Category Archives: Opposition Party

Elections, General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, PNM, Property Tax, UNC

‘Informed’ voters will decide election

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By Raffique Shah
May 30, 2023

Raffique ShahNot for the first time in its 67-year history, the People’s National Movement goes into a local government election as the underdog. In 2019, as I recall it, the main opposition United National Congress, and some other parties with which it had forged alliances of sorts, seemed confident they would flog the PNM in the wake of a sluggish national economy, job cuts and its failure to secure support for local government reforms that intended to increase the powers of the municipal corporations.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, Politics, Recession

Go softly on utility rates

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By Raffique Shah
February 20, 2023

Raffique ShahAs someone who has long advocated the dismantling of over-generous subsidies for a number of goods and services, many readers may find my change in position opportunistic, and proceed to lump me with politicians who thrive on hollow rhetoric such as “freedom for the masses”, even the more vacuous slogan, “freeness for the masses”.

These are flights of fancy that the younger among my generation when our larger-than-life giants like Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, Patrice Lumumba and Malcolm X walked among us, preaching revolution through which we would establish an egalitarian world.
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Finance, General T&T, Oil and Gas, Opposition Party, Politics, Recession, UNC

The screw and screwdriver

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By Raffique Shah
April 25, 2022

Raffique ShahBy late last Tuesday eve­ning, the universe seemed to me to have remained intact as we have known it from creation, or more accurately, since we arrived on it—vast, mysterious, constantly moving—and the Earth did not stand still, as some politicians had hoped would happen, in a celestial display of anger by the gods against satanic price increases in auto fuels imposed by the heartless Government of Trinidad and Tobago on its people.
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corruption, General T&T, Opposition Party, PNM, Politics

Eroding Public Confidence in Our Institutions

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 04, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI was trying my best to stay out of de commess until someone sent me a Facebook post that read: “That’s Faris’s Porsche that Roger has been driving around over the past two years.” The post also showed a photograph of the SUV number plate attached as well as a “Title of Certification.” Quickly thereafter the Express reported: “There have been suggestions of a link between Al-Rawi, [Roger] Kawalsingh, and Gary Griffith and on investigation that this alleged link has compromised the work of PolSC [Police Service Commission].”
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Finance, General T&T, Letters, Oil and Gas, Opposition Party, Property Tax, Recession

Shelve property tax as energy revenue rises

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By Gail Alexander
May 10, 2018 – guardian.co.tt

Opposition Chief Whip David LeeThe Government should not institute the property tax since Finance Minister Colm Imbert recently said T&T has “turned the corner” and also projected “good news” in today’s mid-year Budget review, says Opposition Chief Whip David Lee.

“He has painted a more positive outlook for T&T in recent weeks. Also, energy prices are better than before. If the situation is really good, Government should have no need to pursue the property tax and inflict further hardship on the public,” Lee said yesterday.
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Caribbean, Dominica, General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, PNM, Politics, UNC

Impugning The Integrity of the Parliament

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By Dr. Stephen Kangal
October 2, 2017

Stephen KangalThe time has come when the bifurcated national community must now say that they have had enough of indiscretions and mediocrity. Is this what we have to show after 55 years of statehood and political independence?

We must abandon our traditional tribal loyalties/ political moorings and arrest the frequency with which The Honourable Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley has been bringing T&T’s democracy and governance into odium and disrepute in the eyes of all of us and those watching us from the outside.
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General T&T, Law, Opposition Party, PNM, Politics, UNC

Guarding Our Laws

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 26, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 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.”
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Elections, General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Recession, UNC

Half truths and manifestos

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By Raffique Shah
Submitted: August 23, 2016
Posted: August 28, 2016

Raffique ShahI don’t know that the majority of people in the country are influenced in any way by the manifestos presented by various parties—in our case two, one from the UNC/PP and the other from the PNM.

In fact, I believe few people, likely less than ten percent of the electorate, read these voluminous documents. In my case, I sought the synopses of the presenters because I know they will have highlighted what they saw as the fundamentals of what they would implement if elected, and certainly their most marketable offerings.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, Parliament, PNM, Politics, UNC

Padarath to repay Parliament $60,000 for hiring relative

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By Gail Alexander
Sunday, March 20, 2016 – guardian.co.tt

ParliamentApart 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.
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General T&T, ILP, Opposition Party, Parliament, PNM, Politics, UNC

KAMLA MUST GO TOO

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Opposition Leader accused of hiring relatives at Siparia constituency office

By Ria Taitt
March 19, 2016 – trinidadexpress.com

Kamla Persad-BissessarAllegations 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.
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