AUDIO: Interview with Dale Enoch and Tony Lee on Procurement legislation amendments – 23 Sept 2026

Afra Raymond was interviewed this morning, Wednesday 23 September 2026, by Dale Enoch and Tony Lee on The Morning Show on i95.5FM to discuss the proposed amendments to the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act. On this day, the government will be debating the amendments in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament. Audio courtesy i95.5 FM

  • Programme Length: 00:14:48
  • Programme Date: 23 September 2026

Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 4

On 17th June 2026, the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) reportedly issued its formal Notice to halt the intended award of 11 contracts totalling $3.4 Billion to build 3,700 new homes for sale, on public interest grounds.

That announcement has triggered official statements on the HDC’s intention to get the process right and to deliver these badly needed new homes for sale. All sides are going to great lengths to satisfy the Office of Procurement Regulation’s (OPR’s) requirements, so that aspect certainly represents real progress. But those statements can only offer comfort if one ignores the reality of the HDC’s extensive waiting-list, in which over 90% of the applicants can only afford to rent.

Continue reading “Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 4” →

Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 3

Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 3

“…Whereas the People of Trinidad and Tobago—…(b) respect the principles of social justice and therefore believe that the operation of the economic system should result in the material resources of the community being so distributed as to subserve the common good…”

From the preamble of our Republic’s current Constitution (1976)


The simple truth is that the overwhelming majority of HDC’s applicants can only afford to rent, but nothing is being built for rent. That is the challenge we face in terms of realising the objectives of our Housing Policy.


I thought this would be a two-part analysis, but the final conclusions required a fuller treatment, hence this closing article to place those issues in a public policy context. My analysis led me to the conclusion that the HDC’s projects could not in any way have satisfied a proper needs assessment, as required by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act (PPDPPA). As such, this is a call for the OPR to engage these public policy issues with the required seriousness.

Continue reading “Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 3” →

Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 2

Some concerns have emerged on the concentration of a large number of land agencies and, of course, the newcomer, LandMarkTT Properties Ltd, into the portfolio of Land and Legal Affairs Minister Saddam Hosein. While it is true that there are now a large number of state agencies under this Minister’s control, I balance that against two perspectives.

  1. Firstly, Trinidad and Tobago has always had severely oversized Cabinets, given our modest size, so as a point of principle, a large number of agencies under one Minister is not in itself offensive to good order. That would really depend, in my view, on the quality of the various Boards and Officials of those agencies.
  2. Secondly, the OPR has a statutory role in ensuring compliance with the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act, which Minister Hosein expressly affirmed when explaining how these agencies will work together. See Govt clarifies Landmark TT housing model amid criticism – Trinidad Guardian.
Continue reading “Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 2” →

Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 1

Conclusion of National Land Policy 1992

This is the first part of my two-part analysis of some fundamental and large-scale issues of the State’s Land and Housing Policies and Programs. This first part deals with the background, while the second part will deal with the unfolding issues on the Trinidad and Tobago Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and LandMarkTT Properties programs. This analysis is based on the relevant policies, laws, official statistics, and published statements.

Continue reading “Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 1” →

VIDEO: PC+ Tobago Public Procurement Laboratory – Afra Raymond, 27 NOV 2025

This is the recording of my session at the PC+ Tobago Public Procurement Laboratory, which was at the Magdalena Grand Beach & Golf Resort (MGBR) on Thursday, 27, and Friday, 28 November 2025. I presented on the first day on ‘PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: THE TOBAGO STORY’, in which I analysed the very venue (MGBR), the MILSHIRV project, and the aborted Tobago Sandals proposals.

  • Programme Length: 00:56:42
  • Programme Date: 27 November 2025

Letter to the Editor – Open Letter to our Finance Minister

26 Sept 2025

The Editor,

The appointment of Dave Tancoo as Finance Minister following the UNC’s electoral victory on April 28th, 2025, represents an opportunity for fresh perspectives in Trinidad and Tobago’s fiscal leadership. As Minister Tancoo prepares his inaugural budget presentation, the following strategic approaches merit consideration for strengthening the nation’s economic foundation.

Given the importance of this transition period and the complex challenges facing our economy, these three policy frameworks are offered as constructive contributions to the national dialogue on fiscal strategy and economic development priorities –

  1. Revenue Generation – At this time of decreased national earnings and steep declines in the availability of $USD, it is important to appreciate the crucial role of the Energy sector to our national prosperity. In 1974, the Permanent Petroleum Pricing Committee (PPPC) was established to combat the pernicious practice of Transfer Pricing in the Energy Industry. For reasons which remain unclear, the PPPC was effectively dismantled in the 2000/2001 period, so yet another ‘Legacy Policy’ was silently wrecked to our collective detriment, since that shift could only have benefitted the Energy Companies.  As explained over the past two decades by my peerless colleague and Energy Adviser, Anthony Paul, the fiscal losses to T&T have been tremendous. Ian Narine also highlighted this important issue in ‘Foreign Exchange and Economic Fantasies’ in the Business Guardian of 25th September 2025. It is therefore essential that the Finance Minister urgently re-instate the Permanent Petroleum Pricing Committee (PPPC) to safeguard our nation’s share of those earnings.

    In that connection, difficult as it may be for the UNC to contemplate, there must also be a sober re-assessment of its decision to repeal the Property Tax, as that was the most feasible window into significant untaxed earnings from Investment Property.
  2. Overseeing Transactions in Public Money – The Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act (PPDPPA) was passed in 2015 during the People’s Partnership government, within which the UNC was emphatically the leading element. The previous PNM Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, removed legal, accounting/auditing, medical fees, and financial services, as well as Government-to-Government Agreements and “such other services as the Minister may, by Order, determine” from OPR oversight. Those exclusions kept huge transactions in Public Money from Independent oversight, which could only be to our collective detriment. I am calling on the Finance Minister to take bold and restorative action to ensure the urgent repeal of those damaging exemptions from the PPDPPA.
  3. Firm action against White-Collar criminals – I smiled while reading about Finance Minister Tancoo’s clarity on the recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) bill –
    “…Tancoo highlighted measures criminalising bribery in public procurement and embezzlement of public resources […] ‘T&T must never again find itself in the position we were in over the last few years, when the Office of the Procurement Regulator, the Auditor General, and others sounded the alarm,’ he said. ‘Billions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent illegally on projects no one could verify.’ He added that the bills establish a robust legislative framework to address crime, cross-border activities, and white-collar offences that have already cost the nation billions and affected thousands of lives. ‘We promised the people we’d tackle these issues. With these bills, that promise is kept…’“

    So far so good, in relation to those international obligations, but we also need to see an equal determination to seek the Public Interest with local contractors, advisers, and suppliers. Given its position on FATF, the Finance Minister needs to ensure stern and prompt prosecution of White-Collar Crime up to and including those accused from within the UNC ranks. No more backsliding or late filing, case not ready or any of that, let these accused face the Courts and ‘tell it to the Judge’.

If UNC wishes to do better than the previous PNM administration, they must act differently.

Afra Raymond
afraraymond.net

Letter to the Editor – After one time is two times?

19 Sept 2025

The Editor,

When it comes to White-Collar Crime in our Republic, we are once again being forced to ask if Justice is truly blind and, more to the point, whether we are ever going to see that concept in effect.

During the PP government 2010 to 2015, we saw then-AG, Anand Ramlogan, investigating and launching lawsuits against the former Board members of UTT, e-Teck and Petrotrin for various breaches of Directors’ legal duties. While those were deeply political actions, taken by a politician, to the best of my knowledge those were pioneering cases testing the limits of Directors’ responsibilities under S99 of the Companies Act.   The targets were obviously the Chairmen of those State-owned Enterprises, Professor Ken Julien and the late Malcolm Jones, both of whom could be regarded as prime PNM operatives. Despite his political motivations, I respected then-AG Ramlogan’s actions as setting a new high-water mark in our public sector governance and accountability.  

Continue reading “Letter to the Editor – After one time is two times?” →

Letter to the Editor – Public Procurement Progress?

Fri, 12 Sept 2025

The Editor,

The second Procurement Compliance Plus (PC+) Lab on 10 September 2025 was focused on Procurement Governance, so it was a strong addition to this excellent training series for this important new legal arena. Although Procurement and Purchasing are long-established essential processes for any business, this is a novel field due to the significant changes arising from the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act (PPDPPA) 2015. The PPDPPA established effective new rules to oversee transactions in Public Money, with heavily punitive provisions, its most important feature being that oversight and penalties are now applicable to both named Public Sector Officials and Private Sector Suppliers and Contractors.

The interactive sessions were hosted by a cadre of outstanding professionals, led by the estimable Dr Margaret Rose, a long-time campaigner and educator in this field. I was a panellist, but it was also an opportunity for me to learn from and engage with a range of practitioners in this multi-faceted professional field.

Continue reading “Letter to the Editor – Public Procurement Progress?” →

Letter to the Editor – Freedom of Information?

Fri, 5 Sept 2025

The Editor,

The Freedom of Information Act 1999 (FoIA) is part of what I call the “RLM Suite” of Legacy Policy – reforms championed during the tenure of then-AG Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. That suite included the FoIA, the Judicial Review law, the activation of the Integrity Commission, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act. Together they represented a deliberate attempt to empower citizens and hold public institutions accountable.

I chose the phrase ‘Legacy Policy’ to denote a particular type of law which it is all but impossible to reverse, due to its manifest good sense and popularity. So, although our Courts have widely recognised the transformative concepts at the heart of the FoIA, with leading rulings now cited internationally, with approval, as examples of progressive jurisprudence, there is still a deep dis-ease with the very Freedom of Information, at the political level.

Continue reading “Letter to the Editor – Freedom of Information?” →