By Stephen Kangal
February 14, 2008
The damaging legacy bequeathed by the Barbados Labour Party’s dethroned Ex-Prime Minister, Mr. Owen Arthur in contributing to the turbulence that marred and blemished T&T/Barbados relations for the fourteen years of his Prime Ministership must not be allowed to accompany him unnoticed and unrecorded as he rides into the political sunset of Barbados. He personified the traditional “Baje” who is always one -step ahead of the unsuspecting and accommodating Trini.
Continue reading Arthur’s Legacy on T&T/Barbados Relations
Crime weary Laventille residents fear their lives and those of their families are in danger and believe gangs will strike back when a lockdown on their community is lifted.
Recently, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Keith Rowley hinted that the Government may soon need to reconsider its $2 billion a year fuel subsidy. Reaction among the population ranged from grumbling to expressions of outrage, so much so that another minister denied any such move was being considered. I beg to differ. The Government must not only cut back on certain subsidies it doles out, but it must determine where cuts are justified and where it needs to enhance state assistance.
The soul and spirit that presides over the terrific and tranquil Northern Range Caura shrine served up an unspoilt mecca for relaxation for over sixty years. It catered with its lush vegetation canopy for the recreational and unwinding needs of thousands. That is the unique heritage that is now being desecrated by lawless brigands and shameless bandits causing worshippers to scurry for their lives. These bandits must remember that a Catholic Priest cast a curse on the building of the corruption-riddled Caura Water Dam on the site of a previous church and it never materialised. Those who desecrate the Caura peace will surely pay for their sacrilege and disrespect to the gods that inhabit this sanctuary.
“Yo mean yo’ had to tell de whole world yo’ business,” that is what Oskie, my good friend, asked when he read that I had “advertised” my sickness in the Trinidad Guardian.
The caption in the business section of the Trinidad Guardian 24/01/08 read, “Petro-Canada excited over T&T gas find”. The article referred to the recent discovery of between 0.6 – 1.3 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. I’m not a geologist, but that strikes me as a significant amount of natural gas regardless of how it is measured. Petro-Canada is reported to have said that the local gas discovery is among the “more significant” of its international exploration successes. What’s more, this find is the first of a four well program and according to company officials, “…the discovery validates our exploration model and further success on the block could lead to a material development”. I am not sure what the term “material development” means but I am willing to wager a bet that the mother load is yet to be discovered.
LISTENING to today’s masquerade band leaders clamour for the Government to “run more money” my thoughts fall back on yesterday’s greats-George Bailey, Harold Saldenah, Cito Velasquez, Irwin McWilliams, the Harts and the Lee Heungs, to name a handful. These creative geniuses, forerunners to Wayne Berkeley and Peter Minshall, presented generations of Trinidadians and Tobagonians with Carnival spectacles that remain forever etched in the minds of those who were fortunate to see them parade in the city.
The relentless, insatiable and unmitigated fixation harboured by PM Manning in scraping the barrel for even the most tendentious and lack of a prime facie basis for wanting to disgrace and impeach former CJ Sharma as well as the rapidity of the process to effect the current appointment (done deal?) must surely lead citizens to inquire whether that whole sordid unnecessary chapter that blemished our political history in perpetuity was not a deliberately orchestrated political conspiracy engineered to remove CJ Sharma and enthrone Mr. Justice Ivor Archie in the first place.