Tag Archives: Politics

Finance, General T&T, Letters, Oil and Gas, Opposition Party, Property Tax, Recession

Shelve property tax as energy revenue rises

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By Gail Alexander
May 10, 2018 – guardian.co.tt

Opposition Chief Whip David LeeThe Government should not institute the property tax since Finance Minister Colm Imbert recently said T&T has “turned the corner” and also projected “good news” in today’s mid-year Budget review, says Opposition Chief Whip David Lee.

“He has painted a more positive outlook for T&T in recent weeks. Also, energy prices are better than before. If the situation is really good, Government should have no need to pursue the property tax and inflict further hardship on the public,” Lee said yesterday.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession

Too little, too late?

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By Raffique Shah
March 23, 2018

Raffique ShahIt may well be a case of too little, too late. It might even be a classic case of trying to set right an historical economic wrong when the oil barrel is about to run dry. But for sure, Government’s Rip Van Winkle’s rude awakening to the reality that Trinidad and Tobago has for far too long been gang-raped by the large energy corporations, with the complicity of its mothers and stepmothers (successive governments and some of the elites), reduces informed patriots to a mixture of tears and guffaws.
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General T&T, Tobago

Sedimentary Self- Governance Structure In the Tobago Bill

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By Stephen Kangal
March 19, 2018

Stephen KangalWhile being a student of Geography at Hillview College in 1959 I was taught by Mr Trevor Spenser that a sedimentary rock is a conglomerate of layers of alluvial deposits. This lesson flashed upon my inward eye when I studied the draft provisions of the current Bill 5 of 2018 that is geared to confer the long-awaited advanced state of internal self- governance to the 40,000 people living within 116 square miles of mountainous terrain but also enjoying unrestricted mobility including residence in Trinidad.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, UNC

Contradictions & Counterfactuals – Pt 3

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 20, 2018

“…a state could never have been born without surplus.” —Yanis Varoufakis

PART 1 — PART 2 — PART 3

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeReading Ralph Maraj and Kamal Persad’s contributions, one would think that Eric Williams and the PNM were the worst things that ever happened to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). They seem to suggest that if only Badase Sagan Maraj and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had won the 1956 general election T&T would have been a paradise.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Chalkdust, calypso must change or die

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By Raffique Shah
February 16, 2018

Raffique ShahDear Chalkie,

I rarely respond to critics of views I express in my column, unless, like you, I hold them in high regard. Just as I enjoy the freedom to criticise public figures within the bounds of decency, I respect others’ right to respond to my opinions when we disagree, or even when they distort facts and resort to abuse.
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General T&T, PNM, UNC

Bad omen for new President

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By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2018

Raffique ShahThe passing of former President Max Richards, coinciding as it did with the unanimous vote by parliamentarians to elect retired Justice Paula Mae Weekes as the first female and new President of the Republic, seems to have triggered a measure of hope among some citizens that the nation can be rescued from its downhill slide by the eminence of the Head of State.
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Finance, General T&T, Politics

Note to economic planners: put needs before greed

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By Raffique Shah
January 17, 2018

Raffique ShahDr Terrence Farrell’s resignation last week as chairman of the Government-appointed Economic Development Advisory Board brought into focus a long-simmering conflict between economists and business interests in one camp, more or less; the Government, which sees the economy primarily through the prism of political power, on the other; and trade unions and a disparate population that sense the near-violent instability of the ship of state and recognise the need for adjustments by all passengers on board, from captain to cook, but each one expecting the other, not him, to move.
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Gender, General T&T, PNM, Politics

This Woman Can Be Great

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 15, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAs quiet as it is kept, women have always shaped our social and cultural identity. They have been the doers, recipients of the most brutal treatment at the hands of their oppressors and their mates, and a spur towards our liberation and development over the last two hundred years. Unfortunately, they do not always get the credit they deserve in our man-centered world.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Health, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Recession, Tobago

The Prime Minister’s full address to the nation

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Dr Keith RowleyFellow citizens, as we settle into our various routines, wherever and whatever that might be, I trust that we all had a joyous Christmas Season, shared with family, friends and community spirit.

As we reflect on the arrival of 2018 and all that it holds for us, let us spare a thought or a prayer for those individuals and families who have been victims of violent crime from one direction or another. Their pain is our pain and even as the New Year has opened with reports of the continued murderous scourge on our land I want to appeal to all citizens to keep hope alive in this war against the heartless family members and career violent criminals.
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General T&T, International, Israel, Palestine, Politics, USA

Foreign Policy Blunder

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOnce I read our government had abstained on the United Nation’s resolution to condemn the United States decision to anoint Jerusalem as Israel’s capital I raced to the Tunapuna cemetery to reacquaint myself with the words on C. L. R. James’s gravestone, which read: “Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place, the relations of countries and the relations of classes had to change, before I discovered that it is not quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement; not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there” (Beyond a Boundary).
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