By Raffique Shah
February 21, 2022
I am convinced that Trinidad and Tobago is the most corrupt country in the world. There is hardly a person who has not witnessed “wid mih own eyes”, as Trinis would say, or otherwise gained knowledge of, at least one act of corruption in his lifetime, and likelier several such illegal transactions. He or she will have said nothing about it by way of reporting the illegal act to anyone with the authority to act on it.
Continue reading Corruption capital
By Raffique Shah
January 31, 2022
If there was anything shocking about the non-appointment of a new Commissioner of Police, the simultaneous publication of the retired Justice Stanley John’s report and the stench that emanated from the innards of the records room when its files were opened, it was the surprise expressed by citizens over the scandalous state of affairs in the Police Service.
Continue reading FULs no solution to crime problem
By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2022
It didn’t take Nobel Prize-winning economists such as St Lucia’s Sir Arthur Lewis, or the USA’s Milton Friedman or Paul Krugman, to project that as the world economy emerged from an unprecedented virtual lockdown that lasted three, four, who knows how many years during the Covid pandemic, commodity prices, especially those of goods and services that are critical to the recovery of countries across the world, would rise rapidly, putting them beyond the reach of the poorest nations and the poor in every nation.
Continue reading Talk to me about patriotism
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 04, 2021
I was trying my best to stay out of de commess until someone sent me a Facebook post that read: “That’s Faris’s Porsche that Roger has been driving around over the past two years.” The post also showed a photograph of the SUV number plate attached as well as a “Title of Certification.” Quickly thereafter the Express reported: “There have been suggestions of a link between Al-Rawi, [Roger] Kawalsingh, and Gary Griffith and on investigation that this alleged link has compromised the work of PolSC [Police Service Commission].”
Continue reading Eroding Public Confidence in Our Institutions
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 19, 2021
Two weeks ago South Africa’s Constitutional Court sentenced Jacob Zuma to 15 months in prison for contempt of court. He refused to appear at a government enquiry committee that was looking into the corruption that took place during his nine-year rule. The party (ANC) began to run the state as though it was just another arm of the party, and therein lay its downfall.
Continue reading PNM: Avoiding the Pitfall of Decline
By Raffique Shah
January 25, 2021
In my column last week, I questioned why the Government thought was necessary to exclude from scrutiny of the relevant authority details of Government to Government contracts. The point I was trying to make is that citizens almost instinctively do not trust politicians, especially when they are in office. Because countries like Trinidad and Tobago have been mired in allegations of corruption on a huge scale that spans different parties in power, suspicions of corruption will cloud every expenditure a government incurs, which leaves little room for getting things done.
Continue reading Let them eat ‘old batteries’
By Dr Selwyn Cudjoe
December 28, 2020
Trinidad and Tobago became an independent country in 1962 and a republic in 1976, in which the people, through their representatives, were supposed to control their affairs.
Such a political arrangement sounded enticing since it promised to place the country’s destiny in the hands of people they knew, rather than foreigners (white) whom they did not know.
Continue reading King Imbert’s Court
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 27, 2019
OSKIE is my best friend but sometimes he does try my soul.
He have a knack for asking the right question at de wrong time.
Eleven years ago I had an operation for prostate cancer. One month after my operation, he come asking me if ‘de ting’ does still work.
Continue reading Ah hungry!
By Raffique Shah
August 20, 2019
If the arrest of ex-Minister Marlene McDonald, and her indictment on fraud and misbehaviour in public office charges did anything for the morale of citizens, it was to restore confidence in some investigative units of the Police Service, and underscore the independence of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Continue reading Least of the looters
By Raffique Shah
July 19, 2019
I listened to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi a few nights ago as he detailed new legislation and associated measures the Government has put in place regarding land ownership and transactions. If I got it right, he said they have revolutionised the registration of deeds such that detailed information contained in those all-important proof of ownership documents will make fraudulent transfers difficult if not impossible.
Continue reading Land bandits stealing State lands