By Raffique Shah
April 16, 2017
Let it be clear that I am not joining any chorus of condemnation of OWTU president-general Ancel Rouget for his remark on bpTT’s decision to have its Angelin gas platform fabricated outside of Trinidad & Tobago, “Take your rig and go!” As a former unionist, I fully understand and accept sloganeering, bravado, and even outrageous statements as legitimate tools of the trade.
Continue reading A Challenge for Comrade Roget
By Raffique Shah
April 08, 2017
In case you have not noticed, Trinidad and Tobago is gripped by war. Maybe I should rephrase that: there are several wars raging across the country. I wish I could say “civil war”, But there is nothing civil in the barbaric rules of engagement that seem to allow for one side to catch the other off-side and blaze them with bullets, only to have shooters from the home side exact revenge when the opportunity arises.
Continue reading Dillon must win the war—or surrender
By Raffique Shah
April 01, 2017
Permit me to quote from a column I wrote in June last year. It is the first time I’m taking this liberty, but I feel compelled to so do, and I think readers will understand why as I proceed.
I wrote then, “When constitutionally-independent institutions in the country seem to be collapsing…and when the law proves to be the proverbial ass, then, Trinidad and Tobago, we have a problem…a very serious problem.
Continue reading Oh, what a country!
By Raffique Shah
March 13, 2017
Many friends, relatives, even family members seem intent on having me “make ah jail” in my winter years: they are pleading with me to use marijuana! It’s not that they want to see me in a ganja-stupor or they will take delight in seeing armed cops swoop down on the geezer and whisk me off to some dank, putrid cell.
No. They want me to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, specifically, to reduce, probably eliminate, the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) with which I have been afflicted for at least five years. Like me, they have watched videos and read of studies and trials conducted by scientists on the use of cannabis in successfully treating PD patients.
Continue reading Legalise it!
By Raffique Shah
March 08, 2017
As I mark 71 years of life today, almost all of them spent in my native land, I reflect on how I have fared, whether I am happy with what my country has done for me, and what I have done for my country. On both counts, I can say I am satisfied. Not fully, mark you. But only an ingrate would gripe at being short-changed when compared with the successes of others. What’s the point in feeling unfulfilled in one’s goals when some may have been unattainable anyway?
Continue reading At 71, a good run
By Raffique Shah
February 24, 2017
(WARNING: The contents of this column are meant to inform readers, more so citizens of the USA, of their constitutional rights vis-à-vis those who govern them. They are not intended to incite anyone, anywhere, to take drastic action to remove any leader, even if he (or she) has become a despot. I further warn my Trinbagonian brethren who live in the USA, and who may be visiting T&T for the Carnival, to resist the temptation to take a printed copy of this column when you return States-side. Mere possession of it could be grounds for denying you entry, or worse, for declaring you a terrorist!)
Continue reading Americans’ right to revolt
By Raffique Shah
February 24, 2017
I had planned to write on the resurgence of Calypso Rose since last year, when, having read about her successes in France, I decided to check YouTube to get proof of the pudding, in a manner of speaking. I have grown wary of boasts by many bards, more so those of the fast-foods Soca-ilk who make similar claims when all they have done is appear at carnivals or concerts up the islands or before diaspora-audiences in North America.
Continue reading Hail the Queen
By Raffique Shah
January 31, 2017
I suppose I have become a cantankerous old geezer as I approach 71, and it shows in my intolerance for what I see as damn foolishness while other folks, many as mature as I am, see nothing wrong with things that irritate me.
Continue reading Work, don’t scratch
By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2017
The spontaneous eruption of a community close to the Maracas-St Joseph Police Station last week, which was triggered by the gunning-down of two men of dubious repute almost on the doorstep of the station, illustrates how this society has drifted to the edge of anarchy.
According to news reports, one of the men had reported to the station at around 3.30 pm as required by the terms of his bail for gun-related charges. The other had accompanied him. Seconds after they exited the station, six gunmen attacked their vehicle killing them.
Continue reading Edge of Anarchy
By Raffique Shah
January 11, 2017
If fantasy could be magically transformed into reality, as Dictator-General of Trinidad and Tobago, I would harness the approximately $10 billion per year that is wasted on cigarettes, alcohol and gambling and put that money to productive use.
But then I’d be a dead dictator before I could even proclaim the prohibitions, since I verily believe that 90-plus per cent of my countrymen smoke, drink alcohol or gamble, and many of them engage in all three vices.
Continue reading We must do, or die like stray dogs