Monthly Archives: January 2010

COP, General T&T, Parliament, Politics, UNC

Kamla’s dawn, Panday’s sunset

2 Comments

New UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
New UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
The Lioness roars Kamla’s dawn, Panday’s sunset

By Sean Douglas
January 31, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

SIPARIA MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar probably surprised even herself at the extent of her whopping landslide victory over Couva North MP Basdeo Panday for the UNC leadership last Sunday. She got 13,000 votes to Panday’s 1,300.

Last week’s events were best summarised in three little words – spoken surprisingly by perhaps the last person you’d expect: a very statesmanlike Prime Minister Patrick Manning – who on Friday said in the Lower House, “Time marches on.”
Continue reading Kamla’s dawn, Panday’s sunset →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

A few good men…and women

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
January 31, 2010

HaitiBEFORE the Herculean task of reconstructing Haiti can begin, the current relief programme must reach every Haitian. It must first ensure that all those who suffered physical and mental trauma during and after the earthquake are properly treated. Last week I made reference to amputations being done with hacksaws and without anaesthetic. Hello! Anaesthesia was introduced in the mid-19th century! The US military has large numbers of field hospitals equipped a wide range of medications to meet such emergencies. Where were they?
Continue reading A few good men…and women →

General T&T, Politics, UNC

Tension, picong… Jack is Chief Whip

9 Comments

New UNC Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
New UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
All eyes were on the new UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former UNC leader Basdeo Panday and the new Chairman of the UNC Jack Warner. Panday, who arrived a few minutes late, offered Kamla his chair before eventually taking his seat in parliament. Panday’s loyalists diagreed with Persad-Bissessar’s appointment of Jack Warner as the UNC Chief Whip, claiming Mr. Warner is too inexperienced. Basdeo Panday remains UNC’s Opposition Leader as no motion has been made to replace him.
Continue reading Tension, picong… Jack is Chief Whip →

Complaints, Letters, Politics

Disorderly Governance

2 Comments

MangroveEDITOR: The Laws of Trinidad and Tobago have been broken by the open removal of Mangrove forests on the Mucurapo foreshore next to the car park where the City Corporation park their trucks. Why has the Mayor or the CEO of the City Corporation not yet been arrested and charged or fired for incompetence and mismanagement? Are the 40 dedicated Environmental Police a few blocks away at the EMA offices in St Clair aware?
Continue reading Disorderly Governance →

Caribbean, Haiti, USA

Q & A with the State Department on Haiti

Sending in the Marines

By Judith Scherr
January 29, 2010 – counterpunch.org

US Marines in HaitiTHE FRENCH COOPERATION Minister Alain Joyandet accused the U.S. of “occupying” Haiti rather than helping in the wake of the devastating January 12, 7.0 earthquake. Doctors Without Borders and officials from the Caribbean community expressed similar frustrations, as US military personnel controlling the airport turned away their planes. With just under 20,000 U.S. boots on the ground in Haiti or just off shore, the U.N. military force has augmented its numbers to around 12,000. Still, more than two weeks after the disaster, Haitians lack water, food, medicine, shelter and equipment to dig out those that may still be alive under the rubble.
Continue reading Q & A with the State Department on Haiti →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

The Kidnapping of Haiti

5 Comments

By John Pilger
January 27, 2010

HaitiThe theft of Haiti has been swift and crude. On 22 January, the United States secured “formal approval” from the United Nations to take over all air and sea ports in Haiti, and to “secure” roads. No Haitian signed the agreement, which has no basis in law. Power rules in an American naval blockade and the arrival of 13,000 marines, special forces, spooks and mercenaries, none with humanitarian relief training.
Continue reading The Kidnapping of Haiti →

General T&T, Politics, UNC

Panday’s Provoking the Population

15 Comments
Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday
Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday

By Stephen Kangal
January 28, 2010

The stubborn and ego-driven recalcitrance of the Leader of the Opposition, Basdeo Panday [failed] to do the honourable thing for the third time in the face of the total and overwhelming humiliation and demolition job that was inflicted on him on Sunday [and this] is of great concern to the entire population and not exclusively of the membership of the UNC. This is the fork-tongued Panday who said that he would go when the members no longer wanted him.
Continue reading Panday’s Provoking the Population →

General T&T, Politics, UNC

Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Change

14 Comments
UNC Political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
UNC Political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Address by newly-elected Political Leader of the United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the inauguration of members of the new UNC National Executive at Rienzi Complex, Couva, on January 27, 2010.

“Behold they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. [Genesis 11:6]”

Today we start a new phase in our journey to return good governance to Trinidad and Tobago.
Continue reading Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Change →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Focus on Haiti – The Politics of Rice

1 Comment

By Al Jazeera English
January 25, 2010 – aljazeera.net

HaitiIn 2008, in the midst of the global food crisis, we travelled to Haiti to look at the politics of rice – how such a fertile country became dependent on food aid.

In the wake of this current disaster, that dependence is – initially – going to deepen.
Continue reading Focus on Haiti – The Politics of Rice →

General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Defeated Basdeo Panday Holds On

15 Comments
Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday
Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday

Mr Panday must step aside now
Sunday night’s victory by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, placing her as the new political leader of the opposition United National Congress (UNC), is tantamount to a political earthquake in T&T. And while the political shake-up may not leave anyone dead, there are likely to be many careers that end up being badly wounded. Mrs Persad-Bissessar has done what many men before her have failed to do: she toppled the man whose name has become synonymous with post-independence opposition politics in T&T—Basdeo Panday. Although the election machinery was clearly stacked against her and her slate with a large number of voters being disenfranchised, the huge margin of Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s victory for the post of political leader of the UNC was a clear indication that almost every member of the party wanted change.
Continue reading Defeated Basdeo Panday Holds On →