Tag Archives: Dennise Demming

If we are interested in an equitable and just society, we have to be interested in governance which begins with having a shared vision of the future based on common values and aspirations.  Ideally, when citizens are engaged in developing that vision, they feel committed to its realisation. The last …

Every time I board a ‘PH’ taxi, my heart races because I am not sure I can trust the driver not to harm me. This experience is not unique to me. Several women and girls have the same experience but are faced with no alternative because we have a dangerous, unregulated, …

Can we survive another restart to education in the Hospitality Industry? This question has been on my mind since the recent announcement of the voluntary winding up of the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI). It weighed heavily on my mind because I sat as chair for a …

Congratulations to the PNM on their victory at the polls under the leadership of Dr Keith Christopher Rowley. Congratulations also to the ongoing Leader of the Opposition Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Unless the results in the marginal constituencies are in the single digits, it would be a foolhardy pursuit to seek …

The 2020 election campaigns have presented a kind of sameness or familiarity which is uninspiring. I get that their main objective is to energise their respective bases, but as comedian Sprangalang would say ‘allyuh go keel we’. Given these uninspiring attempts to excite the population, I conclude that both major …

The statement that Trinidadians are undisciplined has never sat comfortably with me. The statement insinuates that we are unable to carefully control the way we work, live, or behave, especially to achieve our goals. My intuition is that, as a people, we do what the system allows and whatever we …

The location of the points of the civil disruption have one thing in common. They have voted solidly for the PNM for the past 29 years but they continue to be socially and economically under-served. The seeds of the discontent were fertilised by the alleged police killing of three men …

There are always unintended consequences of our actions. The big picture lessons of the brouhaha around Gabriel Faria’s WhatsApp message are that the private views of public officials are seen as expressions of the organisation, and that business survival post-Covid-19 requires aggressive strategies by the government. Gabriel Faria spoke his …

When the crowd took a knee and held it in silence for nine minutes, I knew I was amidst a sea of young persons who were sending a message that the time for change is now. The #ttblm movement gathered peacefully in the Queen’s Park Savannah, chanted and spoke their …

Years ago, one of my mentors advised me that as a then public relations professional, I could not separate my private life from my public persona—so I had to be on my guard at all times. There is timeless value in this advice and it is even more important as …

“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 …

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, …