Tag Archives: Politics

corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, UNC

Only in Trinidad

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By Raffique Shah
November 23, 2017

Raffique ShahUntil such time as persons in public life who are criminally responsible for stealing from the public purse, or for abusing their powers to enable their friends or associates to unfairly, maybe even illegally, acquire state lands or subsidised housing, are thrown into jail like the common thieves they are, this society will continue to decay, to fall apart, hurtling towards a failed state, a dubious title that we seem hell-bent on attaining, as if it were an achievement we can be proud of.
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Elections, General T&T, Media, Politics, UNC

JEARLEAN FOR DEPUTY

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Fired HDC head on Kamla’s slate

By Stacy Moore
November 16, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

Jearlean JohnFired Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Managing Director Jearlean John yesterday filed nomination papers to contest the post of UNC political leader in the party’s November 26 internal election.

At first it was thought John, who was Transport Minister during the Basdeo Panday administration, was merely supporting UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar by walking with her as she (Persad-Bissessar) entered the party’s Couva headquarters to file nomination papers shortly after 3pm. However, John presented her own nomination papers to the party’s election officer Dr Rampersad Parasram.
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General T&T, Politics, Sex Crimes

Sexual misconduct haunts public figures

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By Raffique Shah
November 16, 2017

Raffique ShahAmidst an avalanche of allegations of sexual misconduct against a phalanx of prominent men, mostly in the USA, but also in other developed countries, one can anticipate a similar surge here in Trinidad and Tobago, although our litigation procedures are more constrained, some might argue restrictive, than in those jurisdictions. I argue, too, that cultural differences influence the way the local public, if not the courts, view such allegations.
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Elections, General T&T, UNC

Kamla: Opponents want to mash up UNC

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By Seeta Persad
November 13, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

Kamla Persad-BissessarOpposition Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she remembered outlining to UNC members of a conspiracy to undermine former PM Basdeo Panday long before she became the leader of the UNC and her instincts were correct. Shortly after that meeting with supporters and voicing her concerns, the Congress of the People (COP) was formed with supporters of the UNC. “I was right about these people,” she said.
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General T&T, Labour, Politics

Let casino workers plant peas in Cumuto

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By Raffique Shah
October 26, 2017

Raffique ShahIt says so much about this country, about the national psyche, when, in the wake of a budget that will impact the cost of living almost across the board, reducing people’s purchasing power, the most vociferous protests are coming from gambling establishments that add nothing productive to the economy, but enrich a handful of casino owners, pauperise thousands of families, reduce many female gamblers to prostitutes, and provide the biggest avenue for laundering the ill-gotten gains of criminal enterprises, in particular money from the illicit drugs and firearms trades.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Denigrating Women Again

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 23, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast week my friend Prime Minister Keith Rowley was at it again, demeaning women without having a clue about what he is doing to their mental health, their self-esteem and lowering their respect in the eyes of the nation. No one in the party seems to have the courage to tell the PM that his views on women are antiquated. What struck me most about Camille Robinson-Regis’s defense of the PM’s analogy of the grooming of women to the grooming of a golf course was her unconscious ability to participate in demeaning herself as a woman and a mother when she suggested there are more important things the nation should focus upon.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC, Violence

Considering a new commissioner

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By Raffique Shah
October 19, 2017

Raffique ShahThe last hope we have for reining in runaway crime in this country lies with a leader yet unknown, the man or woman who will be recommended by the Police Service Commission to be named Commissioner of Police, subject to approval by Parliament. In fact, since crime affects so many aspects of citizens’ daily lives as well as the country’s economy, and because the Police Service is, or ought to be, the spearhead of any assault on crime, the new commissioner will carry on his shoulders a burden bigger than Government’s, and greater expectations than any other office-holder in the State-apparatus—the President, the Prime Minister or the Chief Justice.
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Caribbean, Dominica, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Does UNC See Itself as Part of the Nation?

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 14, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast week I argued that there was something disingenuous about the suggestions put forward by Sat Maraj, Stephen Kangal and the UNC about sending money to Dominicans but making sure they did not enter our country. The UNC declaimed that none of its members said anything negative about the Prime Minister’s plan to bring Dominicans to T&T, but none of them had said anything positive about the plan, not even Rodney Charles or Wade Mark.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession, UNC

Every Trini wants to go to heaven

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By Raffique Shah
October 11, 2017

Raffique ShahAs I digested details of Government’s 2017-2018 Budget and monitored the furore that followed its presentation, I kept hearing “in mih head”, somewhat like calypsonian Shadow and his “Bassman from hell”, the lyrics of a song that was popular about ten years ago, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die (to get there).”
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corruption, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession, UNC

A happy wonderer

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By Raffique Shah
October 04, 2017

Raffique ShahWhen you have lived as long as I have, and for most of your adult life you have had an interest in politics and affairs of state to the extent that you actually pay attention the annual Budget presentation by the Minister of Finance, you will have learnt that you waste valuable time listening to a mostly boring speech that contains little or nothing that is dramatic or surprising, and you’d be better off doing something more interesting (reading a good book, in my case), and await the summary of its salient points as captured by journalists who are paid to do such scavenging, or, if you have the stamina, listen to analysts who more or less say the same things year after year.
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