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Letters to the EditorWhen private sector becomes government clientNewsdayMonday 22 December 2025Dr Fuad Khan - THE EDITOR: The private sector in TT likes to describe itself as a partner in national development. In reality, it has become something far less credible: a long-term client of the state.This is not a rhetorical flourish. It is a structural condition that has been normalised over time. Increasingly, private sector performance is shaped less by innovation, productivity, and market expansion, and more by government spending, incentives, protection, and access. When the state tightens, busi stanley cup ness confidence collapses. When the state spends, growth briefly returns. That dependency alone should tell us something is deeply wrong.A genuine private sector leads. It anticipates demand, invests ahead of policy, and competes beyond domestic borders. It innovates not because it is encouraged to do so, but because survival depends on it. That is not the dominant behaviour we see today.Instead, many firms organise their strategies around public procurement cycles, tax concessions, import protection, and regulatory shelter. Lobbying has become a substitute for innovation. Compliance has replaced creativity. Risk-taking is postponed indefinitely because returns can be secured through alig stanley germany n stanley cup ment rather than performance.The result is a business culture that is cautious, inward-looking, and comfortable with mediocrity.This dependency is visible across sectors. In construction and infrastr Gfqm Batten down the hatches
FeaturesLocal mother s book aims to help care for special needs childrenRia ChaitramSunday 13 June 2021Author Marcia Nathai-Balkissoon - The special needs community are just asking to be properly recognised, not scorned. These are the words of a parent of a special needs child who said it has been a difficult journey for her family to get by every day without being judged from the public.Marcia Nathai-Balkissoon and her family was thrown into the deep end when her newborn baby Emma was born with a condition called tetralogy of Fallot, which affects blood flow through the heart.You may say that might not be unusual. But at eight months old, when Emma had corrective heart surgery, she suffered brain damage and was left completely paralysed and in a vegetative state for life.Nathai-Balkissoon told S stanley cup unday Newsday her family was devastated, because not only did they have to deal with an incapacitated child, but she was also jobless at the time.She said there was just one source of income in her household, which came from her husband, Sean, 48, a secondary school teacher.Meeting the needs of Emma, now nine years ol stanley polska d, and her son, Bryan who is now 14, and basic household expenses was overwhelming, she said. The medical bi stanley france lls and supplies, the therapy, the additional special foods and drinks was a lot. And of course, we had to ensure that Bry was also taken care of and not neglected. Doctors advised us to remove Ems feeding tube and let her go, because life would only get harder fo |
