Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

General T&T, Politics, Tobago

Give Tobago full independence

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By Raffique Shah
April 25, 2018

Raffique ShahI’ve had it up to here (Shah motions his right palm one inch above his five-foot, six-and-a-half-inches-frame) with the cantankerous complainers from the island of Tobago who, seemingly every day, appear on multiple media forums to cuss Trinidadians in general, and the Government in particular, for failing to provide them with heavily subsidised services, be it ferry or air transport, medical or education facilities.
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General T&T, International, Sports

Gold…at what price?

By Raffique Shah
April 18, 2018

Raffique ShahUnderstandably, the nation celebrated the two gold and one silver medals Trinidad & Tobago won at the Commonwealth Games staged in The Gold Coast, Australia, over the past two weeks. With “bad news” dominating the headlines daily, from crime to corruption, political wrangling and bungling to institutional paralyses, only the sourpuss among us would dismiss achievements in sports as being irrelevant to national pride.
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General T&T, Recession

Slaves to technology

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By Raffique Shah
April 11, 2018

Raffique ShahAt the recent launch of its newest smart-phone, Samsung’s sales manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, Terry Weech, was asked what was the best feature of the Galaxy S9. Without hesitation, he said, “The camera!” He proceeded to promote the US $1,000-plus device’s 12- megapixel camera that captures photographs and videos that are “comparable with the quality used by media houses”, but said hardly a word about its communications prowess and other features that might propel me to hobble off to the nearest mobile phones dealer and buy one.

And I sat in my chair and wondered…
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General T&T, Guyana, PNM, Politics

Remembering Cheddi Jagan

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By Raffique Shah
April 04, 2018

Raffique ShahHe was the most sincere, humble, decent political leader I’ve known, Of course, mere mention of sincerity, humility and decency as being the foremost character traits of any politician, especially when he was the leader of a main party in any country, axiomatically infer that he was also a failure if success is measured by winning elections and holding on to power.

All of the above were true of Cheddi Jagan, Guyana’s first Chief Minister (in 1953, when the colony was named British Guiana), a patriot whose birth centenary passed very quietly on March 22. In fact, I, who considered Cheddi a friend and comrade, would have not remembered the occasion had my columnist colleague Ricky Singh not written about it.
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Gender, General T&T

Reformation before revolution

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By Raffique Shah
March 29, 2018

Raffique ShahI was writing last week’s column when Madam Justice Paula-Mae Weekes’s inauguration as President of the Republic was underway at the Queen’s Park Savannah, so I missed out on most of the pomp and pageantry. No disrespect was intended: President Paula (well, we did have President Max) will understand my absence, what with a deadline to meet, and with Parkinson’s affecting the pace at which I write, though not the speed at which I think or the sharpness of my memory and mind.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession

Too little, too late?

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By Raffique Shah
March 23, 2018

Raffique ShahIt may well be a case of too little, too late. It might even be a classic case of trying to set right an historical economic wrong when the oil barrel is about to run dry. But for sure, Government’s Rip Van Winkle’s rude awakening to the reality that Trinidad and Tobago has for far too long been gang-raped by the large energy corporations, with the complicity of its mothers and stepmothers (successive governments and some of the elites), reduces informed patriots to a mixture of tears and guffaws.
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General T&T, Politics, WASA

Sewage more than water

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By Raffique Shah
March 14, 2018

Raffique ShahThe last time the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) awarded increases in water rates to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) was in 1993. The RIC used data from the year 1989 to determine the increases. One can easily assume that in the ensuing 29 years, every commodity price from foods to fuels, apparels to real estate, has tripled, maybe quadrupled, so why should water rates be any different?
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General T&T, Recession, T&TEC, WASA

Realistic rates hikes for T&TEC

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By Raffique Shah
March 07, 2018

Raffique ShahAs the nation grapples with two seemingly intractable problems, crime and the economy, we pay little or no attention to two critical issues that are bound to generate a furore sometime soon—increases in water and electricity rates.

The Regulated Industries Commission (RIC), which determines how much the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and the Trinidad & Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) can charge consumers for these vital supplies, has indicated it will soon set in motion the procedures that will guide it with respect to granting or denying these agencies rate increases.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Law, Police, USA, Violence

No guns in our schools

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By Raffique Shah
February 27, 2018

Raffique ShahWhile I empathise with the trainee teacher who was robbed at gunpoint on her school’s compound last Wednesday morning—I suffered a similar fate at my home back in 2002—I do not understand why people are shocked by the brazen, early morning robbery.

If we feel schools should be sacrosanct, that bandits and other criminals should show respect for our institutes of education, perish the thought. Some parents, teachers and students have long jettisoned that notion by their misbehavior, and students’ brawls captured on the ubiquitous phone-video-cameras are among the most popular fare uploaded onto sundry so-called social media Internet sites, providing perverse entertainment for people who seem to spend all their waking hours digesting cyber-garbage.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Recession, Tobago

Toco port: let PM put his money where his mouth is

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By Raffique Shah
February 21, 2018

Raffique ShahAs Government wrestles with seemingly intractable problems that bedevil the Trinidad-Tobago sea-bridge, and with the public’s focus riveted on which ferry might be operational on any given day and how many passengers or vehicles are left stranded at either port, the population could be easily blindsided to a looming disaster-in-the-making, the Prime Minister’s pet project—a port/ferry terminal in Toco, and a new main road from Valencia to Toco.
Continue reading Toco port: let PM put his money where his mouth is →