I wrote this column sitting adjacent to Mayaro beach enjoying a slice of the August holidays. It is about two hours to sunset on as glorious a day as it gets in this piece of paradise. A little earlier in the day I had—unusually for me—a daytime snooze, on the …
Read More »On a higher note: Best asks if are we raising the bar for pan’s fans
“You’re going to love me,” she sang, raw emotion inhabiting but not inhibiting her voice. And the crowd roared. “She” is Arielle Cowie, the passionate young singer who performed with Renegades at last month’s International Steelband Foundation’s BIG 5 concert. And she was right; I loved her. As did, as …
Read More »Daly Bread: Marcia’s retort, contrasting responses from AG/JLSC and Big 5’s Ode to Panorama
One of the pillars of the administration of justice is the principle that open justice is fundamental to the rule of law and democratic accountability. That principle reaches its highest expression in judicial review cases and constitutional motions. The whole purpose of such cases is to put the processes by …
Read More »Daly Bread: Trying again to get somewhere; hard truths from Prime Minister and Opposition Leader
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition seemed to agree at their meeting on Tuesday last that there could not be any constitutionally sound legislative solution to the crisis, which the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) created as a result of its bungled appointment and the subsequent …
Read More »Daly Bread: When ridiculous becomes normal; CoP’s ‘nonsensical’ statements on arrest
In the face of rampant violent crime, last week’s column asserted that it is wholly insufficient to believe, as the Government does, that we could merely rely on the Police Service as currently managed. On that same day, there was a forceful editorial in the Sunday Express newspaper which I …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Bats and fads, Twitter-ish judges, Marcia twists and importance of JLSC review
It is difficult to move away from the current controversies swirling around the judiciary. With the revelation, last Sunday, of Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar’s version of what took place between her and the Chief Justice regarding unfinished cases—part-heard matters—the plot has thickened. It is now common ground that on the evening …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Why we’re right to challenge power—be it a Permanent Secretary, President or Chief Justice
In relation to the huge Marcia mess created by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC), there is no need to explain again the critical difference between the powers vested by law to deal with errant public officials and the complementary role of public opinion. Robust public opinion encourages accountability …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Exercising power without legitimacy; why Chief Justice must say “goodbye” not “sorry”
On Thursday last, by a vote of nearly 2 to 1 in the case of each resolution, the members of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, (LATT) the governing body for lawyers, declared their loss of confidence in the Chief Justice. By a similar margin, it dealt with the …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Senator Incitatus would appreciate horseplay of Darryl, Shamfa, Faris, Sinanan and JLSC
Just two Sundays ago, I discussed the inability of our public officials to beg our pardon when they blunder. They show contempt for our intelligence and our own experience when they spin improbable explanations for obvious blundering. The Government has had a very bad fortnight of blunders and ‘no beg-pardons.’ …
Read More »DALY BREAD: I have no confidence left in the JLSC
The furore arising from the appointment as a High Court judge, subsequent resignation and the purported “restoration” of Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar, the former Chief Magistrate, as a magistrate has not died down. However, as the story emerges, public opinion now contains feelings of mercy for Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar. I am …
Read More »Daly, Dumas troubled by revelations on magistrate Quinlan-Williams, Carmona and JLSC
“[Avason Quinlan-Williams] has very recently been appointed a High Court judge and we are absolutely satisfied that the public interest requires that the determination of the disciplinary tribunal be released, so that the public can be assured of the propriety of the appointment of Mrs Quinlan-Williams to the office of …
Read More »Not even a little beg pardon?! Daly hits arrogance of blundering T&T bodies
My deceased mother, Celia, had a number of priceless expressions. Many of them applied to persons who got “too big for their boots.” Getting too big for your own boots could be a gradual process. When it happened overnight she discerned that it was an immediate attack of “position-itis”—a condition …
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