On the evening of Tuesday, 15 January 2019, Political Editor at CCN TV6 Juhel Browne (Right) spoke with (L-R) CCN’s Head of the Multimedia Business Desk, Anthony Wilson, UNC Senator Saddam Hosein and Chartered Surveyor and Transparency Advocate Afra Raymond on the turn of events following the withdrawal by the Sandals Group from the deal with the T&T government to manage a Sandal/Beaches resort in Tobago.
Afra Raymond is interviewed by David Walker on 104.7 MORE FM on the debacle of the collapse of the projected Sandals managed luxury resort in Tobago. The MoU details and the actions of the State in its negotiations towards the MoU are discussed. Audio courtesy MORE 104.7 FM
Programme Date: Thursday 17th January 2019
Programme Length: 00:27:40
Afra Raymond was interviewed on The Morning Brew on CNC3 Television regarding the pull out of the Sandals Group from the proposed deal to manage a new Sandals and Beaches resort in Tobago. The publication of the details of the memorandum of understanding is questioned as a catalyst for the pull out decision. Video courtesy CNC3 Television
Programme Date: 16 January 2019
Programme Length: 00:12:58
Radio station Power 102.1 FM hosted an all day retrospective discussion on the burning issues of 2018 on Wednesday 19th December 2018. Host Andy Johnson speaks to Afra Raymond on his main issue, being the two successful challenges to the State to get information in the public interest, namely, the memorandum of understanding between the State and the Sandals Hotel group for the construction of a resort in Tobago and the details of the CL Financial bailout. They are joined by David Abdullah. Audio courtesy Power 102.1 FM
Programme Date: 19 December 2018
Programme Length: 00:33:40
— Winer, Lise. Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago: On Historical Principles. (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2008) p. 758
Many years ago, in an earlier life, I was taught about the perils of the short-lived ‘remou’ and that word snapped back into my mind when considering the current position with this Sandals MoU, in which all points are supposedly open for discussion. That stated position of no signed contracts will be the subject of this article. So many eminent people and responsible institutions were involved in this matter, that it is unfathomable how our Government could have signed that Sandals MoU on 10th October 2017.
My campaign to have that MoU made public got this far due its clear focus on the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and the ‘Underlying Commercial Arrangements’, which are never discussed in public. The decisive element in the complicated process of creating these large-scale projects is intentionally kept from public view, by agreement. Our national assets are traded and degraded for decades, after the sheer outrage of colonialism, with the new leaders relying on the cultivated economic and financial illiteracy of our citizens. Continue reading “Property Matters – The Sandals Re-MoU”
Afra Raymond was at the Scarborough Public Library in Tobago on 13 December 2018 to speak on his successful Freedom of Information request to see the Memorandum of Understanding between the T&T government and the Sandals Group to develop and run a Sandal/Beaches resort in Tobago. His analysis of the MoU was discussed and Q&A followed.
Programme Date: 13 December 2018
Programme Length: 01:40:58
Afra Raymond was a participant in a Post-budget Forum at Cipriani College of Labour & Cooperative Studies (CCLCS) on Wednesday 10th October 2018, along with Senator the Hon. Allyson West, Minister in the Ministry of Finance; Corrine Gregoire, lecturer and researcher at CCLCS; and, David Muhammad sociologist, author and host of the Black Agenda. Video courtesy CCLCS
0:00:00 Introductions
0:04:07 Allyson West
0:23:59 Corrine Gregoire
0:47:43 David Muhammad
1:12:31 Afra Raymond
1:36:32 Vote of Thanks
Afra Raymond was interviewed on the Tobago Sandals MoU on TTT on the morning programme NOW on Tuesday 11th December 2018. Please read his interpretation of the MoU in his previous post. Video courtesy TTT.
Programme Date: 11 December 2018
Programme Length: 06:53
Afra Raymond was interviewed on the Power Breakfast programme on the recently disclosed Sandal Tobago Memorandum of Understanding obtained via court order following a successful Freedom of Information challenge by Raymond. Audio courtesy Power 102.1 FM
Programme Date: 3 December 2018
Programme Length: 00:39:00
This is the recording for the INDABA interview on TALK CITY 91.1 FM with Shabaka Kambon on Wednesday 21st November 2018 on Tobago Sandals project. Audio courtesy Talk City 91.1 FM
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