Tag Archives: Kamla Persad-Bissessar

On Mr Manning’s Secret Service

Express Editorial
November 13, 2010 – trinidadexpress.com

SpyingAs the country watched in fascination, former prime minister Patrick Manning showed signs of having been stung into replying to his successor’s revelations about the telecommunications intercepts perpetrated for five years under his rule . Until Friday, Mr Manning, now just another MP, had been mostly silent in the House. It was unseemly of the 39-year parliamentary veteran to insist on an unentitled opportunity to reply, thereby earning the rebukes and an eventual ejection threat from the Speaker.
Continue reading On Mr Manning’s Secret Service

Fourth Estate Outlasts Governments

By Raffique Shah
November 13, 2010

Raffique ShahMOST 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

They Spied on the President Too

SpyingClear 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

The Corrupting Influence of the People’s Partnership

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 11, 2010

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI 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

TT aid for foreign imports

By George Alleyne
November 10 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Eric WilliamsIt 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

Not what you say, but how you do it

By Raffique Shah
November 07, 2010

Raffique ShahONCE 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

Lending a Helping Hand

By Kamla Persad-Bissessar
November 06, 2010

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarA 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

No Free Help

PM to assist neighbours hit by Tomas but…

By Ria Taitt
November 01, 2010 – trinidadexpress.com

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarNo help for Caricom countries hit by Tropical Storm Tomas without benefits to Trinidad and Tobago.

This was made clear by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday.

She said Trinidad and Tobago stands ready to assist its Caricom neighbours but she stipulated that any aid would only come after discussions with her Cabinet colleagues as well as the Opposition Leader, and must in some measure benefit the country.
Continue reading No Free Help

Connecting our Foreign Policy with the Diaspora

By Stephen Kangal
October 21, 2010

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarPrime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar and her itinerant Foreign Minister Suruj Rambachan have both been extolling the important benefits of establishing closer functional links with our diaspora based in metropolitan Caribbean enclaves in North America and Europe as the rationale for radically reforming the priorities of our foreign policy. In fact both now have a shared political/administrative responsibility for the conceptualization and conduct of our foreign policy.
Continue reading Connecting our Foreign Policy with the Diaspora