Fellow citizens. Today our nation commemorates the 172nd Anniversary of Emancipation in Trinidad and Tobago. That historic act on August 1, 1838, destroyed the moral and legal basis of a system, which allowed human beings to be classified as chattel and denied the most basic human rights.
Continue reading Prime Minister’s Emancipation Day 2010 Address
By Dr. Selwyn R Cudjoe
July 30, 2010
Forgive me if I do not feel as jaded about the PNM as so many commentators do.
The PNM is down but it is not out. However, the infighting that we are beginning to see certainly does not help. While it is true that the PNM has reached its nadir, in time it would begin to assert itself and continue to be an important national presence. It would not necessarily do so as it did before and with the same force but whatever happens it will remain relevant to our society’s political aspirations. In times such as these we are quick to draw conclusions about the fate of political parties and social groupings without understanding that history must be viewed as a process rather than a static phenomenon. We draw the wrong conclusion if we look only at the results of the last general and local government elections and conclude that the PNM is done. In fact, the recent performance of the PNM should not allow one to conclude that it has no future in this society nor that the People’s Partnership remains an implacable force of nature.
Continue reading Rising from Rock Bottom
THE EDITOR: We all know that after the most famous hangings in Trinidad and Tobago, which involved Nankissoon Boodram (Dole Chadee) and his 8 henchmen, the hanging of Anthony Briggs was the last the country has seen. Why? The main reason is a plethora of Human Rights Laws.
Continue reading Trinidad and Tobago Death Penalty Laws
Chamber congratulates PM Kamla and Partnership
Kamla: T&T must not go back to old days
T&T must never go back to the days of the “old corrupt, arrogant, self-serving politics of the past,” says Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Absent PNM MPs affected Diego results
Significantly two of the three MPs, Diego Martin North East MP and former Works Minister Colm Imbert who was also an aspirant to the PNM political leadership and Amery Browne were absent from the local government election campaign.
Continue reading PP Trumps PNM in Local Govt Poll
I DO not know how Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her Cabinet arrived at a decision to appoint a Commission of Enquiry into the attempted coup of 1990. I suspect the hype that always surrounds the anniversary date of the Muslimeen assault on the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government may have prompted the PM and her colleagues to attempt to “put this matter to rest for once and for all”. It certainly was not part of the People’s Partnership manifesto or 120-day action plan.
Continue reading 1990 Enquiry: Exercise in Futility
Probe into 1990 Coup
Twenty years later, there is going to be a Commission of Enquiry into the July 27, 1990 attempted coup which was led by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday during at the post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
PM: Why did it happen?
Cabinet has decided a Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances of the July 27, 1990 attempted coup will take place to find out “what went wrong” and to “bring closure” and relief to citizens traumatised by the event.
Continue reading Probe into 1990 Attempted Coup
By Derren Joseph
July 20, 2010
Generally speaking, I often raise an eye brow when commentators use broad brush strokes to describe the somewhat intricate picture that is our economy. A picture made all the more interesting by the challenges facing the global economy in general. For my part, I try hard to appreciate the views of both sides of the fence—those who speak positively of the economy and those who do not. On one hand, it is hard to dispute that compared to many so called developed nations, and many of our neighbours in the region, we are doing relatively well. Looking at the charts available online, our public debt as a percentage of GDP is less than our Caribbean neighbours, our friends in North America (US and Canada) and even much of Western Europe. Our import cover is about 12 months when the international benchmark is 3 months.
Continue reading State of the Economy
By Dana Seetahal
July 18, 2010 – guardian.co.tt
In an Advice apparently solicited by attorneys for Steve Ferguson and Ishwar Galbaransingh, former president Ellis Clarke, an eminent attorney-at-law, proferred the opinion that the case for T&T being the “forum conveniens” to try the accused men is lucid and “compelling.” This is not the first time that it has been argued in respect of an extradition matter that local trial for people accused of similar offences in both the US and T&T should be preferred. The point was taken in extradition proceedings in relation to some of the men locally accused of killing Balram Maharaj, a US citizen, and in respect of whom the US had sought extradition for offences involving hostage taking. The accused were eventually extradited.
Continue reading The ‘Forum Conveniens’
By Raffique Shah
July 18, 2010
EVERY time I hear someone parrot poverty numbers in my Trinidad and Tobago, I wince. Politicians, and many ordinary citizens, often accept as the “gospel truth” the amount of people in this country said to be living “below the absolute poverty line”, defined as US$1 a day. The estimated numbers range from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the population, which suggests there are between 130,000 and 260,000 desperately poor people in our midst living on less than TT$6.37 a day. That’s around $190 a month.
Continue reading Poverty Facts and Fiction
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 15, 2010
Anand Ralogan is one of the leading lawyers of public law in T&T. There is no doubt that the prime minister selected him to be her attorney general because of his familiarity with the courts and how government agencies function. The attention he has paid to breaches in citizens’ rights and his advocacy for those against whom the state has discriminated have been admirable. All things considered, he is a good choice for the office.
Continue reading The Law of Just Revenge