Tag Archives: Politics

Elections, General T&T, Law, Media, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

Clarify property tax

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Newsday Editorial
August 25 2015 – newsday.co.tt

HouseUNFORTUNATELY all of the barbs being exchanged in relation to the question of a proposed property tax have distracted us from the deeper question: what is the policy of both of the major parties on the imposition of taxes on property assets generally? The property tax was a proposal of the last PNM administration and it would have introduced a brand new regime of taxation which would be tied to the rental and taxable values of property.
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Elections, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

SS Trinidad Sinking

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By Raffique Shah
August 19, 2015

Raffique ShahAmidst the din of election campaigning—hundreds of ‘Kamla has a plan’ ads on all television stations during prime time, DJ music systems scouring the country daily, public meetings broadcast nightly on almost every radio and television station, more ads popping up every time you click on the Internet, assaults via phones and emails—I have yet to hear one frontline politician tell the people of this nation of the grim times the country faces if oil and gas prices keep tumbling, as they have done over the past two months.
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Elections, General T&T, Media, People's Partnership, PNM, UNC

PP candidates superior to PNM’s—Kamla

By Richard Lord
Monday, August 17, 2015 – guardian.co.tt

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarIn the face of significant inroads into territory of its (UNC) coalition partners, political leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar told party supporters yesterday that the People’s Partnership could not be in better shape to seek a second mandate from the electorate as the coalition presented its 41 candidates for the September 7 polls.
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Elections, Finance, General T&T, People's Partnership

Reckless endangerment

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By Terrence Farrell
Aug 14, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com

FinancialWhat has been the impact on energy sector revenues of the fall in oil and gas prices? Data published by the Central Bank indicates that in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, energy sector revenues have declined by $3.3 billion or 27.5 per cent. Total Government revenues declined by only 1.7 per cent because the proceeds of the tax amnesty and NGC special dividend helped to offset the fall in oil revenues.
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Crime in T&T, Elections, General T&T, People's Partnership, UNC

An issue more important than crime

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By Raffique Shah
August 8, 2015

Raffique ShahWE columnists are on a roll during “elections season”, but in my 34 years of writing commentaries, I have never enjoyed a long, scandalous, comical campaign as the current one.

It’s so good, or bad (depending on one’s perspective), readers have taken to telephoning or emailing me with suggestions as to what I should address.
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Elections, General T&T, Media, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

PM’s powder puff question time

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By Keith Subero
August 04, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarIf the Prime Minister, her PR handlers, and state-owned CNMG television intended to produce 90 minutes of absurd theatre then they should claim last Thursday night a “brilliant success”.

The concept of the Theatre of the Absurd is recognised for its seemingly meaningless and repetitious dialogue. Its plots are usually confusing, empty, disjointed, unrealistic, and intended in some way to identify futility in the human condition.
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corruption, Court, Crime in T&T, Elections, ILP, Law

Wet brown paper could cut Jack

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By Raffique Shah
August 02, 2015

Raffique ShahIN days of old here in Trinidad, people one or two generations ahead of mine used an adage, “when yuh crooked, wet brown paper could cut you”.

The word “crooked” in that context usually meant “a run of bad luck”, although in the instant case of Jack Warner, to whom it now applies, it could be a double-entendre. And if wet brown paper could cut you, then you were really deep in the doo-doo.
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Elections, General T&T, Media, People's Partnership, UNC

Blunder after plunder: Kamla discusses Reshmi, LifeSport and Vikings in odd Q&A

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By Mr. Live Wire
Friday 31, July 2015 – wired868.com

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar“Have you ever seen a TV show called Vikings?” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar asked Dr Morgan Job, who was one of her three interviewers last night.

‘Vikings’, in case you don’t know, is an Irish-Canadian television drama that is not short of historical inaccuracies but big on sacking and plundering. It was a simpler time when tendering policy was usually “take what you can carry” and ship captains never asked to see CVs.
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Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Media

Jack Warner and the sub judice rule

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Express Editorial
July 21, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com

Jack WarnerEven before the arrest and incarceration of Jack Warner on May 27, 2015, Mr Warner’s perceived and alleged wrongdoings in FIFA occupied headlines in national, regional and international newspapers and electronic media.

Since the arrest, scores of articles, talk shows and news items have been most liberal with matters existing out of Mr Warner’s US indictment for fraud, racketeering and money laundering. As we say in Trinidad and Tobago, every Tom, Dick and Harrilal have “washed their mouth” on Mr Warner’s charges.
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Elections, General T&T, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

Please, not the Country Club

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By Raffique Shah
July 18, 2015

Raffique ShahWHEN you don’t have a sense of history, especially your own, you can end up saying or doing the stupidest things, convinced that you are yourself making history.

Take the UNC’s choice of venue for its last Monday night meeting, the Country Club in Maraval. When I first heard the advertisement for the meeting, I thought there must have been some mistake, that maybe some upper-class support group had organised a soirée or banquet or some such social event to raise funds for the party’s campaign.
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