Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

Crime in T&T, Murder, Politics, Security, Violence

Dana’s death in vain

21 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 11, 2014

Raffique ShahAfter all the tears and anger and outrage and tributes and exhortations, what do we do? Dana is dead, gunned down gangland-style, making for good copy for a week or two, but what after that?

The politicians shed buckets of tears and scream: her death must not be in vain! The police vow to leave no stone unturned in their quest to bring her killers to justice. The preachers say she was an exemplar, her colleagues-in-law deem her irreplaceable, her friends say only good things about her, and her extended family mourns in a dignified manner.
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Complaints, corruption, Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, UNC

Another scandal we’ll forget

2 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 04, 2014

Raffique ShahDoes anybody remember or know what happened with the scandalous “Section 34” issue? I recall that in the euphoria of the 50th anniversary of Independence, on August 31, 2012, some powerful person had that section of the Administration of Justice Act surreptitiously proclaimed, thereby opening a gateway to immunity (well, almost) for persons charged with corruption in the Piarco Airport matter.
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General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Brotherhood that Transcends Race

14 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 27, 2014

Raffique ShahAs we grapple with divisive elements in the society that seem to thrive on fomenting mistrust between our two main ethnic groups, I take comfort in the fact that for the vast majority of our people, especially the young, racialism and racism have little space in Trinidad and Tobago.
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General T&T, ILP, MSJ, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

Crucifixions and Resurrections

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 20, 2014

Raffique ShahThe UNC minister or activist who mobilised a gang of hooligans to disrupt a public meeting staged by dissident Barrington “Skippy” Thomas last Thursday evening should be taken before the party’s firing squad and shot—with “goat pills”. He (or she) has done irreparable damage to the United National Congress’s image, if that is at all possible.
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General T&T, Passed on, Police, Politics

He cast a giant shadow

35 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 12, 2014

Raffique ShahRay Robinson was the most titled politician in the history of Trinidad and Tobago: President of the Republic, Prime Minister, Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, and for good measure, Chief Olokun Igbaro of the Yoruba people.

But he was not the most successful, certainly at the polls. He was King of Tobago but a knave in Trinidad. In fact, he was a Tobagonian politician whom Trinidadians loved to hate.
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Finance, General T&T, Politics

Patriots built bank

22 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 06, 2014

Raffique ShahThe cavalier manner in which certain senior officials at First Citizens responded to the legitimate concerns of citizens over aspects of the bank’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) exposed them as not knowing their own history, or caring about public trust that is critical to the success and survival of such institutions.
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General T&T, People's Partnership

The Sacrificial Ram

14 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 29, 2014

Raffique ShahGlenn ‘Hamper Man’ Ramadharsingh is one shell-shocked politician. As the poster boy for performance in the People’s Partnership Government, he cannot understand why the Prime Minister fired him for a relatively trivial sin, when he (and she) sees and knows of other ministers who have committed far graver offences, seven and eight-digit crimes, and they remain riding tall in the saddle.
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Crime in T&T, Education, General T&T, Police, Schools, Violence

Hurtling to self-destruction

11 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 23, 2014

Raffique ShahIf we think that the top-to-bottom lawlessness and overpowering crime that besiege the country today are portents of hopelessness in tomorrow, think again. It will be much worse. Those who will live here for the next 50 or 80 years (I will be long gone, thankfully) should be afraid…very afraid.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T

Greed and Stupidity

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 16, 2014

Raffique ShahI suppose I should not have been surprised at the number of people who telephoned the Central Bank, or turned up at its offices, to claim the “winnings” they had been alerted to via the now ubiquitous cellphone text messages.

Still, I could not believe there were so many gullible people in a country that boasts of a 90-plus per cent literacy rate, of universal free secondary education and easily accessible tertiary education. Maybe I am a fool for equating education with common sense, for believing that the average person can easily spot a scam and not fall victim to the boundless wiles of cartels of conmen who trawl the shrunken world of electronic communications searching for and fleecing fools.
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Complaints, Culture, Gender, General T&T, Religion, Sex

Feast of the flesh

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
March 09, 2014

Raffique ShahThat Trinidad Carnival is today mostly a feast of the flesh in its most carnal manifestation should surprise no one. We have worked very hard, over decades, to get here. Now that we have reached the pinnacle—a sea of near-naked bodies gyrating and simulating sex acts that put the Kama Sutra to pale—we should rejoice.
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