Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

Culture, Finance, General T&T, Media, Politics

At that price we expect nothing but the best…

14 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 15, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

IT’S most columnists’ nightmare, having to return to a topic he or she will have dealt with recently. It gets worse when the target is a politician, matters not what side of the divide he or she is on. They never look into their mirrors and wonder why writers focus on them. They conclude you are against them, that you support their enemies, hence your criticisms.

But, as I learned early in my many years of writing opinion pieces, you write and be damned; if you fail to address burning issues, readers conclude you are on somebody’s payroll. There are so many important matters I wish to address, to have my fellow citizens focus on. Sadly, because of the insensitivity of our politicians, I have to forego serious issues and zero my computer on Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
Continue reading At that price we expect nothing but the best… →

Complaints, corruption, General T&T, PNM, Politics

What price, national pride?

8 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 08, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

SPORT Minister Gary Hunt is convinced that the $2 million national flag that flutters over the Hasely Crawford Stadium would instil national pride in the populace. From the flak he has been subjected to ever since the issue first surfaced-the cost, that is, not the flag-he must be wondering what sin he has committed. In time, he argues, people would come around to understanding why his ministry opted for a 2,000 square feet flag hoisted on a 150-foot pole.
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Complaints, COP, General T&T, Law, Security

Security sector stinks

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
November 01, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

MI5 security companyLast Sunday’s arms heist at the inappropriately-named “MI5” security company’s premises was a disaster waiting to happen. The saving grace, if there was any, is that the bandits did not kill the lone female security guard and proceed on a gun-rampage through town. There are some very serious lessons to be learnt from this incident. But given our attitude towards matters that have implications for personal and national security, I don’t hold much hope that we’ll see the requisite changes.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UDeCOTT, UNC

Leave this ‘House of Clowns’, Mr Speaker

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
October 25, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

ParliamentWITH the greatest deference to House Speaker Barry Sinanan, I think he should realise by now that he presides over a House of Clowns. If he values his integrity, he should run like hell, but not before he inflicts some choice words on the 41 jokers who sit in Parliament. In case the Speaker is short on gems from the “mooma-lexicon”, he can feel free to summon my help, since I co-authored the Obscene Dictionary.
Continue reading Leave this ‘House of Clowns’, Mr Speaker →

Complaints, Finance, General T&T, International, Politics, UDeCOTT

Jail Chinese contractors for slavery

29 Comments

By Raffique Shah
October 18, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Chinese labourersSOME five years ago when criminal activities intensified to frightening levels, several people who care about this country suggested to Prime Minister Patrick Manning that he declare a limited state of emergency. I was among those who argued that once the law enforcement agencies were armed with intelligence-identities of the main criminals, overlords of the guns and drugs underworld-Government should move to stem the crime tide by use of emergency powers to arrest the situation, to rescue the country.
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Complaints, Crime in T&T, Finance, Law, PNM, Politics, UDeCOTT

On today, Uff tomorrow

5 Comments

By Raffique Shah
October 11, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Prof John UffSOMEONE determined many moons ago that there are three sides to every story-yours, mine, and the truth. Maybe that person lived in Norway, a country long seen as heaven-on-earth, which has consistently ranked at the top of the world in human development. He (or she) obviously knew nothing of faraway Trinidad where there are 100 sides to every rumour, and maybe more to every truth, if the latter at all exists in this country.
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Complaints, COP, Finance, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Getting our priorities right

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By Raffique Shah
October 04, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

HouseTHE battle over Government’s proposed property tax has intensified. On the one hand, the vast majority of citizens, civic organisations and NGOs have been very vocal in their bid to have government reverse “this oppressive new tax that will pauperise the working and middle classes.” On the other side, the Government has undertaken a media campaign to convince people that the tax is not a new imposition, nor will it be harsh and oppressive.
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General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Religion, UNC

Discourse and diatribe

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By Raffique Shah
September 27, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Raffique ShahIt is depressing, to say the least, watching men and women who hold high offices, eschew discourse in favour of diatribe as they engage each other in matters of national interest. The latest salvo fired by Attorney General John Jeremie as he responded to statements by the Law Association, is a case in point. Clearly, the AG believes he and his colleagues in government are being targeted by political opponents, which is why he must descend into the gutter to snipe at the “enemy”.
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General T&T, Law, Politics

Archie buck dem up

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By Raffique Shah
September 20, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Chief Justice Ivor ArchieAS I listened to Chief Justice Ivor Archie deliver his address at the opening of the new Law Term, I was transported back in time-42 years ago, to be precise. The CJ must have been a little past toddler stage then, and most of his fellow-judges not yet born or barely older. It was my first Carnival after two-years of military training in frigid England. As a “carnival peong” who had missed out on Sniper’s classic “Portrait of Trinidad” (1966), I jumped straight into however many fetes I could “play myself”. And the tune we partied most to? An infectious double-entendre titled “Archie Buck Dem Up” by a little known (for me, anyway) Bajan group called the Merrymen.
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Finance, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Resistance to taxation

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By Raffique Shah
September 13, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

HouseTAXATION in any form meets with resistance from those who are made to pay taxes. The tide of taxation-discontent varies. In 1773 in what is now the USA, the cry “no taxation without representation” led to the American Revolution and its declaration of independence from Britain in 1776. The 1990 introduction of the infamous Poll Tax by then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, led to the Iron Lady’s political demise. Now, Karen Nunez-Tesheira’s increased property tax seems poised to be the most contentious issue emanating from her pocket-full of adjusted tax measures.
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