By Stephen Kangal
March 05, 2009
During the RIC hearings that subsequently resulted in the current electricity rate hike I made it abundantly clear that the net effect of the proposed unit rate increase from 15 cents to 35 cents per unit would result in a 45% hike in electricity bills. T&TEC and the RIC under Professor Dennis Pantin used every statistical trick in the book to deny and discredit this percentage increase.
Continue reading Coping with a Quadrupling T&TEC Bill
By Andre Bagoo Monday, March 2 2009
www.newsday.co.tt
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog
FIRST it was estimated to cost $40 million. Later, that rose to $148 million. Last September, the figure was revised to $175.3 million. But Udecott documents obtained by Newsday reveal that the cost of the Prime Minister’s Residence and Diplomatic Centre as at December last year was an estimated $244 million. According to a dossier on the project which was submitted by Udecott lawyers to the Uff Commission of Inquiry, the cost estimate for the project, as at December 31, 2008, was $243,961,819.
Continue reading PM’s mansion climbs to $244M
By Stephen Kangal
February 10, 2009
It is patently clear to me that had not CL Financial magnate Lawrence Duprey made his pre-emptive approach to Government in mid-January to mobilize State injection of liquidity into his cash-strapped investment bank, CIB, CMMB and insurance giants CLICO and British American it would have been business as usual to date.
But within the passage of a short time these major financial institutions would have eventually collapsed with catastrophic consequences for the savings of policy holders and depositors as well as for the rest of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. The Central Bank has been failing us the people of T&T for a long while. That is why Mr. Duprey the avant garde, visionary indigenous industrialist has retained our admiration. But the Government wants to hoff his crown jewels.
Continue reading Central Bank Governor Williams Must Resign
By Raffique Shah
February 08, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog
UP TO ten days ago, Lawrence Duprey was one of most admired businessmen in Trinidad and Tobago. He was not self-made, as some of his peers and predecessors were. He inherited the biggest and strongest insurance company in the country founded by his uncle Cyril. But having taken over the reins of CLICO, he quickly moved to diversify the insurance giant’s vast resources, to venture where no other local entrepreneur had, into the downstream energy sector.
Continue reading Beyond Duprey
Integrity Commission members resign
In the aftermath of a demoralising court defeat to former government minister Dr Keith Rowley on Tuesday, the four members of the Integrity Commission submitted their resignations to President George Maxwell Richards yesterday morning.
Continue reading Integrity Commission members resign
The Importance and Symbolism of President Barack Hussein Obama
By: Michael De Gale
January 30, 2009
In countries where people often face persecution because of race, ethnicity, religion and a myriad of social constructs intended to divide and rule, I often wonder how many brilliant minds have never come to blossom. Historians bemoan the knowledge that was lost when unenlightened foreigners invaded ancient lands burning books and reducing to ash what had already been known about the universe and about our progress as a species.
Continue reading From Peon to President
By Raffique Shah
February 01, 2009
POLITICIANS are wont to making the damnedest statements. This ugly trait is not confined to Trinidad and Tobago’s special breed that litters the political landscape. The recently booed-out-of-office US president George W Bush carved an unmatched record of making the stupidest remarks, maybe of all times. But among the lot that currently vie for media space in this country, we have some gems-or maybe that should be “fools’ gold”.
Continue reading Tourism down, Carnival dying
January 24, 2009
HDC clears Rowley
In a written submission filed on Wednesday afternoon with the Uff Commission of Inquiry into Udecott and the construction sector, the HDC effectively cleared former planning and development minister Dr Keith Rowley of any wrongdoing in the Cleaver Heights project by attributing apparent million-dollar discrepancies, in the contract total for the project, to “{two errors” contained in a letter of award drawn up by the HDC and addressed to the project contractor, NH International Limited.
Continue reading ‘Udecott bigger than Cabinet’
By Raffique Shah
January 25, 2009
IT was an emotional moment, watching Barack Hussein Obama take the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States of America. While hundreds of millions around the world must have experienced joy on seeing the first non-white take that historic leap for “Black man”, for people of my generation and those older than us, the emotions were different. Joy, yes. But that was a miniscule part of the memories that filled our minds as we watched the swearing-in, barely able to hold back the tears welling up in our eyes.
Continue reading The journey to Obama’s ascendancy
By Leslie
January 20, 2009
africaspeaks.com
Today, Tuesday 20th January, 2009, Barack Obama officially becomes the President of the United States of America. While there is much elation about this occasion, especially as the Bush era was marked by atrocities and war crimes, Obama has not mapped out a clear path for the change that he constantly spoke about on the campaign trail. However, Obama did express some views on several key issues recently and we can gauge those to see if he is really about meaningful change.
Continue reading President Barack Obama: Change…What Change?