By Raffique Shah
January 07, 2012
WITHIN recent times, I’ve had an uneasy feeling that this country is drifting around aimlessly. I sense that in the economic turbulence that has gripped much of the world, we have let go of the rudder of the ship of state, and cast our fate to the wind and the rough seas without even trying to steer a course to safety.
Continue reading Fear for our future
guardian.co.tt
January 05, 2012
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan cannot really be faulted in awarding silk to two sitting judges because there was precedence in the matter. That view on the controversial matter was given by Israel Khan SC yesterday. “When it was first announced I didn’t give it much serious thought because there was precedence for a chief justice to take silk,” he said. Khan recalled that former chief justice Clinton Bernard was awarded silk in 1988 by the attorney general of then National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government.
Continue reading Khan: Don’t blame AG, it was done before
By Raffique Shah
January 01, 2012
A FEW weeks ago, Dr Brinsley Samaroo telephoned me. After we exchanged pleasantries, he got down to stating the purpose of his call. House Speaker Wade Mark had asked him to make contact with a number of ex-parliamentarians whom he (Mark) wanted to recognise for their service to Parliament, and, presumably, to country. Brinsley informed me that I was among those selected, and he wanted to inform me and to gather some biographical data from me.
Continue reading Play mas with your medals
President: Silk comes with ability, good work
When it comes to high office holders, President George Maxwell Richards says the application for Senior Counsel (SC) status is not strictly followed. The President was speaking at the appointment ceremony of 16 attorneys-at-law to Senior Counsel—among them Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard—which took place at Knowsley yesterday. The President said in many instances, the individuals had “made significant contribution” and “a body of sufficient work preceding their appointment to public office.”
Continue reading Appointment of 16 Attorneys-at-law to Senior Counsel
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 27, 2011
I am not a lawyer, I know nothing about legalese, but I do know when shit stinks and barely literate politicians tell me that I needn’t worry because they have the nation’s best interest at heart. Do I really have to believe the AG when he says that in making his decision about Ish and Steve that his only concern is that justice is served? Ah mean, is it that I have become so bey bey that I don’t know when someone is pissing on me even as he insists that it’s raining bucket ah drop. Ok, I stole this phrase from the title of Judge Judy’s book which reads “Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining” but the intent is the same: stop all this legal chicanery and respect the public’s point of view.
Continue reading Don’t Piss On Me…
By Andre Bagoo
December 24 2011 – newsday.co.tt
MERE days after the United States expressed disappointment over the outcome of failed extradition proceedings against businessmen Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson potential hurdles have emerged.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is finding the situation very challenging in mounting renewed proceedings against the men in the local courts.
Continue reading Major Hurdles in Pursuing Ish and Steve Case
4 DEAD, 7 INJURED
By Sasha Harrinanan and Alexander Bruzual
December 21, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
Screams for help from women and children trapped in a raging fire filled the night in Trou Macaque, Laventille where four people burnt to death and seven were injured as they leapt from the balconies on the top floor of a five-storey HDC apartment building which had been firebombed.
Tenants and neighbours tried in vain to help the families living in two of the top floor apartments of Building 2, one of which had been doused in gasolene and set on fire in a deliberate attack by a brother of the occupants who lived there at about 1 am yesterday.
Continue reading Arson in Laventille: 4 Dead
By Jada Loutoo
December 20, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
ATTORNEY GENERAL (AG) Anand Ramlogan will not pursue an appeal in the extradition of former UNC financiers Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson.
In a statement yesterday, Ramlogan said he came to the view that “the ends of justice” will be served by foregoing the appeal, and allowing the criminal prosecution currently before the local courts to proceed.
Continue reading AG won’t appeal Ish, Steve case
By Raffique Shah
December 18, 2011
YOU would think that two years after he suffered the most severe political flogging in local history, Basdeo Panday would have long ridden off into the sunset, hoisted his grandchildren on his lap and sat back in luxury, enjoying an ex-prime minister’s generous pension and perks. But that’s not Panday’s style. He’s back into active politics…or so he says.
Continue reading Degeneration now
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 13, 2011
Annabella stocking want patching
She want de doctah to help she with dat
Johnson trousers falling
He want de doctor help he wid dat
Some want a zephyr motor car
Others want a piece of land
[Now] Dorothy loss she man
She want to complain to Doctoh Williams.
In 1958, as the demands upon Dr. Eric Williams grew, the Mighty Striker penned “Don’t Blame de PNM” in which he elevated Dr. Williams to the status of godhead. Dr. Williams may have been ironic in quoting this poem in his autobiography. However, Striker was on target when he satirized the fickleness of our people’s understanding of government when he observed that even when yo’ lose yo’ man, yo expect the prime minister to help yo’ with dat.
Continue reading The Prime Minister as Goddess