Tag Archives: Patrick Manning

Let the tax debate begin

By Raffique Shah
January 29, 2012

Raffique ShahPRESIDENT Barack Obama’s bold move to seek to apply a tax rate of 30 per cent to America’s super-rich should serve as a catalyst of sorts for Finance Minister Winston Dookeran. Dookeran said recently that his ministry would soon review the income tax regime in Trinidad and Tobago. Changes to this country’s income and corporate taxes were last made in 2006. Then, the Patrick Manning government raised the personal allowance for individuals to $60,000, and applied a fixed rate of 25 per cent tax on all chargeable incomes above that.
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Prayers, best wishes pour in for Patrick Manning

Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning
Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning

Prayers, best wishes pour in for Patrick Manning
POLITICIANS, both friends and rivals, yesterday expressed their shock at the stroke suffered by former Prime Minister Patrick Manning and offered their prayers for his speedy recovery.

Kamla: Spare no resources
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has advised Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan to ensure former prime minister Patrick Manning is well taken care of during his stay at the San Fernando General Hospital.
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Play mas with your medals

By Raffique Shah
January 01, 2012

Raffique ShahA FEW weeks ago, Dr Brinsley Samaroo telephoned me. After we exchanged pleasantries, he got down to stating the purpose of his call. House Speaker Wade Mark had asked him to make contact with a number of ex-parliamentarians whom he (Mark) wanted to recognise for their service to Parliament, and, presumably, to country. Brinsley informed me that I was among those selected, and he wanted to inform me and to gather some biographical data from me.
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Let the Jackasses Bray

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 29, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThere is blindness among the leaders of the UNC government that will lead to its demise. Overconfident by the results of May 2010, it refuses to see that its victory was not so much an affirmation of their prospective policies (which were ill-thought out at best) but a refusal of citizens to accept what Mr. Manning and his team were doing. In rejecting PNM the electorate stated categorically that they were against Manning’s increasingly tendencies of one-manism, his refusal to listen to others; and his knee-jerk support of Calder Hart whose practices left many persons uncomfortable.
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Manning’s Machinations

Newsday Editorial
Friday, November 4 2011

Patrick ManningWe are really forced to wonder on the new roles Patrick Manning has been undertaking. As he distances himself from his own party and its leadership, gathering previously discarded acolytes like Gary Hunt and Ralph Maraj, he seeks to reinsert himself on a political scene which is rapidly moving beyond him.
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Bizarre apology

Newsday Editorial
November 01, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

Patrick ManningWe deliberately did not rush to venture an opinion — or opinions — on Patrick Manning’s media conference and “apology” delivered last Thursday. Indeed, we are still wondering whether the former prime minister was apologising to the PNM or to the nation?

It is difficult to accept, on face value, that this might have been a sincere attempt on his part to clear his conscience. We say this because he explicitly avoided any mention of the wrong developmental decisions, the corruption which dogged his administration (and which he tried to defend stoutly), or the violent crime which flourished, and which he tended to excuse rather than condemn.
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Joan Yuille-Williams on Scholarship Fund

Following is Joan Yuille-Williams’ full statement:

Joan Yuille-WilliamsAs the former minister of community development, culture and gender affairs with the responsibility for the Financial Assistance Fund which is now the subject of salacious, misguided and uninformed comment, I wish to state the following fundamental facts for the general public’s information, even as I pursue my option for robust legal action to assert the truth unequivocally:
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PNM SCANDALS

Budget presentation in Parliament at the Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain - October 10, 2011
Budget presentation in Parliament at the Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain - October 10, 2011

By Clint Chan Tack
October 18 2011 – newsday.co.tt

PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday dropped several bombshells in the House of Representatives, exposing what she described as major corruption scandals which took place under the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government.
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SoE an important and courageous decision

By Tony Fraser
August 31, 2011 – guardian.co.tt

State of EmergencyPrime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her Government took probably their most important and perhaps courageous decision of their 15 months in office with the declaration of the state of emergency. It is a decision full of potential for a major reduction in the criminal menace that has terrorised us all for over 15 years. Understandably, it is much too early to say definitively that the effects of the SoE would break the back of the criminal infrastructure (and that is what is going to ultimately matter) but the Government has shown itself prepared to allow the security forces to deal decisively with criminals. Lee Falk, the creator of the Phantom comic series, used to insert in sotto voce that “Phantom is rough with rough necks.” That seems to fit the need of the present; with the important caveat that it is done within the ambit of the law.
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