Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

General T&T, Guyana

Don’t begrudge Guyanese

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By Raffique Shah
October 23, 2024

Raffique ShahIt was with a degree of shock, certainly disappointment, I noted that many of my fellow Trinis appear to be envious of our Guyanese brethren over the one-off payment President Irfaan Ali promised them by year-end.

I wasn’t aware initially of the multi-billion Guyana dollars payout until it was brought to my attention by one of the Guyanese living in my village. Once the details circulated, I did some checking to see precisely what was on offer. It was GUY$100,000 per citizen, once the recipient was age 18 years or more. Some rough calculations told me that, based on current exchange rates: GUY$210 equals US$1 and it takes TT$6.77 to equal US$1. Each recipient will therefore receive US$475.10 come January 2025. The estimated number of persons entitled to the grant is 500,000.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Lead by example, PM

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By Raffique Shah
October 16, 2024

Raffique ShahIt is said that if you live long enough, you would have seen and heard “Everything”. I am closing in on 80 years and based on my last 30 years’ experience, I do not think I have seen close to everything. I guess the wise men who made that statement lived in the “donkey cart” era, not cars-powered-by-electricity era.

In today’s world, say over a generation (30 years), pace of change is so dizzying that one can suffer multiple medical conditions just trying to keep abreast of technology alone. If for nothing else, I’d like to be here to see the noiseless cars powered by electricity, silently whizzing up and down the highways and the byways. I want to see “Bounce mih nah!” Trinis shout at motorists whizzing past silently.
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General T&T, T&TEC

Hire T&TEC, Irfaan

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By Raffique Shah
October 10, 2024

Raffique ShahThere I was, citizen Shah, last week Wednesday night, having secured the best seats money could never buy to watch my team, Trinbago Knight Riders, register a flogging on rivals Barbados Royals in a virtual semi-final of the Caribbean Professional League 2024, when it happened.

Not that an electricity failure was unexpected. I know a thing or three about such mundane matters because I have taken the pain to study it as I wrote many articles on power generation and consumption as Trinidad would go on to become one of the most industrialised countries in this part of the world. I was also a director on the Plipdeco Estate board where the then biggest power generation company, PowerGen, was located.
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Agriculture, Food, General T&T

Rowley’s ‘sexy’ agriculture

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By Raffique Shah
October 01, 2024

Raffique ShahSome day last week, several of my one-time associates and long-time friends managed to breach the hurdles TSTT has implanted on my ancient landline to isolate me from what passes for civilisation today. They called to ask if I heard Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley crowing like a “fowl-cock” when he rolled out a new programme his Government was about to embark on, one tag-line proclaiming: “Making agriculture sexy!”
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General T&T, Health

When madness is not gladness

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By Raffique Shah
September 25, 2024

Raffique ShahOnce upon a time not so very long ago, Trinidad and Tobago had a handful of older citizens, alive, if not kicking. Many were reclusive, perhaps eccentric. So it seemed, anyway. Mostly they would stay by themselves, hardly mix even with others of similar age. And, since it seemed difficult to get a word out of them, far less the mangoes from the trees in their yards, one would just steer clear of them.
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General T&T, Politics, UNC

Ignore my advice, MP Paray

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By Raffique Shah
September 18, 2024

Raffique ShahTo listen to MP Rushton Paray tell his story, citizens who have lived through 15 years or more of political machinations will be excused for making out that he believes the hogwash he is spouting.

More than that, he appears to believe we will be convinced his is a political drama unparalleled in the history of the nation. Somebody or bodies should save Mr Paray from making an ox of himself.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Politics

Wayy Sah! Ah want dat

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By Raffique Shah
September 11, 2024

Raffique ShahOn the unusual occasion that I venture out of the sanctuary that is my humble home, I would invariably encounter people who ask about my health, a formality they usually dispense with before I can answer them. Two out of three of them would hurriedly shift focus to the subject they likely want to talk about, or likelier give me their opinion: crime.

We all know that crime as an issue did not start yesterday. Sure, it reached crisis proportions a few years ago in this country. But it was always an issue that politicians and citizens who form the electorate can vent their spleen on, and many times cast their votes on.
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General T&T

Through a schoolboy’s eyes

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By Raffique Shah
September 05, 2024

Raffique ShahIt was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I was determined to make full use of everything I heard, saw and read. By the time Independence Day came around in 1962, I had learnt a whole lot of what it meant.

I did not quite understand some of the terms the politicians and legal professionals used. I knew that as a new nation we were severing ties with Britain, but the extent of that change was clouded by the perceptions and often plain politicking of certain politicians who had their own agendas.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Columbus dead, Prime Minister

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By Raffique Shah
August 28, 2024

Raffique ShahIf Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is not careful with every word that “cometh” out of his mouth between now and whenever the general election is held (in 2025, he says), he could become part of the list of political leaders who have thrown away significant advantages they held before general elections.

Indeed, the advantages he and his colleagues have fought hard to establish and maintain after nearly a decade in power in Trinidad and Tobago could vanish in the putrid elections environment by him uttering inappropriate words and policy statements.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T

A time to kill

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By Raffique Shah
August 17, 2024

Raffique ShahIt was the Freeport address that piqued my interest. Six bandits (the police did not use “alleged”) shot dead in Freeport. Normally I would pay passing attention to such reports since the killing fields of criminals operating in this country can be anywhere, given our small size.

I paid closer attention now as I sat talking with my brother, Feroze, trying to figure out if we knew any of those who were killed by the police earlier that day, as we’d spent most of our lives in what I call “Greater” Freeport. As the television presenter continued with what was little more than a routine story, I realised the culprits did not belong to Freeport. They had, in fact, rented the house in a district that had expanded way beyond what I knew it to be. For all we know, one could be from Cedros and another, Toco.
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