Category Archives: Elections

Elections, General T&T

Five dogs and a shovel

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 19, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOnce John Jeremie, Kennedy Swaratsingh and yours truly supported UNC publicly, darkness would seek to prevail over light, stupidity would try to dwarf intelligence, and moral degeneracy would erupt with diabolic fierceness.

I couldn’t conceive the conversation would descend to the vulgarity to which the former Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow took it: “I have five dogs and I’m handy with a shovel, so John Jeremie does not faze me or the PNM.” (Guardian, April 15); Jeremie was “a dog in the PNM. I can call him that” (Express, April 18).
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Elections, General T&T

Critical election for everyone

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By Raffique Shah
April 19, 2025

Raffique ShahKamla Persad-Bissessar will be delighted to learn that her not-so-friendly critic, Raffique Shah, has been moving around in my limited spaces, singing loudly, “When UNC wins, everybody wins.” In fact, when I zeroed in on that jingle, I had no idea that was the UNC’s main audio-visual marketing tool. By the time I realised what it was, I turned up my volume because I couldn’t be bothered with what people thought of my singing and the damn thing is catchy.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Why I will vote UNC

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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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Elections, General T&T

For whom you stain the finger

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By Raffique Shah
April 12, 2025

Raffique ShahIn the 45 years I have been writing a weekly column for one newspaper or other, I have never advised my readers which candidate or what party they should vote for. I started with a satirical column, “MP for the Masses”, in 1980, in the run-up to the 1981 general election, the first since 1956 that Dr Eric Williams was not at the helm of the PNM, having died in 1980.

I wrote a combination of humour, addressed the economic fortunes of T&T, took potshots at politicians—by then I had completed my one term as the elected MP for Siparia where, in 1976, I had polled the third highest number of votes—6,601—with only PM George Chambers and Boodram Jattan polling more votes.
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Elections, General T&T

Young’s leadership, trauma, and the politics of bullying

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 05, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen serving as prime minister, Patrick Manning rendered two insightful judgments on the former Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow. He said: “When he cannot have his way, Mr Speaker, his method is to bully you…We do not tolerate bullying in the secondary school system…The minute you oppose my good friend, he gets very, very angry. And if you oppose him strongly, he becomes a raging bull.”
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Elections, General T&T

Gimmicks vs governance

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By Raffique Shah
April 05, 2025

Raffique ShahDiscomfiture was writ large on the face of Prime Minister Stuart Young, SC, as he engaged in what many a Trinidadian would term “gimmickry”, serving the people their wants and not necessarily their needs.

At a public meeting in San Fernando he felt compelled to respond to the UNC’s bulging bag of election promises to the electorate. The UNC leadership knows well that the cost of implementing a slew of tax-breaks, increased salaries and services to the people and the host of other “goodies” they appear to be drawing from a magician’s hat, will be prohibitive. They are not practical, given the fall in revenues from our main goods and services. But, audiences at their meetings react to their offers like children at a party when the piñata bursts.
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Elections, General T&T

Elections free from fear

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By Raffique Shah
March 29, 2025

Raffique ShahMany people in this rainbow country do not know how lucky we are to have so many citizens of so many ethnicities, religions, cultures and varying mixes who could have given us reasons to fight wars of one kind or another, and destroy the dream of most citizens who want only for us to dwell in harmony, respect each other and share the national pie in an equitable manner.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM

A new-faced PNM?

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By Raffique Shah
March 15, 2025

Raffique ShahI imagine by the time readers get through today’s column, the People’s National Movement (PNM) will have completed its processes and revealed its full slate of candidates minus Dr Keith Rowley, who, as far as I can translate what is happening, will not be prime minister but will remain political leader of the party.

Yeah, I know: I’ve just burdened you with a long-winded sentence; bear in mind that the narrative reflects what is actually happening on the ground. So, if people are confused by what is happening, hopefully they will not be confused by my writing.
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Elections, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM

PNM’s obtuse rationalisations

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 08, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBlissfully, the Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow will soon relieve us of our miseries. Unfortunately, he leaves his clones behind who know not what they say or do. Chief among them are Faris Al-Rawi, a former attorney general, and Stuart Young, our first unelected prime minister.

Al-Rawi complimented the Leader recently for “his policy initiatives and actions, which he said were critical in stabilising the oil and gas sector in Trinidad and Tobago. He also complimented Young for his measured approach to the imminent change in leadership”. (Express, February 27.) I am not sure what that last sentence means.
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