There have been recent announcements that will disrupt the output of the Carnival sector and its interconnected networks of employment and economic diversification. Additionally, another recent round of terminations of state enterprise steelband sponsorships will disrupt music education, youth and community development. The Prime Minister has declared prohibitions on the …

A little over a week ago, on 29 November 2025, the Washington Post identified “the Caribbean allies helping the US against Venezuela” and stated that “the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago are hosting US forces and facilities”. This report formed a stark contrast to our Government’s limited disclosure of …

However the intended and laudable “revitalisation” of Trinidad and Tobago may proceed, the long standing need for socio-economic reform, accountable governance, and massive bureaucracy busting cannot be evaded. It is an essential part of any revitalisation. I therefore fully support the statement in a recent Trinidad Express editorial that “in …

On 31 October 2025, Attorney General Senator John Jeremie SC gave the House of Representatives the Government’s rationale for an additional extension of the existing state of emergency, first declared on 18 July and extended for three months by resolution of the House on 28 July. He referred again, citing …

Our small country is currently living under a state of emergency.  If, as authorised by the House of Representatives on 31 October, it does run its course of three months, it will mean that for a little over nine months of this year we will have lived under such a …

Last Sunday, I asked the question how effective has the expiring State of Emergency been and what next? At the time of writing this column, the Government was proceeding to have the House of Representatives pass a resolution to extend the State of Emergency for a further period of three …

Mr Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh is worthy of holding the office of Chief Justice to which he was appointed on Wednesday and I congratulate him. He is a person who may be able to heal some of the wounds that his vulnerable predecessor, former Chief Justice Ivor Archie, inflicted on trust …

This week I am returning to the recent Court of Appeal declaration that it was a breach of the constitutional rights of two citizens of Trinidad and Tobago (the Applicants), who were denied re-entry into Trinidad and Tobago when the borders were closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the material …

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 …

Co-incidentally with the event described below, drawing talent from the diaspora has been in the news. The Government has passed legislation to allow persons to obtain Trinidad and Tobago citizenship through a grandparent who was a citizen at time of the applicant’s birth. The immediate benefit of this legislation is …

Last week, in light of the current United States naval presence in Caribbean waters, I posed a question about sovereignty, to which I return below. However, I must begin this week noting that the National Gas Company (NGC), a premier state enterprise, has pelted both the Minister of Education, Dr …

My last topic was the cancellation of the Independence Day military parade, which was yet another issue over which there was polarisation, partly driven by the partisan political zealots. Currently, some of the reactions to the United States’ naval presence in Caribbean waters are intended superficially to spin a potentially …