Monthly Archives: November 2017

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Politics, Violence

A time to kill

52 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 30, 2017

Raffique ShahI am not optimistic over the Prime Minister’s promise to citizens that the near-riot that erupted for the umpteenth time last week in the Beetham community will not occur again.

Dr Keith Rowley said he has directed the heads of the Police Service and the Defence Force to ensure that law and order are enforced in Beetham and elsewhere in the country even as people exercise their right to protest. He called for those who used the recent disturbance to engage in criminal acts to be prosecuted, and acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams said he had a team of officers examining video footage of the mayhem to identify and arrest the culprits.
Continue reading A time to kill →

Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Media

Vicky Boodram recaptured

11 Comments

…found in house hours after ‘public’ meal

By Jensen La Vende, Kevon Felmine
December o1, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

Vicky Nirupa BoodramThree days after alleged fraudster Vicky Boodram escaped from the Women’s Prison at Golden Grove, Arouca, she was recaptured in Penal last night.

Officers from the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit, acting on intelligence, went to a house at Sunchine Drive off Lachoos Road, just before 7 pm. They later found Boodram, 35, hiding in the house.
Continue reading Vicky Boodram recaptured →

corruption, Education, General T&T, Politics, Racism Watch

Forged in the Bowels of Corruption: Pt 3

3 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 26, 2017

PART 1 — PART 2 — PART 3 — PART 4 — PART 5

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe development of Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector owes a lot to the dedication and ingenuity of Ken Julien, our energy czar. Wendell Mottley, T&T’s former Finance Minister, suggests that Julien would not have been successful if he had approached his job through “the typical state bureaucracy.” He was successful because Eric Williams, the former PM, “insulated the energy investments from the hassles and delays that might ordinarily be expected in a programme of such size, complexity and duration” (Trevor Boopsingh & Gregory McGuire, From Oil to Gas and Beyond).
Continue reading Forged in the Bowels of Corruption: Pt 3 →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Politics

BEETHAM BADNESS

33 Comments

Shots fired, debris thrown on highway after 2 arrested

By Ryan Hamilton-Davis
November 24, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

BEETHAM BADNESSAfter the arrest of two of their own, Beetham residents vented their anger by throwing debris onto the highway and then firing shots when police arrived to clear the rubble and restore order.

What followed was hours of gridlock on the east-bound and west-bound sections of the highway, the Priority Bus Route and the Eastern Main Road.

Head of the Port of Spain Division, Snr Supt Floris Hodge-Griffith told Newsday she and her officers had to duck for cover when they were shot at on arriving at the Beetham. Hodge-Griffith said she was driving in a marked police vehicle on the Beetham Highway at about 10.45 am when she encountered the blockade.
Continue reading BEETHAM BADNESS →

corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, UNC

Only in Trinidad

6 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 23, 2017

Raffique ShahUntil such time as persons in public life who are criminally responsible for stealing from the public purse, or for abusing their powers to enable their friends or associates to unfairly, maybe even illegally, acquire state lands or subsidised housing, are thrown into jail like the common thieves they are, this society will continue to decay, to fall apart, hurtling towards a failed state, a dubious title that we seem hell-bent on attaining, as if it were an achievement we can be proud of.
Continue reading Only in Trinidad →

Africa, England, European Union, International, Zimbabwe

What is Behind the Military Coup in Zimbabwe?

38 Comments

By Gregory Elich
November 21, 2017 – gregoryelich.org

Zimbabwe WatchLong-roiling factional conflict within Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF political party exploded last week in a military coup that quickly seized control of the government and state media.

The coup was led by Commander of Zimbabwe Defense Forces Constantino Chiwenga, who is closely aligned with former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Emboldened by President Robert Mugabe’s declining mental sharpness and physical health in recent years, Mnangagwa actively maneuvered to ensure that he would succeed the president. Mnangagwa served as one of Zimbabwe’s two vice presidents. From that position, he and his supporters, known as Team Lacoste, became embroiled in a bitter struggle with younger party members who coalesced around Secretary of Women’s Affairs Grace Mugabe, wife of the president, and whose group was known as Generation 40, or G40.
Continue reading What is Behind the Military Coup in Zimbabwe? →

corruption, Education, General T&T, Racism Watch

Forged in the Bowels of Corruption: Pt 2

2 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 20, 2017

PART 1 — PART 2 — PART 3 — PART 4 — PART 5

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThings get mighty strange in T&T. Before President Anthony Carmona could wash he foot, he jump into de dance with the chiasmus: “I don’t feel because there is a recession that we need to have a recession in education” (Express, November 11). It sounds noble but it does not amount to a hill of beans.

When there is a recession everything recedes including educational funding for the simple reason that the government or the stakeholder does not have enough money to pay for an expensive enterprise, particularly when monies extended to that enterprise may not have been used with the necessary circumspection. However, the President’s statement sounded Solomonic in the presence of enablers of a seriously disabled system. They included UTT chairman Prof. Ken Julien, deputy chairman Prof. Clement Imbert, UTT president Prof. Sarun Al-Zubadidy, Education Minister Anthony Garcia and Chief Justice Ivor Archie.
Continue reading Forged in the Bowels of Corruption: Pt 2 →

Elections, General T&T, Media, Politics, UNC

JEARLEAN FOR DEPUTY

9 Comments

Fired HDC head on Kamla’s slate

By Stacy Moore
November 16, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

Jearlean JohnFired Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Managing Director Jearlean John yesterday filed nomination papers to contest the post of UNC political leader in the party’s November 26 internal election.

At first it was thought John, who was Transport Minister during the Basdeo Panday administration, was merely supporting UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar by walking with her as she (Persad-Bissessar) entered the party’s Couva headquarters to file nomination papers shortly after 3pm. However, John presented her own nomination papers to the party’s election officer Dr Rampersad Parasram.
Continue reading JEARLEAN FOR DEPUTY →

General T&T, Politics, Sex Crimes

Sexual misconduct haunts public figures

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 16, 2017

Raffique ShahAmidst an avalanche of allegations of sexual misconduct against a phalanx of prominent men, mostly in the USA, but also in other developed countries, one can anticipate a similar surge here in Trinidad and Tobago, although our litigation procedures are more constrained, some might argue restrictive, than in those jurisdictions. I argue, too, that cultural differences influence the way the local public, if not the courts, view such allegations.
Continue reading Sexual misconduct haunts public figures →