Category Archives: People’s Partnership

We happy and we sad

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 13, 2021

“God don’t sleep! We want change. The ghetto youth, the old, the young, everybody come out because we want change and if Farley and the PDP do stupidness, we voting them out, too.”

—Lisa Mulcare, Express

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn August 2, 2020, prior to the general election in T&T, in a column entitled “Why I support UNC this time around”, I wrote: “Although PNM began as a movement that was cognisant of the needs of the under-class Indians and Africans alike—over the years it has come to take the support of black people for granted. One only has to look at the conditions under which many black people in depressed communities live to recognise that they have not been the recipients of PNM’s loving and tender care.”
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Bernard Yawching defends book accusing UNC, Hindus of racist agenda

By Julien Neaves
March 17, 2021 – newsday.co.tt

Bernard YawchingPOLITICAL and social activist Bernard Yawching said he expects backlash over his book The Hidden Agenda of Race Relations in Trinidad and Tobago.

The new book accuses the United National Congress (UNC), the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), and some members of the Hindu community and the East Indian community of promoting a racist agenda. It tracks events from a 1913 speech by former Arima Mayor FEM Hosein about Africans not being as productive as Indians to more modern-day controversies such as Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar describing the Prime Minister as an “oreo.”
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Preparing the Way for Kamla – Pt 2

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 11, 2018

PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn January 29, 2011 after the People’s Partnership government was elected, I participated in a conference on multiculturalism that was sponsored by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) Trinidad and Tobago. Kamla and Sat were thick as thieves then and Kamla’s government decided that multiculturalism would be T&T’s cultural policy.
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Colm created tax confusion

By Raffique Shah
May 23, 2017

Raffique ShahFinance Minister Colm Imbert must shoulder much of the blame for the fiasco that a relatively simple exercise, the submission of information for the valuation of properties across the country, has degenerated into. The overwhelming response by property owners to abide by the law, hence flock the few Valuation Division offices where they could drop off their forms or get help filling them out, should have surprised no one. That the ministry was unprepared for the rush is an indictment against the minister and his senior advisors.
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Rowley Erratic on Property Tax Provisions

By Stephen Kangal
May 14, 2017

Stephen KangalSince the current discussions began on the yet to be known illegal implementation date of Act No 18 of 2009 Prime Minister Rowley has never uttered anything sensible and correct on this issue. He has never read the two mutually inclusive Acts No 17 and 18. He is at loggerheads with the Minister of Finance and his AG.
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Pay the Devil

By Raffique Shah
September 17, 2016

Raffique ShahAnyone who believes that this Government can continue to spend money to fix the country’s many problems the way successive governments have done, seemingly forever, is either a fool or someone who regards us as a nation of fools.

The harsh reality we face is when the good times rolled, most of us, from politicians and the business elites to plebes and philistines, intoxicated by the flow of petrodollars, felt we could and should spend, spend, spend, and let the Devil take tomorrow.
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Half truths and manifestos

By Raffique Shah
Submitted: August 23, 2016
Posted: August 28, 2016

Raffique ShahI don’t know that the majority of people in the country are influenced in any way by the manifestos presented by various parties—in our case two, one from the UNC/PP and the other from the PNM.

In fact, I believe few people, likely less than ten percent of the electorate, read these voluminous documents. In my case, I sought the synopses of the presenters because I know they will have highlighted what they saw as the fundamentals of what they would implement if elected, and certainly their most marketable offerings.
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ELECTION PETITIONS DISMISSED

…judge says the the EBC was wrong to extend voting time

By Rickie Ramdass
Aug 19, 2016 – trinidadexpress.com

PNM vs UNCVoters display their stained fingers after casting their ballots in the September 7 2015 general election. Photo: Trevor Watson

THE election petitions filed by the United National Congress (UNC) which sought to declare the results in five constituencies null and void as a result of the general election day decision of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to extending the voting time by one hour, has been dismissed.
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Sugar industry was doomed to fail

By Raffique Shah
Submitted: July 26, 2016
Published: August 01, 2016

Raffique ShahTrinidad & Tobago, as a very inefficient producer of sugar, relying heavily on preferential, prices for the commodity from Britain, and later the European Union, should have scaled back sugar production from the 1970s when the industry’s losses mounted year after year, soon to reach uncontrollable levels.
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Integrity Commission a waste

By Raffique Shah
June 06, 2016

Raffique ShahWhen constitutionally-independent institutions in the country seem to be collapsing, when holders of the highest offices seem confused about their roles and perplexed about their powers, and when the law publicly proves to be the proverbial ass, then, Trinidad & Tobago, we have a problem…a very serious problem.
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