By Raffique Shah
May 11, 2008
There should be no tears shed over Government’s decision to hold parliamentary Joint Select Committee meetings in camera, and not on camera. Already, members of the Opposition and some independent senators have expressed outrage, accusing the Government of using its majority to muzzle MPs and senators. Many people who follow parliamentary proceedings also view the move as one to deny the public the right to follow the proceedings of these committees. It reeks of cover-up, they argue.
Continue reading Damn right to deny MPs ‘gallery’ time
In his 1972 article titled “The meaning of development”, Professor Dudley Sears argued that “a country which had doubled per capita income could not claim to have experienced development if poverty, inequality, (inflation/ spiraling high cost of living, food shortages, human safety/security, level of crimes) and unemployment had not been reduced.”
September 2001: “Focus on agriculture declined from as far back as the first oil boom of 1973-79, when, with oil prices increasing at a dizzying pace, food production was no longer an attractive option. Like most oil-rich countries, Trinidad and Tobago felt it had the money to purchase its food requirements from low cost (though highly subsidised) producers in developed countries.
SIX people were killed between Wednesday night and yesterday morning at Carlsen Field, Bournes Road in St James, Carenage and Barataria. 
If former Trade Minister Dr Keith Rowley is a hooligan who displays ‘wajang’ behaviour, when did these abominable character traits first manifest themselves? Prime Minister Patrick Manning, explaining why he summarily fired the senior minister, told the media that for all of five minutes during a Cabinet committee meeting, Rowley ranted and raved and misbehaved, much to the shock of his colleagues. Pressed by journalists on Rowley’s darker side, Manning said: “It was not the first time. I’ve had to talk with him before.”
At yesterday’s post-cabinet news conference, Prime Minister Patrick Manning appeared alone to explain why he fired Rowley. Manning said that he fired Dr. Keith Rowley because of unacceptable ‘hooligan behaviour’ at a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of cabinet, and not because of his corruption allegation.
It came as a thunderbolt out of the political sky. A stunned country listened when it learned that Keith Rowley was fired from his position as a minister in Government. The Guardian headlines read: “Fired.” In a note sent to the Guardian after he was seen sitting in the backbench of the Lower House, Rowley wrote: “I have not resigned. I have been fired.” 
Dr. Keith Rowley’s appointment as Trade and Industry Minister was revoked with immediate effect on Wednesday 23rd April, 2008, by President George Maxwell Richards acting on the advice of Prime Minister Patrick Manning. This dismissal comes six months into the term of the Patrick Manning administration and has impassioned many supporters of Rowley.
THIRTY-EIGHT years ago tomorrow, a group of us comprising young officers in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (TTR), along with a few hundred soldiers, etched our names in history by revolting and seizing control of the army’s HQ at Teteron Barracks. We would hold the camp for ten days before subjecting ourselves to being arrested. We were charged with mutiny and treason among other serious offences. Of the 80-odd men arrested, around 40 faced court martial, with 25-or-so being sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. After 27 months in jail, we would walk free, thanks to the judicial system that remained fiercely independent of the political directorate.