By Raffique Shah
November 13, 2010
MOST Cabinet Ministers in successive governments suffer with political foot-in-mouth disease, an affliction that seems endemic to the corridors of power. Others succumb to the “left-hand, right-hand” syndrome. In the latter, persons charged with governing the country, who meet at least once weekly, have differing interpretations of what they discussed and what decisions were made.
Continue reading Fourth Estate Outlasts Governments
Clear and present danger
PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards, former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma, his wife Kalawati, Government and Opposition politicians, trade-unionists, journalists and even some of their children were subject to secret surveillance by the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA), Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar revealed yesterday as she expressed a “deep sense of personal outrage” over the SIA’s use of illegal wiretapping.
Continue reading They Spied on the President Too
Statement by the Honourable Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago in the House of Representatives on the interception of communications
November 12, 2010
Continue reading PM spills beans on spy agency
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 11, 2010
I did not know Fazeer Mohamed well. He interviewed me on First Up once and did a good job although he was rude to me before the programme began. I chalked that up to the incivility that some of our public and private officials/servants indulge in most of the time. It simply goes with the territory. However such incivility cannot take anything away from the frightening implications of Mr. Mohammed’s firing that took place last Saturday in spite of the inelegant excuse that it was a part of a cost-cutting exercise.
Continue reading The Corrupting Influence of the People’s Partnership
By Rhonda Krystal Rambally
November 09, 2010 – guardian.co.tt
Sacked co–host of the morning talkshow — First Up — Fazeer Mohammed says the show is now open to political interference.
Comments posted on social networking site Facebook, where C News and First Up each has a page, indicated that Mohammed had been fired following an interview on last Thursday’s show with Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan over Prime Minister Kamla Persad–Bissessar’s statements about providing aid to Caribbean countries affected by Hurricane Tomas.
Continue reading Mohammed pulled from Channel Six talk show
By George Alleyne
November 10 2010 – newsday.co.tt
It was late Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams, who, on December 2, 1977, first brought to the attention of a shocked Trinidad and Tobago that aid money from this country to several Caricom Member States was being used to purchase foreign imports at the expense of goods and services from Trinidad and Tobago.
Continue reading TT aid for foreign imports
By Trevor Sudama
November 09, 2010 – newsday.co.tt
It is said that those who do not learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them. It is my view that it is a government’s duty to have a holistic view of the circumstances and situation of the various elements of the society and, in the light of that assessment, pursue the national interest which may be defined as the greatest good of the greatest number.
Continue reading Clico, Panday and the oligarchy
By Raffique Shah
November 07, 2010
ONCE more Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has triggered Caribbean hostility towards Trinidad and Tobago by another ill-timed, inappropriate statement. Coming a few months after her “Trinidad is not Caricom’s ATM” gaffe, one wonders who is advising the PM on the nuances of good diplomacy.
Continue reading Not what you say, but how you do it
By Kamla Persad-Bissessar
November 06, 2010
A statement made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Thursday at a press conference in Macoya.
Trinidad and Tobago, as a responsible friend and partner, stands solidly behind the humanitarian and reconstruction efforts of our Caricom neighbours who were devastated by Hurricane Tomas.
Continue reading Lending a Helping Hand
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 03, 2010
One will never know what transpired between Sarbrina Lall-Mitchell and her murderer. Sometimes love relations go awry with devastating consequences. No one has ever explained fully why feelings that seem to so wonderfully new when love first dawns turns so completely into its opposite when loves dies and the deadly serpent of jealousy entangles the human breast.
Continue reading Profiles in Courage & Love