Draft National Broadcasting Code for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago
www.tatt.org.tt

MediaThe Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT), through the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago is proposing to develop the National Broadcasting Code in collaboration with the general public. The document gives broadcasters and the general public an understanding of the factors which should be taken into account when making editorial judgements.
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Difference between needs and wants

Newsday Editorial
Monday, August 4 2008

TT CurrencyDoes the Government understand the difference between luxuries and necessities? It does not seem so, if comments made earlier this week by Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira are any indication.

Admitting that Government spending has contributed to double-digit inflation, Ms Nunez-Tesheira nonetheless insisted that the expenditure was a “necessary investment”. But Government’s main contribution to the spiralling inflation rate has been through its construction programme, and most of these projects cannot be considered investments in any real sense. The $148 million spent on the still incomplete Prime Minister’s residence and Diplomatic Centre certainly pays no returns, and was entirely unnecessary. The building of a Government campus and Social Affairs tower and an Education Ministry edifice cannot be defined as investments, either. Even if we accept Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s argument that the public servants who will work in these buildings will be more productive because of the comfort of their workspace, we very much doubt they will be productive to the tune of billions of dollars.
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Emancipation an unrealised dream

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, August 3rd 2008

EmancipationAS many of my African brethren gathered over the past week to mark Emancipation Day, I reflected on just how emancipated we are. And I don’t mean just Afro-Trinis, I mean all of us who form the melting pot that is Trinidad and Tobago. I started this column by noting that many among the Afro-Diaspora would mark emancipation. Not all. Far from it, the majority of those who descended from the most barbaric form of slavery known to mankind are not even aware that their forebears were brought here (and elsewhere in the West) against their will, in shackles, in the most inhumane conditions.
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Choosing Your Coffins

An Emancipation Address on the occasion of the 8th Annual Emancipation Dinner of the National Association for the Empowerment of African People [NAEAP] at Andre Kamperveen Hall, Center of Excellence, Macoya, Tunapuna, delivered on July 31, 2008. Professor Cudjoe is the President of NAEAP

EmancipationToday is an historic occasion. It is an occasion on which the people of Trinidad and Tobago stretch out their hands in reconciliation to our brothers and sisters in Ghana from where so many of our ancestors came. We are pleased that His Excellency John Kufor, President of the Republic of Ghana, has consented to join in our celebrations here in Trinidad and Tobago. We are equally as pleased that the Hon. Patrick Manning, our beloved Prime Minister, has had the foresight to invite such a distinguished brother to our shores as we reflect upon the pain and suffering; joy and transcendence; blessings sought and blessings received throughout this perilous journey in another land. On this glorious night, we revel in our bright, shinning selves as we are sure our brothers from across the ocean see their noble reflection in us. Though divided by the water and history we remain one people. Tonight we give praises for all of our blessings.
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Lee Sing: Afro-Trinis dying over URP crumbs

Thursday, July 31st 2008
trinidadexpress.com

EmancipationThe people who could have potentially been leaders of local African communities have failed Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, says National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) chairman and radio station owner Louis Lee Sing.

“This group of successful Afro-Trinbagonian(s) see themselves as Trinidadians and nothing else. The plight of the less fortunate of his race do not matter,” he commented.
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Happy Emancipation!

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 31, 2008

EmancipationThe Airports Authority’s emancipation exhibit in its atrium proudly proclaims, “Happy Emancipation” and informs us that “in 1985, Trinidad and Tobago became the first country in the world to declare a national holiday, Emancipation Day, to commemorate the abolition of slavery on August 1, 1834.” As I am neither a linguist nor a logographer, I wondered why the use of “happy” to describe Emancipation Day and in what sense it should be described thus.
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Lessons in the HCU crash

T&T Express Editorial
Monday, July 28th 2008

Harry HarnarineFAR from being seen as the saviour in the mess that is now the collapse of the Hindu Credit Union, the Government action last week must rightly be classified as having come too little too late.

Ordinary citizens by the thousands must now suffer the distress of having to watch their millions of hard earned money jump up and away in Harry Harnarine’s cavalier, irresponsible steelband.
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When greed leads to grief

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, July 27th 2008

ViolenceTHE dovetailing of two incidents last week laid bare reasons why, in spite of its immense potential, this country seems to be destined for self-destruction. First, there was the execution of a reputed gang leader, Mervyn “Kojo” Allamby, in Aranjuez. Note I did not use the generic name Cudjoe, an Anglicised version of the African name that even those who bear it are unaware of. It’s a bastardisation similar to Cuffie or Cuffy, the African root being “Kofi”, and among Indians, “Maha-beer”, a European version of “Maha-bir”.
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Emancipation vs Liberation

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 25, 2008

EmancipationOne hundred and seventy-four years have passed since Afrikans were emancipated from European enslavement. Nevertheless, their descendants in TnT are still irreversibly entangled in the web of historical-ancestral dislocation and powerlessness.

The fact of the matter is that in 2008, the descendants of these ‘freed’ slaves are still a homeless and motherless people.
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