Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Conflicting Signals on Inflation

By Stephen Kangal

Last year, National Security Minister Joseph assured us that crime would get worse before it got better. Crime has intensified. Last week, Junior Finance Minister Enill, following in the same vein of PNM spin doctors assured that inflation would get worse (more than 10%) before it got better (single digit). Meanwhile, while POS is overheating and being ghettoised by the skyscraper landscape, we, the 300,000 poor, must lose the purchasing power of our scarce hard-earned dollars and await the effects of this over-used worse-better syndrome.
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General T&T, Politics

The delusions of a Prime Minister

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Posted by: Errol F. Hosein

The ongoing behaviour of Prime Minister Patrick Manning suggests that he is driven by the ghost of Dr. Eric Williams. One must note that earlier in his career as Prime Minister, Mr. Manning referred to himself as the “Father” of the Nation. I suspect that he has not fully recovered as a result of what appeared to be a political “faux Pas” to the casual observer.
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General T&T, Politics

Statistics and damn lies

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By Raffique Shah
October 22, 2006

Two years ago a report from some UN agency stated that 300,000 people in Trinidad and Tobago lived “on less than US$1 a day”. Today, with oil dollars gushing through the country, we have managed to lower this number to, I think, 170,000 paupers. When I read statistics like these I vigorously shake my head, trying to figure out if I am living in T&T or on some other planet. Although I cannot claim to know every district in the country, I try to figure out how these highly paid experts come up with their numbers when I don’t see evidence of such indigence.
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General T&T, Politics

The Rapid Rail To Gridlock

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By Stephen Kangal

Rapid RailThe proposed Rapid Rail System (RRS) OR BOMBARDIER STYLE TRAMLINK would appear to be a done deal that has been concluded in the privacy of Cabinet without the requisite proper feasibility study (recommended by APETT) being conducted to determine whether it can really alleviate the escalating traffic gridlock that has enveloped most areas of Trinidad. This RRS is being bandied about even before the receipt of the Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) Comprehensive National Transportation System (CNTS).
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Crime in T&T, Politics

Sharma’s road to London

By Francis Joseph, newsday.co.tt
Sunday, October 1 2006

AFTER Chief Justice Clinton Bernard retired in 1995, Appeal Court Justice Sat Sharma was next in line for the coveted post of head of TT’s judiciary. But he did not get the job. The position went instead to an eminent attorney, Michael de la Bastide SC. So Sharma waited. His turn eventually came in July 2002 and he was appointed Chief Justice by then President Arthur NR Robinson.
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General T&T, Politics

Manning ‘bombed’ by Bombardier

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By Raffique Shah
September 24, 2006

Politicians, especially those who are in power, must know they are under intense public scrutiny, whatever they say or do. Once they have offered themselves for office and are elected by the people, they become public property. It’s a reality that many may be uncomfortable with. But if you commit yourself to politics, expect the masses to offer you no quarter. Opposition politicians can get away with murder or slightly lesser crimes when they reduce themselves to comic status, when they provide entertainment, not serious challenge for office.
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