Tag Archives: Politics

Flooding, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Floodwaters, People Power and the Legacy of Misdevelopment

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By Tye Salandy
August 18, 2018

Poor people fed up to how yuh system set up
Well, everyday the ghetto youths dead up
Mi ask the leader, him a di arranger
Fi mek poor people surround by danger
Fly and the roach and giant mosquito
Sewage water whey fill with bacteria
Unno ever take a look down inna di Riverton area
Bactu, and Seaview, Waterhouse, Kentire
Long time the MP him nuh come near yah
And the other one whho claims sey she a counsellor

—Bounty Killa: Poor People Fed Up

MP Fitzgerald Hinds on the runThe words by Bounty Killa, also known as the ‘poor people’s governor’ is relevant to every single Caribbean country, where the type of leadership after independence has failed to be sensitive to the experiences of those who have most been disadvantaged by social structures. So when I saw Beetham residents dousing MP Fitzgerald Hinds and councillor Akil Audain with dirty flood water and chasing them from the area, this was the first song that came to mind.
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Crime in T&T, PNM

Strengthening PNM

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 06, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeFrancis Bertrand has been a PNM member for 49 years. He joined the party in 1969 and became a member of its Youth League. His academic and sporting brilliance at Presentation College led to a scholarship to Long Island University in New York. After he returned home, he became the mayor of Point Fortin and served for two terms as president of the World Conference of Mayors.
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Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, PNM, Police

Looking for a commissioner or a “Bobolee”?

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By Raffique Shah
July 25, 2018

Raffique ShahI pity the poor bugger who finds favour with both government and opposition parties to be appointed the new Commissioner of Police. If that wretched soul happens to be Captain Gary Grffith as reported in the Sunday Express, then I’ll do something I’ve not done in 50-odd years: I’ll fall on my knees and pray that Jah makes the purgatory of that post easy for him for the few months that he would become the “Chief Bobolee” to blame for the crime epidemic that no mortal can mitigate, far less eradicate.
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Finance, General T&T, Letters, Oil and Gas, Opposition Party, Property Tax, Recession

Shelve property tax as energy revenue rises

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By Gail Alexander
May 10, 2018 – guardian.co.tt

Opposition Chief Whip David LeeThe Government should not institute the property tax since Finance Minister Colm Imbert recently said T&T has “turned the corner” and also projected “good news” in today’s mid-year Budget review, says Opposition Chief Whip David Lee.

“He has painted a more positive outlook for T&T in recent weeks. Also, energy prices are better than before. If the situation is really good, Government should have no need to pursue the property tax and inflict further hardship on the public,” Lee said yesterday.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession

Too little, too late?

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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.
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General T&T, Tobago

Sedimentary Self- Governance Structure In the Tobago Bill

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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.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, UNC

Contradictions & Counterfactuals – Pt 3

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 20, 2018

“…a state could never have been born without surplus.” —Yanis Varoufakis

PART 1 — PART 2 — PART 3

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeReading Ralph Maraj and Kamal Persad’s contributions, one would think that Eric Williams and the PNM were the worst things that ever happened to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). They seem to suggest that if only Badase Sagan Maraj and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had won the 1956 general election T&T would have been a paradise.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Chalkdust, calypso must change or die

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By Raffique Shah
February 16, 2018

Raffique ShahDear Chalkie,

I rarely respond to critics of views I express in my column, unless, like you, I hold them in high regard. Just as I enjoy the freedom to criticise public figures within the bounds of decency, I respect others’ right to respond to my opinions when we disagree, or even when they distort facts and resort to abuse.
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General T&T, PNM, UNC

Bad omen for new President

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By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2018

Raffique ShahThe passing of former President Max Richards, coinciding as it did with the unanimous vote by parliamentarians to elect retired Justice Paula Mae Weekes as the first female and new President of the Republic, seems to have triggered a measure of hope among some citizens that the nation can be rescued from its downhill slide by the eminence of the Head of State.
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Finance, General T&T, Politics

Note to economic planners: put needs before greed

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By Raffique Shah
January 17, 2018

Raffique ShahDr Terrence Farrell’s resignation last week as chairman of the Government-appointed Economic Development Advisory Board brought into focus a long-simmering conflict between economists and business interests in one camp, more or less; the Government, which sees the economy primarily through the prism of political power, on the other; and trade unions and a disparate population that sense the near-violent instability of the ship of state and recognise the need for adjustments by all passengers on board, from captain to cook, but each one expecting the other, not him, to move.
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