By Laurel V Williams
Tuesday, May 31 2016 – newsday.co.tt
“Go to hell!”.
That was the “message” Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Satnarayan ‘Sat’ Maharaj sent publicly for Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris in light of the controversial debate on child marriage and the law.
“Mr Archbishop and all you other people, look at the mote in your own eye before you point out the mote in the eye of the Hindu.
Continue reading Go to hell Mr Archbishop, says Sat
By Ria Rambally and Rosemarie Sant
Monday, May 23, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
As the debate rages on over laws on child marriage, there is scepticism from an elderly woman who was married at the age of nine, before there were even any marriage laws in this country.
Today Dularie Baboonie Kanhai says she had no regrets about her marriage, she and her husband had a good life which produced ten children and a happy home. But she is sceptical whether young people now have the stamina and the mindset to get married at that age.
Continue reading The Child Bride—Dularie’s story
Newsday Editorial
Friday, May 13 2016 – newsday.co.tt
THE BOOKS have been cooked.
Recent disclosures to Parliament have led us to conclude that the State’s financial accounting is seriously flawed. The books have been rendered defective through suspect accounting practices, gaps in oversight of revenue, and the use of tactics that have the effect of masking shortfalls. The result? A distorted picture. A Budget statement every year, yet no true accountability.
Continue reading Cooked books
By Miranda La Rose
Saturday, May 7 2016 – newsday.co.tt
IT WOULD be interesting, if on the issue of abortion, local lawyers were bold enough to challenge existing prohibitions against this to see if this ban may actually infringe upon an individual’s right to life and right to liberty, High Court Judge, Justice Frank Seepersad says.
Seepersad, who delivered the main address on Thursday at a conference on ‘Making of the Indian Constitution’, at the School of Education, University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, noted the laws in the famous United States case of Roe versus Wade (1973) had been challenged on the right to abortion, and the Supreme Court considered that abortion was a fundamental right.
Continue reading Challenge abortion laws
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 05, 2016
At some point the People’s National Movement (PNM) will have to decide whether it supports the moneyed interest of the society or the ordinary people whose votes put them in power. Much too often when the interests of the people is at stake, the hierarchy of the party tends to side with moneyed interest at the expense of the people.
Continue reading PNM’s Betrayal
Newsday Editorial
Thursday, May 5 2016 – newsday.co.tt
IT WAS a bright cold day in May, and the clocks were striking 13.
This opening line is a paraphrase of the famous opening line of George Orwell’s novel 1984. It’s fitting, we feel, given what took place in the Senate on Tuesday.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, without citing specific legal precedent, made a chilling declaration.
Continue reading Privacy is our right
By Geisha Kowlessar
May 05, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
Amid increased calls to legalise abortions which have been sanctioned by former health minister Dr Fuad Khan and advisory director of the Family Planning Association Dr Jacqueline Sharpe, Roman Catholic priest Father Clyde Harvey, however, said T&T must build a society where life was respected even in the most difficult of circumstances, including abnormalities.
Continue reading Call for new look at abortion laws
Newsday Editorial
Wednesday, May 4 2016 – newsday.co.tt
RONALD RAMDASS, 50, had been here before. As he stood in the dock of the San Fernando Magistrates Court, he weighed his legal options. The magistrate, Brahmanand Dubay, read out the charge: possession of marijuana. It was a charge with which Ramdass was all too familiar. According to court officials, he had more than 20 convictions for larceny and drug offences.
Continue reading Deal with it, Dr Rowley
Newsday Editorial
Monday, April 25 2016 – newsday.co.tt
WHEN things get tough, Governments always turn to the usual scapegoats. The remarks of Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh are a classic case of shooting the messenger.
But this tack damages democracy as much as it undermines the credibility of the Government.
Continue reading Abortion a matter of public interest
TTUTA president urges reform
By JOEL JULIEN
Monday, April 25, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
The partnership between the church and the state at our schools must be dismantled as it is detrimental to our country, president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Devanand Sinanan has said.
Sinanan said the Constitution defines this country as a “secular state” and therefore questioned “why should the state give monies to certain religious bodies to perpetuate their faith?”
Continue reading Dismantle church, state partnership