PM orders review of $47M airports contract

By Corey Connelly
October 10 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Jack WarnerPrime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar last evening signalled her Government’s intention to review the $47 million public contract awarded to a Central company for lighting projects at the Piarco International Airport.
Continue reading PM orders review of $47M airports contract

Ish and Steve to be extradited to the US

By Nalinee Seelal and Corey Connelly
October 10 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve FergusonAfter weeks of speculation, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday signed an extradition order granting the United States Government the permission to extradite businessmen Steve Ferguson and Ishwar Galbaransingh to the United States to answer fraud charges.
Continue reading Ish and Steve to be extradited to the US

Truly a national insurance ‘scheme’

By Raffique Shah
October 10, 2010

CLICO BailoutNOT surprisingly, many Clico and CIB depositors were not excited over my column of last week. I thought I was being generous to those whose savings now seem to be “jumping up in steelband”. I referred to them as thrifty people. And I, too, would be ticked off if my savings, as small as they are, were threatened through the manipulations of corporate bandits.
Continue reading Truly a national insurance ‘scheme’

Human Guinea Pigs

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 06, 2010

Scientist injecting patient in Tuskegee Syphilis StudyIt was a stunning announcement. The news reverberated around the world: United States researcher Government guilty of intentionally injecting hundreds of Guatemalans, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission. From 1946 to 1948, Dr. John Cutler and his colleagues conducted their studies with the blessings of the United States Health authorities and the Guatemalan government.
Continue reading Human Guinea Pigs

PM’s statement on Clico

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarPRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bisssessar announced that Government will establish a commission of inquiry to find who and what were responsible for the fiasco at CL Financial subsidiaries Clico, British American and Clico Investment Bank. Below is the Prime Minister’s full statement in the House of Representatives on Friday:
Continue reading PM’s statement on Clico

Financial advice from ‘Layman Brother’

By Raffique Shah
October 03, 2010

TrinidadiansI HAVE never seen a million dollars in my life. The only time I gaped at big money—was it US$20 million?—was when the then high-flying “Sir” Allen Stanford stormed the hallowed Lord’s cricket ground in London, bearing 20-20 prize money in what appeared to be a huge casket. Most appropriate, in hindsight, since shortly thereafter “Sir Allen” ended up in leg-irons in some US jail that may yet prove to be his final resting place.
Continue reading Financial advice from ‘Layman Brother’

Volney/CJ Conflict: Separation of Powers?

Justice Minister Herbert Volney and Chief Justice Ivor ArchieTHE EDITOR: The essential issue re: the latest Volney-initiated kuchoor is not about all these pretentious concepts of independence of the judiciary; separation of powers; the judiciary being a “bulwark of democracy” etc.
Continue reading Volney/CJ Conflict: Separation of Powers?

My Reflections on the Black Power Conference

(Oh Yeah, It Actually Had One)

By Corey Gilkes
October 02, 2010

EmancipationFrom the 17th – 19th September the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies was the venue for a conference marking the 40th anniversary of the 1970 Black Power Movement. This conference was preceded on the 16th by a panel discussion at the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies.
Continue reading My Reflections on the Black Power Conference

Govt to get OPV $B refund

Scarborough CG 51 vessel at BAE Systems' shipyard on the Clyde River in Glasgow, Scotland
Scarborough CG 51 vessel at BAE Systems' shipyard
on the Clyde River in Glasgow, Scotland
By Nalinee Seelal
September 30, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday confirmed Government has cancelled a deal with a Scotland-based shipbuilding company BAE Systems for the acquisition of three off-shore patrol vessels, ordered by the then PNM government at a cost of TT$1.5 billion.
Continue reading Govt to get OPV $B refund

Jack Warner: H.N.I.C.

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 29, 2010

Jack WarnerIt was one of those incomprehensible statements: “I am the Head N…. In Charge.” That was Jack Warner’s major contribution to the recent Budget Debate. If we use Jack’s logic in a society such as ours, the following corollary suggests itself: if there is a “Head N…In Charge” there must be a “Head C…. In Charge.” It is a philosophical proposition of which this is the logical conclusion.
Continue reading Jack Warner: H.N.I.C.