Author: AfraRaymond

Managing Director, Raymond & Pierre Ltd. Past-President, Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry, Trinidad and Tobago- December 2010 to November 2015. Past President Institute of Surveyors of Trinidad & Tobago 2009-2010.

A worthy NGO?

“We are not Serious…
Very few Conscious…
So, I cannot agree with mih own Chorus!”

from the first verse of ‘Dis Place nice’ by Brother Valentino

“Your silence will not protect you.”

Caribbean Philosopher Audre Lorde, on the false beliefs and toxic consequences earned from calculated or cowardly silences

“Last call to all corporates. Support this worthy NGO if you can,” was the rallying note from an erstwhile Colleague who had served on the Board of the T&T Transparency Institute (TTTI). This was an appeal to boost ticket sales for the TTTI’s fundraising dinner carded for 22 May 2024, but it ultimately provoked me into making these pointed observations, so here goes.

For a some years now, it has become increasingly clear that TTTI had drifted from its purpose with less and less work, of lower and lower quality, emerging from that NGO of which I am an Ordinary Member. One can scarcely believe that this was once a vibrant, outspoken and well-informed NGO with dedicated leaders such as Victor Hart, Richard Joseph, Deryck Murray and Annette des Iles, not that we can ever forget the recently departed Reginald Dumas and Boyd Reid.

Continue reading “A worthy NGO?” →

Raymond & Pierre’s 50th Anniversary Land & Property mini-conference

Afra Raymond, Managing Director of property advisory company, Raymond & Pierre, speaks at the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, a mini-Conference on Land and Property in Trinidad and Tobago, hosted at the Centre of Excellence on Tuesday 13th December 2022. His first topic there was ‘Public Procurement law through the lens of professional responsibility‘. His second topic there was ‘Land & Housing Policy in post-Independence Trinidad and Tobago‘ that sees to the needs of poor people.

  • Programme Date: 13 December 2022
  • Programme Length: 00:16:02 and 00:12:38
Playlist contains 2 videos. Select in top right corner.

Letter to the Editor – Come Again, Minister West

The Editor,

The Minister of Public Administration [MPA] responded to my previous letter in the Sunday Edition of 29 October 2023, the very next day.

TTT Live Online

Minister West disputed my citations of the monthly rent of $600,000 and the 23,000sf floor area of those offices, as well as my conclusion that the resulting rent of $26psf signified ‘flagrant corruption’.  The Minister went on to say that the correct monthly rent was $500,000 and that the floor area was in fact 43,295sf, which equates to a rent of $11.55psf.  

Continue reading “Letter to the Editor – Come Again, Minister West” →

Letter to the Editor – $55m fiasco: bring in the Fraud Squad

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) offices on Park Street, Port of Spain. The refurbished building was handed over to the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs in July 2020 by Nidco, and has remained unoccupied since. —Photo: ROBERT TAYLOR. Courtesy Trinidad Express

The Editor,

The government has now decided to end the lease of RBC’s former headquarters at Park St, claiming that a reported $55M of Public Money had been spent on that property, which the DPP never occupied as intended.

Your edition of Sunday, 22 October 2023, covered those events with Anna Ramdass’ two-page chronology entitled “A monument of waste“, your editorial “Seems we like it so!” and Noble Phillips’ provocative column “Are we all becoming Mahal?“.

Sad to say, but all of this plays to a muddled and distressing narrative of careless, poorly-managed spending of scarce Public Money, with a majority of the blame intended to settle on the DPP.  The chronicle being one of a government anxious to provide proper offices for a DPP who is careless and capricious, with the government eventually making the tough choice to vacate the office it had so scrupulously procured for the DPP.

Continue reading “Letter to the Editor – $55m fiasco: bring in the Fraud Squad” →

Keynote address at launch of Call To Action for Social Change Foundation

Afra Raymond was asked to deliver the keynote address at the launch of the Call To Action for Social Change Foundation held at the CLL Auditorium at The UWI campus, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. His speech was entitled, “The role of civil society and its importance in a well-functioning society.” Video courtesy Call To Action

  • Programme Date: 10 September 2023
  • Programme Length: 00:14:44
Video courtesy Call To Action for Social Change Foundation

Press Release on Afra Raymond vs PS in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs

For immediate release

On 1st June 2023, The Honourable Justice Ramcharan ordered that I be granted access to the previously undisclosed correspondence between the Attorney General and the Chief Justice, together with payment of my costs. This ruling affirms the principles of accountability, transparency and open governance and upholds the public’s right to information vital to the functioning of our society.  The PS in the AGLA was ordered to provide the 12th April 2022 letter from the AG to the CJ requesting a checklist prior to proclamation of the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act (the Act) and the CJ’s 25th May 2022 letter in reply.  That Order was subject to a 42-day stay, to allow the AGLA the opportunity to file an appeal.  That 42-day stay ended on Friday 14th July 2023 without any appeal from the AGLA, so my attorneys wrote to the State yesterday and the requested documents were provided promptly.

 I must thank my attorney, Kingsley Walesby, for his high-quality advice and representations, as well as to acknowledge the professional approach of the State’s attorneys at the close of this matter.

The CJ’s 25th May 2022 letter accompanied the Judiciary’s 29-page commentary which was largely devoted to criticising the Act, its scope, likely effect and arrangements.   When the AG hosted his first Media Conference on 22nd June 2022, he labelled the Judiciary’s concerns as ‘traffic-stopping’, such was the seriousness of those comments and he announced that as his justification for delaying proclamation of the Act.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, I requested those comments from the AGLA and then the Judiciary.  On 5th October 2022 the Judiciary published its 29-page commentary, but the ‘letters of transmittal’ between the AG and the CJ remained undisclosed, so I filed this lawsuit on 22nd October 2022 against the AGLA.

There is a synchronicity in the disclosure of this important exchange at this juncture with the 29th May 2023 Judicial Exemptions and the reconvening of Parliament to rectify the 2020 Amendments with respect to Exemptions.  I will be advancing those arguments very soon.

Copies of the documents obtained via the lawsuit are attached.

Afra Raymond
afraraymond.net

ATTACHMENTS

Ruling of Honourable Mr. Justice Kevin Ramcharan

Letter to Chief Solicitor’s Department requesting mail exchange

Mail exchange between the Attorney General and the Chief Justice

Letter to the Editor – Emergency Excuses Explained

The Editor,

#TheTruthEatsLies

The PM’s welcome decision to reconvene Parliament to rectify the Exemptions provisions of the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act (the Act) needs to be carefully scrutinized to defend the Public Interest.

There are two interlocking grounds for concern – 

  1. ‘Emergency Procurement’
    Both the PM and the Finance Minister have repeatedly stated that the Act takes a one -size-fits-all approach to Public Procurement, which effectively does not cater for Emergency Procurement.  Those assertions are being used to advance the case for further diluting the Act, but those assertions are absolutely untrue.

    The ‘Emergency Procurement’ provisions are at Procurement Methods & Procedures Regulation 14(2)(c): “Sole source selection may be used…where, due to reasons of extreme urgency brought about by unforeseen events…the subject matter of the procurement cannot be obtained in a timely manner…”

    There are also adequate provisions for other types of emergency and urgent situations, etc, but I have just included the main citation to demonstrate that it is not a one-size-fits-all set of arrangements, as its detractors have been saying.
  2. Affirmative Resolution
    The Parliament agreed on 8 December 2020 that the Ministerial Exemptions would be approved by Affirmative Resolution, yet the draft Amendments tabled for debate on Wednesday, 19 July 2023 provide for approval of those via Negative Resolution.  That is contrary to what was agreed when the 2020 amendments were debated in Parliament and this is being advanced on the false basis of the lack of ‘Emergency Procurement’ provisions.

We need the utmost vigilance to defend our collective interests as these convulsions will intensify.

Sunlight is the best Disinfectant.

Afra Raymond,
former JCC President

VIDEO: CNC3 interview on the Ministerial exemptions in TT Procurement legislation

This is an interview with news anchors Ria Rambally and Ryan Bachoo on the controversial Ministerial Exemptions to the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act, which was broadcast on 7:00 pm news on CNC3 Television on Friday, 14 July 2023. Video courtesy CNC3.

  • Programme Date: 14 July 2023
  • Programme Length: 00:07:18
Video courtesy CNC3 TV