Category Archives: Elections

Elections, General T&T

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

Leave a comment

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.”
Continue reading Young’s leadership, trauma, and the politics of bullying →

Elections, General T&T

Gimmicks vs governance

Leave a comment

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.
Continue reading Gimmicks vs governance →

Elections, General T&T

Elections free from fear

Leave a comment

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.
Continue reading Elections free from fear →

Elections, General T&T, PNM

A new-faced PNM?

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.
Continue reading A new-faced PNM? →

Elections, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM

PNM’s obtuse rationalisations

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.
Continue reading PNM’s obtuse rationalisations →

Elections, General T&T

Regress rather than progress

By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 15, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe community is the source of democracy in Trinidad and Tobago. Recently, there have been many references to its role in solving our problems. On Tuesday Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis declared: “Grassroots sporting groups and programmes must no longer be sacrificed for the sake of national government bodies.” She obtained this wisdom seven years after she became the Minister of Sport and Community Development.
Continue reading Regress rather than progress →

Elections, General T&T

Time to administer zebapique

By Raffique Shah
February 15, 2025

Raffique ShahIt seems that some fifth columnist in the ranks of the Opposition United National Congress has hijacked the party’s offices and is training its activists and the leader, I need add for emphasis, in how to lose another election. The PNM in government was always destined to be beaten halfway to death in the run-up to the polls. It happens every five years—or if you can mastermind consecutive victories, in ten years.
Continue reading Time to administer zebapique →

Elections, General T&T, UNC

Autocracy, not democracy

By Raffique Shah
June 16, 2024

Raffique ShahWell before I thought about writing a column on the internal elections in the United National Congress, I deliberately decided that I will not focus on individual candidates but more on the process. In demo­cracies such as ours, there are always several interest groups that comprise the backbone of the parties which differ very little on critical issues such as the economic policies, crime and punishment, education and so on.
Continue reading Autocracy, not democracy →

Elections, General T&T, Hindu, India

Hate is ugly

By Raffique Shah
June 10, 2024

Raffique ShahSenior Maha Sabha official Vijay Maharaj must be one very disappointed man, mud plastered across his face. According to Maharaj, Planet Earth ought to have shifted its political axis, with cataclysmic consequences, last Tuesday, June 4. But Mother Earth is not known to bow to mankind’s will or wishes, especially if—as seems to have been the case here—they come flashing “power” cards engraved with names such as Maharaj, Modi and Maha Sabha.
Continue reading Hate is ugly →