By Raffique Shah October 23, 2024 It was with a degree of shock, certainly disappointment, I noted that many of my fellow Trinis appear to be envious of our Guyanese brethren over the one-off payment President Irfaan Ali promised them by year-end. I wasn’t aware initially of the multi-billion Guyana dollars payout until it was … Continue reading Don’t begrudge Guyanese
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe October 16, 2024 After the People’s National Movement came into power in 1956, Eric Williams took an inordinate length of time (sometimes as much as three hours) to deliver his budget speeches. He used them to reach his fellow citizens since the means of communication were not as widely available … Continue reading The leader’s schizophrenic behaviour
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe September 05, 2024 I was a member of the Central Bank board when Lawrence Duprey’s case came to its attention. Amid the charges and counter charges, it was difficult for the board to obtain CLICO financial records, which would have allowed us to see what was taking place within his … Continue reading Duprey and the demise of black business
By Raffique Shah September 05, 2024 It was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I was determined to make full use of everything I heard, saw and read. By the time Independence Day came around in 1962, I had learnt a whole lot of what it meant. I did not quite understand some of … Continue reading Through a schoolboy’s eyes
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe August 21, 2024 Part IV Slavery ended officially in 1834 while apprenticeship ended slavery in practice in 1838. The 5,000 people who took part in the Revolt of October 1, 1849, were ex-slaves. The women were at the forefront in this battle. While the attempt to cut their hair ignited … Continue reading Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe August 07, 2024 In 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 … Continue reading An ideologue’s pirouette
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe June 13, 2024 It was 2013 and the UNC (United National Congress) government decided to place a stadium and a swimming pool at the Orange Grove Savannah (now known as the Eddie Hart Savannah), a place that was used by “districkers” for recreational, health, and educational purposes for generations. Angry … Continue reading Never sit on your laurels
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe May 14, 2024 In 1985 I interviewed the president of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) Sam Nujoma when he visited the United Nations Decolonisation Committee to plead for his country’s independence (West Africa, present-day Namibia). Namibia was a German colony from the 1880s to the First World War … Continue reading Africa’s holocaust
By Raffique Shah May 14, 2024 If the two leading parties, the PNM and the UNC, ignore my challenge for them to make corruption a focal point of the next general election, would this be to their detriment? The answer is no. They will have read my column, of course, and they would be intimately … Continue reading Destination, purgatory
By Raffique Shah April 29, 2024 So that readers may get an idea of the sheer size of the monster that is corruption, of how easily the high and mighty as well as the poor and powerless are caught in its web, I cite one of the oldest jokes in parliamentary lore. Lady Astor, the … Continue reading Mandate to lock up