Tag Archives: T&T Govt

Crime in T&T, General T&T

Irrational exuberance

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 08, 2024

Pain, fear, nausea, benumb our sensibilities.
Not sure how many of us will live to see tomorrow’s light,
Not confident our country will remain a coherent whole
After we leave this earth and our politicians depart this life in ignominy.

—Author’s poem

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn January 1, 2024, Prime Minister Keith Rowley offered a disappointing New Year’s greeting to his nation. It is as though he were speaking about another country at another moment of time; sounding as someone out of touch with the existentialist realities of his society.
Continue reading Irrational exuberance →

General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Protecting our historic legacy

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 11, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 2013 the people of Tacarigua waged a valiant struggle to prevent the UNC government from establishing a sporting complex on the Orange Grove Savannah, now called the Eddie Hart Savannah. The plan, developed by Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT), a limited liability the Ministry of Sport set up to act as its key implementation agency, called for building a 25-metre swimming pool, a cricket ground and football field, a pavilion, a 400-metre running track, and a car park.
Continue reading Protecting our historic legacy →

Crime in T&T, General T&T

Return to good manners

By Raffique Shah
December 04, 2023

Raffique ShahIf the crime situation were worse than it is today—and that is hard to imagine—one can easily see the bulk of the population reduced to spasms of laughter as we watch politicians, police and public officers offer lame excuses for us being in a virtual stage of siege, imposed by the criminals in the country who are the only people who seem to have some control over their turf.

For example, the daily dosage of murders appears to be under the total control of gangsters, with the police incapable of doing anything to decrease the numbers. The wider population, held spellbound by the ease with which crime has become almost an industry, offer a mishmash of solutions every Monday morning on media shows. Before the week is over their prognoses become irrelevant. They must once again dip into their magic boxes to churn out some new tricks for the next week.
Continue reading Return to good manners →

Africa, General T&T

Principles in politics

By Raffique Shah
November 01, 2023

Raffique ShahI know, I know: the words principles and politics hardly go together. They are more like an oxymoron. But fool that I am, until the day I breathe my last, I shall strive, in whatever way I can, to have politicians and their publics see the wisdom of insisting that they find ways, making principles an imperative for those who seek high public office, and for those who put them there.
Continue reading Principles in politics →

General T&T

Eloquent excuses

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 17, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo Fridays ago Chief Justice Ivor Archie offered his thoughts at the opening of the 2023/2024 law term. He complained of “the need for meaningful public sector reform as the current system with its structural and systematic deficiencies ‘is crushing us all’”.

He said he made a similar call during his 2019/2020 address but “up to now it seems as though the right people have not listened… Unfortunately, little has changed since 2019 in that regard… One should note that many of the frustrations that we experience are common to ministries and departments of the Executive and I know that some senior public officials are quietly chafing”. (Saturday Express, October 7.)
Continue reading Eloquent excuses →

Education, General T&T

‘If you see something…’

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 10, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI have been poring over the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) “Education Policy 2023-2027”. In it, the word “holistic” comes up so often that I do not know whether I am a holistic citizen or not. One dictionary defines the word as meaning “characterised by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole”.

I am still not sure how the MoE expects a student to achieve that goal.
Continue reading ‘If you see something…’ →

General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Violence

Bloody Tuesday

By Raffique Shah
October 03, 2023

PART 2

Raffique ShahRamdwar (Dennis) shouted, “Gas!”

Gas, meaning CS: Crowd Dispersal Gas commonly known as “tear gas”.

The police wasted no time. It was like the proverbial “dog whistle”. Every “ranker”, Randy Burroughs and his “Flying” squad were there, as well as a large contingent of recruits, pounced on the peaceful workers and farmers raining blows with riot staffs, which were thick and heavy. Many bones were fractured on that day.
Continue reading Bloody Tuesday →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

Ashton Ford: a gentle spirit

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 02, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am always elated with seemingly little, obscure people—that is, people who are not in the spotlight—when they are recognised for the contributions they make to the civic, social and political development of our society. I felt that way when Ashton Ford was honoured with Hummingbird Silver last Sunday. He thoroughly deserved it. This suggested that a person can be involved in political and social work and still remain a decent human being.
Continue reading Ashton Ford: a gentle spirit →

General T&T, Oil and Gas

The true Bloody Tuesday story

By Raffique Shah
September 27, 2023

Raffique ShahIt was a chance encounter with one of only a handful of books on the contemporary history of Trinidad and Tobago that triggered memo­ries of another time, another day. I refer to the late Owen Baptiste’s publication, Crisis. Owen published that book in 1978, shortly after he quit the mainstream news­papers.

A bit of nostalgia struck me: I had to re-read something in it, and I thought why not the beginning. I should add that the front cover carries a photograph of three policemen dressed for internal security operations, wearing the then-traditional anti-riot garments and equipment.
Continue reading The true Bloody Tuesday story →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Murder

The Blood of Our Children

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 25, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAnd so the monstrous, mindless, criminal madness continued on Wednesday with the “execution-style killings of three children and a 19-year-old in the crime hotspot of Heights of Guanapo”. This massacre also left five people wounded, two of whom are children. Yet the Government keeps calling for talks with the Opposition as if there were some magical elixir in that encounter.
Continue reading The Blood of Our Children →