By Michael De Gale
May 06, 2008
In this season of rejuvenation and renewal, my friend celebrated yet another birthday. She may have passed the dreaded half way mark by now but since time has been a friend to her, that mark is not immediately apparent. Free of the sags, wrinkles and tiredness that is commonly associated with aging, she remains gracious, vivacious and fashionably appropriate. Perhaps out of mischief or maybe a temporary lapse in judgment, I did the unthinkable and inquired about her age. Needless to say, her response was quick, predictable and coy. “You don’t ask a woman her age”, she chimed; evidently cognizant of the negative connotations associated with extended longevity.
Continue reading Digging Our Own Graves
September 2001: “Focus on agriculture declined from as far back as the first oil boom of 1973-79, when, with oil prices increasing at a dizzying pace, food production was no longer an attractive option. Like most oil-rich countries, Trinidad and Tobago felt it had the money to purchase its food requirements from low cost (though highly subsidised) producers in developed countries.
Three decades ago I met Arnold Rampersad when he joined the African American faculty at Harvard University as a professor. At the time I was an assistant professor at Harvard, having received my doctorate from Cornell University and having taught previously at Ohio University. In those early years I could not foresee the heights to which Professor Rampersad would reach in the academic world.
SIX people were killed between Wednesday night and yesterday morning at Carlsen Field, Bournes Road in St James, Carenage and Barataria. 
If former Trade Minister Dr Keith Rowley is a hooligan who displays ‘wajang’ behaviour, when did these abominable character traits first manifest themselves? Prime Minister Patrick Manning, explaining why he summarily fired the senior minister, told the media that for all of five minutes during a Cabinet committee meeting, Rowley ranted and raved and misbehaved, much to the shock of his colleagues. Pressed by journalists on Rowley’s darker side, Manning said: “It was not the first time. I’ve had to talk with him before.”
At yesterday’s post-cabinet news conference, Prime Minister Patrick Manning appeared alone to explain why he fired Rowley. Manning said that he fired Dr. Keith Rowley because of unacceptable ‘hooligan behaviour’ at a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of cabinet, and not because of his corruption allegation.
It came as a thunderbolt out of the political sky. A stunned country listened when it learned that Keith Rowley was fired from his position as a minister in Government. The Guardian headlines read: “Fired.” In a note sent to the Guardian after he was seen sitting in the backbench of the Lower House, Rowley wrote: “I have not resigned. I have been fired.” 
Dr. Keith Rowley’s appointment as Trade and Industry Minister was revoked with immediate effect on Wednesday 23rd April, 2008, by President George Maxwell Richards acting on the advice of Prime Minister Patrick Manning. This dismissal comes six months into the term of the Patrick Manning administration and has impassioned many supporters of Rowley.