Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

General T&T, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

The more things change…

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By Raffique Shah
April 22, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE imbroglio in the People’s Partnership Government prompted me to examine more closely how and why the People’s National Movement (PNM) has been central to the electoral politics of this country for more than 50 years. This may sound like flawed logic. But I noted that several of the principal players in the People’s Partnership impasse have said that whatever their differences or their failure to settle them, the parties that form the current government must stay together to prevent the PNM from regaining power.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

Marking time 50 years later

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By Raffique Shah
April 14, 2012

Raffique ShahFIFTY years after Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence, the tragedy of our politics is that it still revolves around the PNM, the party that took the country from colonialism through self-government and into independence. Indeed, the fact that the PNM remained in office for 36 of those 50 years is itself an indictment against the electorate. Worse than that, though, the three other concoctions that broke the PNM’s stranglehold—the NAR, the UNC, and now the UNC-dominated People’s Partnership—all had as their common bond, their raison d’etre, one mantra: we are against the PNM.
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Court, Gender, General T&T, Health, Law, Politics

A primitive country

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By Raffique Shah
April 08, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE perception that there are more mad people outside the St Ann’s Hospital than there are inside that mental institution seems to be reality, following the forcible detention of public servant Cheryl Miller. I was outraged on learning of the woman’s plight, which only came to public attention when her co-workers protested her Gulag or Guantanamo-like situation. By then, this hapless citizen had already spent almost two weeks in the madhouse.
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CARICOM, Finance, General T&T, Politics

Oil and Gas Arithmetic

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By Raffique Shah
April 01, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE announcements of two new oil finds over the past two weeks generated excitement among many in the population. “God is a Trini!” screamed the Express headline, quoting the Prime Minister. Such was the importance of Petrotrin’s discovery of 48 million barrels of relatively light crude, it warranted a full house of ministers and top company officials at the Cabinet Media Centre.
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COP, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

UNC internals: theatre of the absurd

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By Raffique Shah
March 25, 2012

Raffique ShahI LEARNED a lesson in political morality — surely an oxymoron — at the politically tender age of 35. It came from the Machiavellian master himself, Basdeo Panday. Panday and I, along with George Weekes, Joe Young and others, had founded the United Labour Front back in 1976, when I was 30 years old. Within two years, Bas would “mash up” the organically integrated dream party when a number of us took what we thought were principled positions on fundamental issues, details of which are well documented.
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corruption, Finance, Gender, General T&T, Law, People's Partnership, Politics

Focus on substance, not fluff

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By Raffique Shah
March 17, 2012

Raffique ShahOVER the past two weeks or so, public attention has focused on two issues, with the concomitant raging debates in the media and online. The first surfaced when it was disclosed in Parliament that the State had met expenses for Prime Minsiter Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s sister to accompany her on official visits to Australia, India and elsewhere. The second pertained to Tobago Affairs Minister Vernella Alleyne-Toppin incurring private expenses on a Government-issued credit card that is intended for use by officials when they travel abroad.
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Complaints, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Police, Security, Violence

Rid the police of roughnecks

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By Raffique Shah
March 10, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE murder rate ticks along, one-a-day, like some health supplement or prescription drug, with the arrests rate lagging behind the body count, as has always been the case. Robberies and burglaries, many of them as brazen as ever, CCTV recordings notwithstanding, gallop at an alarming pace. Acts of violence, threats that could turn crimson (as in blood), and entire communities cowed by gun-toting bullies, now a national pastime, go mostly unreported, except, perhaps, to Ian Alleyne and Crime Watch.
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corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics

Crime pay$ big buck$

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By Raffique Shah
March 04, 2012

Raffique ShahCRIME pays. Big time. And big bucks. We always knew that. Mostly, when we think of profiteering off criminal activities, we think of criminals and attorneys, one breed often indistinguishable from the other. The ties that bind them are the blood, sweat and tears of the victims of crime, mainly innocent people who work hard to provide the basics for their families, only to be relieved of their material possessions, at times their lives, by ruthless criminals.
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Marketing our music

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By Raffique Shah
February 25, 2012

Raffique ShahON Ash Wednesday, two articles in the Express perked me up. In the first, Planning and Development Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie, interviewed in the Grand Stand, told reporter Anna Ramdass that soca star Machel Montano “should be leading the charge in selling Trinidad and Tobago internationally”. Vowing to pursue this quest at Cabinet level, Dr Tewarie added, “…I think Machel is in a class by himself… we should try to support an external thrust led by Machel in the world outside…”
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Play mas

By Raffique Shah
February 18, 2012

Raffique ShahNOTHING that I wrote last Sunday should be misread as the lament of an “ole geezer” who has had his Carnival day and who now wants to deny others the joy of the festival. Quite unlike some “sourpusses” who see nothing good in Carnival, I believe ours is a unique mix of music, artistry, colour, spontaneity, high-energy, sexuality, conviviality and more, much more. So, as this year’s festival comes to a climax over the next two days, I encourage Trinis-to-de-bone and our foreign guests to “play mas”. Have a whale of a time, but be safe.
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