Tag Archives: Colm Imbert

When in government, the People’s National Movement (PNM) speaks with the certainty of authority—decisions are made, policies defended, and dissent dismissed as misinformed or politically motivated. The tone is top-down, and messaging emphasises competence, legacy and control. Consultation becomes performance, not practice. But in opposition—or after electoral defeat—a different voice …

The People’s National Movement (PNM) has appointed Arima MP Pennelope Beckles as its opposition leader. Beckles, 64, was endorsed by the PNM’s General Council today after producing writing support of six from the opposition’s 13 MPs: Symon de Nobriga, Marvin Gonzales, Colm Imbert, Kareem Marcelle, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, and Keith …

We are living in difficult times. We are witnessing the world, as we know it, turn topsy-turvy. But we want to be seduced into believing that there is a magic wand that will restore us to the glory days when oil and gas prices were high. We want to be …

February has arrived. It is a month that is usually the prelude to our annual carnival, which culminates in two days of what used to be ingenious and artistic masquerade, (colloquially known as mas’). However, some mas’ has introduced a Mardi Gras strut that contains an unwelcome shade or classist …

“[…] With the current leadership transition announced by Dr Keith Rowley, despite having new faces in the likes of Kareem Marcelle and Christian Birchwood for the Laventille seats and not-so-new faces in MPs Terrence Deyalsingh, Faris Al-Rawi, Stuart Young, Nyan Gadsby-Dolly—who all have at least 10 years of experience under …

“Foodstuffs have a shortage daily, business places burning in the city/ Before they watch these things seriously, the whole meeting is a comedy/ “Ridicule —- fatigue giving, and all of the members laughing/While they having a good time, we catching we royal behind.” Explainer, Kicksin in Parliament (1979). It was …

Finance Minister Colm Imbert delivered his version of Black Stalin’s Wait Dorothy Wait. His budget was the reverse of Stalin’s lyrics: That oil money come, and oil money go, and poor people remain on the pavement and ghetto, aah when Mr Divider start to divide the bread equally, I go …

“Maybe our forefathers and foremothers all came to this great land in different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now…” A Philip Randolph, organiser of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. We do not have the political leaders we need. At a time of overlapping …

Last week’s column quoted an INTOSAI (the global body of auditors general) statement: “Independence does not mean an adversary relationship… Collaborative spirit must be the governing rule. “Good relations can help […] to obtain better results. Independence is not only a privilege—it also entails obligations and should not be viewed …

The ongoing saga of the auditor general and the understatement of the country’s revenue reveal the quality of our leaders. Did Dr Keith Rowley exhibit due diligence in approving the nomination? We have long harped on the notion of seniority in promoting leaders. But is that the best approach? In …

“It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness, and a mood of helplessness prevail.” Lech Walesa, 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. As a country, we are becoming more shameless. The scant regard that the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) staff displayed to Dr David Picou is galling. …

In the late 1990s, in response to one of my weekly columns, retired Professor Emeritus Desmond Imbert called me. It was the beginning of a rather odd friendship that went on for years—when he died in 2010, we had still never met in person. Communication was always at his instigation, …