Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les is call­ing on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and her Gov­ern­ment to re­con­sid­er their move to dou­ble the fines for cer­tain traf­fic of­fences and in­crease the fees for cer­tain gov­ern­ment ser­vices.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has de­fend­ed her Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion to im­pose high­er fines on er­rant mo­torists and to in­crease Cus­toms tax­es and levies, in­sist­ing the mea­sures are nec­es­sary to re­store or­der in a coun­try she says has now slipped in­to law­less­ness.

A se­ries of Gov­ern­ment no­tices pub­lished on Christ­mas Day will see changes to traf­fic fines, cus­toms du­ties, ve­hi­cle im­port rules, and reg­is­tra­tion fees tak­ing ef­fect on Jan­u­ary 1, 2026.

For­mer min­is­ter of Works and Trans­port Ro­han Sinanan says the Gov­ern­ment’s new traf­fic fine regime is not fo­cused on chang­ing the cul­ture of dri­vers, warn­ing that the pol­i­cy pri­ori­tis­es rev­enue col­lec­tion over road safe­ty and is al­ready hav­ing dam­ag­ing so­cial and in­sti­tu­tion­al con­se­quences.

The Gov­ern­ment’s move to in­crease fines, cus­toms du­ties and busi­ness-re­lat­ed levies has drawn mixed re­ac­tions from the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty, with stake­hold­ers large­ly ac­knowl­edg­ing the need for rev­enue gen­er­a­tion and road dis­ci­pline, but warn­ing that poor com­mu­ni­ca­tion and weak reg­u­la­to­ry over­sight could un­der­mine pub­lic trust and eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty.

The To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty (TPP) is reaf­firm­ing its promise not to cut jobs of CEPEP and URP work­ers in To­ba­go, as was done to thou­sands of peo­ple in Trinidad.

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) Mi­nor­i­ty Leader Kelvon Mor­ris is blam­ing both Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and Chief Sec­re­tary Far­ley Au­gus­tine for To­ba­go’s cur­rent de­cline in tourism.

The usu­al hus­tle and bus­tle con­tin­ued as nor­mal along Char­lotte Street, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day, hours af­ter a shoot­ing on Sat­ur­day night that claimed the life of a for­mer na­tion­al foot­baller and left two oth­ers in­jured.

Gov­ern­ment's man­age­ment of the for­eign ex­change is­sue will see height­ened ac­tion in 2026, with ad­di­tion­al work an­tic­i­pat­ed on re­struc­tur­ing the Ex­port-Im­port Bank of T&T Ltd (Ex­im­bank), as well as the de­vel­op­ment of greater co­or­di­na­tion in forex al­lo­ca­tion with oth­er forex dis­trib­u­tors and gen­er­a­tors, Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dave Tan­coo says.

Ten­sions in the re­gion amid the im­passe be­tween the Unit­ed States and Venezuela, and Trinidad and To­ba­go’s in­volve­ment in the sit­u­a­tion, are rais­ing con­cerns among some for­eign vis­i­tors ahead of Car­ni­val 2026, says pro­mot­er Kwe­si “Hy­pa Hop­pa” Hop­kin­son.

The de­liv­ery of tan­gi­bles and con­tin­ued re­struc­tur­ing from the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) Gov­ern­ment and ef­forts from the Op­po­si­tion Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) with food banks and em­ploy­ment as­sis­tance for cit­i­zens are all part of what will un­fold from both sides in 2026.

Friends and rel­a­tives of 21-year-old Eoin Kaz­im Pe­ters are mourn­ing his death fol­low­ing a fa­tal road traf­fic ac­ci­dent along the Sir Solomon Ho­choy High­way in Gas­par­il­lo ear­ly yes­ter­day morn­ing.