At its current trend, this country will experience the lowest total of reported serious crimes in 30 years, says acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams. He was speaking at Riverside Plaza, Port-of-Spain, where 75 officers from the Western and Port-of-Spain Divisions received commendations. Williams revealed figures which showed decrease from 2009, when T&T recorded its highest total number of serious crimes, 22,162. 

He said the figure was reduced to 13,145 in 2013, the lowest for 29 years. For 2014, he said, the current figure was “anywhere around a 16 per cent reduction” compared to last year’s figures. Williams added: “What we have in T&T is a challenge around violent crime, violent crime fueled by the presence of firearms in this land and as an organisation, we have set ourselves firearm removal as a major thrust.

“Every single division has been mandated to focus on finding and seizing firearms. Every single police division, all nine, have been doing that.” Williams singled out officers assigned to the Western Division for making significant headway in that fight over the last year-and-a-half. The Western Division comprises the St James, West End, Maraval, Four Road and Carenage police stations.

However, he admitted citizens of T&T were focussed largely on the rate of murders and the Police Service must respect and honour the continued pleas for a safe country. Williams added: “At this point in time, there is a slight increase in murders in 2014 over 2013, while there is a major drop in all the other types (of crimes): Robberies, break-ins, larceny, including larceny (of) motor vehicle, where there is a 34 per cent reduction over last year’s figure. 

“So we are seeing those changes but that is not very impacting on the minds of our citizens, once the murders continue to exist.”  
     

Police officers were called in yesterday to take possession of all vehicles and equipment belonging to the Agricultural Society of T&T currently in use by the now defunct executive. This action comes one day after High Court judge Frank Seepersad quashed the ASTT elections. The judge also ordered fresh elections be held in 35 days after he ruled in favour of ASTT members—Sylvester Pino and Hassanali Yatali—who had challenged the elections in a judicial review lawsuit.

Yesterday Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj confirmed he had instructed his permanent secretary (PS) to call in the police to seize the society’s vehicles and equipment. “I have given instruction to the PS that she contact the police to seize the two vehicles that belong to and are the property of the ASTT as well as the tractors which are the property of the ASTT which are being used by persons who now have no legal standing. 

“The PS has issued those letters today (yesterday) and I hope the police acts with alacrity,” Maharaj told the T&T Guardian. Maharaj, in a telephone interview, is expected to meet at 2 pm today with Pino, a representative from the former ASTT executive and the ministry official who will be in charge of conducting the elections. Calls to former ASTT president Nawaz Karim’s cellphone went to voicemail yesterday when the T&T Guardian tried to contact him.

Maharaj said the judgment gave some instructive directions on how public money had to be accounted for and how it was being spent by agencies that fell under ministries. He said he had sent a copy of the judgment to Finance Minister Larry Howai for assistance in crafting a policy to provide guidelines for the ASTT on how its finances should be expended in future. 

The minister said he was optimistic the new elections would produce a truly representative, democratically elected team, whereby free and fair elections would be held, truly representative of the agricultural sector. He said he hoped the newly-elected body would, as its first order of business, conduct a thorough financial audit at ASTT. Maharaj explained the ASTT, under the Act, was supposed to have representatives from the sugar industry, the cocoa industry and the coffee industries. 

However, he said, there were other commodities now that were equally important as those and the ASTT composition in terms of those requirements from the different sectors might not be as suitable today.

A second Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) march against corruption is expected to come off today. Head of JTUM and president general of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget is expected to lead the protesters out of Woodford Square just after 2 pm today. The marchers have  police permission to hold a round-up rally at the Brian Lara Promenade at the end of the march.

Police  are expected out in their numbers along corners and walking before, behind and alongside marchers. Roget has labelled the protest action as a “March against Korruption,” playing on the Prime Minister’s name, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. In several interviews and even an address to the nation on Wednesday night, Roget said Persad-Bissessar must accept responsibility for her role in the state of the country.

He has listed the LifeSport fiasco, the unresolved E-mailgate and “prisongate” investigations and the mismanagement of state enterprises among his list of corrupt activities. Since the march was announced last month, Roget and his supporters have been making visits throughout T&T trying to gather support for the action. 

Union members yesterday said they were aware CEPEP workers were being recruited to form part of an anti-march group against the union-led protesters, but up to late yesterday several checks could not verify that information.

Former Port-of-Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing will not work with incumbent MP and chosen candidate for Port-of-Spain South, Marlene McDonald. He and former councillor Isha Wells were both blanked by the party’s screening committee on Wednesday. Lee Sing, in an interview yesterday, said the screening process was not fair, as promised by PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley, and was in fact skewed in favour of the incumbent.

“I am still holding my spirit together,” he added. He said it was unfortunate the party and the country was not laying the proper tracks for the “train of greatness” to run. Lee Sing said he and Wells had broken all the unspoken taboos within the PNM with their open challenge of a sitting MP. “That should be very telling that the incumbent is not doing her job well, or perhaps never did that kind of job well,” he said.

Speaking to the media at the screening on Wednesday, Lee Sing did not comment directly on McDonald’s term. He did say then that during his 39 months as mayor, he  had invited McDonald to his meetings and she only attended one. “One would have thought that if we were serious about representation, we would have attended the meetings,” he said.

After learning he had not been chosen to replace McDonald, Lee Sing said even the screening process was archaic. He said the panel sat on one side of a room, with representatives from the constituency on the other, and in his allotted time frame he was not allowed to complete his presentation on proposed improvements for the constituency.

Lee Sing said when he was asked during the screening if he thought his public spats with Rowley had played a part in his rejection, he had replied that their disagreements were evidence of their strong individual tendencies. “Remember, Rowley voted against the party and broke party ranks. I would think that taking a page out of Rowley’s book would be a good thing,” he said.

Lee Sing said it was Diego Martin North/East MP Colm Imbert who posed that question.

The father of the schoolboy killed in an accident on Wednesday is appealing to schoolchildren to use the transport provided to them by their schools and stop traveling in PH taxis. Keith Lewis, of Sudama Alley, Siparia, whose 16-year-old son, Kai, died in the accident along with the car’s driver, Nicholas Phills, spoke to the T&T Guardian while awaiting his son’s autopsy report at the San Fernando mortuary yesterday.

Phills was nearly decapitated in the accident after he skidded on the wet roadway and slammed into a truck on Robert Hill, Siparia. “Kai used to always use the maxi but recently he started following his friends and travelling in taxis,” the distraught father said.
“If he was on the bus, this would never had happened to him,” he added.

“The school provides a bus service. Those drivers are trained in defensive driving. They know how to handle themselves properly on the road,” he said. He sent a message to “PH” taxi drivers as well. “PH drivers also need to understand they have the lives of children in their hands. Right now I know everybody hustling to make a dollar but you have to stop and think about what you are doing.”

Another student injured in the crash, Abeola Henry, 15, remains in a critical condition.

Quoting Psalm 127, Tobagonian PNM Senator Shamfa Cudjoe said she came from a culture and community that believed children were wealth and happiness. She said she was the fourth of eight children and her father always quoted the Psalm which said children were “like arrows and blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

Cudjoe was throwing her “two-cents worth” into the debate on a Government motion Wednesday evening calling on the Senate to approve the 2014 Foster Care Regulations, Children’s Community Residences Regulations and the Children’s Authority Regulations. Stating the Opposition was supporting the motion in principle, she said it was among the most important legislation ever brought to Parliament.

It was an issue dear to her heart, the normally biting Cudjoe said in a toned-down note. She charged, though, there was politicising of the child protection issue “on all sides.” She said Gender Affairs and Child Development Minister Clifton De Coteau spoke about the many crimes against children committed under the past PNM regime and said the legislation brought by his Government was the best thing that happened for them.

“We need to go up and above that,” Cudjoe said, her voice rising. She said the process started 14 years ago when the PNM introduced the Foster Care, Children’s Community Residences and the Children’s Authority Acts. The Foster Care Act is still to be proclaimed and the Children’s Authority legislation only partially so. She said the public was still waiting on reports on investigations into the abuse of three boys at the St Michael’s Home and Brandon Hargreaves at another institution.

Cudjoe made several recommendations for the motion, among them training young people to deal with children in the homes. She said most of the caregivers at faith-based homes were old women. Young men who reported to the police they were raped by women also ought to be taken seriously, she said. “I heard stories where police officers told them, ‘What you reporting that for? You should be happy.’ she added.

Incidents have occurred over the past year at rehabilitation centres in which unsuitable people belonging to gangs were reportedly attempting to visit or make contact with young residents of the centres, Gender, Youth and Child Development Minister Clifton De Coteau has said. He made the point in the Senate on Wednesday while piloting a motion on regulations to strengthen various pieces of legislation in the child protection framework and which would operationalise the Children’s Authority.

It includes regulations on children’s community residences governing foster care and nurseries. De Coteau said Government also was giving a one-off grant of up to $250,000 to existing community residences to ensure they meet the standards set in the regulations. He said children’s homes were the primary placement options for children in need of care and protection. 

There are 50 homes, housing about 800 children or more of various ages, placed there by the courts, usually as a result of abandonment, neglect or abuse.” He added: “Children’s homes of varying sizes and capacities have mushroomed over the two to three decades in order to fill a need but have remained unregulated and resulted in a very uneven standards of care in these homes.”

On the reported gang “visitation” problem, De Coteau said safety and security at community residences were critical issues addressed in the regulations. He said managers would have to keep records, since analysis had revealed that was an area of weakness for several community residences. Community residences, he added, would have to obtain licences to operate and would be monitored. He said while most community residences did not use corporal punishment for discipline, some do.

A slight improvement in gas production in T&T is expected in 2015, Energy and Energy Affairs Minister Kevin Ramnarine forecast at a Petroleum Economist hydrocarbon strategy forum at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain.

“Last year we did say that there were going to be (fewer) shutdowns this year (2014) and we had quite a bit of shutdowns this year, but 2015 should have a slight improvement because, as you know, Starfish is coming on this weekend and that will bring on an additional 220 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscf/d) and it’s the first new gas field to come online in T&T in a while,” he said.

Asked about natural gas curtailments Ramnarine said: “You can’t expect natural gas to simply run infinitely. We’re not producing corn flakes and orange juice out there. We’re producing natural gas.”

Speaking to reporters after the opening ceremony, Ramnarine said the Petroleum Economist forum discussed many of the same issues the national natural gas master plan will seek to address. This included the role of the National Gas Company of T&T (NGC) in the future of the country; how to optimise distribution of gas between Point Fortin and Point Lisas; the impact of what is happening in the US on local gas; and what is the future of development for cross-border reserves between T&T and Venezuela.

Ramnarine said he was aware of statements made by Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran that the energy sector performance was “dismal” and contracted 1.5 per cent in the first 11 months of 2014. He admitted that there had been “a lot of supply disruptions throughout the year” mainly at BP, BG Group and BHP Billiton “because companies have to do maintenance.” He said, by way of example, that when BP’s Savonette platform, the country’s largest gas well, which produces 800 mmscf/d, was impaired for 10 days, it impacted the gas supply in the country.

Asked about prices the T&T gas is selling for, Ramnarine said: “We had some pretty good prices for natural gas in the markets to where the gas is being diverted to. In Asia, we get a price of around US$14 per million British thermal units (mmbtu); in South America we get not far from that but not US$14; and in Europe you always get double-digit figures.” 

At a post-Cabinet news conference on November 20, Minister of Finance and the Economy Larry Howai had said T&T’s gas prices are averaging 22 per cent more than the budgeted US$2.75 per mmbtu price, which equates to US$3.36 per mmbtu.

Ramnarine said: “Now, those prices will be under pressure, naturally, as oil begins to fall because in those markets natural gas prices are indexed to oil, so that as oil prices fall, what you have taking place is substitution.

You have power companies in Japan, in South America, in Europe and so on, beginning to switch from natural gas to oil, reducing the demand for natural gas and putting downward pressure on natural gas prices, so that too is something we have to keep an eye on, but there is a lag between when the oil prices fall and when you see the impact on the gas prices.”

Asked for prices of local crudes—Galeota Mix produced by BP and Repsol and Calyspo crude, produced by BHP Billiton—Ramnarine said BP, Repsol and BHP Billiton get a higher price than West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the “high quality,” light, sweet crude they produce off the east coast of Trinidad, without giving a specific figure. He said Petrotrin crudes are medium to heavy, and fetch a lower price than WTI, “so when you average out everything it comes out to about 2 per cent less than WTI.”

He said he expects the energy sector to continue to supply the country with revenue. Ramnarine also said state-owned National Energy Corporation (NEC) is going to compete in the business of transport, to move workers to and from rigs and platforms, via Port Galeota with a recently purchsed vessel.

As Mr Ancel Roget said on a morning TV show: “There are too many incompetent people in jobs in this country that causing the poor performance and low productivity in the private and public sectors.” 

Look what happened just Wednesday at a SIS worksite. At the worksite heavy machinery valued at millions of dollars was burned down and the lone security officer/watchman tied up. The value of the burnt machinery was said to be $8-10 million.  What about the “value” of the life of the “lone security officer”? There should be laws or regulations in place to protect both security personnel and property. 

I personally have been fired from my last two jobs as a security officer for refusing to do non-security duties. I have spoken on my YouTube log about the “110,000 illegal immigrants” a year before it was front page headlines. 

I have spoken about how, based on an article in the media, that there were ads circulating throughout Nigeria and Ghana falsely saying that the minimum wage here in 2009 was US$10 per hour when really it was only TT$9 per hour. I actually have a CNN ireport saying this on YouTube about four years ago. 

As I stated, it’s all about flooding our country with cheap labour for the greedy capitalists. If the biggest problem in our country is crime, why isn’t the security industry the most legally protected and regulated. We cannot expect to get quality security services if we continue to pay low wages and hire illegal foreigners or incompetent people that don’t even look or play the part. 

M Hernandez
Via e-mail

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two toddlers in separate incidents at their homes in east Trinidad between Saturday afternoon and yesterday morning. In the first incident around 2.30 pm on Saturday, St Joseph police were called to Arnold Bates Circular, Santa Margarita, St Augustine, where three-year-old Aijah King drowned in a pool. 

The owner of the property, Paul Carr and the child’s mother Reshma John, told police that they were walking in the yard when they noticed King lying face down in the pool. They quickly removed his body and attempted to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful.  Emergency Health Services (EHS) personnel arrived at the scene soon after and took the unconscious child to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. 

When a team from the T&T Guardian visited the house yesterday, a car was parked in the driveway and another in front of the house, but no one responded to the doorbell. A little over 12 hours later, 42-year-old Maria Villafanna contacted the Cumuto Police Station after she awoke to find her six-week-old son dead in his bed. 

Villafanna told investigators the child fell asleep after she fed him around 1.45 am. When she got up two hours later she noticed that the child was unresponsive and was not breathing.  Both Villafanna and the baby were taken from their Jubilee Street, Guaico/Tamana Road, Cumuto home to the Sangre Grande District Hospital. Doctors on duty at the Accident and Emergency department examined the baby and pronounced him dead
.  
Police said they have not ruled out negligence in both cases, but said they will wait on autopsies at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, today before they decide on how to proceed with their investigations. Cpl Stevenson and WPC Skeete are investigating King’s death, while WPC Collins of the Cumuto Police Station is probing the death of Villafanna’s son.

Despite mounting a last-ditch legal challenge against their deportations, a group of illegal immigrants were yesterday sent back to West Africa aboard a Caribbean Airlines charter flight. The 11 men from Ghana, many of whom had been living in T&T for over ten years after arriving here illegally, were accompanied by immigration officials on the flight which left the Piarco International Airport around 7 am yesterday.

The mass deportation procedure was performed by the Immigration Division less than an hour after both High Court Judge Ricky Rahim and Appellate Judge Gregory Smith dismissed a series of lawsuits challenging the move, in an emergency marathon sitting of the High and Appeal Courts on Saturday night.

Rahim first began hearing the individual applications for judicial review of the immigrants’ deportation orders around 7 pm. The lawsuits were consecutively rejected by Rahim and then again on appeal before Smith, who eventually completed all the cases around 5.45 am. The men were represented by Farid Scoon and Richard Issac, while Gerald Ramdeen and Neil Byam represented the State.

According to the documents filed in support of their cases, the immigrants-Abdullah Techie, Abdul Suleiman, Olatunji Adams, Richard Appiah and Seidu Abdulai, who are all married to Trinidadian women, claimed they were in the process of regularising their immigration status when they were detained by immigration officials.

They claimed they were held despite having written approval from the Ministry of National Security authorising them to go to a neighbouring island in order to re-enter Trinidad legally to commence their application for residency.

The two others—Henry Mensah and Ernest Aglago—were held last year after they failed to obtain refugee status due to the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The group’s plight was recently highlighted after their families enlisted the support of the Emancipation Support Committee, whose leader Kafra Kambon has strongly condemned the move by immigration officials and the conditions at the Immigration Detention Centre in Aripo.

In his evidence in the case, acting Chief Immigration Officer Gerry Downes explained that his division planned to deport several other West Africans with Ibrahim in order to maximise on the hefty cost. Ibrahim was eventually released last month, after the division had repeatedly failed to receive Government funding for the flight within the time frame set by Kokaram. 

The T&T Guardian understands that since his release on November 13, immigration officials have not seen or heard from Ibrahim. However, they could not cancel the flight as it had already been paid for. 

Immigrant’s wife speaks
In a interview at her Barataria home yesterday, Appiah’s wife of two years, Kelly, said she was shocked and disappointed over the procedure used by immigration officials to detain and deport her husband. An emotional Kelly explained that last Friday, Appiah was on his way to the Immigration Division’s Port-of-Spain offices to enquire about his application when he was “nabbed” by police and immigration officers and taken to the detention centre. 

She said  she was prevented from visiting him several times between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, and decided file the lawsuit when she received information of the planned mass deportation of African immigrants. “They could have done it in a better way and at least tell his family what was going on,” a pregnant Kelly, who refused to allow photographs, said. “We shared the bills and rent. I don’t know what I will do now.” 

A former illegal immigrant from Ghana who has successfully obtained residency through marriage also spoke about the situation affecting his countrymen attempting to immigrate to T&T. “The whole issue is whenever you are married here you’re entitled to file your papers for your residency. I don’t know what the problem is now, because I know so many of them who went through the same process,” the man, who only agreed to speak under the condition of anonymity, said.

The man, who spoke with a heavy West African accent occasionally punctuated by Trinidadian dialect, claimed the Immigration Division recently began changing it policies without informing immigrants. “They are not extending your stay like usual anymore. Certain things are very fishy, but I can’t say too much,” he said. He said despite being a legal resident, he and others like him still face many challenges. 

“Things are really hard. Even though I have my ID card I cannot work like a normal citizen. When you go to a place to work you are still a foreigner, so they chase and cuss you,” the man said.

Chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Kafra Kambon has lashed out against the manner in which 11 illegal Ghanaians were deported around 4 am yesterday. Describing the move as “disgusting” and one which brought this country into “serious disrepute,” Kambon said the deportation came like a thief in the night. He also demanded that someone be held accountable, charging that those from Africa were deliberately treated inhumanely.

“We as a people have to stop that and we are not going to relent and some people are going to lose their jobs over this,” Kambon added. He said the deportees were treated worse than criminals by immigration officials. “For the past number of days their wives were not allowed to visit them. They were debarred from visits and they were not allowed to get a hearing or anything like that. 

“We knew that something was up... They were treated as if they were the worst criminals in T&T. People were calling me from the airport crying.” Kambon also called on the Government treat those seeking asylum in T&T in a more humane manner and take their plight into serious consideration.

“You have women all over this country who are crying now...Who are breaking down because their husbands are now being stolen away from them and now are out of the country without giving them a hint that this was happening,” Kambon said. “You don’t even do that with criminals, much more with persons who simply came here seeking a better life and worse again those who are taking care of families they have with local women. Some of them have children.

“This is absolutely and utterly disgraceful.” But National Security Minister Gary Griffith defended the move yesterday, saying Government acted within the ambit of the law. Speaking in a telephone interview from New York, Griffith said, “I know that arrangements were being made according to the law.

“They were a liability on the public’s purse and they were breaking the law. So there was no option but to have them sent back to their respective countries, because not having them deported would simply result in opening a Pandora’s box.” On the concerns raised by Kambon, Griffith said he would take all the issues into consideration, adding there was always the possibility some of the deportees could return to T&T based on humanitarian grounds.

“I applaud Mr Kambon’s concerns and I fully understand his sentiments. Mr Kambon will be providing me with a list of these persons who want to come to this country and I will definitely take this into consideration to determine who could possibly return and on what grounds. “So there is always the possibility of some of them returning. That has never been ruled out,” Griffith added. He said some of the illegal immigrants were also staying in T&T under the pretext of marriage.

“We have information that there are instances where persons were being paid as much as $30,000 to be married and they would then use this as an avenue to stay in the country,” he said. On the cost, Griffith said he did not have the figure but said one CAL aircraft was chartered to deport all the immigrants.

“Sometimes we have to spend thousands of dollars to send back one person. So instead of deporting persons one by one a single aircraft was chartered to deport everyone, which in essence was much cheaper,” Griffith said. Also contacted yesterday, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan scoffed at Kambon’s comments, accusing him of playing the race card. 

“The national security minister has already produced the statistics to show that illegal immigrants of various nationalities are in fact routinely deported and that the African immigrants actually comprise less than 25 per cent. “This is an insidious attempt to play the race card when there is absolutely no justification or reason for it. It is stupid, dangerous and reckless. The rule of law has prevailed and due process was followed,” Ramlogan said.

He echoed Griffith’s statements that genuine cases would always be considered and in accordance with the law. But Ramlogan warned that this country must be vigilant to ensure that the immigration laws were not misused and manipulated by those who wish to use it as cover up for criminal activity.

“For example, one of the deportees who arrived from Ghana and was subsequently arrested in the UK for carrying drugs from Trinidad, he was convicted and jailed and was about to be deported to Ghana but insisted on returning to Trinidad. “Intelligence suggests that the growing problem of illegal immigrants is linked to the escalating crime problems in addition to the pressure it places on our social and health care services.” 

He said given the stringent economic times it would be foolish to indiscriminately open T&T’s borders and ignore the social consequences.

Security guards attached to the highway construction project are  scared after masked saboteurs set fire to a multi-million-dollar crane at the OAS highway job site in Point Fortin, as a warning to the Government. The cutlass-wielding assailants have ordered the National Infrastructure Company Ltd (Nidco) to “pay farmers now or face the consequences.” The attack occurred around 11 am while the lone security guard Chris Bowen was on duty about a quarter-mile from the Dunlop Roundabout in Point Fortin.

Police said three masked men in dark clothing went to the unlit area, where lands are being cleared to build the Solomon Hochoy highway extension, and grabbed Bowen, saying, “This is a warning to the Government to pay all farmers now.” 

Telling Bowen, “We not on you,” the man pointed their cutlasses at him and ordered him to leave. Bowen ran up a hill and later saw fire coming from the cabin of the crane. Police said the men threw a molotov cocktail inside the crane and then ran off. Bowen called the Point Fortin police, who alerted firefighters. Firefighters later found remnants of kerosene inside the charred remnants of the crane cabin. 

At the site yesterday, several security guards called for more police patrols, proper lighting towers and additional manpower. Security guard Dannie Bisnath said he saw the fire around midnight and alerted Hayden Nelson, who works with API Pipeline Construction Company Limited nearby. Nelson said since the sabotage he is scared for his life. 

“This job is high risk because we do not have any lights here. We also need police to do patrols in here because we are not safe,” Nelson said. He said it was not the first time workers had been threatened. “A few months ago, some protesters came and threatened the supervisor. When I heard the crane was burning down I realised that things were getting worst,” Nelson said.

Andy Wallace, who was on duty at the construction site, said female guards were urged to walk to work with knives in their bags. “I told them that it is not safe. They should have police officers from the Tactical Unit stationed here,” Wallace said. “The place so dark at nights that you cannot see your hand in front your face.” He said guards had no protection and were left under a tent to brave the elements.

Another guard who requested anonymity, said the saboteurs were “thugs who just wanted free money.” “The Government giving out a lot of money to people who claiming they have produce on the lands and this is not true. People collect money two and three times and now they think by threatening guards and burning down machinery they will get their way,” the guard said.

Nidco responds
Contacted yesterday, Nidco chairman Dr Carson Charles denied that people were paid several times. He also said it was thugs, not farmers, who were responsible for the sabotage. “Farmers don’t behave this way. These people are thugs and they are trying to shake down money from Nidco for the Christmas season,” Charles contended. He urged OAS to secure its own equipment and improve security at all highway job sites.

Saying $4 million has already been paid out to farmers, Charles promised to continue to compensate only those with legitimate claims. He said unscrupulous people were trying to make false claims, but noted that only those who can provide evidence of damage will be compensated.

Fallen ministers Chandresh Sharma, Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh and Anil Roberts will not form part of the People’s Partnership election slate for 2015, party insiders say. A top-level source, who requested anonymity, said integrity, party loyalty and service to humanity will be among some of the criteria being used by the interviewing panel for the selection of candidates for the election. 

Although the People’s National Movement (PNM) has started screening candidates, the People’s Partnership has not yet announced a date for filing nominations. “The Prime Minister is busy with the toy drive right now, but we are certain that early next year arrangements will be made for screening to begin,” the source said. Based on the criteria, all potential candidates will undergo a rigorous interviewing session.

“We expect to do background checks on all potential candidates, including their qualifications, look at their loyalty to the political vision and the Prime Minister, as well as to look at what they have done to improve the lives of those around,” the source added.

Recent public scandals surrounding the former ministers make it highly unlikely they will be chosen to contest any seats, the source said. Saying there may be many new faces, the official said other ministers, including Clifton De Coteau, may also not be part of the new election team. De Coteau experienced slight swelling and bleeding to the brain in September last year as a result of hypertension. 

“At this point nothing has been finalised, so we cannot say who will be included or not, but based on the criteria, we can dismiss any belief that those ministers who resigned or were fired will be selected again,” the source said. National Alliance for Reconstruction leader Dr Carson Charles, who is also head of Nidco, said his party was supporting Arthur Sanderson as the candidate for Fyzabad. 

However, top-level sources said if the NAR wanted to be part of the coalition it should not take arbitrary decisions.

Ministerial scandals
Sharma, who has served as an MP since 1991, resigned as a minister on March 29 amidst allegations that he assaulted his former girlfriend Sacha Singh, the managing director of AMS Biotech Security Concept and AmSure T&T Ltd. Minister of the People Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh was fired by the PM on March 25, following allegations of disorderly behaviour on board a Caribbean Airlines flight on March 16. 

Roberts, who won the D’Abadie/O’Meara constituency on a Congress of the People (COP) ticket, resigned as an MP and Minister of Sport on July 31 over allegations of corruption in the LifeSport programme. Roberts was also embroiled in a scandal last May when a video went viral that showed a man resembling a government minister rolling a substance believed to be marijuana into a cigarette in a hotel room with two women. In 2012, Roberts resigned from the COP, but days later withdrew his resignation.

Sharma responds
Contacted on the issue, Sharma said there is no vacancy at this time for the post of Fyzabad MP. Asked whether he believed he would be re-elected, Sharma said, “When screening begins people will be invited to file nominations and it is open to all.” He said last year there were over 342 potential candidates who expressed interest in contesting the local government elections.

“We had over 100-plus potential candidates in the last general election. Everyone was screened, and I will also be screened as well,” Sharma said. Roberts and Ramadharsingh were not available for comment as calls to their cellphones went unanswered.

Trade Minister Vasant Bharath has accused the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of undermining the stability of T&T. In a statement yesterday, Bharath said, “PNM’s political leader Dr Keith Rowley and OWTU’s president general Ancel Roget have made a priority out of threatening the peace and stability of the lives of citizens.”

Condemning both men for “the disruption of the peace, progress and stability” of the country, Bharath accused them of being “obstructionist whose intent was to make a mockery out of integrity.” Bharath also expressed dissatisfaction with the Opposition’s lack of support for the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property (No2) Bill, 2014.

“The Opposition’s unexplained refusal to support the bill came despite support for the same bill by PNM Senators Camille Robinson-Regis, Faris Al-Rawi, Dianne Baldeo-Chadeesingh and Shamfa Cudjoe earlier this year,” he said. Bharath added, “Dr Rowley spoke for an hour in the House and attempted to justify his party’s deliberate attempts to derail procurement legislation, yet he failed to acknowledge the billions of dollars wasted by his former Government. 

“He failed to explain why he is allowing his weak leadership and the instability of his party to hurt the people. And he failed to give even a hint of a vision for integrity in public life.” Both Roget and Rowley were unavailable for comment yesterday as calls to their cellular phones went unanswered.

T&T is being run by an absentee prime minister who delegates her responsibilities to her subordinates and neglects her responsibilities, says MSJ leader David Abdulah. Abdulah also says T&T’s foreign relations are in shambles because PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar had failed to appoint ambassadors to five diplomatic missions, including Costa Rica, Canada, London, New Delhi and the United Nations.

“The Prime Minister is allowing her political advisers to run the country’s affairs. We are not in favour of how Cabinet is being run. The Prime Minister is not on the job,” Abdulah said at a press conference in San Fernando on Friday. He said even though Persad-Bissessar was currently making public appearances distributing toys to children, this was not a key function. “If you want to distribute toys, go ahead, but you must also fulfil your responsibilities and appoint ambassadors,” Abdulah said.

He noted that on November 9 Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Dookeran admitted in Parliament that several missions were without heads. “If there are no accredited ambassadors, then foreign officials will interpret this as being disrespectful. They will say our government is sleeping on the job, because clearly we need ambassadors to represent us internationally,” Abdulah said.

He added that the United Nations General Assembly is now in session, yet T&T has no permanent mission to the UN. He also said the Government was adamant about building stronger relations with India yet there was no ambassador to New Delhi. Abdulah also said the Cuban Summit would be held on December 8 (today) to commemorate the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and four Caribbean neighbours—T&T, Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica. 

He also called on Caricom heads to make representation to US President Barack Obama to provide a presidential pardon to Cuban intelligence officers who are imprisoned in the US for alleged espionage. 

The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who have been imprisoned in the US since being arrested by the FBI on September 12, 1998 and convicted in US federal court in Miami in 2001, in a political prosecution by the US government. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. n www.freethefive.org/whoarethefive.htm

The People’s National Movement (PNM) executive is going full steam ahead on San Fernando East. With the executive preparing to seek nominations from San Fernando East by December 22, the unit is going ahead with the exercise and not taking on San Fernando East MP Patrick Manning’s recent suggestion to have nominations from January 3 to 15 after he decides if he’ll contest or not.

Manning’s suggestion came in another letter which he wrote PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley last Friday after Rowley again blanked his request to meet on the matter in Parliament. The nomination issue is simmering between both—and is expected to come to head shortly —following cancellation of a meeting two Mondays ago which Manning had hoped to have with Rowley on the issue. Rowley left T&T that day.

Manning had said Rowley had spoken to him in Parliament on November 7 on the nomination issue, since Rowley believed general elections would be held by year end. After that meeting failed to come off, Manning signalled he may be open to contesting, health allowing—but himself blanked the PNM executive’s invitation to meet at Balisier House last Wednesday on the issue.

It was confirmed by officials that the executive had wanted to speak with him to “gently dissuade him from the rigours involved” in a general election campaign. Manning, in a subsequent December 3 letter, sought a meeting with Rowley at Parliament last Friday “for five minutes” to make a suggestion on the issue. But Rowley didn’t meet with Manning as requested.

In the subsequent “round” that day, Manning wrote Rowley conceding he’d said that if his health allowed and if it were the will of the constituency, he would be prepared to consider a nomination after consideration of all other pertinent factors. But Manning stressed, “It is not, and ought not to be interpreted, that I have made any decision to make myself available to contest.”

Manning also informed Rowley he intended to address the  constituency on January 2 to advise members of his decision to accept or decline a nomination. Manning also told Rowley that nominations “can follow during the period January 3rd, 2015 to January 15th and the screening exercise may take place immediately thereafter, at the convenience of the leadership of the Movement (PNM).”

Executive decision
Last week San Fernando East PRO Anthony Clarke said the unit had sought an extension of the nomination deadline and was awaiting word on that. PNM general secretary Ashton Ford was quoted yesterday as saying nominations had to be sent to him and it was also reported nominations for the constituency was extended to December 22.

Yesterday, PNM PRO Faris Al Rawi said he couldn’t say if the executive would consider Manning’s suggestions, including for January nomination. He said Ford was in charge of those issues. Ford said he couldn’t comment on whether the executive would accept Manning’s suggestions and the San Fernando East issue was in Rowley’s hands and would be addressed shortly.

Manning had no comment on the December 22 deadline. Sources close to him said he’d respond “at the appropriate time and he’ll see how the situation goes.”

Analysts: Power struggle
On the stand-off between the past and present PNM leaders, political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath yesterday said, “I think Dr Rowley has decided he will not take on Mr Manning and it’s simply now a matter of a showdown with Rowley trying to show that he’s boss of the party.

“If he allows Manning to get away with this, it will seem like Rowley is still walking in Manning’s shadow and I don’t think he wants that. So Rowley has to put a stop to all this and this is the way—not taking Manning on—is how he’ll do it.” 

Ragoonath added, “As for repercussions on PNM, the party can withstand it at this point. It will be a matter of where they go with it and how fast they go at it and it’s a matter of determining whether Manning will call on his supporters and create any mischief in the party.

“But I think Manning will ultimately have to give in, giving the PNM a chance to succeed.” Political analyst Derek Ramsamooj said, “It’s clearly evident the political cat and mouse game is being played out. But the San Fernando East issue isn’t one of candidacy but of leadership. “Each would wish to lead uninhibited without any political shadows lurking in the background. We cannot ignore the fact that the political history between these two gentlemen would determine their behaviours towards each other.”

My name is Danielle de Leon and I’m publishing a cookbook on the food of Trinidad & Tobago that starts 5000 years before Christ. Shakespeare, John, Donne, Blake, Byron, these were my friends. These are the people I grew up with in a bamboo patch near to a stream in Petit Valley. My brother wrote to me: “When you were small, I’d see you reading in a bamboo patch and there would be tears in your eyes.” 

I was getting a piano on the day of the terrible flood in Valley in ’63 and thank God they didn’t deliver it: everything was covered in mud, everything was lost. My parents tried to protect us from the enormity of their loss. I think that’s bad. You should tell your children. Chinese do it. When the Diego Martin highway was built, it ran right through our house. That U-turn after the big tree, that was where our house was. 

That highway didn’t just dislocate communities, it dislocated families! Families that maybe had trials going on, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But our hibiscus hedge survived on the highway’s edge until about a year ago. I describe in the book, in the introduction to my introduction, a scene where I’m pelting a stone at a mango swinging in the wind. And that stone just happened to cut the stem! And I caught that mango! That started a lifetime of food.

Jesus talks privately with Judas. What he’s telling Judas: you will be reviled, hated, but, if somebody doesn’t love me enough, doesn’t have enough faith, then the prophecies can’t be fulfilled. So he orders him, didn’t he, “Go and do what you have to do!” And then everybody fell asleep and somebody cut off the ear of the soldier and Jesus put it back on. I believe that happened! And I believe his whole message was of forgiveness.

I believe we are all bricks of a living church. I firmly believe in an afterlife and that we’re all connected by a spiritual pool of vibration. It’s amazing, that you suddenly realise that a light vibration is different from that of a hummingbird or that of a stone. So the stones remain plonked on the ground and a hummingbird can hover.

And, I read it somewhere, if you squeeze me, I want honey to come out! I don’t want anything like acid and things. And that’s the faith I practise. And it’s taken a lot of work to get there, really!

Being a victim pays no dividends, darling. Some people hold on to anger and there’s a pride. Nobody can be more angry than a bloody Scorpio, darling. But I choose to be good. I rather be seen as the village idiot than as its terror. I just puncture that balloon with my thought and move on, and let them say.

I was in Ibiza when they filmed 2001: A Space Odyssey and I remember thinking, I should go home and make pizza! Because we’re a flour-loving people, because of roti. And because we love cheese! And I never did it! And then, there was Mario’s! He got it.
My cookbook is about food and Trinidad culture. I can’t seem to get away from the theme. Hopefully, it will be out soon.

You have to start at the beginning and the Banwari Man, 5000BC, lived here: what did he eat? And, as you think about it, it’s really one door opening into another, along a pathway of light that is Trinidad. Because this island is so loving. 

The book is divided into chapters of who arrived and the food they brought and shared. (UWI professor) Pat Mohammed, wrote, “Currying Flavour.” Bridget Brereton wrote the British, Joanne Ferreira the Portuguese, Rita Pemberton Tobago, Michael Toussaint about the Africans, Marie Abdullah about the French. My instructions were: tell me what they ate; and, from that, I pull it and make the recipes. I have hundreds of recipes, having done the Hi-Lo calendar for over ten years.

The best thing about doing this cookbook is yet to come: cooking all the food! A Trini is someone who can laugh while changing all the time. And a Trini loves to eat! Trinidad & Tobago, to me, is so representative of love and sorrow, of gain and loss. It means something in my heart that I could never leave. Although I love Barbados.

The right to a fair trial in criminal cases is a fundamental human right. At a trial there is a lot at stake, especially for a defendant who may be imprisoned, become bankrupt, be forbidden to engage in their occupation, or even executed in some countries if it is a murder trial. Undoubtedly, without this right, the dispensation of justice would be a mockery and a sham. 

Before a trial even starts there are a number of matters to address to ensure that there is a fair trial for both the complainant and the accused. Some of these matters include, but are not limited to, (1) pre-trial publicity; (2) the determination of the trial within a reasonable time and; (3) the right to be tried before an impartial court.

Pre-trial publicity
Where there is widespread and pervasive negative pre-trial publication by the media (including social media) that is capable of making a jury believe that a defendant is guilty or innocent before the trial begins, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has a duty to take measures to stop such publications. 

Such measures can include issuing a public statement to discontinue such publications and prosecuting anyone who persists with such prejudicial publications. However, if the DPP fails to intervene, the defence may seek to have the court suspend the trial temporarily or permanently. 

Trial within reasonable time
Where the DPP has failed to start a trial within a reasonable time and the defendant can show that they would suffer serious prejudice to the extent that no fair trial would be possible owing to the delay, the defendant can apply to the court to have the case suspended.

The court would then balance the right of defendant against the public interest in having them tried by taking into account, among other things, the length of the delay; the reasons for the delay; the prevailing system of legal administration and the prejudice to the accused. As a rule of thumb, the court will not stop the case if the delay was substantially caused by the defendant.

Fair and impartial hearing
Where a magistrate or judge has an interest in the outcome of a case, they must disqualify themselves from hearing that case. Put simply, a judge should not hear a case which involves, for instance, one of their family members or a company which employed them when they were a lawyer. The judge who hears the case is expected to deliver justice without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. If there is breach of the right to a fair hearing, the conviction will be quashed and a retrial may be ordered.

There are several matters to consider in ensuring the right to a fair trial. The issues highlighted above are critical to consider before the case starts to prevent persons before the court from being prejudiced or disadvantaged.

Stefan R Knights
Student, 
Hugh Wooding Law School

Minister of National Security Gary Griffith says there is no witch-hunt to target illegal African immigrants as only nine out of 651 Africans have been deported for 2014. He was responding to criticisms that undocumented Africans were being targeted by Government and treated like criminals. 

Chastising the chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Khafra Kambon for “making mischievous statements about racial profiling,” Griffith warned that all illegal immigrants had until February to become regularised. “If not, we will take every action to ensure that they are deported to their homeland,” Griffith said He denied Kambon’s statements that 80 per cent of the immigrants currently detained at the Immigration Detention Centre, Arima, were from Africa. 

“There are 131 detainees currently housed at the Immigration Detention Centre and only 23 detainees are African nationals. These include 14 from Nigeria, seven from Ghana and two from Senegal and South Africa respectively, Griffith said. Saying this represents only 17.8 per cent of the total number of detainees, Griffith added: “651 people have been repatriated from T&T to the Caribbean, Latin American, European and African countries in 2014 of which only nine were African nationals.

“Investigations have revealed that many illegal immigrants have resorted to entering into sham marriages and marriages of convenience. People pay exorbitant sums of money to their prospective spouse in return for the acquisition of resident status. “These persons frequently exploit the marriage legislation of certain religions which do not require the posting of banns or notices, despite not belonging to the religion. 

“These marriages are registered by the Ministry of Legal Affairs without any verification of the person’s legal immigration status, which is not currently a requirement under any of the aforementioned marriage legislation. “This raises serious concerns regarding human trafficking, money laundering and other transnational criminal activities which may be taking place under the guise of marriage, which is a sacred institution.” 

Contacted yesterday Kambon said it was unfortunate that Africans were denied the opportunity of becoming regularised. He said the longest serving immigrants at the detention centre were Africans. Kambon also said the deported Africans deserved a chance to have their matters reviewed before they were deported. 

“We are calling for an evaluation like any decent civilised country does, especially to those who have families,” Kambon said. He added that it was preposterous for $2.6 million to be spent to send the Africans home. On Sunday, a Caribbean Airlines chartered flight, costing the State $2.6 million, took 11 Ghanians back to Africa after the High Court and Appeal Court threw out legal challenges to block the deportation order in a marathon overnight hearing.

Griffith said the charter flight was justified and his ministry would continue to pay special interest in the organised criminal gangs. A senior immigration officer, who requested anonymity, said the detainees were criminals as they had broken the law. 

He said under Section 40 of the Immigration Act, people engaging in or facilitating marriages of convenience were aiding and abetting illegal immigrants to (circumvent) immigration laws were subject to criminal prosecution which might lead to a maximum of three years imprisonment and a fine of $50,000.