Category Archives: Politics

Damn right to deny MPs ‘gallery’ time

By Raffique Shah
May 11, 2008

ParliamentThere should be no tears shed over Government’s decision to hold parliamentary Joint Select Committee meetings in camera, and not on camera. Already, members of the Opposition and some independent senators have expressed outrage, accusing the Government of using its majority to muzzle MPs and senators. Many people who follow parliamentary proceedings also view the move as one to deny the public the right to follow the proceedings of these committees. It reeks of cover-up, they argue.
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Industrialization by Illusion: T&T Today

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 08, 2008

Trini PeopleIn his 1972 article titled “The meaning of development”, Professor Dudley Sears argued that “a country which had doubled per capita income could not claim to have experienced development if poverty, inequality, (inflation/ spiraling high cost of living, food shortages, human safety/security, level of crimes) and unemployment had not been reduced.”

In lay man’s terms, this phenomenon can best be classified as “growth without development”; in other words, it represents a scenario wherein an inverse relationship exists between economic, financial and industrial expansion/growth and the Quality of Life (QOL) and Basic Human Needs (BHN) of the citizenry of the country. Today, Trinidad and Tobago resembles such a phenomenon/scenario.
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Frying in their own fat

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, May 4th 2008

MarketSeptember 2001: “Focus on agriculture declined from as far back as the first oil boom of 1973-79, when, with oil prices increasing at a dizzying pace, food production was no longer an attractive option. Like most oil-rich countries, Trinidad and Tobago felt it had the money to purchase its food requirements from low cost (though highly subsidised) producers in developed countries.
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Manning Shoots a Rowdy Messenger

By Raffique Shah
April 27, 2008

Dr. Keith RowleyIf former Trade Minister Dr Keith Rowley is a hooligan who displays ‘wajang’ behaviour, when did these abominable character traits first manifest themselves? Prime Minister Patrick Manning, explaining why he summarily fired the senior minister, told the media that for all of five minutes during a Cabinet committee meeting, Rowley ranted and raved and misbehaved, much to the shock of his colleagues. Pressed by journalists on Rowley’s darker side, Manning said: “It was not the first time. I’ve had to talk with him before.”
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Manning: Why I Fired Rowley

PM Patrick ManningAt yesterday’s post-cabinet news conference, Prime Minister Patrick Manning appeared alone to explain why he fired Rowley. Manning said that he fired Dr. Keith Rowley because of unacceptable ‘hooligan behaviour’ at a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of cabinet, and not because of his corruption allegation.

Rowley stated that he was fired because he raised concerns about a lack of cabinet supervision over UDeCOTT’s mega billion dollar projects.
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Serving the People’s Interest

By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
April 25, 2007

PNMIt came as a thunderbolt out of the political sky. A stunned country listened when it learned that Keith Rowley was fired from his position as a minister in Government. The Guardian headlines read: “Fired.” In a note sent to the Guardian after he was seen sitting in the backbench of the Lower House, Rowley wrote: “I have not resigned. I have been fired.”

The Express front page read, “Manning fires Rowley: I saw it coming,” whereas Newsday offered: “Manning fires Rowley: Udecott doing as it wants.”
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Nostalgia for the 1970s

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, April 20th 2008

Raffique ShahTHIRTY-EIGHT years ago tomorrow, a group of us comprising young officers in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (TTR), along with a few hundred soldiers, etched our names in history by revolting and seizing control of the army’s HQ at Teteron Barracks. We would hold the camp for ten days before subjecting ourselves to being arrested. We were charged with mutiny and treason among other serious offences. Of the 80-odd men arrested, around 40 faced court martial, with 25-or-so being sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. After 27 months in jail, we would walk free, thanks to the judicial system that remained fiercely independent of the political directorate.
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