Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

Finance, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics

Robbing poor pensioners

5 Comments

By Raffique Shah
June 03, 2012

Raffique ShahI MAKE no pretences to “being young” or “feeling young” at age 66. I never dyed my hair—my moustache turned grey before I was 50—and other than leading a reasonably healthy lifestyle, daily exercising included, I have taken the aging process in stride. I no longer walk as briskly as I did a few years ago, and one or two challenges that go with the age-turf have set in, none life threatening, thankfully. Also, I am still able to work, albeit at a reduced level (my choice), hence take care of my family.
Continue reading Robbing poor pensioners →

General T&T, Law, People's Partnership, Politics, Security

Backward ever, forward never

16 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 27, 2012

Raffique ShahFOR all our boasts about technological advancements we have achieved—”4G smart phones”, “wifi hotspots”, GPS in vehicles and on phones—it is amazing how we remain mired in backwardness when it comes to dealing with fundamental problems. The classic is carnage on the nation’s roads.

Last Sunday’s horrendous crash that left four people dead and senior Appeal Court Judge Wendell Kangaloo critically injured is a case in point.
Continue reading Backward ever, forward never →

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

Gone to the dogs

13 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 20, 2012

Raffique ShahIT’S frustrating enough to have successive governments bark over the Dangerous Dogs Act for more than a decade without proclaiming it law. But it’s exasperating when, just as the woefully inadequate legislation is about to be given a few defective teeth, we have hordes of human-mongrels whining about the rights of these dumb but downright dangerous animals that savage hapless human beings.
Continue reading Gone to the dogs →

General T&T, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

The more things change…

15 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 22, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE imbroglio in the People’s Partnership Government prompted me to examine more closely how and why the People’s National Movement (PNM) has been central to the electoral politics of this country for more than 50 years. This may sound like flawed logic. But I noted that several of the principal players in the People’s Partnership impasse have said that whatever their differences or their failure to settle them, the parties that form the current government must stay together to prevent the PNM from regaining power.
Continue reading The more things change… →

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

Marking time 50 years later

8 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 14, 2012

Raffique ShahFIFTY years after Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence, the tragedy of our politics is that it still revolves around the PNM, the party that took the country from colonialism through self-government and into independence. Indeed, the fact that the PNM remained in office for 36 of those 50 years is itself an indictment against the electorate. Worse than that, though, the three other concoctions that broke the PNM’s stranglehold—the NAR, the UNC, and now the UNC-dominated People’s Partnership—all had as their common bond, their raison d’etre, one mantra: we are against the PNM.
Continue reading Marking time 50 years later →

Court, Gender, General T&T, Health, Law, Politics

A primitive country

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 08, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE perception that there are more mad people outside the St Ann’s Hospital than there are inside that mental institution seems to be reality, following the forcible detention of public servant Cheryl Miller. I was outraged on learning of the woman’s plight, which only came to public attention when her co-workers protested her Gulag or Guantanamo-like situation. By then, this hapless citizen had already spent almost two weeks in the madhouse.
Continue reading A primitive country →

CARICOM, Finance, General T&T, Politics

Oil and Gas Arithmetic

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 01, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE announcements of two new oil finds over the past two weeks generated excitement among many in the population. “God is a Trini!” screamed the Express headline, quoting the Prime Minister. Such was the importance of Petrotrin’s discovery of 48 million barrels of relatively light crude, it warranted a full house of ministers and top company officials at the Cabinet Media Centre.
Continue reading Oil and Gas Arithmetic →

COP, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

UNC internals: theatre of the absurd

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 25, 2012

Raffique ShahI LEARNED a lesson in political morality — surely an oxymoron — at the politically tender age of 35. It came from the Machiavellian master himself, Basdeo Panday. Panday and I, along with George Weekes, Joe Young and others, had founded the United Labour Front back in 1976, when I was 30 years old. Within two years, Bas would “mash up” the organically integrated dream party when a number of us took what we thought were principled positions on fundamental issues, details of which are well documented.
Continue reading UNC internals: theatre of the absurd →

corruption, Finance, Gender, General T&T, Law, People's Partnership, Politics

Focus on substance, not fluff

9 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 17, 2012

Raffique ShahOVER the past two weeks or so, public attention has focused on two issues, with the concomitant raging debates in the media and online. The first surfaced when it was disclosed in Parliament that the State had met expenses for Prime Minsiter Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s sister to accompany her on official visits to Australia, India and elsewhere. The second pertained to Tobago Affairs Minister Vernella Alleyne-Toppin incurring private expenses on a Government-issued credit card that is intended for use by officials when they travel abroad.
Continue reading Focus on substance, not fluff →

Complaints, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Police, Security, Violence

Rid the police of roughnecks

14 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 10, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE murder rate ticks along, one-a-day, like some health supplement or prescription drug, with the arrests rate lagging behind the body count, as has always been the case. Robberies and burglaries, many of them as brazen as ever, CCTV recordings notwithstanding, gallop at an alarming pace. Acts of violence, threats that could turn crimson (as in blood), and entire communities cowed by gun-toting bullies, now a national pastime, go mostly unreported, except, perhaps, to Ian Alleyne and Crime Watch.
Continue reading Rid the police of roughnecks →