I met the face of grief a couple of weeks ago and it has haunted me since. It was a chance encounter with someone I did not know. It isn’t quite accurate to say it was chance, because I had gone seeking his artisan services. His kiosk bore a handwritten …
Read More »Mottley: Rethinking confrontation; the pitfalls of the government and public sector’s existing relations
“[…] For many decades, T&T’s highly productive energy sector funded disproportionately high standards of living in its non-energy sectors, including the public service. However, production in the energy sector has been in decline since 2010, masked temporarily by extraordinary recent increases in energy prices. “[…] In such difficult circumstances, governments …
Read More »Dear Editor: Dr Rowley Govt’s 2% offer is a slap in the face for public sector workers
“[…] The mantra of those in authority, who are now offering public sector workers a meagre 2% over an eight-year period, was repeated time after time: ‘We are all in this together.’ “But I wish to remind them of a famous quote which says this: ‘We are not all in …
Read More »Noble: The Public Service and norms—the case of the AG versus the CPC
God has a sense of humour. In 2017, Reginald Armour SC defended the Government in a Judicial Review case brought by a public servant seeking to establish the bounds of authority that the Prime Minister had on his ambassadorial posting. By 2019, in the Court of Appeal, he won with …
Read More »Noble: Paria’s plight is rampant in T&T—First World salaries without First World leadership
Stephen R Covey, the American author of First Things First, said: ‘We are free to choose our actions… but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.’ As a nation, we need to contemplate this as we mourn the loss of the four men in a recent …
Read More »Noble: Wheels within Wheels; how crime flourishes with a malnourished public sector
Nobody wants to live in fear. Nobody wants to lose a loved one to crime or be victimised. The pain ricochets through the community as others experience the wrenching loss that descends on us in sudden ways. Most believe that the government is responsible for public safety. But our reactions …
Read More »Dear Editor: Minister West should focus on better service at public offices, not dress code
“[…] In many cases, there are just one or two cashiers out of a possible nine or ten to service very long lines while other employees casually mingle and make small talk in full view of the public, who are already agitated by the poor service! “The government might as …
Read More »Public sector employees must declare vaccination status and intention by 4 Jan, as Govt presses on
Trinidad and Tobago public sector workers must declare their vaccination status by 4 January 2022 along with their willingness ‘to avail themselves of the services that will be offered at the special vaccination sites’, as the Government pushes ahead with its controversial ‘Public Service and Public Sector Vaccination Programme’. The …
Read More »Kangalee: The AG is out of his depth and betraying his ignorance of industrial relations
“[…] In Faris Al-Rawi’s upside-down world, a worker is sent home by an employer in an effort to coerce the worker into accepting the employer’s terms and conditions; and if the worker does not accept, she is deemed to have abandoned the job or been dismissed. “In actual practice, if …
Read More »Noble: Divided we fall; splintered T&T is stumbling carelessly into bankruptcy
The last 21 months have drained our nation’s emotional resources and injected paranoid feelings. Uncertainty and risk are now our constant companions. We no longer have a clear vision of the future. We are exhausted. The constant quarrelling on every front has bewildered us, and we no longer appear to …
Read More »Noble: Fixing our ‘superfluous’ mess; how the Judiciary, President, and Prime Minister stood up
Within the last two years, the world has had two pivotal moments: the arrival of Covid-19 and the development of the vaccine. The virus started small but has taken lives and wrecked economies, changing the way we live forever. Even though ‘Operation Warp Speed’ delivered vaccines way ahead of schedule …
Read More »Daly Bread: Sandals, smelters and steel orchestras—as music stops, T&T must consider future
Our governance arrangements and political style have left us in an uncomfortable void. Our country is not nearly as well managed as we could make it. We have not employed an enlightened combination of the country’s resources, citizen commitment and fairness. There are not many countries that have achieved satisfactory …
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