Guest Columns

Two Tuesdays ago at a meeting in Mt D’or, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert boasted that there were only two people who knew the contents of the budget, the Prime Minister and himself. The subsequent applause for this revelation is symptomatic of the nature of our state. We are accepting …

“Indeed, the government has to find ways to generate some savings, but wholesale attrition of state-owned entities cannot be a forward-looking strategy. “Especially when looking at them from a profit-loss point of view loses a sense of how some of them may contribute to our recovery and our economic prosperity.” …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley hinted in a recent interview that he wants to reduce expenditure to around TT$50 billion. He also alluded to more taxes or, rather, greater taxation. Additionally, he reiterated his determination to avoid going to the IMF and the World Bank. All this comes against the backdrop …

“President [Anthony] Carmona appears out of touch with the urgent demands for accountability in 21st century Caribbean reporting and journalism.” The following is a release from the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) in response to President Anthony Carmona’s Republic Day message: His Excellency Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona SC is wrong to use his …

Is President Anthony Carmona’s mother-in-law, Savitri Seetaram-Singh, employed by the Office of the President? Has she travelled abroad with the President’s family? And, if so, who paid for her airfare and accommodation? These are some of the questions put to President’s House, through the Freedom of Information Act, by civic …

Former National Operations Centre (NOC) executive director Garvin Heerah shares his concerns on the fate of the Trinidad and Tobago citizens detained in Turkey on suspicion of terrorist connections: “We’re becoming more effective at limiting travel,” warns an analyst with the Washington DC-based The Study of War on Terrorism, “but …

Contributor Damian Scott has something to say on the scandal supposedly caused by the sending home of a Trinidad schoolgirl for the colour of her hair in his Letter to the Editor: There is a local saying that there is always more in the mortar than what we see on …

Gerry Kangalee and the birdsong Steel Academy attempt to clear the air on the debt that led to their controversial eviction, in response to a Trinidad Guardian editorial on Saturday 3 September 2016: birdsong acknowledges with the deepest gratitude the widespread outpourings of support for our cause that have been …

“The Chaguaramas development where the Five Islands Water and Fun Park and the Chaguaramas Safari Adventure were in the process of some infrastructural development in an area, where according to law, it should not be. “But, based on the amount of money spent, there was no way, they claimed that …

The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) has expressed its desire that Crime Watch survives, after being axed by CNC3 yesterday, and urged the show, which is hosted and produced by Ian Alleyne, to address its “frequent breaches of journalistic conventions.” Crime Watch was pulled off air after Alleyne …

“This country should rest comfortably in the knowledge that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago…will do nothing to impede the flow of justice in this or any matter. And […] will do everything within its duty and authority to facilitate the holding to account any and all persons who may …

“Fifty-four years into our alleged independence and we still lack that almost arrogant self-confidence that designs then adopts patterns of dress conducive to our climate yet reflecting the dignity of high/corporate offices and then demanding that the rest of the world respect what we’ve created.” Does COLFIRE’s policy on its …