Residents in the flood-ravaged village of Mafeking spent the better part of their day yesterday cleaning up and throwing out flood-soaked furniture and appliances. Some of them washed and scrubbed their walls and floors themselves, while others were assisted by CEPEP crews. But even as they washed away the remnants of three days of flood waters from their homes, they kept an eye on the weather patterns, fearing a repeat of a disastrous flood of seven years ago. Their fears were magnified as the area remained under Level Two alert as issued by the Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODPM) on Sunday, when rising flood waters washed away almost four miles of the Mayaro/Manzanilla roadway. 

The ODPM also issued a release yesterday saying teams will be sent in to assess the damage today and there will be additional resources sent in to assist the residents. The T&T Guardian visited Mayaro residents yesterday and witnessed some of the clean-up efforts by scores of residents marooned since last Thursday, when the Ortoire River burst its banks after days of persistent rainfall. 
“In 2007 we had a flood something like this. After three days the water went down,” Chrysostom Trace resident Dale Mohammed said. “But the rain keep falling and falling and two days later it was flood again.”

Mohammed and his neighbours looked up at the dark skies with worry and fear as he spoke.
 Over in Inner Mafeking Village, 62-year-old Stanley Myler also recalled the floods of 2007 as he went about his clean-up activities. 
“We did get it back-to-back that time. It wasn’t so high like this time, but we only hoping the rain ease off a little this time,” Myler said. 
His wife, Angela, lamented the late response of emergency personnel, saying, “They come quite Saturday and give we a bag of bread and a case of water, what that could do?” 

Several other residents, including mother of four Annmarie Serano, also complained about the lack of assistance her family received.
 “I buy that two months now, you know how hard that is for me?” she asked as she looked at the living room set she had purchased two months ago as it lay water-logged in the yard. “And we not seeing nobody to help we, to tell we what we could get help to get back.”

‘Level 2 not needed’
Mayaro MP Winston Gypsy Peters yesterday questioned the ODPM’s decision to heighten the alert level for flood-stricken areas in his constituency, noting waters had receded and clean-up efforts were under way in the eastern coast fishing villages. Speaking to the T&T Guardian at the regional corporation sub-office in Radix Village, Mayaro, Peters said residents no longer need to be evacuated from their homes.  

The ODPM issued a release yesterday saying the area was under Level Two alert and more resources would be sent out to Tunapuna, Sangre Grande and Mayaro/Manzanilla, following the collapse of almost four miles of the Mayaro/Manzanilla roadway on Sunday. The release also said teams will be sent in to assess the damage today. 
“What they want to take people to the civic centre (emergency shelter) now for?” Peters asked. “People homes don’t have water any more, they have been given mattresses and will be given more.”

Peters was responding to statements by incident manager of the Diaster Management Unit (DMU), Earl Hernandez, that residents will not be given any more meals or mattresses, but could be evacuated to the shelter because the alert was now level two. 
“I understand what they are doing, but I am MP for the area and I will continue to give out whatever assistance to people that I can."

Game on!

That’s the assurance now being given by the captain of the Soca Warriors, Kenwynne Jones.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian a short while ago, Jones said he was contacted by the Minister of Sport Dr Rupert Griffith early this morning and given an assurance that the national footballers will be paid all outstanding arrears.

"We are happy that they stepped in to sort out the situation. So, as a result of the assurance given we are holding them to their word and game is on.

"We cannot comment further but we are going to wait until we get those cheques in our hands as promised again."

Tonight the T&T Soca Warriors will play in the final against the Jamaica national team, the Reggae Boyz, at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Jamaica.

Asked if he and the team were ready for tonight’s battle for the CFU Caribbean Cup title, Jones said, "Despite all that we have been through, the guys are hyped. We are looking forward to tonight's game because it may be the first and only time that we will win something for T&T. We will be going out to bring back that title."

Last night, Jones and his team said they had decided to boycott the match pending the payment of arrears going back as far as four years. The players said they were frustrated over the situation.

The Soca Warriors are expected to return to T&T tomorrow night.

The surviving two sisters of the Brasso Seco family who were abducted on the night of October 26 were discharged from the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, yesterday, four days after they were rescued from their abductors by police. The T&T Guardian visited the Hibiscus Ward yesterday and was told Felicia, 17, and Jenelle Gonzales, 19, had been discharged just before visiting hours began. 

A close relative said the girls were feeling much better, considering the ordeal they went through. The relative added that the sisters, who have finally been told of the deaths of their loved ones, are now being kept at an undisclosed location under police guard for their safety, given that Azmon Alexander, the man labelled this country’s most wanted and the key suspect in the abduction and murders of the family and their neighbour, is still on the run. 

Police were still hoping the public will assist them in capturing Alexander yesterday. On Monday his mother, Mary, sister Vanessa and  former girlfriend Amelia Hosein appealed to him to surrender, saying they would rather he lived in jail than be killed by police. The teens were taken along with their mother, Irma Rampersad, 49, and Jenelle’s 14-month-old daughter, Shania Amoroso, from their Bleu Road, Brasso Seco, home last month. 

Sometime later, a neighbour, Felix Martinez, 52, also went missing but residents thought he had gone hunting. On November 8 Martinez’s body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag with baby Shania. On November 11 Rampersad’s decomposed body was found near a tree. All three were found in the Brasso Seco forest. Rampersad and Martinez had been strangled and the autopsy on the toddler was inconclusive owing to the advanced stage of decomposition.

DNA tests delay funerals
The funeral for the three will be held after DNA tests confirm their identifies. The samples were sent to the UK last week and it is expected to be another two weeks before the results are known.
The teens were rescued on November 14, three days after their mother’s body was found. They were found in the Lalaja forest in a makeshift camp guarded by two men, who escaped after a shootout with police and soldiers. 

A 17-year-old, who police said was involved in the shootout, surrendered to them the following day. He and five other people, including relatives of the family, are now assisting police with their investigations. Police said they have now extended their search from the Brasso Seco forest to the Arima borough for Alexander. Police say they are working closely with relatives of Alexander in the hope he surrenders. 
 

Police yesterday arrested a 20-year-old man after he stormed into the Scarborough RC School armed with a knife and sexually assaulted a nine-year-old student.

According to police, around 1.30 pm the man walked into the unguarded compound and grabbed the child. 

He then took her to a toilet cubicle where he assaulted her. Other student who saw what occurred called their teachers who notified the police. 

Cpl Cook and PC Henry of the Scarborough Police Station responded, held the man and rescued the child. The girl was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital. School was dismissed early as other students were said to be traumatised by the attack.

In a media release yesterday, Tobago House of Assembly Secretary of the Division of Education, Youth and Sport, Huey Cadette, said a full investigation would be launched and they would work closely with the Roman Catholic Board to ensure the safety of the pupils in future, as that was paramount. 

Cadette said they also were reviewing the security arrangements at all schools on the island and a support team, comprising school supervisors and social workers, would provide counselling to parents, teachers and students. 

The school will remain closed for the remainder of the week as security arrangements are looked at and to facilitate counselling for those who require it. 

Taxi drivers working the Mayaro to Sangre Grande route have increased their fares by $28 a passenger as they now have to use an alternative route after flood waters washed away about four miles of the Manzanilla/Mayaro Road on Sunday.

The hike came even as members of the communities continued their clean-up operations and the Disaster Management Unit of the Ministry of Local Government shut down their operations in Mayaro after the Level Two alert for the eastern community was lifted.

The T&T Guardian spoke to taxi drivers who were awaiting passengers to go to Sangre Grande in Mayaro yesterday and one of them, Gerry Audain, explained the reason behind the price hike. “Well, the fare was $12 when we used the Manzanilla stretch but now we are charging $40 because we have to pass through Rio Claro and Biche to get to Grande,” he said.

Audain said while some customers have complained about the increase others just bear it. “One trip down used to take about 45 minutes on the ‘Manzan’ road. Now it taking us one hour and 45 minutes to reach Grande.”

He said out of the 20 drivers who usually ply the route, only ten have been working since the road was washed away. “Most of the fellas not coming out. They don’t want to work their cars on the bad roads. “For the day now, where we used to make four and five full trips (back and forth), now we lucky to make one,” he said.

Audain said the increase in the fare was also for the convenience passengers are afforded in not having to take multiple taxis to get to Mayaro or Sangre Grande. But passengers using the route, like school teacher Velda Henry, said they did not know how much longer they could afford to pay the steep fares.

Henry, a Food and Nutrition teacher at Guayaguayare Secondary School, who lives in Arima, said her travelling costs have doubled since the increase. “Normally I spend $70 a day on transport, now I spend $130 every single day just to come to work,” she said. 

With an asthmatic daughter to take care of, Henry said the cost was just too high for her to bear. “I don’t have a choice. I have to come to work but now three-quarters of my salary going in travelling,” she lamented. 

During the interview with Henry, a PTSC bus drove into Mayaro, with a sign saying “Mayaro/Sangre Grande.” The PTSC yesterday implemented a free service to Sangre Grande and Mayaro to provide some relief to commuters.

Henry and another commuter, Gloria Marcano, expressed joy upon seeing it, as the bus driver confirmed the service was free. The driver, who did not want to give his name, spoke to the T&T Guardian briefly, explaining that yesterday was the first day of the free service. “It’s only today we started. We are supposed to make five return trips for the day, I think. A lot of people are glad to save that taxi fare,” he said.

Before he was sworn in as the fifth President of the Republic, former judge Anthony Carmona earned over TT$150,000 a month as a sitting judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC). He resigned as a judge on March 18, 2013, the day he assumed his role as President, Commander of the Armed Forces and head of the T&T Parliament.

A source close to the President said Carmona earned €15,000 a month (TT$119,100) as an ICC judge, plus an attractive child dependency allowance, exemption on taxes, travel allowances and an expenditure allowance. His entire family was given diplomatic passports and his wife Reema, who is an economist by profession, was offered a job. He became an ICC judge in 2012. 

The source said despite the payment of the controversial tax-free monthly housing allowance of $28,000 to President Carmona in addition to his current $64,270 tax-free salary and a duty allowance of $9,650 a month tax-free, he is still earning far less than what he earned previously. “He took this post because of his love for his country, because he was earning more than three times the salary paid to the President at that time,” the source added. 

The President is the highest paid public office-holder. The housing allowance given to Carmona has been criticised by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, former prime minister Basdeo Panday, ILP leader Jack Warner, MSJ leader David Abdulah, former minister and judge Herbert Volney, Senior Counsel Martin Daly, former head of the public service Reginald Dumas and former Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman and senior counsel Kenneth Lalla, who say Carmona is not entitled to a housing allowance because he gets state-provided accommodation at Flagstaff Hill, Long Circular.

By letter, dated July 9, 2013, the Chief Personnel Officer, Stephanie Lewis, noted that “as a principle, where an office-holder is provided with accommodation by the State, a housing allowance is not payable for any period during which he/she is provided with such accommodation.” Calls have been made for the CPO to take back the housing allowance.

In a commentary on Monday, Lalla said it was wrong for Carmona to move into Flagstaff and then decide that the accommodation was unsuitable and accept a housing allowance. He also said: “It will appear that there is no provision in law or under the Constitution authorising the Chief Personal Officer to make the payment of a house allowance or any allowance at all to the President.”

The Civil Service Act did not allow the CPO to determine the terms and conditions of service of the President, Lalla said, and neither could the Minister of Public Administration or the Minister of Finance.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has said the SRC, headed by Edward Collier, has a duty to clarify the issue, since he said the CPO, as secretary to the SRC, could not, of her own volition, decide on the allowance and it was a matter for the SRC alone. 

He said Collier’s silence had the potential to bring the office of the CPO and the President into disrepute. Collier has consistently declined to comment. 

How much does PM earn?
According to the SRC report:
• Prime Minister: $59,680 a month, plus tax-free duty allowance of $8,960. 
• Fleet of official cars, fully furnished by the State and manned by a complement of chauffeurs.
• Entitled to a maximum loan of $350,000 at a rate of six per cent an annum repayable over six years.
• Transportation allowance of $6,660 a month.
• Annual travel grant of $36,800.
• Thirty days’ vacation leave. 

Judges’ Earnings:
• Chief Justice: $50,350 a month (tax-free)
• Housing allowance: $28,000.
• Transport allowance: $5,040.
• Justice of Appeal: $42,020 a month (tax-free).
• Housing allowance: $24,000.
• Transport allowance: $4,560.
• Puisne Judge: $37,300 a month (tax-free).
• Housing allowance: $24,000.
• Transport allowance: $4,560. 

These higher Judiciary members are also entitled to:
• Loan up to $350,000 at six per cent an annum repayable over six years.
• Personal chauffeur.
• $200/day subsistence allowance. 

At the time the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) agreed to the President’s Housing allowance in July 2013, the allowance was $15,540 a month and not $28,000 monthly to which the Salaries Review Commission subsequently increased it in March 2014.

The allowance level is contained in a July 7, 2013 correspondence from the CPO to the President’s secretary on the issue of the payment of the allowance to the President. The letter refers to a phone conversation involving the secretary and Angela Siew (a personnel department senior human resource adviser) when clarification was sought on the payment of the allowance.
 
It was specified in Minister of Finance Circular number 4 of 2009 dated August 27 2009 “to his Excellency, the President.” The CPO’s letter stated: “In this regard you should note as a principle where an office holder is provided with accommodation by the State, a housing allowance is not payable for any period during which he/she is provided with such accommodation. “In the case of the Office of the President, the relevant circular provides for official residences which are fully furnished and maintained by the State with the necessary complement of household staff. “Further, in instances where the official residence is not available and suitable alternative accommodation is not provided the housing allowance is payable.”

The CPO further stated: “I note that His Excellency is currently provided with temporary accommodation at Flagstaff Hill pending the completion of renovations to the residence in which he is to be housed and in view of the particular circumstances, the housing allowance of $15,540 per month outlined in the Minister of Finance Circular, referred to above, should be paid to him, only during the period in which he occupies such temporary accommodation. Please be guided accordingly.”

Although the allowance was $15,540 monthly at that time, the SRC’s subsequent recommendation in its 98th report increased the housing allowance to $28,000 monthly. The 98th report was passed in Parliament on March 14, 2014.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has called on SRC head Edward Collier to speak and clarify the issue. Collier was unavailable yesterday. Advice which the AG sought on the issue from the Solicitor General is being awaited.

Finance Minister Larry Howai has made it clear the wording “Minister of Finance” regarding the 2009 circular, does not refer to him and that he was not aware of the allowance issue until it broke recently. 

The circular was issued in the Finance Ministry in 2009 under the former PNM administration and its Finance Minister at the time, to guide on application of the relevant housing and allowance.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday challenged Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to give details of the House Committee parliamentary meeting which Rowley claimed discussed the $28,000 housing allowance being paid to President Anthony Carmona.

Ramlogan, who spoke to the media at his office yesterday, also called on Rowley to provide the minutes of the meeting and explain to the public why he had remained silent on the issue until now. “Did he want to let the matter die a natural death? Did he not see anything wrong with it?” Ramlogan asked. 

He added: “You claim your party knew about and raised this for consideration by the Government. “It is clearly a blatant falsehood. If this matter was raised, one would expect it to be documented and that Rowley himself would have spoken out on it, as he is obliged to in the public interest, and bring it to the nation’s attention. Instead we learned about it through the media.” 

Ramlogan said Rowley was operating under a very reckless political modus operandi. He added: “It is reminiscent of what he claims to have done when he revealed the so-called, fake e-mails. He kept it for six months. He was looking for something to say at the PNM convention because he had precious little else to say of note.”

Ramlogan said Rowley needed to give details as to when the housing allowance was raised before the House Committee. “I want him to produce the minutes of the House Committee to prove it was raised and I want him to say the date it was raised,” he added. 

He asked: “I want him to tell us, if it was raised and not addressed to his satisfaction, what did he do, as someone who aspires to leadership of this nation? What did he do to bring the matter to the nation’s attention, to say something was wrong and therefore we should deal with it? “I ask this question to Dr Rowley: If the media didn’t break this story, would you have remained silent?”

Former AG to advise Govt on allowance
Ramlogan also revealed that he had retained the services of former Attorney General Russel Martineau to provide legal advice on the housing allowance.

The Ministry of Finance referred the issue to the AG on Friday.

Ramlogan said after consulting the Solicitor General, the decision was made to seek independent legal advice. “Suggestions have been made and I am considering those suggestions. We are speaking to  people to see whether they will be prepared to advise the State on the matter. “One person who has in fact agreed to advise us is former AG Russel Martineau, SC,” he added.

Ramlogan said some people under consideration had been disqualified after speaking out publicly. He said Kenneth Lalla, SC, former chairman of the Public Service Commission, was one of them.

The Integrity Commission has terminated its probe into the Tobago House of Assembly’s construction of its Milshirv administrative complex, citing insufficient grounds for continuing the investigation.
Commission registrar Martin Farrell notified the THA’s legal representatives of the development on November 7.   

The Milshirv issue has been the PP administration’s main prong of attack against the THA in the THA elections in January last year. Under the arrangement, the PNM-controlled THA bought a three-acre parcel of land at Shirvan Road/Claude Noel Highway intersection from Dankett Ltd for $12 million.

Reports were that the THA then leased the land to Milshirv Ltd at a rate of $10 annually for 199 years. Under the proposal, Milshirv would then build the administrative complex at an estimated cost of $143 million and then lease/rent it to the THA at a monthly rate of $1.2 million for 20 years. 

At the end of the 20 years, or at three-year intervals during the period, the THA would take ownership of the complex, according to the proposal. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan had referred the matter to the Integrity Commission for investigation with specific reference to the actions of THA Chief Secretary Orville London and Secretary of Finance Dr Anselm London to see if any charges could be laid. 

A letter also was sent to acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams. The Integrity Commission launched an investigation in 2012 when it sought information from the THA and the THA had agreed to comply.

Now the Integrity Commission has told the THA’s legal representatives it had investigated the matter and after examining all the evidence and legal submissions by the concerned parties, it had determined there were insufficient grounds for continuing the probe and had decided to terminate it. 

Section 34 (6) of the Integrity in Public Life Act says where, during the course of an investigation, the commission is satisfied there are insufficient grounds for continuing an investigation or that a complaint is frivolous, vexatious or not made in good faith, it may terminate the investigation.

In May, the court ruled that the THA did not require the permission of the Finance Minister to enter into special financing arrangements for its construction projects.  AG Ramlogan said yesterday Government had appealed that decision.

On the termination of the probe, Ramlogan said the entire matter was still before the court and he had no comment until the Appeal Court adjudicated on it.

He added Government had discontinued the case against Milshirv to allow the project to proceed as its legal advice was that Milshirv was an innocent third party and if the THA did not get permission from the ministry, it was not grounds to penalise a third party. 

But, he said, the question of whether the ministry’s permission was required in such arrangements was still an issue.

A THA official said yesterday the Integrity Commission’s statement signalled “the last failed attempt by Government” to stop the project. 

Government, Opposition and President of the Senate Timothy Hamel-Smith paid tribute to the late former independent Senator Michael Mansoor yesterday.

He died of cancer on November 11 after being ill for some time. Government Senator Bhoe Tewarie said the country had lost a loyal son and dedicated citizen in Mansoor. “He always conducted himself with dignity and decorum, just as he always anchored his presentations to this honourable House in substance,” Tewarie said.

He added Mansoor was a doer and a high achiever who tended to be task-oriented and set high standards for himself and others. He said he was a man who was about family but also spoke about the country, about productivity, harnessing of talent and higher national objectives.

Opposition Senator Camille Robinson-Regis, who served in the Senate during Mansoor’s tenure, said he was more than an Independent Senator and businessman. “He was much bigger than that. What really captivates me about Michael Mansoor is that I remember him as being someone whose leadership style was calm and pragmatic and as a younger senator he was someone from the
Independent bench that we could look to for leadership, calm and pragmatism.”

She said Mansoor was a good template for young men and women to look up to. “In addition,” she said, “Michael Mansoor influenced not only this space but other spaces in T&T and in the Caribbean region.”

Independent Senator Helen Drayton said he was a man of humility and compassion and was a lover of Carnival, playing mas, pan and collecting local and Caribbean art.

Hamel-Smith said Mansoor lived a life of dedicated service. He added: “Michael was one of the most honourable, ethical and distinguished gentlemen with whom I had the pleasure of working.
“He was a true patriot of T&T. All of his efforts were dedicated to the development of institutions and people of T&T.”

The country’s most wanted man, Azmon Alexander, is eluding capture by dressing like a woman, complete with wig and clean-shaven face, and is being assisted by relatives who live along the Blanchisseuse Road. According to senior police sources, Alexander eluded them as recently as Monday. He was seen along the Blanchisseuse Road by members of a search team but escaped by running through a nearby river. Police said he was also being helped and fed by relatives who lived near where he was last seen. Alexander is wanted in connection with the abduction of a Brasso Seco family and their neighbour and the murder of two family members and the neighbour.

On October 26, Irma Rampersad, 49, her daughters — Felicia, 17, and Jennelle 19 — and Jenelle’s 14-month-old daughter Shania Amorosso were snatched from their Bleu Road, Brasso Seco, home. A few days after they were reported missing, their neighbour, Felix Martinez, 52, also went missing but residents thought he had gone hunting. 

On November 8, Martinez’s body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag with baby Shania. On November 11, Rampersad’s decomposed body was found near a tree. All three were found in the Brasso Seco forest. 

Rampersad and Martinez had been strangled but the autopsy on the toddler was inconclusive owing to the advanced stage of decomposition. Felicia and Jennelle were rescued by a rescue team on November 14.

Own family afraid
Speaking with the T&T Guardian at her Blanchisseuse Road home yesterday, Alexander’s cousin, Daniella Charles, denied the family was assisting Alexander. 

She said she would not feed her cousin as she too is fearful of him, adding she has children and would never jeopardise their safety by harbouring him. 

Charles said she was shocked when she heard of what her cousin was being accused. She said since he was a teen he was a “troubled boy,” but noted that outside of his court matters he was “always a loving person.”  

At Goat Hill, By-pass Road, Arima, where some of Alexander’s other relative live, they too denied helping him. 

The three women who spoke with the media did not want to be identified, saying they were concerned for their safety due to recent threats to their lives. They said they heard Alexander was in the area but pointed the media back to the Blanchisseuse Road. 

The women, relatives of the 17-year-old who surrendered to police last Saturday, said for as long they knew Alexander he was always being sought by police and they do not like the negative attention their relation to him was now drawing for the family. 

The women and Charles called on Alexander to surrender to police. 

On Monday Alexander’s mother, Mary, sister Vanessa and former girlfriend Amelia Hosein also appealed to him to surrender. 

Up to late last night, police were still interrogating the 17-year-old they took into custody recently. 

Police said the teen told them he spent some time with Felicia and Jennelle at the makeshift camp they were rescued from and they appeared “normal.” 

He claimed Alexander was romantically involved with one of the teens and said he smoked marijuana with Alexander while at the camp.

Suspect Released
One of the eight people held in connection with the case, Anthony Sylvester, told the T&T Guardian yesterday he hoped Alexander got “whatever is coming to him” if he was found guilty of the offences.  

Speaking at his Bleu Road home with his father, Peter, the 19-year-old father of one said he spent a total of 14 days in police custody after being arrested twice in relation to the matter. 

Sylvester said during the most recent arrest, he was held for 11 days and released on Tuesday. During the time he was interviewed twice. 

Sylvester is the step-brother of the teenaged girls and told the T&T Guardian he first saw Alexander in early September, eight months after he had escaped from police custody, at the Mayaro Magistrates Court on January 31. 

Sylvester said police took DNA samples from him. He said the last time he saw or spoke with the family was on October 26, while playing cards with the teenage daughters and chatting with his stepmother. 

He said he left to attend a party in the village and returned home the following day and learned of their disappearance when he awoke hours later. He said he believed it took several people to carry away the family.  

“I real sorry to hear what go on, me and them was real good. The thought never come to my mind that miss Irma would die. She used to treat everybody good. “I want to see them criminals get whatever coming to them. That was a devil act. Is not two or three people them leave to grieve is the whole village,”  Sylvester added.

The suspect held in connection with the sexual assault of a nine-year-old student at the Scarborough Roman Catholic School on Tuesday is due to appear in court today. The man, 19, will appear, even as the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) continues to improve security measures at the school. 

THA Secretary for Education, Youth and Sport, Huey Cadette, who also has a child at the school, said counsellors from the THA and Police Service conducted sessions with traumatised teachers, parents and students yesterday.

The school will remain closed until tomorrow to allow contractors to put up fencing. Cadette said plans to beef up security at all schools on the island were also underway, noting this process had been started about a week ago. “It is unfortunate this incident ended up happening before we were able to put things in place. This reminds us in a very vivid way the responsibility we have as a division and therefore to ensure that we operate in a very timely manner,” Cadette added.

Meanwhile, in a radio interview yesterday, T&T Unified Teachers Association president Devanand Sinanan said Scarborough RC, like most primary schools in Tobago, did not have security officers.
“Unfortunately, it has to take these incidences to bring the point home to the relevant authorities that we need to ensure every single school is properly secured, both in terms of fencing as well as guards posted at the gate,” he said.

Police said the girl was assaulted during a visit to the bathroom. Students told police a man, armed with a knife and wearing a stocking over his head, entered at the back of the compound. When the girl entered the bathroom he locked her into a cubicle and assaulted her.

School principal Phillip Roachford was alerted and ran into the bathroom, wrestled with the man and took away the knife. The man was then arrested by police. Sinanan said he was grateful for Roachford’s intervention. “Thank God he (principal) is a big guy and he was able to break down the door and literally wrestle with the perpetrator to rescue the child,”  he added.

There have been 164 confirmed cases of chikungunya and 2,000 suspected cases in T&T, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan says. Replying to Opposition MP Dr Amery Browne’s questions in Parliament yesterday, Khan said the 164 cases had been confirmed by testing. 

He said a specific criterion for ChikV was swelling of the joints. Non-specific symptoms were fever, joint pain, malaise and rashes. Khan said people aged 20 to 30 experienced joint pains for two to three days while older patients suffered pains for longer.

He said there were other viruses with similar conditions to ChikV and the treatment for all was the same: Analgesics (painkillers) and rest. Khan also said Cabinet had agreed on a total project budget of $1,567,536,356 for the Point Fortin hospital construction. He said no date had yet been set for the sod-turning ceremony.

Industrial Court judges yesterday ruled that the termination of 68 workers by state-owned oil company National Petroleum (NP) was “harsh and oppressive” and ordered the company to reinstate them. The court also ordered NP to pay the workers all their salary and benefits to yesterday’s date by the end of January. The company also was ordered to pay each worker $40,000 in damages before the year ends. But less than an hour later, NP said it would challenge the ruling.  

In October, NP fired the 68 workers, who it said had engaged in an illegal work stoppage from August 13 to 15, 2013. The 68 were among 86 employees the company had initially suspended following the work stoppage. NP staff had at the time been protesting what they claimed was an attempt by management to privatise the company. The walkout also highlighted the employees’ concerns over management’s award of a $394,000 contract to a private company to do loading on the gantry. 

Yesterday’s judgment said the disciplinary hearing conducted by NP did not meet the minimum standards of natural justice in significant respects and was not conducted in accordance with the principle of good industrial relations practices. Yesterday, men and women, wearing their Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) shirts, cried tears of joy as Industrial Court president Deborah Thomas-Felix delivered the judgment.

Outside the court they sang union songs and congratulated each other on their victory, after spending more than a year in uncertainty. Clayton Legendre, an employee of the company for the past 29 years, said he had done a lot of odd jobs in order to support his family. “It wasn’t easy. I am overwhelmed. It was very hurtful what the company did and for a while I had an anger in my heart for them,” Legendre said.

He said he would be happy to put on his clothes and attend work at NP’s Pointe-a-Pierre branch today. “This action was an historic action taken by the management of a state enterprise,” said OWTU president general Ancel Roget, who celebrated with the workers. “We can hardly remember a situation where a state enterprise, which is supposed to set an example of good industrial relations practices, would have fired, without just cause, some 68 workers.”

Roget said the action was vengeful and maintained the decision was taken on instructions from the Cabinet. “Justice prevailed today. The workers are going to report for active duty tomorrow morning. We have always held that the management was wrong,” he added. Roget, responding to NP’s intention to contest the ruling, said: “The workers will present themselves to work and the court ruled it was to be without loss of any benefits. I don’t know what the company will do tomorrow (today).”

He said he expected the company to respond in the way it did. “They are attempting to frustrate the will of the court, the rule of law and the workers and their union, none of which will happen,” he added.

NP not happy
NP yesterday said it would appeal the court’s judgment and the company management up to yesterday evening was meeting to discuss the matter. In a release, the company said it did not believe the rationale for the court’s decision took into account all the facts and factors that constituted “good industrial relations.”

Kesar firing going to court too
Speaking about the dismissal of another union member yesterday, Roget said Trinmar branch president Ernesto Kesar, who was fired for being absent from work for just over four hours without permission on October 17, also would have his day in court.

“This ruling should send a message to employers that there is an institution called the Industrial Court that adjudicates in fairness and whether the rulings be for them or the union it would be fair,” he said. Roget called on NP management to tender its resignation or be fired immediately as it had taken “vindictive and spiteful action” against the union.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said, thus far, allegations contained in an e-mail sent to her by junior Works Minister Stacy Roopnarine on a contract bidding issue have not been evidenced in any regard.

“It may well be the junior minister was not apprised of all of the facts. There appeared to be no (ministerial) interference and no award has been made to date...the process is ongoing,” Persad-Bissessar said in Parliament yesterday.

She said she made enquiries and the concerns were addressed “to my satisfaction at this time.”

Persad-Bissessar was speaking during Prime Minister’s question time in response to questions from the Opposition, including PNM leader Keith Rowley and ILP leader Jack Warner, on allegations about the bidding process for the Curepe Interchange.

Rowley asked the PM about a letter Roopnarine had written about the award of a tender by Nidco on behalf of the ministry and whether the evaluation process was interfered with by the minister (Suruj Rambachan) to the point where the junior minister expressed concern about how the evaluation and award were progressing.

Persad-Bissessar said Roopnarine did not write her a letter on behalf of the ministry, but said: “However, the Minister of State did send an e-mail in a personal capacity to me, whereupon I made enquiries as to the process, as to what was taking place. I was given indications on what the process was.”

The PM said one firm came in as the first-ranked bidder and others as second and third bidders. 

She noted the PNM’s Diego Martin North East MP also had noted at a previous point that the first-ranked bidder was the highest and the amount it tendered was over $100 million more than the second-ranked bidder.

She said the Cabinet-approved amount for the job was about $308 million. But the first-ranked bid was above that by almost $100 million. 

Persad-Bissessar said: “I raised it with the Works Minister. The ministry is the client of Nidco and Nidco had called in the first-ranked bidder for negotiations and those negotiations saw the first-ranked bidder dropping their prices somewhat but still way in excess, pursuant to their roles. 

“The second-ranked bidder, who came in much less than the first, and the third-ranked bidder were called in for negotiations. “As far as I am aware that process is ongoing.”

On further PNM questions on alleged ministerial interference at board level in the evaluation process, the PM replied: “I have answered those by telling you the process and what happened on receipt of the e-mail from the Oropouche West MP.

“I had enquiries made and from those enquiries, there appeared to be no interference in the evaluation process and indeed no award has been made to date.”

On Warner’s queries, the PM said she was not aware of any promises by Nidco and repeated: “No award has been made and the process is ongoing and that’s the state of play at this point in time.”

On PNM questions about the ministerial role in evaluations and the funding process for tenders and award of contracts by Nidco, Persad-Bissessar replied: “The ministry is Nidco’s client. Nidco deals with the tender and award of contracts and the Works Minister has no role in that regard.”

Asked finally by Rowley whether, after the junior minister had written her, the PM could say the junior minister had no cause for concern, Persad-Bissessar replied: 

“Thus far, the allegations contained in the e-mail sent by the Oropouche West MP, those allegations have not been evidenced in any regard. 

“It may well be the junior minister was not apprised of all of the facts. Perhaps it might suit you very well, as we are all entitled to answer questions, that you direct deeper questioning to the honourable MP. 

“But from my point of view and from enquiries that have been made, the concerns were addressed—were raised and were addressed—to my satisfaction at this time.”

Works Minister Suruj Rambachan declined to be interviewed, saying: “Not today.” 

Junior Minister Roopnarine, when asked for a comment on the e-mail and contract issue before the sitting, said she had no comment “at this time.”

Hefty salary for CAL CEO
Caribbean Airlines’ CEO Michael DiLollo is collecting US$33,000 (TT$205,000) a month remuneration package, although the state-owned company continues to struggle. In response to a question from Independent Liberal party (ILP) leader Jack Warner’s query yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said Canadian DiLollo is collecting a US$28,000 salary plus a US$5,000 housing allowance.
Meanwhile, the PM said Government was also checking on civil remedies available for recovery of the $34 million paid for a LifeSport contract.

Fielding other Opposition queries yesterday, including whether the LifeSport programme warranted a commission of enquiry, she said the LifeSport file had been sent to the DPP and Police Commissioner and Government was awaiting their findings. In addition, she said, she had asked the Attorney General, through the Solicitor General, to see if any civil remedies were available to the State for recovery of the funds. She said the civil and criminal fronts were the only two to undertake that The PM said no one should be paid under a LifeSport heading.
 

Marabella resident Akimoo Roger says his son, daughter and wife are still sick and is calling on state-owned oil company Petrotrin to release medical reports and provide compensation for residents. In August, oil escaped from Petrotrin’s Pointe-a-Pierre refinery when one of its tanks (MP 6) failed and the oil found its way into the Guaracara River
.
Residents complained of illnesses and dead fish in the river and Petrotrin responded by placing oil booms in the area and cleaning up while treating residents at its Augustus Long Hospital. Four months later, residents are desperate. One woman, Wendy Brewster, who stood on Wrightson Road, outside the Parliament building, wearing a gas mask, said since the spill she had problems breathing, liver problems and was seeing a doctor for several other health issues.

She added: “For about two months I tried to remain in Marabella but I kept getting sick and eventually I had to move out of the area and into my brother’s apartment.\\“I have asked for my medical records to show to another doctor and the Augustus Long Hospital refuses to give it to me.”

Brewster said whenever rain fell, oil rose to the surface of the river. None of the other residents were able to move out as they say they have nowhere to go. They live on Battoo Avenue, Marabella, and only a river separates them from oil tanks owned14 by Petrotrin.

They raised concern yesterday over the state of the remaining oil tanks, fearful that at any moment things could get worse. They say they have not received any compensation and want to be relocated, as they fear their environment is not safe.

Foreign Service officers of various levels and new ambassadors are heading T&T’s missions in the UK, Canada, India, Costa Rica and the United Nations mission in New York, according to information from Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran.

Replying to Opposition queries in Parliament yesterday, Dookeran listed a number of heads of missions who have been recalled over the past three years. This includes former high commissioner to the UK Garvin Nicholas and Rodney Charles, T&T’s representative at the permanent mission to the UN in New York. 

Dookeran said both resigned, receive no emoluments and are now back home. Nicholas is UNC’s Diego Martin East “caretaker” and Charles is the UNC’s communications spokesman.
Dookeran listed those recalled from missions. 

They included Razia Ali (ambassador at the Caracas Embassy), recalled in June 2011, and Therese Baptiste-Cornelis (of the permanent UN mission in Geneva), who resigned in September 2012.

Also recalled were Dennis Francis (ambassador to the UN in Geneva) who was required to assist the ministry in T&T from October 2011 and Chandradath Singh (of the New Delhi High Commission) who was reassigned as ambassador to China in March 2014.

Dookeran listed foreign service officers (FSOs), currently manning the missions that people have left. 

These include Candica Shade in Costa Rica, who is on maternity leave and being replaced by Colin James. 

Dookeran said financial attache Jennifer Siblal is in charge of the mission until James’ arrival on November 23.

In London, Tedwin Herbert is holding the fort. In Ottawa, Venessa Ramhit Ramroop is in charge. Dookeran said Haseeb Mohammed was heading the India mission and in New York, ambassador Eden Charles is in charge. 

Dookeran said all the officers were suitable to manage Government’s business.

Missions without heads
• Costa Rica.
• London High Commission.
• Ottawa High Commission. 
• New Delhi High Commission.
• Permanent mission to the UN in NY.

The Mayaro-Manzanilla flood damage is far more extensive than initially thought, Works and Transport Minister Suruj Rambachan admitted yesterday. As such, Government will be transporting pumps into the area to assist in siphoning out flood waters out of the Nariva Swamp area, which were still relatively high up to yesterday, and the Defence Force’s Engineering Battalion will also provide assistance in the exercise from today.

At yesterday’s Government press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Rambachan said for the first time ministry officials were able yesterday to traverse the areas and the damage was much more extensive than believed from preliminary visits.  In one area, he said, approximately half a kilometre of road was completely destroyed, in another 450 metres were destroyed and in one area 950 metres were “dishevelled.” 

He added: “We’ll have to completely reconstruct about four kilometres of the roadway. “The difficulty we are facing is the amount of water still flowing from the Nariva Swamp onto the road and getting into the seaside. It’s a constant flow.” 

Today, officials would try to enter the swamp to see if the river had breached any areas and whether the water now flowing was really from the river that had somehow changed its course, he said.  Rambachan said the Director of Highways believed the constant flow of water they have seen all week could not only be coming from just the swamp. "We are also teaming up with the engineering corps of the army to use their equipment and personnel to help do a more detailed survey, particularly in the swamp areas,” he said.

Equipment moved in
The ministry had moved equipment into the area, including a big pump and was seeking three more immediately to pump water over the road and into the sea, he said. There were two excavators on site to help control the water coming from the swamp, he added. Rambachan said parts of the road could still be protected. 

The ministry’s first objective was to connect Manzanilla and Mayaro and examine building a roadway to attach to the existing road that survived on the edge of the swamp, he added. But there would be some displacement of the energy sector as its heavy equipment could not pass along the roadway, he noted.

He said even when the new roadway was started, they may not be able to use it unless the ministry completed the reconstruction of the existing road. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Rambachan said, had mandated that the needs of all affected should be taken care of.

Mayaro MP Winston Peters left the Cabinet meeting yesterday to go to the area to further assess people’s needs and ensure agencies deal with it. Rambachan said the Government was engaged in several coastal protection programmes, tendered this year up to $351 million. 

Two are in Manzanilla and one at the Shore of Peace on the southwest coast. He said T&T was losing between two and four metres of land annually and in Cedros up to four metres.
“We’ll have to intensify efforts in this area,” Rambachan said.

Local Content Chamber president Lennox Sirjuesingh has taken issue with the announcement that a Danish firm is being considered to address the collapse of the Manzanilla/Mayaro road. Works and Infrastructure Minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan and Director of Highways Roger Ganesh, according to media reports, are hoping to get the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) to address and find a permanent solution to the collapse of the road, the main artery between Sangre Grande and Mayaro. 

On Sunday, a large portion of the road collapsed after floodwaters and high tides undermined the foundation. But yesterday, Sirjuesingh expressed outrage that locals were not being given a chance.
“I am shocked to hear that. There is nothing from Golconda to Point Fortin that we cannot do, yet it has been given to a foreign contractor. In this case I am hearing that we are not even being given an opportunity to bid,” he said.

DHI, according to media reports, was instrumental in solving various problems in New Orleans when the US port city was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. For this reason, the ministry is considering the firm to address the Manzanilla road collapse. “Who determines that this Danish or foreign firm is capable and we are not? And in such a short space of time?” Sirjuesingh asked. “You cannot deny local content, you are doing that at your own peril. The world is not sitting down and taking this kind of biased award of contracts again. “Local content is a right of the people and it is the right for our contractors to be given an equal opportunity.” 

Board of Engineering T&T member and local engineer Mark Francois shared Sirjuesingh’s concerns. “There is absolutely no need to bring in expertise from outside the region to deal with this and we have people here who are competent to deal with it,” Francois said. Francois said when DHI worked in New Orleans a vast majority of the work was done by the US army’s corps of engineers. 
He said in the Manzanilla project local engineers should take the lead role and foreigners should be brought in only to fill any gaps in the local expertise. 

Having committed no crime, faced no judge or jury, an Arima family is now in jail. Unlike the Maximum Security Prison, their holding cells are not located behind high walls and barbed wire fences but their own home.

Forced to remain inside, their doors locked and travelling in packs of at least three when they do venture outside, the Charles family at Goat Hill, Arima, yesterday said that since their cousin Azmon Alexander was named the main suspect in the disappearance and murder of members of a Brasso Seco family and their neighbour, they stay indoors.

Speaking at their home yesterday the family, mostly female, said: “Is like we living in jail. Up here used to be so nice, the place not safe again because it have criminals on the run.“We scared, everybody just scared and disappointed about the whole thing.”

The criminals, they claim, include Alexander, who has eluded capture since January 31 when he escaped from the Mayaro Magistrates Court when he had appeared on kidnapping and robbery charges.

Alexander is wanted in connection with the abduction of a Brasso Seco family and their neighbour and the murders of two family members and their neighbour. 

On October 26, Irma Rampersad, 49, her daughters—Felicia, 17, and Jennelle 19—and Jenelle’s 14-month-old daughter Shania Amorosso were snatched from their Bleu Road, Brasso Seco, home. 

A few days after they were reported missing, their neighbour, Felix Martinez, 52, also went missing but residents thought he had gone hunting. 

The family said after their 17-year-old relative was arrested by police in connection with the disappearance and murder, they have been afraid of strange cars passing. 

The family said during the day they stay indoors and only go outside to entertain the media, whenever they come. The family asked that their home not be photographed. 

 Suspect’s mother speaks
The mother of the 17-year-old who surrendered to police one day after the two sisters were rescued said her son showed up frightened and dirty. The 38-year-old mother of five said her son was not seen or heard from days before he surfaced, muddy and tired. The woman had two sons arrested in connection with the abduction of the five and murder of the three. The older son, who is 19, a man and a woman were released on Tuesday.

Yesterday she said she is tired. She said the entire ordeal has left her drained and she no longer finds joy in life. “My sister tell me look (name called) and I didn’t believe because he was in Paria. 
“He was missing for a while and we thought something had happen to him and we prayed he would come out safe. “He come to the back of the house and when I look I see my son dragging. He was crying. I was in shock,” the woman said of her last encounter with her child. The woman said her son told her to call the police and told the entire family not to go outside, especially his little nieces and cousins. 
After a meal of rice and stewed beef with potatoes, the teen took a bath and was picked up by the police. Since then he has been at the Arima Police Station assisting officers with their investigations.  
The woman said she was hurt to learn what happened to Rampersad and her family, since she worked with both her and Gail, Rampersad’s firstborn. “This is not real. This is like a movie. I can’t come to pass with this at all,” she said, adding that everything is now in God’s hands.