By Raffique Shah
April 01, 2017
Permit me to quote from a column I wrote in June last year. It is the first time I’m taking this liberty, but I feel compelled to so do, and I think readers will understand why as I proceed.
I wrote then, “When constitutionally-independent institutions in the country seem to be collapsing…and when the law proves to be the proverbial ass, then, Trinidad and Tobago, we have a problem…a very serious problem.
Continue reading Oh, what a country!
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 26, 2017
In 2011, shortly after the People’s Partnership was installed as a government, the GOPIO asked me to give a lecture on multiculturalism. I emphasized that Trinidad and Tobago will never reach its full potential unless all of us—black, white, Indian and African, protestant and Hindu—accepted our past as our national patrimony. Therefore, I was pleased when, Kamla Persad Bissessar, in her response to Faris Al-Rawi’s attempt to do away with the three-fifths requirement for the passage of certain legislation, recognized that our Independence constitution “was evolutionary and was the result of hard fought negotiations at Marlborough House by our forefathers.”
Continue reading Guarding Our Laws
By Stephen Kangal
February 04, 2017
After two presiding officers of the The Parliament had twice previously turned down Opposition -introduced adjournment motions classifying the current crime pandemic holding all T&T to ransom and under siege as a definite and urgent matter (DMUPI) that has evoked widespread and enormous public concern and exponentially increasing outcry, it was devastating and politically incorrect to hear The Honourable Speaker of the House, Mrs Brigid Annisette-George once again, on Friday , without convincing but artificial rhyme or reason, deny an urgent motion on the current murder rate moved by the MP for Pointe-a-Pierre, Dr. David Lee.
Continue reading Speaker: Astronomical Murders are a Routine Matter of State
By Stephen Kangal
January 29, 2017
There was a quite visible and audible dearth in the House possessive of the requisite international relations expertise to analyze and dissect the internationally illegal imposition of US- domestic FATCA on T&T from a foreign policy/international law perspective.
That important dimension after T&T has been an active international relations participant for 55 years of statehood/UN multilateral diplomacy/foreign policy-making is a blemish on our international image, national pride and reputation.
Continue reading Can FATCA Pass the International Jurisprudence Test?
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 29, 2017
On Wednesday 18th January the Senate passed the Miscellaneous Provisions (Marriage) or the Child Marriage Bill (2016) that prohibits twelve-year-old girls from getting married. It did so with the notable abstention of the UNC-led Opposition. Put simply, as Jennifer Baptiste Primus suggests, this bill prevents “hard-back men” from clambering over young girls to satisfy their lust.
Enter Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Q.C. She is one of the country’s more distinguished lawyers. I don’t know how she conducts herself in court but one presumes it is befitting of her status. Language and the manipulation of language are at the heart of her profession which allows her to say things without regard of their consequences or truth content. It is almost as though she (or any lawyer) can use words to serve any purpose they deem necessary.
Continue reading Kamla’s Equivocation
By Stephen Kangal
January 20, 2017
As a dedicated viewer of the Parliamentary Channel I am disappointed and indeed saddened to witness the proceedings of the honourable and hallowed House under the Rowley Administration being reduced and relegated retrogressively to that of a circus full of clowns, lacking in seriousness, displaying wanton disrespect and being adjourned prematurely, frequently and in a hurry in spite of the outstanding matters listed on the Order Paper.
It appears as if they, that is the Government side are either going through a period of forced detention in Parliament, having other more important matters to conduct outside of the House or adjourning early for an after- work Friday lime on Ariapita Avenue. This is how the people’s business is being subordinated by those pretenders who sold themselves as being red and ready but after sixteen months in office have showed no credible signs of real performance even after two retreats and no war on the criminals.
Continue reading Reducing the Parliament to a Circus
By Stephen Kangal
December 23, 2016
There was a quite visible and audible dearth in the House lacking the requisite international relations expertise to analyze and dissect the internationally illegal imposition of US-domestic FATCA on T&T from a foreign policy/international law perspective.
That important missing dimension, after T&T has been an active international relations participant for 55 years of statehood/UN multilateral diplomacy/foreign policy-making, has tarnished our international image, national pride and reputation.
Continue reading How FATCA Infringes and Trammels Our Statehood
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 18, 2016
I wish to continue the discussion Keith Subero started in his two excellent articles of December 5 and 12. I agreed with many things he said. Some points are worthy of closer examination.
Subero interpreted the UNC’s performance at the local elections as a coming together of “tribal members, anticipating a threat, or an economic opportunity, to make it a moral duty to band together” (“T&T Caught in-Betweenity”).
Continue reading Race and Tribal Consciousness
By Stephen Kangal
December 10, 2016
Having regard to the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of T&T and the consequent urgency of concluding the FACTA debate by gaining the requisite 26 votes in the House on Friday last with the indispensable and exclusive assistance of The Leader of the Opposition I submit that The Honourable Speaker of the House, Madame Ingrid Annisette- George mishandled the earlier proceedings that had the effect of scuttling the substantive FACTA Bill 2016 debate.
Continue reading Speaker George Mishandled and Scuttled the FACTA Debate
By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 04, 2016
The People’s National Movement (PNM) ought to chill; ask what it is doing wrong; recharge its battery; and then take it from there. It lost the local government election and people are losing confidence in its leadership.
This is one situation in which loud talking and grand charging are unlikely to solve the problem at hand. The situation calls for calm, cool and reflective thinking. The election results are clear: The PNM won seven corporations (down from eight in the last elections); the United National Congress (UNC) won six. The PNM and UNC received four seats each in Sangre Grande. PNM lost about 12 seats to the UNC.
Continue reading No longer blinded by our eyes