Category Archives: UNC

General T&T, UNC

Kamla’s place in T&T’s political landscape

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 07, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast week’s column, “Kamla’s second coming: a blessing”, elicited the following response from my dear friend Oscar D (not his real name): “Dear Pandit Cudjoe: This article has only elicited ambivalence. Your continued provocation by calling Kamla the mother of the nation is superfluous and disrespectful at best. I agree that we must learn about each other’s culture, but is it that Kamla’s ‘progression’ cannot be analysed within any other religious context? [Perhaps in] the context of African religious thought and philosophy?”
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General T&T, UNC, Venezuela

PM playing with fire

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By Raffique Shah
June 07, 2025

Raffique ShahI hope and expect those in authority who have the powers, to act, if the need arises, to remove a sitting prime minister and government by whatever means it takes to save our country from what appears to be a spark of madness which is threatening to engulf us even as I write (Friday night). Because after I listened to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar a few nights ago, when I heard what she said, I scrutinised her image on television to see if I could discern any signs of insanity or dementia. I leave that for the experts to work on.
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General T&T, Politics, UNC

Kamla’s second coming: a blessing

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 31, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSOMETHING extraordinary happened two Fridays ago. Kamla Persad-Bissessar—the Mother of our Nation, as I call her—went to Woodford Square to thank her supporters. Her supporters from Tobago chanted: “Thank you, Kamla, the Mother of our Nation. We love you, Mother.”

Such adulation signalled that Trinidad and Tobago is evolving to another stage of social development. It reminds me of “The Chambered Nautilus”, a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Snr, that explores themes of growth and change. The last stanza reads: “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul /As the swift seasons roll! / Leave thy low-vaulted past! / Let each new temple, nobler than the last, / Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, / Till thou at length art free, / Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!”
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Elections, General T&T, UNC

Madam PM, the hard work starts now

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By Raffique Shah
May 10, 2025

Raffique ShahI do not know if the UNC-led coalition that came to power two weeks ago by spectacularly defeating the PNM government in the general election believes it has the luxury of time and incumbency on its side, and the victory assures it of ten years in government. I focus on this continuous campaign mode that has taken hold of, it seems, the majority of the electorate. Having changed governments, disposing of the PNM from power in seven elections since 1956, it could be that the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, those who are actively involved in elections, believe that’s the way to go.
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Elections, General T&T, UNC

Magnanimity in victory

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 03, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe United National Congress’ (UNC) overwhelming victory last Monday was nothing short of spectacular. One of my colleagues called it an Eric Williams moment, meaning that Trinibagonians had inaugurated an important turning point in our social and political history: the decimation of an old stultifying order as they ushered in a new social and political era.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Why I will vote UNC

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 12, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBy 1959, party politics had taken hold on the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Michael Kangalee (he now calls himself Krishna, his middle name), my schoolmate at Tacarigua EC, supported the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that was led by Bhadase Sagan Maraj. I supported PNM, which was led by Eric Williams. Neither of us could vote but we followed our parents and villagers’ preference in expressing our party allegiances. Undoubtedly, our political position was shaped in part by our racial (not racist) affiliation. Years later, I went to the United States, and Krishna went on to live in Canada via England.
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General T&T, PNM, UNC

UNC’s victory: the necessary antidote to PNM’s revival

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 25, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA United National Congress victory in the forthcoming election is the necessary antidote to heal the fissures that have erupted in the PNM’s political structure. Only a UNC victory can counteract the fiendish act of PNM’s hierarchy of selling the party to the highest financial bidders. This will necessitate that PNM takes a more careful look at itself, especially in the absence of the Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow.
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General T&T, Politics, UNC

Ignore my advice, MP Paray

By Raffique Shah
September 18, 2024

Raffique ShahTo listen to MP Rushton Paray tell his story, citizens who have lived through 15 years or more of political machinations will be excused for making out that he believes the hogwash he is spouting.

More than that, he appears to believe we will be convinced his is a political drama unparalleled in the history of the nation. Somebody or bodies should save Mr Paray from making an ox of himself.
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General T&T, Politics, UNC

Snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 02, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeMonths ago I wrote of the United National Congress’ ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. I saw this tendency played out in 1976 when the United Labour Front (ULF) was projected to win the election until its inglorious march from Arima to Port of Spain on the Saturday prior to the poll. I stood at the corner of Caura Royal Road and the Eastern Main Road in El Dorado when the march passed through on its way to Port of Spain. “What they didn’t say about Black People is what they didn’t know.” Such a misstep led to its defeat.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Trade Unions, UNC

Labour Day nostalgia

By Raffique Shah
June 26, 2024

Raffique ShahI must confess that I feel nostalgic every year when Labour Day comes around. I wasn’t there in 1972 when June 19 was first declared a national holiday. The government of Dr Eric Williams had conveniently avoided recognition of the significance of June 19 to the history of labour and the country as a whole.

Most people who know anything about the significance of that date will know it was when Tubal Uriah Butler, who is seen as the father of radical labour, triggered a national strike by asking a large crowd of workers assembled in Fyzabad for a meeting if he should subject himself to being arrested by Police Corporal Charlie King, a powerfully stupid man who brandished a pair of handcuffs and the arrest warrant.
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