Power Stars Steel Orchestra
114 Western Main Road,
St. James
Port Of Spain
2018.01.30
His Excellency Chief Eyengunni Keith Diaz
President of Pan Trinbago
Chairman of Panorama Management Committee 2018
14-17 Park Street
Port of Spain
RE: OFFICIAL LETTER OF PROTEST
Dear Sir ,
I wanted to get over some of my expressed disappointment over the semifinals results... .before addressing you dispassionately regarding what I believe is happening here.
I am of the personal belief that there is something that is amiss here....
Point number 1:
I have already spoken to chairman of the northern region, Mr. Gerard Mendez and Treasurer of PanTrinbago, Mr. Andrew Salvador regarding what I believe to be purposeful political interference in the executive's allocation of transport subsidies per round to bands, given that all bands in all regions are allocated per round once we have to be transported to the competition point. As of right now, we have only been given Assistance to bands for prelims and semifinals stages of the competition. Bands were judged at yards for preliminaries so none is expected. However in the semifinals.... None was allocated for this band, while Tobago Regional Bands are allocated 3.2Million dollars for transportation and other bands in other regions are given on a sliding scale based on their location relative to their competition point....every year, year in year out.
Point number 2:
PanTrinbago advertised this weekend that government grants to unsponsored bands would be ready for collection at Culture Ministry in St. Ann's, but there was no cheque for PowerStars, even though I was already holding the assistance cheque from NCC for yesterday's semifinals performance... How crazy is that!
Point number 3:
Three judges on the panel that scored is for the semifinals yesterday also scored us in the preliminaries HIGHER than the the other 2 new judges, that scored us lower....and accordingly a preliminary case for subjective bias in adjudication can be made, due to the fact that no judges symposium or training of the Panorama judging framework, has been held by PanTrinbago, except last year after such an elongated period of eight years before.. To prevent these specific types of anomalies in the judging of all bands for Panorama, I asked you countless times about the briefing for the rules and regulations to be ratified for conventional bands, but to no avail. I attended the briefing for the single bands that was held at the NCC Savannah VIP room, where you allowed me to be an observer under emotional duress, as you forbade me to speak, and accordingly I did not have the forum, to highlight I am now constrained to lodge a written complaint of protest under Section 18.2 of the unratified Rules and Regulations of Panorama 2018….where the Rules are Silent
In the rules as it stands, Section 7.7 Procedure for Qualifying/preliminary Rounds, the rules clearly stipulate in what exactly is the process of adjudication for this stage of the competition, in particular the selection of the alternate judge., Also as well, I signed off on the sealed envelope, for the adjudicators score sheets
In the rules as it stands, Section 7.8 Procedure for Judging Semi-Final and Final,the rules are clearly ambiguous in what exactly is the process of adjudication for this stage of the competition, in particular the selection of the alternate judge. Also as well, there was no sign off on adjudicators score sheets, by thus individual.
Accordingly tomorrow I shall put forward our case that if there is political interference or bias coming out of the President's Office in the allocation of transport subsidies to bands then it can be said that there is a case for reasonable doubt that there can be political interference in the judging of this Panorama, or the appearance of collusion in the selection of the alternate judge at the semifinal round of competition at the venue, because of the impairment of the ambiguity for that previously mentioned
I have sought legal advice on the abovementioned facts, and the remedy that our orchestra seeks is that based on, the above mention and that we be reinstated to the Finals of the National Competition; and also as well, all outstanding monies, inclusive of Transportation, as articulated under Section 16 be remitted with all reasonable haste to my unsponsored steel orchestra...
I do look forward in earnest to your reply, and remedy for this case. Thank you for the courtesy of your attention.
Sincerely,
Gregory M. Lindsay
Manager- Power Stars Steel Orchestra
Replies
How naive can people be?
For years now I have been calling KEITH DIAZ the GREATEST POLITICIAN IN THE WORLD yet nobody has accepted my evaluation. Had Gregory Lindsay taken time to read my profiling then it would have been no surprise to him to see KEITH implementing "purposeful political interference" in the PANORAMA. Which is what GREAT POLTICIANS DO.
So in the world of POLITICS which he (Gregory) seems to love to dabble in, he is like a BLIND MAN -- politically speaking.
And I am yet to understand why THE CIP and GREGORY and AQUIL only use THIS FORUM to promote their own selfish failed political strategies and never ever contribute ANYTHING to the FORUM.
Just last week Gregory was boasting about how GREAT HIS BAND WAS and where HIS FOCUS was and KEITH DIAZ was his hero for placing him SO HIGH. Now, when KEITH DIAZ shaft him he switch ACCENT like ah Grenadian who just jump off ah boat in Trinidad and trying to sound like ah LOCAL.
Keith Diaz tell him to say "BOX" yuh stupid man ... and he as he say "BAX" is LICKS in the POLICE VAN!!!
And speaking of "purposeful political interference" -- if SKIFFLE comes HIGHER THAN 4TH in this PANORAMA I will JUMP OFF A BRIDGE AND DIE.
The man promise we ah SC
And he end up with ah cheap attorney
The man promise to take down Keith
And he end kissing Diaz feet
And when Diaz kick him off the stage
He come on the forum in ah rage
But when ah look in meh cyrstal ball STILL
The ONLY man he fooling is AQUIL
Ha I like your last two line. Anything with Aquil in it is a big tune. We need a singer and a studio.
The only time we will have a more unbiased Judging is when the Judges have to post their scores immediately after each Bands performance. Just like every other Competition on the Planet. That way there is no opportunity for collusion or any other underhanded political moves! (The Olympics i.e.)
How Russia Weaponized Social Media With 'Social Bots'
Congress held hearings last week on how Russia used social media to interfere with the presidential campaign. One key tool they used was "bots," computer programs that act like real people online.
Information warfare may be as old as war itself. And lawmakers are now addressing its newest weapon. Top lawyers from Google, Facebook and Twitter testified this week about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. One of the terms on the agenda - social bots, computer programs that mimic real people on social media.
https://www.npr.org/2017/11/05/562058208/how-russia-weaponized-soci...
I would like to suggest to the gentleman that he consider proposing implementation of the following suggestion as an alternative to what he is advocating as, the manipulation of the results in a manner that is disadvantageous to him.
Many creative contests use voting to help determine their winners. Some use votes to narrow down the pack, and pick finalists to be judged. Others go the opposite way, with judges picking finalists and determining the winner.
The foregoing may create an opportunity to manipulate the system (cheat), by taking advantage of weaknesses in the contest's design, like faking IP addresses or creating fake accounts to vote.
If you see any value in the above Bredrin, then by all means market it as policy, propose it for adoption. If not, get up, "duss yuh pants", and prepare for de next time.
There is no procedure at PanTrinbago, within the Panorama, that if a band has a query with scores, they can write to an Adjudication Management Committee or an Adjudication Review Committee to process any redress by any orchestra.
PanTrinbago has no welfare/grievance officer, in zones where one who is filing a grievance, can take their complaints to a zonal executive and they would relay the matter to the Central executive.
All roads stop at the office of the President; who is also President of the following: the COSERO; The Panorama Management Committee; any appeals welfare grievance.
PanTrinbago is victimizing me and my band because I am always taking my grouses to the media. They are interfering with my pan culture and my orchestra's panorama life and I want to bring the discussion in the public.
After 50 years in this business, is this the proverbial straw to break my orchestra's back? I guess time will tell.
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