Biased TV 6 Programme on the 1990 Coup

Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the 1990 coup. This is an event in our history that I have always felt distant from for a number of reasons. The first is that I was out of the country at the time, and by the time I returned things had gone back to normal. The second reason was that I was very young so for me that was big people thing. As a result of this I have always enjoy coup stories from people simply because I have no story to tell. Minding my own business I realised that TV6 advertised a special feature to be broadcasted on the evening of the twentieth anniversary. The programmed was entitled News Special: 1990 Untold Stories – Cocaine, Conspiracy, Coup. This programme aired against the back drop of the Attorney General, Senator Anand Ramlogan saying that he was going to place the notice in the print media for the auction of the properties owned by the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen. As well as the announcement by the Prime Minister in the post Cabinet press conference that there would be an enquiry into the coup.

At the beginning of the programme I instantly got vex because I realised the presenter was Sasha Mohammed, so they start bad already. Then it is stated that the PNM and the UNC governments made no attempts to enquire into the events of the 1990 coup and flashed to a video clip of Mr. Manning and Mr. Panday shaking hands. You would swear they were shaking hands agreeing not to enquire into the coup. Of course mention was made of the Prime Minister’s plan to have a Commission of Enquiry. Ms. Mohammed then interviewed a number of people including Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and the Attorney General in 1990, Mr. Anthony Isidore Smart. Generally I got from the programme that the presenter who is obviously a strong supporter of the People’s Partnership was attempting to place the blame for the coup on members of the NAR, while implicating Mr. Manning and Mr. Panday. I am no fool I have no doubt that there were persons other than the Muslimeens backing the coup. However, I was expecting the programme to be unbiased, and a true record of the events of the coup. Something for me to look at to gain a true sense of the events that occurred. Rather that it being propaganda and a political advertisement for the upcoming Commission of Enquiry. I guess from the title of the programme I should have known. Even the inclusion of an interview of Dr. Tim Gopeesingh who is a gynecologist claiming that he assisted the Prime Minister ANR Robinson. Unless the Prime Minister got shot in some part of his female anatomy how Dr. Gopeesingh got involved. Like I said earlier, I was not around so perhaps the man was the Chief Medical Officer or something.

I am looking forward to this Commission of Enquiry to see what information it uncovers. I am also interested to see what this Commission of Enquiry is going to cost the tax payer. The programme also alleged that the current levels of crime and violence in the country are a direct result of the events of the coup. This tells me that the Partnership Government is already looking for something or somebody to blame for why they cannot stop the escalating rate of crime. Imam Yasin Abu Bakr made an interesting point, he said that there are a lot of guns on the street and nobody in Laventille have any boat to get any gun so they have to be getting help from somewhere. He also expressed his intention to call names in the enquiry implicating a number of top government officials, politicians, and senior law enforcement officers.

So we shall see how the story goes. How do you think things are going to unfold?

My Favourites for Tribe 2011

It is that time of year again, Tribe has launched and the arguments have started. I am not too sure how Tribe registration is going to be this year but this is what I think about Tribe. I did not really give much consideration to Bliss because I got the impression that is the sawatie band so hopefully Max plays there or doesnt play at all. Let me say right off the bat that I got the pictures from Tribe’s Facebook page. I am not sure what the protocol is for reusing these pictures but I don’t want to get in trouble for plagiarism or copyright infringement. I also got one picture from Island People Mas. That being said I narrowed my picks to three options as follows:

I like the concept of the frontline of Mayan Eagle but the colour combination is a bit off. Mind you I could have been brain washed by Monique Nobrega because she designed Xi Ling Chi, which I played in and loved for 2010. While we are on this costume I wonder if the person modeling the costume has any effect on whether we like the costume or not?


After careful consideration I think I like Persian Gold the most, both the backline and the frontline. I like the relatively small headpiece and collar of the backline and the bra and belt are also quite nice.



As for the frontline I love the fact that the headpiece is like a tiara and I love the bra, belt, leg, arm and neck pieces. This is the same designer of Mystery of Loulan which I didn’t really like however, I must say I am really loving her contribution this year.
Xi'an, I must say it is different and it could only have been designed by Sandra Hordatt. The backline is nice however I do not like the headpiece and leg pieces. The frontline is way too skimpy for my liking even if I lose thirty pounds. Plus the frontline is a caged bra and I am not sure how that is going to work with big boobs. Finally my concept of a frontline costume is that it should be big and pretty. It must look outstanding and when comparing the backline to the frontline of this section you might as well save your money and go backline cause there is very slight difference and on the road non masqueraders will not notice. I have a serious problem paying more money for less costume.

This reminds me of Rays of Light of Island People 2009, where a sequined panty and a slightly fuller headpiece was considered frontline. After lunch when people ditch the headpiece they would just looked like a backline betty who lost her belt and is parading in a panty.

So there you have it. Like it. Love it. Leave it. What are your picks for Tribe 2011?

Strange Happenings

I am awake at 1:00 a.m. in the morning. This is normal for me because I usually go to bed early and then get up at these hours like a jumbie. In moving around my house I noticed that there was some abnormal vehicular activity on my street. Some people may say that I am a maco, others may say I am damn fas, however I consider myself to be hyper observant. Just as I was about to call the police I saw blue flashing lights, but I was still a bit uneasy. So I continued to pace around the house. Next thing my gate bell rings, I look out and see police. It was the kind of police I like too, the ones that breastfed on dasheen and look like they could buss somebody ass. The officers told me they would like to come in to check the premises and I quickly obliged. The officer who stood with me while his colleagues checked the premises explained that there was an incident on the highway involving a stolen vehicle and the suspects shot at the police. He asked me if I saw anything unusual, so I explained that I was going to call the police earlier. The officers completed the search then instructed me to lock up and proceeded down the street to continue the search.

This incident led me to a broadcast I received from some fool earlier that same night. “Big exercise in curepe on the main road side at least 40 cops searching cars .” As civilians we are not privy to the rationale behind the operations of law enforcement agencies. Why would we want to assist criminals by sending these types of messages? Some of us have persons on our Facebook and BBM accounts that we barely know and it is difficult to control where this information ends up. When we circulate these stupid messages we make the work of the officers futile. This is something that i have written about before in a post entitled “Aiding and Abetting the Criminal Element” so I will not babble on because my feelings are still the same.

I must say that I found the officers to be quite polite considering the circumstances and I was really impressed with the way they operated overall. I just hope that the officers were either able to apprehend the suspects or to at least survive the night without injury.