Monthly Archives: January 2011

corruption, General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, Politics

Rumshop Politics

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By Raffique Shah
January 29, 2011

Raffique ShahDURING the formative years of the United Labour Front (ULF), circa 1975/76, I learned some harsh lessons in “politics by vaps” courtesy an often-tipsy Basdeo Panday. Those occurrences come to mind as I watch amazing scenes played out on the national stage. Since the lead actress is Panday’s successor, Prime Minister and UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who has publicly stated that Bas is her “political guru”, maybe there is a nexus between what happened so many moons ago and what is happening today.
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Entertainment, General T&T

Conqueror Killed While Crossing Road

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Leroy 'Mighty Conqueror' Paul
Leroy ‘Mighty Conqueror’ Paul

Leroy ‘Mighty Conqueror’ Paul was struck by a car on the night of Thursday 27th January, 2011, while crossing Wrightson Road near the Kalypso Revue Tent at SWWTU Hall. He succumbed to his injuries in hospital. ‘Mighty Conqueror’ was on his way to rehearsals for the 2011 Calypso tent season. His hits included “Trinidad Dictionary”, “Woman And Money” and “Fresh Water Yankee”. He was 71.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Media, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Security

Kamla’s Casual Carelessness

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOne year ago Kamla Persad-Bissessar was elevated to the leadership of her party. In May of last year she was elected prime minister of the country. Since then she has shown herself to be incompetent; of questionable intellectual maturity, and deficient in judgment. As we enter 2011, I wonder how many persons feel she is steering the ship of state in a positive direction.
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General T&T, Media, People's Partnership

1990 Enquiry

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1990 Attempted CoupRobinson recalls his infamous order:
‘Attack with full force’
MORE than 20 years after he was held hostage in the Parliament Chamber at the Red House in Port-of-Spain, and his Government overthrown by 114 Muslim insurgents, former President Arthur NR Robinson yesterday testified before the Commission of Inquiry established to probe events surrounding July 27, 1990.
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Africa, International, Race and Identity

Cote d’Ivoire

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 25, 2011

EmancipationProfessor Kwesi Jonah is the chairman of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana at Legon. He is an expert in African politics and specializes in political economy and good governance. In 2005-06 he acted as the coordinator of West African Political Parties Programme (WAPPP), a project of the Institute of Economic Affairs located in Accra.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, Politics

Poor Excuses on Remand

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Newsday Editorial
January 23, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

ArrestedWE are entirely dissatisfied with the turn of events at last Tuesday’s sitting of the Lower House that passed the Miscellaneous Provisions (Remand) Bill 2010.

We believe that in the recent swirl of late night sittings and rushed legislation, the far-reaching consequences of this Bill have not at all been spelt out to the general public, but for the cautions issued by Diego Martin North East MP Colm Imbert and Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene Mc Donald.
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General T&T, Media, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics

A case of poetic injustice

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By Raffique Shah
January 23, 2011

Raffique ShahWHEN Attorney General Anand Ramlogan made a fool of himself in Parliament by insinuating that ex-prime minister Patrick Manning may have stolen or otherwise disposed of “one grand piano” (as auctioneers would say), many may have missed the irony of Ramlogan’s boorish behaviour. “Wey the piano gorn?” Anand brayed, looking pointedly at “Patos”.
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Culture, General T&T, Politics, Race and Identity

Mother Trinidad and Tobago

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 17, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days after Kamla Persad Bissessar became the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago she dropped in at the headquarters of the Maha Sabha and announced blithely that the nation will adopt a multicultural rather than a transcendent cultural policy that served our nation well during its first fifty years of its existence. Such an announcement constituted a repudiation or reversal of Dr. Eric Williams’s vision that was contained in his “Mother Trinidad and Tobago Speech” that emphasized our commonalities rather than our differences. Dr. Williams envisioned a nation in which we should consider ourselves Trinidadians and Tobagonians first, anything after that.
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