Tag Archives: governance

At six o’clock one morning not too long ago, a woman sat quietly outside a public clinic with a numbered card in her hand. She had arrived before sunrise. Not because she wanted to—because she had to. Her eyes were failing for months. The headaches were becoming more frequent. Work …

“[…] There is often a misconception that MPs are exempt from the strict rules governing civil servants. The legal reality is the opposite. They are unequivocally public officers and a trustee of the people. “Because MPs wield immense political and legal power, often with very little daily oversight, the law …

“Trinidad and Tobago could only progress if Laventille does,” Winston Dookeran said in May 2010. Have we moved beyond this idea? Have we accepted that crime is not a group problem? It is not an “Afro problem”, an “Indian problem”, or a “PNM problem”. Crime is a national problem, and …

There is reason to be concerned about current trends towards the promotion of authoritarian rule in Trinidad and Tobago. The Commissioner of Police (the CoP) vehemently sought to dilute accountability for the fatal police-involved shooting of a citizen seen in a video emerging from a crashed vehicle after a chase, …

A dear friend sent me a despondent message in response to my lament about divisive and crass online comments. “I want you to identify for me anyone else who has integrity that you know of personally in the world, because I can’t find too many,” he said. My first reaction …

The concluded Christmas and New Year period has demonstrated the failure of the amendments passed in Parliament to the Summary Offences Act (“the fireworks legislation”) as a means of regulating the use of fireworks and in particular to bring relief from the noise that adversely affects persons and animals. The …

“[…] The entitlement, indiscipline and misdirected priorities of some lawless citizens who inconvenience and endanger law abiding citizens will not be tolerated anymore. No discipline will be met with no tolerance. “No one will sway me from cleaning up this lawless dump to benefit citizens who try to live decent …

“[…] It is clear that this Administration, having outsourced its decision-making with respect to relations with Venezuela, has not learnt from or are not aware of Henry Kissinger’s warning—though uttered in a different context—that: ‘it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.’ “[…] …

Recently, the Attorney General, Senator John Jeremie SC, announced that the State had decided to discontinue an appeal against a High Court judgment in which the Court condemned the forcible retrieval of a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago from Barbados, by Trinidad and Tobago law enforcement, in circumstances where he …

“[…] The frustration in Greenvale, however, runs deeper than a single Sunday blackout. The community already feels utterly abandoned. The general election, which promised so much, has long passed, leaving a vacuum where change was supposed to be. “[…] We need some level of professionalism, which starts not with a …

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 …

“[…] What kind of society are we building when the working class is always the first to feel the axe? When institutions are reshaped in silence? When accountability is demanded only of ‘the other side’? “[…] Too often, those who cry foul in opposition grow quiet once in power. Outrage …