What I established last week was that Trinidad and Tobago, like most small island states that were once colonised by imperial powers, relies heavily on imported foods for its sustenance. All our staples—grains (wheat, rice, maize), dairy products (milk, cheese, butter), sugar, edible oils, white potatoes, beans and pulses—come from …
Read More »Doomed to importing foods: Raffique points to economic risks of our diet
Recently, there has been much noise over Trinidad and Tobago’s capacity to produce the foods that we eat. I use the word “noise” instead of discussion or debate because so much of what is said and written is uninformed. With the economy in full-blown recession and foreign exchange inadequate to …
Read More »Waste worse than corruption: Raffique Shah points out cost of our nasty ways
A recent World Bank report ranked Trinidad and Tobago as the country that generates the most “municipal solid waste”, on a per capita basis, in the world. Every man, woman and child in this country, on average, every day, generates—according to the World Bank data—a mind-boggling 14.4 kilograms of garbage. …
Read More »Raffique rates Rowley’s Gov’t: the PNM’s inherited traps, pitfalls and own goals
I am relieved to learn that the Cabinet “retreat” in Tobago last weekend did not have, as a main item on its agenda: “Achievements of the not-so-new Government during its first six months in office.” If it did, I would have screamed bloody murder. Not to add rape of the …
Read More »Modern day Shylocks: Raffique Shah muses over bankers and bandits
I don’t know if we should be more afraid of banks and bankers or bandits and murderers. Seriously. Both strike when we are most vulnerable. They relieve us of our life’s savings, of what we have worked tirelessly to provide for our families, with a callousness that is chilling. Bandits …
Read More »Of sensuality and vulgarity: why Tim Kee is foolish but not misogynistic
I wonder if the wide spectrum of persons who have used the words “misogyny” and “misogynic” to describe ex-Port of Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee following his asinine statements on the murder of pannist Asami Nagakiya either believe what they are saying, or understand the definitions of the words? According …
Read More »Carnival in transition: Raffique explains why the festival is not dying
I don’t think Trinidad’s Carnival is dying, as many people say it is. For the traditionalists, it’s a case of wishful thinking. They want to see the jarring noise that passes for music—songs that have no melody, only hook lines and tempo—consigned to the dustbin of Carnival history. And they …
Read More »Is murder a lifestyle choice? Daly ponders how to reclaim the streets of T&T
Port of Spain suffers from personality disorder, for a long time now, and so does many of its environs. This disorder, sometimes described as split or multiple personality disorder, is defined by Psychology Today as “a condition wherein a person’s identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personalities.” Each …
Read More »Destiny in our hands; How T&T can respond positively to falling oil prices
As a nation, we can do nothing about the plunging price of oil except watch with alarm as crude slides below US$30 a barrel. Even if we ramp up production, which has fallen by approximately 50 per cent over the past decade, it will make little sense. At this point, …
Read More »Ageing in this cussed country: Raffique Shah on how T&T treats senior citizens
In a few months, I shall cross another threshold of ageing, scoring seventy years of life and officially transitioning into the status of “old geezer.” The dawning of a new year set me thinking about the past and the future, although I know I have fewer years ahead of me …
Read More »Whey the money really gone: Shah identifies our other big users of forex
Central Bank governor Jwala Rambarran was the unlikeliest man to kick the hornets’ nest. But that he did when he named the firms that used the most foreign exchange—or forex—over the past three years. Amidst a cacophony of complaints from businesses and individuals about being denied adequate sums of forex …
Read More »Injustice to a soldier: Shah’s tribute to Brigadier that PP Gov’t overlooked
Last Wednesday, amidst much ceremony but little pomp, Major-General Kenrick Maharaj took his last parade as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and proceeded into retirement, one month short of his 56th birthday. Brigadier Rodney Smart was named as the new CDS. Presumably, some other adjustments were made, or will soon be …
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