Tag Archives: T&T Govt

Complaints, General T&T, Health, Politics

Hospitals of Horror

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By Raffique Shah
March 27, 2011

Raffique ShahIF DOCTORS in the public health care system feel that they are being unfairly targeted by Government and the public, they need to pause, collectively inhale, and look into the mirror. They should also weed out those in their ranks who have given this once noble profession a bad reputation. Indeed, many senior doctors who have long moved on into lucrative private practice must also shoulder some blame for the ills that bedevil the public health sector today.
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General T&T, Politics, Race and Identity, Security

‘Too many Africans in Police Service’

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Race talk hampering Police Service

By Clint Chan Tack
March 26, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

Nizam MohammedTHE ability of the Police Service to win the support of the population in the war against crime in the country is being hampered by the perception of ethnic imbalance within the service.

Police Service Commission (PSC) chairman Nizam Mohammed made this charge as members of the commission met yesterday with the Municipal and Service Commissions joint select committee (JSC) in the Parliament Chamber of the Red House.
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Complaints, Health, Media, People's Partnership, Politics, Protest

Doctors, Nurses Suspended – CEO Fired

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5 Doctors Suspended

By Clint Chan Tack
March 15, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

Health CareFIVE DOCTORS and four nurses of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) have been suspended, pending a full investigation into the death of Carapichaima housewife Chrystal Boodoo-Ramsoomair at the maternity ward on Carnival Friday, March 4.
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Tourism

Plebian Carnival

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By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOh what a difference an election victory makes. For time immemorial we were told by some that the steelband could never be considered as the national instrument—there was always the dholak—and that carnival was not really the national festival. They always sought to convince us that devali was comparable to carnival and emblematic of the national consciousness; hence the need to promote devali in the same way in which carnival is promoted. Somehow carnival was too black.
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Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Law, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Violence

PNM’s Retrograde Death Penalty Politics

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 05, 2011

HangingMonday, 28 February 2011 will not only live in infamy but it will also be recorded as one of the darkest days in the history of public policy decision-making process in T&T. This historic, albeit unforgettable, day witnessed the opposition PNM voting against the constitutional amendment to resume hanging as the most effective penalty/punishment/deterrent for murder.
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Gender, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Security

Playing the Race Card

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 23, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJack Warner is the last person I thought would play the race card but then as my mother says, “You never know.” Here is Kamla and the PP getting their licks because they don’t know their ears from their navels but all Jack could say when workers use the democratic tools to protect their interests is they are targeting Kamla because she is an “East Indian woman.” It is strange that Kamla’s East Indianness never came up when she was running for the election nor, for that matter, was her gender seen in a negative light. In fact her being a Hindu woman seemed an asset given the place that women hold in the hierarchical structure of Hinduism.
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Culture, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity

Ravages of Ethno-Nationalism

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By Stephen Kangal
February 21, 2011

Stephen KangalAfter 49 years of an ethno-nationalism-based and driven Independence and four distinct nationalist-leaning regimes what is the prevailing status quo on cross- cultural relations/diversity management that now impels us in T&T to want to chart a new culturally-sensitive and responsive way forward (multiculturalism) instead of continuing along the unjust and hitherto ethno-nationalism-paved track?
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Crime in T&T, Food, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, Violence

The law-abiding will strike back some day

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By Raffique Shah
February 19, 2011

Raffique ShahI AM so blasted vex as I write this column (Friday morning), I am seething with anger. The newspapers featured a story complete with photographs showing a group of thugs attacking some farmers and other residents of a farming community in Lopinot. The violent, brazen attack occurred in full view of journalists who had gone to cover the story. In fact, the thugs threatened and attacked media workers who escaped blows only because one of their colleagues knew one of the attackers.
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General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

Cudjoe and His Careless Thinking

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By Stephen Kangal
February 15, 2011

Stephen KangalProfessor Selwyn Cudjoe in his article wrote:

“In his ‘Mother Trinidad and Tobago Speech’ Dr. Williams intimated that we owe our primary allegiance to T&T rather than the various countries from which our ancestors came. In 2010, angered by the seemingly preferential treatment that Africans enjoyed under the People’s National Movement, the People’s Partnership (PP) decided to emphasize our difference rather than our commonalities thereby tearing away at the common cultural bond that holds us together as a nation”. (Selwyn Cudjoe in “Mother Trinidad and Tobago” Article – trinicenter.com – 16 January 2011).
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