SUSPENDED
Manning sanctioned for being in contempt of Parliament
“Mr Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning is accordingly suspended from the service of this House with immediate effect,” declared House Speaker Wade Mark last night.
Mark did not state for what period of time but a suspension cannot cross a session of Parliament, which is the maximum threshold for a suspension. This session ends on June 18.
Continue reading Ex-PM Manning suspended
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 11, 2011
In March I supported the candidacy of Penny Beckles to become the chairman of the PNM because I thought she was the better candidate. Many of my friends, including Louis Lee Sing and Ferdie Ferreira, felt that Franklyn Khan was the better candidate not necessarily because he was more accomplished than Penny but because he is an Indian. In his now-famous words, Comrade Lee Sing declared: “If we don’t elect Khan as our chairman the PNM will become a N….Party.”
Continue reading Look What the PNM Come To!!!
By Raffique Shah
April 23, 2011
FORTY-ONE years ago, almost to the week, tens of thousands of mainly idealistic young people thought we had killed and buried the “race bogey” in this cussed country. We had grown up knowing that race-tension lay beneath the veneer of peaceful co-existence that those in authority had proclaimed. Too often, we had heard the epithets “nigger” and “coolie” bandied about, suggesting that after almost 150 years of living together in this melting pot, our people of different races and cultures were clinging to prejudices of a distant past.
Continue reading A full circle
Race Talk in House: Jack, Rowley square off
The People’s Partnership has achieved better ethnic balance in the appointments of boards, Works Minister Jack Warner stated yesterday. He was speaking in the House of Representatives on the motion filed by Dr Keith Rowley, asking the House to reaffirm its collective commitment to the principles of fairness and meritocracy in public affairs in the light of the “reckless and divisive statements” made by the former Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed.
Continue reading Race Talk in the House
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 20, 2011
The hiccups PNM is going through have more to do with Keith Rowley’s failure to lead than Patrick Manning’s political intransigence and nostalgia for power. Manning, the insane victim of his own ill-judgment, is suffering from the failed-leader syndrome to which many past leaders fall prey: an inability to recognize they messed up and ought to leave the political stage quietly if they cannot do so gracefully. This is the difference between great leaders (such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania) who knew how to demit office peacefully and stubborn autocrats (such as Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarack of Egypt and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivore) for whom power is an entrancing aphrodisiac.
Continue reading Rowley’s Failure
Newsday’s Editorial
Sunday, April 17 2011
Former prime minister, Patrick Manning, not only had a private motion tabled in his name, rejected in the House of Representatives by vote of Government members, but suffered the public humiliation of five members of the political party he once led, the People’s National Movement (PNM) openly refusing to give him the support he clearly expected.
Continue reading Manning’s Humiliation
THE EDITOR: At its recent Convention, the Peoples National Movement has demonstrated that its inner and intra relationship politics is backward, undemocratic, pathetic and exposes its negative/self defeating cult of the Absolute Leader. Patrick Manning is no longer the PNM’s Political leader but he still determines the policies of the PNM. Even though he was absent from the Convention Manning was able to defeat Rowley, the new, unopposed leader on two major policy issues, critical to the image and future of the party.
Continue reading PNM’s Backward Politics
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 16, 2011
Although I will not be at the PNM’s Party Convention next week, I support Penelope Beckles to be the party’s next chairman because she is best suited for the job. The PNM must throw forth a new group of leaders whom the people can believe in and who can chart a new direction for the country if it wishes to regain the leadership of the society.
Continue reading Chairman Penny Beckles
By Raffique Shah
January 23, 2011
WHEN Attorney General Anand Ramlogan made a fool of himself in Parliament by insinuating that ex-prime minister Patrick Manning may have stolen or otherwise disposed of “one grand piano” (as auctioneers would say), many may have missed the irony of Ramlogan’s boorish behaviour. “Wey the piano gorn?” Anand brayed, looking pointedly at “Patos”.
Continue reading A case of poetic injustice
Remove Reshmi
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar must immediately rescind the appointment of Reshmi Usha Ramnarine as Director of the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA), says Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.
Continue reading Reshmi’s SSA Appointment