I must give credit to Kyle Skeeto Amos for the headline of this piece. His contemplation on the nature of our democracy is nothing short of brilliant. That said, I want to use another story, the one about the hikers and the lion, to perhaps identify why there is no …
Read More »Dear Editor: Anger, outrage, myopia, convenient excuses and inconvenient truths
“It is our right to express anger when there is inequity in the responses to the cries for help. It is our right as citizens and taxpayers to challenge the use of public funds and to question corruption and inefficiency. “It is also our right to speculate over the misappropriation …
Read More »Battered media, marooned PM, buss head specialists at large: Live Wire reports on Hurricane A&V
It is Day Seven of Hurricane A&V: a low pressure weather system which has struck Trinidad and Tobago with little warning and savage repercussions after Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar read from a leaked Petrotrin audit report. In its wake, Mr Live Wire reports, is mayhem and confusion: Tanty Kamla fraid …
Read More »Heigh-ho, De Silva, away! Best sees NCC boss chairmanning still, despite quit promise
Five months, four weeks, three days, two hours, one minute, one second, two ticks and one tock. As I begin to write, that’s how long it has been since the last note sounded on Carnival 2017. And at the NCC, Kenny De Silva is still chairmanning. Now let me say …
Read More »Street Vibes: The jamming done; time to done with the political distractions
How many times since last Carnival have we heard the refrain “We jamming still” quoted? And in how many different contexts? Lifted from the Ultimate Rejects’ mega soca track “We Doh Business,” it has tended to be used so often because it sums up very neatly the “carnival mentality” we …
Read More »Fixin’ T&T: Sea-bridge scandal is not mere incompetence; Rowley must fire Sinanan
“Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s apparent inability to remove Minister Sinanan mirrors his predecessor Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s difficulty in effectively treating with then Minister Jack Warner until the proverbial water became more than flour.” In the following press statement, local watchdog group, Fixin’ T&T, urges Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley …
Read More »Le Hunte is off; Rowley’s new Public Utilities Minister replaced after another cock-up
So Watson Duke was not the only son of the Sister Isle to make a fool of himself today. For the second straight time, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was forced to backtrack on the appointment of his Public Utilities Minister after admitting that Robert Le Hunte, a Ghanian citizen, …
Read More »Monitoring the masters’ voices to find the true colour of the Rottweiler’s bark
Seriously? Did you seriously expect some died-in-the-balisier PNMite to say (s)he disapproves of Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s decision to appoint a “sole investigator” for the ferry fiasco? Hahahahahahahahaha! You doh understand nutten about the culture of T&T—which is not, as the Mighty Power claimed years ago, just calypso and steelband. …
Read More »Is a tap out scene! Live Wire gets a whiff of the Ocean Flower and looks for Cabo Star’s teeth
It’s like deja vu all over again. Precious resources have been misused and abused, the Sister Isle has been cheated and mistreated, and morality and ethics—yet again—are all at sea. And Trinidad and Tobago, once more, is in an uproar at the sight of brazen, stark naked corruption and a …
Read More »Media Monitor: TGIF, UNC! Why, despite PNM shortcomings, I mute Opposition politicians
TGIF. Tim Gopeesingh is farse. And outta place! He was on the radio the other day. And Rudy Indarsingh. And Roodal Moonilal. And Gerald Ramdeen. And Devant Maharaj. And, probably Wade Mark and Rodney Charles. And, of course, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. I have a queasy stomach so I have no idea …
Read More »Daly Bread: Not pointing fingers; the problem with Amcham’s crime-fighting tips to Dr Rowley
The major business groups last week reportedly temporarily arose from their customary indifference, alarmed by the prolonged and unrestricted crime spree. In passing, it should be noted that it is apparently the rising cost of doing business in a crime-ridden environment that has set off the alarm from slumber this …
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 »