Tag Archives: T&T Govt

Crime in T&T, General T&T

Messrs Big grow bigger

By Raffique Shah
July 24, 2023

Raffique ShahIf, over the past 50 years, we, meaning citizens, police and other law enforcement agencies were to have captured, charged, tried and convicted one Mr Big for every hundred named, Trini­dad and Tobago today will have been a crime-free society.

I make this bold statement not to look or sound funny, but to illustrate how stupid it is for law officers and politicians, ­especially senior officials—what they do to impress their bosses and the masses. Every so often when there is nothing positive to report, we hear utterances about “Mr Big”.
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corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T

Cradle of corruption

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By Raffique Shah
June 20, 2023

Raffique ShahI haven’t given much thought to the local government election due to be held in August, nor have I paid much attention to the ongoing debate on reforming local government, a cornerstone of PNM’s vision for new governments.

In the first instance, besides creating three new boroughs, the Government is seeking to instil the decentralisation of governance, the precise details of which I have not studied. However, I am aware that the contentious issue of property tax which the PNM sees as not only a source of revenue, but more importantly a source of power to the local government bodies, remains a gap between the Government and the Opposition UNC, which is totally against property tax.
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Elections, General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, PNM, Property Tax, UNC

‘Informed’ voters will decide election

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By Raffique Shah
May 30, 2023

Raffique ShahNot for the first time in its 67-year history, the People’s National Movement goes into a local government election as the underdog. In 2019, as I recall it, the main opposition United National Congress, and some other parties with which it had forged alliances of sorts, seemed confident they would flog the PNM in the wake of a sluggish national economy, job cuts and its failure to secure support for local government reforms that intended to increase the powers of the municipal corporations.
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Complaints, corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Money Laundering, Politics

MASSIVE CORRUPTION

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20 years later: Piarco airport commission of enquiry report finally unwrapped…

By Ria Taitt
May 28, 2023 – trinidadexpress.com

Basdeo PandayIt has remained under wraps for two decades.

The Sunday Express has however obtained a copy of the report of the commission of enquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project, a subject which has poi­soned the political bloodstream of Trinidad and Tobago with allegations of corruption on a grand scale and counter-­allegations of political witch-hunting.
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Court, Elections, General T&T, Law

GOVT LOSES AT PRIVY COUNCIL – ‘PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO VOTE’

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By Anna Ramdass
May 18, 2023 – trinidadexpress.com

ParliamentThe people of Trinidad and Tobago have a right to vote.

This was the loud and clear message from the Privy Council law Lords who delivered judgement against the Government’s decision to postpone the Local Government Elections and extend the life of councils for one year.
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General T&T

Rowley receives degree, praise from US President

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By Camille Hunte
May 14, 2023 – Express

Dr. Keith RowleyUnited States President Joe Biden has congratulated Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on receiving an honorary degree from Howard University, saying he did not know Rowley was “so talented”.

Biden was delivering the feature address at Howard University’s 155th commencement convocation ceremony at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, yesterday.
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General T&T, Law, Police

Anarchy order of the day

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By Raffique Shah
April 23, 2023

Raffique ShahIn warfare, any kind of warfare, whatever the size, strengths and weaknesses between and among the combatants, what any general will enjoy fighting against, is an enemy divided. In World War II for example, the Allied Forces comprised most of Europe except, of course, Germany and Italy on one front, Japan on another and remnants of the Ottoman Empire on a third. Among themselves the impressive Allied leadership— Generals such as Montegomery, Eisenhower, Wavell among a phalanx of highly experienced and well respected, one might say tactical geniuses, had to cope with the egos of Charles De Galle and Winston Churchill, both of whom were themselves military geniuses.
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General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics

Pristine Christine

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 27, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Monday, Christine Carla Kangaloo was inaugurated as the seventh President of the Republic. I did not support her candidacy to the highest office in the land, but was buoyed by the advice my friend Arnold Rampersad gave me some years ago about one of other political leaders: “Selwyn, she is now our President. We must wish her the best, work with her, and pray that she acts in the interest of our country.”
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Please read, Excellency

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By Raffique Shah
March 27, 2023

Raffique ShahOnce in a while, when the nation’s ruling elites are summoned to put on display their airs and wears, we at the lower rungs of the social ladder get opportunities to view how those who consider themselves the upper castes parade like peafowls in the finest garments their TT dollar can buy. Fortunately for us lesser mortals television cameras are just about everywhere, especially when ceremonies, rituals and often times plain bad manners come under close scrutiny of the ordinary citizens who look on with expressions of disgust at these pseudo-elites. The installation last week of Christine Kangaloo as president of the republic steered pretty clear of pomp, splendour and those delightful breaches of etiquette that set off gossip among those not invited, those invitees who chose to deliberately stay away and the public who, for entertainment from the upper classes, would otherwise watch ‘Keeping up Appearances’.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Is Trinidad a real place?

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 20, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Sunday, Terrence Farrell, one of our premier public intellectuals, sought to explain why some people say that “Trinidad is not a real place”. Speaking of the mess in which Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard found himself when he dismissed the Piarco airport corruption case, Farrell observed that it is these failures that prompt our frustration and “give weight to epithets such as ‘Trinidad is not a real place'” (Sunday Express, March 12).
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