Category Archives: corruption

corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T

Cradle of corruption

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By Raffique Shah
June 20, 2023

Raffique ShahI haven’t given much thought to the local government election due to be held in August, nor have I paid much attention to the ongoing debate on reforming local government, a cornerstone of PNM’s vision for new governments.

In the first instance, besides creating three new boroughs, the Government is seeking to instil the decentralisation of governance, the precise details of which I have not studied. However, I am aware that the contentious issue of property tax which the PNM sees as not only a source of revenue, but more importantly a source of power to the local government bodies, remains a gap between the Government and the Opposition UNC, which is totally against property tax.
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Complaints, corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Money Laundering, Politics

MASSIVE CORRUPTION

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20 years later: Piarco airport commission of enquiry report finally unwrapped…

By Ria Taitt
May 28, 2023 – trinidadexpress.com

Basdeo PandayIt has remained under wraps for two decades.

The Sunday Express has however obtained a copy of the report of the commission of enquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project, a subject which has poi­soned the political bloodstream of Trinidad and Tobago with allegations of corruption on a grand scale and counter-­allegations of political witch-hunting.
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corruption, General T&T, Politics

Is What We Go Put

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By Raffique Shah
May 15, 2023

Raffique ShahWhile members of parliament, on both sides of the divide debated, argued, and almost came to blows over a relatively minor issue— in this case, the supplementary appropriation bill— they could not see the herd of elephants in the House, not one in a room, set to stampede demanding an equitable place on Earth. I watched with consternation as MPs got close to blows over the Finance Minister’s proposal to increase expenditure for fiscal 2023, I thought: These people must be mad.
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corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Politics

Corruption capital

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By Raffique Shah
February 21, 2022

Raffique ShahI 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.
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corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Media, Police, Politics

FULs no solution to crime problem

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By Raffique Shah
January 31, 2022

Raffique ShahIf 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.
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corruption, COVID-19, Finance, Food, General T&T, Health, International, Recession

Talk to me about patriotism

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By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2022

Raffique ShahIt 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.
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corruption, General T&T, Opposition Party, PNM, Politics

Eroding Public Confidence in Our Institutions

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 04, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI 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].”
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corruption, General T&T, PNM, South Africa

PNM: Avoiding the Pitfall of Decline

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 19, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo 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.
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corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Oil and Gas, Politics

Let them eat ‘old batteries’

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By Raffique Shah
January 25, 2021

Raffique ShahIn 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.
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corruption, Finance, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Recession

King Imbert’s Court

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By Dr Selwyn Cudjoe
December 28, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTrinidad 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.
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