{"id":56577,"date":"2026-08-31T22:27:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=56577"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:27:34","slug":"yuh-hear-lie-dat-is-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=56577","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Yuh hear lie, dat is lie!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raffique Shah
\nAugust 22, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Raffique Shah<\/a>Being an 80-year-old man stricken with mid- to late-stage Parkinson\u2019s and quite possibly other ailments (I prefer to live in ignorance about the other issues, worrying might kill me faster), the last thing I should have on my mind is this country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

As the old people would say, I have one foot in the hole waiting on the other to fall in. So, why then do I find myself worried about the future of my homeland and those who live in it? At first, I thought it was because of my grandchild and all her cousins, who may end up choosing Trini\u00addad as their home, and not migrating their talents to what may look like greener pastures but are in fact very attractive slave mills.
\n
\nSadly, that was not the reason. It\u2019s deeper than that. I consider myself to be a patriot and a true lover of my country and our culture, and I would do just about anything to preserve those. I can no longer stand at the touchline and say or do nothing.<\/p>\n

One reason I have refrained from intervention in politics is that anything I say or do will be used against me. So inverted are the minds of the trolls that they will sink to the lowest depths to make sure my other leg falls in.<\/p>\n

As far as good leaders go, this country currently has no promise of producing such a person if those charged with the duty of nurturing the future leaders are either incompetent, corrupt or too cowardly to step into their roles. This is the unfortunate hand we have been dealt by the electorate who saw it fit to change the colour of those in government, but not the policies.<\/p>\n

We went from red to yellow and sank right back into the sewer of corruption, laziness and, worst of all now, many degrees and a few PhDs and not a clue about running our nation and the various ministries involved. Even more disastrous is the fact that the Government, at the time of its inauguration, was supported by the majority of citizens.<\/p>\n

The only choice given to us at any election is the degree of corruption that has been promoted by all political parties, many of inconsequential interest. And, all you hear after the election, as the government\u2019s tenure progresses, is the chant from the opposition and its supporters, \u201cAllyuh look fuh dat!\u201d<\/p>\n

Any politician, be they opposition or government, making that statement should be barred from political practice and they should have their citizenship revoked for making an unpatriotic statement like that.<\/p>\n

Imagine, in this country, party supporters use corruption committed by politicians as a barometer for evaluating their competence. Madness. Corruption exists elsewhere in the world, in just about every country. This is what happens when you put unscrupulous and greedy people in powerful positions.<\/p>\n

When I got into the opposition via the United Labour Front party, of which I was a leader and a founder, I was approached by a senior PNM government minister who whispered to me: make sure you fix your family first, eh.<\/p>\n

That was never a thought in my innocent mind because I had seen the levels of poverty out there in my own country, and I knew, much like the others in my party also knew, we had to do something about that. I didn\u2019t just happen upon trade union leader.<\/p>\n

I was sought out for the role by sugar cane farmers and I embraced it with fervour. My father was a sugar cane worker and a small-level cane farmer, and that little money we earned had to suffice. So, I understood the importance of sugar cane farmers getting fair payment for their crops. My ambitious chorus was one cent per pound which was the equivalent of $22.40 per tonne.<\/p>\n

The politicians today rule on fear. Most people out there are not so educated that they would understand their own financials, let alone those of the country. A budget for them is deciding how to spend $100 and still retain a little change from that.<\/p>\n

These people are just ignorant to how a country runs and the unscrupulous politicians know that, so they prey on their insecurities. They use their fear of food prices increasing, lack of healthcare, increase in fuel prices, etc, against them.<\/p>\n

By the time they are done, their supporters are convinced their political party is the saviour of mankind. They must either be kept or elected to power accordingly so that they can save the souls of the nation.<\/p>\n

Some politicians are so sweet-tongued that they manage to convince big men with a plethora of acronyms after their names to sell their souls and those of their followers, promising big payouts in return.<\/p>\n

Yuh hear lie, dat is lie!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raffique Shah August 22, 2026 Being an 80-year-old man stricken with mid- to late-stage Parkinson\u2019s and quite possibly other ailments (I prefer to live in ignorance about the other issues, worrying might kill me faster), the last thing I should have on my mind is this country\u2019s future. As the old people would say, … Continue reading \u2018Yuh hear lie, dat is lie!\u2019<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[169],"class_list":["post-56577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tt","tag-raffique-shah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56578,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56577\/revisions\/56578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}