By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
December 19, 2010
To all intent and purposes, a new genre of politics has become the norm in T&T. And this new political modus operandi is the politics of distraction.
For while the country is burning, the murder rate (445 as of this writing) has surpassed Brian Lara’s 400 highest test score and is feverishly and uncontrollable heading to surpass his 500 highest county cricket score also.
Continue reading Politics of distraction in T&T
By Raffique Shah
December 19, 2010
“Gobar in de mansions, gobar on de ground
“Gobar in de country, gobar in de town…”
(David Rudder, “The Savagery”, 1998)
SOME people who have the power to effect change and the courage to pursue noble goals with great enthusiasm, often find themselves stumped by the savagery they encounter when they tackle seemingly intractable problems. Trinidadians (more so than Tobagonians) are a strange people. We are mostly warm, friendly, helpful, and sometimes generous to a fault.
Continue reading A nation of unrealised potential
By Dana Seetahal
December 18, 2010 – trinidadexpress.com
When I heard Mayor Louis Lee Sing’s statement that he was going to ask the Port of Spain Magistrate’s Court to set midnight as the hour that bars must stop selling liquor in St James and Woodbrook I wondered whether he appreciated there was a separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive.
Continue reading Law, order and our leaders
By Anna-Lisa Paul
December 17, 2010 – newsday.co.tt
Despite assertions by Port-of-Spain Mayor Louis Lee Sing that bars in his mayoral district will stop selling liquor at midnight, a senior magistrate yesterday said the court’s hands were tied as it pertains to the law governing the granting of liquor licences.
Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the St George and environs district, Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan said only the respective minister can give effect to restrict hours for the sale of alcohol. The Ministry of Legal Affairs is the ministry under whose purview the granting of bar and liquor licences fall.
Continue reading Magistrate: Minister to set bar hours
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 15, 2010
I always believe that the demise of the Grenada Revolution occurred because of the hotheadedness of forty-year olds who had little knowledge of the world and people. They knew theory aplenty but were not seasoned by common sense and wisdom that only comes with age. One is seeing a similar tendency in the UNC-led coalition called the People’s Partnership.
Continue reading Criminalizing the Society
By Raffique Shah
December 11, 2010
THE closest I ever got to a football World Cup finals was in London in 1966. No, I was not in Wembley Stadium where England beat West Germany 4-2 in a match that was mired in controversy. My friend, the late Joey Baksh, and I, watched the match on television from a flat near Brixton. That was so close to Wembley, yet beyond the reach of students who could not afford tickets.
Continue reading Warner a one-man wrecking machine
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 09, 2010
It is one thing to win an election. It is quite another thing to govern a country. It’s good to rule by consensus but disastrous when no one is in charge and the leadership functions by vaps. It is exciting when a leader is guided by a sense of good will. It is frightening when such a leader is not guided by any core principles and the ship of state is adrift and rudderless.
Continue reading Who Is In Charge Here?
PNM Walkout
Newsday Editorial
December 08 2010 – newsday.co.tt
Opposition Chief Whip Marlene Mc Donald may shut her eyes to reality, play word games and deny her parliamentary bench is split, but Friday’s partial walkout of the Chamber can leave few in doubt of the power struggle that is confusing the PNM side. Friday’s division of the bench showed TT what it has for six months suspected: since losing office, there has existed a tug of war in the Parliament between MPs loyal to new Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and representatives sympathetic to their former chief, Patrick Manning. Friday was a physical manifestation of the current PNM political reality.
Continue reading Split in the PNM?
By Trevor Sudama
December 07, 2010 – newsday.co.tt
I was astounded by Panday’s lack of concern for the future of the sugar workers when he was the leader of the Government.
I myself was involved in the struggles of sugar workers in the sixties and early seventies. I was a candidate of the United Labour Front in the 1981 General Election in a sugar growing constituency.
Continue reading An act of gross betrayal
By Raffique Shah
December 05, 2010
“Virtually all countries of the world…have secret CIA tracking stations.”
—Intelligence expert and author Alexander Kolpakidi (Daily Mail, November 15, 2010).
THE scandal—allegations that US agents spied in (and on) sovereign states, allies like Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland—broke around the same time the SIA mess hit the fan here in Trinidad and Tobago. American agents conducted surveillance activities against “suspected terrorists” on foreign soil. They did not inform the host countries of what they were doing, which included monitoring, photographing and filming people around their embassies and others taking part in protest rallies.
Continue reading Big Sister is watching you