The People’s National Movement (the PNM) tersely announced last week: “The People’s National Movement wishes to advise that its 51st Annual Convention, as well as the internal election, originally scheduled for Sunday 17 November 2024, has been cancelled.” The PNM is currently the party in government having been elected for …

Exposure to assessing business risk, including the political risk of doing business in unstable environments, underlines that political and geo-political risks are volatile factors. When Prime Minister Rowley (the PM) recently exhorted that we “hold the fort”, he reportedly linked “a better position with the energy industry in the second …

Resignation from political office is a rare event in our country and I had intended to comment on the significance of the resignation of Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing from the Government bench in the Senate. However, reference to her current courthouse business may bring trouble on this publication. Nevertheless, I can …

I have taken time to evaluate my doubts about the announcement made on 9 August concerning Geographical Indication certification for pan. A number of fanciful and overstated claims were made about the Geographical Indication (GI) certificate which was flourished on stage in the hands of the Minister of Tourism and …

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 …

As I close off three weeks of analysis of pan manufacturing, I will refer to the inspiration to be taken from the riveting speech of former First Lady Michelle Obama at the recently concluded Democratic Convention in Chicago. First, however, I am happy to acknowledge and that the quotation with …

“All those initiatives are undermined by the fact that in 2024, the Steelpan Manufacturing sector does not have a dedicated and secured source and supply of high quality drums. “To ensure a consistent supply of raw materials the industry requires in place a drum-producing facility, which will produce drums based …

“All of the things happening recently in the pan world, the national instrument status, the GI (Geographical Indication) certificate, pan month—all of these things hinge upon Trinidad being the birthplace of pan and it presupposes that we have the best quality instruments coming out of Trinidad.” This is one of …

Pan Trinbago has been basking in a new dawn of support for pan in its birthplace. But for some of us there are still clouds hovering over the financing and sustainability of the steelpan, our national instrument. Political grandstanding will not dissipate those clouds. Primarily, we left a significant part …

Joseph Biden, president of the United States, and our former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who became our country’s constitutionally appointed leader of the Opposition in 2015, have something in common. They have been assessed as electoral liabilities. Biden’s liability was more precisely revealed by the regular opinion polls published in …

Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra (All Stars) unconditionally qualifies for recognition as an institution because it has consistently served broader societal functions beyond the performance of musical works on pan. These broader societal functions include cultural innovation and preservation, education and community development. Many other steel orchestras (commonly referred to …

For obvious reasons, this is an appropriate time to point out that the vision for the panyard model did not just reach; and also to remind readers of how long I have been advocating for the panyard model, which I met already established on the ground. A little over 17 …