Guest Columns

The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) will ask Minister of Education Anthony Garcia to propose the postponement of the CSEC/Cape examinations until no earlier than four weeks after the re-commencement of school in September. The decision was taken at a TTUTA General Council meeting, which was held virtually …

HG Wells (1945) summed up our perception of the present times, “a jaded world devoid of recuperative power…ordinary man is at the end of his tether”. More than half of us are feeling great uncertainty. Both the business community (90%) and the general public (75%) believe that the economic challenges …

“What is your miracle wish for WASA?” I once asked a former Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) CEO. “To convert my consumers into customers,” was the response. More than 15 years later, another well-wisher bites the dust because of his desire to do the same thing. Both instances occurred under …

Robert Le Hunte’s shock resignation as minister of public utilities allegedly followed a row with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley over a proposal for major restructuring at WASA. Although, according to informed sources, the quarrel was one-way traffic. Le Hunte, who is also deputy chair of Rowley’s post-Covid-19 economy recovery team, …

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by our responsibility for our future.” — George Bernard Shaw. To accept the virus-induced lockdown was, for the most part, a no-brainer. To exit is not. Indeed, the public comments of the major business organisations show us more …

After managing the Covid-19 pandemic so well, why did Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley score this own goal with the high-power Venezuela meeting? His team was doing well. Couldn’t his handlers advise him to duck this one and move on to the good news of opening up the country? Instead, …

Artists and engineers more than any other professionals inscribe the signature of their civilisation. The newly built Curepe interchange is yet another demonstration of confidence and competence of our engineers and associated professionals and workers in transforming the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway (CRH) from an antique highway to a modern freeway. I …

On 27 March 2020, the Trinidad and Tobago government temporarily re-opened its borders for a meeting with a seven-member delegation from Venezuela, headed by vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, which—according to a press release—‘focused on the strategy being deployed in both countries to combat Covid-19’. However, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar suggested, in …

There is always a gap between perception and reality. Communicators have to operate within that space trying to narrow the gap and strengthen their intended message. The government opted to use moral suasion to get citizens to stay at home, but a drive or walk through neighbourhoods, towns and cities …

Stephen King, the famed writer, once said: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others, read a lot and write a lot.” It is a pity that several in our community do the second and not the first. But beyond that, book publishing …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley appeared to respond with sarcasm as Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith declared today that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) has closed investigations into the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cambridge Analytica, a controversial now bankrupt British consultancy firm, were accused—by former employee turned whistleblower, Christopher …

“[…] The health crisis is exacerbating longstanding tensions between the institution of the free press and governments here and around the world. Authoritarian impulses, single-source information flow, privacy incursions, political polarisation, hostility towards the media and shrinking resources in the wake of Covid-19, which will further impoverish the quality of …