Disorderly Governance
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tyranny of the minority in T&T
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Re: Government trying to undermine Labour Day rally
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Is T&T Above World Economic Crisis?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Digging Our Own Graves
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Public Outrage Did Not Break Jet Deal
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Manning and the Jet Stuck in Public Outcry
Monday, March 17, 2008
The High Cost of Living: A Sufferer's Perspective
Monday, March 17, 2008
Peta 'Bear' Dogs Charles and Camilla in Trinidad and Tobago
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Why Are We Giving Away Trinidad & Tobago?
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Lingo King Reigns Again
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Forward Ever - Backward Never
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Good Governance Forever
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Foul-mouthed Ganga Singh
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Shark Fishing from Reef Area in Tobago
Friday, July 6, 2007
If Thy Right Hand Offend Thee...
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Wallerfield Water Woes
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Black & Veatch Awarded Phoenix Park Gas Contract
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Lecture: African Heritage in the Caribbean
Friday, March 9, 2007
Escapades of U.S. Crime Consultant Bernard Kerik
Thursday, January 4, 2007
On the Israel Khan dress issue
Saturday, November 25, 2006
On returning to school after a long holiday
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
What's the fuss about North Korean missiles?
Friday, July 7, 2006
T&T Blunders: Maritime Boundary Judgment
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Trinidad/Barbados Border Award
Friday, April 14, 2006
The trial following the murder of Sean Luke
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Trying to cope with this most awful horror
Monday, April 3, 2006
Industrialization in Trinidad - A Realist's View
Friday, January 6, 2006
Change of mindset needed in Afro diaspora
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
But seriously, another holiday?
Thursday, August 4, 2005
DOMA going too far
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Buy one-way ticket back to India - I'll help
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
More Panday propaganda
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Guns in upscale areas too
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Major overhaul needed for justice system
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Fire unfair umpires, not Lara
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Lock dem all up from Captain to crook
Tuesday, June 8, 2004
Preaching the race gospel
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Use Lara's success to upgrade facilities
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Haiti: Awaiting the next installment
Friday, March 5, 2004
Pressure for Janet Jackson and Cro Cro
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Stop the Bajan Artistes from Performing at Carnival
Friday, February 20, 2004
Do not silence Cro Cro
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
My fears about the Police Service
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Increase in Rice Prices
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Eating the cannibal cow
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
Seeing no evil doesn't mean there is no evil
Saturday, January 3, 2004
When oral speech is more vivid
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Bogus kidnappings were significant
Friday, December 26, 2003
Nationwide reformation needed
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
America Bags The 'Jackal Of Samarra'
Saturday, December 20, 2003
An Idiot's Guide to US Foreign Policy
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Betrayal of the American people
Saturday, December 6, 2003
Trinidad and Tobago or Animal Farm?
Thursday, December 4, 2003
How can we monitor the fishing agreement?
Monday, December 1, 2003
Our young people are spiralling downwards
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Playing politics with Divali Nagar
Monday, October 27, 2003
Politicizing the Police Force
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Problem is our outdated constitution
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Crime fighting unit another Gestapo?
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Colonialism over TT's gas and oil
Thursday, October 9, 2003
CLICO getting into the act too
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Africans launched Chinese civilisation
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
What if UTC and FCB did join?
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Dhanraj Singh Murder Trial
Friday, September 26, 2003
Why Unit Trust cannot be merged
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Law Association comments on CJ
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Poverty
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Crime Fighting
Monday, September 8, 2003
Talk Radio at its worst
Saturday, September 6, 2003
Venezuela's recall: The other side of the story
Saturday, August 30, 2003
A Look at the 1953 US-Backed Coup in Iran
Friday, August 29, 2003
No website at T&T Counsul's NYC Office
Saturday, August 23, 2003
Plain Language Editorials
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Row over 'Inside' DVD
Monday, August 11, 2003
UNC loyalists are mistaken
Friday, August 8, 2003
Please surprise us, Mr Panday
Thursday, August 7, 2003
Sensational Memos Lift the Lid on News Control
Sunday, August 3, 2003
An underclass of misfits doomed to poverty and crime
Sunday, August 3, 2003
Its Time For Americans To 'Turn It Off.'
Friday, August 1, 2003
Beating children is not the answer
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Vision 2020 heading for a black hole
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Boogsie, Stalin for Skiffle Sensations
Friday, July 25, 2003
Pan Knights, Potential kick off panyard shows
Friday, July 25, 2003
'Shock And Awe' Meets 'Peek A Boo'
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Corporal Punishment in Schools
Monday, July 21, 2003
Why Bush wants troops in Liberia
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Venezuela's President challenges U.S. hegemony
Monday, July 7, 2003
What To The Slave Is The 4th Of July?
Friday, July 4, 2003
The Other Columbus
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Venezuela moves to replace US$ with the €uro
Sunday, June 22, 2003
The Iraq occupation cannot possibly succeed
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Trying to burn all the books
Friday, June 20, 2003
Why Rumsfeld is wrong
Saturday, June 14, 2003
I'd rather have a hustler on my door step
Friday, June 6, 2003
Iraq's free fall
Saturday, May 24, 2003
In defence of the YMCA on Sex Education
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Bullets rain over T&T
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Pests, Pesticides and Modern Science
Tuesday, May 6, 2003
Double standards by the US
Friday, April 25, 2003
People are bigger than politics
Monday, April 21, 2003
Wanted: courageous and forthright citizens
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Punishment not stopping the crime
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
A wake-up call to Trinidad and Tobago
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Don't bash "Trini to de bone"
Saturday, April 12, 2003
After the war, who will get the lucrative contacts?
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Finance Ministry never supervised Airport Project monies
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
The fate of empire builders
Saturday, April 5, 2003
What You Aren't Being Told About Iraq
Thursday, March 27, 2003
The changing stature of morality
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Lies, damn lies, stats and fabrications
Thursday, March 20, 2003
A Review of Beyond Boundaries, by Selwyn Cudjoe
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Right reasons, wrong approach on Red House
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Explain Red House relocation intelligently
Thursday, March 13, 2003
'Fly by night' schools
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
The Iraq Nuclear Bomb Hoax
Monday, March 10, 2003
Who are You?
Saturday, March 8, 2003
Misrepresentation of Carnival
Friday, March 7, 2003
The Terror Threat
Wednesday, March 5, 2003
Full Results of Panorama Competitions 2003
Sunday, March 2, 2003
Higher prices for slower Internet service
Saturday, March 1, 2003
Panorama Semifinal Standings
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Iraqi war with oil escalation and blood money
Thursday, February 27, 2003
$3.68b from illicit drugs in 2002
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Whites Swim In Racial Preference
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Insensitive Fete Venue
Monday, February 24, 2003
The safety that we seek
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
We are to be blamed for our problems not the demagogues
Saturday, February 15, 2003
The United States Of America Has Gone Mad
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
No "Weapons of Mass Destruction" found in T&T
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Template for Iraq Pretext-Operations Cuba--1962, Iraq--2003
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Another call for African Programs via the State Media
Monday, February 10, 2003
UNC to embark on civil disobedience
Sunday, February 9, 2003
U.S. 'Wag the Dog' Terror Alerts
Saturday, February 8, 2003
U.S. Weapons of Mass Distraction
Friday, February 7, 2003
No Televised Panorama Semi And Finals
Friday, February 7, 2003
Wade Mark playing 'Politricks'
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Happy birthday, Bertie
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Terror Lab Found
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Walk the talk on unity, Mr Panday
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Terrorist threat was about planting the story
Sunday, February 2, 2003
Trinidad and Tobago's Terrorist Threat
Friday, January 31, 2003
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Disorderly Governance
Posted: Friday, January 29, 2010
EDITOR: The Laws of Trinidad and Tobago have been broken by the open removal of Mangrove forests on the Mucurapo foreshore next to the car park where the City Corporation park their trucks. Why has the Mayor or the CEO of the City Corporation not yet been arrested and charged or fired for incompetence and mismanagement? Are the 40 dedicated Environmental Police a few blocks away at the EMA offices in St Clair aware?
Even a single branch of a single mangrove tree, whether virgin or secondary, is protected in the Environment Management Act 2000. Removing mangroves without EMA mitigation measures is against the Laws of this Nation. Do public interest bodies like Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) have to haul the EMA before its own environment court every time the EMA does not uphold its own Law? Would it not be cheaper to do the right thing when, after all, it is the Law?
FFOS has been to court with our EMA on almost a dozen occasions, and each time, it is always the same. The EMA refuses or is slow to implement the Law which clearly guides their existence. Put simply, they turn a blind eye and continue to lose the respect of a discerning public while they preside over the destruction of our natural capital inventory.
Professor Kenny is reported to have said that the impact would be minimal, but is it then reasonable, as Prof Kenny's statement suggests, that a child, protected by Law, but orphaned, malnourished, poor, meagre, dehydrated and partially abused already, could be chopped down, since the "impact is minimal"? Is it not more intelligent to insist that nourishment, care and protection be offered so that health can be returned? One tree today, ten trees next week, ten acres after that, then a hundred acres in Claxton Bay - the effect of deforestation is cumulative and whether you have a Bazooka, a cannon or a trap gun, guns are illegal and mangroves are supposed to be protected according to Law. Scientists, like CEO's and Mayors, have a duty to uphold and respect the Law, whether the victim is healthy or abused.
When a single Law is flouted, and Government authorities turn a blind eye or pretend not to see, it weakens the power of every other Law in even the remotest part of our country. Without respect for Law and Order, we will reap a whirlwind of crime. Is this not obvious?
Gary Aboud,
Secretary.
Terrence Beddoe,
President.
Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, FFOS.
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Tyranny of the minority in T&T
Posted: Thursday, December 31, 2009
THE EDITOR: The public, unscientific and unfounded notion/assertion by Finance Minister Karen Nunez Tesheira that "the majority of Trinbagonians support the Property Tax Bill' flies in the face of the slightest scintilla of common sense and intellectual rationality.
Indeed, the population of T&T is estimated to circa 1.3m, yet one cannot find and locate at least twelve (12) persons on national radio and/or TV programs who have publicly come out and supported this draconian Property Tax Bill. So, the obvious rhetorical question to the Minister of Finance is: Who are the majority Trinbagonians that support this legislation? Could you tell me?
The salient fact of the matter is that the only Trinbagonians who support this Bill are the majority PNM members in the House and the majority PNM members in the Senate. That's the final, scientific tally, Madam Finance Minister.
In other words, in this Calypso season, the ruling PNM government is operating under the sobriquet of the "PNM Property Tax Calypso Tent" with House Speaker Barry Sinnanan and Senate President Danny Montano as tent managers, Patrick Manning as the major attraction, Colm Imbert as the MC, Peter Taylor, Esther Le Gendre, Karen Nunez Tesheira and Hazel Manning as the tent's "Property Tax Chorus", Michael Annisette as the musical director and John Jeremie as the tent's no nonsense bouncer.
The theme of this PNM 2010 Property Tax Calypso Tent is: "Magnum Est P.N.M. Et Pravalebit-Great is the P.N.M. and It Shall Prevail."
The fact of the matter is that this year's Calypso season comes to an end on 16 February 2010, ipso facto, if the PNM's Property Tax Bill becomes the law of the land, then, the PNM's season of governance will also come to an end at the next general elections.
The fact of the matter is that We the People brought the PNM-Manning government into office, but, however, We the People are sick and tired of being continually "bamboozled, hoodwinked and took" by this anti-people, anti-labour and anti-environment administration.
Let us be reminded that everything that is evil must come to an end. Manning's PNM time is now up.
We the People cannot take any more of the PNM's political arrogance, infra-structure inhumanity, police brutality, medical negligence, crime pappyshow policies, and downright incompetent governing of the country and its financial resources.
Now is the time for the democracy of the majority of We the People to supervene the "arrogance of power" of the PNM's minority in T&T. Enough is enough. PNM has got to go, period!
Dr. Kwame Nantambu
Diego Martin
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Re: Government trying to undermine Labour Day rally
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
THE EDITOR: I am responding to Fitun's response that the Government tried to undermine Labour Day Rally (June 17, 2009). By alluding that the government organized sports and other events in its attempt to sabotage the Labor Day celebrations, Fitun is trying to shift the blame for its inability to mobilize large sections of the organized labour movement, the unorganized labour movement and the unemployed.
Why is this so?
When David Abdulah was one of the principal leaders of the Committee for Labour Solidarity preparatory (CLS), he had at his command a number of activists from various trade unions who were from the CPTU and the Labour Congress and who had the ability to organize and influence large sections of the organized labour movement. With the break up of Motion (CLS' successor organization), these activists are no longer around and, if around, are wary of David Abdulah's politics.
Moreover, Jimmy Singh, Man Man Edwards and others played an integral role in organizing the unemployed who ten to fifteen years ago would have gone to Fyzabad in their numbers.
In addition, in the CLS there were a number of community activists who mobilized people around various community interests and brought these people to Labour Day. Today, this is almost history. Whole communities are under siege and the community activists have quit, migrated abroad or have devoted their time to their families. Does Fitun have a programme of action to "Bring Back the Spirit in the Communities"?
Furthermore, the Council of Progressive Trade Unions played an important role in mobilizing workers across trade union and party lines and influenced workers to attend the celebrations. Even though the CPTU and the Labor Congress were always at loggerheads, they both sunk their differences for the sake of presenting a united front for that day and worked to achieve labour unity. Why can't Fitun and NATUC find a common platform, forget the rhetoric and seek the interest of the working-people? Fitun does not possess this capability and is still caught up in sectarian politics. Or in this case, what "head are they really pushing"?
More importantly, one of the reasons the OWTU was very successful over the years was because it had the ability to lead the working people. During the 1990s, the organization lost its way and needs to get back to its core. Its core was basing its strategy and tactics on the COSSABO (Conference of Shop Stewards and Branch Officers). These men and women emerged not only from the OWTU but from other unions as well. This was the secondary leadership who mobilized their branches and sections and brought out their workers. This august body has vanished.
Finally, the former CLS activists were also able to influence PNM supporters, ULF supporters, NAR supporters and others to come to Fyzabad. Somehow, despite their politics, these people wanted to hear what the Labour movement said about fundamental issues that affected their everyday lives. Can Fitun mobilize these constituencies and build a larger movement?
In the final analysis, blame for the poor showing at 2009 Fyzabad rally falls squarely at Fitun's door and it is time to stop blaming others for its inability to influence large sections of the employed, under-employed and unemployed and seek ways to unite with NATUC and other serious minded trade unions and begin to seriously address the socio-economic issues that are presently weighing down workers and entire communities.
Godfrey Vincent
Maryland
USA
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