Akash Sama­roo

Po­lit­i­cal sci­en­tist Dr Bish­nu Ra­goonath says po­lit­i­cal pa­tron­age — not mer­it — con­tin­ues to in­flu­ence the eth­nic com­po­si­tion of State boards in T&T, shift­ing de­pend­ing on which par­ty is in pow­er.

The is­sue ex­plod­ed in­to pub­lic dis­course af­ter Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) chair­man Mar­vin Gon­za­les ig­nit­ed con­tro­ver­sy with re­marks ques­tion­ing the eth­nic bal­ance of re­cent board ap­point­ments, provoca­tive­ly ask­ing whether the coun­try had be­come “Bangladesh or Del­hi.”