Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

Elections, General T&T

Five dogs and a shovel

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 19, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOnce John Jeremie, Kennedy Swaratsingh and yours truly supported UNC publicly, darkness would seek to prevail over light, stupidity would try to dwarf intelligence, and moral degeneracy would erupt with diabolic fierceness.

I couldn’t conceive the conversation would descend to the vulgarity to which the former Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow took it: “I have five dogs and I’m handy with a shovel, so John Jeremie does not faze me or the PNM.” (Guardian, April 15); Jeremie was “a dog in the PNM. I can call him that” (Express, April 18).
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Why I will vote UNC

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 12, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBy 1959, party politics had taken hold on the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Michael Kangalee (he now calls himself Krishna, his middle name), my schoolmate at Tacarigua EC, supported the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that was led by Bhadase Sagan Maraj. I supported PNM, which was led by Eric Williams. Neither of us could vote but we followed our parents and villagers’ preference in expressing our party allegiances. Undoubtedly, our political position was shaped in part by our racial (not racist) affiliation. Years later, I went to the United States, and Krishna went on to live in Canada via England.
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Elections, General T&T

Young’s leadership, trauma, and the politics of bullying

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 05, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen serving as prime minister, Patrick Manning rendered two insightful judgments on the former Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow. He said: “When he cannot have his way, Mr Speaker, his method is to bully you…We do not tolerate bullying in the secondary school system…The minute you oppose my good friend, he gets very, very angry. And if you oppose him strongly, he becomes a raging bull.”
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General T&T

Discarded human beings

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 22, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Tuesday about 1.20 p.m. I went to First Citizens bank in Tunapuna to transact some business. I wanted to find out my balance and the last deposits and withdrawals that I made. I am aware that if I had Internet banking I could have conducted that exercise from the comfort of my home.

On my way to the bank I saw an old woman, struggling with her walker, and her two assistants—they turned out to be her grandchildren—helping her up the steps. She went into the bank, took a number, sat down and waited to be served by the tellers.
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General T&T

Cooked coo coo and Obeah obsessions

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 15, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn the end, it comes down to the total miscalculation of a man who talks about responsibility but is averse to planning for the future. He never examines any issue facing the country deeply enough. Now, he insists “our coo coo will be cooked if the Dragon gas deal with Venezuela goes sour”. He even asked his fellow citizens “to send your telepathic power to overcome the negative nonsense about the failure of the Dragon deal”. (Express, March 11.)
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Elections, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM

PNM’s obtuse rationalisations

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 08, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBlissfully, the Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow will soon relieve us of our miseries. Unfortunately, he leaves his clones behind who know not what they say or do. Chief among them are Faris Al-Rawi, a former attorney general, and Stuart Young, our first unelected prime minister.

Al-Rawi complimented the Leader recently for “his policy initiatives and actions, which he said were critical in stabilising the oil and gas sector in Trinidad and Tobago. He also complimented Young for his measured approach to the imminent change in leadership”. (Express, February 27.) I am not sure what that last sentence means.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Absolute foolishness

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 01, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe“Absolute foolishness.” Those were the words the Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow used when he described “the heavy foreign exchange spending on Carnival costumes…He insists that costumes are not investments” (Guardian, February 26). Such statements are “absolute nonsense” and “absolute foolishness” combined in one.
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General T&T

Serve in order to lead

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By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 22, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Saturday last weekend, we celebrated the life of Joseph Sam Phillip, a districker, at the Good Shepherd Anglican Church, Tunapuna, at which Archdeacon Kenly Baldeo, another districker, presided. Good Shepherd, one of the oldest edifices in Tunapuna, was consecrated in 1866.

Sam was an outstanding districker and citizen. We attended St Mary’s Anglican School and were/are parishioners at St Mary’s Anglican Church. His grandmother, Mother Gerald, was the chief Shango priestess in the village. My grandmother, Tan Darling, was one of the chief Shango devotees. She cooked the saltless meats for the annual Shango festival that usually took place in November.
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Elections, General T&T

Regress rather than progress

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By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 15, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe community is the source of democracy in Trinidad and Tobago. Recently, there have been many references to its role in solving our problems. On Tuesday Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis declared: “Grassroots sporting groups and programmes must no longer be sacrificed for the sake of national government bodies.” She obtained this wisdom seven years after she became the Minister of Sport and Community Development.
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