Category Archives: Politics

Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Why I will vote UNC

Leave a comment

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.
Continue reading Why I will vote UNC →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

PNM leaps ahead

Leave a comment

By Raffique Shah
March 22, 2025

Raffique ShahWhen the history of politics in Trinidad and Tobago is written, those who are shaping our future and those who are making our history will be alarmed at how easily an epoch was erased, how a new era almost slid past the hands of historians, with hardly a note written about it. Not even the men and women who were reshaping our history were aware of this momentous change, focused as they were on winning an election.
Continue reading PNM leaps ahead →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

Absolute foolishness

Leave a comment

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.
Continue reading Absolute foolishness →

General T&T, Politics

Intentional distraction

Leave a comment

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 08, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeNostalgia led me to the People’s National Movement Mani­festo of 1991, the year it defeated the National Alliance for Reconstruction. The PNM returned to government in 1991 but lost power to the United National Congress in 1995. A year later, the Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow challenged Patrick Manning’s leadership and lost. His rise to national prominence began at that point. The Leader will leave the political scene in a few weeks but will retain his influence on his protégé, Stuart Young.
Continue reading Intentional distraction →

General T&T, Politics

Be thankful for Rowley

By Raffique Shah
January 11, 2025

Raffique ShahIt would be quite a thing if the leadership succession issue in the ruling People’s National Movement were to erupt into something akin to war, while the party has often been described as the best organised in the Caribbean.

I had planned this column before Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced his proposed resignation, and subsequently the naming of his successor, Energy Minister Stuart Young. That grabbed national attention and with it, controversy, before I could write. But that is politics for you—unpredictable in the most stable of times and immutable in the worst of times.
Continue reading Be thankful for Rowley →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Vote out the PNM

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 28, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThree recent events cemented in my mind that the poor and the not-so-poor will suffer much more over the next five years than they do today if the present Government is not changed.

The PNM must move aside to allow us to inhale a new breath of freedom, experience greater competence in running the country’s affairs, and to assure us that we can expect a more normal life in the future.
Continue reading Vote out the PNM →

General T&T, Politics

No need for wars

By Raffique Shah
December 04, 2024

Raffique ShahI expect a bruising political year ahead of us as general election 2025 looms large. The Opposition United National Congress (UNC) has never really stopped campaigning since their loss in 2015. The margins of victory—the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) polled in 2015 and 2020—were close enough to keep the PNM uneasy, but the UNC probably blew it by turning to the courts in constituencies where they were behind by relatively small numbers of votes, causing them to lose goodwill among the electorate.
Continue reading No need for wars →

Crime in T&T, PNM, Politics

Hubris goes before the fall

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 12, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt was November 2016; the PNM had just won an election, and it was riding high. At a conference hosted by the Government and the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Colm Imbert explained why he had raised the price of fuel. He boasted: “I increased the price of fuel by 15% and then realised that was not enough. I came back again in April and raised it by another 15% and I came back again just a few weeks ago and raised it by another 15%. They haven’t rioted yet.” (Loop News, November 9, 2016.)
Continue reading Hubris goes before the fall →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

The ultimate barbarian

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 05, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt may seem an exaggeration, but the Leader of Our Grief is the most obnoxious leader we have had in our 62 years of independent rule. He has revealed himself as an unsophisticated bully who is unaware of his social and political responsibilities to the nation.

His latest display of incivility was wrapped up in a perfumed package of royal pomp and circumstance. He boasted that after having had dinner with King Charles III, Mia Mottley of Barbados, King Mswati of Eswatini, and President Irfaan Ali of Guyana he discovered that the UNC and its leaders had criticised the person he had selected to turn our economy around. He called his critics “the most destructive, unpatriotic louts among us”.
Continue reading The ultimate barbarian →