By Raffique Shah
October 10, 2010
NOT surprisingly, many Clico and CIB depositors were not excited over my column of last week. I thought I was being generous to those whose savings now seem to be “jumping up in steelband”. I referred to them as thrifty people. And I, too, would be ticked off if my savings, as small as they are, were threatened through the manipulations of corporate bandits.
Continue reading Truly a national insurance ‘scheme’
By Raffique Shah
October 03, 2010
I HAVE never seen a million dollars in my life. The only time I gaped at big money—was it US$20 million?—was when the then high-flying “Sir” Allen Stanford stormed the hallowed Lord’s cricket ground in London, bearing 20-20 prize money in what appeared to be a huge casket. Most appropriate, in hindsight, since shortly thereafter “Sir Allen” ended up in leg-irons in some US jail that may yet prove to be his final resting place.
Continue reading Financial advice from ‘Layman Brother’
By Raffique Shah
September 26, 2010
“So, I expect you to tear into (Herbert) Volney’s anatomy in your next column!” many of my readers chorused all of last week. People were itching for me—why me?—to go after the judge-turned-politician, the greatest intervention since, let’s say, mouth-organist Cutty Joseph. Or Hardeo Hardath, a PNM “crapaud” who opened his mouth in Parliament only when he yawned.
Continue reading Here today, gone tomorrow
By Raffique Shah
September 18, 2010
IN the midst of the never-ending cacophony that has come to characterise our politics, it was refreshing to hear at least one voice of reason coming from someone who holds high office. I refer to Chief Justice Ivor Archie, whose speech at the opening of the new law term was so different to the din that emanated from Parliament during the ongoing budget debate.
Continue reading Refreshing voice of reason
By Raffique Shah
September 11, 2010
LET us be realistic about this burning issue of the minimum wage: no employer who is worthy of being called an entrepreneur pays anyone in his establishment $9 an hour. Put another way, no worker worth his or her sweat, however desperate she may be, would work for eight hours to take home $72. He would be better off hustling on the sidewalk, picking pockets, or robbing others of their valuables.
Continue reading Minimum Wage, Maximum Farce
By Raffique Shah
September 04, 2010
IT’S still dark, wee hours this Sunday morning, the steady drizzle having no impact on the growing crowd that is gathering at Woodford Square. I am dressed in a Rasta wig, fake-Shabaaz beard, jacket sans tie, looking more like a vagrant than the men at the ticket booths at the two entrances to the Square. It’s going to be a good day for hangings. People are queuing, some jostling, others scalping, but all more than willing to pay the $100 entry fee to witness the country’s first public executions since the days of slavery.
Continue reading Nightmare at Woodford Square
By Raffique Shah
August 29, 2010
We have a new Government, a new dispensation – call it what you will – in place. But change, if it’s going to happen, seems, at this point like being in the middle pack of a snails’ marathon covering all the 100 feet. You ask yourself, especially when you come from the Baby Boomers generation, will change come before I die? Will I live to see my country, my people change for the better?
Continue reading Time to Rewrite the Social Contract
By Raffique Shah
August 22, 2010
TWO murderous incidents that occurred last weekend exposed different sides of arms of the Protective Services, much of which is not flattering. In the first, sea-bandits attacked fishermen in a virtual orgy of violence that saw some six vessels seized by armed, masked men. The helpless fishermen, three of whom lived in my neighbourhood, were tossed into the sea miles offshore, and left to swim for their lives. The bandits-cum-killers conducted their ‘orgy’ from Pointe-a-Pierre to Otaheite.
Continue reading Police, Coast Guard, fail fishermen in distress
August 15, 2010
IT is easy for people to say that the new Government should stop looking back, stop blaming the ousted People’s National Movement (PNM) government for much of the mess we find ourselves in today, and just move on. Had the Patrick Manning regime been more circumspect in handling the huge windfalls we enjoyed from around 2004, I would have endorsed that view, asking the Government to get on with governance, make no reference to the past.
Continue reading No more wastage of public funds
By Raffique Shah
August 08, 2010
HEAVY rainfall, like that which we experienced last Monday, is an act of nature. Heavy flooding, which we have repeatedly been subjected to over the past two decades, is caused by a number of factors. Many of these are beyond man’s control. But governments and citizens must shoulder much blame for some of their actions, or inaction in instances, that add to the hazardous mix of factors that return to haunt us all, especially during monsoon-type weather conditions.
Continue reading Steaming over the big flood