Disclaimer, do not read this blog if you are a navel gazer. Congratulations to Afra and his team for forcing this matter – David, blogmaster 29th November 2018 was the first hearing of my Judicial Review of the refusal of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to provide a copy of the Tobago Sandals Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which
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by AfraRaymond There is a rising tide of confusion at Invaders’ Bay, so it is time to bring some understanding to this situation. The previous column delved into the Appeal Court rulings and the State’s application to appeal to the Privy Council. There is a lot more to be derived from those important rulings, but this week […] Read more
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by AfraRaymond Further details on property tax are needed to understand the process and possibilities arising from its implementation. The 2010 estimate of revenue from that tax was $325M, as against a 2017 estimate of $503M, so it seems that there has been some allowance for inflation and new properties. The innate effectiveness of this tax is […] Read more
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by AfraRaymond It seems that the current administration intends to execute its three largest projects on the sole selective basis and in my view that is a serious concern. Sole Selective is a non-competitive contracting approach in which a single firm is selected to participate in a commercial opportunity. I have not limited the definition to the […] Read more
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by AfraRaymond The previous article on the Sandals Tobago proposal ended by pointing to the need for attention to the underlying, commercial arrangements which drive projects of this type. The procurement model is key to understanding how these large-scale, internationally-branded hotels are created and sustained. The two ends of the procurement show different approaches – the T&T […] Read more
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by AfraRaymond I previously estimated State debt to the construction industry in the $3.2-3.5 Billion range. I have since been reliably informed that construction industry claims against WASA are estimated to be in the $600M range, which of course would be subject to verification as discussed previously. My revised estimate (see table below) is now in excess […] Read more
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From the Afra Raymond blog The recent official statements about a proposal for a Sandals Resort in Tobago are significant, given both the convulsions in the Tourism portfolio and the urgent need to diversify our economy away from its long-term dependence on energy earnings. This is a preliminary view of some of the relevant considerations, since the sparse details now
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In Privacy Pros and Cons, I considered the Parliamentary debate around the recent SSA Amendment Bill. Most of that debate seemed to be concerned with the limits on the rights of citizens to privacy, but my concern was that there was precious little comfort being offered in terms of the secret conduct of our public affairs. If we are to
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The previous article prompted a series of extremely interesting responses, so I will continue this examination of the State Controlled Agencies. That phrase includes State-owned Enterprises (such as UDECOTT, Caribbean Airlines and EFCL) and Statutory Agencies (like WASA, TTEC, CDA, PATT and HDC).Some sharp objections were made to my comparison of the relation between the State, the Government and Citizens
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Reblogged from AfraRaymond’s Website. The recent controversy over the dismissal of Dennise Demming as Chair of the Tourism Development Company (TDC) has sparked yet another round of debate on the role and operation of State-owned-Enterprises (SoEs). Some of the issues which have arisen are – What is the purpose of these SoEs? How do the Boards of these SoEs get
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Last week we learned that Lawrence Duprey and his fellow CL Financial shareholders are victims of a badly-handled bailout. According to the Duprey version, the State must halt all asset disposals a… Source: CL Financial Bailout – Duprey’s Gambit
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“…The first responsibility that devolves upon you is the protection and promotion of your democracy. Democracy means more, much more, than the right to vote and one vote for every man and eve… Source: Telling Truths
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On Thursday 17th March 2016, the Office of the Prime Minster confirmed that the appointment of Housing & Urban Development Minister, Marlene McDonald, had been revoked. On Tuesday 22nd March 20… Source: Property Matters – Housing Issues – part 6
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No More Secret Spending! Public Money is Our Money! This is an open call for the Administration of our Parliament to take the lead in publishing all the details of Parliamentarian’s expenses for the past ten years – 1st January 2005 to 31st December 2015. Recent revelations have sparked a national discussion on the use and abuse of MPs’ entitlement
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VIDEO: TTTI Couch session with Reginald Armour, SC. by AfraRaymond This is the ‘On the Couch’ session at the T&T Transparency Institute’s 2016 Anti-Corruption Conference held on Tuesday 8th March 2016. The moderator was Reginald Armour SC, President of the Law Association; Michael Harris, Tapia Member and Express columnist; Mark Regis of Shell Trinidad; and Afra Raymond, managing director of
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by AfraRaymond This is my formal submission on these important proposals, which are intended to give protection to persons reporting wrongdoing in public or private bodies. Most fraud and white-collar crime is reported by ‘tips’, so the effective tool has to be ‘If you see something, say something’. We also need to push for more effective investigations and prosecutions, but
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by AfraRaymond The ongoing and serious allegations against Housing & Urban Development Minister, Marlene McDonald, and UDECOTT Chairman, Noel Garcia, are obvious distractions launched for plainly political reasons. That is not to dismiss the details of those serious allegations, since at this early stage it is impossible to make any real judgement as to guilt or blame. The current furore
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by AfraRaymond On 5 January 2016 the Business page of the Trinidad Express newspaper carried an article titled ‘Millions to be saved from rent’ in which the UDeCOTT Chairman, Noel Garcia, advised on the progress in completing the State-owned offices in Port of Spain. That was also the topic of last week’s Property Matters column, so this week I will
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Barbados Underground 