Category Archives: UDeCOTT

Ministers Must Show Decorum

By Raffique Shah
July 04, 2010

Attorney General Anand RamloganBREAK, as a boxing referee would say. Last week I sought to re-open some old wounds that have returned to haunt us—to wit, the tragedy and gross injustice of the Bhopal disaster of 1984. Oftentimes we become so absorbed with our immediate problems, we ignore the plight of people less fortunate than we. In their trauma lie many lessons for us, not the least of which is a sense of justice.
Continue reading Ministers Must Show Decorum

Should the PNM Govern Us Again?

By Stephen Kangal
June 22, 2010

PNMThe sober question that my favourite T&T electorate must address dispassionately is whether in the face of the sordid and blemished history/culture of widespread, pervasive, repeated corruption, vandalisation and pillaging of the public purse it can ever put God out of its mind and elect the PNM to mis-govern and bleed this country again?
Continue reading Should the PNM Govern Us Again?

Calder Hart’s Castle for Sale

Former executive chairman of Udecott, Calder Hart
Former executive chairman of Udecott, Calder Hart
By Anika Gumbs-Sandiford
June 20, 2010 – guardian.co.tt

Investigators may have to extradite former executive chairman of the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) John Calder Hart, as he has moved to block criminal charges by severing all ties from this jurisdiction. The shocking new twist comes on the heels of the whopping $3,400,000 million selling price tag on Hart’s sprawling mansion at #No 6 De Lima Road, Second Avenue, Cascade. A deed dated May 20, prepared by attorney Mark Laquis of Pollonais, Blanc, de la Bastide & Jacelon of Pembroke Street, Port-of-Spain was delivered anonymously to the Trinidad Guardian Head Office on Friday evening, in an unmarked envelope.
Continue reading Calder Hart’s Castle for Sale

Let the chips fall where they may

Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ Church under construction at the Heights of Guanapo - Inset: Ex-PM Patrick Manning
Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ Church under construction
at the Heights of Guanapo - Inset: Ex-PM Patrick Manning
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, June 13th 2010

REVELATIONS about the controversial cathedral-of-a-church being constructed at Guanapo suggest that ex-prime minister Patrick Manning may have been more involved in the project than he suggested when the issue was first made public. The new People’s Partnership Government has commissioned investigations into the project. Should our worst fears come to pass, though, it would be ironical that religious fervour, seen by many as the road to salvation, would instead turn into the seed of destruction for Mr Manning.
Continue reading Let the chips fall where they may

NAPA auditorium to be named after Lord Kitchener

National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA)
National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA)
Newsday
Thursday, June 10 2010

The auditorium of the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) will be named the Lord Kitchener’s Calypso Auditorium.

This was announced yesterday by Minister of Arts and Multiculturism, Winston Peters as he conducted a tour of NAPA.
Continue reading NAPA auditorium to be named after Lord Kitchener

PM means Prime Minister

Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ Church under construction at the Heights of Guanapo - Inset: Ex-PM Patrick Manning
Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ Church under construction
at the Heights of Guanapo - Inset: Ex-PM Patrick Manning
Architect Stephen Mendes confirms Patrick Manning’s involvement in Guanapo church

By Sasha Mohammed
Sunday, June 6th 2010

Architect Stephen Mendes, the man who has held the key as to whether former prime minister Patrick Manning was personally involved in the commissioning of the controversial Guanapo church project, has finally broken his silence on the matter, confirming the ‘PM’ he wrote about in a letter dated May 2, 2006, in fact, referred to Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
Continue reading PM means Prime Minister

Let justice take its course

Newsday Editorial
June 03, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve FergusonWe must assume that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s demurral in the face of questions regarding persons slated for extradition to the United States was based upon caution alone—he having not seen the relevant correspondence in the matter.
Continue reading Let justice take its course

Chinese workers quit Guanapo church

Lighthouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ Church
Lighthouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ Church
Chinese workers quit Guanapo church site

By Nalinee Seelal
June 02, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Since May 23 — the day before the May 24 General Election — work has stopped on the controversial Lighthouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ Church in the heights of Guanapo.

Chinese workmen hired by Shanghai Construction group to build the church packed their belongings and left the job site.
Continue reading Chinese workers quit Guanapo church

People’s Punishment

Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning
Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning
By Raffique Shah
May 30, 2010

I don’t know of anyone, from political analysts to columnists like myself, who accurately read the swing that saw the People’s Partnership barrel its way through PNM strongholds to win a resounding victory in last Monday’s general elections. True, new Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the COP’s Winston Dookeran were trumpeting from their platforms: there will be no safe seats for the PNM. But that call to arms was prompted more by expectations than predictions.
Continue reading People’s Punishment

Proud to Be Trinbagonian

By Stephen Kangal
May 27, 2010

Patrick ManningThe peaceful and civilized conduct and determination of the 2010 elections without incidents in which there was so much at stake for the incumbent regime makes me feel proud to be trini. The tenour of this election signals that T&T has achieved a note-worthy and qualitative leap in several aspects in the evolution of our political culture. This is the people’s achievement acting collectively to get the politics and its operating environment right.
Continue reading Proud to Be Trinbagonian