By Raffique Shah
February 17, 2020
As I savour some of the best offerings from this year’s Carnival from the comfort and safety of my home, I cannot help but think of the thousands of performers and revellers out there who, even as they immerse themselves in the gaiety of the festival, must ponder the possibilities that they might become victims of some criminal act before the day or night is over.
Continue reading Pan Potential
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 10, 2020
On Monday night I tuned into CNN to listen to the results of the Democratic caucus that had taken place in Iowa earlier in the day. By one am on Tuesday morning the Iowa Democratic Party (I.D.P.) had issued no results although some of the candidates made their speeches and headed off to New Hampshire to continue their quest to become the Democratic presidential nominee for the 2020 election.
Continue reading Biden’s Dilemma
By Raffique Shah
February 10, 2020
The recent announcement that the T&T Securities and Exchange Commission and Bourse Securities, Hassan Rahaman and Imtiaz Rahaman have reached an agreement whereby the latter three parties will pay the SEC $2.8 million pertaining to Hassan’s purchase of 659,588 shares of First Citizens Bank during the July 2013 Initial Public Offering, prompted me to speak out on a related matter.
Continue reading First Citizens, second citizens
Makeda Darius’ response, in song, to Prof Selwyn Cudjoe’s claim that the late Sat Maharaj reminded him of US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, earned her the National Women Action Committee’s (NWAC) National Calypso Queen crown. Her piece was entitled, No Martin.
Continue reading Makeda Darius crowned NWAC National Calypso Queen
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 04, 2020
A few weeks ago I wrote about the presence of money in our churches. Rev. Henry Richards of St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Tacarigua, absconded with over $1,000,000 in the 1880s whereas Pastor Vinworth Anthony Dayal, pastor of the Third Exodus Assembly Church in Longdenville, accumulated about $31 million, the product of 19 years of tithes. As we contemplate these excesses, we must remember there are better exemplars of God’s words and how His blessing manifests itself to believers.
Continue reading Blessed Are They Who Hunger after Righteousness
By Raffique Shah
February 03, 2020
As we battle against the crime-plague that is devastating the country, and we in the media add our two-cents’ input to what should be considered a national discussion on the issue, I was jolted by an intervention from well-respected commentator Ira Mathur that turned up in my email inbox last weekend. Ira wrote that a “bomb” landed in her smart-phone in the form of a report on gang violence in Trinidad and Tobago by a researcher named Janina Pawelz of the Institute for Peace, Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
Continue reading Robbing Hoods
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 27, 2020
IF one ever believed the PNM Government could solve the present crime epidemic in the country, one had better think again.
It is unlikely to do so for the simple reason that neither our Prime Minister nor Minister of National Security seems to understand the magnitude of the challenges that face our civilisation or way of life.
Continue reading Who is without blame?
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 21, 2020
Last Sunday Jeralean John, one of the most dynamic persons to enter the political arena in the last year, invited me to visit Savannah Park, Waller Field, or what is known as “Gaza.” I eagerly accepted the invitation, excited at the possibility of hearing what ordinary people—although people are never ordinary—had to say about the conditions under which they live.
Continue reading A Foolish Dog
By Raffique Shah
January 21, 2020
As the heavily armed hardcore criminals consolidate their murderous stranglehold on our country, striking with seeming impunity anytime, anywhere they choose to, the powers-that-be go into the panic mode and respond with fusillades of “gobar” rather than superior strategy and firepower.
Gunmen wielding weapons as deadly as the AR-15 launched yet another brazen attack in downtown Port of Spain mid-afternoon last Tuesday leaving two dead, scores who were nearby soiling their under-garments, and thousands more frightened to walk the city streets. What does Minister of National Security Stuart Young say? He speaks of some vague conspiracy between the criminals and “certain people” who want to promote fear and panic among the population. Why would anyone want to do that? Hey, a general election is due by year-end, so you guess who would want to create instability, to gain political power.
Continue reading Focus on one war, fellas
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 14, 2020
PART 2
Archbishop Henry Richards was one of the most respected members of the Tacarigua community. His brother, S. L. B. Richards, the rector of Trinity Cathedral, was considered the “embodiment of Christian charity and was never so happy as when engaged in the relief of distress or suffering.” His well-attended funeral in 1877 demonstrated the esteem in which he was held by the community.
Continue reading Tithes and Thefts