Sport Minister Brent Sancho could feasibly find himself reported to the Integrity Commission after leaked documentation showed that CONCACAF money due to the Pro League club was diverted into the minister’s personal bank account. Then Central FC operations manager Kevin Harrison admitted that he directed CONCACAF to wire US$40,000 (TT$253,000) …
Read More »Kamla must go: Lincoln Myers blames UNC for negative influence on T&T
Former NAR Minister Lincoln Myers pens an open letter to Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister and UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Dear Madam Prime Minister, It should come as no surprise that, with the 2015 election campaign approaching its crescendo, I am taking this opportunity to publicly express my view …
Read More »Making Sense of Manifestos; Sunity considers value of policy documents
Columnist Sunity Maharaj considers the value offered by political manifestos to the electorate; and how the public might better utilise policy documents for better governance: With just two weeks to go to the election, there is not much that can be done with recently released party manifestos, apart from oooh-ing and aaah-ing, …
Read More »Honeypot Rottweiler and Hindu/Krystian PM; Bas and Patos talk Elections 2015
Scene: Residence of former Prime Minister Patrick Manning. His old Parliamentary colleague, fellow Presentation College, San Fernando alumni and ex-Prime Minister Basdeo Panday takes a seat. Patrick Manning: What would you like to drink old friend? Basdeo Panday: Ahmm… Gimme a Carib there, old man. Ahmm… Stiff and cold like …
Read More »The Incredible Shrinking Campaign; Sunity scrutinises Kamla2015
Voters looking to support the prime minister on September 7th might be astonished to discover that there is no party listed as “Kamla” on the ballot paper. Given the huge investment in marketing “Kamla”, a voter should be forgiven for assuming that “Kamla” was the newest party in town. Imagine …
Read More »Fuad Abu Bakr: The Jamaat is stronger than ever, politically
In part two of this two-part series, Fuad Abu Bakr, political leader of the New National Vision (NNV), responds to suggestions that he has no business in politics because of his father Yasin Abu Bakr’s history and gives the NNV’s position on same-sex relationships and marriage and campaign financing. Abu …
Read More »Sense from nonsense: Live Wire rules on Warner’s racketeering defence
On Friday May 29, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner stood up in Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliament and told the Speaker of the House: “I was not here on Wednesday last because I was in prison.” Mr Live Wire cannot confirm that the Speaker replied: “Ahhh, yes. The most powerful country …
Read More »Vote in, vote out, repeat: T&T electorate’s recurring nightmare
HL MENCKEN suggests that “under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.” I could find no quote more discomforting in its truth about the situation here in Trinidad and Tobago. There …
Read More »You ain’t seen nothing yet: Braithwaite previews 2015 ‘Battle of the Treasury’
At the height of the Chaguanas West by-election last year, I wrote an article titled “Sinking in the mud” which highlighted the low level of campaigning and the depths to which some candidates sank in order to win votes. I wrote at the time “the rhetoric from the various campaigns …
Read More »Omertà (part eight): How Blatter keeps Power at FIFA
Chapter 8: Sepp buys votes with FIFA’s money JACK STEALS. He is a career thief and it has made him a multi-millionaire. To hide his stealing, he lies. He lies to his colleagues in football, he employs a bookkeeper in his homeland to pose as an auditor and lie for …
Read More »Decoding the Constitution: Live Wire solves riddle without big words
Mr Live Wire tries to illuminate discombobulated citizens without big words on the constitutional positions of the UNC, COP and PNM; what it means for Independents; why Prakash Ramadhar is a self-hating turkey and who won the last Lotto Plus: Take the second left, then right, then what? I’m lost!! …
Read More »Doctor, my goldfish has epilepsy: The problem with T&T Governance
I had been considering several topics to write on and then inspiration (if I can call it that) came by the way of an ill-conceived attempt to stir my sense of humour. The message on my phone read as follows: I phoned the vet the other day and said, “I …
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