Category Archives: THA

Jack’s shelf life

By Raffique Shah
August 04, 2013

Raffique ShahThere is no tectonic shift in voting patterns coming out of the Chaguanas West by-election last Monday, as some politicians and political analysts posit.

What happened was simply this: the constituents, who are predominantly Indians and supporters of the UNC, used the ballot to tell the party’s leadership that it could not foist any “crapaud” on them. They wanted Jack Warner to represent them, and they were prepared to defy the party’s directives to make their point.
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THA heads in troubling direction

Trinidad Guardian
March 01, 2013 – guardian.co.tt

Trinidad GuardianThere is great cause for concern over the news that the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) plans to appoint former secretary of finance and enterprise development Dr Anselm London as a senior consultant in his former division, which is now headed by the recently elected Joel Jack.

Dr London, a man of advanced age, who stepped down ahead of January’s THA election after serving in the position for more than 11 years, is the cousin of Chief Secretary Orville London. That alone raises questions and is generating considerable discomfort.
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Tobago Results: Afri-centric Analysis

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
January 29, 2013

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe most revealing end-result of the recent Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election was the salient reality that Tobagonians are different from Trinidadians. And that’s what Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar either never understood or took for granted that the reverse was true.
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The next generation of racial politics

By Dr Sheila Rampersad
January 20, 2013 – guardian.co.tt

Trinidad GuardianThat Indian/African racism and racialism predate Hilton Sandy, that racial baiting has been ubiquitous in T&T politics, and that it is practised by PNM and UNC are by now undeniable truths. So to swelter inside that cocoa house with repetitive back-and-forth accusations of who said what, when, and who responded then but not now and vice versa is unproductive, unhealthy and, quite frankly, unbright.
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ORVILLE TOPS JACK

By Newsday Staff
January 22, 2013 – newsday.co.tt

PNMTHE INCUMBENT People’s National Movement (PNM) obliterated the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) in yesterday’s Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election, winning all 12 seats. The Tobago electoral map was literally painted in the PNM’s colour — red.

From as early as 9 pm, it was clear that the PNM had easily pushed the TOP into second place in virtually all seats, with The Platform for Truth (TPT) party trailing a distant third everywhere.
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Gambling on bare Jack

By Raffique Shah
January 19, 2013

Raffique ShahTHE ferocity with which the two main parties, the PNM and the People’s Partnership (yes, the PP!), fought the 2013 THA election, suggests that they see this battle for an anticipated 25,000 or so votes as a life-and-death struggle. Maybe it is, although I venture to add that this prognosis applies more to the Partnership than the PNM, as I shall argue. The intensity of the campaign, the media, ground and cyberspace advertising and propaganda blitz, which must have cost at least $50 million, certainly surprised me.
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Tobago’s Internal-Self Governance — No Façade Structure

By Stephen Kangal
July 11, 2012

Stephen KangalCurrent proposals originating both in POS (The Green Paper) and Scarborough (The Draft Bill of the THA) now in the public domain and geared to accord a higher level of self-governance to Tobagonians must not result in another façade Legislature exercising political and administrative autonomy merely to achieve peace, order and good governance in the sister-isle. There must be fundamental changes both in structure and substance. Tobago must be treated with dignity, the inalienable right of its people to self-determination respected and their ownership or sovereign rights over adjacent maritime resources to be exploited for the welfare of its people recognized and legitimized.
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Cabinet Reshuffle: New Ministers

Swearing-In of Cabinet Ministers and Government Senators
Swearing-In of Cabinet Ministers and Government Senators

New Cabinet to strengthen Government
Government’s parliamentary team has been strengthened with the appointment of veteran politician Ganga Singh as Senate leader, replacing Emmanuel George.
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PP: Taking Loud and Saying Nothing

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 06, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days ago, the People’s Partnership (PP) celebrated its second year of office amidst a lot of hype and propaganda. Their esteemed leader even tried to mamaguy Orville London by calling him “a bully and cry-baby” because, in his capacity as the Secretary of the THA, he sought a meeting with Kamla Persad Bissessar, in her capacity as the Prime Minister, to talk about the affairs of his country. Under normal circumstances, London would not necessarily have wanted to meet Persad Bissessar because there is nothing intellectually attractive or physically compelling about her. But such is the dynamics of power that the Prime Minister and her cohorts could say a lot of nonsense and get away with it because they control the political purse and constitutional discourses about the nation.
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The Allness of the Universe

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 21, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA month ago the People’s Partnership (PP) celebrated its first anniversary. Its members party fuh so. Such was their glee that Kamla even found time to stick it to Orville London and the THA. Like all-conquering heroes and monarchs of everything they surveyed, not even the lowly CEPEP was beyond the grasps of their craven ways. They wanted it all. PP was not only of T&T; it envisaged itself as the all-embracing spirit of the society.
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