Guest Columns

“[…] 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 …

The following column was written by Raffique Shah on 9 June 2000: IN 1970, I was the only Indian officer in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. I was also the youngest officer, having graduated from Sandhurst in July 1966, some four months after I had turned 20. When I returned …

The letter penned by the Commissioner of Police condemning the valorising of the army mutineers of 1970 brought to the surface several important issues. One such issue is the fact that, even in tiny countries like this one, it is entirely possible to live in an insulated space with little …

“[…] Trinidad and Tobago is not only impacted by the economic consequences of Covid-19; but as an oil-and-gas exporting country, the economic, financial and social consequences have been further compounded by the dramatic drop in oil and gas prices. The worldwide demand for crude oil has crashed in the context …

“In some countries when similar acts take place, such persons are put before a firing squad, hung or tried and sentenced to death. “Yet amazingly, some were given the opportunity to become members of parliament and then later permitted to communicate to the country through daily newspapers—which gave them the …

Most of us have six unique numbers with which we are identified. They are our Board of Inland Revenue and National Insurance Scheme numbers as well as those found on our birth certificate, identification card, driver’s permit and passport. I posed two questions to my friends in the digital space: …

For about 30 years, we have been told myths about our economy. Many of these myths have become commonplace and embedded in our psyche and national consciousness—through the media, the education system, and, more concretely, enacted in the laws and policies by every government since the late 1980s. Covid-19 has …

“Trinidad and Tobago must now plan for its post peak Covid-19 future within the confines of the ‘new normal’, at least until such time that a vaccine is developed and tested—which could take between 12-18 months. “[…] An important first step in developing the Recovery Road Map must be to …

Over the weekend of 15 March 2020, the Minister of Labour pronounced on the need to implement Pandemic Leave in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, approximately one month later, we are yet to see what is the policy for Pandemic Leave, which has become more relevant now than …

“[…] We are deeply concerned that the decision by the Ministry of Education to implement a programme of home-based learning conducted by teachers using an ‘online platform’ will seriously discriminate against the children whose parents are either unemployed or whose incomes are barely able to put food on the table. …

I learned a beautiful question from TedX speaker Brené Brown: What is the story you are telling yourself? Many people believe they are successful because of their hard work and intelligence. They discount the impact of external factors. A story they tell themselves is that success is the result of …

As the global community grapples with an insidious pandemic, creative and tourism sectors worldwide have already incurred substantial losses due to significant economic contraction, triggered by the suspension of events and the closure of borders. Undoubtedly, stakeholders within the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival industry have already begun to wrestle with …