Flooding, General T&T

Has God abandoned this cussed country?

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By Raffique Shah
July 05, 2017

Raffique ShahI am convinced that God, in whatever manifestation the people of this multi-religious society pray to him, has given up on Trinidad & Tobago. How else can we explain the near-total breakdown of systems that define a functioning nation? The economy is in a mess. Criminals are in control, striking at will. Lawlessness reigns supreme. And rather than work together to rescue the country from collapse, the politicians resort to jammette-like behaviour in Parliament, cackling like yard-fowls, literally saying to us, well, didn’t you elect Jean and Dinah to represent you?
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Flooding, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Using a National Disaster to Polarise the Country

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By Stephen Kangal
July 05, 2017

Stephen KangalBoth during question time as well as during the debate on the definite matter of urgent public importance that the Speaker accorded to the major flooding disaster that occurred in the wake of tropical storm Bret, the Rowley Government on Friday demonstrated the deep divisions and further polarisation that it is fanning and embedding in this country to serve its nefarious electoral agenda.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Marlene fired again

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By Gail Alexander
July 02, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

Marlene McDonaldIn what’s probably the shortest-lived Government appointment in recent memory, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday fired Marlene McDonald from his Cabinet (again) after he had re-appointed her to office just three days ago. In fact, McDonald didn’t even have time to move into the Public Utilities Ministry for which she had been announced last Thursday and for which she’d taken the oath of office at President’s House, St Ann’s, last Friday.
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Flooding, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

A bend in the river

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By Raffique Shah
July 02, 2017

Raffique ShahIn 1950, when I was four years old, my father moved the family from a sugar company cottage in Brechin Castle (now Rivulet Road) to a rented house near the Croisee in Freeport. The house, two bedrooms sitting on stilts about five feet high (I’m writing from childhood memory), was located off a sharp bend in the Freeport River, the main watercourse in what I call Greater Freeport. In fact, its eastern boundary was the meandering river, and because the land was lower than the road, level with the river-bank, whenever it rained heavily for more than a day, which occurred several times every rainy season, our yard was flooded, the swirling waters ranging from a few inches to maybe three feet.
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General T&T, Lebanon, PNM, Politics, Syria, UNC

State Capture: Syrian/Lebanese Style

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 02, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Sunday Anthony Bourdain presented a well-researched, balanced, and superbly crafted depiction of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in his program “Parts Unknown.” All the interviewees portrayed T&T as a sophisticated, talented, diverse and intelligent community. Then, without much prompting, Mario Sabga Aboud, reminded Trinbagonians about a truth they know but rarely discuss publicly: The Syrian/Lebanese, a community of approximately 5,000 people, is the most powerful ethnic group in the country.
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General T&T, Labour

Labour Day blues

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By Raffique Shah
June 28, 2017

Raffique ShahI awoke on Labour Day morning to Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke saying in a television interview: Maternity leave? I’m not talking about maternity leave. I am talking about parental leave…two years each for both mother and father…

I groaned, my features turning sour, my Labour Day mood dampened, not by the approaching storm, but by the “gobar” being spewed from the mouth of one of the senior trade unionists in the country. I had gone to sleep the previous night thinking of the glory days at Fyzabad, between 1973 and 2009, when, without fail, I marched with pride alongside giants like George Weekes and Joe Young, and later Clive Nunez, Errol McLeod, Lyle Townsend and others, leading thousands of enthusiastic workers and farmers and unemployed persons, lustily singing our union battle-hymns.
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England, European Union, General T&T, International

May Proposed a Brexit But The People Disposed

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By Stephen Kangal
June 28, 2017

Stephen KangalIn the post -election scenario, various incarnations of Brexit assumed centre stage at both Westminster and in the unforgiving British media. It even caused a delay in the delivery and contents of the Queen’s Speech that normally heralds the ceremonial opening of a new parliamentary term. Even Her Majesty’s presence at the Royal Ascot race meet was delayed.
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General T&T, Media

Sabga-Aboud apologises

17 Comments

After CNN show comments upset public

By Rhondor Dowlat
June 28, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

Mario Sabga-AboudChairman of the Global Brands Group of Companies, Mario Sabga-Aboud, has described yesterday as “one of my worst days ever.”

Sabga-Aboud was responding to the public outcry on social media and the one-man protest staged in front one of his establishments in Maraval yesterday, about a statement he made on the CNN Anthony Bourdain show “Parts Unknown.”
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Africa, Education, General T&T, Schools

Go to Timbuktu!!!

17 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 27, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeMany Trinidadians and Tobagonians of my generation can remember when, in a rage or disagreement, an antagonist uttered the insult: “Go to Timbuktu!” It was a term that suggested one should be banished into ignominy and sent into the dungeon of stupidity.

Experience and education have taught me that Timbuktu, an important seat of learning between the 12th and 16th centuries, was one of the most important educational and cultural centers in the world. In its Golden age, the town’s numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade. There were campuses of the Sankore Madrasah, an Islamic university. At its height, as many as 25,000 students, a quarter of the city’s population, studied there.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Property Tax, UNC

Don’t nail judge to race-cross

30 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 30, 2017

Raffique ShahFor some time now I have sounded warnings to our tribal leaders, more specifically those in the frontline of the United National Congress, that they are playing with fire by fanning the embers of racial strife that could easily ignite. While we have enjoyed relative harmony in a world wracked by ethnic and religious strife, the absence of war between the two main tribes in this country does not necessarily mean peace.
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