Mahogany CoConut Blog

One Caribbean Nation. by William Skinner Trinidad is a Real Country Trinidadians have a rather strange saying : “Trinidad is not a real country”. It’s a light hearted but often frustrating commentary on how “tings” are done in T and T. These things   range   from: complaining about vendors , selling their produce outside of the public markets , to the problems with   what initially appears to be difficult public servants and   customer service.   We say “initially appears”   because most of these often maligned public workers, are pretty cordial , when approached with a smile or   a  little joke. They are similar to    their Caribbean counterparts.   However, customers   who are not always pleasant are supposed to be always right ! Trinidad still has a   very entrenched hy-brid system of local and central government and its not unusual , to be given an answer to a problem , in a local burrough and then realise that t...

One Caribbean Nation. ‘STAND YOUR GROUND’ MINISTER URGES GUN OWNERS TO TAKE FIRM ACTION AGAINST INTRUDERS Defence Minister Wayne Sturge is advising constituents and citizens that during a home invasion, they can shoot first and "explain yourself after". He says that provision, among others, will be available under the proposed stand-your-ground legislation the United National Congress government is seeking to enact. Another measure would allow a victim to defend themselves against an intruder before they are even physically attacked. Sturge made the stunning comments during a stand-yourground consultation at the Sangre Grande Civic Centre. "You don't have to wait to see what the attacker is going to do. You don't have to wait to see if he pulls a gun or a cutlass or anything like this. You can, once you honestly believe that you are under attack, or that an attack is about to take place, or is imminent—as they say here—once you believe an attack is imminent, yo...