AT the beginning of this month we had two colossal failures giving themselves B+ rating for doing their jobs. Acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob had given himself a B+ for his appalling performance and has defended his crime-fighting strategies, saying they were constantly evolving in order to tackle the changing landscape of crime and criminality in T&T. What a load of hogwash.
It turned out that the acting police commissioner is not alone in giving himself a B+ grade for performance. The Comptroller of Customs is also giving herself a B+ grade as well, after admitting that most of the Customs and Excise Divisions scanners are not working.
This is unacceptable and clearly begs the question of when utter failures can give themselves an above average mark in Trinidad and Tobago, we must wonder if we are a real place. We have to ask the question exactly what our schools are really teaching our children? That failure, an F, is really a passing mark with an above-average grade.
The lack of operating scanners and non-functioning scanners seems deliberate and designed to facilitate all of the illegal trade that operates throughout this country. We are not only speaking of guns and ammunition, we are speaking of high-powered weapons and large quantities of drugs.
It’s very similar to the state of repair of the equipment at most of our state enterprises and at public hospitals that are always out of commission. Poor people in our society always seem to have to find the money somewhere, rake and scrape, to get their treatments at private hospitals and healthcare facilities instead of public hospitals which cost an arm and a leg. The proper preventative maintenance programmes and staffing also play a large part in all these specialised equipment being in the state of disrepair which always seems to be in a state of disrepair.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe the hospital staff and many medical practitioners do their best with the parameters they have to work within, but it’s just a feeling you get in this country that everything is always in a state of disrepair, dilapidated and not functioning.
We have heard of Customs officers being sent home because they were not falling in line with the way business is run at the ports. We have heard of containers allegedly being offloaded without Customs officers present and the list goes on and on. Regardless of what, the entire nation accepts mediocrity and failure in the public sector and that’s why we are having so many problems.
The whole country listened to the JSC session on the report from the Comptroller of Customs and was left in amazement and shock at what they heard. The Comptroller of Customs basically stated that it’s a free for all at the port. Ship what you want as the chances of being caught with anything illegal are minuscule at best.
This is definite proof that this Government is totally incapable of running anything effectively and their inability to manage our state-run entities is costing us our security and safety and our lives every single day. They are unable to protect us and to protect our basic rights within our nation. Time for them to go!
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
Commentary: A State of B+ Disrepair
AT the beginning of this month we had two colossal failures giving themselves B+ rating for doing their jobs. Acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob had given himself a B+ for his appalling performance and has defended his crime-fighting strategies, saying they were constantly evolving in order to tackle the changing landscape of crime and criminality in T&T. What a load of hogwash.
It turned out that the acting police commissioner is not alone in giving himself a B+ grade for performance. The Comptroller of Customs is also giving herself a B+ grade as well, after admitting that most of the Customs and Excise Divisions scanners are not working.
This is unacceptable and clearly begs the question of when utter failures can give themselves an above average mark in Trinidad and Tobago, we must wonder if we are a real place. We have to ask the question exactly what our schools are really teaching our children? That failure, an F, is really a passing mark with an above-average grade.
The lack of operating scanners and non-functioning scanners seems deliberate and designed to facilitate all of the illegal trade that operates throughout this country. We are not only speaking of guns and ammunition, we are speaking of high-powered weapons and large quantities of drugs.
It’s very similar to the state of repair of the equipment at most of our state enterprises and at public hospitals that are always out of commission. Poor people in our society always seem to have to find the money somewhere, rake and scrape, to get their treatments at private hospitals and healthcare facilities instead of public hospitals which cost an arm and a leg. The proper preventative maintenance programmes and staffing also play a large part in all these specialised equipment being in the state of disrepair which always seems to be in a state of disrepair.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe the hospital staff and many medical practitioners do their best with the parameters they have to work within, but it’s just a feeling you get in this country that everything is always in a state of disrepair, dilapidated and not functioning.
We have heard of Customs officers being sent home because they were not falling in line with the way business is run at the ports. We have heard of containers allegedly being offloaded without Customs officers present and the list goes on and on. Regardless of what, the entire nation accepts mediocrity and failure in the public sector and that’s why we are having so many problems.
The whole country listened to the JSC session on the report from the Comptroller of Customs and was left in amazement and shock at what they heard. The Comptroller of Customs basically stated that it’s a free for all at the port. Ship what you want as the chances of being caught with anything illegal are minuscule at best.
This is definite proof that this Government is totally incapable of running anything effectively and their inability to manage our state-run entities is costing us our security and safety and our lives every single day. They are unable to protect us and to protect our basic rights within our nation. Time for them to go!
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.