Tag Archives: Keith Rowley

General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics, UNC, USA

How FATCA Infringes and Trammels Our Statehood

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By Stephen Kangal
December 23, 2016

Stephen KangalThere was a quite visible and audible dearth in the House lacking the requisite international relations expertise to analyze and dissect the internationally illegal imposition of US-domestic FATCA on T&T from a foreign policy/international law perspective.

That important missing dimension, after T&T has been an active international relations participant for 55 years of statehood/UN multilateral diplomacy/foreign policy-making, has tarnished our international image, national pride and reputation.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, UNC

No longer blinded by our eyes

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 04, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe People’s National Movement (PNM) ought to chill; ask what it is doing wrong; recharge its battery; and then take it from there. It lost the local government election and people are losing confidence in its leadership.

This is one situation in which loud talking and grand charging are unlikely to solve the problem at hand. The situation calls for calm, cool and reflective thinking. The election results are clear: The PNM won seven corporations (down from eight in the last elections); the United National Congress (UNC) won six. The PNM and UNC received four seats each in Sangre Grande. PNM lost about 12 seats to the UNC.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

The corbeaux are circling

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By Raffique Shah
November 23, 2016

Raffique ShahThe campaign for next Monday’s local government elections has degenerated into a dogfight that is dominated by fluff, innuendoes, outright lies and a teaspoon of violence which the main combatants, PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley and UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, hope will generate a large voter turnout and salvage their respective political careers.
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General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics, UNC

Imbert Must Credit Kamla for the Gaming Bill

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By Stephen Kangal
November 16, 2016

Stephen KangalWhen beleaguered and now politically isolated Finance Minister, Colm Imbert introduces on Friday a Gaming/Betting Control Bill 2016 in the House designed to regulate and bring under strict legislative jurisdiction a mushrooming and widespread but illegal Gaming Industry he must abandon his penchant for flaunting his boyish political immaturity. He must give due credit to former PM, Kamla-Persad-Bissessar for all the hard work invested on the comprehensive and insightful law- creating process that commenced with the 2013 Budget Statement of intent announcing the new regime. These are the firm building blocks of the new gambling and betting shops regime.
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General T&T, Law, Media, PNM, Police, Politics

Police probe ordered on AG’s children gun issue

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Images which surfaced online allegedly showing a cabinet minister’s relatives with high-tech weapons
Images which surfaced online allegedly showing a cabinet minister’s relatives with high-tech weapons

By Renuka Singh
Oxctober 14, 2016 – trinidadexpress.com

Acting Police Commissioner Harold Phillip has ordered an investigation into how the children of Attorney General Faris al-Rawi came to be holding high-powered military weapons.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics

Powers he does not have

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By Raffique Shah
October 04, 2016

Raffique ShahThe unseemly public spat between President Anthony Carmona and Prime Minister Keith Rowley, if it gets any nastier, could bring both offices and office-holders into further disrepute, and add to the list of public offices, officials and institutions in which citizens have lost or are losing confidence.

We can take it as fact that based on the structural political divide in the country, at least half the adult population believes that Dr Rowley is wrong, that he is lying. We should not be ashamed to admit that most people judge politicians not on facts or evidence adduced, but on partisan politics, whatever the issue or whoever happens to be under scrutiny.
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General T&T, Integrity Commission, Parliament, PNM, Politics

Integrity and Probity

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 27, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am an old timer. I believe integrity in public life predates the establishment of the Integrity Committee. My mother, born in 1909, used to say: “When ah dead, if anybody say ah owe dem any money, tell dem dey lie.” Her word was her bond. She believed each of us possesses an innate sense of what is right and wrong which tells us when we have transgressed those boundaries. Such a credo was part of an ethical value system that we, as black people, learned from our nineteenth-century ancestors. In those days, we did not need an Integrity Committee to tell us what constitutes ethical behavior.
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Finance, General T&T, International, PNM, Politics, UNC, USA

America is a Big FATCA Liar

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By Ted Baumann
March 4, 2015 – thesovereigninvestor.com

FATCAWhen I was a kid I once got the better of a bully in a schoolyard scuffle that he had started. With workmen on the school roof cheering me on, I chased the guy halfway across the playground before he turned around and raised his hands in surrender. Needless to say, with the whole class watching, he was terribly embarrassed.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Health, PNM, Politics

Ode to a Tea Bag

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 14, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeHeard the one about the tea bag? It only works when it is in hot water? Listening to such wisdom, I couldn’t help but think about my PNM government and my country. The prime minister is in California looking after his health. When a man takes his entire family (the old and the newly acquired) to be around him on such an occasion, then something may be amiss. He has asked the nation to pray for him. I think we should do as he asks.
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General T&T, Health, Politics

Living with Parkinson’s

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By Raffique Shah
August 11, 2016

Raffique ShahI had no idea that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was seriously ill when I slammed into him last week for failing to take full charge of his responsibilities to the country. Upon reading that Dr Rowley’s ailment required him to have a series of medical tests conducted in the USA, I felt I owed him a sincere apology, which I tender here.

You see, in the years I’ve known him, I considered Keith an exemplar of fitness that those who hold public office should emulate. Because of my training, lifestyle and experience, I’ve often advised holders of high office with whom I’ve interacted that whatever the demands on their time they should set aside at least one hour a day for some form of exercise.
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