Category Archives: PNM

Jack’s shelf life

By Raffique Shah
August 04, 2013

Raffique ShahThere is no tectonic shift in voting patterns coming out of the Chaguanas West by-election last Monday, as some politicians and political analysts posit.

What happened was simply this: the constituents, who are predominantly Indians and supporters of the UNC, used the ballot to tell the party’s leadership that it could not foist any “crapaud” on them. They wanted Jack Warner to represent them, and they were prepared to defy the party’s directives to make their point.
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JACK WINS

By Andre Bagoo
Tuesday, July 30 2013 – newsday.co.tt

GordonJACK WARNER, 70, has been re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West, after provisional results from the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) last night projected him as the winner of the bye-election. It was a crushing victory.

Up until press time, Warner provisionally received 12,631 votes while the United National Congress’s (UNC) Khadijah Ameen, 32 – his nearest rival – received less than half that amount or 5,126 votes.
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Buffoonery reigns

By Raffique Shah
July 28, 2013

Raffique ShahThe tragedy of tomorrow’s by-election in Chaguanas West is that all of us—politicians, commentators, journalists, publicists and people—treated the exercise, more so the campaign, as a big joke, a comedy festival of sorts. In other words, we have all helped to perpetuate the unholy mess that passes for politics in a country where buffoonery triumphs over rationale, in a land where crapaud is king – or queen.
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The Charge of the Warner Brigade

By Stephen Kangal
July 10, 2013

Stephen KangalWarner chose the maximum advantage-minimum cost political strategy to enhance and repair his damaged post-FIFA image and to restore the political status quo ante- the Palmiste debacle.

All that he is alleged to have committed and not proven took place outside of the jurisdiction of T&T within the largessse of the FIFA culture of gift-giving. He did not steal from the people of T&T. The four legal opinions have discredited the Simmons Report as being legally and procedurally flawed and therefore worthless.
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Don’t Blame the Hindus or the Christians

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 04, 2013

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo of my dear friends are reputed to have suggested that the Hindus and the Christians may be responsible for the plight of young Africans who find themselves in trouble with the law. They also seem to suggest that a Hindu-based government is to be blamed for out plight. I should hope that this is not what they intended to convey to the public. Such statements tend to inflame national feelings and deepen the national divide. I am a member of the PNM and count myself to be as conscious of my blackness as anyone else. However, I think we ought to be careful about what we say.
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Gordon’s Big Error

By Andre Bagoo
June 16 2013 – newsday.co.tt

GordonTHE ACTIONS of the chairman of the Integrity Commission chairman Ken Gordon in holding a private meeting at his Glencoe home with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley was a serious error of judgment which has now compromised the Commission as well as the Office of the President, senior political analyst Dr Hamid Ghany said yesterday.

Ghany said the meeting, held on May 15 at the chairman’s resident at Newbury Hill, Glencoe, displayed “poor judgment” on the part of Gordon and now risks disrupting the appointment process which is currently being undertaken by President Anthony Carmona.
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Yes, Prime Minister, a fiasco

By Winford James
June 12, 2013 – trinidadexpress.com

Dr. Winford jamesNEVER mind Jack Warner’s denial, Prime Minister, it is a fiasco. Warner is focused on the rest of the Cabinet blaming him for it, despite acknowledging, in his usual convenient way, the doctrine of cabinet responsibility, but that is a red herring: it is still a fiasco. You could have said “bacchanal’’, “disaster’’, “catastrophe’’, “debacle’’, “shambles’’, “farce’’, “mess’’, “foul-up’’, or “screw-up’’. Yes, “screw-up’’. Everybody knows your government has been screwing up—monthly, weekly—but I’ll take the Italian word and its conservative figurative meaning: “failure in a performance’’.
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$49M rip-off

By Clint Chan Tack
June 13, 2013 – newsday.co.tt

Dr. Keith RowleyOPPOSITION Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday accused Government of using last year’s flooding in Diego Martin as a smokescreen to award millions of dollars worth of contracts to its friends. Rowley, who is also Diego Martin West MP, made this charge as he debunked the earlier contribution of Finance Minister Larry Howai during debate on the Finance (Supplementary Appropriation) (Financial Year 2013) Bill 2013 in the House of Representatives.
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No to jungle justice

By Raffique Shah
June 01, 2013

Raffique ShahAT 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.
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A matter of trust

By Raffique Shah
May 26, 2013

Raffique ShahI 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.
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