Let me begin by addressing myself directly to the families of the divers whose lives were snuffed out in the Paria incident: those of us who have lost family members and friends understand your pain. So we hope that eventually you will remember those who were lost more with joy …
Read More »Demming: Govt’s failure to pass Beverage Container Bill reflects our environmental neglect
After 22 years of passing the buck, the government has failed to pass the Beverage Container Bill which was intended to provide a structure for the collection and safe disposal of beverage containers. Their collective incompetence has facilitated the degradation of our environment, the clogging of our waterways, and litter …
Read More »Demming: Caribbean Games was perfect forerunner for the Olympics— I’m still toting over cancellation
Making mention of the cancelled Caribbean Games, the Honourable Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, wondered aloud why the event had not come off. This happened at the two-day Community Development Partnership Forum (CDPM-V), during one of the sessions about more regional collaboration in sport. …
Read More »Demming: Minister West’s persistence with dress code in govt bldgs betrays colonial hang-ups
Minister of Public Administration Ms Allyson West is reported as saying that Government has more important issues to deal with than a dress code. Of course you do, Minister West. Therein lies the problem. It is a problem of politicians losing touch with the needs of ordinary folks and forgetting …
Read More »Demming: Thanks for transparency, Imbert; now we need repercussions for Scoon party boat
‘When the lights go on, the cockroaches scatter’, is what popped into my mind when I read about the Ministers of Finance, Health and Trade and Industry, the Attorney General and the Adrian Scoon party boat issue. A special restaurant licence was issued to businessman Scoon without the approval of …
Read More »Demming to PM: Never been to a whore house? Are you okay, Mr Prime Minister?
Dear Prime Minister, When you speak, I listen like many others young and old, we all listen closely. If we miss your message, we go to social media and that is where I found a shocking clip from a recent News Conference on Anslem Gibbs’ Twitter feed of 3 December …
Read More »Demming: Griffith’s low jibe at interviewer epitomises T&T’s lowered bar for public discourse
In a recent media interview, the interviewee was asked this very direct question: ‘Have you ever accepted a bribe for a firearm?’ Gary Griffith, former commissioner of police, former government minister, former senator, former captain in the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force who is now husband, father and private citizen, …
Read More »Demming: What I learned from PMs Rowley and Mottley on our environmental challenges
Joy is often stolen by comparison. Trinbagonians continue to rob ourselves of potential joy because of the continued comparison of our prime minister, Dr Keith Rowley, with the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley. I am also guilty because I want so much more for my country and I worry …
Read More »Demming: All MPs who’ve served for more than a decade should resign now—you’ve failed!
Black Stalin’s lyrics in his 1988 calypso ‘We could make it if we try’ have been occupying a space in my brain. He sang: ‘So the Treasury broke and they say that recession jamming/And so to foreign countries Trinis start migrating/ They lose faith in their country, they say we …
Read More »Demming: Leaders should avoid unbecoming, ‘impish’ language and respect their office
If only Members of Parliament could master the same level of decorum and use of language like our esteemed President, this would be a more gentle place. I contrast the language of the President with the language of the Prime Minister and feel sick to my gut. Prime Minister Dr …
Read More »Demming: Trying to put pandemic in pan’s way is putting democracy at risk
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) is now run by a non-elected normalisation committee appointed by the sport’s world umbrella body, The Federation of International Football Associations (Fifa). Led by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, our Parliament acted to override the collective will of Tobagonians when their election results …
Read More »Demming: Will Imbert’s bottled water move make T&T the Caribbean’s laughing stock?
A friend from up the Caribbean laughed at me on Monday evening and, unable to find any sensible defence, I was terribly embarrassed. Making bottled water exempt from VAT, she remarked with a loud chuckle, is ‘a level of worldliness which only you Trinis understand’. Eight of our Caribbean neighbours …
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