Monthly Archives: June 2011

General T&T

Accident paralyses country

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By Raffique Shah
June 18, 2011

Raffique ShahI WAS seething with anger last week Tuesday—and I was not even among the tens of thousands of commuters trapped in horrendous traffic jams that paralysed around 25 per cent of Trinidad. One fuel tank wagon overturns close to the Gasparillo/ Petrotrin flyover on the Hochoy Highway and commuters from as far north as the CR Highway intersection, through all of central-south Trinidad, steam in their stalled or slow-moving vehicles for up to seven hours. And we lay claim to being on the brink of developed country status?
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General T&T, Videos

Remembering the 1968 Chicago Convention, the Riots…and KAISO?

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By Corey Gilkes
June 16, 2011

Harry BelafonteWe Trinis are truly a self-contemptuous bunch. This is why I often hold the view that we need to be humiliated and re-colonised for we own good. What we have must be taken away and benefit someone else (well, more than what’s already happening), cause we really eh know or value wha we have. Cobo cyar eat sponge cake nah. And why I getting on so? Real simple.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Politics, Schools, Violence

Spinning Top in Mud

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 15, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTrinidad and Tobago ought to pause a moment; catch its collective breath, and then ask: where are we going as a nation. Anyone who viewed the video about Niyoka Folkes, a student of Barataria North Secondary School or saw the pummeling she received or the photographs of her bruises that appeared on the newspapers, cannot help but wonder at the sad turn of events at our public schools. That even an adult jumped in to add her blows seems to a dispassionate observer that our society might be going mad.
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General T&T, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago

‘I’m PM of Trinidad AND Tobago’

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Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar‘I’m PM of Trinidad AND Tobago’
PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday def-ended her decision to “fully operationalise” the Office of the Prime Minister in Tobago, insisting this will not cause a rift between the PNM-controlled Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and the People’s Partnership controlled-Central Government.
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Finance, General T&T, Law, Politics

Delayed justice is a national joke

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By Raffique Shah
June 12, 2011

Raffique ShahCIVIL lawsuits filed by the Central Bank last week against two of the most senior CL Financial directors, elicited scepticism across the country. Lawrence Duprey and Andre Monteil may now face the courts and answer wide-ranging allegations, from fiduciary irresponsibility to misappropriation of funds. The matters are now sub judice, so we cannot discuss them here, or anywhere else in the public domain.
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General T&T, International, Media

VS Naipaul finds no woman writer his literary match – not even Jane Austen

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Nobel laureate says there is no female author whom he considers his equal

By Amy Fallon
The Guardian UK, June 02, 2011

Vidia NaipaulVS Naipaul, no stranger to literary spats and rows, has done it again. This time, the winner of the Nobel prize for literature has lashed out at female authors, saying there is no woman writer whom he considers his equal – and singling out Jane Austen for particular criticism.
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Finance, General T&T, Law, Politics

DPP Probes Duprey, Monteil

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Lawrence DupreyDPP Probes Duprey
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday directed that all files coming out of the probe into the collapse of insurance giant CLICO be forwarded to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard to determine if criminal charges should be laid against former CL Financial executives Lawrence Duprey and Andre Monteil.
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Africa, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics

Truth and Consequences

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 07, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen I asked whether our honorable Prime Minister has a drinking problem I did not mean to be uncharitable or to be “sexist.” Given Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s difficulties I thought it responsible to raise an issue that has gained a life of its own. I still contend that the enabling role Strauss-Kahn’s friends played in supporting his illness may be analogous to the deafening public silence that surrounds the PM’s purported drinking problem. Many of Strauss-Khan’s close friends knew he had a problem. None was bold enough to speak about it publicly.
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corruption, General T&T, Politics

Stealing the soul of the nation

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By Raffique Shah
Jun 05, 2011

Raffique ShahBRIBERY and corruption are a global phenomena that permeate almost every country in the world. The only variant is the level or intensity of such malpractices, and the amounts of money involved, as they vary from country to country. Forget Transparency International’s Corruption Index, which addresses the perception of corruption, not the reality. Think real. Think Trinidad and Tobago, where from the ordinary citizen seeking to get a driver’s permit or a job, to a big contractor making a legitimate bid for a contract with a government agency.
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