THE EDITOR: We must pay close attention to what our political leaders say, sometimes casually, sometimes not. In an interview with the BBC Caribbean Service (before it was shut down) while in London, our Prime minister said that replacing the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice was not a priority for her government.
Continue reading Replacing Privy Council with CCJ Not a Priority?
Category Archives: People’s Partnership
Listen to Mohammed’s message, not the messenger
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 30, 2011
It has been a rather perplexing and strange experience to follow the national chorus of prominent citizens’ adamant position that President George Maxwell Richards should remove Nizam Mohammed as chairman of the PSC.
Their rationale for his revocation is the comment he made before Parliament’s JSC. Mr. Nizam Mohammed told the JSC and by extension, the national community that:
Continue reading Listen to Mohammed’s message, not the messenger
Doctors, Nurses Suspended – CEO Fired
5 Doctors Suspended
By Clint Chan Tack
March 15, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
FIVE DOCTORS and four nurses of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) have been suspended, pending a full investigation into the death of Carapichaima housewife Chrystal Boodoo-Ramsoomair at the maternity ward on Carnival Friday, March 4.
Continue reading Doctors, Nurses Suspended – CEO Fired
Plebian Carnival
By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2011
Oh what a difference an election victory makes. For time immemorial we were told by some that the steelband could never be considered as the national instrument—there was always the dholak—and that carnival was not really the national festival. They always sought to convince us that devali was comparable to carnival and emblematic of the national consciousness; hence the need to promote devali in the same way in which carnival is promoted. Somehow carnival was too black.
Continue reading Plebian Carnival
PNM’s Retrograde Death Penalty Politics
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 05, 2011
Monday, 28 February 2011 will not only live in infamy but it will also be recorded as one of the darkest days in the history of public policy decision-making process in T&T. This historic, albeit unforgettable, day witnessed the opposition PNM voting against the constitutional amendment to resume hanging as the most effective penalty/punishment/deterrent for murder.
Continue reading PNM’s Retrograde Death Penalty Politics
The Limitations of Multiculturalism – Part III
By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 02, 2011
Any society that aspires to be a cohesive national entity must be willing to accept all of its history; not just parts of it. And herein lies a problem that no multiculturalism in Trindiad and Tobago can fix: that is, a proper estimation and acceptance of Dr. Eric Williams’ role in our national development. It is precisely the inability of most of our Indian population to accept the totality of our history and the heterogeneous nature of our origins that prevent them from acknowledging Dr. Williams’ status as the father of our nation.
Continue reading The Limitations of Multiculturalism – Part III
Jack: Not me and Skinner Park
By Cecily Asson
February 28, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
Saying that he will never be part of the crowd that gathers each year in Skinner Park, San Fernando for the National Calypso Monarch semi-final, Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner yesterday hailed the bravery of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who on Saturday received loud boos from patrons when asked by master of ceremonies to acknowledge her presence.
Continue reading Jack: Not me and Skinner Park
Playing the Race Card
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 23, 2011
Jack Warner is the last person I thought would play the race card but then as my mother says, “You never know.” Here is Kamla and the PP getting their licks because they don’t know their ears from their navels but all Jack could say when workers use the democratic tools to protect their interests is they are targeting Kamla because she is an “East Indian woman.” It is strange that Kamla’s East Indianness never came up when she was running for the election nor, for that matter, was her gender seen in a negative light. In fact her being a Hindu woman seemed an asset given the place that women hold in the hierarchical structure of Hinduism.
Continue reading Playing the Race Card
Kamla Weeps for Daniel
By Cecily Asson and Stacy Moore
February 22 2011 – newsday.co.tt
An emotional Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday described the killer of eight-year-old Daniel Guerra as a “monster” and called for swift justice.
She also announced that the tragic death of Daniel had strengthened her resolve “that we need to use more drastic measures in the fight against the criminals.”
Continue reading Kamla Weeps for Daniel
Ravages of Ethno-Nationalism
By Stephen Kangal
February 21, 2011
After 49 years of an ethno-nationalism-based and driven Independence and four distinct nationalist-leaning regimes what is the prevailing status quo on cross- cultural relations/diversity management that now impels us in T&T to want to chart a new culturally-sensitive and responsive way forward (multiculturalism) instead of continuing along the unjust and hitherto ethno-nationalism-paved track?
Continue reading Ravages of Ethno-Nationalism