Tag Archives: Keith Rowley

Court, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Property Tax, UNC

Harris and Koylass Recruited to Lobby for Doomed Property Tax

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By Stephen Kangal
May 27, 2017

Stephen KangalI read the statement issued by RC Archbishop Harris and a Guardian article penned by SC Koylass both making a misguided and ill-founded case for the collection of the Property tax outside of the the scope of the relevant legislation and quite favourable to the person who seemed to have recruited them. An exercise that is truly voluntary does not need external encouragement by the Minister of Finance bent on mobilising people to join his crusade to collectively defy the Court Order as if he is protected in Parliament.
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Court, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Property Tax, Recession, UNC

PROPERTY TAX IN COURT

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By Jada Loutoo
May 13 2017 – newsday.co.tt

PROPERTY TAX IN COURTAN ALL out attack has been launched against Government on the implementation of the property tax. In separate strikes, legal letters were fired off yesterday by a battery of lawyers representing three landowners threatening to take Government to court for what has been described as an “ambush” on citizens.

Two of the actions seek to have the courts review the implementation process of the controversial tax while the third is a constitutional challenge to the property tax. In the judicial review and constitutional claims former transport minister Devant Maharaj, United National Congress activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj and Chaguanas resident Lutchmidat Ramcallie, are asking the Government to hold its hand on the implementation of the Property Tax until it amends the legislative provisions and before the court determines the actions.
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Crime in T&T, Domestic Violence, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Violence

Beware of our Talents

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 12, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Monday, Dr. Keith Rowley embarked upon a tour to converse with his constituents. Symbolically, he began his conversation in the constituency of his most tone-deaf, most unavailable minister.

Any astute observer of the political scene could have told him that crime, public safety and citizens’ distrust of their government are prime concerns. They would have told him that men’s cruelty to women has little to do with the choices they make in picking their spouses or the clothes they wear.
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General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics, UNC, USA

How FATCA Infringes and Trammels Our Statehood

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By Stephen Kangal
December 23, 2016

Stephen KangalThere 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.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, UNC

No longer blinded by our eyes

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 04, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe 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.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

The corbeaux are circling

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By Raffique Shah
November 23, 2016

Raffique ShahThe campaign for next Monday’s local government elections has degenerated into a dogfight that is dominated by fluff, innuendoes, outright lies and a teaspoon of violence which the main combatants, PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley and UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, hope will generate a large voter turnout and salvage their respective political careers.
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General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics, UNC

Imbert Must Credit Kamla for the Gaming Bill

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By Stephen Kangal
November 16, 2016

Stephen KangalWhen beleaguered and now politically isolated Finance Minister, Colm Imbert introduces on Friday a Gaming/Betting Control Bill 2016 in the House designed to regulate and bring under strict legislative jurisdiction a mushrooming and widespread but illegal Gaming Industry he must abandon his penchant for flaunting his boyish political immaturity. He must give due credit to former PM, Kamla-Persad-Bissessar for all the hard work invested on the comprehensive and insightful law- creating process that commenced with the 2013 Budget Statement of intent announcing the new regime. These are the firm building blocks of the new gambling and betting shops regime.
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General T&T, Law, Media, PNM, Police, Politics

Police probe ordered on AG’s children gun issue

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Images which surfaced online allegedly showing a cabinet minister’s relatives with high-tech weapons
Images which surfaced online allegedly showing a cabinet minister’s relatives with high-tech weapons

By Renuka Singh
Oxctober 14, 2016 – trinidadexpress.com

Acting Police Commissioner Harold Phillip has ordered an investigation into how the children of Attorney General Faris al-Rawi came to be holding high-powered military weapons.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics

Powers he does not have

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By Raffique Shah
October 04, 2016

Raffique ShahThe unseemly public spat between President Anthony Carmona and Prime Minister Keith Rowley, if it gets any nastier, could bring both offices and office-holders into further disrepute, and add to the list of public offices, officials and institutions in which citizens have lost or are losing confidence.

We can take it as fact that based on the structural political divide in the country, at least half the adult population believes that Dr Rowley is wrong, that he is lying. We should not be ashamed to admit that most people judge politicians not on facts or evidence adduced, but on partisan politics, whatever the issue or whoever happens to be under scrutiny.
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General T&T, Integrity Commission, Parliament, PNM, Politics

Integrity and Probity

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 27, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am an old timer. I believe integrity in public life predates the establishment of the Integrity Committee. My mother, born in 1909, used to say: “When ah dead, if anybody say ah owe dem any money, tell dem dey lie.” Her word was her bond. She believed each of us possesses an innate sense of what is right and wrong which tells us when we have transgressed those boundaries. Such a credo was part of an ethical value system that we, as black people, learned from our nineteenth-century ancestors. In those days, we did not need an Integrity Committee to tell us what constitutes ethical behavior.
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