Monthly Archives: April 2017

General T&T, PNM, Politics, Recession, UNC

Arithmetic lessons for the Finance Minster

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By Raffique Shah
April 28, 2017

Raffique ShahTrinidad and Tobago is one cantankerous country-we always quarrelling. In fact, we invariably have several quarrels raging at any point in time over issues or personalities such that we go off on tangents, forgetting who or what was in dispute in the first instance.

It is often said that you cannot please all the people all the time. With respect to Trinis, you cannot please anyone anytime. This characteristic is not to be confused with the proverb, “you can fool all the people some of the time…but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. In this latter regard, you can fool all Trinis all the time: just inform them via email that they have won the jackpot in a lotto they know nothing about, and you can relieve them of a “processing fee”.
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General T&T, International, PNM, Politics, UNC, USA

The Great Betrayal – Part 3

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 25, 2017

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA wry smile came over Dr Capildeo’s face as Dr Williams bemoaned his party’s betrayal in acquiescing to the massive giveway of the Chaguaramas lands. Dr Capildeo could not help but remember a similar land giveaway that had taken place under Dr Williams’s eyes even though Dr Capildeo did not live to see the long-term effects of that deal.
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General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics, Property Tax, UNC

Grounds Invalidating The Current Property Tax Legislation

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By Stephen Kangal
April 25, 2017

Stephen KangalTaking into account that the former late PM Manning’s 2009 Cabinet had a clear unwavering philosophy and intention that both Acts No 17 and 18 relating to the Property Tax, hurriedly passed without due consultations and proclaimed by 31st December 2009 would be strictly and rigidly implemented at the beginning of 2010, their non-implementation and associated factors have indeed now rendered the tax regime invalid, null and void and in need of re-submission to Parliament for the requisite amendments to be effected to remove the time-lines rigidities.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Health, International, USA

Why marijuana became illegal

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By Noel Kalicharan
April 22, 2017

MarijuanaThe “war on marijuana” has been waged for close to one hundred years, cost trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives, made criminals out of millions of otherwise law-abiding persons, denied life-saving medicine to millions more, without making the smallest dent in its availability.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC, USA

The Great Betrayal – Part 2

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 18, 2017

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDr. Rudranath Capildeo, Dr. Eric Williams’s underground companion, tried to console him when he heard about the massive giveaway of the Chaguaramas lands. Dr. Williams informed him it was his party, the United National Congress under the leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissessar that started giving away the land.
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Crime in T&T, Drug Trade, General T&T, Health, International, Law, Murder, Police, Politics, USA

No Crime Plan Without Legalising Drugs

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By Leanna Ganga
April 18, 2017

MarijuanaImagine a society where all drugs are legal and persons can openly purchase any drug of their choice from licensed and regulated distributors, just like they already purchase cigarettes and alcohol.

One may think of such a society in a state of what sociologists call anomie and deviance, with lots of intoxicated people committing criminal acts and the majority of citizens being addicts. This thinking, however, would be inaccurate.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, Recession

A Challenge for Comrade Roget

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By Raffique Shah
April 16, 2017

Raffique ShahLet it be clear that I am not joining any chorus of condemnation of OWTU president-general Ancel Rouget for his remark on bpTT’s decision to have its Angelin gas platform fabricated outside of Trinidad & Tobago, “Take your rig and go!” As a former unionist, I fully understand and accept sloganeering, bravado, and even outrageous statements as legitimate tools of the trade.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

The Great Betrayal – Part 1

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 10, 2017

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI don’t know where Keith Rowley, Colm Imbert, Stuart Young, Rohan Sinanan, Kazin Hosein, Faris Al-Rawi, Camile Regis-Robinson, Franklin Khan and Fitzgerald Hines were on April 22, 1960, but I was in Woodford Square when Dr. Eric Williams, in the presence of thousands of Trinbagonians, burned “the seven deadly sins of colonialism.” As he dropped each document (including the constitutions of Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies, the 1941 UK-US Chaguaramas Agreement, and a Democratic Labor Party statement on race) into an open fire near to the bandstand, he declared: “I consign it to the flames…to hell with it.”
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Murder, Police, Politics

Dillon must win the war—or surrender

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By Raffique Shah
April 08, 2017

Raffique ShahIn case you have not noticed, Trinidad and Tobago is gripped by war. Maybe I should rephrase that: there are several wars raging across the country. I wish I could say “civil war”, But there is nothing civil in the barbaric rules of engagement that seem to allow for one side to catch the other off-side and blaze them with bullets, only to have shooters from the home side exact revenge when the opportunity arises.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Views from a Breeze Maxi

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 05, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Monday I attended the funeral services of Rochelle St. Louise, the granddaughter of Ulric “Buggie” Hayes, a districker, as the people of Tacarigua call themselves. The ceremony was held at the Arouca R.C. Church. At about 11:15 am I left the service, traveling in a Breeze Maxi from Arouca to Port of Spain. I am in the front seat of the maxi. I ask the driver the obvious question, “How yo’ tink de government going, man?”
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