By Raffique Shah
September 14, 2013
When House Speaker Wade Mark invoked the contentious constitutional provision that an elected MP, Herbert Volney in this instance, must vacate his seat upon resigning or being expelled from the party on whose slate he was elected to Parliament, it piqued my interest. You see, I was a principal player in the events that led to the passage of that amendment to the Constitution in 1978, and I am intimate with its genesis.
Continue reading Donkey with a kick
By Stephen Kangal
September 11, 2013
The heart and soul, indeed the single most important determining factor in the calculation of the quantum of property taxation for each property is the year in which the requisite rental value -driven valuation was completed and applied. Finance Minister Larry Howai alluded to the fact that by the time residential properties are brought to book again by 2017 the relevant requisite up-to-date valuations will have been completed.
Continue reading There’s is No Solace in the Land and Building Taxes Regime
By Sean Douglas
September 10, 2013 – newsday.co.tt
Speaker Wade Mark removed St Joseph MP Herbert Volney, “with immediate effect” from the House of Representatives moments after yesterday’s Budget Speech, in an unprecedented invocation of the “Crossing of the Floor” provisions of the Constitution.
Volney resigned from the United National Congress (UNC) — on which ticket he had been elected to the House on May 24, 2010 – after being fired as Justice Minister over the “section 34” scandal, and has since joined the Independent Liberal Party (ILP).
Continue reading Speaker Puts Out Volney
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 25, 2013
The “not guilty” verdict in the George Zimmerman case brings to the fore the twin-headed problem that confronts America today, namely, law versus the race question.
At the outset, it must be stated quite equivocally that the race question was intrinsically rooted in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and it also played a pivotal role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act signed by then President Lyndon Baines Johnson on 21 March 1965.
Continue reading Law versus the race question in America
By Raffique Shah
June 01, 2013
AT all times, human beings must be able to distinguish right from wrong; it is what differentiates us from other life-species. At all times, too, man must have the fortitude to stand up for what is right, to speak out against injustice, whatever the consequences he may face for his outspokenness. Today I feel compelled to make such stand on an issue that many may deem unimportant, and for which I risk being condemned.
Continue reading No to jungle justice
By Raffique Shah
May 26, 2013
I CANNOT quite figure out why so many people are shocked by Keith Rowley’s “revelations” in Parliament last Monday, or alarmed that the string of e-mails he read into Hansard; at first blush, appears to be as bogus as Clifton De Coteau’s black mop. Parliament has long degenerated into a theatre of the absurd, a forum for dishonourable members to slander and scandalise each other, an arena in which targeted citizens are crucified before hordes of reality-television viewers, a fate far worse than that which Jesus Christ is said to have suffered however many centuries ago.
Continue reading A matter of trust
Plot to cover up section 34
By Gail Alexander
May 21, 2013 – guardian.co.tt
Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley wants the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Integrity Commission to probe e-mails purportedly bearing the names of frontline government officials who allegedly wanted to tap the DPP’s phone after the Section 34 furore. Rowley also claimed the e-mails revealed moves to shift the DPP to the judiciary and further discussed intended intimidation of a T&T Guardian reporter who broke the Section 34 story last September.
Continue reading Rowley: Plot to cover up section 34
By George Alleyne
May 15, 2013 – newsday.co.tt
The People’s Partnership Government’s deliberate policy of offering jobs to and the eventual hiring of several key members of the media, along with the dangling of additional employment prospects to yet other media practitioners, has been a not too subtle assault on Press freedom.
Continue reading Assault on Press Freedom
By Raffique Shah
April 28, 2013
The issue here is not Jack Warner’s amoral attitude, his disdain for integrity in the conduct of public affairs. We have long established that Warner does not conform to the rules of the engagement, be it campaigning in an election, running a ministry or navigating the murky waters of global football. We expect no better from him.
Continue reading Massacre of the moral minority
Minister of National Security Jack Warner has resigned and Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has accepted his resignation.
Works Minister Emmanuel George is to be appointed interim National Security Minister.
Continue reading Jack Warner Has Resigned