Trinidad and Tobago did not buy ‘cat in bag’ when we hired Mr Gary Griffith. We knew full well what to expect. In October 2015, then Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon reported on his predecessor’s bid to purchase armoured vehicles for the police service: ‘Unknown to the PS and …
Read More »Demming: Today he used his power to try to get his son into national team, what will it be tomorrow?
1959: Then Minister of Home Affairs Patrick Solomon removed his stepson from the Woodbrook Police Station. 2002: Late Prime Minister Patrick Manning phoned the Marabella Police Station where his driver was being held. 2018: former Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte has an altercation with a police officer for …
Read More »Vaccination blues: how T&T’s ‘parallel information system’ is failing its most vulnerable people
“[…] ‘No, no. Everybody going. My friend took her mother and they give him a vaccine one time and he young’… ‘I just take a chance when they set up in the paddock in the Savanna and it was around 5 in the afternoon and they just take my whole …
Read More »Dear editor: Kudos to Chang Kit for taking a stance—no matter the timing of it
Mr James Chang Kit resigned his post on 4 January, in reaction to what’s happening at the Office of Procurement Regulation. I think it is immaterial that he did so three weeks before his term expired. When should he have done it? The bill was proclaimed on 27 December 2020. As if …
Read More »Daly Bread: Abstinence, abstention and absconding; sold short by procurement vote
Politicians and their satellites do not always practise abstinence from corruption. If persons populating our institutions abstain, without credible cause, from the limited opportunities to act as checks and balances, we can expect no change in the rate at which the corrupt will abscond unjustly enriched. Last week, amidst public …
Read More »‘Dangerous to the extreme!’ MSJ points to ‘disturbing’ amendments proposed for Public Procurement Act
“[…] The proposal to amend the act by making the procurement by ‘public bodies or state-controlled enterprises of legal services; financial services; accounting and audit services; medical services; or such other services as the minister may, by order, determine […] subject to negative resolution of Parliament’ exempt from the requirements …
Read More »Demming: ‘Every bypass of rules slowly chips away at our institutions’
If we are interested in an equitable and just society, we have to be interested in governance which begins with having a shared vision of the future based on common values and aspirations. Ideally, when citizens are engaged in developing that vision, they feel committed to its realisation. The last …
Read More »Wanted: T&T’s ‘sliding door’ moment; put handcuffs on our high-rolling criminals
Malaysia are many thousands of miles away but share many similarities with Trinidad and Tobago. They beat us to independent status by five years, adopted the Westminster system of governance and enjoyed key financial growth through industrialisation. They are divided along ethnic lines and as such practice race-based politics. They …
Read More »Hotep: The ‘powers that be’ need you to blame Morvant—to hide their own crimes against the people
“[…] How many business people can write an honest account explaining their rags to riches story, or share a history that can serve as a roadmap for others? “If any of them opt for the challenge they would have to omit the bribes and protection money they pay, the tax …
Read More »Demming: Will a woman take the fall in Piarco airport corruption scandal?
It’s been more than 15 years since the Piarco Airport corruption scandal, and the once high-flyer Renee Pierre is before the court to answer three corruption charges. My late mother from behind–the–bridge used to say: “Friends will carry you, but they won’t bring you back.” This is still stellar advice—especially …
Read More »Dear Editor: ‘Iron sharpeneth iron’! Dishonest politicians created a ‘bandit factory’
“Today, because of greed, every institution in our twin island Republican nation is in a state of collapse, through neglect and lack of the necessary resources to maintain them. Yet we choose to bury our heads in the sand like the ostrich, and pretend that we are not living in …
Read More »Nakhid: T&T’s contract mafia is destroying the future of the working class; we must stand up
The year was 1986, and my American University Soccer team was having an average season compared to our previous season having reached the National Championship game against perennial powerhouse, UCLA. Seven of our starting team had graduated, including three fellow Trinbagonians who were players of outstanding quality. I was now …
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