It’s January 2021, and I can only reminisce and fill the silence of pan-less evenings with musings about what can be done to make magic in 2022 or possibly 2023. January is usually my month for late evenings filled with the repetition of steelpan notes and chords, deciphering the phrases …
Read More »Demming: Giving ‘Covid Carnival’ a second thought; T&T can show world we aren’t cowering from virus
So Gregory Aboud jumped out of his corner and suggested that we have a carnival celebration and everybody wants to kill him because, primarily, they say it is too little too late. Is it possible that he is too far away from our perceptions of who can speak about carnival …
Read More »Demming: Turn your strident words into action, madame president
A little more than 33 months ago, before Ms Paula-Mae Weekes was elected president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, she was at the top of her game serving in another jurisdiction. Today she is publicly expressing her disappointment at the absence of good governance for the people …
Read More »Demming: Don’t blame public servants for everything; leadership is taking responsibility
It is easy to blame public servants’ ‘mistakes’ for an eight-month delay in appointing the Board of the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC) as reported in a recent newspaper article. Public servants have become the most recent whipping horse of a government whose inaction contributes to the …
Read More »Demming: Government repeating mistakes with procurement
I grew up hearing an anecdote that the late former member of parliament for Diego Martin West, Johnny O’Halloran, and a contingent went to Venezuela to negotiate the purchase of a boat, and the only member of the contingent who could translate Spanish into English was the cook. So, the …
Read More »Demming: If we don’t address shortcomings, Venezuelan crisis will lead to harrowing disaster
Our history records Trinidad and Tobago’s fisherfolk dodging bullets from or being arrested by Venezuela’s Guardia Nacional for supposedly being in Venezuelan waters. Today we continue to metaphorically dodge different kinds of bullets from our Venezuelan neighbours. For years, the back-and-forth confrontational posturing was a trickle—the fisherfolk dispute, or the …
Read More »Demming: Transforming a ‘toilet’: POS rejuvenation must also address social problems
After 58 years of leadership in both parliamentary and mayoral elections, and 16 or 17 development plans, it has been decreed that the city of Port of Spain will finally be transformed into a shiny new metropolis in north Trinidad. It is a welcomed announcement, but like other similar declarations, …
Read More »Demming: Should taxpayers fund tertiary education? What is government’s role?
The following column is based on the author’s participation in the online forum by the Trade and Economic Division of the Department of Economics, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine on the topic The Funding of Tertiary Level Education in Trinidad and Tobago: My favourite quote about education …
Read More »Demming: 23% of T&T supports government; but here’s how to increase participation
I can blame Covid-19 for feeling stuck, but that would not be entirely honest. That feeling of ‘stuck-ness’ has been happening for a while and Covid-19 has only made it more intense. My observation of Parliament, via the Parliament Channel, often evokes the thought that I have heard this before; …
Read More »Demming: ‘Every bypass of rules slowly chips away at our institutions’
If we are interested in an equitable and just society, we have to be interested in governance which begins with having a shared vision of the future based on common values and aspirations. Ideally, when citizens are engaged in developing that vision, they feel committed to its realisation. The last …
Read More »Demming: Isn’t it time to move past PH-taxis and create comprehensive transit system?
Every time I board a ‘PH’ taxi, my heart races because I am not sure I can trust the driver not to harm me. This experience is not unique to me. Several women and girls have the same experience but are faced with no alternative because we have a dangerous, unregulated, …
Read More »Demming: TTHTI collapse means another restart to education in hospitality Sector
Can we survive another restart to education in the Hospitality Industry? This question has been on my mind since the recent announcement of the voluntary winding up of the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI). It weighed heavily on my mind because I sat as chair for a …
Read More »