Category Archives: PNM

Culture, Gender, India, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, UNC

Well a Woman is Almost There

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So wha bout the politics now?

By Corey Gilkes
March 02, 2010
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Kamla Persad-BissessarOn the 24th January an interesting but not unexpected shift in the politics occurred when Kamla Persad-Bissessar was voted in as political leader of the United National Congress dethroning the charismatic veteran leader and founder of the party, Basdeo Panday. This paved the way for her being sworn in as Leader of the Opposition on the 25th February. Kamla’s victory is significant in more ways than one. For well over fifty years there have been women figuring in one way or another in the political world of Trinidad and Tobago. Significant strides have been made by such figures as Audrey Jeffers, Gertrude Kirton, Muriel Donawa-McDavidson and Jean Pierre, to name but a few and while in the past there have been women appointed by the Prime Minister to function in his capacity in his absence, never before have we seen a woman elected to lead a political party with the likelihood that she may also be elected as the country’s next Prime Minister.
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General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics, Religion

PM does not get it

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Newsday Editorial
February 28, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

PM Patrick ManningWe wonder what impression the Caribbean Parliamentary visitors must have had on Friday of Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s display of religious fervour — some would even say religious rage at what he perceives as persecution of himself and of the Full Gospel churches in Trinidad and Tobago?
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Crime in T&T, Culture, Media, PNM, Politics

Laventille, don’t fall for sweet talk

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Guardian Editorial
February 11, 2010 – guardian.co.tt

LaventilleHaving had the absolute and unwavering support of the people of Laventille for the 54 years of its existence as a political party, it is highly contemptuous of the PNM’s political leader, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, to go into that part of the country, which is riddled with crime and sunk in underdevelopment, to name in an ad hoc manner a committee of ministers and parliamentary representatives to discern the problems of the area. Where have Mr Manning and the PNM Government been all this time?Specifically, as it relates to the stewardship of Mr Manning’s administration, between 2002 and 2007, Prime Minister Manning and his Government announced a plan for the rehabilitation of east Port-of-Spain, inclusive of the “behind the bridge” areas, Laventille and Sea Lots. Where has that plan got to beyond talk and the establishment of a company, presumably to effect the job?
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Finance, General T&T, PNM, Politics

More fiscal discipline

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Newsday Editorial
February 11, 2010 – newsday.co.tt
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Financial ComplexPRIME Minister Patrick Manning, at a PNM meeting in Laventille on Tuesday, re-ignited the debate as to how well, or if you like, how badly the Government has been spending public monies.

He raised the prospect of the Government having to borrow to fund its expenditure and thereby possibly incur strange looks from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Manning said the Government had last year suffered a $6.9 billion revenue shortfall, while this year’s shortfall is about $7.8 billion.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Defeated Basdeo Panday Holds On

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Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday
Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday

Mr Panday must step aside now
Sunday night’s victory by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, placing her as the new political leader of the opposition United National Congress (UNC), is tantamount to a political earthquake in T&T. And while the political shake-up may not leave anyone dead, there are likely to be many careers that end up being badly wounded. Mrs Persad-Bissessar has done what many men before her have failed to do: she toppled the man whose name has become synonymous with post-independence opposition politics in T&T—Basdeo Panday. Although the election machinery was clearly stacked against her and her slate with a large number of voters being disenfranchised, the huge margin of Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s victory for the post of political leader of the UNC was a clear indication that almost every member of the party wanted change.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

PM: PNM does not wash dirty linen in public

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by Michelle Loubon
January 25, 2010 – guardian.co.tt

PM Patrick ManningThe PNM does not wash its dirty linen in public. Prime Minister Patrick Manning made this comment during the party’s 54th anniversary celebrations interfaith thanksgiving rally at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Its theme was “We’ve come this far by faith.” Although he maintained the PNM did not interfere in the politics of other political parties, Manning boasted that the PNM model was the best with regard to internal organisation and discipline. “We take careful note of what goes on in other political parties…We want to know what not to do,” he said. He then waded into the practice of washing dirty linen in public. “If you find dirty linen being washed in public, it has to do with the method of selection,” Manning said.
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COP, PNM, Politics, UNC

COP In Win-Win Post UNC Elections Scenarios

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By Stephen Kangal
January 22, 2010

Congress of The PeopleContrary to the uninformed view of Selwyn Ryan that victory for the Hon. Kamla P. Bissessar in the UNC internal elections will result in the political demise of Winston Dookeran and the COP I believe that based on all the post-elections scenarios the COP will derive political capital and find itself in a win-win situation. The COP is the common denominator in all post-elections scenarios and will emerge as the principal beneficiary post January 24 UNC elections.
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COP, General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Political Accommodation and UNC Leadership Race

Basdeo Panday, Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj
Basdeo Panday, Kamla Persad-Bissessar & Ramesh Maharaj

By Stephen Kangal
January 18, 2010

It appears to me that the most critically dominant and indeed the determining factor that will influence the outcome of the UNC’s January 24 internal elections would appear to and should be:

which one of the three candidates vying for the UNC leadership presents the brightest and most convincing prospects for forging sustainable and credible unity/accommodation with the COP at the next general elections?
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COP, PNM, Politics, UNC

Frontier Theory in UNC-COP Relations

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By Stephen Kangal
January 13, 2010
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Kamla Persad-BissessarIt must be made patently clear that the COP is predominantly, but not exclusively, a political derivative of the UNC resulting from the conflict of the contending forces of disintegration/one-manship that is in the DNA of the latter. Accordingly, since the inception of the COP at the Center of Excellence on 10 September 2006, there has not yet emerged or negotiated and/or developed a clear and defining boundary or demarcation line that separates the two political organizations. There is a huge zone of overlapping loyalties. Those lines of demarcation at the individual popular membership level can be considered to be more imaginary than real.
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