Saturday morning, Port of Spain. Trini Dispatch here, trying to sort the week into something that looks like a pattern. It mostly does not form one. I shall present the items as they come.
The Fair Trading Commission, Still Absent
Dr. Ronald Ramkissoon, former chairman of the Fair Trading Commission and an economist of considerable standing, has issued a public warning that calls are now intensifying for the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism to urgently restore the Commission to operational status.
For those not tracking: the Fair Trading Commission is the body meant to regulate anti-competitive practices, price collusion, and unfair market behaviour. It has been in a state of partial or complete dysfunction for some years now. Ramkissoon warns that its continued absence is undermining investor confidence and weakening the framework for fair competition — “particularly at a time when T&T needs to strengthen its economic resilience.”
Let me translate. In a country where market concentration is already high, where consumer protection is thin, and where a handful of family-controlled conglomerates dominate several major sectors, the Fair Trading Commission is not a nice-to-have. It is the scaffolding that keeps competition honest. Its absence is a gift to those who already have market power and a penalty to those who do not.
Three years without a functioning Commission. The list of policy absences is starting to constitute its own economic indicator.
TTMB Launches Three New Mortgage Products
The Trinidad and Tobago Mortgage Bank has unveiled three new mortgage products following what the bank describes as research into modern demands of prospective homeowners. The products are aimed at affordability, first-time buyers, and what the executives called “adaptive life circumstances” — which I understand to mean remote workers and freelancers whose income streams do not fit conventional mortgage criteria.
This is a genuine development. TTMB has historically been more flexible than the commercial banks, and the new products expand the pool of eligible borrowers. For freelance creatives, consultants, and self-employed professionals who have been locked out of the housing market by rigid mortgage underwriting, this is a meaningful opening.
I would counsel prospective borrowers to read the fine print on rate adjustment mechanisms and early-termination fees. TTMB’s flexibility on entry has, historically, been balanced by somewhat less flexibility on the back end. Go in with eyes open.
BYD T&T Warns About Unauthorised EV Dealers
BYD’s Trinidad team leader Kerri-Ann Seerattan has warned the public against purchasing electric vehicles from unauthorised dealers. The warning is not merely a brand-protection exercise. Unauthorised EV imports frequently arrive with warranty gaps, software-compatibility issues, and safety-compliance concerns specific to the Caribbean electrical grid.
Demand for EVs in T&T is rising. The grey market is rising faster. Some of the grey-market vehicles are perfectly serviceable; some are not. Distinguishing between the two is beyond the capability of most buyers, and the cost of getting it wrong is the purchase of a $300,000 paperweight.
Buy from authorised dealers. The premium is worth the service network.
MP Saddam Hosein Opens a Gym in Aranguez
The MP for Barataria/San Juan, Saddam Hosein, cut the ribbon this week on Raw Fitness Health Club in Aranguez. He was photographed using the chest press machine during the opening. I shall not comment on his form, which is between him and his trainer, but I will note that the rapid rise in business development in the San Juan area — gyms, wellness centres, small professional offices — is a genuine pattern worth noticing.
Aranguez and the surrounding Barataria-San Juan corridor are emerging as a secondary business hub for Central Trinidad. The reasons are mostly logistical: the area has better traffic flow than central Port of Spain, lower commercial rents, and a dense residential catchment. If you are a small business owner trying to decide where to locate, Barataria is worth a look.
Mr. Hosein appears to be an active MP. I do not say that about many of his colleagues.
The Nurses Are Still Leaving
The Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing Association’s escalation campaign for salary reform has not yet produced a government response. The nurses have indicated that further action — including potential industrial action — is now on the table.
I addressed this in Friday’s column and I shall not repeat myself, except to say: when the nurses walk, the hospitals cannot function. When the hospitals cannot function, the government will be forced to respond with cash it should have offered two quarters ago. The negotiating leverage of a health worker force that can leave for a better job in Miami is very different from the leverage of a health worker force that cannot.
The Minister of Health has, per my understanding, a narrow window to respond constructively before this moves into a genuine crisis. The window is closing. I do not know if he knows it is closing.
The State of Emergency: Day 46
A quick note on the ongoing SoE. Total arrests stand at around 1,500. New detention orders continue to be issued weekly. Public opinion is now divided roughly three ways: those who support the SoE and would extend it, those who oppose it and want it ended, and a significant middle who are uncomfortable with the extension of emergency powers but are also uncomfortable with the crime they are displacing.
This is the genuinely hard civic question of our year, and it is worth acknowledging that serious people disagree in good faith. I have my own view — I think the SoE should end at 90 days regardless of what follows — but I can hear the counterargument and I do not dismiss it. The test for a society is whether we can discuss this question with the seriousness it deserves. So far, I am mildly encouraged by the quality of the debate.
The Jogie Family
Angelica Jogie’s funeral was held this week. I shall not intrude on private grief. I shall note that the Ministry of Tourism has issued a statement about beach safety regulations. I shall also note that the statement does not include specific enforcement measures, timelines, or regulatory proposals. A statement is not an action.
The Jogie family needs an action. The next family needs an action even more. We shall see whether one arrives.
In Closing
A Saturday in Port of Spain. A regulator remains absent. A bank launches new mortgages. An MP opens a gym. Nurses consider industrial action. The SoE continues. A grieving family waits for beach reforms that may or may not come.
This is a country of small forward motion and persistent structural drag. Some days the motion wins. Some days the drag does. Today, as most days, it is a close-run thing.
See you Monday.
— Trini Dispatch