 15 trips overseas this year, which he has not denied, and if he won’t say, I am prepared to say who has been paying.
“My information is he has sold out the Opposition which is now controlled by a single financier who is demanding more than his pound of flesh. “This is why PNM meetings for the big guns of the party won’t be held at Balisier House.”
He added: “I found PNM chairman Franklin Khan’s view that the Hyatt was best for their meeting, as it was an ‘intellectual one,’ quite shocking and insulting to the memory of PNM founder Dr Eric Williams and former leader Patrick Manning, who held many intellectual symposia at PNM’s Balisier House and the Chaguaramas Convention Centre.” Moonilal said the PNM’s action showed it viewed Balisier House as “for the plebs.”
He added: “They will also be putting their members in the hot Queen’s Park Savannah for the next convention leg but they think the air-conditioned Hyatt is for intellectuals.”
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-10- ... -financier
hustla_ambition101 wrote:Convention centre being used by ttps as an academy though
Rowley: Govt okays plan for temporary public servants
Richard Lord
Published:
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says Cabinet has approved a measure which will allow it to employ temporary public servants instead of the Public Service Commission. Speaking at a news conference at his office on Charles Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Rowley said the measure was aimed at getting more people to vote for the ruling party in the 2015 general election. Rowley said he could not say how many workers will be affected but it was “not an insignificant number.” He said the move was targeted at lower-level employees in the Public Service, including clerks and messengers.
He called on the commission “to look into this matter and ensure that its authority is not usurped by the Cabinet.” Rowley said he received a Cabinet Minute, dated September 4, which authorised permanent secretaries and heads of departments in the respective ministries “to develop and institutionalise systems to ensure that persons employed in clerical, secretarial and support services are only utilised for a maximum period of 12 months.” He said the new measure was to take effect from October 1.
Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan could not be contacted for comment by the T&T Guardian yesterday. Rowley said the new measure could be happening without the knowledge of the PSC and called on the commission to investigate it. He said he was not aware of the Government implementing the measure after consultations with the trade union which represents the affected workers and the PSC.
Describing the Government as “a general Santa Claus,” he said this move was part of a plan to give away as much as it could to secure victory at the polls next year, and as the 2015 general election approached the Government was seeking to bribe electors. “Everything is about a bribe: Give you free flour, free oil for an election. They are now on a huge bribe-and-brainwashing campaign,” he added. That comment was a reference to the decision to give citizens discounts on NFM products for Divali, Christmas and other national festivals. In response to a question on constitution reform, Rowley said if there was any area which required review and reform it was the service commissions but there have been no reform proposals on them.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-11- ... c-servants
Carolyn denies Govt interference in Public Service hiring
Story Created: Nov 4, 2014 at 11:27 PM ECT
Story Updated: Nov 4, 2014 at 11:27 PM ECT
Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan said yesterday the Government is not interfering in the recruitment and selection of individuals for permanent positions in the Public Service, which, according to the law, has been, still is—and will always remain—the remit of the Service Commission.
Seepersad-Bachan issued a release yesterday to respond to comments by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley that the “Government is trespassing on the authority of the Public Service Commission”, over a Cabinet Note dated September 4.
She said, in the release, contrary to Rowley’s claims, the Government is not breaking the law, and continues to uphold and respect the remit of the Service Commission for the recruitment, selection and appointment of personnel to established, pensionable positions in the Public Service.
The release explained the Cabinet Note in question deals with the Introduction of a Clerical, Secretarial and Office Support Relief Programme, and not on filling established positions in the Public Service.
Seepersad-Bachan said in the release what is actually taking place is the modernising of the Service itself.
“There are many positions in the Public Service, still on the books, which are no longer relevant. For that reason, many ministries have begun suppressing these positions,” she explained.
“Modernising the Service would require re-engineering, and those posts which are no longer relevant would need to be phased out, while new posts will be created to reflect the realities and demands of the 21st century citizen-centric Public Service workplace. The creation of modern jobs is producing new openings for people to enter the Public Service,” she said, “as well as those people in the Service who have taken the opportunity to improve themselves. This is a new pool from which new public officers could be drawn.”
The release added 49 new job descriptions and designations have been developed at the middle-management level in the Public Service which “opens the door for more employment opportunities for professionals wishing to be part of the new Public Service, particularly in the areas of information and communication technology, monitoring and evaluation, communications, project management, procurement and facilities management”.
“All these new jobs have gone to the Personnel Department for the determination of their salary ranges (classification), and these jobs will become pensionable as soon as this exercise is completed. This means hundreds of new, permanent jobs in the Service will become available across all Government ministries.
“At present, many of these new jobs are available only via contract. Our intention is to have these contract positions replaced by pensionable, established positions. The contract positions are ‘untenable’, and that is why we are working assiduously to create new, professional, pensionable positions in the Service,” Seepersad-Bachan said.
UML wrote:MAYBE the PNM accustomed doing that with their nasty ways and nasty mind and thinking that the PPG will do it as well. Rowley speaking from experience, das the only way he could think up something like that!
PROPAGANDA
Nepotism
Mismanagement
the man cah even read a Cabinet Note and some "unintellectuals" (according to the PNM Chairman) want him to be PM of this country...GOD HELP US!!!
Smelter IYMC!!
j.o.e wrote:^^^^ How does the opposition leader get taxpayers' money for trips?....Honest question
16 cycles wrote:it illegal for leader of opposition to take a vacation?
Rambachan slams Rowley’s absence
Sunday, April 6 2014
WORKS Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan slammed Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley’s absence from Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives for debate of the Finance Bill 2014. Rowley is currently in Dubai on “a working vaction.” He left the country on March 31 and is due to return on April 10.
Rambachan questioned Rowley’s absence from Parliament during debate on such an important piece of legislation.
He charged that Rowley had abdicated his responsibility as a leader by missing the debate.
In contrast, Rambachan said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had returned to the country on Thursday after attending the World Economic Forum in Panama. Persad-Bissessar was not in the Parliament Chamber while Rambachan was speaking and her absence was later questioned by St Joseph MP Terrence Deyalsingh.
Saying People’s National Movement (PNM) supporters could not be pleased with Diego Martin North/East MP Colm Imbert leading the Opposition bench in Rowley’s absence, Rambachan scoffed: “What a leaderless bunch. Divided.”
Reiterating allegations of corruption which were levelled against the former PNM government, Rambachan claimed the $576 million spent on a feasibility study for the Rapid Rail project could have been used to build 4,800 two-bedroom houses for poor people. Charging the former government allowed persons accused of corruption under their tenure to flee the country, Rambachan asked: “Where is (former Udecott executive chairman) Calder Hart?”
Hart and his family were last reported to be living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In response, PNM MPs asked Rambachan: “Where are Ish and Steve?”
http://newsday.co.tt/politics/0,192949.html
UML wrote:PM make a couple trips abroad we start to hear how she flying plane like taxi, she wasting taxpayers money, she joyriding plane, all kinda ting
Rowley take 15 trips in a year....no noise...no wasting taxpayers money and NO REASONS given for these trips!!!!
What were the reasons for these 15 trips abroad on taxpayers money?!!!
Were they all GOLF trips as your trip to Dubai?
UML wrote:16 cycles wrote:it illegal for leader of opposition to take a vacation?
ahhhhhhhhhhh see the hypocrisy?
so why was it illegal for kamla?
no, but 15 trips in ONE year with no accountability should be!!!
“While we do not begrudge the Prime Minister a break from the rigours of her office, we make a distinction between the discharge of one’s duties and carefree hotfoot excursions while people are suffering,” it stated.
Return to “Ole talk and more Ole talk”
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 70 guests
