TNN 100

Hello folks.. welcome to our broadcast from latitudes South… we back again… an’ (deep voice)… dis is TNN…..  So ah singin’ ……Maria….girl ah love yuh so bad…..Maria……..if yuh leave meh now go be hard..(background music….Blakie)

Welll boy, wat ah turbulent week.. difficult to find ah focus…. anyway some of de headlines….

Jumpstation: Students run school; School's out, Community minded, Politricks, Trini pedestrian.

An’ dey run de teachers too!  Apparently it have ah l’il problem in school X (we doh call names here, dis is ah respectable publication!) where de principal an’ most of de staff doh agree.  Any time de staff an’ de PTA ask dem to remove de principal, de union an’ all join in, but to no avail. 

So teachers stay away from classes because dey say dey tryin’ to discipline chilren an’ de boss undermining dey efforts….. so is boycott for de school.   A few teachers supportin’ de principal an’ dey say is because de woman tryin’ to bring some discipline to some slack teachers, why de bruhaha start up…  odders say is she to blame for de indiscipline in de schools… stories, stories…..

Anyway chilren make placards, an’ run amok in de school protestin’ dat de want de principal to stay.. ah understand is was most unruly an’ some teachers get threaten an’ frighten...

Well, now is kangkalang…! Ministry of education step in…. water more dan flour.. total disruption of de system……

Now, me eh goin’ to de school, an’ what I know is what ah read, but it have a few t’ings that kinda wrong here…  First, I eh too sure how chilren get involve in ah matter between de principal an’ staff, unless it affectin’ dey school work an’ de runnin’ of de school.  Dat is ah danger signal…. jus’ now dey go appoint teachers! But I believe dey have ah right to protest in dis instance, since apparently t’ings reach ah stage wey it have standoff between principal an’ teachers an’ ongoing violence in de school.

But is HOW dey do it…!  Ah mean, have ah sitdown strike, a prefects’ letter requestin’ to meet with staff, contact wit’ de media an’ issuing a statement, writin’ de Ministry of Education, all of de above, etc… not runnin’ through de corridors shoutin’ an’ disruptin’ t’ings more!

An’ de principal, even if dey on she side should have condemned dat strongly!  Further, there have been substanciated reports of violence towards teachers and school guards on de compound an’ I eh hear de principal condemn students for dat either…..

Now from where I stand, if yuh doh have support from yuh majority of staff, it is best to request ah transfer, because you alone cyah run de school!   Dis diggin’ in an’ lettin’ t’ings bubble and boil over doh make sense to me. An what kinda example we settin’ for de young people?   Union, Ministry, teachers, PTA an’ alyuh cyah solve ah problem, meanwhile de school chilren makin’ mas in de place?!   It is an sorry indictment, not so much de chilren, but on de adults!

SCHOOL'S OUT....

Dealin’ wit’ education again (or in dis case mis-education) we now have de former government’s plan to build 22 new schools wit’ money from the IDB, gone awry…..

Dey build 10 schools and already overrun de budget by TT$200M.  Interestin’… fortunately de IDB see wey it was leadin’ an’ decide dey eh lendin’ dem one black cent more dan dey promise, so dey had to run to de commercial banks to get de rest of money, which means dey have to pay back TT$800M more in interest over 20 years (TT$40M a year…. did I remark dat ah brain scanner which dey need in de hospital cost US$1M dollars…. oh welll… we know wey dat money gone!).

Den to add insult to injury, turns out dat de high school in Biche had been condemned by de bank an’ odder technical persons because it is built on a site dat has gas leakin’ an’ could cause an explosion, in addition to de fact dat de last geological survey found dat de school is in danger of collapsing due to de subsoil.

Of course de school was built in spite of de fact dat Town and County Planning said to move it, de fact dat 9 technical reports voiced concerns about it, despite de fact that a member of de EMA board asked to study the site, condemned it, despite de fact that the IDB was against it and has now condemned de entire building, despite de fact dat a primary school nearby was closed for de same reason, etc…..

No man, de Minister of Energy say dem reports lacked technical depth an’ he is ah geophysicist, so he say go ahead…. den de Minister of Education at de time say dey didn’t include preparation of sites in de initial budget, dat is why dey run over costs (by TT$200 M for 10 schools) an’ de IDB didn’t know all dis when dey stop givin’ dem money?……. an’ de last Minister of Education say when she come on, dat school was already being built so she couldn’t stop it.

Den de former PM say it not de government fault if it have gas in de ground, people should be happy, it mean dat dey could drill in de area an’ how Trinidadians so lucky to find oil so easy (rum and coca-cola….. goin’ dong Pt. Cumana.. jus’ ah song ah remember…).

Now how de HELL yuh could make ah statement like dat? Apparently children could be used as pawns in de dirty game of politics…!  But de most amazin’ t’ing is that some parents in de area want de school open… an’ say de present government jus’ tryin’ to make de UNC look bad….!

My word, you go take de word of yuh MP (a former journalist) over technical reports and an international institution?!   We have reached a sorry pass indeed… in de US, ah class action suit woulda follow an’ Biche people woulda get enough money to build 50 schools!

AH wonder if de MP is ah Son of A BICHE resident?

COMMUNITY MINDED.....

Ah have to give credit to some villagers in San Juan dis week who ketch ah killer (well, de fella charged wit’ killin’ at any rate).

It had a rather nasty incident where a young woman an’ her infant got murdered, an’ dey searchin’ all over de place for dis fella.

Well, de man gone up in San Juan to hide , I guess till tings cool off..  Well who tell he do dat?!  Man, after ah couple days de people realise it have ah “stranger” in dey midst an’ ah fella approach him an’ ask what he doin’ dey…?   When de fella reluctant to give reasons, he and some odder fellas hold him, check de papers an’ realise dat is de man de police lookin’ for….

Mamayo! Dey drop lash in he tail, plannass him, tie him up an’ call de police… ah sure he glad de police come in time… jail mus’ be ah dream from wat he woulda get!

It nice to see dat it still have communities like dat wey people does look out for one anodder, check around de neighbourhood an’ ask questions…  Ah want to point out dat dis is not ah rich community, where people bar round like jail cell an’ eh even know dey neignbour…. like wealth eh really helpin’ we… dem villagers remind meh of de old days when was I for you, you for me, an’ we for everybody!
 

POLITRICKS.....

Well las’ week ah deal wit de present PM , Papa-trick, an’ ah did promise some talk on Manday dis rounds, but before ah go onto dat…. ah see some people in de new administration decide to make hay while de sun shinin’… ah hear is BMW, Benz, Range Rover (wey yuh go fin’ parkin’ for dat…in de savannah?!) comin’ in de country now… den Papatrick appoint not one, not two, but three envoys (ah didn’t realise we had so many international issues to deal with) with some unimaginable salaries and perks….

Some people never hear “take little an’ live long” atall!  It woulda make ah whole lot more sense to wait until yuh some way into yuh term or just before yuh call elections to make sure yuh get yuh goodies, not so?  But now it look like yuh fattening up yuhself and yuh sponsors (shamefacedly) jus’ in case….

If yuh did wait, people woulda say “Ay boy, dey eh so greedy and grasping…” but what dey go say now.. an’ what yuh go tell dem…. de Minister REALLY NEEDED dat BMW? He was walking all de time?

Anyway….

De ole Bas was back again, rantin’ about how de President is de cause of all de problems (ah suppose is de Prez who tell him doh accept Papatrick as PM an’ is de Prez who stopping Parliament from convening and electing ah Speaker) and how de President obviously had made ah pact with Papatrick to make him PM an’ how all de investigations goin’ on is witch hunting (well, yuh only need to be scared if yuh is ah witch!)..

Ah mean, if I was innocent, I would be happy to let de government make ah fool of deyself (an’ yuh know Papatrick is ah Master at dat!).. Now he decide he goin’ to parliament to make sure dey eh elect ah Speaker (an’ to make sure he MPs get pay, because if dey eh show up an’ take dey oath, not ah cent in dey pocket, an’ after 3 months t’ings getting’ ah l’il tight, no doubt…ummm?).

Now , my word.. if I had one functional neuron in my brain I would try and get a neutral Speaker an’ convene Parliament for de simple reason dat in September dey have to pass ah budget an’ if dey doh have a majority, den budget cyah pass… so den ah could force ah election…. in de meantime I would be in Parliament harassing de government an’ keepin’ in de public eye instead of spending money havin’ little two by four meeting here, there and everywhere an’ hopin’ de media take yuh on….it more expensive and more taxing.

If dey doh get ah Speaker when dey call Parliament, de House would just adjourn and de government will continue to run without a House of Representatives meeting for six months, which means no debate on government’s actions would take place; a dangerous situation….

In addition, It go look like ah statesman and not ah spoilfish.. but dat would take two connected thoughts so….. not possible!

Finally, people voted for you to REPRESENT dem in Parliament, so if you makin’ Parliament non functional, for your own political ambitions, I believe it ah betrayal of that trust.

So Papatrick decide to call Parliament on April 5th … lemme see if common sense would prevail by that time…. de only t’ing worse dan ah politician is two politicians….!

Of course de Cobra is nothing if not ah observer, so dis week we check out dat paradox of common sense… de 
TRINI PEDESTRIAN..... dat is de person who……

…..does complain when it doh have pavement to walk on (“somebody go get lick dong before dey do somet’ing!”) but when it have one, does always walk in de street…. (“me eh able wit’ dat crowd… dey walkin’ too damn slow!” )

....does only see dey frien' when de light on red, finish talk to dem when de light on amber an’ cross de street when de light on red….. (“buh wha’ happen to he… how he blowin’ so? He eh see meh crossin’?!”) 

….doh use walkovers because dey too high an’ go take too long to climb up… bes’ to run across five lanes of highway traffic.. with groceries! 

….know not to presume dey have de right-of-way at zebra crossings….. as far as drivers concern, dey eh stopin’ unless yuh is ah zebra! 

…does shelter from rain wit’ ah umbrella in dey han’, but does have it open when de sun shinin’….! 

…would stan’ an’ wait half an hour for ah taxi, rather than walk ten minutes to dey destination…! 

…does stop suddenly in de middle of de pavement (when dey actually on it….!) as soon as somet’ing in de shop window ketch dey eye.. makin’ sure yuh almost kill yuhself tryin’ to avoid walkin’ up dey back….! 

…….when yuh see dem strollin’ along or window shoppin’, means dey on dey way to work….. if dey hurryin’ dey goin’ home or late for ah lime….!

…find de policeman lettin’ “traffic” flow too long, so does cross de road while cars flowin’ like ah river around dem….

…once dey get dey license or behind de wheel of ah car want to lick dong every pedestrian (dem people eh have no blastid sense!  Dey does walk like sheep!)

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Dat’ s all for dis weeks folks.. remember any queries, comments, questions, hail outs etc… just write to we anchorman Cobra at ttcobra1@hotmail.com an’ we go get back to alyuh… Peace, ah gone… blessings…… An’ every man in de gang had ah white handle razor… (ten to one is murder)…. dey say dey go cut meh dong small like Pretender… (ten to one is murder!)..(background music… Sparrow)