Tag Archives: Martin Daly

Against the background of recent attacks on the Independent senators, I outlined last week the two constraints on three-fifths special majority legislative power contained in our Constitution. I conclude the examination of these constraints this week. First, however, I pursue the question why such constraints are necessary. Next week, I …

Several readers have pressed me to say how I felt on the merits of the Prime Minister’s Pension (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by a special majority and took away from Stuart Young SC MP a very substantial pension. Young would have had this pension even though he held the …

I have re-examined the long-standing perils of our manipulable state enterprise system, focusing last week on how inadequately prepared we are for oversight in terms of appropriately trained personnel and available or reliable data. This week I wish to emphasise that it was into that same manipulable environment that the …

Integrity, accountability, financial prudence and consequence management are not simply partisan political issues. They relate to the socio-economic health and well-being of our country and are or should be of concern to the wider public. Moreover, indifference to these issues undermines trust and confidence that the country’s resources are being …

The level of divisiveness in our small island nation—about which I gave examples in my recent columns—will undoubtedly compound the difficulty of getting the country as a whole behind the serious fights to survive, which now so starkly face us. It seems to me that, despite the end of the …

Amanda Gorman, aged 27, is a poet, writer and activist.  She was the first US national youth poet laureate.  She frequently urges that society turn away from divisiveness. I heard Amanda Gorman speak at the widely televised US Democratic Party National Convention last year. She said this: “Empathy emancipates, making …

Our changes of government frequently receive a verdict of “no change only exchange”. The current apparent dead end in the search for a gas supply to revive certain of our petrochemical industries is illustrative of the peril of governments having no appetite for fundamental reform. Added to all the unimaginative …

Dear Kamla, Fifteen years ago, at the time of your first election as prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago (PM), I greeted you in a column published on 13 June 2010, in which I explained why I may take the liberty of addressing you in familiar terms. Let me begin …

In October last year, almost immediately after a strong intimation in Parliament from then People’s National Movement (PNM) prime minister Dr Keith Rowley that he was having his swansong and would be leaving the Parliament, the PNM tersely announced that: “its 51st Annual Convention, as well as the internal election, …

Throughout the now concluded last week of campaigning for tomorrow’s general election, the lack of articulation on the campaign platforms of specific plans has persisted, as has the nastiness. It is not clear how the competing parties will deal with violent crime, drastic revenue shortfall in the economy, foreign exchange …

In response to several requests, I comment on the now established maladministration of the Ayers-Caesar situation and I also expand on the provisions of section 57 of the Constitution, to which I referred last week in connection with the introduction into the Cabinet of a new finance minister. Marcia Ayers-Caesar …

Twenty-four hours after his appointment by virtue of section 76(1) (a) of the Constitution to replace former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, new prime minister Stuart Young called the next general election for April 28. This Young move is probably a good move for his prospects to be re-appointed as …