Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali also addressed the topic of “ageing infrastructure,” previously mentioned by him, Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine and Petrotrin chairman Lindsay Gillette in the wake of the December 2013 oil spills and their relapses in 2014. He said it would take $8 billion “to upgrade all our current assets. “All these issues have served to put a significant strain on the company’s net income. The net loss for last fiscal 2013/2014 was $346 million,” he said. 

This contrasts with the $106.7 million total comprehensive income for the year ended September 30, 2013; $421.8 million for the same period in 2012; and $2.7 billion in 2011. He said: “Due to the company’s unfavourable financial position, our current wage offer is zero per cent for each year of the period under negotiation (from 2011 to 2014, or 2012 to 2015 depending on the agreement).

“Even with the proposed zero per cent increase, employees would have enjoyed an adjustment to their salaries through Cost of Living Allowance (Cola) payments, ranging from 11 to 19 per cent, depending on where the job was pegged on the salary scale, with an average increase of 15 per cent during the period. 

“This has cost the company approximately $226 million. Petrotrin continues to pay its employees a very competitive compensation package that is superior to the vast majority of workers in the country. “Let us all continue to rally together to achieve our targets and ensure Petrotrin’s long-term viability, to secure our future, Petrotrin's future and the future of our nation.”

In a press release yesterday, Petrotrin accused the union of refusing to recognise the company’s financial constraints in the ongoing negotiations. Noting loses incurred, falling oil prices and the fact that the company would have to implement cost-cutting measures in future, Petrotrin said entertaining the union’s proposal could threaten the viability of its operations.

A new home for boys was opened on Nelson Street yesterday, eight years after the home’s first building was destroyed by fire in 2007. The Credo Drop-In and Residential Development Centre officially opened yesterday. It has been in operation since March. It offers shelter to homeless boys, a homework centre for the community and has recently started its first adult programme, a hairdressing course for women.

Executive director of Credo, Sr Roberta O’Flaherty, said she felt rebuilding the centre, which cost $8 million, was necessary for the country and the community. She recalled an eight-year-old boy from the community who knocked on the door of the previous building one day and asked if he could live there. O’Flaherty said over the years numerous children who had found themselves on the streets through difficult circumstances had come to the home where they had received help.

“These socially displaced boys and girls are really very good children but they go to the streets because of their circumstances,” she added. She said the home offered academic, technical and psychological development for the children. “The aim is to get young people away from drugs, gangs and crime on the streets,” O’Flaherty said. The home was built with funds accessed from the government as well as private corporate partners.

“This is not an easy era for children. The odds seem stacked against them,” she said. Minister in the Ministry of Gender and Youth Development Raziah Ahmed said Government would exhaust all resources to ensure young people were taken care of and their rights were upheld. 

Success story
One of the boys, Brandon (not his real name), at the home described the centre as a safe place for young children. He said he had been in orphanages for as long as he remembered and had never known his parents. He said he had dropped out of two schools and ended up at the Youth Training Centre (YTC) where he was given an option of serving time or going to Credo Centre.

Bramdon added: “I chose Credo Centre and saw two ladies with big smiles and I wondered why they were smiling. “I have been in Credo Centre for eight months and I feel stable for the first time in my life. I am in Servol where I am doing three trades and I will be doing CXC next year.” Brandon was one of a group of young people who expressed gratitude to the centre.

Former Law Association head Martin Daly, SC, has welcomed Integrity Commission chairman Zainool Hosein’s decision to resign as head of the Retired Judges’ Association. Hosein, who was sworn in on Friday, originally dismissed objections to his decision to retain his other post, as he said there was no conflict of interest between his being Integrity Commission chairman and head of the association. 

On Tuesday Justice Clebert Brooks, secretary of the association, issued a media release announcing Hosein’s resignation. Yesterday Daly, in a brief statement said: “It turns out the media was speaking good English and he eventually understood it.”

After being sworn in, Hosein refused to answer repeated questions from the media on the issue after he said there was no conflict of interest, accusing them of being unable to understand English. Hosein did not give a reason this week for his change of heart. Yesterday People’s National Movement (PNM) public relations officer Faris Al-Rawi said he could not comment on Hosein’s decision in the absence of a reason being given for his resignation.

He added: “Mr Justice Hosein’s resignation from the Retired Judges’ Association without any explanation as to the reason for same really leaves this issue in a vacuum. “It would be irresponsible of me to make any comment one way or the other on the issue unless more information is had.”

More info:
Last week the PNM cited a possible conflict of interest in the former Appeal Court judge’s presiding over matters involving Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner. The party’s complaint centred on the fact that Hosein was one of three legal experts who gave Warner a legal opinion on the Concacaf ethics report by Sir David Simmons in April 2013. The post became vacant after Ken Gordon left office on October 31 at the end of his three-year term.

Opposition Whip Marlene McDonald says if former prime minister and San Fernando East MP Patrick Manning believed he could properly serve constituents, then he had every right to be part of the screening process. She was speaking to the media yesterday after the opening of the Credo Centre, Nelson Street, Port-of-Spain. The centre is a home and drop-in centre for socially displaced boys.

“If Mr Manning believes he has the wherewithal to serve, then the Constitution gives him such right,” McDonald said. Earlier this week, former Chaguanas East MP Mustapha Abdul-Hamid told San Fernando East constituents Manning had said if his health was good and the constituency approached him, he would consider contesting the seat.

“The policy of the PNM and our constitution is very clear that once you receive one nomination, you are entitled to be screened, whether you are fit or unfit will be determined by the screening committee, meeting together collectively,” McDonald said. Manning has not spoken in Parliament since his stroke in January 2012. McDonald could not recall whether he had voted on any recent legislation.

She refused to comment on his physical ability to represent San Fernando East in Parliament but said his constituents had the answer. She said: “When they selected Mr Manning and Mr Manning went through the screening process, I believe they were satisfied and they voted resoundingly for Mr Manning, and from where I sit, I think that Mr Manning represented his constituents very well.

“Who will determine whether he continues would be his constituents and the screening committee.” Over the years, she added, Manning had been a very worthy MP and his constituency was one of the most formidable. The party’s screening committee is set to meet on December 1 to consider nominees for the seat. 

Chanting and bearing placards, teachers protested yesterday outside the Office of the Chief Personnel Officer,  St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, demanding salary increases. Spokesman for the group, second vice-president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai said teachers were fed up of receiving improper salaries and threatened to take further action when the new school term resumed in January.

“TTUTA will like to settle the negotiations as quickly as possible and if this is not done the protest actions are going to intensify and come January 2015 we cannot guarantee a smooth functioning of schools when the new term begins,” Doodhai said. He said members of TTUTA’s general council were protesting over salary negotiations over the 2011 to 2014 period.

“The latest offer by the CPO has been rejected by the general council and this is a means of expressing our displeasure at what has been offered to TTUTA. “Teachers are currently working on 2011 salaries and we are fast approaching 2015. “The CPO indicated a few months ago she was willing to settle this particular rounds of negotiations as quickly as possible. What we have found is she has been stalling the negotiations,” Doodhai said.

He said while Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh was praising the improvements in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (Cape) he had failed to recognise the call by teachers for salary increases.

“The improvements in these exams are testimony to the fact that teachers are hard workers and they are doing a fantastic job. Teachers need to be rewarded for those improvements in productivity and we are calling on the authorities to come better with an offer,” Doodhai added. Asked to outline the proposal made by the union, Doodhai said it was not a specific percentage.

“We follow a complex procedure where we find the market value of comparable jobs and we try to get figures that are comparable in the external labour market. We look at the comparison based on the job requirements, qualifications and experience,” Doodhai said. Calls to the cellphones of Gopeesingh went unanswered yesterday.

Bidders for the heavily-contested Curepe interchange project may get a second chance at the multi-million-dollar roadway construction as the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) is now reportedly eyeing other options after failing to persuade the second-ranked contractor to reduce its bid price. 

The T&T Guardian was informed yesterday that Nidco may be forced to quash the entire tender process for the project because talks with Lutchmeesingh Transport Company (LTC) are faring no better than those with the first-ranked bidder, Vinci Construction, which also refused to drop its bid price.

Nidco is still in talks with LTC for some adjustment on the price and schedule of work but there has been no resolution to date and negotiators believe it will end in a stalemate, the T&T  Guardian was told.

Lutchmeesingh Transport was second in the tender process and was among the three companies shortlisted for the interchange project. But with talks failing to find middle ground, the already protracted project will be further stalled if the contract cannot be awarded and the whole tender process is revisited.

Nidco president Dr Carson Charles yesterday confirmed talks with LTC were at a stalemate and  Nidco now had two options. "At this stage there are two things that could happen: Either we proceed to the third-ranked bidder (GLF-Coosals) or the whole thing is quashed and we start over," Charles said. He noted that there was no set deadline date to begin the project or to complete negotiations with contractors.

Protracted Wrangling
LTC reportedly bid $313 million for the contract while Vinci, the number one choice in the tendering process, had reduced its initial $522 million price to $442 million after Nidco negotiated for a reduction. 

Nidco entered into talks with LTC after Vinci refused to move under $442 million. Charles said yesterday the scrutiny of the project was not new but the interest in who eventually won the contract was surprising.

The T&T Guardian also tried to contact Parsad Lutchmeesingh, head of Lutchmeesingh Transport Contractors, but was told he was "out of the office" every time. 

Public Scrutiny
The Curepe interchange project has been under public scrutiny recently after a letter, written by junior Minister of Works and Infrastructure Stacy Roopnarine to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was leaked to the media.

In her e-mailed letter, Roopnarine detailed her concerns about ministerial interference in the board-level award of contacts and questioned her boss Dr Surujrattan Rambachan’s influence on board decisions.

Roopnarine has since withdrawn her concern, saying she was only made aware of the process of award and tender after her letter was sent.

Before Roopnarine's concerns however, MP for Diego Martin North East Colm Imbert had raised the matter in Parliament in May.

In a brief telephone interview yesterday, Imbert said he had "too much to say" about the whole matter and was out of the country.
 

With the oil price plummeting to US$77 a barrel yesterday, Finance and the Economy Minister Larry Howai is expected to make a statement on the matter in Parliament this afternoon. This was revealed by Energy and Energy Affairs Minister Kevin Ramnarine during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

According to a BBC report, the price of oil initially yesterday slumped to US$72 a barrel after the OPEC oil producers' cartel decided not to cut output at its meeting in Vienna. The 2015 budget was based on an oil price of $US80 a barrel.

Ramnarine said the development was being monitored “very closely” by his ministry, adding it was no surprise after OPEC decided against cutting supply. Howai, Ramnarine said, was authorised by Cabinet to make a statement on the matter today. Howai will speak to legislators on “the issue of oil prices and the impact they will have on the economy and Government revenues.”

Ramnarine said the Government “will also be looking at the gas prices so he will also cover natural gas scenarios too.” He said when he checked yesterday the oil price was below US$70 a barrel. 
Ramnarine said: “The analytical work that was done by the Ministry of Finance was based on (a gas price) of US$70 a barrel and a gas price of US$2.75 per mmBtu.”

He said the budget price had been revised downwards to US$70 a barrel and the Government would have to revise the revenue forecast for the economy, based on new price assumptions.
Also contacted yesterday, Howai said budget cuts were "still under review." 

Asked if Government would be cutting expenditure since the OPEC decision portended further oil price decline, Howai said in an e-mail: "The matter is still under review, to see how prices react and then settle following the OPEC meeting."

PNM: Detail finances
Opposition Senator and People’s National Movement (PNM) PRO Faris Al-Rawi yesterday said the country remained eternally dependent on revenues earned from the oil and gas sector and the plummeting oil prices were a source of major concern for all citizens.

He said while it was true that T&T’s revenue earned from the spot sale of gas was “higher than the Henry Hub prices, upon which the budget is pegged, it is incumbent on our Government to level with the country as to the true state of our finances and budgetary projections.”

He said that was particularly necessary “since the Government is yet to come clean on the extent of the indebtedness that they have put T&T in.” Al-Rawi said the Opposition awaited the information to be presented by the Government “and in particular, what measures of fiscal responsibility may be necessary in this circumstance, especially since the Government seems hell-bent on nauseating the population with unsolicited, very expensive advertisements on a constant basis.” He said that level of advertising totals “well over $200 million.”

According to Al-Rawi, the Government had spent almost 15 years of annual budgets in the past four-and-a-half years and citizens were complaining that they could not see the evidence of value for money. The House of Representatives meets at 1.30pm at Tower D, Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain. — With reporting by Aleem Khan 

Petrotrin workers have given their representative union, the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), instructions to institute legal strike action against the state-owned oil company.

The call came as hundreds of workers held a closed-door meeting at the union’s Paramount Building, San Fernando, headquarters yesterday, following a memo from the company it could not increase pay or pay out backpay because of a $364 million net loss it incurred for fiscal 2013/2014.

The union and the company are involved in conciliatory talks with the Ministry of Labour after failed bilateral talks to settle negotiations for six categories of workers in both Petrotrin and its marine branch Trinmar. The company has offered zero per cent. 

OWTU president general Ancel Roget said the union had substantially reduced its proposal and was prepared to negotiate downward to find an area where they could settle with the current trends being offered in the country. “But we are not prepared to offer zero,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

Roget said the workers were incensed by the propaganda by the company about its losses. He added: “That is a blatant lie. The company is being disingenuous. “Petrotrin does not sell oil, they sell products. They import crude, they mix that crude with local crude, refine it and produce products and sell it. The difference in the cost of production of that product and what they sell it for is the margin and that is how they make their money.

He said if the CEO of any multi-national company was to tell the public the company was losing money, that CEO would be looking for another job. Roget also sent a warning to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, noting she had come to them as opposition leader in 2010 looking for a job as prime minister. “If you are taking away my job and reducing my salary and making sure my members are not given a fair adjustment and you want to destroy the company and therefore my job security, we are prepared to make sure that we interfere with your chances for anymore employment going forward. You can’t get employment and take away mine,” he added.

Falling oil prices put the Government in a difficult situation, economist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon said yesterday. Commenting on the decision by OPEC not to reduce output, he said: "An oil economy must not operate in deficit for any length of time. “T&T has been running a deficit for about four years. We now need to deal with this in light of below average oil prices. “Government needs to look at where on the expenditure side they need to cut. The first area they would need to look at is transfers and subsidies like fuel prices. Whether the Government wants to do it or not is up to them.”

OPEC took no action to ease a global oil-supply glut, resisting calls from Venezuela that the group needs to stem the rout in prices. The group maintained its collective production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day, Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said after the 12 nations met in Vienna. Futures slumped the most in more than three years.

Ramkissoon said economists always cautioned economies like T&T, which was oil-based, not to depend on fluctuation in international markets. He added: "It seems that T&T will be in a scenario of low oil prices for a while. What is a while is left to be seen. “If oil prices were to increase because of geo-politics, or some other reason, it means later on in the fiscal year we can have prices at an average of US$80 a barrel or higher. The fact is it has been at an average in the US$70 and over for a few weeks. It has not been like that for an entire fiscal year." 

Ramkissoon said T&T still was not in the same position it was during the 1980s when the country experienced a recession due to a fall in world oil prices. "I do not know if that situation is before us now, as T&T has the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF)," he said. Still, he said, T&T would continue to have problems if the economy was not diversified. "Successive administrations have sought to shield the population from the reality. The consequence is a significant part of the population depends on government largesse and an economy that is not diversified," he said.

Dr Roger Hosein, University of the West Indies (UWI) economist, described the decline in oil prices as "sharp." Despite that, Hosein said prospects for the economy were not dim as there had already been a margin of recovery in last few days and it may be sustained during the winter. He added: "We are not in a predicament of unmanageable magnitude but it points in the direction of the Government having a Plan B as to where it can cut some of its planned spending for the fiscal year. “Again, however, as we have been arguing variously for many decades, the sustained solution lies in diversifying the productive base away from its mono crop structure."

Electricity supplies to residential and commercial customers of T&TEC are not expected to suffer any disruptions because of the shutdown of Trinidad Generation Unlimited, a power plant that supplies electricity to the national grid.

So said Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. The TGU plant was shut down yesterday because of a gas leak on the NGC pipeline which supplies it.

Plant shutdowns at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate allowed T&TEC to maintain a reliable power supply throughout T&T yesterday. The line was being rectified, Ramnarine said, and meanwhile natural gas for power generation was being supplied by five other sources so the supply to residential and commercial customers would not be compromised.

He said the leak was discovered at 1.08 pm on Wednesday and was contained to a small area in Barrackpore. While Ramnarine did not want to say how long it would take to rectify the problem, he said the National Gas Company (NGC) had estimated nine days.

He said the company was on site and waiting for the natural gas pipeline to be depressurised, and the TGU plant continued with gas that was in the line the previous night but “came down at approximately 9 am (yesterday).”

Ramnarine said TGU normally supplies about 300 megawatts of power to T&TEC. “As a consequence of the problem, T&TEC has to adjust its supply balance to the country and it has been doing that by going to some of its large industrial customers and having them come offline,” he added.

Ramnarine said he had ensured the supply to residential and commercial customers was not compromised, although Atlantic in Point Fortin, which is also supplied with natural gas from the same pipeline, was not shut down but was operating at 65 per cent capacity because of the problem.

Ramnarine said while the figure had not been calculated there would be a financial loss to the country as a result of the problem. “It is natural to expect that at some point in time you would have an issue like this,” Ramnarine added.

He said he had every confidence in the NGC was rectifying the problem in the shortest possible time.

Former PNM leader Patrick Manning has written to Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley asking why he is being hauled before the party’s national executive for disciplinary action. In a letter to Rowley bearing yesterday’s date, Manning said he received two letters from the party’s general secretary on November 25 and 26. 

The first said he was being summoned to meet Rowley and the second, a day later, said the party’s national executive would be at the meeting. Manning noted that Rowley had met with him on November 7 in the parliamentary chambers, during which Rowley had expressed “concern that the Government might set a date for the general election before the end of this year.”

Manning said Rowley “indicated that the time had come to ask me what I proposed to do with respect to the constituency of San Fernando East so that nominations could be initiated.” He had told Rowley he was “still assessing the situation and would report to you in the following two weeks to which you totally agreed.”

Manning said he then contacted party headquarters, Balisier House, last Monday to ask for a meeting with Rowley to give that report but general secretary Ashton Ford told him Rowley was out of the country.

Manning said he was unable to apprise the constituency of any further developments without consultation with Rowley. “The configuration of the proposed meeting with the party’s executive,” he wrote, “suggests that there is some serious misunderstanding that I have committed some infraction and am being hauled before the party’s executive for disciplinary reasons. Neither of your two letters has stated what the charges are, nor the proposed agenda as is proscribed.”

Manning said a similar situation arose in 1976 which required the formal intervention of the party leader at that time, Dr Eric Williams. Manning said in his letter: “My character was attacked and I am resolved to prevent any such recurrence. “Accordingly, since there is a measure of confusion in the constituency of San Fernando East, caused by the varying instructions in your several letters.”

For clarification he proposed to release the correspondence so those interested could be fully briefed. He also renewed his call for the resumption of discussions with Rowley as originally agreed.
Manning, who suffered a stroke in January 2012, has said previously he would not contest the 2015 election. 

However, last week at a constituency meeting former minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said Manning was willing to contest the election once he was wanted by San Fernando East constituency and his health was satisfactory.

Ford: Manning has it wrong 
Contacted for comment yesterday, Ford said Rowley was still out of the country and was expected home this weekend. He said the inclusion of the party’s executive in the proposed meeting with Manning did not in any way constitute disciplinary action and Manning was fully aware of the process for disciplining PNM members. 

That, he said, required a complaint to be filed by the General Council after which the matter would be investigated and if warranted sent to the Disciplinary Committee. He said no issue of disciplinary action had arisen with respect to Manning who was seen as an elder statesman in the PNM.

A female police motorcyclist suffered a blackout while riding and collided with  a police car on the Beetham Highway yesterday. She was treated for a fractured arm and other injuries.

Around 9.30 am, WPC Leela Modeste of the Highway Patrol Unit was heading east when she began feeling unwell, police said.

Modeste, who joined the Police Service two years ago, clipped a patrol car which had driven up alongside her and fell off her motorbike. 

The accident happened near the NP gas station and caused a traffic build-up as two  east-bound lanes of the highway were temporarily blocked off. Modeste’s colleagues took her to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where she was treated and warded.

Contacted yesterday, a senior police officer said she was “doing fine.” He said the routine patrol was a normal daily occurrence and it was unfortunate that Modeste fell ill while on duty.

The Prisons and Fire Services are giving the Prime Minister a week to address the non-payment of the $1,000 special monthly allowances they say are due to them. The special allowance was first given to the police from 2010, and then to the Prisons and Fire Services in 2012. No retroactive payment was made to the latter. 

The officers yesterday went to deliver a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, outlining their complaint. They were greeted by press secretary Francis Joseph.

Acting president of the Fire Service Association Second Division Ashton Cunningham said members of different services were given different treatment. “The Special Reserve Police are being paid the allowance, and the supplemental police are being paid the allowance, and the Auxiliary are not being paid the allowance, which exemplifies (that) they and Fire and Prisons are being paid differently to members of the Police Service. “Fire officers and prisons officers are being treated differently, this inequitable treatment must stop,” he said. 

Cunningham said this issue had been raised before but the officers would be taking a stand which would result in something positive. “We are one unit and must be treated as such. It is long we have been waiting,” he said. President of the Prison Service Association Ceron Richards said members of both Fire and Prison Services would be inclined to take matters into their own hands until the situation was resolved. 

Richards said the first level of unfair treatment was negotiations in 2010 in which Fire and Prisons Service were given a five per cent increase in salary while the police were given more. “If we fail today, the Government will find that prisons and fire won’t stand idly by. We are going to act. Their confidence is diminishing and it must be restored, and the Prime Minister has the ability to restore that level of confidence,” he said. 

“We don’t know if this is the new mode in treating members of national security (forces), but this has become commonplace. We are here to correct that and if we are not given a response, Fire and Prisons are going to act differently. I don’t know if the PM and the Cabinet can control our actions. We are not going forward unless this uneven treatment is corrected immediately.” 

Willing to meet
National Security Minister Gary Griffith said he was willing to meet with members of the Fire Service Association. “I believe that proper dialogue and communications is always more productive than protests and threats. It is unfortunate at this time, they it would be better if they came to me and voice their concerns.” 

Griffith said he would rather handle issues over a table than deal with threats at a “picket line.” “I can’t speak for Prisons which falls on Ministry of Justice, but I am more than willing to meet with them,” he said. Griffith said their threats could do nothing more than discredit the image of our law enforcement agencies and the reputation and professionalism the public demands from them. 
Justice Minister Emmanuel George said he met with the POA frequently and heard the subject mentioned before. 

“We have spoken to them (POA) from time to time and the Ministry of Finance is to deal with them. That is part of the negotiations which is going on now and the CPO’s office,” he said.

In a wheelchair, hunger striker Dr Wayne Kublalsingh appeared before a Siparia Magistrate on Friday morning.

Kublalsingh, leader of the Highway Reroute Movement (HRM), was called to answer charges of assault, resisting arrest and obstructing the police in the execution of their duty.

The charges stem from a HRM protest in March 2014. The HRM leader was involved in several protests before embarking on a hunger strike in which he claims to be abstaining from food and water.

The hunger strike is in response to the ongoing construction of the Debe to Mondesir leg of an extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway. Several weeks ago, Kublalsingh
moved the hunger strike from outside the Prime Minister’s St Clair office to his home in La Florissante, D'Abadie.

An argument between two drivers is suspected to have triggered the country's latest murder.

Dead is Dennison Rodney, 42, of Cocorite, whose body was found near his car under the Diego Martin flyover early this morning.

According to reports, Rodney was shot dead by a second driver with whom he got into an argument over an accident.

During peak-hour morning traffic, police cordoned off the area to continue investigations. As a result, the northbound carriageway into Diego Martin remained closed during rush hour, and traffic heading into Diego Martin was diverted via Westmoorings.

A mix-up in the charges against murder accused Azmon Alexander led to his non-appearance in court yesterday, frustrating curious onlookers who showed up to get a glimpse of the man who was once deemed T&T’s most wanted. 

The T&T Guardian was told  a typo in one of the charges against Alexander, which had to be redone, caused Alexander and his 17-year-old accomplice, not to appear yesterday. The two, who were ordered to be charged with kidnapping, murder and other offences on Thursday night, will now appear before an Arima magistrate on Monday. 

As media crews awaited Alexander and his teenaged co-accused’s arrival outside the Arima Magistrates Court yesterday, some women voiced what they said would be appropriate punishment for the man who had been on the run from the law since last January. Also waiting for his arrival were relatives of those Alexander and the teen are accused of killing. 

Both men are accused of kidnapping Brasso Seco residents Felix Martinez, 52, Irma Rampersad, 49, her daughters — Felicia, 17, and Jennelle Gonzales, 19 — and her daughter, 14-month-old Shania Amoroso. The family members were last seen on October 26 and reported missing two days later. Martinez also was reported missing but residents thought he had gone on a hunting trip.   

On November 8, his body was found in a sleeping bag along with that of baby Shania. On November 11, Rampersad’s body was found near a tree. All three bodies were found badly decomposed in the Brasso Seco forest. Rampersad and Martinez were strangled, according to autopsies. The cause of death for baby Shania remains unknown, however, as her autopsy was inconclusive owing to the advanced stage of decomposition. 

Three days after Rampersad’s body was found, sisters Jennelle and Felicia were rescued by police from a makeshift camp in the Lalaja forest after a shootout with two men who were guarding them. The sisters have been kept in a safe house since they were rescued. 

People’s National Movement (PNM) MPs are denying they are involved in a move to oust Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to make way for former prime minister Patrick Manning to return to the helm. PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi chalked up claims of such a plan to “UNC desperation to create confusion in the PNM.” A poster is being circulated on Facebook page and bears the words: “No more Rowley, Manning for Opposition Leader... So say we. For the Party. For the Country.”  

It shows seven of the 13 PNM MPs: Patricia McIntosh, Paula Gopee-Scoon, Nileung Hypolite, Joanne Thomas, Fitzgerald Jeffrey, Alicia Hospedales and Dr Amery Browne. There are also claims that two other MPS are waiting to see whether Manning will decide to run for re-election. 

The poster appeared days after he indicated through former PNM MP Mustapha Abdul-Hamid he was considering seeking re-election for the San Fernando East seat he has held for over four decades and after he engaged in an emerging dispute with the PNM’s hierarchy. Under the Constitution, if the majority of Opposition members in the House of Representatives support one of their number, they can ask the President to have the incumbent leader removed and replaced by the individual of choice. 

There is a precedent where the party leader and the Opposition Leader have been two different people. In 2007, former UNC party leader Basdeo Panday did not resign as Opposition Leader in Parliament despite Winston Dookeran’s being leader of the UNC, although that arrangement was shortlived and gave birth to the Congress of the People.

MPs in poster: Not true

All the people identified have distanced themselves from the poster. Gopee-Scoon, Hypolite, Jeffrey and Hospedales dubbed the poster ridiculous. Browne described it as nonsense. Al-Rawi said the poster was a fabrication by United National Congress (UNC) to create confusion within the party. In a phone interview, he said the UNC was seeking to tackle the PNM’s readiness to take government at next year’s general election but responded: “Their ‘cut-tail’ is booked for them.”

He added: “The fabricated messaging in the circulating poster echoes sentiments tried by top-ranking UNC officials. The PNM remains steady on its course toward taking government in the next general election. The UNC can kick, scream, fabricate and injudiciously spend as much as it wishes, the PNM will not be deterred.”

Asked whether all the PNM MPs were backing Rowley as their leader, he said: “I am absolutely sure that they are. What evidence is there to the contrary? “We are a party that has just beaten the UNC like a snake in every election in T&T and there is no doubt that the PNM’s team is rock solid.”

Dr Amery Browne:
“That poster was prepared by a rabid UNC activist who fabricates nonsense on Facebook on a daily basis. “Please don’t expect parliamentarians to respond to his emissions. He fabricates such things everyday and it is designed to cause confusion and division. It’s a sign of a government in panic and it’s not working but he persists.”

Paula Gopee-Scoon:
“I know of no approach to replace the political leader and I’m not associated with any approach. I really don’t know anything about it. “It may well be a ploy by the Government who is quite desperate at this stage. The Government has failed. With falling oil prices and a need to cut expenditure, at a time when they seem to be increasing expenditure in preparation for an election, they are probably grasping at every straw possible.” 

Fitzgerald Jeffrey:
“I recognise Dr Keith Christopher Rowley as my opposition leader, as my political leader and wherever they concocted that story from, they can carry it back because I not part of that so-called list. Once they could put my name inside there, it means that story has no credibility.”

Alicia Hospedales:
”It is a sad day for T&T when people can lie about others with no remorse, defame their character and lift their head up high and laugh. “I refute every lie that has been circulating on Facebook and on 91.9 FM that my colleagues and I are ‘lined up and waiting’ to sign a letter for the President to appoint Mr Manning as Opposition Leader. This is such untrue... falsehood... disgusting lies. “In the PNM we have one leader, Dr Keith Christopher Rowley.”

As the oil price continued its steady fall yesterday, Finance Minister Larry Howai announced that T&T’s deficit was projected to climb by $1.3 billion to 3.2 per cent of the GDP. The initial projected deficit for 2015 was 2.3 per cent or $4.3 billion. Howai read a statement in Parliament on the impact of falling oil prices on the fiscal operations of Government and shared a negative report, including Government’s expectation that oil prices, which are now less than $70 a barrel, would decrease to around $60 a barrel.

He said Government expected the price to level out at $65 a barrel. He added: “Our own expectation is for the price to decline initially closer to U$60 per barrel but eventually averaging between US$65 and US$70 per barrel. “We expect that the price of gas will come down in tandem with this decline in the price of oil but we expect that it will remain above the US$2.75 reference price used in the budget.”

“At the present time, we are averaging better than projected gas prices and these gas prices have mitigated the effect of the lower oil prices. “T&T is today more of a gas than an oil economy, producing approximately 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of which only ten per cent is petroleum.” Howai presented three different scenarios but said the scenario, which indicated oil prices would fall to around $60, was more likely.

“Using a scenario, therefore, of US$65 per barrel and US$2.75 for gas, the reduction in total revenue will be $1.879.4 billion on an annualised basis,” he added. He said the fall in revenue and increase in deficit should result in “marginal” changes to government programmes. Asked if any specific programmes would be cut, Howai said, as an example, that the net effect of the budget adjustments could possibly mean a reduction of about $45 million to each ministry.

He said while the adjustments did not pose an immediate risk to the 2015 budget, “ministries will therefore be required to review their budgets to determine areas where expenditure can be suppressed to make up the shortfall.” Howai said T&T’s financial buffers remained strong and foreign exchange reserves had increased to over US$11 billion from US$8.9 billion in 2009. “The country’s overall fiscal position and revenue flows also remain healthy.

“There is, however, no room for complacency and the ministry will continue to monitor what is happening in the global environment and to refine our remedial fiscal measures to ensure that the country can respond appropriately to changes in the market for oil and gas,” he added.

Beetham and Sea Lots residents yesterday pleaded with Minister of the Environment and Water Resources Ganga Singh for “sustainable” employment. The residents were employed in the Port-of-Spain Outfall Clean-up Project which started on September 5 and cost $14 million. They were speaking at an appreciation ceremony at the Radisson Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. 

Two of the workers—Kareem Marselle and Elijah Mitchell—asked the minister for employment to continue. Marselle said “sustainable development” was necessary for the community. Mitchell said the residents worked hard to clean the drains and even found an engine block and ply boards among the debris. Singh assured the workers there would be work available. He said they removed 570,000 cubic metres of silt at a depth of six metres. This was dredged away from an area known as The Cove.

The work was done through the collaboration of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), the Port-of-Spain Corporation and the ministry. However, Singh said what the workers did was an intermediate solution and a permanent solution was necessary to rid the flooding problem in Port-of-Spain. He said one project in the making would be with Clear Water Gardens which would be located opposite Beetham Gardens. 

Singh said the water which ran out of the treatment plant was clean and could be reused. “This will represent a gateway to Port-of-Spain that will be sustained by the WASA and provide an opportunity for the water to be utilised. “It is one step away from approval and when they speak it will bring sustainable employment for residents in that area,” he said. Singh said in January work would continue with the underground drainage cleaning. 

“This is the responsibility of the corporation because we cannot allow the flooding to continue and those who are here will continue to be employed,” he added. He said a transmission main would be removed on Monday and soon landscaping for Clear Water Gardens would start. “People who work hard must be given the chance for sustainable employment,” he added.

Police patrols have been beefed up in Bacolet, Tobago, following the double murder of a German couple last weekend. T&T Guardian visited Bacolet Crescent yesterday and was met with locked houses and very few persons, including construction workers, who chose to say anything about the incident or the couple themselves. Herbertus, 71, and his wife, Birgid Keil, 74, were found dead along Minister’s Bay, Bacolet, last Saturday. They were chopped to death.

Just a few metres away from the sea view white house, owned by the Keils for over the past decade, was a short dead-end road leading to Minister’s Bay. A few inmates from the Tobago prison were seen clearing overgrown bushes. The inmates were under supervision from several prisons officers. A couple, house-hunting in the area, said they were very concerned after hearing the gruesome and sad news of the German couple’s murder.

About four houses from the Keils’ house was a home last occupied by UK couple Peter Green and his wife, Murium. In August, 2009, they were chopped and left for dead in the house. They miraculously survived and have returned to the UK to live. A resident, who has been living there for the past two years said although most of the houses in the area were vacation homes for tourists, the few residing there permanently were afraid.

“When they are home they are locked indoors. You don’t see them much, especially after the Greens’ attack and now this horrible one.” A construction worker said he has been working in the area for many years and said since the recent murders he had noticed a heavy police presence. “The police come in here very regular, almost every morning and night so the people feel more safe. The residents are living in here but we will see how it goes.”

Anyone with information regarding the Kiels’ murders can call either of the two hotline 635-1649 or 639-2515. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information which can lead to an arrest and conviction.