Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Roy Mitchell
Stumbling downhill fast
Too frequently am I compelled to address issues on which I would have preferred not to have had cause to comment. Trinidad and Tobago is so richly and abundantly endowed, yet, day after day, we are being circumscribed to endure a litany of nerve-shattering socio-economic, cultural and political nightmares. Despite the multitude of incredible attributes and assets we bring to the global agenda, this nation’s current leadership persists in dragging us downhill fast. It’s crazy.
Homicides solution surfaces
It is inconceivable that an oversized 35-member administration responsible for the good and welfare of a population of as little as 1.5 million people can have the solution to their nation’s runaway crime and violence, in particular homicides, so manifestly in the palm of their hands yet be so atrociously unaware of its presence.
Laughing stock of the region
However astronomically deplorable is the current state of affairs that has befallen Trinidad and Tobago, it is not beyond recovery and restoration. What seems evasive is the ability to assemble a small, well-knit, balanced team of patriotic, astute, insightful visionaries, in righteous standing, endowed with the capacity to optimise the nation’s enormous wealth of human and physical resources for the good and welfare of all.
Kamla’s conflict of two natures
Take heed, fellow citizens. What appears to be Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s flights of fantasy cannot be ignored. They must be taken seriously. She is steadfastly following her idol’s playbook. What the world gathered from her United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address on Friday last was not reflective of what they know of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. So, it is up to us to allay any misgivings being entertained.
The plight of Port of Spain
Rather than bask in the glory of having distinguished ourselves on the world stage: the exemplary outstanding athletic feats of our indefatigable icons, Keshorn Walcott and Jereem Richards, the CPL T20 pre-eminence of the Nicholas Pooran-led Trinbago Knight Riders, and the honours bestowed, only yesterday, upon our 2025 illustrious national award recipients, citizens instead find themselves observing their 49th Republic Day anniversary overshadowed by the erudite indictment, “Oh, what a...
Let the children lead
Within an environment of mutual respect and regard, Trinidad and Tobago can become so congenial a society that even the most violently inclined will submit to being led by a child. Instead of being condemned to be educated, threatened by the barrels of guns, why not mobilise our student population to articulate practical solutions to their own complex behavioural problems?
Save the children
“Train up a child in the way he should go and, when he is old, he will not depart from it.” —Proverbs 22:6 This is the pillar upon which, in my September 3 column, an appeal was made for the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) to take the lead in developing a strategy to curb the spate of crime and violence wreaking havoc in our society, commencing at the level of the student population.
Lip service gets us nowhere
Yet another Independence anniversary has come and gone and, amidst the aggravating Government/Opposition pulling and tugging, tearing the society apart. The miscreants go about their mischief 24/7, business as usual, in spite of the so-called state of emergency. This is exacerbated by the false feelings of pride of accomplishment among those who hasten to boast of making inroads, two SoEs having so far borne no fruit beyond the usual brief respites.
We staged our own Independence parade
“Another wartime Independence Day”. That was the subtitle on Page A16 of Monday’s Express. No, no, it was not related to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s weird UNC-led unilateral endorsement of Trump’s US military occupation of our Caribbean seas. Hold your breath. Reported were key highlights of Ukraine’s 2025 Independence Day parade. Moreover, that Ukraine was alleged to have launched drone attacks in Russia’s western Kursk region overnight.
Beauty or the beast
There comes a time when societies are forced to take a stand, make their collective voices heard; make far-reaching pivotal decisions, void of personal feelings. Vacillating results in dire consequences. For Trinidad and Tobago, it’s crunch time. Our choice of destiny is at hand: the beauty of interracial solidarity or the beast of racial divisiveness. Which shall it be?
With T&TEC rate increase, everybody wins
They tie their hands behind their backs and expect miracles to happen, manna to fall from heaven. That’s how to interpret the current Government’s weird political meanderings. What indulgent insanity. So uncontrollably obsessed have they become with obstructionism for obstructionism sake, now that they are in office, they are incapable of restraining their impulses. So, is buss-head time.
A nation in search of itself
Thirteen years ago, September 2012, the privilege was accorded me to present a paper at the conference titled In The Fires of Hope. It was The UWI, St Augustine’s way of marking the nation’s 50th anniversary of Independence. What has become of the vast wealth of knowledge, wisdom and insights shared at those awesome, inspirational deliberations is, as usual, anybody’s guess.
Stand your ground: law of the jungle
“This bill is for when persons invade your homes. They step inside, and you shoot to kill,” (Roger) Alexander said. (Express, July 28.) In civilised societies, it’s called the law of the jungle. Rather than facilitate the exchange of views and ideas to bring about nationwide peaceful coexistence, the plan is to legalise the exchange of gunfire. It’s being started in the home. Who knows where next?
Will West Indies cricket rise again?
Like the scourge of crime and violence disfiguring the Trinidad and Tobago landscape, the deplorable decline in West Indies cricket seems irrevocably irretrievable. Successive interventions to stem the tide have been to no avail.
Lovelace’s unlisted historic landmark
July 2025 is indeed a special month for Trinidad and Tobago, not all gloom and doom. Citizens have been celebrating the 90th birthday of two of the nation’s most illustrious literary icons: Calypso King of the World, Slinger Francisco, the Mighty Sparrow, and distinguished poet and novelist par excellence, Earl Lovelace. Heartfelt belated birthday greetings are extended to them both.
A requiem for T&T’s labour leadership
“There’s a Retrenchment and Severance Act in Trinidad and Tobago which emphasises when you go and send people home, what is supposed to (be done). There are laws governing all these things, and we are prepared to engage the Government. And I’m sure, unlike the past government, that this Government going to engage NATUC.” (Michael Annisette, NATUC; Express, July 5.) “JTUM called for the reorganisation of the programme to realign it with its original mandate and vision.
At war with ourselves
Signs of the times must never be taken lightly. Generally speaking, the idiom refers to the second coming, the end time. It tells of wars, rumours of wars, natural disasters, increased wickedness and a decline in love and morality, regrettably the atmosphere dominating the start of Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s UNC-led second coming.
Be impartial toward tripartism
Despite the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC) having been unceremoniously abandoned by its labour sector representatives in March 2021, myriad sentiments regarding the critical benefits that would have accrued to the society, had the institution been allowed to flourish, have been circulating in the public domain with notable frequency. It speaks volumes of the subliminal impact which its short five-year lifespan (2016-2021) has had on the psyche of the nation’s foremost leaders.
Fathers, stand up and be counted
“Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth. It is a matter of desire, diligence and determination to see one’s family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters.” This quote, attributed to Ezra Benson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the opening statement of my feature address delivered at the Father’s Day Holy Eucharist service at the St Margaret’s Church of the Antioch, Belmont, in June 2014.
A second word of caution
Stubborn children are repeatedly cautioned by their parents: “Who can’t hear will feel.” At 70 years old, the People’s National Movement seems stuck in the proverbial second childhood, stubbornly defying the voices of reason in a bizarre rush to elect permanent executive officers three months prior to the constitutionally due date. It’s as if time is running out. Clearly, they have learnt nothing from precedence. They did the identical thing in 1987, with ongoing disastrous consequences.
A word of caution
Political infighting is a worldwide phenomenon. It occurs especially during campaigns for election to high office. They vary mostly in levels of intensity and in conformity with the norms of civilised society. In Trinidad and Tobago, both major political parties have had their fair share of infighting. In the case of the UNC, it’s been perennial, the latest too corrosive to feign disregard.
New chapters for all
One of the cardinal principles of democratic governance is the quality of statesmanship displayed on occasions of electoral defeat as much as in victory. The latter is acknowledged with gratitude, grace and humility, the former with reverence, rectitude and decorum, no rancour, bitterness, hate or retribution. We hasten to congratulate the winner, empathise with the loser and, in the spirit of camaraderie and nationhood, pledge support wherever in the common good.
Young citizens, beware
It is unconscionable to say nothing or do nothing while unscrupulous politicians strain every sinew to callously and diabolically poison the minds of the nation’s young citizens. It is much more devastating when the offence is being committed by leaders who have all benefited, some beyond their wildest dreams, from PNM policies and programmes that have brought success, fame, fortune and glory to their own lives.
Promises, promises: playing with fire
History has an uncanny way of repeating itself, occasionally indiscriminately. Two related statements reported in last week’s Express triggered my reflections upon this phenomenon: the first, credited to Minister of Finance Vishnu Dhanpaul, that “proposals are being made, not by this Government, to commence public sector wage negotiations at a 10% increase, which could cause taxpayers between $6 billion and $7 billion in backpay.
Contemplating the new chapter
As the PNM’s promotion of its GE2025 new chapter message develops momentum, Prime Minister Stuart Young is yet to articulate its distinguishing fundamentals. But this is understandable. Such visioning is no ordinary undertaking.
Better late than never
The jury is out, studiously deliberating on the virtues of Prime Minister Stuart Young’s plan to establish a Ministry of Implementation and Efficiency. There should be no back-pedalling. The concept is sound, of a dire necessity.
April 28: the new society beckons
In the midst of the unprecedented anxieties that have been gripping the attention of the population, the main being what we thought was the swearing-in of the nation’s first Indo/Chinese-Trinbagonian Prime Minister, Stuart Young, out of the blue pops up the date of the 2025 general election.
Golden opportunity for a new beginning
“I encourage our women and men to continue to work together to ensure positive outcomes for our country, so that collectively we may ensure the growth, progress, and success of our great nation.” So astounded was I by the source of this quote reported in last Saturday’s Express that I spontaneously adapted the lyrics of The Mighty Sparrow’s “Princess and the Cameraman”: “If I wasn’t here in Trinbago, and read with meh eyes And one of meh friends did tell me, Ah would ah say they lie, Although...
Time to redefine the Carnival
We cannot invest billions of dollars collectively, year after year, devote, in copious instances, as many as 12 consecutive months preparing to showcase “The Greatest Show on Earth” and, on Ash Wednesday morning, wake up as a nation no better off. Belated as it was, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was right. Scarce foreign exchange or not, it’s just downright absurd; unconscionable to import customarily home-made Carnival costumes carte blanche.
Rejecting KPB’s racist ‘Platform 2025’
In any other nation gifted a Father of the intellectual calibre and distinguished stature divinely bestowed upon Trinidad and Tobago, his dogma on unity and interracial solidarity would have been immortalised upon the walls of that nation’s most proudly treasured public edifices. Not so in Trinbago. Dr Eric Eustace Williams’ epic words of wisdom seem to have been permanently sheltered in inviolate obscurity. “There can be no Mother India for those whose ancestors came from India.
Stop messing with our minds
In the midst of what promises to be another enthralling Carnival extravaganza, true to form, the political mud mas characters have already come out to play, messing with our minds. As Trinbagonians prepare to showcase the world’s most fabulous creative street theatre, the greatest show on earth, up comes the petrified leader of the United National Congress spewing racial robber talk. Dragging her coffin, complete with skull and crossbones, she baits racial divisiveness and discord.
Take it or leave it
“There is none so blind as those who will not see.” It’s the proverb that tells of the numerous occasions we find ourselves so hypnotically preoccupied with the “bacchanal” of the day that we “take our eyes off the ball”, the critical fundamentals.
Protect T&T’s working-class prior to departure
Too frequently are citizens called upon to wrestle with their conscience whether or not to respond, especially when the nation’s leaders make irresponsible, irrational or misleading utterances.
Doesn’t Stuart Young have equal rights?
The antagonism with which some are hallucinating over Stuart Young having been unanimously named Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister-in-waiting by the caucus of PNM-elected parliamentarians can be dismissed purely as downright deceitfulness.
Will Joshua follow in Jomo’s footsteps?
Politicians truly have an uncanny knack for spoiling a good thing. Let’s be honest. The pan has never had it so good until recent times. It has been accorded its most prestigious honour: permanently, pre-eminently and statutorily emblazoned in gold on the nation’s coat of arms.
Rowley’s exiting triumph
Semantics and vulnerabilities aside, by signalling his intent and orchestrating the modalities to demit office mere months prior to the expiration of his term of office, Prime Minister Keith Rowley has borrowed a page out of the book of US President Joe Biden.
Restoring faith in our future
My column of Thursday last appealed to fellow citizens to close ranks. The reason was clear. It is the mechanism most capable of withstanding the indiscretions of the newly re-elected controversial US administration. The second edition promises to be deadlier than the first. But there is a more fundamental reason why closing ranks is crucial. It is the utmost indispensable cornerstone upon which our nation’s real in-depth growth, development and progress can be actualised.
Time to close ranks
The tragic outcome of the recent US presidential election is the illusion that crime pays. It depends on your ilk. Nevertheless, time longer than crime. Enjoy it. Sooner or later it backfires. For, soon enough, Donald Trump and his cronies will wake up and discover that even with the whole world in their hands, America can never be great again. It never was. Not like Greece, France, Persia, Rome or the British who once fantasied that they ruled the waves.
Do things right the first time
The incredible frequency with which dedicated civic-minded citizens are forced to call upon the nation’s foremost sector leaders to “do things right the first time” has become not only increasingly but frustratingly appalling. In my Express column of October 17, headlined “Voice of the people”, it was propositioned that governments can ill-afford sidestepping the views, ideas, opinions, recommendations and advice fed to them by their electorates.
Kamala has made us proud
Oh, how ironical! A devastated world is soon to stomach the peaceful transfer of power to Donald J Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America. It’s one of the numerous courtesies which will be gentlemanly extended to him by Joe Biden, the very US President to whom Trump himself failed to show the common decency of fulfilling his constitutional responsibility when it was his turn. Joseph R Biden will demit office as one of the most highly respected and accomplished US presidents.
US presidential election: what if?
“Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad.” That’s one of the well-known maxims first used in 17th-century English literature. It virtually speaks for itself. It vividly captures the weird idiosyncrasies of former US president Donald Trump, resolutely bent on ending the exciting American dream, Ronald Reagan’s “Shining City on the Hill”.
Beware the power of vox populi
Faced with the harsh realities of an uncontrollable worldwide information and communication explosion, governments can ill-afford sidestepping the views, ideas, opinions, recommendations and advice voluntarily fed to them by their electorates; for the most part gratis, and exponentially in the public domain. Open-minded leaders listen, learn and benefit from the renderings. The narcissists spurn them. The arrogant underestimate their impact: the latter two at their own peril.
The presidential fanfare revelation
It has taken citizens of this country 48 years to discover that composition of the fanfare to mark the arrival and departure of the President on occasions of official events did not originate in the United Kingdom, as presumed, but right here in Trinidad and Tobago.
$540b national budget omission
Sitting on $540 billion, the inalienable inheritance of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, now or in the future, could never be inconsequential. Per chance, should Brent oil prices remain stable, that fortune could feed, clothe, house and provide for the service and leisurely pursuits of all the nation’s 1.4 billion citizens for nine consecutive years and still leave lagniappe.
Optimising the impact of national awards
This year, 2024, marks 55 years since national awards have been presented annually following Trinidad and Tobago’s transition from colonialism to Independence. They supersede the royal honours conferred upon subjects of the once-mighty British Empire. Bestowed upon a maximum of five recipients per year is the highest award, The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT) which, in 2008, replaced the Trinity Cross, designed by Wilhelmina McDowell.
Let’s get the naming right
Imminent naming of the Queen’s Hall Auditorium after world-renowned Trinidad-born pianist Winifred Atwell is another encouraging indicator of signs of the times. It is an initiative to be highly commended and is graciously well intentioned.
My Independence anniversary wish list
As the sun rises on Trinidad and Tobago’s 62nd Independence anniversary morn, citizens will awake to the traditional official messages: representing the Government, the usual platitudes; from the Opposition, the perennial diatribe criticising the Government’s every conceivable undertaking. Both will be interspersed with assurances of bright days ahead, once T&T’s governance is in each one’s respective capable hands. The President will be balanced: typically taking the high ground.
National awards, statues and nationhood
After two years of dilly-dallying on the review of placement of statues, monuments and signage (whatever signage means), comments have only now been invited from the public-at-large. In fact, in traditional manner, another bout of public consultation, announced on Tuesday, is about to be staged, albeit hurriedly, next week Wednesday.
Naming official national heroes long overdue
One of the most inspirational facets of a society’s tumultuous voyage toward independence and nationhood is its unenviable pride in immortalising its national heroes: lifting up those whose monumentally exceptional endeavours have been dedicated in service to their fellowmen. Frequently conferred posthumously, the honour is supremely lofty: distinct from any other, howsoever and by whomsoever bestowed. Nor is it earned by virtue of any position or office held.
Making milestone celebrations more meaningful
Once again, the 25-day hiatus between Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence and Republic anniversary celebrations fast approaches and, once more, the citizenry will be fed the perennial menu: nothing new, different, innovative nor inspirational.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Roy
Contact Roy, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack