Tag Archives: T&T Govt

Race in our politics

By Raffique Shah
January 13, 2013

Raffique ShahHILTON Sandy’s Calcutta ship gaffe may well sink the stalwart’s personal political pirogue—after the elections, not before. The furore his Freudian slip has triggered would hardly influence the outcome of the THA election. Battle lines were drawn long before polling day was named, and I sense that the “swing votes” in Tobago hardly make a difference. So Sandy’s punishment for a thinly veiled racial innuendo must come from his party since the electorate, at least a significant number of them, are not offended by it.
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No peace and goodwill here

By Raffique Shah
December 16, 2012

Raffique ShahTHERE was a time, maybe I should write “once upon a time” since this may sound so much like a fairy-tale, when nations at war suspended hostilities on Christmas Day, such was the pervasiveness of peace and goodwill associated with the birth of the Christ child.

The most memorable such occasion was on the night of Christmas Eve 1914, during the First World War, along the Western Front.
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Ethnic Stocking

By Winford James
December 13, 2012 – trinidadexpress.com

ParliamentUntil I heard the term from a WinTV reporter, I had never heard “ethnic stocking” before. The reporter called to find out what I thought about the Jamaica Observer’s observation in its editorial of December 11, that ethnic stocking was a very serious issue in Trinidad and Tobago and that, worse, it was a “centripetal” force “tearing the increasingly fragile political coalition that constitutes the Government of Trinidad and Tobago” and “(o)ne of the egregious aspects of corruption”.
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PNM problem, PNM solution

By Raffique Shah
December 09, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE tragedy of the crime-infested, poverty-stricken, pitiful and problematic ghettos located on the eastern fringes of Port of Spain is that they ought never to have degenerated to the mess they are today. There was a time when they could have been salvaged. Maybe that possibility still exists. But for as long as the politicians see Laventille, Beetham, Sea Lots and surrounding districts as permanent problems deserving only of temporary quick-fix solutions, the festering sores will spread, infecting and affecting the entire society.
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Anil: Verna’s attack on PM, vile and dishonest

Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts

December 07, 2012
newsday.co.tt

Verna St. Rose-GreavesMinister of Sport, Anil Roberts, said former colleague Verna St Rose-Greaves’ recent utterances about Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was because she could not “railroad” the Cabinet into accepting the Gender Policy, without widespread consultation.
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Sir Anthony knocks DPP

By Andre Bagoo
December 06, 2012 – newsday.co.tt

Director of Public Prosecutions Roger GaspardSIR ANTHONY Colman, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the collapse of Clico has described Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard’s application to halt the inquiry or make it private as being “misconceived”, but said it is ultimately up to the Government to decide whether the inquiry should continue in light of a purported start of a police probe.
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A series of articles by Trevor Sudama on the Debe Mon Desir highway re-route

Trevor SudamaUNC Member of Parliament and cabinet minister, Trevor Sudama. The articles are cut and pasted from a posting by Alyssa Rostant on the FaceBook page UNDERSTAND DR. KUBLALSINGH FIGHTING FOR TRINIDAD TOBAGO PEOPLE. These articles were originally published in the Express newspaper.
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Public Policy versus Adult Chupidness

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
November 25, 2012

Dr. Kwame NantambuThis article seeks to conduct an Afri-centric analysis of the putative imbroglio that has engulfed the nation to the max.

At the outset, it must be stated that the crucial mistake that has been made is that the typical Euro-centric analysis of this issue has become the norm. Indeed, it must be pointed out that the Euro-centric analysis has only focused on the results/effects of this issue/problem, namely, the Re-Route Movement’s tents, clashes with law enforcement officers and government ministers and the life-threatening hunger strike by its leader Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh.
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My way or no way

By Peter O’Connor
November 25, 2012 – newsday.co.tt

Highway Re-Route Movement leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh on a gurney after leaving this ambulance where he underwent some medical tests.I have been a supporter of the proposed highway from San Fernando to Point Fortin since it was first announced by Dr Eric Williams in his Budget Speech of January 1981. However, speaking at a forum organised by the Tapia House Movement at the end of March that year, I predicted that the highway would not be built, it would yield to “bng” (although that word was not yet created) projects like the Caroni Race Track. Dr Williams died that very night, and the highway to Point Fortin died with him.
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Trivialising suicide

Newsday Editorial
November 23, 2012 – newsday.co.tt

TAKE CHARGE OF WAYNE on the front page of NewsdayA letter writer to Newsday yesterday reminded us all of how precious life is. Sometimes we forget, such as when criminals strike down the innocent and the guilty. The writer, who gave her name as Merle Solomon of Santa Rosa, was critical of Dr Wayne Kublalsingh whose so-called martyrdom has now become a public circus. She reminded us just how precious life is and referred to the many terminally ill men, women and children who would willingly grasp the life which Dr Kublalsingh is apparently trying to throw away in the full glare of media attention.
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