PM Tells of a Plot to Assassinate Him

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A PLOT TO KILL ME
PM tells of shocking event before coup anniversary last year
By Anna Ramdass – Published: 28 Jul 2009
PM Patrick ManningPrime Minister Patrick Manning claimed last night that there was a plot to assassinate him last year. Speaking at the PNM’s meeting in Arima, Manning reminded the crowd of an incident that took place in July last year, when a marked police vehicle attempted to “peel off” one his security detail vehicles as he and his wife, Local Government Minister Hazel Manning, were on the way to the gym.
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Discrimination, doc, not ‘ethnic cleansing’

By Raffique Shah
July 26, 2009

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Dr. Tim GopeesinghON the few occasions I spoke with Dr Tim Gopeesingh, I found him to be an amiable, intelligent person. He is one of the few high-profile members of Basdeo Panday’s parties who are bold enough to actually converse with me. I add this since I’m sure Panday has some unwritten clause in his party’s regulations that deems interaction with this not-so-humble writer “high treason”. But that’s another story. Today I focus on Tim’s injudicious statement about “ethnic cleansing” of Indo-Trinidadian doctors at the Port of Spain General Hospital.
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Race and Identity in T&T

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 24, 2009

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TrinbagoniansDr. Tim Gopeesingh’s recent public baseless and ridiculous accusation of “ethnic cleansing” of Indian-Trinbagonian doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital speaks volumes as to the total misunderstanding of issues concerning race and identity in T&T.

The fact of the matter is that official government census statistics reveal that 42 percent of T&T’s population consists of Indians, Africans comprise 38 percent, Europeans (Whites) are 2 percent, etc.
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Another look at 1990 coup

By George Alleyne
July 22, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

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1990 Coup: Yasin Abu Bakr is arrestedAny Inquiry into the July 27, 1990 attempted coup by the Jamaat al Muslimeen should seek to find out who was behind the supplying of the then militant group with weapons and ammunition, who orchestrated the move to seize power and was the planned coup specifically designed to overthrow the leadership of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) Government.
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‘Ethnic cleansing’ of Whom in T&T?

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 19, 2009

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DoctorsThe recent accusation by UNC’s Dr. Tim Gopeesingh of “ethnic cleansing” of Indian-Trinbagonian, not Indo-Trinbagonian, doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital at the supposed hands of the PNM-Manning administration, smacks of an innocuous similarity of “reverse discrimination” by Euro-White Americans whenever African-Americans seem to make some modicum of socioeconomic progress.
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Obama’s Africa Speech: Lies, Hypocrisy, and a Prescription for Continued African Dependence

Q. Is Obama better than Bush?

A. It depends how you like your imperialism – with a white face or a black one.

By Stephen Gowans
July 19, 2009

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Barack ObamaUS president Barack Obama’s speech at Accra, Ghana on July 11, 2009 was equal parts jaw dropping hypocrisy, outright fiction, sound advice for Africans if taken literally, and advocacy for institutions ideally suited to capital accumulation in Africa by Western investors. Africans should heed the US president’s call to embrace the idea that Africa’s future is up to Africans (and Africans alone) and to build their own nations, but the path Obama proposes, if followed, would condemn Africa to continued underdevelopment and perpetual dependence on the West.
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Super-rich parties, dirt-poor supporters

By Raffique Shah
July 19, 2009

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Basdeo PandayWHEN political allies fall out, the mess that hits the fan could be worse than what would occur should a sewage-filled tanker explode in the midst of a $1,000-per-person, all-exclusive fete.

Highfalutin men and women would have faecal matter splattered all over their ultra-expensive party clothes, on their faces and their lobster salads. Those were my first thoughts when I heard Basdeo Panday accuse Jack Warner of failing to account for $30 million in donations to the UNC he (Jack) allegedly received during the 2007 general elections campaign.
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‘PoS General, an African hospital’

By Sean Douglas
July 18, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

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Dr. Tim GopeesinghCARONI East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh alleged an “ethnic cleansing” of Indo-Trinidadian doctors at Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), but Leader of Government Business, Colm Imbert, dismissed these charges as “scandalous, false and outrageous.”

The heated exchange shook up a dull debate on the Emergency Ambulance Services and Emergency Medical Personnel Bill 2009 as amended by the Senate.
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A conscience vote

By George Alleyne
July 15, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

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Jack WarnerIssues of personal conscience with respect to policy positions held by two of the nation’s legislators — Independent Senator Gail Merhair and Opposition United National Congress Chaguanas West Member of Parliament, Austin “Jack” Warner — have dominated national public issues thinking within recent days. Senator Merhair, with respect not only to her support of the controversial Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, but the comments she made immediately prior to her casting of her vote, and Mr Warner’s voting in favour of Government’s Securities Bill 2009.
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Montano adds insult to Merhair’s injury

Guardian Editorial
Published: 12 Jul 2009 – guardian.co.tt

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ParliamentSenator Gail Merhair injured the public interest not for voting, as an Independent, in support of the Government, but for the reasons she has given.

An Independent Senator is answerable to no constituency, no parliamentary whip, or to any party-line enforcer. Appointed in the President’s own, non-advised, wisdom, an own-way Independent Senator may pitch and roll indefinitely as a loose cannon aboard the ship of state.
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