Tag Archives: Keith Rowley

General T&T, PNM, Politics

Lead by example, PM

By Raffique Shah
October 16, 2024

Raffique ShahIt is said that if you live long enough, you would have seen and heard “Everything”. I am closing in on 80 years and based on my last 30 years’ experience, I do not think I have seen close to everything. I guess the wise men who made that statement lived in the “donkey cart” era, not cars-powered-by-electricity era.

In today’s world, say over a generation (30 years), pace of change is so dizzying that one can suffer multiple medical conditions just trying to keep abreast of technology alone. If for nothing else, I’d like to be here to see the noiseless cars powered by electricity, silently whizzing up and down the highways and the byways. I want to see “Bounce mih nah!” Trinis shout at motorists whizzing past silently.
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General T&T

On being relevant

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 01, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Republic Day, letter writer Nigel Seenathsingh scolded me for “attacking” his leaders.

On that same day the Express published a full-page story about a PNM senator in a domestic violence matter.

The Express editorialised the following day: “Given the lead story in yesterday’s Express about a protection order placed by the court against Government Senator Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing, and not pronouncing on either innocence or guilt, it is assumed that domestic violence against both men and women will be a part of the discussion” at the AG’s consultation on domestic violence.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Columbus dead, Prime Minister

By Raffique Shah
August 28, 2024

Raffique ShahIf Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is not careful with every word that “cometh” out of his mouth between now and whenever the general election is held (in 2025, he says), he could become part of the list of political leaders who have thrown away significant advantages they held before general elections.

Indeed, the advantages he and his colleagues have fought hard to establish and maintain after nearly a decade in power in Trinidad and Tobago could vanish in the putrid elections environment by him uttering inappropriate words and policy statements.
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Africa, Books, General T&T

An ideologue’s pirouette

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 07, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn his address to the nation on African Emancipation Day, the Leader of our Grief called upon his distraught citizens to focus on Afro-Trinbagonians who have made outstanding contributions at home and abroad.

He urged the universities of the West Indies, of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Southern Caribbean “to research further, then highlight and promote the African heritage in the country’s art, literature, music, religion, drama, fashion, cuisine, technical and empirical skills”. (Express, August 1, 2024.)
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General T&T, PNM

Maccoes, not spies

By Raffique Shah
April 02, 2024

Raffique ShahEvery time I watch or listen to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley deliver an address or a contribution to some pre-election forum, I sigh, shake my head, and think: what wasted words.

I have watched Dr Rowley develop over the past 25 years or so, from a bar-room brawler poli­tician to a formidable spokesperson who has earned his place as the leader of his party. He struck me as being bright when after joining Patrick Manning in opposition in the ’90s he went on to become a frontline speaker who helped resurrect the party.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Dr Rowley’s public vulgarity

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 18, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was at his most vulgar on Thursday, March 9, when he sought to scandalise my name at a public meeting at Enterprise, Chaguanas. However, his public performance revealed more about his moral blindness, his public vulgarity, his intellectual narrowness and aggressive narcissism. No one who read my 28-page, carefully footnoted lecture could have arrived at his conclusion.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Politics, Violence

Rowley cannot solve our crime problem

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 23, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeKeith Rowley and his Government will not solve our growing crime problem for the simple reason that Rowley has become a part of the problem rather than part of a solution. He is much too arrogant, indecisive, ill-disciplined and un-inspirational to lead such a vital national effort.

First. He says that Trinidad and Tobago is a violent society, but exempts himself from that national condition. If his description is true, we are all infected with that virus. However, Rowley is mistaken in one regard. He feels that only physical violence matters. He does not realise that verbal violence—a product of the same society of which he is a part—is as bad as physical violence and may be the precursor to physical violence. Rowley practises verbal violence against the nation each day.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T

Irrational exuberance

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 08, 2024

Pain, fear, nausea, benumb our sensibilities.
Not sure how many of us will live to see tomorrow’s light,
Not confident our country will remain a coherent whole
After we leave this earth and our politicians depart this life in ignominy.

—Author’s poem

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn January 1, 2024, Prime Minister Keith Rowley offered a disappointing New Year’s greeting to his nation. It is as though he were speaking about another country at another moment of time; sounding as someone out of touch with the existentialist realities of his society.
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General T&T, International, Israel, Palestine, Police, USA

Acting in bad faith

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 06, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI want to congratulate the Government for voting affirmatively on the UN General Assembly’s resolution on October 27 that called for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza. The resolution also called for “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of lifesaving supplies and services for civilians trapped in the enclave.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Violence

Power in the barrel of a gun

By Raffique Shah
September 19, 2023

Raffique ShahLike most people who live in this country, many of whom, like me, will never leave the twin-island republic to live any­where else in the world, I am not only concerned but I am disturbed by what seems to be a deteriorating crime situation, especially crime that involves violence. At a recent news conference, I heard Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, not for the first time say, “We have become a very violent society.” Judging from the reports of criminal activities that we get in the media, that perception seems to be the truth.
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