Guest Columns

We all know the idiom “chickens come home to roost”, which means the consequences of wrongdoing always catches up with the wrongdoer. In the past two weeks, this expression has materialised in our country. The new spate of crime witnessed is the fruit of our actions over several decades. Passions …

In hindsight, it was a rather selfish column, so wrapped up in my woebegone mood that it might actually have been unfair. Not long after David Rudder migrated to Canada, I had written of the enormous loss to our country’s psyche. My distress came from the abiding feeling that for …

“[…] The theft of billions of dollars could have been prevented if we had a fully functional [Office of Procurement Legislation] according to acceptable legislation. We cannot underestimate the lost opportunity to have invested those stolen funds to take care of our social needs, such as health, education, utilities and infrastructure, and more. …

Despite the short-sightedness of those who should be deploying our artistic and cultural output to diversify the economy, my depictions of pan and culture are of accomplishment. By contrast, commenting weekly on the latest of the unpleasant results of thoroughly deficient governance is a painful exercise. I would like sometimes …

In the long-running comedy series, Seinfeld, the phrase “yada, yada, yada” became popularised. Marcy, a character, used the expression to hide important details, while George used it to avoid speaking about an unpleasant incident. When they discuss their use of the idiom, George discovers that Marcy is a shoplifter. The …

Within a few days of dismantling his family home across the street, Bob began rebuilding. First was the painstaking task of cutting down the two prodigious trees that had generously donated their fruit for decades. With ropes and a saw—the power generated by his hands—the branches came down one by …

“[…] In what could have been a ground-breaking and historic repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, the Vatican instead released a series of political statements that sought to rewrite history, shield the Catholic Church from legal liability and shift the blame for the Doctrine of Discovery to governmental and colonial …

On 30 May 2015, the then Prime Minister, Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar said: “Without education and training, you are doomed to remain at your same level. That is why my government provides so much money for educating the young people.” This high-sounding statement masks the reality of life and promotes the …

When I use my column space to complain about poor service, it isn’t simply to seek personal redress. I believe in the power of a voice, no matter how solitary it might seem. The responses to my last column where I had described my experiences with two service providers, TSTT …

“Kill everyone!” was the instruction Dole Chadee gave Joey Ramiah, who then murdered four members of a single family. How could people be so heartless and cold-blooded? It was a long time in coming. Nothing was ever done to dismantle the networks that brought cocaine to our shores since life …

In my mailbox last Wednesday was yet another bill from bmobile, the brand name of the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd—the company we know as TSTT and further back as Telco. The sight of the bill aroused the same kind of disgust I felt when I’d read about …

“[…] So, after the Easter Celebrations, if we want to restore and rebuild our nation, we must come to terms with the politics of Easter. “We must be courageous enough to take off the political clothing of our political parties and risk speaking out on issues affecting the citizenry and …