By Raffique Shah
November 20, 2010
As I write this column, Government is before Parliament presenting the Interception of Communications bill, which it expects to pass in a marathon sitting. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she hoped to get support from the opposition PNM, which I feel certain she will.
Continue reading I spy, with my electronic eye…
Sandy Hits ‘Manic Man’
MINISTER of National Security Brigadier John Sandy yesterday tore into former prime minister Patrick Manning as a “manic man” with “a sick mind” for the wiretapping of persons in public life by a secret spy unit that reported to Manning.
Manning comes out fighting (link fixed)
…says ‘spy’ bill will undermine national security
Continue reading Manning comes out fighting
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 16, 2010
I did not vote for the People’s National Movement (PNM) during the last national election. Like so many, I became so disenchanted with the positions and attitudes of the former Prime Minister that I could not, in good faith, support the party which I always supported and of which I am a member. I did not vote for the People’s Partnership (PP) either. Theirs was merely a throwing together of disparate elements whose only objective was to remove the PNM. They had no plans for the country, except for a provision of computers for our students and a promised old-age pension of $3,000 which they repudiated the first day they walked into office. They informed an eager population that it really was not a promise: it was a misprint.
Continue reading Setting a Proper Example
Express Editorial
November 13, 2010 – trinidadexpress.com
As the country watched in fascination, former prime minister Patrick Manning showed signs of having been stung into replying to his successor’s revelations about the telecommunications intercepts perpetrated for five years under his rule . Until Friday, Mr Manning, now just another MP, had been mostly silent in the House. It was unseemly of the 39-year parliamentary veteran to insist on an unentitled opportunity to reply, thereby earning the rebukes and an eventual ejection threat from the Speaker.
Continue reading On Mr Manning’s Secret Service
Clear and present danger
PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards, former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma, his wife Kalawati, Government and Opposition politicians, trade-unionists, journalists and even some of their children were subject to secret surveillance by the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA), Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar revealed yesterday as she expressed a “deep sense of personal outrage” over the SIA’s use of illegal wiretapping.
Continue reading They Spied on the President Too
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
November 01, 2010
Less than one year has elapsed and now one sees that trade union leaders and others are pointing their acerbic artillery at the newly-elected People’s Partnership (PP) government. Indeed, such action is totally unwarranted, unwise and un-Trinbagonian, to say the least.
The powers that be in these unions/associations need to realize and understand very clearly that the mammoth, outstanding sums of money owed to them are the wicked/vindictive legacy of the former PNM government under Patrick Manning.
Continue reading Trade Union Leaders Need to Chill
By Raffique Shah
October 31, 2010
THERE are few reasons why the People’s Partnership Government should portray itself as a victim of circumstances the way the NAR did in 1986. Back then, Ray Robinson and his “party of parties” inherited an almost empty treasury. The George Chambers government had faced declining oil prices from OPEC-driven “highs” in 1973-77 to “lows” by the time Chambers assumed power in 1981.
Continue reading Riding into the valley of death
Newsday Editorial
October 28 2010 – newsday.co.tt
ANY responsible person is likely to be torn in his sentiment towards the wage talks between the Government and the Public Services Association (PSA) for members of the Public Service.
On one hand the Government’s offer of 0-0-1 percent for the past three years respectively is quite startling, alarming and really impractical for workers who have seen no freeze in the prices they daily face over the same three-year period.
Continue reading Wage Rage
By Michael Harris
October 25, 2010 – trinidadexpress.com
A spectre is haunting the PNM and unless that party can discover within its ranks a person, or persons, versed in the rites and rituals of political exorcism, it is likely to stay in its present state of limbo for a long time to come, incapable of undertaking the vital task of critical self-assessment without which it could never begin the task of reconstruction. The spectre has a name. Its name is Patrick Manning.
Continue reading Wanted: A ghost whisperer
By Raffique Shah
October 23, 2010
I HAVE never been close to the corridors of power, except on occasions when those on high invited me to some meeting or social function. Regarding the latter, I should add that I have grown so asocial over the years, some people think I’ve become anti-social. I enjoy good company and great conversation. Having attended some of these social activities, I have found the same people there; they invariably get drunk the way “ignorant” Trinis do at rum shops, and they behave little different to boisterous bar flies.
Continue reading Corridors of power living hell