Using a National Disaster to Polarise the Country

By Stephen Kangal
July 05, 2017

Stephen KangalBoth during question time as well as during the debate on the definite matter of urgent public importance that the Speaker accorded to the major flooding disaster that occurred in the wake of tropical storm Bret, the Rowley Government on Friday demonstrated the deep divisions and further polarisation that it is fanning and embedding in this country to serve its nefarious electoral agenda.
Continue reading Using a National Disaster to Polarise the Country

Marlene fired again

By Gail Alexander
July 02, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

Marlene McDonaldIn what’s probably the shortest-lived Government appointment in recent memory, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday fired Marlene McDonald from his Cabinet (again) after he had re-appointed her to office just three days ago. In fact, McDonald didn’t even have time to move into the Public Utilities Ministry for which she had been announced last Thursday and for which she’d taken the oath of office at President’s House, St Ann’s, last Friday.
Continue reading Marlene fired again

A bend in the river

By Raffique Shah
July 02, 2017

Raffique ShahIn 1950, when I was four years old, my father moved the family from a sugar company cottage in Brechin Castle (now Rivulet Road) to a rented house near the Croisee in Freeport. The house, two bedrooms sitting on stilts about five feet high (I’m writing from childhood memory), was located off a sharp bend in the Freeport River, the main watercourse in what I call Greater Freeport. In fact, its eastern boundary was the meandering river, and because the land was lower than the road, level with the river-bank, whenever it rained heavily for more than a day, which occurred several times every rainy season, our yard was flooded, the swirling waters ranging from a few inches to maybe three feet.
Continue reading A bend in the river

State Capture: Syrian/Lebanese Style

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 02, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Sunday Anthony Bourdain presented a well-researched, balanced, and superbly crafted depiction of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in his program “Parts Unknown.” All the interviewees portrayed T&T as a sophisticated, talented, diverse and intelligent community. Then, without much prompting, Mario Sabga Aboud, reminded Trinbagonians about a truth they know but rarely discuss publicly: The Syrian/Lebanese, a community of approximately 5,000 people, is the most powerful ethnic group in the country.
Continue reading State Capture: Syrian/Lebanese Style