Tag Archives: Parliament

Her Excellency the President spoke a little over a week ago at the re-opening of the Red House, the seat of our parliament. As a self-described emissary of the people, she brought a message to the parliament to the effect that whatever the politicians are doing within the Red House …

Since returning from my three-month sabbatical, I have been finding life on this rock we call home to be a real struggle. I have tried my best to refrain from commenting on the numerous instances of outrageous, silly behaviour and criminal acts in the news, be it on social or …

Following last week’s column on the self-esteem crisis, which looked at the circumstances which contribute to the breeding of heartless persons, I was reading an interview with a rape victim who has written a debut novel entitled Dark Chapter. The book explores the traumatic experience of the author, Winnie Li, …

“It is often the case though that persons in leadership positions disclaim accountability and responsibility: the school Principal claims she can’t lead her school because it is ‘really the Ministry’ who is in charge; the Public Service Commission claims it can’t do anything, because it is ‘really the Director of …

“How else can one explain our two honourable Houses of Parliament, Upper and Lower, that seem to be ordained never, like East and West, to meet? “Where parliamentarians and some senators too seem to spend more time in the highest courts of the land trying to embarrass one another, to …

It is generally known, but only reluctantly acknowledged, that our institutions are failing us. The reasons why this failure is not the subject of broad based civic and political action have been set out in my columns many times. Currently the Parliament has contributed to a massive national security failure. …

The following response to a Trinidad Guardian editorial on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s public statement on unpaid salaries during his suspension from Parliament was submitted to Letter to the Editor by David Pierre: Reference is made to an editorial titled ‘Dr Rowley’s missing pay cheque’ which appeared in the …

Though I am not  a big fan of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, I have to admit that there are pockets of dialogue which I have never forgotten. One such scene goes as follows: Elizabeth: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal. …

If Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and Minister in the Office of Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, are right, the People’s Partnership Government spent more on legal fees in five years than Julian Assange, OJ Simpson and the late Michael Jackson could spend in three lifetimes. And, to be …

I switched on my television last Friday just in time to see and hear a stern-looking House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George say to former minister and current MP for Caroni Central Bhoe Tewarie, “You have three seconds to wrap up… starting now!” I did a double-take, wondering if I hadn’t mistakenly …

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most poignant comment regarding section 34 of the Administration of Justice Act was made some distance from the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament yesterday. DPP Roger Gaspard noted that President Maxwell Richards assented the Act, with the controversial clause, three days before Attorney General Anand Ramlogan decided not …

Scene: Trinidad and Tobago Parliament. (Colm Imbert, MP for Diego Martin North/East, is on his feet). Colm Imbert: “Deputy Madame Speaker, we have convened here today in an emergency sitting of this house, to discuss amendments to this bill, which has been outrageously and unscrupulously passed by the government in …