Tag Archives: corruption

“[…] 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 …

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 …

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 …

“[…] 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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

Much of the discussion about the introduction of the polymer $100 bill conflates the evil of ‘dark’ money with persons who have been shut out of the banking system. The persons who deal in ‘dark’ money have self-selected to operate outside the system; but there are those who are unable …

Events that rock us into further consternation about the state of our country and whether ‘we gone through’ are occurring with increasing frequency. Sadly, the responses of our rulers are superficial. The event that dominated the news cycle last week was the arrest of Marlene McDonald on significant fraud charges …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has assumed the portfolio of Minister of Public Administration, after Port of Spain South MP Marlene McDonald was fired from the Cabinet for a third time this morning. The Ministry of Communications initially stated that Senator Garvin Simonette, an attorney by profession, would be sworn-in …

Minister of Communications Donna Cox confirmed this afternoon that her Cabinet colleague and Member of Parliament Marlene McDonald is now under police investigation but did not divulge whether internal action might be underway. A Loop T&T report this morning, which quoted an unnamed ‘senior police officer’, stated that McDonald and …

I have emphasised in these columns that we cannot expect our country to come out of its steep, continuous and frequently murderous decline if we continue, as I recently put it, with ‘poor governance, pursuit of failed policy, inability to vary something that is not working and official petulance when …