By Raffique Shah
Sunday, May 4th 2008
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.
Continue reading Frying in their own fat
T&T’s Newsday Editoral
Friday, May 2 2008
In giving his reasons for firing Diego Martin West MP Keith Rowley as Trade and Industry Minister, Prime Minister Patrick Manning offered one piece of hard evidence: a design plan for the Performing Arts Centre which included a 60-room hotel. But it now seems that this evidence cannot stand.
Continue reading Mystery Hotel
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 02, 2008
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.
I remember only too well the day that Professor Rampersad journeyed to Brown University to meet with George Houston Bass, the literary executor of the Langston Hughes estate and a professor of theater arts at Brown University, to consider the possibility of writing a biography on Langston Hughes. I had known Bass somewhat having spent a year at Brown as an adjunct Associate Professor.
Continue reading Arnold Rampersad’s Storied Odyssey
Six murders in 24 hours
SIX people were killed between Wednesday night and yesterday morning at Carlsen Field, Bournes Road in St James, Carenage and Barataria.
Devon “Banka” Kerr, 26, was killed at Bournes Road.
He had his daughter in his hand and saved her by throwing her in bushes as he was being shot.
Continue reading The killing continues….
By Raffique Shah
April 27, 2008
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.”
Continue reading Manning Shoots a Rowdy Messenger
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.
Rowley stated that he was fired because he raised concerns about a lack of cabinet supervision over UDeCOTT’s mega billion dollar projects.
Continue reading Manning: Why I Fired Rowley
By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
April 25, 2007
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.”
The Express front page read, “Manning fires Rowley: I saw it coming,” whereas Newsday offered: “Manning fires Rowley: Udecott doing as it wants.”
Continue reading Serving the People’s Interest
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.
Continue reading Manning Fires Rowley
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, April 20th 2008
THIRTY-EIGHT years ago tomorrow, a group of us comprising young officers in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (TTR), along with a few hundred soldiers, etched our names in history by revolting and seizing control of the army’s HQ at Teteron Barracks. We would hold the camp for ten days before subjecting ourselves to being arrested. We were charged with mutiny and treason among other serious offences. Of the 80-odd men arrested, around 40 faced court martial, with 25-or-so being sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. After 27 months in jail, we would walk free, thanks to the judicial system that remained fiercely independent of the political directorate.
Continue reading Nostalgia for the 1970s
by Dr. Kwame Nantambu
April 18, 2008
This critique is in response to an article titled “Judge: Address racism to move ahead” that appeared in The Daily Express (14 April 2008) in which Justice Wendell Kangaloo is reported to have said that “we in Trinidad and Tobago would do well to start a conversation about race” in order to move this country forward.
Apparently, Justice Kangaloo’s eye-opener on race in T&T resulted from his amazement while viewing a programme on race via MSNBC-TV in the United States.
Continue reading Judge dead wrong on race