By Raffique Shah
August 8, 2015
WE columnists are on a roll during “elections season”, but in my 34 years of writing commentaries, I have never enjoyed a long, scandalous, comical campaign as the current one.
It’s so good, or bad (depending on one’s perspective), readers have taken to telephoning or emailing me with suggestions as to what I should address.
Continue reading An issue more important than crime
By Keith Subero
August 04, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
If the Prime Minister, her PR handlers, and state-owned CNMG television intended to produce 90 minutes of absurd theatre then they should claim last Thursday night a “brilliant success”.
The concept of the Theatre of the Absurd is recognised for its seemingly meaningless and repetitious dialogue. Its plots are usually confusing, empty, disjointed, unrealistic, and intended in some way to identify futility in the human condition.
Continue reading PM’s powder puff question time
By Raffique Shah
August 02, 2015
IN days of old here in Trinidad, people one or two generations ahead of mine used an adage, “when yuh crooked, wet brown paper could cut you”.
The word “crooked” in that context usually meant “a run of bad luck”, although in the instant case of Jack Warner, to whom it now applies, it could be a double-entendre. And if wet brown paper could cut you, then you were really deep in the doo-doo.
Continue reading Wet brown paper could cut Jack
By Mr. Live Wire
Friday 31, July 2015 – wired868.com
“Have you ever seen a TV show called Vikings?” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar asked Dr Morgan Job, who was one of her three interviewers last night.
‘Vikings’, in case you don’t know, is an Irish-Canadian television drama that is not short of historical inaccuracies but big on sacking and plundering. It was a simpler time when tendering policy was usually “take what you can carry” and ship captains never asked to see CVs.
Continue reading Blunder after plunder: Kamla discusses Reshmi, LifeSport and Vikings in odd Q&A
2015 Trafficking in Persons Report
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: TIER 2 WATCH LIST
United States State Department
Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
July 27, 2015 – state.gov
Trinidad and Tobago is a destination, transit, and possible source country for adults and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Women and girls from the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia are subjected to sex trafficking in brothels and clubs, with young women from Venezuela especially vulnerable.
Continue reading U.S. Says T&T Police and Immigration Officers Involved in Sex Trafficking
By Miranda La Rose
July 27 2015 – newsday.co.tt
TRINIDAD and Tobago and two other CARICOM countries were identified in a Pan American/World Health Organisation report on alcohol use as having the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the Americas, and Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan says it may be linked to the culture of Carnival.
Continue reading TT loves alcohol
By Raffique Shah
July 25, 2015
TRUST Trinidad and Tobago to make history of a most dubious nature at a time when most countries similarly endowed are forging ahead in positive ways.
Last Friday’s jailbreak, in which three high-risk prisoners escaped by shooting their way out of one of the most secure prisons in the Caribbean, was historic in the sense that it was the first of its kind in the country, and maybe even in the region.
Continue reading Questions over jailbreak
Newsday
July 25, 2015 – newsday.co.tt
Deputy Commissioner of Police Glen Hackett today confirmed that 11 persons have been charged with the murder of Senior Counsel, Dana Seetahal.
Hackett was addressing a press conference at the Police Adminstration Building, Edward Street, Port-of-Spain.
The 11 charged are, Rajaee Ali, his brother Hamid Ali, Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Ishmael Ali, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, Roget Boucher and Gareth Wiseman
Continue reading 11 charged with Seetahal’s murder
By Sue-Ann Wayow
July 22, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
FORMER Minister of Justice Herbert Volney who was fired in September 2012 by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for his role in the Section 34 fiasco, was hired several months ago by the Ministry of Health as a legal consultant.
Volney was working for a monthly salary of between $25,000 and $30,000.
The Sunshine newspaper first reported on Volney’s new position, and gave his monthly remuneration as $30,000.
Continue reading Volney lands job at Health Ministry
Express Editorial
July 21, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
Even before the arrest and incarceration of Jack Warner on May 27, 2015, Mr Warner’s perceived and alleged wrongdoings in FIFA occupied headlines in national, regional and international newspapers and electronic media.
Since the arrest, scores of articles, talk shows and news items have been most liberal with matters existing out of Mr Warner’s US indictment for fraud, racketeering and money laundering. As we say in Trinidad and Tobago, every Tom, Dick and Harrilal have “washed their mouth” on Mr Warner’s charges.
Continue reading Jack Warner and the sub judice rule