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K74T wrote:Typical sheep man, forever digging up the past.
K74T wrote:Because Neil is going up for presidency, right?
K74T wrote:Because Neil is going up for presidency, right?
j.o.e wrote:K74T wrote:Because Neil is going up for presidency, right?
No lol leave him nah....sheep logic. hope he investigates candidates in the other side...they known to have some 'good' ones.
PP men get their arresting and charging done while in office…or just stop the entire process by demanding that the commissioner wake up and come directly to the station.j.o.e wrote:K74T wrote:Because Neil is going up for presidency, right?
No lol leave him nah....sheep logic. hope he investigates candidates in the other side...they known to have some 'good' ones.
UML wrote:Fen’s son is PNM candidate for Pointe-a-Pierre
By \\\\\ Innis Francis innis.francis@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Oct 30, 2014 at 8:55 PM ECT
Story Updated: Oct 30, 2014 at 8:55 PM ECT
NEIL MOHAMMED, son of prominent Marabella business magnate Fen Mohammed, has been selected as the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) candidate to fight for the Pointe-a-Pierre seat when the general election in called in 2015.
Neil Mohammed was selected by the party’s screening committee, which convened on Wednesday at the PNM’s regional office at Navet Road, San Fernando.
The screening committee was headed by PNM political leader Dr Keith Rowley and included chairman Franklin Khan, vice-chairman Colm Imbert, lady vice-chairman Camille Robinson-Regis, general secretary Ashton Ford, public relations officer Faris Al-Rawi, elections officers Foster Cummings and Irene Hinds, along with Rohan Sinanan, Marlene McDonald and Joan Yuille-Williams.
The Pointe-a-Pierre constituency was one of four where candidates were screened
The others were Oropouche East, Chaguanas East and Moruga/Tableland.
Mohammed told reporters he had unofficially been a member of the PNM for a long time and became active about five years ago.
“It came where the people have asked me to represent them at a different level. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, I thought that they were just being complimentary, based on the fact that I helped them in the past. But they have made certain representations and here I am today.
“I am going (into screening) with good expectations and with the intention that maybe I will be given the opportunity to represent this constituency in the 2015 general elections. I have been a declared member only more than five years, but undeclared for many years,” he said.
Mohammed’s family is well known in Marabella, with a chain of stores in Marabella, Chaguanas and Piarco.
The Pointe-a-Pierre seat is represented by Labour Minister Errol McLeod.
PNM general secretary Ford said the screening process continues on Monday at Balisier House, Port of Spain.
In the 2010 general election, Errol McLeod, fighting on a UNC ticket, won the
Pointe-a-Pierre seat with 10,972 votes, beating PNM candidate Christine Kangaloo, who got 6,685 votes.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Fen ... 15052.htmlBusinessman held for disorderly behaviour
Sunday, May 4 2003
THE MANAGING Director of Fens Mohammed Stores Limited, Neil Mo-hammed, was on Friday arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour and obstructing police in the execution of their duty.
Mohammed, 32, of Valsayn, was later taken before a Justice of the Peace at the San Fernando Magis-trates Court where he was placed on his own bail in $25,000 to cover both charges. The businessman will re-appear in court on Monday. The charge arose out of an incident early Friday morning in front of his business place at Union Road, Marabella. Reports stated that Sgt Castillo and officers on traffic duty in the area were issuing tickets to the driver of one of Mohammed’s trucks for parking on the Gasparillo taxi stand. The stand is located directly in front of the store. It is alleged that the businessman approached the police and there was a confrontation.
Mohammed was ar-rested and taken to the Marabella Police Station where he was charged by Sgt Castillo. Mohammed’s attorney Brain Dabideen met him at the station and accompanied him to the court around 2.30 pm. Describing his relationship with the police as “good”, the businessman’s father Fen Moham-med was outraged by the actions of the officers. He complained that the officer treated him with scorn when he enquired about the status of his son while he was detained at the station. The senior Moham-med explained that over ten years ago when he held the post of President of the Gasparillo/Marabella/Claxton Bay Business Association, the San Fernando Traffic Branch and the Ministry of Works were searching for a spot to put the Gasparillo taxi stand. Mohammed said it was he who suggested to the officials that they use the area in front of his business place on the condition that he be given a reasonable amount of time to load and off-loads his goods.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,3901.html
interesting
PNM PAP candidate resigning from PP Civil Aviation Board
November 1, 2014
Gail Alexander
Published:
Saturday, November 1, 2014
When PNM Pointe-a-Pierre candidate Neil Mohammed was appointed by the PP government to the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Board in March 2011, then Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner said the Board had taken a long time to be appointed but it was well worth the wait since it was “one of the best boards” appointed by the Government.
Warner said the board was “one of the best in terms of competence, ability and skill.” Now, however, both Warner and Mohammed have moved on from PP connection.
Yesterday, following the announcement of PNM’s PAP choice, Communication Minister Vasant Bharath—Minister in Finance under which Civil Aviation falls—said Mohammed called him Thursday to offer his resignation from CAA’s Board after being screened and accepted for PNM candidacy. Yesterday Mohammed’s Linkedin profile still carried TTCAA on his listing.
Bharath noted Mohammed said in a statement he’s “unofficially been a PNM member for a long time, but became active about five years ago.” Bharath added, “It’s a clear indication this Government isn’t vindictive and will always give the right people the opportunity to serve regardless of political affiliation.”
Mohammed, seen by PNM—and some in PP—as a strong candidate for PaP, which is held by UNC’s Errol Mcleod, has reinforced even further, PP’s need to make major changes for the 2015 polls. Not just among candidates, though quality on that aspect could contribute to the difference between political life and death in 2015.
Bharath added, “The PNM’s free to court who they wish, just as UNC is. We believe we continue to be attractive to our base and the rest of T&T based on the work we’ve done concerning poverty eradication and people-centred development all over T&T, and that will stand us in good stead in 2015.”
The Opposition PNM, meanwhile, is pulling out the stops to ensure the latter also, unweighted by the past. Latest manifestation was last Sunday’s Hyatt delegate conference to obtain input for manifesto policy. Tables were spread over Hyatt’s ballroom, seating 12 delegates each. Attendees estimated just over a quarter of the delegates were new.
Delegates were a mix of middle-aged and younger, with a few much older heads. Longstanding members including Penny Beckles, Christine Kangaloo and Ray Baithwaite, mingled with newer faces, including Clarence Rambharat and Oropouche East candidate Terry Jadoonanan.
The wooing process began with Hindu prayers ahead of Christian and Muslim invocations and no sign of Baptist contribution as PNM conventions usually feature. The woman delivering the Muslim prayer however, drew loud murmurs of amusement when she blurted out they’d gathered for “the People’s Part…uh..People’s National Movement.”
If delegates were meant that day to showcase the success of PNM’s bid to attract the Indo T&T sector, it fell short. The crowd was traditional PNM, predominantly Afro-based. But PNM is clearly working other aspects of support-building, particularly the role that could be sparked by the calibre of Mohammed who’s contesting a key marginal seat.
Choice of the Hyatt conveyed a shift to upgraded image to bolster confidence and attract support. Rowley, sporting a red checked shirt—more in tune with national image-building than PNM red—said he hoped the luxurious atmosphere would convince members to stay ’til programme’s end.
The venue was in sync with the upscale image PNM is cultivating, also geared for base-broadening. PNM’s Faris Al-Rawi has twice referred to the “intelligentsia” in PNM and Rowley last Sunday noted PNM in 1956 had included “captains of industry, the professional class” and others he detailed.
He said PNM was getting close to its original 1956 moorings. The 14 facilitators—professionals including PNM officials and supporters—listed to handle policy deliberations have also sparked interest in whether they’re the basis of a future PNM cabinet.
How all of this will mesh with PNM base support where there are still undercurrents following rifts of the May internal elections, remains to unfold. Screening in several areas—and ahead—has already produced murmurings about the process and claims, the hierarchy wants certain choices over those who are qualified and have support.
http://www.ttonline.org/2014/11/01/pnm- ... ion-board/
Oudit quits as leader of ILP
Reshma Ragoonath
Published:
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
After serving less than six months at the helm of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP), Lyndira Oudit stunned many when she resigned from the position on Sunday. But the former senate Vice-President says her resignation had been in the making for some time, admitting she was never fully accepted as leader of the ILP. Yesterday Oudit, in a phone interview with the T&T Guardian, said she felt her leadership was a showpiece, since party founder and chairman, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner, made the decisions even though she was nominally the leader. She admitted: “The party always has, had or seen Mr Warner as being the leader. It was his party from April, May, June, July last year to the present time. So you cannot separate the party from Jack Warner and vice versa.”
Oudit, who was named ILP leader in June after being nominated uncontested ahead of the party’s internal elections, announced her resignation with immediate effect on Sunday at a special emergency meeting of the party’s national executive. Warner was returned to his original position as leader, while attorney Rekha Ramjit has now replaced him as chairman. Oudit, who did not give a full explanation for her departure from the leadership of the party, also said there were “some tensions, there were some divisions within the executive.” She conceded that with all organisations, such divisions were not unnatural but added: “It came back to the positioning of a political leader. “A party has to support a political leader and if there is acceptance and recognition that the founder of the party, or the chairman of the party, fully supports the political leader, then you find everything else will run smoothly.”
Oudit said she believed that in the beginning, when she took over the party leadership, “there was a sincere effort by Mr Warner to really allow for some letting go.” But there was no complete transition. “Now,” she said, “I think Mr Warner is a very dynamic and competent individual and he is going to do what he does best.” Oudit explained that when she was presented with the nomination for political leader in May, she felt it was premature for the party to make such a change. She said she felt the only way that leadership change could have been fully accepted would have been for “Warner and the entire executive to literally support any person holding the position of political leader.” “But as it turned out,” she explained, “I felt that not enough was actually done to make the change easier to accept. “There were some who continued to see the party as Jack Warner and some of the decisions, I felt, were not in keeping with the fact that there was a new political leader.”
For the party to go forward that there must not be any confusion for the membership, she stressed. “There must be a single cohesive force and if Mr Warner is at the helm, he will put the party on the footing that he needs to have it, where he needs to put the party,” she added.
No decision on political future
Oudit said she would be taking some time for personal reflection on her political future. She denied she had been in discussions either to return to the United National Congress (UNC) or join the Congress of the People (COP) or People’s National Movement (PNM). “I have had absolutely no conversation with any other political party. “I intend to think very carefully. I intend to look at what is happening and really take an observer position, really,” she said.
Oudit said she would not make any hasty decisions whatsoever. “It must be something that has a strong benefit, that you must be able to contribute properly,” she said. She denied her departure from the ILP leadership was an indication that the party was dying or irrelevant to the political landscape. “I think the ILP does have a place. I think that all the polls show there are undecided voters out there that are looking for something different. The undecided voter is really, in my mind, who the ILP should be targeting.” Calls to Warner’s cellphone went unanswered yesterday.
Ragoonath: ILP needs Warner as head
Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath says Warner’s return as leader of the ILP is key to the party’s survival. He made the statement yesterday as he commented on Oudit’s resignation as party leader. Warner’s return was the only move that could help the ILP, he argued. “I have always felt that the ILP was Jack Warner and Jack Warner is the ILP and to that extent, Jack Warner taking back the ILP leadership is simply ensuring the ILP survives until the next election, because I think the ILP, under any other leader, would seem to be weak and ineffective.”
Ragoonath admitted, however he was not sure Warner’s taking back the leadership of the ILP would strengthen the party. “But it will give back the party that face it had when it started,” he added.
Ragoonath said more resignations from the ILP would only serve to break it down further and Warner would be put to the test to revitalise it. “I think the party is on the decline and more resignations like this would serve to further undermine the confidence anyone would have in the party. “Be that as it may, Jack Warner has always been the driving force behind the ILP and it is up to him. We now have to look at his capacity and his capabilities to bring back the ILP to some sort of glory, if that is at all possible,” he added.
He felt the ILP must now look towards forming an alliance to continue its existence. “I do not think the ILP can survive on its own at this time. I think the ILP has become another COP, which is just a shadow of the original party that it started off with. “The party is Jack Warner and Jack Warner is the party... then without a Jack Warner there is no foundation,” he added. Ragoonath said last April when the ILP was formed Warner had momentum but that had been lost. “He has to join forces. I would not go so far as to say he cannot win a seat but at this point in time the politics do not seem to be in his favour,” Ragoonath added.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-11- ... leader-ilp
PNM shifting from stand-alone policy
Tweet
Gail Alexander
Published:
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
PNM MP Colm Imbert
The Opposition PNM will contest all 41 seats in the 2015 general election but will consider options if, in the event of no clear majority result, another party has a crucially needed seat, says the party vice-chairman Colm Imbert. Speaking at a Port-of-Spain Rotary Club luncheon yesterday at Fitz Blackman Drive, Port-of-Spain, Imbert said it would, however, matter which party it was.
He confirmed the shift from the PNM’s previous ”stand-alone” policy, among other plans for a PNM government on the party’s manifesto theme, “The Way Forward for T&T”. “I can sum up (the way forward) for you in two words: Vote PNM,” he lobbied Rotarians. Imbert said T&T traditionally voted out a government and accepted an alternative without proper analysis but it was time to vote “in” a government. He said what was assembled against the PNM in 2010 was a “pick-up side.”
”The way forward is for serious people to get involved,” he said, adding he was part of the PNM’s leadership for the first time. Imbert said the party was selecting candidates on the basis of competence, community ties and ability to get the job done. He noted Brig Ancil Antoine, Clarence Rambharat, Stuart Young and Neil Mohammed... “new people... I’m not talking about old guys like myself (Keith) Rowley, Faris (Al-Rawi).
“Patrick Manning has been in PNM for 43 years. I have been an MP for 23 and Rowley cheats. He adds his senatorial service and says 26 but we were both elected in 1991,” Imbert added. He said: “As PNM unfolds its slate, we will try our best to represent the society. One of the things I recognised with the PP is something that attracted people, that virtually everybody saw somebody in the coalition they could connect with.
“When you looked at it, it looked good, nice on paper and there were people you thought you could speak to. “We intend to assemble a team that as far as we can, represent society in every way, geographical, class, religion, ethnicity, and also represent a group you will be able to speak to. He added: “People and groups like this (Rotarians), what you want from a government is the opportunity to have dialogue with them and the opportunity to state your issues.
“A government does all kinds of nonsense but if you can talk to them and show them, ‘The decision you’ve made isn’t the best and perhaps you can do it this way,’ I think that’s what T&T needs. “I can promise you this is PNM’s plan and intention. We will also communicate with you and keep the lines of communication open.”
Imbert said youths had to be motivated to feel there were people in the leadership they could connect with and speak to and that they could influence policy direction. He added: “It’s a very difficult challenge. There are insufficient forums and systems for youths to connect with the leadership of politics which is essentially old people, seniors.
“There is a vacuum in T&T in terms of a connection and a forum where younger people can get involved and see the fruits of their advice influencing policies. This is one of the things we wil have to focus on.” Imbert said a PNM government would not scrap or cancel any ongoing projects unless they did not make sense.
The PNM, he added, also planned to change the system via which a police commissioner is appointed and sort out problems in the service with the top and give a commissioner security of tenure. Imbert, who said he was studying for a master’s degree in oil and gas law, added that T&T’s aged oilfields would need more attention to produce and the PNM’s plans included revamping the oil and gas sector.
He said there were many views on how to handle it but he felt a changed fiscal regime, tax reduction and creation of incentives were necessary for continued investment. He also said T&T needed to industrialise and unless that was done the country would depend on oil and gas for the next 30 years.
The PNM tried the aluminium smelter, he said, but environmentalists did not like it so it was “more or less a dead project” unless they could be convinced, which he said would be very difficult, so as far as he saw, that project was not on the horizon. He said T&T’s problems were crime, the economy and the traffic. ”I don’t know where all this traffic came from but something has to be done about it,” he said.
A Rotarian, giving the vote of thanks, agreed saying a rapid transit system was needed and the Diego Martin Highway had not solved traffic problems. He told Imbert Rotarians would hold him to his word on PNM plans.
Crime a deterrent to investment
Crime is a serious deterrent to investment and the problem is the police, says PNM MP Colm Imbert. At yesterday’s Rotary luncheon, he said the problem was not of the police’s making since T&T had had an acting Police Commission for two-and-half years. This year may close off at 400 murders if the rate continues as it was going, he said.
Imbert added there seemed to be no possibility of a permanent CoP in the foreseeable future since there had been no appointment to the chairmanship of the Police Service Commission (PSC) which handled the issue. He said since former CoP Dwayne Gibbs and deputy CoP Jack Ewatski left, the commission had failed to advertise and interview applicants for the jobs.
The PNM, he added, had asked Government to convene Parliament to change the system to appoint a CoP after it was found the system the PNM instituted in 2006 — choosing the person best suited for the job, rather than going on seniority — didn’t work.
Saying the party had plans to change the system, he said it must be terrible for people to act in posts without security of tenure and suffering attack, and a person with security of tenure appointed under an improved system would be better able to revive the Police Service.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-11- ... one-policy
RASC wrote:For Public Release:
RASC wrote:For Public Release:
kjaglal76v2 wrote:RASC wrote:For Public Release:
oh lawd,immigration?????
ILP loses appeal on Runoff Bill
By Sean Douglas Tuesday, November 11 2014
THE Appeal Court yesterday rejected the Independent Liberal Party (ILP’s) challenge to the Government’s Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014 by which general elections will include a runoff ballot, but ILP PRO, Danan Singh, immediately vowed to appeal further to the Privy Council “to protect the rights of citizens”.
Attorney General (AG) Anand Ramlogan stood for the State while ILP chairman, attorney Rekha Ramjit stood for the appellants.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar opened debate on the bill in the House of Representatives on August 11. The House passed the bill with amendments on August 12 with 23 MPs voting for the bill, 14 voting against it and one MP abstaining. ILP political leader Jack Warner, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran and Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan were amongst the 14 MPs voting against the bill. Persad-Bissessar allowed MPs to take a conscience vote on the bill.
The Senate began debate on the bill on Augiust 19 and passed it with further amendments on August 28. Government has a motion on the House Order Paper to approve these amendments.
No date has been set for debate on this motion which requires a simple majority for passage. Once approved, the bill goes to the President for his assent and proclamation into law.
Justices of Appeal Allan Mendonca, Gregory Smith and Prakash Moosai rejected an appeal by the ILP’s Stephen Mitchell and Dayne Francois against a High Court ruling against them by Justice Frank Seepersad last October, with costs. The duo had argued that the bill violates their rights respectively as a potential candidate and a potential elector in a general election by changing the voting system.
Ramlogan, at a news briefing at his Cabildo Chambers office in Port-of-Spain, said the Appeal Court had dismissed the appellants claim as “premature, speculative, hypothetical and academic”. He said the court had dismissed the appeal as weak, as Mitchell is not yet a candidate and even if he was, there is no guarantee anyone would vote for him, nor whether a run-off would be required.
Ramlogan said the court had declined to intrude on Parliament’s right to pass laws, and had ruled it is improper for the court to grant pre-emptive relief to influence the outcome of debate/legislation, or to violate an MP’s constitutional right to freedom of expression.
Ramlogan said the court had dismissed Ramjit’s fears that if the bill is passed, her client won’t have enough time to challenge it before the next general election. He said the court said the bill does not violate any basic constitutional right, claiming that if a person can vote in two rounds this amounts to more democracy.
Asked if it was fair for private persons to have to pay State costs for having contested changes to the Constitution, Ramlogan said no-one had offered to pay his costs in the constitutional cases he had fought as a private attorney. He explained it was for the court to determine legal costs, the interest of tax-payers must be balanced, and that he has not yet given any thought to the idea of the State paying its own legal costs.
Ramjit told Newsday that often past cases have seen the Privy Council reverse the previous rulings of the High Court and Appeal Court. She said the Appeal Court had ruled she had not proven the case had “exceptional circumstances” that require the court be allowed to interfere in the law-making process in Parliament before the bill’s enactment is completed.
Rekha insisted if the bill is not challenged in court now, there will not be enough time to challenge it after it becomes the law. With the election due by September 2015, Rekha said some six to eight months will be needed to challenge the law/Act in High Court, Appeal Court and Privy Council. She bemoaned that even if she eventually succeeded in challenging the law/Act, any court victory could not be applied retroactively so as to cancel or annul the election results. Regarding legal costs so far, she said Ramlogan must submit his estimate to which she would respond, with the court making the determination.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/politics/0,202769.html
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