All posts by News

Africa, General T&T, International, South Africa

Long Walk to Freedom – Part 2

2 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 16, 2017

PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe Anti-Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, offers an excellent exhibition on the life of Nelson Mandela, the most recognizable person of the twenty-first century. On one of the walls there is a quotation that is attributed to Aristotle, the Greek philosopher. It reads: “Good moral character is not something that we can achieve on our own. We need a culture that supports the condition under which self-love and friendship can flourish.”
Continue reading Long Walk to Freedom – Part 2 →

Crime in T&T, Education, General T&T, Politics

Lost generations amidst free education

7 Comments

By Raffique Shah
July 12, 2017

Raffique ShahAnd we wonder why, in this land of plenty, we are seeing increasing numbers of young delinquents who invariably, in their middle to latter years, become dependent on the State for all their needs and much of their wants, some of them turning to crime as a rewarding enterprise that is the safest route to garnering, maybe amassing, wealth, faring better than their contemporaries who burnt the proverbial midnight oil, who sacrificed and struggled to earn an education they believed would equip them for life.
Continue reading Lost generations amidst free education →

General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics, Property Tax

Imbert Misled Parliament on First Phase of The Property Tax

3 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
July 12, 2017

Stephen KangalTaking into account the startling but incredible disclosures made by the Acting Commissioner of Valuation, Mr Baldeo Ramoutar in his 21st June affidavit filed in the San Fernando High Court, it appears to be pellucidly clear that the Minister of Finance, Mr Colm Imbert deliberately and knowingly misled and misinformed Parliament on the measures being undertaken for the first phase implementation of the Property Tax regime.
Continue reading Imbert Misled Parliament on First Phase of The Property Tax →

Africa, General T&T, International, PNM, South Africa

Long Walk to Freedom

5 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 10, 2017

PART 1

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI spent four weeks in South Africa and Swaziland at the end of June and the beginning of July. These were some of the most educative and inspiring days of my life. I had followed the South African liberation struggle since the late 1950s when Miriam Makeba sang her freedom songs. In the 1960s I read Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country and cried. Later I read Peter Abrahams Tell Freedom. It did not produce the same emotional impact on me.
Continue reading Long Walk to Freedom →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Media, PNM, Politics

PM admits Burke has edge with HDC contract

1 Comment

Govt’s hands may be tied

By Shaliza Hassanali
July 08, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

MP Marlene McDonald, Cedric Burke (centre) and President Anthony Carmona
MP Marlene McDonald, Cedric Burke (centre) and President Anthony Carmona

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has admitted that the Housing Development Corporation may have no choice but to allow Sea Lots community leader Cedric Burke to complete the contract he has on a development in Bon Air, Arouca.

He also admitted his Government did not undertake due diligence in appointing the board of directors of the East Side Plaza and New City Mall, Port-of-Spain.
Continue reading PM admits Burke has edge with HDC contract →

Flooding, General T&T

Has God abandoned this cussed country?

7 Comments

By Raffique Shah
July 05, 2017

Raffique ShahI am convinced that God, in whatever manifestation the people of this multi-religious society pray to him, has given up on Trinidad & Tobago. How else can we explain the near-total breakdown of systems that define a functioning nation? The economy is in a mess. Criminals are in control, striking at will. Lawlessness reigns supreme. And rather than work together to rescue the country from collapse, the politicians resort to jammette-like behaviour in Parliament, cackling like yard-fowls, literally saying to us, well, didn’t you elect Jean and Dinah to represent you?
Continue reading Has God abandoned this cussed country? →

Flooding, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Using a National Disaster to Polarise the Country

1 Comment

By Stephen Kangal
July 05, 2017

Stephen KangalBoth during question time as well as during the debate on the definite matter of urgent public importance that the Speaker accorded to the major flooding disaster that occurred in the wake of tropical storm Bret, the Rowley Government on Friday demonstrated the deep divisions and further polarisation that it is fanning and embedding in this country to serve its nefarious electoral agenda.
Continue reading Using a National Disaster to Polarise the Country →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

Marlene fired again

17 Comments

By Gail Alexander
July 02, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

Marlene McDonaldIn what’s probably the shortest-lived Government appointment in recent memory, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday fired Marlene McDonald from his Cabinet (again) after he had re-appointed her to office just three days ago. In fact, McDonald didn’t even have time to move into the Public Utilities Ministry for which she had been announced last Thursday and for which she’d taken the oath of office at President’s House, St Ann’s, last Friday.
Continue reading Marlene fired again →

Flooding, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

A bend in the river

2 Comments

By Raffique Shah
July 02, 2017

Raffique ShahIn 1950, when I was four years old, my father moved the family from a sugar company cottage in Brechin Castle (now Rivulet Road) to a rented house near the Croisee in Freeport. The house, two bedrooms sitting on stilts about five feet high (I’m writing from childhood memory), was located off a sharp bend in the Freeport River, the main watercourse in what I call Greater Freeport. In fact, its eastern boundary was the meandering river, and because the land was lower than the road, level with the river-bank, whenever it rained heavily for more than a day, which occurred several times every rainy season, our yard was flooded, the swirling waters ranging from a few inches to maybe three feet.
Continue reading A bend in the river →

General T&T, Lebanon, PNM, Politics, Syria, UNC

State Capture: Syrian/Lebanese Style

2 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 02, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Sunday Anthony Bourdain presented a well-researched, balanced, and superbly crafted depiction of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in his program “Parts Unknown.” All the interviewees portrayed T&T as a sophisticated, talented, diverse and intelligent community. Then, without much prompting, Mario Sabga Aboud, reminded Trinbagonians about a truth they know but rarely discuss publicly: The Syrian/Lebanese, a community of approximately 5,000 people, is the most powerful ethnic group in the country.
Continue reading State Capture: Syrian/Lebanese Style →