Desperate residents of Mafeking Village Mayaro have had to become their own first responders, as there is no one to bring food and other supplies through floodwaters into the most-heavily-hit areas. The Sunday Guardian visited the small fishing village yesterday and spoke to several residents who say even though help has been forthcoming, they have had to carry in supplies to their marooned families and neighbours themselves. “The corporation bring hampers and water but is we self carrying it to everybody,” said Dale Mohammed, a 37-year-old resident of Chrysostom Trace, Mafeking.  “Nothing can’t go in there. Last night (Friday) it had six feet of water by my house.  we swim to come out and we had a small raft we carry in the stuff with.” “Is four of we doing everything, because it have plenty sick people and little children inside there who can’t come out,” said Shameeka Joseph, one of Mohammed’s neighbours. 

For the past two days Mohammed and his neighbours have been surrounded by floodwaters that came from the Ortoire River, which broke its banks on Thursday after overnight rainfall. But they are just the tip of the iceberg, as on every street corner there are about ten people waiting for assistance. They are the ones strong and brave enough to carry supplies back to the others.  Hundred others remain marooned in their homes and even though the water was receding in some areas, villagers say rainfall in Rio Claro or even Poole, will prolong their suffering.
“Once rain fall in Rio or Poole, all that water does come pelting down here,” said Mohammed. “We can’t even think about cleaning up right now, we only have to make sure we could have something to eat and drink.”

Chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation Hazarie Ramdeen, who was in the area meeting with residents, said the floods have affected more than 300 households in Mafeking. “We are unable to reach most of them on our own,” said Ramdeen. “The coast guard came too but it has mostly been villagers helping each other.” Ramdeen said  the corporation is doing all it could to assist, including providing cooked meals, food hampers, mattressess and bottled water.  “In every trace, there are a few of them who take in the supplies to the others. They really came together to help themselves and everyone else in their areas,” he said.  Representatives of MP Winston Gypsy Peters, were visible in the area. They were assisted by teams from the Ministry of the People and Social Development in assessing damage and registering residents for food cards.

Prospective PNM candidate for Mayaro/Rio Claro, attorney-at-law Clarence Rambharat, yesterday appealed to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) and the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation to step up their response to the flooding crisis in the constituency and make good on promises to help residents over the next 24 hours.

Rambharat said his team had been on the ground in Mayaro, Mafeking, Cedar Grove and parts of Rio Claro for two days and despite assurances, the response from state agencies with responsibility for managing the disaster was disappointing. “Mafeking and Cedar Grove are the worst-affected areas and residents did not receive ODPM supplies until about 2 o’clock this afternoon, two days after the flooding. And I watched in amazement as the ODPM brought limited supplies for a community of hundreds of residents. I also saw an ODPM container head up to Mayaro and remain sealed for the evening,” he said. “Initially, I heard the regional corporation had no funds available. But they authorised our team to take supplies on credit at nearby supermarkets. Chairman Hazarie Ramdeen got to Mafeking close to midday on Friday and supplies arrived around 3:30 pm, once again in inadequate amounts. “I was happy to see the chairman riding in a truck transporting residents to safe ground. But it’s unacceptable that the agencies distributed disposable cups and plates, garbage bags, toilet paper and packs of biscuits instead of much-needed canned food and medication. “It’s a crisis in some parts of the constituency, and to make matters worse, there’s been no sign of the Member of Parliament Winston ‘Gypsy’ Peters,” Rambharat said.

Many parts of Mayaro, Mafeking and Rio Claro remain under water after persistent rainfall over the past few days caused the Ortoire River to surge over its banks. On Friday, Rambharat joined councillors for the area Kyron James and Andy Maharaj, as well as aldermen Hamil Hosein and Elitha Bessor, on an exercise to evacuate residents with disabilities and bring supplies to others still trapped in their homes, but the effort was hindered by the slow response of disaster management agencies. “The flooding is unlike anything I have seen in the area for years. Entire homes in Mafeking are covered in water. We have not been able to venture into Cedar Grove.
“The Coast Guard helped, but we are in desperate need of sandbags, mattresses, drinking water and canned food and medication for children and adults. I am asking the ODPM and the Corporation to do more for us.”

From 6 pm yesterday, scores of residents of Brasso Seco gathered together for a candlelight vigil and to give thanks for the safe return of teenage sisters Felicia and Jenelle Gonzales who were rescued by the police on Friday from a makeshift camp in the nearby forest. For the first time since the disappearance of five members of the community on October 26, villagers breathed a sigh of relief yesterday.

Janelle and Felicia’s mother, Irma Rampersad, Jenelle’s infant daughter Shania Amoroso and Felix Martinez, 51, were killed. Shania and Martinez’s bodies were found together in a red sleeping bag last Saturday, while Rampersad’s body was found tied to a tree on Tuesday. Rampersad and Martinez were strangled. To express gratitude that the sisters were found alive, villagers held hands, prayed and lit candles in front of Sherwin Jackman’s bar. They also remembered Rampersad, Shania and Hernandez in their prayers, describing them as good human beings. “We are overjoyed and elated. Words cannot express the way we are feeling right now. Just hearing that those girls were rescued yesterday has brought a new ray of hope for the community,” said one villager who requested anonymity.

The residents said they will rest only when the perpetrators are arrested. “The persons who did this must feel the full brunt of the law. They have brought fear and terror in our village. Brasso Seco has been stained...a stain that would take months to erase,” one villager said. Six men who gathered outside one of the bars in the area said just hearing that the girls were found alive was like a weight off their shoulders. “It has given us a new energy...a new hope,” one of them said. Another described his feeling as bittersweet.

They said the community will rally behind the young women. “We will give them all the support they need to overcome this ordeal. The next few months will surely be traumatic for them...especially for Janelle, having lost her young innocent baby. We will give them the strength to move on with their lives,” one resident said. Up to late yesterday, at Lalaja Road, armed police officers from the Northeastern Division Task Force and Inter Agency Task Force were combing the hillside looking for Azmon Alexander, described by police as the county’s most wanted man and a person of interest in the ongoing inquiry into the Brasso Seco abductions and killings. Gail Harford, who visited her sisters Janelle and Felicia at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex yesterday, said they were both doing fine and under police guard.

Teen suspect arrested
Police arrested a 17-year-old Arima resident yesterday in connection with the abductions and murders of members of the Brasso Seco family. At around 2.30 pm yesterday  officers from the Northern Division under the supervisions of Senior Superintendent Abraham and including ASP Moses, Insp Maraj Sgt Haywood, Sgt Katwaroo, officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch, Inter-Agency Task Force and the K-9 Branch acting on information went to Goat Hill, Bypass Road, Arima, where they arrested the suspect. He is now assisting police with their investigation.
Police continued their search yesterday for two men who eluded them during the rescue of sisters Jenelle and Felicia Gonzales from a makeshift camp in the Brasso Seco forest. They are also searching other persons of interest in connection with the case.

The two teenage sisters kidnapped and held in captivity for the past 19 days are under tight security at a public hospital and the Sunday Guardian has been told that their medical treatment is “at a sensitive stage right now.” Doctors have ordered a blanket discretion around the girls, filtering the information that reaches them, as they have not yet been told of the murders of their relatives and friend. 

On October 28, a relative of 49-year-old Irma Rampersad reported that the woman, her two daughters, Jenelle, 19, and Felicia Gonzales, 17, Jenelle’s daughter, 18-month-old Shania Amoroso and family friend Felix Hernandez were missing. By November 8, some 12 days after the missing persons report was first filed, police found two bodies, later determined to be that of Hernandez and 18-month-old baby Amoroso. 

On November 11, the badly-decomposed body of a woman, dressed in a grey night dress with one of her legs missing, was discovered tied to a tree in a forested area of Brasso Seco.  Speaking with the media at a police press briefing yesterday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Harold Phillip confirmed that it was Rampersad. Doctors familiar with the case of the rescued Gonzales sisters say the two will continue to receive hydration, a slow introduction of food and counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “Oddly enough, that is the most important thing right now,” one medical professional with knowledge of the case told the Sunday Guardian. “They will require counselling, which doctors have already requested for the two,” he said.

Doctors have also questioned why the Children Authority has not yet stepped into the matter as one of the girls is not a legal adult yet. “The girls are alive and are being medically examined,” Phillip said yesterday. Phillip also confirmed that the women have not yet been interviewed as they are still undergoing medical treatment. Joint army and police personnel are still deployed in Brasso Seco and environs following the rescue of the two women from a makeshift camp in the forested area. Police said there was an exchange of gunfire but no injuries and the kidnappers escaped through the dark forest. Phillip said he could not divulge any of the details or theories that the police are working on, but would only say that investigations are continuing.

A meeting between Caricom foreign ministers and their Japan counterpart, Fumio Kishida, ended yesterday with an agreement to “strengthen the bond between Japan and Caricom.” A communique issued at the end of the meeting at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Tokyo also said they agreed to co-operate in the areas of sustainable development, including overcoming vulnerabilities particular to Small Island Developing States (Sids). The ministers also agreed to deepen and expand bonds founded on exchanges and friendship and “co-operation in addressing challenges confronting the international community.”

According to the communique, the Caricom ministers expressed their “concern over the issue of the issue of graduation from concessionary funding based on the narrow measurement of GDP per capita and underlined the importance of expanding this measurement to include a vulnerability index.” Kishida spoke of his government’s intention to “promote assistance for Japanese language education at the UWI.”

The meeting also agreed to use sports to foster friendship and mutual understanding. Caricom ministers welcomed Japan’s interest in investing in projects to supply clean energy and ICT. The meeting stressed the need for reform of the United Nation’s Security Council “to reflect the geographical realities of the 21st century.” The meeting also reaffirmed “the importance of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in development planning and international co-operation initiatives.” The ministers agreed to continue close co-operation on the climate change issue.
Acting Permanent Secretary Frances Seignoret represented Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran at the meeting.
 

Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) leader and Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general, Ancel Roget, yesterday announced plans for another amalgamation of civil, political, social to march through the streets of Port-of-Spain. The march, planned for December 5, is the second instalment of mobilisation efforts to highlight the actions of the “corrupt” People’s Partnership government, he said. Speaking at a media conference yesterday at the Amalgamated Workers Union office on New Street, Port-of-Spain, Roget declared that corruption is now spelt “with a capital K.”

The collaborative march, Roget said, will follow the same route as the May 23 edition which saw several union leaders marching with the People’s National Movement (PNM), the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), members of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) and a number of civil and social groups. “One march certainly would not do it,” he said. “We were quite prepared to continue our march for justice for all of the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

Roget and his JTUM team called on all “patriotic and T&T-loving” citizens to come out and join with them to show the Government how many people are disenchanted with the “PR gimmicks” that hide the corruption of the ruling party. “We have heard of numerous allegations of corruption. Corruption has been revealed, nothing has been done to persons who have been accused, or who are involved in state corruption and so the country continues to suffer,” the JTUM leader said.

He listed several examples of corruption, saying the net effect is poorer service for the tax-paying citizens. “Might I remind the national community that when you have state corruption, when you have corruption in government, it is not a matter that affects the government alone. Corruption in T&T redounds to the negative impact of all of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said. Roget listed poor healthcare, unopened and under-resourced schools and poorly-run state agencies among the results of corruption. “So when you hear your government is working for you, your government is working hard with your money for their benefit,” he said.

Roget hinted at another example of corruption, talking briefly of the movement of US$300 million from an international bank located in Port-of-Spain to a remote account in Australia.
“I will talk more of that later,” Roget said when pressed for more information. The announcement of this action comes just days after Roget’s successor at Trinmar, Ernesto Kaesar, was dismissed from his job for not being at the office for four hours. While Roget steered clear of that issue, saying he was staying on the topic of the march, he hinted that the Government meted out harsh punishment to anyone who dared to highlight corruption. “If anyone attempts to stand up and speak out against the massive corruptions that is taking place, such a person is taken down, condemned by those who were condemning corruption in 2010,” he said.

The painstaking clean-up exercise has begun for most flood-affected residents of Mafeking, Mayaro, as most of the flood waters receded from the roadway yesterday. However, Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation chairman Hazarie Ramdeen said many residents were still marooned in their homes. Ramdeen, speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, said the corporation, with the assistance of Mayaro MP Winston “Gypsy” Peters, the Eastern Regional Health Authority and Coast Guard, had worked tirelessly to provide the much needed relief to the affected residents. 

Peters, he said, met with marooned residents in Cedar Grove, all of whom were unable to leave their homes since Thursday because of the flood waters. He said Peters, using a boat, delivered hampers, water and other items to the affected residents. Calls to Peters’s cellphone went unanswered yesterday. Ramdeen said in the dark situation the one silver lining for Mayaro was that the community came together to help each other in their time of need. “There are residents who are still marooned in some instances. The water went down and the road is very, very clear and anything could pass. “However, we have another problem where the road in Manzanilla has been cut off. We have had corporation trucks running up and down the road taking people in and out of Mayaro. Boat owners have come forward to help us deliver relief to residents at no cost,” Ramdeen said. 

Kervon Hughes, captain of one of the boats being used in the relief efforts, said he and his crew opted to help fellow residents because the flooding situation was bad. “We took my boat up to second village in Cedar Grove to get food and water to the people and it have about 75 people that could not come out the house. People were swimming in the flood waters to come and meet us to get help. “It was really a terrible situation,” Hughes said. He commended the corporation for working feverishly to assist the residents ravaged by the flood waters. 

Mobile health clinic set up
Yesterday, a medical team from the Eastern Regional Health Authority, led by CEO Ameena Ali, together with deputy chairman Sandeep Maharaj, toured the area and provided medical supplies to residents. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan, speaking by telephone, said a mobile clinic had been set up in Mayaro to treat with any medical situations in the area. 

He said the ERHA had also put systems in place for the transport of food item, pharmaceuticals and necessary drugs for residents who are stranded and cannot get out. “There were some people who lost their gluco-metres and diabetic devices in the actual flood itself,” Khan said. “So we were able to give them new ones with strips et cetera. I also learnt that the patients who were supposed to have dialysis, and according to reports, they could not get it, were dialysed on Saturday.” 

Maharaj said the Mayaro and Rio Claro health centres will be open 24 hours and will have a doctor and nurse available to provide medical assistance to residents who may require treatment. He also said arrangements have been made for patients requiring specialised services, such as dialysis, to be taken to the Sangre Grande hospital. 

Yesterday, the Manzanilla road was cordoned off after a large portion collapsed under the pressure of flood waters. Maharaj said arrangements have been made to transport patients using the Biche to Sangre Grande road for medical emergencies. Ramdeen said the corporation’s cesspool trucks also started cleaning tanks in the Mayaro area and public health/insect vector control personnel will be spraying and sanitising the area.
 

Heavy rains and rising flood waters yesterday led to the collapse of a large portion of the Manzanilla/Mayaro Main Road, cutting off the already flood-ravaged Mayaro area. Last night the road remained cordoned off with police barriers placed across the roadway to prevent motorists from driving on the remaining portion of the road. The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, in a release yesterday, advised the public that the road had been closed until further notice. “This closure is due to the structural breaches that occurred as a result of the inclement weather experienced today (yesterday),” the release said. 

Yesterday, the two-lane road, which is the main artery between Mayaro and Sangre Grande, was reduced to one lane as flood waters undermined and washed large chunks of asphalt onto the nearby coastline. The ministry release, which was issued by Director of Highways Roger Ganesh, advised motorists to use Rio Claro and the Cunapo Southern Main Road as alternative routes. It said an assesment of the damage with a view to beginning repairs will be conducted today.

The ministry also “strongly cautions against citizens journeying to the area to take photographs or obtain a firsthand view of the incident.” Last night, CNC3 reported that relief crews on their way to render assistance to flood-affected Mayaro residents were forced to turn back and use an alternative route because of the collapsed roadway, which is located one mile away from the Manzanilla beach facility. 

The damage, which was reportedly observed by residents around 10 pm on Saturday, began at lightpole 207 and continues for a quarter of a mile. The T&T Guardian understands that Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) chairman Dr Stephen Ramroop has raised the emergency level to level two following the collapse of the roadway and the rising floodwaters. 

Yesterday, Mayaro MP Winston” Gypsy” Peters, in CNC3 interview, said the road is impassable. He said the community of Cedar Grove in Mayaro is only accessible by boat. Works Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan also told CNC3 the damage to the road was extensive and that Works Ministry staff were to visit the scene and assess the damage. He said repair works should begin today once the weather permits.

Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah says President Anthony Carmona has lost credibility in accepting payment of a $28,000 tax-free housing allowance. The President, Abdulah said, “has set a horrible example for the citizens of T&T of-have your cake and eat it.”

Speaking a media conference at the MSJ’s San Fernando headquarters yesterday, Abdulah said the housing allowance, which was authorised by Chief Personnel Officer Stephanie Lewis, “ought never to have been paid to his Excellency.” He said the “have your cake and eat it” message is resonating all the way through society and “is going to say to the country that the standards of behaviour in public office are very low indeed and if the standards of behaviour in public office are low, what do we expect of other citizens?”

Abdulah said that such incidents “help to break down the moorings of the country.” Carmona and the CPO have come under public scrutiny over the past weeks after it was reported that Carmona, although staying in State-funded accommodations at Flagstaff Hill, St James, is receiving a $28,000 housing allowance.

Many, including former head of the Public Service Reginald Dumas, Martin Daly SC and former prime minister Basdeo Panday, said such a payment was highly inappropriate and should not have been made. 

Yesterday, Abdulah agreed that a housing allowance for the President while he is being accommodated at the expense of the state is unacceptable. The MSJ leader admitted that “the President loses tremendous credibility because of this issue, as he has lost credibility as well, when other groups have written to him, including the MSJ, on major issues such as the Constitution Amendment Bill and we have not even received an acknowledgment from him.”

Daly maintains CPO wrong
While CPO Lewis is holding to her position that she did nothing wrong, Daly yesterday maintained his position that she had no legal authority to authorise the housing payment to Carmona.
Contacted on the CPO’s position highlighted in the media yesterday, Daly pointed to his Sunday column, which he said is his full take on the issue. 

In his column, Daly contended that he has resisted requests to comment further on the CPO’s approval of the housing allowance. He described as “particularly worrisome” justifications attributed to Public Services head Reynold Cooper, who ascribed to the CPO “powers that, in my view, she does not have over the terms and conditions of the presidency.”

Daly, in the column, said it was important to emphasise that the office of the CPO is not established by the Constitution and it is “pitiful to describe the office as an independent constitutional body.”
He contended that the CPO’s powers are confined to dealing with the public service. 

Govt claim unacceptable
Abdulah said he does not accept the Government’s position that the CPO acted alone and is an independent officer. He reminded the nation that it was the CPO, on the directive of an inter-ministerial team, who instituted a wage cap in negotiations in the public service.

He said also did not agree with the reasoning that the allowance was being paid because of the President’s present accommodations. “If he (Carmona) is being accommodated at Flagstaff with his agreement and the agreement of the Government then that is it. You cannot come now afterwards and claim a housing allowance because you now feel that it is unsuitable,” Abdulah said. 

The MSJ leader said if Carmona was not pleased with the Flagstaff Hill accommodation or found that it was not suitable, then Government should have found suitable accommodation. He said there were several months between Carmona’s nomination and his elevation to office and suitable accommodation could have been sought and obtained prior to his assuming office. The President has, up to this time, not made any public comment on the matter despite the ongoing criticism from several quarters.

Rowley: Govt being dishonest on matter 

People’s National Movement leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday accused the Government of engaging in “deception” in the controversy surrounding the $28,000 housing allowance paid to President Anthony Carmona. 
Addressing the PNM’s 45th annual convention at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, Rowley said the housing allowance was raised in a Public Accounts Committee meeting in the presence of the Government since last year “and the Government simply chose to look the other way.”
He contended that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan was now telling the nation that the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) “is independent and the Government is helpless. That wasn’t so with the five per cent edict and we wait to see who will guide the next Public Service negotiations. You simply can’t trust them with anything they tell you.”
In a media report yesterday, CPO Stephanie Lewis maintained she did nothing wrong when she authorised the $28,000 housing allowance for Carmona.

AG responds
But in an immediate response yesterday, Ramlogan accused Rowley of misleading the nation on the scope and ambit of the Government’s legal power over the CPO’s office. He said the President is not a civil servant and this means the terms and conditions for the office are subject to the CPO’s jurisdiction. He said this is dealt with by the Salaries Review Commission (SRC). Saying the SRC is an independent body and the CPO functions as its secretary, he said, “In so doing, she (CPO) is not performing a function that any minister has control or influence over. She functions as an independent officer of the SRC. As Dr Rowley well knows, no government has any say in the operations and deliberations of the SRC. “It is in this context and in these circumstances that I condemn the foolish suggestion made by Dr Rowley that the CPO was somehow acting under the influence of the Government. When the CPO wrote that letter, she was clearly functioning in her capacity as secretary to the SRC as the terms and conditions of the President cannot and do not otherwise concern her.”

He added that the CPO, as secretary of the SRC, also cannot make a decision on the President’s housing allowance on her own. “The SRC is the only body in law that could deal with the terms and conditions of the office of the President. It is a legal route by which the President’s allowance could have been paid. “Since the Government had no knowledge about this matter, perhaps the time has come for the chairman of the SRC, Mr Edwards Collier, to break his silence on this matter in the public interest and provide the necessary clarification regarding its role (if any) in this matter. 
“His silence is causing unnecessary consternation and disquiet and has the potential to bring the office of the CPO and the President into disrepute. He therefore has a duty to clear the air on this matter.”

He also queried when the PNM raised the issue at the PAC meeting. “He failed to provide any specifics as to who raised it and when. Assuming, but not admitting that Dr Rowley's allegation is true, why did he remain silent on the matter for over a year?” 

The People’s National Movement (PNM) will embark on constitution reform, create a revenue authority for greater efficiency in tax collection and rehaul the social welfare system to cut down on state dependency immediately upon assuming office in 2015. Tobago will also be granted internal self governance, there will be an abolition of appeals to the Privy Council, the institution of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the final court of appeal and investment in the development of the city of Port-of-Spain.

These are some of the plans contained in the PNM’s Vision 2030 policy document and in a National Election Contract disclosed by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley at the party’s 45th annual convention at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Rowley announced the plans in the party’s policy document, “The Road Ahead to 2030, Building a Nation, Together.” He said while the PNM’s position remains that the 1976 Republican Constitution has served T&T well, reform may be required. “We will embark on that process immediately on getting into office so that there is enough time for consultation, analysis and debate to take place before the reforms go to Parliament.”

Areas of Constitution reform will include:
• Internal Self Government for Tobago and the nature of the unitary state of T&T.
• Abolition of appeals to the Privy Council and instituting the CCJ as our final appellate court
• The role and functions of the service commissions
• Appointment of a commissioner of police
• The role and functions of the Salaries Review Commission
• The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the exercise of prosecutorial authority in relation to white collar crime
• Electoral system reform
• Clarification of the role and powers of the President.

Rowley said among the challenges the PNM will face is the issue of state dependency by “millionaire and scrunter” alike. He said a raft of welfare support and other programmes resulting from oil revenues had engendered the “deep underbelly of chronic dependency” seen today in particular sections of the society. “Too many people, from millionaire to scrunter, have become entirely dependent on the state,” he said. “In fact we now have some CEPEP contracts which have been captured by businessmen who obtain the contracts and make considerable profit from them while providing little or no training or improvements for workers nor any migrating of their companies from the programme. “If, and I daresay when oil prices and energy sector revenues collapse, we will not be able to maintain these expenditures and the social consequences might be dire.” 

A Rowley-led government will create a tax authority to maximise revenue collection, he said. And while the PNM supports the development of different regions in T&T, the capital city must be treated like a capital city. “While we will support and encourage planned regional development in Trinidad and in Tobago, as well as the sensible decentralisation of government services, we will continue to invest in the development of the capital city of Port-of-Spain,” he said, noting the People’s Partnership Government is, at present, spending billions to upgrade Chaguanas to city status. Rowley said crime was a challenge the PNM will also have to face, especially murders. “The response here is to train and sustain, at all levels from parent to commissioner,” he said. 

Police said yesterday they were searching for several “persons of interest” in the recent abduction of a Brasso Seco family but they are were still waiting to properly interview sisters Felicia and Jenelle Gonzales, who were rescued from their abductors on Friday, as the teens were said to be severely traumatised. The police are seeking the public’s assistance in finding Azmon Alexander, 31, whom they described as “extremely dangerous, armed and an escape artist.”

A prisoner with 38 pending matters for kidnapping and robbery, Alexander escaped from the Mayaro Magistrates Court in January. His last known address was Ackbarali Street, Malabar. Yesterday, Sr Supt David Abraham, of the Northern Division, said, “We need the public to assist in finding the suspect. We are asking if anyone has information to contact the nearest police station.”
Alexander is one of the main suspects in the abduction of Irma Rampersad, 49, and her daughters Felicia, 17, a student of Malabar Secondary School, and Jenelle, 19, and her 14-month-old granddaughter Shania Amoroso from their Brasso Seco home on October 26. The following day they were reported missing by Felix Martinez, who said he awoke to find a kitchen window broken and the women and child missing. Two days later Martinez went missing but was believed to have been hunting. Martinez’ body was found along with that of baby Shania wrapped in a sleeping bag last Saturday. Rampersad’s body was found on Monday. Autopsies revealed both Rampersad and Martinez were strangled but the autopsy on baby Shania was inconclusive because of the advanced state of decomposition.

8 suspects in custody
Yesterday, police said Homicide members would question the teen girls, who had not yet been told of their relatives’ killings, after they were treated at hospital and given medical clearance by doctors. Police said the girls were severely traumatised and were being kept under police guard but had not yet been properly questioned. Investigators said they have several suspects they believe can provide information critical to the case. Three women and six men were said to be involved in the abduction. Eight people are currently assisting the police. 

The teenage sisters were rescued by the police on Friday from a makeshift camp in the Brasso Seco forest, after a shootout with two gunmen who were guarding them for over 19 days. Police found clothing, soap powder, dirty dishes, feminine items and other debris scattered around the campsite. When contacted yesterday, relatives of the family refused to speak, saying they were getting ready for church and were very busy during the day. Scores of Brasso Seco residents
 

President of the T&T Contractors Association (TTCA) Mikey Joseph says Government should re-examine its social programmes and the impact they have on the labour market. He made the comment during the TTCA’s 46th Annual Awards and Banquet ceremony at the Hilton Trinidad, Port-of-Spain, on Saturday, as he complained that some of these programmes were only contributing to the dwindling labour supply. 

He added that it makes no sense for the Government to boast about full employment on one hand when contractors continue to have challenges in sourcing labour. Offering a solution, Joseph suggested that technical and vocational skills be taught at the secondary school level. “We are of the view that technical/vocational education and training should be implemented in all secondary schools if we are to have a knowledge-based, skilled and innovative society.”

Overall, Joseph called for an entire package of legislation to be implemented so the construction industry can be operated efficiently. The legislation includes: the Procurement Bill, a national building code, contractor registration and licensing legislation and a lien act. Referring specifically to the Procurement Bill, he said there was need for it to be reintroduced in the Parliament, passed and assented to. While the bill is not perfect, Joseph said it “is a very unique piece of legislation that was developed in large measure, by the citizens of this country through civil society and the private sector, who have contributed over 70 per cent of its contents. “The bill has already been through both Houses of parliament in the last sitting and was fully accepted in the Senate so there should be no reason for this legislation to fail at this point,” he said.

The procurement bill includes a section for public money, according to joseph it states: “The Bill will require that all parties to a transaction involving public money for the acquisition of property and services or the disposal of public property to ensure that their conduct, processes and documentation conform to the objectives of: • Economy, efficiency and competition, • Ethics and fair dealing,  • Promotion of national industry and • sustainable development

A teenager and another man are currently warded at the San Fernando General Hospital after being shot yesterday. Kerry Jairam, 19, of Henry Street, San Fernando, and Daniel Seon, 30, of Royal Road, San Fernando, are currently listed in stable condition. 

Police said around 2.45 am yesterday, Jairam and Seon were at Upper Hillside, San Fernando, when they were approached by a group of men. One of the men pulled out a gun and fired at them.
Jairam was hit in the left leg while Seon was struck in the chest. The suspects then escaped.

They were taken to the SFGH where they were treated. Police said their injuries were not life threatening.

Dr Wayne Kublalsingh has told his Highway Re-route Movement supporters that he does not expect to survive another week as he nears the 60th day of his hunger strike.  HRM member Vishal Boodhai revealed this yesterday as he addressed a joint media conference together with Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah, at the party’s St Joseph Village, San Fernando headquarters.

Boodhai told reporters when he met with Kublalsingh on Wednesday at his home, the HRM leader was “very, very weak.” “He did not leave his bed, as his energy levels were quite low. He continues to have a high spirit and he is very committed to seeing that (the mediation) process is followed before any highway construction is undertaken,” Boodhai said. 

Kublalsingh has been on a hunger strike since September after calling for a mediation between his group and the Government over the route of the Debe/Mon Desir leg of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin. 

Boodhai said Kublalsingh strongly believed mediation was the only solution to the stalemate between the HRM and Government. Kublalsingh, he added, told them that should Government and HRM come to some serious agreement on a mediator, he would end his hunger strike. “He told us on Wednesday he cannot see himself really going beyond one week,” Boodhai said. “We really hope that a resolution could be found sooner than later and we really hope that he really does not... that any unwanted outcome is felt or seen at this point. “He does not see himself living beyond one week, based on his assessment of his health.” 

Boodhai, who delivered a  PowerPoint presentation on last week’s collapse of a portion of the shoulder of the highway leading to the newly-opened Golconda interchange, said while many people had been pleading with Kublalsingh to end his strike “he is not going to give up.” 

Kublalsingh, Boodhai said, was “very focused in his mission to get transparency and accountability with respect to the highway and as he has said before he is willing to commit his life to ensuring that transparency and accountability is upheld with this project and all projects.”

Shoddy work on highway
Boodhai said last week’s collapse of the shoulder is an example of the shoddy work being done on the highway. He pointed to recommendations made by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) for sedimentation and erosion management plans which were not carried out. 

Boodhai also said the Forestry Division had also expressed concerns about the incursion of the highway into the Oropouche lagoon, while the Met Office had registered its concern that flood-prone areas such as Debe were not mapped into the highway project plans. “We believe that these studies like the hydrological report should have been done in the first place, before any construction work was to proceed in the Debe leg, to basically avoid scenarios like what transpired in the Golconda to Debe leg of the highway,” he said.

Boodhai said the collapsed part of the shoulder has been “hidden” under a piece of white tarpaulin, but on Saturday evening the area of the collapse was visible and more pronounced under the sheeting. Yesterday, OAS workers were seen excavating and backfilling the collapsed area.

Businessman Alfred Galy applied to the Port-of-Spain City Corporation yesterday for a demolition notice for the former Greyfriars church on Frederick Street. 
This comes a week after the corporation ordered work on the site stopped after Galy’s workmen removed the roof of the church hall and part of the roof of the church itself. 
Fears that Galy was demolishing the building led to protests last week from the NGO Citizens for Conservation, and National Diversity Minister Rodger Samuel said the deconsecrated church would soon be listed as a protected historic building.

But in an interview yesterday, chief inspector at the city engineer’s office Deoraj Ramtahal confirmed Galy had submitted a demolition application to his office. He added that Galy had also met with the corporation yesterday to discuss ways to save the property by converting it into a suitable business. 
“He submitted the application in order to comply with the corporation’s regulations,” Ramtahal said. 
Galy is expected to meet with Ramtahal and members of Town and Country Planning at the Ministry of Finance today.

Yesterday, the site remained quiet, with no signs of workers. 
In a letter to the editor in today’s T&T Guardian, historian Michael Anthony, appealing for the church to be preserved, recorded that it was founded by the Rev Alexander Kennedy of the Church of Scotland, a man he described as the most dynamic and zealous of local missionaries. Anthony said Kennedy came to T&T in 1836 and converted an unused building on Cambridge Street (then part of St Vincent Street) into a little chapel, then began building his own church the next year. Kennedy was an ardent abolitionist. (See letter on p25)

A petition calling for the preservation of the property and addressed to the Town and Country Planning Division had gathered over 600 online signatures as of yesterday. The petition, started by concerned citizen Joshua Lue Chee Kong, expresses concern over the potential demolition of the church, and says it should be preserved at all costs to benefit future generations. 
“Therefore we wish with all the power granted by your office, that this matter be resolved immediately and that the church gains the necessary protection it deserves as a heritage site as quickly as possible,” it reads.

PNM leader Keith Rowley has misinterpreted the Constitution and made incorrect, irresponsible statements on the general election process, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said yesterday. 
“It is important that I correct the reckless and irresponsible statements made by the Opposition Leader regarding the provisions in the Constitution that govern the general election process,” said Ramlogan.

Ramlogan noted that Rowley, speaking at last Sunday’s PNM Convention, declared that the current five-year term of People’s Partnership government ends on  June 17, 2015 and that the subsequent 90-day provision for calling election could only be used in cases of emergencies. Ramlogan, however, said: “Rowley demonstrates an astonishing and disturbing failure to grasp the basic rules of the Constitution. It is yet another display of his constant disregard for the law.

That a prime ministerial aspirant could so easily misrepresent the Constitution for selfish political gain is troublesome. “In his usual haste to exert unnecessary political pressure on the Government to call election, Dr Rowley again traps himself in yet another embarrassing and humiliating intellectual quagmire from which it is becoming increasingly difficult to extricate himself. His inability to understand and interpret even the basic structures of the Constitution acts as a truly powerful and frightening reminder that he is simply not fit to lead in any capacity.”

Saying the Constitution is clear on the timelines for calling a general election, Ramlogan said Section 68(2) states that Parliament stands dissolved five years after its first sitting—which in this case is on June 17, 2015—and a general election must be held within 90 days thereafter. 

Ramlogan said: “This means the next general election can and must be held at any time prior to September 17, 2015. “This 90-day provision has nothing to with ‘emergencies’ as erroneously claimed by the Opposition Leader. This period was designed to allow the Prime Minister a degree of political flexibility in setting the date. It also permits the EBC and political parties time to put the necessary administrative arrangements in place to facilitate the election. “This provision has been a part of our election process since Independence and was retained in our Republican Constitution. “Dr Rowley appears to suffer from political amnesia, as he conveniently ignores the fact that almost every single past Prime Minister has utilised this 90-day provision to call general election, including Dr Eric Williams and George Chambers (1981, 1986) to Basdeo Panday (2000) and Patrick Manning (2007).”

Ramlogan asked: “If Dr Rowley applies his flawed logic to his own election as a Member of Parliament, the following questions arise: did he also question the nature of the ‘emergencies’ in the general elections of 2000 and 2007, both of which occurred within the 90-day period, and in which he was twice elected as an MP? “If indeed there were no such ‘emergencies,’ does this mean that his own election as a Member of Parliament was null, void and unconstitutional, twice?”

Plans are on stream to build an interchange at the insection of the Western Main Road and the Diego Martin Highway to alleviate traffic woes in west Trinidad. Director of Highways Roger Ganesh said so yesterday as the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure had to reverse its decision to close off the west-to-east bowtie of the Western Main Road in Cocorite early yesterday. The decision came after fiery protests began around 5 am yesterday. It lasted several hours. 

Ganesh said the interchange, which is expected to start in June next year, would take two to three years to complete. He also dismissed claims that there were no consultations with residents, saying even before the Diego Martin Highway extension was constructed, several discussions were held on the new traffic changes in west Trinidad. Burning piles of debris, angry residents said the intersection was used by thousands of drivers and people who live in Cocorite Terrace, Waterhole, Harding Place, Nile Street and environs, and Fort George.

As a result of the protest, thousands of drivers, commuters and schoolchildren heading into Port-of-Spain sat for hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic, stretching as far back as Carenage and Petit Valley. Sue Richardson, who lives in Westmoorings, and whose son attends Holy Name Prep School, Port-of-Spain, said the traffic situation was very frustrating. She said she normally drops off her son just in time for the 7am assembly, but yesterday he arrived at school just after 8 am.

Some protesters, who shouted obscenities and with arms flailing, accused the Government of being underhanded by not consulting with them before any decision was taken. One of the protesters, Ricardo Herbert, said residents had no choice but to take action. “Some 30,000 households would be affected,” he said. “There are also two hospitals in the area and the Lady Hochoy Home, which would also be affected, a lot of business on the left and the right. “We ask that it not be blocked off. This is a safe turnoff. It has been here since 1963, when the highway was built.  

He explained that blocking the turnoff meant a long drive for those who needed to turn east. “What they do now is taking us all the way down to Four Roads (Diego Martin), which is a mile down and a mile up, and now we have to endure the traffic both on a morning and on an evening to go in and out of our homes,” Herbert said. The residents, however, praised National Security Minister Gary Griffith who they said was instrumental in the reopening of the roadway.

Authorities respond
National Security Minister Gary Griffith, who arrived just after the protest began, said no unlawful act would be condoned. He said: “I listened very carefully to what the residents had to say and some of them were very passionate in their views. But blocking the road and preventing hundreds of other drivers is not the answer and I made that very clear, apart from which, there may be people with medical issues who were caught in the traffic.” He said: “Citizens should not resort to taking the law into their own hands. This sort of action is tantamount to disrespect and could have dire consequences.”

Acting Senior Supt Ishmael David said police spoke to residents and listened to their concerns. He said as far as he was aware there had been “no major accidents” in that immediate area.
Griffith said the concerns of the residents were legitimate as well as concerns of national security. Minister of Works and Infrastructure Suruj Rambachan said the decision to block the turnoff came from a safety concern. Saying he hoped people would have given it at  least a couple of days, Rambachan said: “When you do these traffic changes, you do it with objectives in mind and one of those objectives is to improve the whole safety situation by that turn.

MP: People Upset
In an e-mailed response Dr Amery Browne, MP for Diego Martin Central, said on Saturday the ministry completely closed off the highway, just a few hours after street signs were erected telling drivers they could not use that turnabout. Browne said he and the councillor for Petit Valley/Cocorite, Roxanne Long, had strongly disagree with the way this change was effected, as the Ministry of Works initiated no specific meeting or discussion with the most affected residents on the impact the measure would have on them and their families. “These same residents accommodated and adjusted to a range of changes over the past few months in order to facilitate the improvement of the highway and roadway system in the area,” he said, “but are of the view that this weekends’s closure introduces an unacceptable degree of challenge to their activities of daily living.  

He said they were worried that the change would increase their transport costs and travel time, lead to emergency vehicles taking longer to arrive, and that it meant they now had to go further west or north to get home and to pass through areas with more traffic. Browne called on the Government to hold specific discussions with those affected by the closure, including representatives of the taxi drivers.

The Las Alturas Commission of Enquiry is expected to start sitting by month-end or early December, says Attorney General Anand Ramlogan. Government announced the formation of the commission two weeks ago. Commissioners have not yet been sworn in. 

The commission will be headed by retired Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim and includes structural engineering expert Anthony Farrell, and a past president of the Association of  Professional Engineers, and structural engineering consultant and retired UWI lecturer Myron W Chin. 

The team’s mandate includes determining whether  there are grounds for criminal or civil action over the $40 million project, built during the past PNM tenure. It subsequently had to be demolished owing to myriad structural irregularities. 

Ramlogan said arrangements were being put in place for a secretariat and staff after Cabinet approved this and counsel for the commission has been appointed. Hearings will be held at the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Opposition Leader Keith Rowley is intensifying a campaign of misinformation by deliberately misrepresenting issues surrounding the President’s housing, Communications Minister Vasant Bharath says. Bharath yesterday condemned statements by Rowley, who has accused the Government of “deception’” over the President’s housing allowance. Speaking at last Sunday’s PNM convention, Rowley said it was “deception, like how they would have you believe that they did not know that the President was receiving a hefty housing allowance whilst having a suite of accommodation available to him, until the media broke the story. This matter was raised in a Housing Committee meeting in the presence of the Government since last year and the Government simply chose to look the other way. Now we have the Attorney General telling us that the Chief Personnel Officer is independent and the Government is helpless. “That wasn’t so with the five per cent edict and we wait to see who will guide the next Public Service negotiations. You simply can’t trust them with anything they tell you"

But Bharath said,“What Dr Rowley has demonstrated, for yet another time, is that nothing he says can be trusted. Nothing he says can be taken seriously. He has taken an issue that is clear in the facts and very clear in the legislative provisions, and is making every effort to confuse and mislead the population. “The issue is clear. The Chief Personnel Officer is secretary of the Salaries Review Commission (SRC). The line minister for the Personnel Department is the Minister of Public Administration, and the Minister of Finance and the Economy also has a line responsibility.”

Bharath’s view was: “As with all ministries where permanent secretaries take guidance from ministers, but remain the accounting officers, the Chief Personnel Officer remains the Public Service executive with the final decision making authority on these issues. “In addition, the Chief Personnel Officer has made clear that she was well within her right and role to have made her decision and at no point was instructed by either of her line ministers. “If Dr Rowley is seeking to raise a discussion on the functioning of the Public Service, then he must be prudent and responsible in his public pronouncements. But in any event, the PNM leader must have the fortitude to demonstrate leadership and commit to the facts, rather than attempt to build a political campaign on skewed information. “The CPO has, in her report  on the issue to the Prime Minister, stood by her decision on the allowance. The CPO is secretary to the Salaries Review Commission (SRC), which made the recommendations regarding allowances and similar concessions, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan says the SRC, headed by Edward Collier, has a duty to clarify the issue, since he said the CPO, as secretary to the SRC, cannot, of her own volition, make a decision on the allowance, which was a matter for the SRC alone. He contended the CPO is not an SRC member. He said Collier’s silence has the potential to bring the office of the CPO and the President into disrepute. Collier has consistently declined comment. Ramlogan said he turned the issue over to the Solicitor General for advice only last week and is awaiting the advice. Public Service head Reynold Cooper said he couldn’t answer on whether the CPO, the Salaries Review Commission or the President should be the one to clarify the matter.  

Relatives of the country’s most wanted man, Azmon “Pappi” Alexander, are urging him to surrender to police before he is killed. Alexander, 28, is wanted in connection with the disappearance and death of two members of a Brasso Seco family and murder of the family’s neighbour. Speaking with the T&T Guardian at her Sunset Drive, Malabar home yesterday, Alexander’s former girlfriend Ameilia Hosein, the mother  of his 17-month-old son Antonio Hosein, cried as she called on him to surrender. 

She said during their six-year relationship she never thought he was capable of kidnapping and murder, especially the murder of a child, since he too was the father of a child near the same age. “I didn’t believe it, I am still shocked, but he have a son,” Hosein said, holding their child and wiping away tears. The 22-year-old expectant mother added: “He have a son, how he could do a child that? He (Alexander) never see him (Hosein) and can’t give him anything. “Give up yourself, if he isn’t thinking about himself he should think about his son and the family he hurt. It makes no sense.” 

On October 26, Irma Rampersad, 49, and her daughters Felicia, 17, and Jenelle Gonzales, 19, and Janelle’s 14-month-old daughter, Shania Amoroso, were abducted from their Bleu Road, Brasso Seco home. One day later they were reported missing by Felix Martinez, 52, who said he awoke to find a kitchen window broken and the women and child missing. A few days later, Martinez went missing and was believed to have been hunting. Martinez’s body was found along with baby Shania wrapped in a sleeping bag on November 8, while Rampersad’s body was found on November 11. 

An autopsy done on the bodies revealed Martinez and Rampersad were strangled while the autopsy on Shania was inconclusive because of the advanced state of decomposition. The two Gonzales sisters were rescued by police at a makeshift camp in the Brasso Seco forest last Friday, following a shootout with two men who escaped in the bushes. One of them, a 17-year-old, surrendered to police the following day and is assisting them with their investigations. The teens are now under police guard at the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex, Mt Hope, and are said to be traumatised by the events. The sisters have since been told that their mother and baby Shania are dead.

Sister: He’s no monster
Yesterday, Hosein said she was told by police on Saturday that Alexander may be heading her way and she should be careful, since he threatened in the past to kill her and her new boyfriend.
A two-minute drive from Hosein’s home, at Ackbarali Street, Malabar, Alexander’s sister, Vanessa, said her elder brother is no monster and could not possibly hurt a child. She said her brother told her years ago that he would never hurt a child and was loved by children. 

She said the last time she spoke to him was on November 6, his birthday, which he shares with his niece Amia. She said he called just to say hello. “He would never hurt a baby. I don’t mind they say he kill the woman or man, but not the baby, I don’t believe that,” Vanessa said. “He liked decorating and going in the bush to hunt, that is why it hard for them to ketch him, he know the bush. 
“Everybody have their good and bad ways and no one would think he was capable of what he is accused of if they met him.” 

She added: “I find he should just give up so they wouldn’t shoot him to kill him, even if he there until he is an old man, I rather that then they riddle him up (with bullets).” Alexander’s mother Mary said her son began acting delinquently after her husband Emmanuel died in 2000. Two years after his father’s death, she said, Alexander was arrested for the first time. 

She said when her son escaped from the Mayaro Magistrates Court on January 31, after he had appeared on charges of kidnapping and robbery, she told him not to come back home. She said she was surprised about what she was hearing her son being accused of. 

She said last week she tried to convince him to surrender but he said he was not ready. Her son, she said, used to attend church regularly and when she saw his picture in the media all she could do was say, “Oh God!”