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Questions for Mr Sinanan

Newsday Editorial
Wednesday, December 26 2007

ParliamentSuppose you were a defendant in a court case and, when you went to trial, you discovered that the judge was the employee of the plaintiff? In such a scenario, the judge would have no choice but to recuse himself. It would not matter if he argued that his financial relationship with the plaintiff would not affect his objectivity; or that he was not an employee per se but merely a director; or that he had already admitted to the court that he had a relationship with the plaintiff.
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Manning Cannot Act Non-Partisan

By Stephen Kangal
December 23, 2007

Patrick ManningThe Manning Ministers have been selectively and actively preaching that the issue of instituting measures to arrest the crime pandemic will always be treated as a politically non-partisan matter. But PM Manning will not practice it and come out from his political crease when the occasion demands.

Mr.Winston Dookeran a former MP, Central Bank Governor and Leader of 148,000 citizens who are now without representation in Parliament, pounded the pavement and endured the pouring rains in front of Whitehall on Thursday with a large group of followers. His mission was to highlight publicly the further escalation of murders and the impotence of the Manning Cabinet in being able to reduce and stem the rising tide.
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‘How fortunate for leaders that men do not think’

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, December 23rd 2007

Trini PeopleThe voice of the people, we are often reminded, is the voice of God. My rejoinder to this scriptural interpretation of democracy is: the masses so often prove to be asses, one wonders if God has any influence in secular matters like elections, party affiliations, and worst of all, in leaders people choose to anoint or lionise. Six weeks ago close to 200,000 Trinidadians chose Basdeo Panday and the UNC to represent them in Parliament. In fact, a few years ago twice that many among the electorate not only voted him into power, but hoisted him on their shoulders as Prime Minister and paraded him as a lion-king, exemplar supreme.
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Chief Justice Sat Sharma Cleared

CJ Sat SharmaPM on Mustill Report: I have no further role in matter
“The Prime Minister merely referred the matter to the President to appoint the tribunal. The Prime Minister has no further role to play. I am waiting like everyone else.”
Prime Minister Patrick Manning is distancing himself from the findings of the Mustill Report that cleared Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma of any wrongdoing.

CJ Sharma cleared
Hours after he received an official copy of the Lord Mustill Tribunal report, President George Maxwell Richards revoked the suspension of embattled Chief Justice Sat Sharma, paving the way for him to return to his job at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, today.

SHARMA RETURNS
The Chief Justice does not have to prove anything at all.
His stance is purely defensive

Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma yesterday dusted off his judicial robes, ready to return to office today after an international tribunal found that the case brought against him on a charge of judicial misconduct was weak.

Cleared by impeachment tribunal…
Sharma plans return to work

In a bold move, an insistent Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma says he intends to return to his chambers at the Hall of Justice today, having been let off by the impeachment tribunal which investigated him…

President: Mustill report to be made public soon
The contents of the long-anticipated Mustill tribunal report will soon be made public, President George Maxwell Richards said yesterday.

CJ doesn’t have to prove anything

The More You Live…

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 20, 2007

ParliamentMy mother used to say, “The more you live; the more you see.” She was correct. I never thought I would live to see the day when the Prime Minister of our country, at the opening of Parliament, offer his hand in friendship and camaraderie to the Leader of the Opposition, only to have the latter shake his hand and then wipe off the handshake with his handkerchief as if to say “I will to have nothing to do with you or this deliberative body.”
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Unleashing Ramesh from The Panday Box

By Stephen Kangal
December 14, 2007

Ramesh Lawrence MaharajIn a crafty surgical strike designed to stem the upward political mobility of Winston Dookeran and political emergence of Anand Ramlogan, the master puppeteer has resurrected Ramesh from the proverbial political cemetery in which he interned him after the 18-18 tie, 2001 general elections. The predictably blind and politically naive of his declining UNC base supports this resuscitation even though he was stigmatised as the great betrayer.
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The Pursuit of Happiness

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 12, 2007

Trini PeopleThe people of Trinidad and Tobago are witnessing a decline of our civilization which no amount of money can reverse if we do not recognize the sovereignty of our people and that the goal of democracy consists in the sanctity of life, the preservation of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To be sure, the pursuit of happiness cannot be reduced to a mere license to do whatever one wants to do at any time one chooses to do it. It consists in conscious and thoughtful acts that enhance our human personality and advance our humanity. It goes without saying that the affirmation of life and the pursuit of happiness cannot be achieved in a climate of lawlessness and the inability of citizens to feel a sense of safety in their homes and in their communities.
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Almighty God, where art thou?

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, December 9th 2007

ViolenceImagine, if you will, the execution last week of a 20-year-old Iranian whose family was told to “collect the body”, the first they would learn of their son’s sharia-decreed death.

The young man’s crime? At age 13 he is alleged to have buggered three boys, an offence that draws the death penalty in most Islamic states. Now, many Trinis, would probably shout by way of approval: Way to go! After all, the savages who stalk our once-peaceful paradise have driven us to the point of exasperation. Their gruesome crimes compel even those among us who are against capital punishment to turn a blind eye to their summary execution, be it at the hands of the police or their foes.
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The Importance of Reading

By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 08, 2007

BooksI want to support Raffique Shah’s advice about giving a child a book for Christmas (Express, December 2) and add that each adult should read a book this Christmas holidays for the very simple reason that we, as a society, have lost the art of reading and continue to suffer from it. Shah has observed that many teachers–and I might add university students as well–only read the textbooks they have been assigned for exam purposes. Once they have passed their examinations then reading becomes a luxury they cannot afford. Reading ceases to be a pleasurable activity. It is something that possesses only a utilitarian value.
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Debunking the COP Vote Splitting Myth

By Stephen Kangal
December 05, 2007

Congress of the PeopleAfter undertaking one year of extensive mobilisation against the ingrained forces of political tribalism and maximum leadership styles both of which are deeply embedded in and have determined the contours of T&T politics for the past 52 years, the COP has now achieved 50% of its stated mission on the road to introducing caring, enlightened, issues-based and people-centred and driven politics in T&T under a style of new politics.
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