By Raffique Shah
Submitted: July 26, 2016
Published: August 01, 2016
Trinidad & Tobago, as a very inefficient producer of sugar, relying heavily on preferential, prices for the commodity from Britain, and later the European Union, should have scaled back sugar production from the 1970s when the industry’s losses mounted year after year, soon to reach uncontrollable levels.
Continue reading Sugar industry was doomed to fail
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 24, 2016
My good friend called. She was irate: “Why don’t you speak to [not with] yo’ good friend Sat?” “Why yo’ say so,” I asked. “He called Manning a racist.” I don’t know if I was supposed to return the insult, but I am aware that if everyone is a racist then no one is really a racist. Counter accusations are generally useless.
Sat claimed Manning was a racist because, among other things, he closed down Caroni 1975 Limited and paid the workers $2m. That Manning may have calculated that the sugar industry was no longer economically viable did not enter into Sat’s thinking? But even if Manning paid the workers $4m it would not have endeared him to Sat.
Continue reading Let the Jackasses Bray
By Shaliza Hassanali
July 14, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
General secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), Sat Maharaj, yesterday launched an extraordinary verbal attack on former prime minister Patrick Manning, describing him as a “racist.”
In a harsh assessment totally out of step with laudatory ones heaped on Manning in the week between his death and his burial, Maharaj said he and several members of the public came to that conclusion on a talk show programme on Radio Jaagriti on Tuesday, based on a series of discriminatory practices Manning perpetuated against Indians in T&T while he served as PM.
Continue reading Sat torches ex-PM’s legacy
By Richard Lord
June 21, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
Fresh moves are underway to increase the salaries of the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, the Opposition Leader and all other MPs.
This is as a Salaries Review Commission (SRC) consultant met with senior Government and Opposition MPs last week to initiate the process for the hike.
Continue reading Pay hikes proposed for PM, Cabinet, Opposition
By Raffique Shah
June 16, 2016
It would be asking too much of our politicians that they show some humility in their public lives. In fact, it will be true to say that, with precious few exceptions, politicians across the world are egotistical and arrogant, character traits that distinguish them from most ordinary human beings.
Lest I be accused of being unduly harsh on the men and women who offer themselves for high political offices, I ask that readers think of politicians you may know personally, contrast the genial soul you knew before he or she was elected or appointed to high office with the person you see (or saw) in office, lording it over lesser mortals.
Continue reading No civility, much hypocrisy
By Richard Lord
Monday, May 30, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
On the observance of Indian Arrival Day today, President Anthony Carmona says the indigenous Indian culture brought by indentured labourers benefitted not only T&T but the world.
In his Indian Arrival Day message, Carmona said East Indian culture has produced doubles, Trini roti and curry blend and chutney music. He said citizens must remember the journey of the East Indian forefathers during the current times of economic challenges He said the East Indian presence in T&T has also had a great influence on the Caribbean way of life.
Continue reading Indian Arrival Day messages
Newsday Editorial
Friday, May 13 2016 – newsday.co.tt
THE BOOKS have been cooked.
Recent disclosures to Parliament have led us to conclude that the State’s financial accounting is seriously flawed. The books have been rendered defective through suspect accounting practices, gaps in oversight of revenue, and the use of tactics that have the effect of masking shortfalls. The result? A distorted picture. A Budget statement every year, yet no true accountability.
Continue reading Cooked books
Express Editorial
March 20, 2016, 9:49 pm AST – trinidadexpress.com
IT is disingenuous for Members of Parliament to be offering to refund salaries paid to relatives in breach of parliamentary rules, to quibble over definitions of employment, to suggest that new rules should not affect old behaviour or to dismiss them as mere guidelines. The fact that one of those MPs is Wade Mark, former speaker of the House under whom the parliamentary rules regarding employment at MPs constituency offices were reviewed and changed before being implemented in the current term, is scandalous.
Continue reading Getting serious with errant MPs
By Gail Alexander
Sunday, March 20, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
Apart from Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, two other Opposition UNC MPs had relatives employed at their respective constituency offices in this current parliamentary term, and a third UNC MP still has a “distant” relative employed.
They are Princes Town MP Barry Padarath, Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie and Mayaro MP Rushton Paray.
Continue reading Padarath to repay Parliament $60,000 for hiring relative
Opposition Leader accused of hiring relatives at Siparia constituency office
By Ria Taitt
March 19, 2016 – trinidadexpress.com
Allegations of a breach of the Parliament rules against the hiring of relatives gathered momentum yesterday with fresh claims that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has broken the rules too.
Reports surfaced yesterday that Persad-Bissessar has employed two of her relatives at her Siparia constituency office for well over a decade.
Continue reading KAMLA MUST GO TOO