In these weekly columns I have pursued certain matters that the leaders whom we elect by means of general elections are simply not willing to confront. Unhelpfully, many other significant leaderships in the nation are generally content only to mouth platitudes about ‘partnering’ and ‘welcoming’ as they sway with the …

In the recent past, governments both of the United National Congress (UNC) and of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) have had the then president of the Republic proclaim states of emergency said to be directed at the level of violent criminal activity. The dates of the proclamations were respectively 21 …

Against the background of recent attacks on the Independent senators, I outlined last week the two constraints on three-fifths special majority legislative power contained in our Constitution. I conclude the examination of these constraints this week. First, however, I pursue the question why such constraints are necessary. Next week, I …

Several readers have pressed me to say how I felt on the merits of the Prime Minister’s Pension (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by a special majority and took away from Stuart Young SC MP a very substantial pension. Young would have had this pension even though he held the …

I have re-examined the long-standing perils of our manipulable state enterprise system, focusing last week on how inadequately prepared we are for oversight in terms of appropriately trained personnel and available or reliable data. This week I wish to emphasise that it was into that same manipulable environment that the …

Last Sunday, I traced the perils of having the state enterprises unrestrained by diligent and timely oversight by the constitutionally established Public Account [Enterprises] Committee (the PA[E]C) and I referred to that committee being handicapped, due to the late submission of annual reports and other financial information to it. The …

Integrity, accountability, financial prudence and consequence management are not simply partisan political issues. They relate to the socio-economic health and well-being of our country and are or should be of concern to the wider public. Moreover, indifference to these issues undermines trust and confidence that the country’s resources are being …

The level of divisiveness in our small island nation—about which I gave examples in my recent columns—will undoubtedly compound the difficulty of getting the country as a whole behind the serious fights to survive, which now so starkly face us. It seems to me that, despite the end of the …

Since her return from Opposition to the office of prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar (Kamla) has been putting great emphasis on her United National Congress (UNC) Government treating the battered population with empathy. On the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the new Parliament, a little over a week ago, the …

Amanda Gorman, aged 27, is a poet, writer and activist.  She was the first US national youth poet laureate.  She frequently urges that society turn away from divisiveness. I heard Amanda Gorman speak at the widely televised US Democratic Party National Convention last year. She said this: “Empathy emancipates, making …

Our changes of government frequently receive a verdict of “no change only exchange”. The current apparent dead end in the search for a gas supply to revive certain of our petrochemical industries is illustrative of the peril of governments having no appetite for fundamental reform. Added to all the unimaginative …

Dear Kamla, Fifteen years ago, at the time of your first election as prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago (PM), I greeted you in a column published on 13 June 2010, in which I explained why I may take the liberty of addressing you in familiar terms. Let me begin …