Tag Archives: transparency

“[…] The now-infamous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), exposed thanks to Afra Raymond’s successful legal challenge, showed a lopsided agreement. The state was to fund and build the resort on public land. “In turn, Sandals would enjoy sweeping concessions—tax holidays, duty-free status, unlimited work permits for foreigners, and no obligations to …

The autocratic nature of our politics is most memorably captured in the sordid 1962 episode featuring Dr Patrick Solomon, minister of Home Affairs in the People’s National Movement (PNM) government—with responsibility for the police service. His stepson was arrested and incarcerated for throwing missiles in a public space. Solomon allegedly …

A file in the civil law department of the Attorney General (the AG) disappeared. As a consequence, the department failed to put in a defence in a malicious prosecution case. This resulted in a default judgment against the State in January 2023 for sums totaling twenty million dollars. The claimants …

From the time I heard the news reports about the 300 cruise-ship passengers being stranded without tour transport in Tobago because the maxi-taxi operators failed to show up, something seemed fishy. The explanation given by presi­dent of the Tobago Maxi Taxi Association Cloyd Williams was that it was a combination …

Supposedly in response to my own post in these pages on 9 September 2021, the National Trust made an engaging and informative post here on 17 September 2021. The most striking aspect of that reply was that the essential query was not addressed at all. For those who have an …

‘Your silence will not protect you’—Audre Lorde, on the false benefits and toxic consequences earned from calculated or cowardly silences. I had no intention of returning to this issue but Newsday’s Friday 27 August 2021 article (Woodford Square to become heritage site (newsday.co.tt) was a sharp reminder that there is …

That’s insulting! The National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) is of the view that Dr Keith Rowley deserves to have the words of the first of his three non-PNM predecessors, Basdeo Panday, thrown at him. And they are calling on the current prime minister to ‘do the honourable thing’ and apologise …

I wrote recently about the startling decision of the government to reject the offer of Patriotic Energies and Technologies Limited (Patriotic) to acquire the Petrotrin oil refinery, which the government closed down. When the titular head of the Ministry of Energy, Senator Franklin Khan, announced the sudden rejection, he gave …

Monday last was a grim day for the pursuit of transparency and accountability. Both the prime minister and the chief justice took the usual futile refuge of chastising the media and metaphorically shooting all other messengers, oblivious of the message from responsible quarters that they should give an account of …

“If such a move can be accommodated, there would be no more potent injection to jolt T&T football than to leave CONCACAF in order to join CONMEBOL… “Regular competition against clubs and national teams from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay seem daunting but two things would occur: one, our football …

Last week predictably began with more turbulence over the aftermath of the Petrotrin shut down and over one of the successor companies, Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited. Our governments have had marked communications deficits because there is too much attempted secrecy over the process attendant upon deals constantly being made …

 “[…] Contracts, particularly large-scale ones, should not be awarded without elementary transparency so that the public can be assured of straight dealings.  The appointment of the Procurement Regulator, albeit an employment contract, will be one of the most critical contract awards in the history of our Republic.” The following letter, signed by Afra Raymond, Reginald Dumas and …