By Suzanne Mills
August 09, 2013 – newsday.co.tt
I’m beginning to believe that President Anthony Carmona thinks he is still a judge, that Trinidad and Tobago is his courtroom and that we are all before him on a charge.
“Madam,” he chided Opposition Whip, Marlene McDonald last Friday as he addressed the opening of Parliament, “I am speaking about conduct!”
Continue reading All hail king Carmona
By Raffique Shah
June 01, 2013
AT all times, human beings must be able to distinguish right from wrong; it is what differentiates us from other life-species. At all times, too, man must have the fortitude to stand up for what is right, to speak out against injustice, whatever the consequences he may face for his outspokenness. Today I feel compelled to make such stand on an issue that many may deem unimportant, and for which I risk being condemned.
Continue reading No to jungle justice
By Raffique Shah
May 26, 2013
I CANNOT quite figure out why so many people are shocked by Keith Rowley’s “revelations” in Parliament last Monday, or alarmed that the string of e-mails he read into Hansard; at first blush, appears to be as bogus as Clifton De Coteau’s black mop. Parliament has long degenerated into a theatre of the absurd, a forum for dishonourable members to slander and scandalise each other, an arena in which targeted citizens are crucified before hordes of reality-television viewers, a fate far worse than that which Jesus Christ is said to have suffered however many centuries ago.
Continue reading A matter of trust
Newsday Editorial
January 6 2013 – newsday.co.tt
There will be much speculation until next month as to the identity of the government’s nominee for the next president of Trinidad and Tobago. With a nomination deadline of February 5, a new president will be elected on February 15 ahead of the March 17 end of the five-year term of President George Maxwell Richards.
Continue reading Choosing a president
By Raffique Shah
October 13, 2012
RECENTLY, as I mused on the state of “permanent politicking” that citizens of this country have been victims of for decades, I thought, why not elect a government for ten or 20 years? Before readers condemn me to the gallows for instant execution, or cart me off to the lunatic asylum to spend what is left of my miserable life, hear me out. Over the past 21 years, we have had—what?—seven general elections. We have changed governments four times and faces in government at least ten times.
Continue reading Ten years and a ‘po’
Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai
By Clint Chan Tack
October 02, 2012 – newsday.co.tt
PEOPLE who drive vehicles fueled by premium gasolene will pay higher prices at the pump from today. A wide range of hefty tax increases was imposed on the local gaming industry as of yesterday and land and building taxes will return.
However orphans, retirees, special reserve police officers and persons involved in home construction are just some groups in society who will benefit from the country’s largest ever budget which Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai presented in the House of Representatives yesterday.
Continue reading $58B Budget, TT’s Largest Ever
By Raffique Shah
September 22, 2012
IN ordinary times, the Prime Minister’s decision last week to fire Herbert Volney for allegedly misleading the Cabinet on a critical issue (Section 34) would have won the lady universal acclamation. But these are extraordinary times. The baying of the hounds continues unabated, the sounds of fury rise to crescendos, refusing to be silenced by the sacrifice of one silly goat. The natives are restless.
Continue reading Backward ever, forward never
By Sasha Harrinanan
September 22, 2012 – newsday.co.tt
THE firing of Justice Minister Herbert Volney, two days ago by Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar, was karma for his controversial 1998 dismissal of a manslaughter trial against Brad Boyce, who was before the High Court for the 1996 killing of Jason Johnson.
Continue reading Volney paying now
September 20, 2012
My fellow citizens, much has been commented and reported upon the Administration of Justice (Indictable Offences) Act 201 and the proclamation of Section 34. I chose to remain silent on the matter since any premature pronouncement could have been deemed injudicious and appear to influence the outcome of my own investigations and examination of the issue.
Continue reading PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Statement on Proclaimation of Section 34
By Raffique Shah
September 16, 2012
FIFTY years ago, in one of his now-famous speeches delivered during the euphoria of Independence, Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams told citizens of the fledgling nation, “…Democracy, finally, rests on a power higher than Parliament. It rests on an informed and cultivated and alert public opinion….” I recalled that injunction last week when the nation was shaken from its Jubilee stupor to learn, through the alertness of the media, that an injudicious act of Parliament was about to hurl us down a legal precipice, the consequences of which are best left to the imagination.
Continue reading Watchdogs of democracy