Tag Archives: corruption

Generally when one is asked to give their opinion on the Public Service and public officers in Trinidad and Tobago the following terms usually come up: lazy, corrupt, red tape, run-around and poor service. Yet is this image fair? My answer would be yes and no. This answer comes from …

“You can look at several laws that have been passed over the years that made absolutely no difference,” said Minister of Communications and Public Administration Maxie Cuffie. “The integrity in public life act has not made us more honest. It has not dealt with corruption. And it is because we …

I have noted with interest the Prime Minister’s statement that it is unacceptable for citizens to be gunned down in cold blood. This was followed by a statement from the Minister of National Security expressing concern about killing and brutality across the country. Regular readers of my columns and those …

The recent departures of Raymond Tim Kee and Marlene McDonald from the respective offices of Mayor of Port of Spain and Minister of Housing respectively are still reverberating around a discussion of what is the degree of inappropriate behaviour that requires departure from office or denotes unsuitability to hold high …

On Wednesday last, I gave the third in a series of presentations put on by the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies. My presentation was entitled Professional Organisations and the Public Interest. One aspect of my presentation was an examination of why we are so often silent in the …

I must give credit to my colleague Earl Best for the title of this piece given that, on this rare occasion, he was faster out of the blocks than I was. The news late last night was that Housing Minister Marlene McDonald had been fired. Don’t pop that champagne just …

Civic watch group, Fixin’ T&T, has congratulated Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for doing “the right thing” in dismissing Housing and Urban Development Minister Marlene McDonald. However, the group also urged Rowley to prioritise meaningful legislation on procurement, campaign financing, party financing and whistle blowing and create a more financially …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will open the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute’s fifth anti-corruption conference on Tuesday March 8 at the Hilton Trinidad in Port of Spain, which is titled “Unmask the Corrupt: Governance, Integrity, People.” The conference will run from 8 am to 4 pm and will cost …

As a nation, we can do nothing about the plunging price of oil except watch with alarm as crude slides below US$30 a barrel. Even if we ramp up production, which has fallen by approximately 50 per cent over the past decade, it will make little sense. At this point, …

Owing to my commitment to take part in Raoul Pantin’s play Hatuey I was unable to write a column last Sunday. I was therefore unable to make timely comment on the contentious Budget debate and the feeding trough for favoured lawyers exposed in the course of that debate. Happily the …

Tomorrow’s Budget presentation by Finance Minister Colm Imbert is the most eagerly anticipated Appropriation Bill in many years. The main reason for heightened interest is the depressed state of the economy. With low oil, gas and commodities prices, hence lower-than-normal revenues accruing to government, citizens are waiting to see just …

Stacy Roopnarine, a UNC MP, does not care much for Minister of Works Suruj Rambachan’s tendering; but, apparently, she can be much tenderer where National Security Minister Gary Griffith is concerned. Griffith, incidentally, is a man of no fixed party although, for now, the part-time hobo is back at home …