Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

Finance, General T&T

A Stunningly Bad Appointment

45 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 17, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn July 16th the Express reported that Mr. Jwala Rambarran, governor of the Central Bank, appointed Dr. Sandra Sookram to be a deputy governor. It was a stunningly bad decision; a continuation of the demonstrated incompetence Mr. Rambarran has shown since he became the governor in 2012. Such an appointment represents Mr. Rambarran’s continuing practice of sidelining strong competent people and elevating weak and incompetent acquaintances from which he can expect no challenges.
Continue reading A Stunningly Bad Appointment →

General T&T, Law, Opposition Party, Parliament, PNM, UNC

Talking Loud and Saying Nothing

21 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 24, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoePart of the glory of being a Trinbagonian is that someone always arises in our time of need. These are people who always place the needs of country before self, our communal health before blind egotism, and truth before falsification. On May 21, for yet another time, Sebastian Ventour, deputy chairman of the Integrity Commission and one of our distinguished citizens, rejected conformity to reaffirm the sterling quality of our personhood.
Continue reading Talking Loud and Saying Nothing →

General T&T, Racism Watch

We Can Achieve MLK’s Dream Without His Faith

31 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe(2)
Posted: April 08, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI have also ventured to draw parallels from the Bible and the Koran and the words of the great seers who drew their inspiration from those great books, in order to show how, in the deepest things of life, the Hindu and the Mussalman [the Muslim] and the Christian, the Indian and the European, in fact all who cared and endeavored to read the truth of things, are so spiritually akin.
Continue reading We Can Achieve MLK’s Dream Without His Faith →

General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

UNC’s Anansi Moment

18 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 01, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThis is Holy Week for 1.7 billion Christians all over the world. It is a time when Christ overcame his detractors. Betrayed by one of his disciples and condemned to death, he rose triumphantly three days afterwards, which is celebrated as Easter Day.

Over the past week Dr. Keith Rowley’s detractors have berated him, condemned him to political death and sought to entomb him in a political grave. Rather than reject Vernella Alleyne Toppin’s venom unequivocally, the UNC hierarchy clings to the illusion that Dr. Rowley still has questions to answer. Our learned Prime Minister insists she accepts parts of Alleyene Toppin’s accusations against him.
Continue reading UNC’s Anansi Moment →

Elections, General T&T, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Sex Crimes, Tobago

South of de Caroni

10 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 27, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeEver since Rodney Charles sent out his memo of instructions to his UNC colleagues they have been trying to depict Dr. Keith Rowley as big, black bad animal; a beast unbecoming of the office of prime minister. The present version of this attack started when Dr. Rowley took a wine, on carnival day, on an Indian woman. Many UNC politicians saw this act as verging on the sacrilegious. Now, they have sunken to the lowest of the low. They have branded Dr. Rowley and his descendants (that is, his children and his children’s children) as the products of rape.
Continue reading South of de Caroni →

General T&T, Media, Opposition Party, PNM, Politics

The Politics of Spite

9 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 10, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe Trinidad Guardian, it seems, is worried about the PNM’s future, our democracy and the quality of postcolonial democracy in societies such as ours all because the PNM rejected the candidacy of Penny Beckles, a good friend, and the possibility that Patrick Manning will suffer a similar fate.
Continue reading The Politics of Spite →

France, General T&T

Je ne suis pas Charlie

10 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 13, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Surrounded by the immensity of people who occupied every inch of space around Place de la République in Paris, France, on Sunday last (January 11) one could not imagine the amount of people who had turned out in solidarity with the 17 victims who were slain in Paris last week. Billed the French Unity March, people came from all over the country to proclaim the democratic values of France, their freedom of speech and, as one newspaper put it, the core values of Western civilization. Over 3 million people gathered in their towns and villages of France to pay tribute to their fallen comrades. The murders, it seems, touched something in their innermost being.
Continue reading Je ne suis pas Charlie →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

What Should Patrick Manning Do?

7 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 03, 2015

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn March 11, 1895, after serving thirty-two years as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council (during that period the Legislative Council consisted of official and unofficial members), the Hon. Louis de Verteuil submitted his resignation to Sir Frederick Napier Broome, the governor of the island. A few days later, his Legislative colleagues wrote a commendation to express their appreciation for the service he had given to his country. He replied: For thirty-two years “I have worked in promoting the welfare and advancement of my native land. May God give it prosperity and peace! Old age has compelled me to retire, but I will always feel happy to express my opinion on any important question of the day, if the opportunity offers” (Anthony de Verteuil, Sir Louis de Verteuil).
Continue reading What Should Patrick Manning Do? →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Police, Politics, Security

Take de Money and Run

22 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 15, 2014

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt was one of those riveting moments when a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Here they were, four young black boys, sitting forlorn, with their luggage around them looking as if their lives had come to an end. All their yearnings seemed to have been dashed, caught up as they were, in an unutterable moment of disappointment: their being unable to compete in a football tournament in Barbados.
Continue reading Take de Money and Run →

International, Racism Watch, USA

Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe’s Remarks to the Wellesley Council

5 Comments

Remarks to Academic Council,
Wellesley College
Faculty Assembly Room
December 10, 2014

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAs one of the few black men on this faculty, I could not let this opportunity pass without offering a few remarks.

On Wednesday, April 19, 1989, a white middle class woman, a promising young investment banker at Salomon Brothers with a degree from Wellesley College and Yale University was raped as she was jogging through Central Park, New York. The suspects were five black and Latino young men, some with dubious school records from Harlem. The police coined a new term for what they were doing: they called it wilding, to describe the beating up of random victims. On May 29, about five weeks later, the New York Times wrote: “A 28-year investment banker, jogging through Central Park, was attacked by a group of teenagers. They kicked and beat her in the head with a pipe and raped her. The teenagers, who were from East Harlem, were quickly arrested.”
Continue reading Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe’s Remarks to the Wellesley Council →