PM vows to make T&T a better place
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar wrapped up a national day of prayer at Rienzi Complex, Couva, last night by extending a branch of hope to the citizenry saying, “better days are coming.” Speaking with reporters last evening after handing out gifts to scores of supporters, Persad-Bissessar commented on recent polls which showed that her Government had a decline in its performance ratings for the past year. According to recent polls, including last Sunday’s ANSA McAL Psychological Research Centre’s poll in the Sunday Guardian, Persad-Bissessar’s rating has fallen over the last year. The PM said that despite the setbacks, she was committed to making T&T a better place.
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Patrick in trouble…again
By Raffique Shah
May 22, 2011
THE suspension of ex-prime minister Patrick Manning from the House last week triggered a national debate that is curious, to say the least. I think the penalty imposed on the nation’s longest serving MP was somewhat harsh. But I also hold that Manning is a “harden fella”, not unlike another ex-prime minister, Basdeo Panday, who was also suspended three years ago, but who rushed to Manning’s defence—something I find quite amusing.
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Time for the President to change the Integrity Commission
THE EDITOR: The Chairman of the Integrity Commission Eric St Cyr has been quoted as saying that the controversy surrounding the award of the $40 million contract to Gopaul and Company Ltd could have been avoided if the Prime Minister had stayed at a hotel.
The alacrity in which the Commission’s Chairman responded is similar to the pace of response when the Opposition questioned the appointment of Jack Warner as a Minister whilst at the same time holding an Executive FIFA office.
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Let there be Light
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 18, 2011
Call me old fashioned if you wish. Whenever I feel like reading the Bible, I turn to the King James Bible (KJB). Ten years ago while I was in London I purchased a copy of the KJB, sometimes called the King James Version, bounded in Calfskin Leather, written on India paper with gilt edges. It was published by Cambridge University Press, the Queen’s Printer. This copy of the KJB possesses cross references, a Bible dictionary and the words of the Lord are written in red. After ten years, the book still smells of leather and is one of my prized possessions.
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PM admits staying in house owned by NP favoured contractor
GOPAUL ARE MY FRIENDS
By Darcel Choy
May 18, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said the owners of the house she stayed at on Maraj Street in Pasea, Tunapuna, during and after last year’s general election, were her friends.
“We are not blood relatives, we are not related by blood, not by blood or marriage, they were friends,” she said.
Speaking to members of the media after the opening of the Bon Air West Early Childhood Care and Education Centre, Persad-Bissessar confirmed she stayed at the home of Ralph and Maureen Gopaul.
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NJAC leader concerned over extent of corruption in TT
By Cecily Asson
May 17 2011 – newsday.co.tt
POLITICAL leader of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), Ambassador Makandal Daaga, has expressed concern over the level of corruption that continues to play out itself in the country.
Speaking on Saturday at the founding congress of the Movement of Social Justice (MSJ) at Palms Club San Fernando, Dagga called on the government to “open our jail doors, and just pack them in.”
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Ex-PM Manning suspended
SUSPENDED
Manning sanctioned for being in contempt of Parliament
“Mr Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning is accordingly suspended from the service of this House with immediate effect,” declared House Speaker Wade Mark last night.
Mark did not state for what period of time but a suspension cannot cross a session of Parliament, which is the maximum threshold for a suspension. This session ends on June 18.
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A diamond in the rough
By Derren Joseph
May 15, 2011
Last week I had an interesting conversation with a final-year UWI student. She was doing research on music tourism. As we spoke, we wondered to what extent is music tourism similar to what we in the Caribbean context, loosely term as festival tourism.
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Question for Caricom on Nato’s ‘war’ in Libya
By Analysis by Rickey Singh
May 15, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com
LAST WEEK, while the United Nations humanitarian aid chief, Baroness Valerie Amos, was pleading for at least a pause in hostilities in Libya to help “ease the humanitarian crisis”, NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was arrogantly boasting — amid continuing bombing strikes — that President Moammar Gadaffi’s “days are numbered… There is no future for him or his regime…”
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Gone to the dogs
By Raffique Shah
May 15, 2011
THERE was a time when every dog owner in Trinidad needed a “dog licence” to own or keep a dog. Back then, everyone I knew who kept dogs owned “pot hounds”, also known as “common dogs” or “mongrels”. My father, like everyone else in our village who kept dogs, would go to the police station or court (I was too young to know details), pay a dollar and get a licence.
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