Response to the 2006 – 2007 Budget by the Hon. Leader of the Opposition Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar (M.P. Siparia)
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Category Archives: Politics
Statistics and damn lies
By Raffique Shah
October 22, 2006
Two years ago a report from some UN agency stated that 300,000 people in Trinidad and Tobago lived “on less than US$1 a day”. Today, with oil dollars gushing through the country, we have managed to lower this number to, I think, 170,000 paupers. When I read statistics like these I vigorously shake my head, trying to figure out if I am living in T&T or on some other planet. Although I cannot claim to know every district in the country, I try to figure out how these highly paid experts come up with their numbers when I don’t see evidence of such indigence.
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Rapid Rail Questions
By Stephen Kangal
Government cannot be honestly embarking on a proposed Rapid Rail System (RRS) at a capital cost of $20 billion over 4 years and leave the people in the dark. They must be told how their money will be spent and what real reliefs to motorists and travelers will be provided by this astronomical monstrosity.
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The Rapid Rail To Gridlock
By Stephen Kangal
The proposed Rapid Rail System (RRS) OR BOMBARDIER STYLE TRAMLINK would appear to be a done deal that has been concluded in the privacy of Cabinet without the requisite proper feasibility study (recommended by APETT) being conducted to determine whether it can really alleviate the escalating traffic gridlock that has enveloped most areas of Trinidad. This RRS is being bandied about even before the receipt of the Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) Comprehensive National Transportation System (CNTS).
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2006 – 2007 Budget speech
The text of Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s 2006-2007 Budget Speech as was presented in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, October 4th, 2006.
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Sharma’s road to London
By Francis Joseph, newsday.co.tt
Sunday, October 1 2006
AFTER Chief Justice Clinton Bernard retired in 1995, Appeal Court Justice Sat Sharma was next in line for the coveted post of head of TT’s judiciary. But he did not get the job. The position went instead to an eminent attorney, Michael de la Bastide SC. So Sharma waited. His turn eventually came in July 2002 and he was appointed Chief Justice by then President Arthur NR Robinson.
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Manning ‘bombed’ by Bombardier
By Raffique Shah
September 24, 2006
Politicians, especially those who are in power, must know they are under intense public scrutiny, whatever they say or do. Once they have offered themselves for office and are elected by the people, they become public property. It’s a reality that many may be uncomfortable with. But if you commit yourself to politics, expect the masses to offer you no quarter. Opposition politicians can get away with murder or slightly lesser crimes when they reduce themselves to comic status, when they provide entertainment, not serious challenge for office.
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STOP harassing Chinese!
PM puts Immigration chief under heavy manners
… meanwhile, illegal Nigerian and Caricom aliens running wild in T&T
By AZAD ALI Chief Reporter, tntmirror.com
September 15, 2006
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning has called on Chief Immigration Officer Herman Browne to stop the harassment of Chinese immigrants in this country.
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A Party For And Of The People
By Michael De Gale
Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we live in a society where race, unfortunately, is an increasingly divisive issue. Whether we inherited this from our colonial past or we are just too damn stupid to appreciate its negative impact on the society as a whole, the fact remains that race is a cause for much concern in T&T. It is because of this that the recently created Congress of the People must do everything in its power not to be perceived as an “Indian Party” if it hopes to wrestles the reigns of power from the current administration.
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Courting another revolution
By Raffique Shah
Looking around at the many idiot concerts being staged at the highest levels in this society, with some of the most senior office holders as principal actors, one wonders if these people have nothing better to do, if they fail to see the trees from the wood. How and why two matters concerning the Chief Justice can grab headlines for close to two years, and remain mired in the courts and even more so in the political arena, defies imagination and rationality.
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