By Michael Harris
March 09, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
I must confess that I was taken completely by surprise with the news reports last week confirming that the police had received “voluminous” information from Internet service provider Google on the emailgate issue and that the alleged e-mails in the matter were being analysed to determine their authenticity.
Continue reading The spectre of emailgate
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
November 10, 2014
One of the least noticed events in the nature of the political beast in Trinidad and Tobago is the overt attempt by the leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM) and Opposition Leader in Parliament, Dr. Keith Rowley to woo the Indian vote in the upcoming 2015 general elections.
Indeed, one of Dr. Rowley’s first political-electoral actions was to mend fences with his former boss and former PNM leader Patrick Manning. Of course, no one was fooled by Dr. Rowley’s public farce, period. It tantamounted to a puerile exercise in futility on Dr. Rowley’s part.
Continue reading Rowley’s attempt to woo Indian vote
Sunday, September 28 2014
www.newsday.co.tt
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday lambasted Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for Trinidad and Tobago’s co-sponsorship of a United Nations Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism saying it was best for TT to have passed up on the occasion.
TT cannot afford to declare war on terrorists “at a time when you can stay away, ” Rowley said.
Continue reading Rowley blasts TT support of UN security resolution
By Winford James
June 26, 2014 – trinidadexpress.com
The opposition last Friday joined with the government in passing the Judges’ Salaries and Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the Retiring Allowances (Legislative Service) (Amendment) Bill, 2014. The collaboration was for me not only momentous, but also staggering in its bold exploitation of opportunism and power.
Continue reading Govt and next govt to themselves?
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 05, 2014
Part 1
A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones—and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.
—Nelson Mandela
I am pretty certain that Keith Rowley will emerge victorious during the PNM’s party election and go on to become the next prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Fortunately, that is the easy part of the political equation. The more difficult part is to govern in such a way that the society emerges in a better place than it is in 2014. That’s the challenge PNM faces when it takes the helm of government. However, if Rowley and the PNM fail to leave Trinidad (and especially our brothers and sisters in our depressed areas) in a better way than they found them in 2014, one can confidently predict that 2020 would mark the beginning of the end of the PNM as a political force in our country.
Continue reading PNM’s Last Chance
By Raffique Shah
February 08, 2014
I know there are many people in the country who think that Keith Rowley is too black to be Prime Minister. I didn’t need Fitzgerald Hinds to tell me that, although his charge that such sentiment emanates from the bowels of the PNM, from important persons in the party, did surprise me somewhat.
I don’t know why we bury our heads in the sand when the issue of colour prejudice, which is often linked to race prejudice, rears its ugly head in the society. It has always been there, and, I imagine, it always will be. Most people of lighter or whiter complexion, whatever their ethnicity, believe they are superior to others who are dark-skinned, or worse, black.
Continue reading Judge not by colour
By Raffique Shah
November 17, 2013
Much to the dismay of its detractors, the People’s National Movement (PNM) bounces back like the proverbial bad penny almost ritually every five years since it first lost an election in 1986. In the current political scenario, unless the 57-year-old party shoots itself in the head, the incumbents discover some magical elixir, or a mass uprising, a kind of “Trinidad spring”, occurs and spawns something new and exciting, the PNM will return to power in 2015.
Continue reading Prove me wrong, PNM
By Andre Bagoo and Clint Chan Tack
November 05, 2013 – newsday.co.tt
THE PEOPLE’s National Movement (PNM) candidate Terrence Deyalsingh was last night declared the winner of the St Joseph bye-election, but only after the country was taken to a nail- biting finish for what was expected to be the last election in a historic year.
Deyalsingh’s nearest rival was the United National Congress (UNC)’s Ian Alleyne who, at some points in the night, appeared in the lead. The Independent Liberal Party (ILP)’s Om Lalla managed the third largest share of votes but was not really in the contest.
Continue reading PNM WINS AGAIN
By Raffique Shah
October 26, 2013
Type the name “Kamla” on the Google search engine and see what comes up. That “Kamla”, a very common Hindu name, instantly yields Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, suggests that she is the number one “Kamla” in the world—something we should all be proud of.
Continue reading Kamla croaks away
By Renuka Singh
September 29, 2013 – guardian.co.tt
Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine has distanced himself from the negotiation process that allegedly led to an almost ten per cent drop in local voting rights over the cross-border Loran/Manatee bloc. This move comes on the heels of scathing criticism that the minister had mucked up decade-long bilateral talks between Venezuela and Trinidad that, if negotiated properly, could have boosted local energy reserves and made allowances for Venezuelan pipelines to pass through the local refinery.
Continue reading Bad Deal: Ramnarine blamed for messing up energy negotiations