Tag Archives: DPP

Mahal was the walking legend in Trinidad from the 1930s to the early 60s. He pretended to drive a car while he, in fact, walked or trotted. He made hand signals and blew his horn as though he had a car. An anecdote reflects us in Al Ramsawack’s story on …

Of course I am delighted that our new and seventh president, Her Excellency Christine Kangaloo, advocated for the panyard development model as a means of dealing with youth at risk in her inaugural address. For more than a decade, I have been advocating for the model’s recognition while describing real …

Persons in public life frequently exercise power without accountability. As President Paula-Mae Weekes was recently demitting office, we were reminded of the fate of the merit list for the appointment of a commissioner of police that was prepared by the Police Service Commission—but which was, in August 2021, diverted from …

I have a friend who I will call Jarndyce, to protect his identity and save him from victimization. His story is this. Jarndyce is in his sixties and suffered a major failure of his eyesight in January 2020 as a result of glaucoma, which is a clandestine destroyer of sight—because …

These days I feel like Marvin Gaye, the singer of the 1971 Billboard hit “What’s going on?” Confronted by the incessant kangkalang, his lyrics become most relevant. Mother, mother/ There’s too many of you crying/ Brother, brother, brother/ There’s far too many of you dying Father, father,/ We don’t need …

“[…] I would also like Mr [Martin] Daly SC to explain, in his column, why he thinks that the DPP took the correct decision to discontinue, for the time being, the charges against Messrs Anand Ramlogan, SC, and Gerard Ramdeen—having regard to all the documentary and other information in the public domain, …

The debacle that has engulfed the two former attorney-generals is illuminating. We have had a ringside seat to see how powerful men among us run their affairs. We understand clearly how little our daily pain factors into their calculations. We see how reckless they can be because of the lack …

One year ago I asked: “how are we holding Vincent Nelson, the disgraced British King’s Counsel to his bargain?” The bargain was a plea bargain made with the Director of Public Prosecutions (the DPP). Vincent Nelson pleaded guilty in a corruption case in which Anand Ramlogan SC, a former attorney …

The presentation and discussion of a national budget usually focus on competing ideas about the future of a country. The process is a statement about the development of the country. In 2020, Branko Milanovic, a reputed US economist, wrote, “the most important role economic policy can play now is to …

“[…] Where is the evidence of a PNM-inspired political conspiracy in the charging of Mr David Lee? He who alleges must prove. “[…] Patriotic, sober-minded, and mature thinking citizens who are imbued with copious wisdom, no doubt would realise that nothing should be said or done that could lead, inadvertently, to …

Public trust and confidence in the capacity of our country’s institutions and high offices to make full disclosure and to observe due process of law has again been shaken. Compromising due process is a potential catalyst for wider social unrest because of the way in which the authorities manipulate the …

Our national anthem urges us to have “boundless faith in our destiny”. It affirms that “here every creed and race find an equal place” and “may God bless our Nation”.  Do these lofty words meet reality? Do these words apply to the people of Laventille, or are they to be …