Tag Archives: T&T Govt

COVID-19, General T&T, Health, Politics

Do your duty, dammit!

5 Comments

By Raffique Shah
December 20, 2021

Raffique ShahI do not believe there is a common factor that unites people of any particular pigmentation or persuasion across the world, except, perhaps, religious doctrines that are deemed to be the “words of God”, written or revealed by the Almighty Himself, hence not subject to alterations by man.

Those of us who have studied history know only too well that in the name of religion, of spreading the word of God, atrocities were committed, entire civilisations were wiped off the map, and the anointed soldiers of God just moved on to other souls to be saved by swiping heads off bodies, then raiding their treasures.
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General T&T, PDP, People's Partnership, PNM, THA, Tobago

We happy and we sad

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 13, 2021

“God don’t sleep! We want change. The ghetto youth, the old, the young, everybody come out because we want change and if Farley and the PDP do stupidness, we voting them out, too.”

—Lisa Mulcare, Express

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn August 2, 2020, prior to the general election in T&T, in a column entitled “Why I support UNC this time around”, I wrote: “Although PNM began as a movement that was cognisant of the needs of the under-class Indians and Africans alike—over the years it has come to take the support of black people for granted. One only has to look at the conditions under which many black people in depressed communities live to recognise that they have not been the recipients of PNM’s loving and tender care.”
Continue reading We happy and we sad →

Elections, PDP, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago

One-half apology to Farley

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By Raffique Shah
December 13, 2021

Raffique ShahOkay, I am prepared to give the new governor of Tobago one-half an apology for writing last week that he is a fool. “Be nice to the young man, nah… he trying to put together an energetic team to first salvage, then turn around the island’s economy…”

I gather as much, I responded, listening to him speak… But you and I know talk is cheap and promises even cheaper… until we see hard evidence of his performance, I shall stick with the half-apology.
Continue reading One-half apology to Farley →

PNM, THA, Tobago

Grounds for the Resignation of PM Rowley

By Stephen Kangal, Caroni
December 12, 2021

Stephen KangalThe landslide vote of 15,000 plus in the 14-1 melt-down that the PDP amassed in Monday’s historic THA Elections is an unmistakably overriding vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Rowley.

He was the chief protagonist in the Tobago campaign as well as the architect of the aborted Autonomy Bills that incited the wrath of Tobagonians by non-passage. These Bills were woefully short in details on what Tobago demanded as autonomy for their island Government.
Continue reading Grounds for the Resignation of PM Rowley →

Elections, General T&T, PDP, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago

The Farley factor

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By Paolo Kernahan
December 09, 2021 – newsday.co.tt

Farley AugustineTHE PNM’S rout at the hands of the fledgling People’s Democratic Patriots (PDP) in Monday’s THA elections came as quite a shock to many. The incumbent went from a six-six tie in the January poll to a 14-one annihilation.

On paper, this shouldn’t have happened. The THA was under the thrall of the PNM for more than two decades. The party prosecuted a blitzkrieg advertising campaign affording it near-ubiquity across the media. The Prime Minister is Tobagonian and freely lent his incandescent fear and fervour to the campaign.
Continue reading The Farley factor →

General T&T, PDP, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago

Tobago goes green, historic win for PDP

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By Gail Alexander
December 07, 2021 – guardian.co.tt

PDPA new day—Tobago has gone green.

A majority of Tobagonians opted for change yesterday when they elected the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) headed by Watson Duke and Farley Augustine to run their Tobago House of Assembly affairs until 2025.

Preliminary results indicated a PDP milestone with a majority of Tobago’s 15 seats – breaking People’s National Movement’s 21-year management of the THA.
Continue reading Tobago goes green, historic win for PDP →

COVID-19, General T&T, Health

Working together

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 06, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTrinidad and Tobago is a small society. It consists of about 1.4 million souls in a world of 7.9 billion people. A pandemic has struck the world.

At the time of writing, there were 263,510,704 cases and 5,224,655 deaths as a result of this pandemic. In the United States, there were 48,144,799 cases and 777,090 deaths; in India, 34,606,541 cases and 470,115 deaths; in Brazil, 22,105,872 cases and 614,964 deaths.
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Elections, General T&T, PDP, PNM, Politics, THA, UNC

Tobago’s date with fate

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By Raffique Shah
December 06, 2021

Raffique ShahWouldn’t it be… ’er, amusing if the Farley Augustine-led, Watson Duke-bred Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) canters away to win the Tobago Stakes in tomorrow’s rerun of the House of Assembly election?

The last time these two political parties met, less than one year ago, the encounter ended in a controversial six-six tie which gave Duke bragging rights, not without merit, since his brand new PDP made sweeping gains in overall votes and in the number of seats it captured. Still, they did not dislodge the wily PNM which used incumbency as an instrument to get another shot at controlling the THA, which they have held since 2001.
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COVID-19, General T&T, Health

Fear of the needle

7 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 29, 2021

Raffique ShahOne of the fundamental though unwritten rights citizens in every country in the world enjoy is the inviolable, unfettered right to be an ass. Or a coward. From the uneducated, the ignorant, to brilliant scholars among the intelligentsia, and otherwise sensible people who are law-abiding and look and act normal in every circumstance, aberrations occur that debunk the presumption that every human being is endowed with some degree of intelligence, acting totally irrational, asinine in the extreme, leaving sane and sober people around to ponder if they are looking at and listening to men or animals, no disrespect intended for the latter species.
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General T&T, Politics

Find—Not Seek

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 22, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDuring my late teens, I was a passionate consumer and participant of the wisdom that was dispensed, free of charge, at the University of Woodford Square. I remember the atheistic comments that erupted from John Craig’s mouth and I was afraid of and for him. How could someone so blatantly berate a God who controlled our destiny and even knew that we would bounce our feet before it happened? Although these discourses and diatribes were conducted in a sarcastic manner, they were always humorous, non-threatening, and tolerant.
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