Tag Archives: T&T Govt

General T&T, Oil and Gas, Politics, THA, Tobago

Tobago’s Claims over Its Maritime Resources

9 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
March 27, 2018

Stephen KangalCurrent proposals that are now in the public domain by way of the Bill No 5 0f 2018 geared to accord a higher level of self -governance to Tobagonians will create another façade Legislature like that of its predecessor exercising political and administrative autonomy merely to achieve peace, order and good governance. Tobago must be treated with dignity and their ownership or sovereign rights over adjacent maritime resources (living and non-living) to be exploited for the welfare of its people must be recognized and legitimized. This is the age of Nationalism.
Continue reading Tobago’s Claims over Its Maritime Resources →

General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession

Too little, too late?

6 Comments

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.
Continue reading Too little, too late? →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

PNM ‘Till Ah Dead; Maybe!

9 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 19, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI sympathize with Camille Robinson-Regis’s concerns about the inability of some commentators “to declare their political hand” before offering their scathing criticism against the PNM or even their reluctance to mention some of PNM’s achievements (see Letter of the Day, Express, March 10).
Continue reading PNM ‘Till Ah Dead; Maybe! →

General T&T, Tobago

Sedimentary Self- Governance Structure In the Tobago Bill

5 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
March 19, 2018

Stephen KangalWhile being a student of Geography at Hillview College in 1959 I was taught by Mr Trevor Spenser that a sedimentary rock is a conglomerate of layers of alluvial deposits. This lesson flashed upon my inward eye when I studied the draft provisions of the current Bill 5 of 2018 that is geared to confer the long-awaited advanced state of internal self- governance to the 40,000 people living within 116 square miles of mountainous terrain but also enjoying unrestricted mobility including residence in Trinidad.
Continue reading Sedimentary Self- Governance Structure In the Tobago Bill →

General T&T, Politics, WASA

Sewage more than water

4 Comments

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?
Continue reading Sewage more than water →

General T&T, Recession, T&TEC, WASA

Realistic rates hikes for T&TEC

4 Comments

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.
Continue reading Realistic rates hikes for T&TEC →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Law, Police, USA, Violence

No guns in our schools

3 Comments

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.
Continue reading No guns in our schools →

General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Arresting the Decline Into HDC Madness

8 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
February 21, 2018

Stephen KangalToday Friday 16 February 2018 I made my third visit for this week to the fabulous and awesome natural ambience of St Augustine Nurseries located West of Southern Main and Farm Roads in Curepe.

I have agonized at the potential and real destruction and bull-dozing of the beautiful natural and plant assets domiciled here for over one hundred years in this part of our landed patrimony that was in fact a workshop of nature generating flowers and food to all who visited.
Continue reading Arresting the Decline Into HDC Madness →

General T&T, PNM, Politics, Recession, Tobago

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

3 Comments

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 →