A La Romaine truck driver was crushed to death yesterday when the dump truck he was driving plunged off a precipice in an area which has been plagued by accidents. 

Seoudass Sooknanan, 51, of La Fortune Road, Woodland, was killed instantly when the Nissan CK20 truck loaded with gravel overturned on impact along Murray Trace, Siparia. 

Police said around 2 pm Sooknanan was driving up a hill which had been damaged by a landslip several years ago, thereby allowing only one lane of traffic. 

While attempting to enter the one lane area of the roadway, residents said he was “rushed by a car” and while trying to reverse to allow the car to pass his gear failed, causing the truck to roll off the edge.

Two villagers quickly ran to help but the cab was so badly damaged that he was trapped inside. A backhoe from the Siparia Regional Corporation had to turn the truck over before Siparia firefighters could remove Sooknanan. 

Paramedics were on standby but he was already dead by the time he was removed from the wreckage. Sooknanan’s wife, Shanti, was too distraught to speak, looking away as undertakers removed his body from the bushes.

His employer, Deonarine Mohan, of DM and Sons Ltd, said Sooknanan was on his way to Rancho Quemado to deliver a load to a Petrotrin site. He said Sooknanan worked part time with him for years and had recently come back a few days ago.

The controversial luxury Porsche Cayenne vehicle once used by former People’s Partnership food production minister Vasant Bharath for ministerial duties is now up for sale.

In 2010, Bharath’s ministry paid $400,000 for the blue SUV, licensed PCR 100. Its original price was estimated at $925,000 but vehicles purchased by ministries and government agencies are exempt from taxes and duties.

An advertisement published in today’s newspaper by the Ministry of Finance’s Central Tenders Board invites offers for the purchase of the high-end vehicle.

A source at the ministry yesterday said Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat had not used vehicle since entering office and it was now gathering dust at the ministry and depreciating in value. Rambharat uses a Land Cruiser to conduct ministry business.

The Porsche was recently taken for evaluation by the ministry and in the advertisement it asks interested parties to either view the vehicle at the ministry’s St Clair office from Monday to Friday or send sealed bids to the Central Tenders Board by July 14.

Yesterday, well-known auctioneer, Edward Soon, said the six-year-old vehicle could fetch “around $400,000 or upward of that figure. I believe the Government would get back the money they would have put out to buy the vehicle.”

Soon said vehicles used by government ministers were usually kept in mint condition.

In January 2012, when news of vehicle’s purchase surfaced, Bharath defended the $400,000 price, saying it was not for his private use, nor extravagant and that it fell well within the average price range for ministerial vehicles. However, the purchase was condemned by then Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.

Within one month of defending the purchase, another vehicle driven by Bharath reportedly ran over the foot of pedestrian Marlene Williams in a hit-and-run accident along Maraval Road, Port- of-Spain. 

Bharath who showed up at the St Clair Police Station in the PCR 100 to report the matter, agreed to pay compensation to Williams and settle the matter out of court.

In April, Rowley said Cabinet had decided that none of its members would access any loan to buy a luxury vehicle which fell in the new increased tax bracket. 

Rowley’s announcement came immediately following Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s 50 per cent increase in taxes on luxury vehicles with engines over 1999cc in a series of sweeping tax measures.

Efforts to reach Bharath on his cellphone was unsuccessful yesterday.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia yesterday expressed concern with regards to the nude photographs of 500 young women which were leaked recently on social media in what police believed was a local pornography ring. He said he felt sorry for the victims and having realised that they had made mistakes, in time, they would be able to move on with their lives. 

Among the 500 women identified were past and current students of the University of the West Indies’ St Augustine and Cave Hill, Barbados Campuses. 

Many of the photographs which were sold to porn sites, locally, regionally and internationally led the Fraud Squad Unit, which is investigating the matter, to believe that a porn ring was being operated in T&T.

Questioned if the porn scandal was being investigated independently by the ministry as many of the victims were UWI students, Garcia said he had no information on the matter and apologised.

“I have not met with the principal (of UWI Prof Brian Copeland) nor any member of the faculty. All I know is what I read in the newspapers. I don’t have any information. 

“I have been reading some of the statements by some of those persons who have been affected (victims) and the agony they are now experiencing I feel sorry for them. 

“But as life goes there are mistakes that are made, I am sure that those persons will be able to move on, having realised that they have made mistakes,” he added.

Garcia was speaking to reporters yesterday after delivering the feature address at the 40th anniversary and graduation ceremony at the St Augustine Secondary School.

Asked if the perpetrators were found, what kind of punishment they could face for their actions, Garcia said he hoped that the law would soon take its course.

He drew reference to 42-year-old Glen Dalrymple who on Wednesday was sentenced to 21 days hard labour at the Arima Magistrates’ Court for making a hoax call  last month to police warning of an attack on Trincity Mall by international terrorist group ISIS.

“In the schools system we have had occasions where a number of persons have been calling the schools saying there is a bomb on the premises. So I am hoping that the perpetrators of those actions will be dealt with,” Garcia added.

Preliminary investigations in the porn scandal have revealed that the initial server for the web site where the photographs were uploaded locally was recently changed to a new server based in the United States. The Cyber Crime Unit of the T&T Police Service was able to remove the site the pictures were originally posted on.

The T&T Guardian was told that some of the young women were taken to an apartment in St Augustine, a stone's throw away from the UWI Campus, where they were seduced into stripping and posing for the photographs. Others were taken to other apartments located in the Curepe area. 
Some of the girls were as young as 15 years old when they were photographed in the nude, others in their 20s.

Deficiency in the Central Bank’s regulatory control of the insurance industry and the respective “visions” of CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey and Hindu Credit Union chairman Harry Harnarine have come in for criticism by chairman of the Clico/HCU commission of enquiry, Sir Anthony Colman.

Colman, sole commissioner of the enquiry, delivered the remarks in a statement reflecting on his final report on the five-year task of the enquiry. 

The report—two hefty volumes— was presented yesterday by commission secretary Judith Gonzales to President Anthony Carmona at President’s House, St Ann’s. Carmona subsequently sent it to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley around 1 pm.

Colman, via a statement, regretted that for medical reasons he was unable to travel to T&T to present it.

Colman was commissioned under the past People’s Partnership cabinet in November 2010 to probe and ascertain the reasons for the failure of CL Financial, CL Investment Bank, British American (T’dad) Ltd, Caribbean Money Market Brokers Ltd (CMMB) and the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Ltd. Recommendations were also sought.

Proceedings began in March 2011 ending in May 2013. It involved five million pages of documents and 77 lawyers. CL Financial jefe Duprey didn’t appear. Overall cost, including Colman’s $7 million fee, was estimated in 2013 as $36.2 million.

In yesterday’s statement, read by Gonzales, Colman referred to the captains of Clico and HCU in seeking to identify the one characteristic which linked the collapse of HCU with that of Clico and its associated companies.

Colman said: “It was repeatedly claimed that the one motive that drove both Harry Harnarine and Lawrence Duprey to ever bigger deals was ‘vision.’ Yet, in spite of all the warnings received from the Central Bank and the auditors they went on, like Icarus, only to be destroyed by the sun of their own vision.”

He said it was not the appropriate time to comment on the report’s findings with regard to responsibility for the CLF Group collapse, or on the mechanism of failure which caused the government to intervene in such large measure. However, he said there were two matters which needed immediate legislative action.

“Firstly, the powers of regulatory control of the insurance industry by the Central Bank are found to be fundamentally deficient. 

“That deficiency was starkly shown up by the autocratic style of management of Clico and the CLF Group, generally by its business model, which is found to be seriously flawed and by the cavalier manner in which it treated attempts by the Inspector of financial institutions to deploy such limited regulatory control tools as were then available and ignored to a large extent the recommendations as to management of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the corporate auditors of the CLF Group and of Clico.”

He added: “The problem lies with the inadequate regulatory scope of the Insurance Act which in recent years has not received substantive amendment to the regulatory powers of the Central Bank.”

Colman said his report noted that although in the aftermath of the CLF collapse “an impressive Insurance Bill” was tabled in Parliament by the previous administration, the bill has never been enacted. 

The bill sought to introduce a regulatory regime for the insurance industry, aimed at making the management and financial control of insurance companies more robust and less vulnerable to internal misuse and to outside financial crises conditions.

“Although its provisions have been strongly influenced by the experience of the Clico disaster, had at least some of the regulatory powers been enacted by 2008, the collapse of the CLF Group might have been avoided,” he said.

Secondly, Colman said the Commissions of Enquiry Act had been shown to be seriously deficient in one particularly important respect: Compelling witnesses to attend enquiries to give evidence. 

He said although a commissioner was empowered as a High Court judge to order a witness to appear to give evidence, failure to comply did not amount to an offence analogous to contempt of court which could be punished by a judge.

“Instead, the available sanction for breach of such an order involves prosecution in a magistrates court by the Director of Public Prosecutions or, if the commissioner so orders, by the secretary to the commission. Maximum sentence upon conviction is a fine of TT$2,000, a punishment of practically no deterrent effect.

 Why so long
Colman also admitted the enquiry into the Clico companies did not provide an answer to all the questions raised in part of his terms of reference. 

“To deal fully and sufficiently with those questions the commission would have had to investigate and review a mass of evidence requiring complex accounting analysis, together with political decisions made after the key events which this enquiry has been concerned to investigate. 

“In order to minimise the delay in finalisation of the report, the commission has adopted a cutoff date in June 2009, when the Shareholders’ Agreement was entered into.”

“This commission had to accommodate not one enquiry but two (HCU, Clico)... the problem for investors, depositors and policy holders has been that the joining together of both enquiries has seriously prolonged completion of the reports on both. 

He said one feature which significantly prolonged the time taken to finalise the Clico Report was the issuing of  “Salmon letters” to those vulnerable to adverse criticism in the report. 

Reveal contents say UPG, ex-Clico director, CSA

The United Policyholders Group (UPG), Clico Stakeholders Alliance and Lawrence Duprey’s spokesman, Claudius Dacon, have all called for the Sir Colman report to be revealed.

The UPG did so yesterday in calling on Clico and British American policyholders and other stakeholders to gather in front of Parliament tomorrow at 1.30 pm with placards to protest lack of action by the Finance Minister and the Central Bank in settling matters over the last year. 
The group also staged a protest outside Central Bank last week

UPG spokesman Angeli Gadajar added: “Now it seems the long awaited CLF commission of enquiry report may not even be made public. It is long past time that we come together and stand up for our rights and demand a fully open and transparent settlement of Clico and British American.”

Dacon, Duprey’s spokesman and former Clico director, said initial reports which were critical of managers were also critical of Central Bank. He said former CBTT head, Ewart Williams, in comments said the CBTT opposed systemic risk but it was shown systemic risk was really due to the CBTT’s incompetence.

Clico Stakeholders’ Alliance’s David Walker added: “Within days we expect the Colman Report to be released. Having been starved of information and analysis, we welcome the opportunity for T&T to understand the genesis of the problem and to embrace recommendations towards avoidance of a recurrence. 

“We also continue to press for full disclosure of information about the aftermath of the intervention and many other queries.”

But Government Minister Stuart Young (Office of the  Prime Minister) said the report would be presented to the head of Cabinet. He said a review of it would be done and “steps will be taken, depending on what is in the report, as we don’t want to prejudice any recommendations. At this stage it’s premature to say what will happen next until proper scrutiny of it is done.” 

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has instructed Finance Minister Colm Imbert to institute an audit into the affairs of the State agency, National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB), which is under the microscope for awarding millions of dollars in questionable contracts and to unregistered companies.

He said he had also instructed Imbert that if the audit proved individuals or organisations received money under false pretences, “then ask them to pay it back.”

Addressing a PNM town meeting in the San Fernando West constituency on Tuesday night, Rowley also identified NLCB and the TDC as two national State companies which spent over one million to slander him in the lead-up to the 2015 election campaign.

He told the meeting, which was also addressed by Housing Minister Randall Mitchell and Social Development Minister Cherrie-Ann Critchlow Cockburn, that was an example of how public monies were being spent in T&T with no one being held accountable.

He spoke about an inflation in the cost of housing over the past five years from $350,000 to $1.3 million and food card fraud which would see the Government saving over $100 million as a result of weeding out people who were not qualified card holders.

The Prime Minister said the owner of a supermarket chain told a friend his business was down by $12 million a month because of the PNM’s administration tightening up of the food card arrangement from what previously existed.

“The abuse was astounding,” he said of the food card programme

Recalling Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar description of Government dipping into the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) as a “bran tub”, Rowley countered: “The bran tub was at the NLCB and that is widespread all over the public sector... all over.”

In a wide-ranging 50-minute address, Rowley said corruption was a problem in T&T.

“I warned you all before, if the top of the management of the country is corrupt, people who normally will behave properly underneath, sees what is going on at the top and if the priest could play who is me... so all of them start to play.” He said what he was now seeing would have started in 2013. 

“I have every reason to believe that it was the tone and tenor of 2011 and 2012 that encouraged people to behave like that because they believed they would get away with it, he added.”

He said at present a significant part of the population had a negative concept of the Government and Opposition because they have a sense things were going wrong and wanted to know why Government was not doing something about it.

Rowley said authority was segregated and Government could not interfere with the work of the police or the Judiciary but could only look on and hope justice was served once there were arrests and matters were taken to court.

However, he was quick to add that his government was not threatening to lock up anybody. He said the most they could do as elected members was to ensure government’s intervention to find out what was going on and fix what was wrong. 

“One of the big challenges we have as a Government is who to trust. We just do not know who to trust. Some of the very people who are supposed to engender trust in the society are causing you to lose faith,” he added. 

Social Development Minister Cherrie-Ann Critchlow-Cockburn said internal auditors have been asked to do an extensive audit of every one of the 240,000-plus recipients who receive food cards to ensure that they are eligible to be recipients.

The minister said they had undertaken the audit of every one of the files because they recognised during the enrolment process that a review was not done on all processes.

Critchlow-Cockburn referred to the tightening of the distribution of food cards under the new People National Movement’s (PNM) administration which had seen the removal of some 4,000 cardholders who were not eligible for the service. She said the removal of the 4,000 had saved government $25 million on an annual basis.

Advertisements she said were placed in the main stream media for cardholders to be enrolled to ensure those who were eligible could use the card to make their monthly purchase at supermarkets.

She said on July 15, the three-month extension for some 14,000 people who had not come in to be enrolled in the system would have expired and they would ultimately be removed.

The removal of that additional 14,000 people from the system, she said, would save the Government and additional $110 million annually. She said currently they had 240,000-plus people who received payment.

Critchlow-Cockburn said at least 24.5 per cent of the population in T&T was living in poverty in spite of successive governments expending billions of dollars on social sector programmes. She said one of the reasons for that had to do with education. 

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the education reform Minister of Education Anthony Garcia had undertaken would seek to break the cycle of children just passing through the system without benefitting from a proper education.

Speaking at a PNM political meeting in San Fernando on Tuesday night, Critchlow-Cockburn spoke of a number of initiatives to assist the “poor and indigent,” among them access to a number of grants as well as food cards.

While she spoke, a lone female protestor stood quietly at the back of the auditorium holding aloft a placard highlighting her plight for her just dues.

“URP workers on the breadline. We need to feed our children. Get rid of those paper criminals in URP. We want our money for the past month. That is wickedness.” She was ignored by the PNM hierarchy.

Fifty-two disruptive and deviant students who were removed from the El Dorado East Secondary (EESS) and Chaguanas North Secondary (CNSS) schools have been rehabilitated and are now doing well in and outside of the classrooms.

Confirmation came from Education Minister Anthony Garcia yesterday after he delivered the feature address at the St Augustine Secondary School, where 200 Forms Five and Six students had graduated.

In delivering his address, Garcia told the graduates the 52 students who sought rehabilitation as a result of behavioural issues was now a “success story.” In February, 24 CNSS students were removed from the school for disruptive behaviour. 

The following month, 28 students of EESS were also removed due to indiscipline. The students from both schools were sent to the old Couva West Secondary School where a programme was conducted by the Student Support Services Division to rehabilitate them.

The programme, Garcia said, ended three weeks ago. In giving and update on the students’ progress, Garcia said: 

“Some of them have returned to the school, some have been transfered to other institutions, some of them have gone to either MYPART and MILAT, and one or two of them, being in Form Five, wrote their CSEC examinations and are awaiting results. 

“From all indications that we have received that intervention worked exceedingly well.”

Both the Military-Led Academy Training (MILAT) and the Military-Led Youth Programme of Apprenticeship and Re-orientation Training (MYPART) offer training, certification and positive character development in the lives of at risk youths.

Of the 52 students, Garcia said four students of CNSS have returned to school while ten EESS were accepted back into their classrooms.

Garcia said since the students were removed, incidents of school violence and indiscipline have declined tremendously based on reports from school guidance officers, supervisors and psychologists.

“They have all indicated to me that they (students) are well on their way to rehabilitation,” he added.

In the last few weeks, Garcia said he had been getting fewer reports of indiscipline and school violence from principals. He added: “In fact, I have not been receiving many requests for extended suspensions. 

“Not only that, the students have gotten the message that once they are not prepared to conform to the rules of the school and they exhibit undesirable behaviour we will take them out, we will send them for rehabilitation and we will bring them back.

“It is not a nice thing to be removed from your school. Apart from the shame, it is a stress on parents,” Garcia said.

The contentious secrecy provision contained in Section Four of the Income Tax Act may be amended as the matter was now being dealt with by the Attorney General, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday. The committee, which was chaired by Bhoe Tewarie, examined reports for 2014 and 2015.

The provision prevented the auditing of revenue by the Auditor General’s office. But the Board of Inland Revenue said the provision was a key pillar to generate that level of confidence for the taxpayer. 

Nayak Ramdahin, chairman of the board, said matters had gone to court due to breaches of confidentiality which in turn undermined the tax collection effort.

But legal officer of the Auditor General’s office, Nicole Cockburn, said it was stated in law the Auditor General must safeguard the collection of public monies and therefore access to such information which was traditionally denied was the  only way that could be done.

Auditor General Majeed Ali, who also spoke, said there was urgent need to increase the staffing at the Auditor General’s office.

On challenges facing the Finance Ministry, permanent secretary Maurice Suite said the auditor general’s report on the public accounts reflected many inefficiencies which were fostered over the years in the public service.

He said those included archaic laws and the fact that the public service continued to operate on a “manual system”, governed by the Exchequer and Audit Act from 1959 which had had very little amendments over time.

“The public service has many challenges as it relates to the management of human resources. Given the rapid expansion and the number of persons employed in the public service in the mid 1970s, we are now experiencing a large rate of attrition as those persons reach the age of retirement which has resulted in a high turnover of staff.

“This rapid turnover is also highlighted by the fact that the human resource recruitment and planning essentially administered with persons moving from ministries and departments and in particular at the clerical level across technical streams,” Suite said.

He said, however, there was some progress made to modernise the system as the Integrated Financial Management System was expected to come on stream soon.

The Government, Suite added, had recently signed an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank for the implementation of the system which would entail a computerised accounting system and management of information entered at one central location.

“It is a loan agreement with the IDB and that would have been done only in the last month. We have not reached the point of awarding a contract for the procurement of equipment. A co-ordinator has been identified and we are working on the contractual arrangements,” Suite added. He said since 1991 there were discussions to put the system in place.

“What has happened over time is because you have not kept pace with regular training you have had some bad practices  built up into the system because persons pass down what their understanding of the system is to others coming in.

“As well as the comptroller of accounts going out to the ministries and departments on a more frequent basis to see what they are doing, this has led to a breakdown in the system,” Suite added.

Millions in overpayment 

Member Marlene McDonald, who raised the issue of overpayments, said there were a number of issues at the Inland Revenue Division as it related to expenditure control.

She said there seemed to be a constant contravention of financial regulations and in particular six payments which totalled just over $1 million which was authorised in excess of the authorisation limit. 

“So whoever authorised those payments that person or those persons were not so authorised to do .There is also a situation where vouchers totalling almost $1 million were issued without necessary certification,” McDonald said.

She said there were also payments amounting to close to $1 million in emoluments which were not reported to the Auditor General. 

Suite, in response, said those issues were indications that the accounting and the human resource systems at Inland Revenue were not properly functioning. He added that the management and staff of Inland Revenue and Customs Excise Division were focused on collecting monies but not enough attention was being paid to “what was happening internally.

“They may be relying too much on the human recourse and accounting persons within those divisions and think they are competent enough but when you look at what’s coming out of the Auditor General’s report clearly that is not the case,” Suite added.

National Security assistance has been recruited to ascertain how new state-supplied textbooks—bearing the stamps of some schools—are being sold on the streets of Port-of-Spain, Education Minister Anthony Garcia says.

“The people doing this (selling) should be before the courts—it’s an act of dishonesty,” Garcia added at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

Garcia revealed the issue while reinforcing Government’s decision to top-up supplies of textbooks to schools by only ten per cent. 

He said when this was first done last year—rather than total replenishment of supply—there had been outcry and claims that some children didn’t have books to go to school with. But deeming that “totally false”, Garcia said Government did an audit of the situation and found there were large numbers of textbooks in all schools.

“Some principals even complained they didn’t know where to put some textbooks they had—so there was an excess of textbooks in our schools...so the audit’s results belied the claims of a book shortage,” he said.

He said the ten per cent top-up would remain for levels from Infants to Standard Five and Forms One to Six and ensure adequate supplies.

But Garcia said the audit also revealed some impropriety in the procurement of textbooks, since the ministry received information that books—some brand new—bearing school stamps were being sold on the streets of Port-of-Spain, including Charlotte Street. He said people had complained to the ministry about the act soon after the new administration took office.

“I can’t say how much (books sold) but the fact is, there’s evidence a number of these books are being sold on the streets of Port-of-Spain,” he said.

Asked how this had occurred, Garcia replied, “Well, heaven help me...what we know is those persons who’re engaged in that practice should be brought before the courts, it’s an act of dishonesty—these books should be residing in schools for use by our students.

“We’ve been receiving a number of suggestions, a number of people have suggested the cause—some suggest students who don’t return books, (they) put them for sale on the streets. 

“Others suggest some level of leakage in the schools. Remember, some principals complained they have a number of books which they cannot accommodate. It’s being suggested—but also remember we don’t have confirmation as yet, so I’m trying to use my words very guardedly—that out of that (number), you have some of those books being sold, brand new on Charlotte Street ...some of the books have school stamps on them.”

Garcia added, “The third reason suggested is that it even came from the publishers. I don’t want to bash any publishers, but there’s reason to believe some textbooks weren’t even distributed to the schools but the publishers received payment for those books.”

He said books that didn’t find their way to the schools, “...perhaps those books might be the ones being sold on the streets. So there are three possibilities advanced. I’m not sure what is exactly the correct thing.”

Garcia said he intends liaising with the publishers’ association to get to the bottom of it. 

Discussions have already been held with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, who has agreed to supply “resources” to ascertain how the situation has come into being.

Garcia said the ministry hasn’t yet quantified how much money has been lost through such leakage.

But the Minister said principals have been asked to ensure books are returned to schools after use and parents have to sign for this. He said a proper system for accountability must also be implemented in schools and school supervisors will also be asked to monitor systems to ensure the required number of books are sent to schools

“If there are excess books, we’ll ask principals to return them and we’d decide where to distribute in event of shortages.”

To further deal with impropriety in procurement, Garcia said the ministry had recommended establishing a Learning Material team comprising people experienced in the textbook field to examine all aspects of learning material.

Publishers—Not us

Book Industry Organisation of T&T (BIOTT) president Rico Charran yesterday expressed concern about Education Minister Anthony Garcia’s statements regarding publishers in the issue.

“The Minister must be aware the procurement process has been very transparent and he doesn’t appear to take into account all the factors that comprise the chain of supply for the textbook rental programme,” Charran told the T&T Guardian.

“Textbooks ordered by the ministry are delivered to schools by publishers. Four delivery notes are stamped and signed by the schools. The documents are sent and verified by the Ministry and Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) before payment is issued to publishers. If a single book is missing the entire payment is withheld.”

Charran added, It’s counter- intuitive that he would say the free textbooks available to students are being sold on the street. Who would pay for free textbooks? 

“Nevertheless, BIOTT welcomes the opportunity to meet the Minister and his team to review any recommendations on improving the textbook rental programme. We sincerely hope this can be done quickly given the fact the Ministry hasn’t ordered any books for the upcoming term.”

President of National Parent Teacher Association, Zena Ramathali, meanwhile said, “If this (selling books) is happening it would only be a small percentage of parents, as the vast majority purchase, but I’ll investigate it.”

T&T Unified Teachers Association president Devanand Sinanan said he wasn’t in a position to confirm or deny Garcia’s theories.

“I ‘m a bit surprised to hear the Minister’s allegations, I don’t know the basis of statements,”

But Opposition MP Tim Gopeesingh, the former education minister, accused Garcia of using the book sale issue to distract from Government’s reduced supply of books. The Opposition has a motion for debate on the Parliament agenda calling for urgent steps to ensure all students are provided with learning materials.

Within a three-day period, some 170 tonnes of food and toiletries will be sent to Venezuela by plane, while 600 tonnes will be sent via sea next week.

This was revealed yesterday by the Venezuelan Vice Minister of Domestic Trade, Colonel Renier Urbáez.

Speaking to the media in the South Terminal at Piarco International Airport after two Venezuelan military cargo planes arrived to start loading the items for transportation to the Latin American country, Urbáez said it was hoped they’d get the items to the public fairly quickly.

According to Urbáez, the food will be sent firstly to the Sucre State, which has a population of just over 700,000 people. 

Yesterday, 12 tonnes of rice were sent on a first trip, which left just after midday, along with 33 tonnes of chicken, which consists of 16,000 heads of chicken.

Asked if manufacturers were paid for the goods, which as one of the major concerns raised by the businesses, chief executive officer of the T&T Manufacturer's Association, Dr Ramesh Ramdeen, said they received the payment from Venezuela via their respective bank accounts.

Robin Phillips, Marketing Director at Arawak, said the first flight took 3,000 heads of chicken, while the second left with 7,000 and the third, 3,000. The value of chicken exports totalled approximately US$100,000. The total cost of the items to be shipped in this first phase was said to be US$27 million.

Ramdeen disclosed that the other items to be sent within the three-day period included pasta, powder milk and ketchup.

“From Tuesday toilet paper and other bulky goods will be going to Venezuela by boat," Ramdeen said.

Asked if citizens should be worried about shortage of goods here in T&T, now that manufacturers were supplying Venezuela, Ramdeen said, “No There will be no shortage as the capacity is mostly in stocks, stockpiling inventories. But what this new agreement should do is ramp up capacity by the manufacturers. 

“This generating of foreign exchange would help manufacturers to source their raw materials for production.”

About eight local manufacturers have committed to delivering the required goods for use by the Venezuelan market, which is larger than all of Caricom combined.

The $100 million spent on Sir Anthony Colman Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the failure of Clico and the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) could have been better used to pay policyholders, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said yesterday.

Speaking during CNC3’s Morning Brew, Maharaj, who openly opposed the CoE from its inception because he felt it would prejudice ongoing criminal investigations, said T&T did not need an enquiry to realise that regulatory control of the insurance industry by the Central Bank was “fundamentally deficient.”

Saying the enquiry was a big waste of taxpayers’ money, Maharaj called on Government to come clean and state its intentions regarding Clico’s assets.

“I think the Government should not use its power and position of trust to confiscate the property of the owners. Instead, the Government should start negotiations with the majority shareholders. It is reported in the papers that Government is trying to sell assets and have sold some assets at gross undervalue,” Maharaj said.

Saying the CoE was nothing more than a lawyers’ paradise, with a breakdown of the costs showing $80 million was spent on attorneys’ fees alone, Maharaj said, “I don’t see anything useful coming out of the enquiry for T&T. It was well known at the time that the company had operated for a long time without the required statutory funds requirement. It was known at the time that Clico policyholders were put at risk and it was at that time known that there were already investigations done in respect to all possible wrongdoing, so nothing beneficial for T&T could have come out of this.”

He added that any attempt to file criminal action against the perpetrators could be compromised because of the CoE.

“Notwithstanding whatever recommendations were made, it would appear that this was a complete waste of resources in T&T,” he contended. 

Maharaj also said the CoE Act was very outdated and needs to be amended. He also predicted that similar injustices will occur unless the financial regulatory laws are fixed, adding he also believed the CoE was done to appease public emotion.

Asked whether Government should entertain negotiations with former chairman of CL Financial Lawrence Duprey, who has an interest in regaining control of Clico, Maharaj said yes.

Chairman of the Clico Policyholders group Peter Permell meanwhile said it was too premature to say if the report was useful, but called for it to be made public. 

“It must be made public because the Clico matter has been engaging the public attention for seven years,” Permell said.

CL Financial majority shareholder Lawrence Duprey has defended his family’s vision for the insurance giant against criticisms from Sir Anthony Colman, chairman of the commission of enquiry into the collapse of Clico and the Hindu Credit Union.

The CoE was commissioned under the past People’s Partnership in November 2010 to probe and ascertain the reasons for the failure of CL Financial, CL Investment Bank, British American (T’dad) Ltd, Caribbean Money Market Brokers Ltd (CMMB) and the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Ltd.

On Wednesday, Colman submitted his report on the enquiry into the collapse of both companies. 

In a statement on the report, Colman took issue with the Central Bank’s regulatory control of insurance companies— which he labelled “deficient”—as well as the vision of Duprey and HCU chairman Harry Harnarine.

Colman referred to both in seeking to identify the one characteristic which linked the collapse of HCU with that of Clico and its associated companies

“It was repeatedly claimed that the one motive that drove both Harry Harnarine and Lawrence Duprey to ever bigger deals was ‘vision’. Yet, in spite of all the warnings received from the Central Bank and the auditors they went on, like Icarus, only to be destroyed by the sun of their own vision,” Colman said.

But in his own statement yesterday, Duprey said: “The founding fathers of Colonial Life Insurance Company and consequently the CL Financial Group spent their formative years as immigrants living in the United States of America. There they endured the disadvantages of all people of colour at that time living in the USA. They became involved in the struggle, and got involved politically to fight for the betterment of people like themselves, who left their island homes in search of improvements.

“The results of their experience motivated them to become engines of change and led them to embrace the culture of change in a society that was emerging from the shackles of the British Empire and the colony’s bureaucratic civil servant-led administration.”

Duprey added: “It was against this background Cyril Duprey and Cyril Monsanto took on the challenge of starting a life insurance company, a saving institution that would secure the small savings of ordinary people and later deliver adequate funds for providing shelter and other necessities. 

"With the help of this institution, many thrifty people were able to secure shelter and education for their children.”

He said these activities created a start of wealth formation among the disenfranchised classes of people who were excluded from economic participation under the colonial regime.

Describing Clico as an instrument through which these people achieved these fundamental goals, Duprey added, “By developing the attributes of supporting ordinary people to achieve these goals, the company went beyond the day to day business of insurance transactions into the very fabric of the society, thereby becoming a household name, many times filling the gaps created by the exit of the British Colonial institutions...

“Because of the genesis of the role the company assumed in its foundational years, its vision evolved as a matter of necessity rather than choice. The company has survived several political regimes and its growth and progress has validated its choice. A vision that has served stakeholders well and has become known throughout the Caribbean for service to its communities.”

Yesterday, Clico policyholders and other stakeholders again repeated calls for Government—with whom the Colman report now resides—to reveal it.

Policyholders will protest outside Parliament today to highlight this and other concerns regarding Clico. Government has said the report will be sent to Cabinet first.

United Policy Holders Group head Angeli Gajadhar said if she could see a copy of the report she’d be able to respond on it and would know if citizens got value for money concerning costs estimated so far.

Clico Stakeholder Alliance head David Walker said if the report guided T&T to avoid a future crash, then value for money has been had. 

“It depends on what it says and whether we deal with identified weaknesses effectively. That in turn means the entire report must be published. We shall provide a more considered response once we have the report. One might also wish to ask who bears the cost. It has been suggested that it is Clico,” he said.

The Privy Council will also rule next Tuesday on the UPG’s appeal on recent judgements against paying them certain monies they claim are owed to them.

Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London says a no-nonsense approach should be taken to dealing with procurement and corruption issues in the Assembly. 

Speaking yesterday during his final budget debate as head of the THA, before his retirement later this year, London said a procurement system had been put in place and it was now being operationalised. 

He said the system was operated by people and the success would be dependent on the total buy-in to the philosophy and whether the people were prepared to work the system. He said Tobagonians should realise there was a price to pay when the wrong thing was done

“How many of us, in our doings and in our normal everyday life, know the wrong thing has happened, recognised it has happened and do nothing to prevent it, and nothing to ensure that those who are guilty of corruption get their just reward?” he asked

“I am saying except we in the Tobago House of Assembly and we in Tobago adopt a no nonsense, no forgiveness approach towards corruption and corrupt people, regardless of what kind of procurement system we have, it will not achieve the desired objectives.”

Commenting on the various responses to the $5.3 billion budget presented by Secretary for Finance and Enterprise Development Joel Jack on Tuesday, London said the contents of the presentation should be put into perspective. He said the budget should be viewed in the context of the developmental journey in Tobago over the last 16 years under his administration.

“Too many times, as we look at our development, we focus only on the present and on the future, we don’t look back at where we came from, we don’t look back at the progress we have made, we don’t look back at the hurdles we have overcome, we don’t look back at the sacrifices that all of us would have made and we don’t celebrate the victories,” he said.

“We spend so much time, as we should, looking at what we did not do, as well as we would like, but we do not spend enough time celebrating, and I’m saying to the people of Tobago, Madam Presiding Officer, and I’m saying to this House, as we look back we are confident Tobago can say there is much to celebrate.” 

The budget debate concluded at 8 pm with participation by all members in the House. The budget was passed and will be sent to Cabinet for approval.

An online petition asking for public consultation, full disclosure and accountability into the proposed development of Sandals Resort in Tobago has garnered over 2,000 signatures and 9,000 views in the last five days.

Once the petition reaches 3,000 signatures its organiser, Dedan Daniel, will hand it over the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) in a bid to force them to come clean with Tobagonians before making any drastic decisions on the project.

By Monday, Daniel, a nature seeker and businessman of Lambeau, anticipates the petition would be delivered to the THA.

Initially, Daniel said he had hoped for 500 signatures, but was surprised by the public’s overwhelming response on social media.

Not only has the petition attracted the attention of hundreds of Tobagonians, Daniel, 44, said people from Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, United Kingdom, Sweden, Austria and Germany are also in support of his move.

He said many of the regional and international signatories had visited Tobago.

“The petition has gone global now. The majority of people who signed are for the concept of accountability,” Daniel said.

“So far, the leadership of the THA is silent on this major development. 

“In defence of good governance, democracy and to protect the heritage of the people of Tobago, I am asking the THA to commence full and complete disclosure on these plans and to host public discussions as a matter of urgent public importance among stakeholders to get their views on this major project,” the petition stated.

Daniel said the news by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley recently that Tobago was earmarked for a 750-room Sandals Resort, as Government moves to make the island a tourism destination, came like a thief in the night, which led him to start the petition on June 18.

“I felt things were being kept a secret from us Tobagonians,” Daniel said. He said talks had already surfaced that No Man’s Land would be the ideal site to construct the hotel once the deal with Sandals Resorts founder and chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart, the People’s National Movement and THA is sealed.

Sandals has opened its doors in Antigua, Bahamas, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, St Lucia and Turks and Caicos. 

Daniel feels No Man’s Land which stretches out in front of the Bon Accord Lagoon and has a breathtaking view, should be left untouched for seabathers, beachgoers and fisherfolk to enjoy. 

“Tobago is a small place. Development at No Man’s Land could have major social, cultural and environmental impacts. 

“The Peoples National Movement ran the last general election on the principles of accountability and good governance. 

“I find that a major project like this they should have engaged the people and stakeholders.” 

On Tuesday, THA’s chief secretary Orville London insisted that No Man’s Land would remain a public space.

Secretary of Tourism and Transportation in the THA Tracy Davidson-Celestine, in an T&T Guardian article on Tuesday, said discussions with Sandals “are continuing. It is still in its early stages.”

The best location for Sandals, Daniel argued was on the northeastern side of Tobago, since most of Tobago’s development was concentrated on the southwest part of the island.

“We have to ensure that we don’t give away the baby with the bath water in terms of the types of concessions offered for the investments,” said Daniel, a lecturer in entrepreneurship, financial management and marketing at Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies and College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of T&T.

He insisted that he was not against the resort, since it would bring great benefits to the island and people, but wanted THA to have open lines of communication with citizens, which they were not doing.

Daniel said he knew he could be victimised on his job for being vocal, but was willing to face the consequences.

“There is a perception of victimisation that can occur. I trust in myself and in the Lord.”

Several calls yesterday to Davidson-Celestine and London’s cellphones for a comment went unanswered.

Police are expected to meet with the wife of missing Brazilian expatriate Odair Lins, who flew into Trinidad earlier this week to assist with investigations into his disappearance. 

Yesterday marked 15 days since Lins, an electrician with Brazilian firm Construtora OAS, went missing. According to Brazilian media, Lins’ wife Marcia Aparecida Martins Lopes said he and other colleagues were being threatened by local workers who were retrenched by the company earlier this year.

“He told me they were suffering threats from people who live there and work together, the firm was not hitting the salary, I do not know whether it is salary or hit the dismissal of staff, that is sending everyone away but they were unhappy in a matter of money,” Lopes told a Brazilian news agency last week.

Meanwhile, Region III Homicide Bureau, San Fernando CID and the Anti Kidnapping Unit are continuing their investigations, but are yet to find a solid lead into his disappearance. Lins, 55, stayed in an apartment on Coney Street, Gulf View, La Romaine. A report stated that around 5.30 am on June 8, he went to turn on a water pump at Mosquito Creek where work had stalled on the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension Project that his firm was working on.

However, he failed to return to the company’s Golconda base for work and was not at home when his colleagues checked. A report was made to San Fernando police and a search was made throughout the mangroves along the creek, but without success. 

The following night, South Western Division Task Force was on patrol along Quinam Road, Siparia where they came across Lins’ silver Mazda BT-50 pick-up truck, registration TCT 5301, parked in a lonely area. The officers found blood on the inside of the driver’s side door. Several searches were made in the forested area where the pick-up truck was found but there was no sign of Lins.

Nicknamed “Nigeo,” Lins is described as five feet four inches tall, of light brown complexion, with black curly hair, clean shaven face, brown eyes and a broad nose. 

Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat has deemed the luxurious Porsche Cayenne which was yesterday advertised for sale in a daily newspaper as “unsuitable for the ministry’s fleet.” 

However, former minister of food production, Devant Maharaj, who used the SUV licensed PCR 100 for ministerial duties, agreed with the Ministry of Finance’s Central Tender Board selling the six-year-old vehicle in a public auction.

In 2012, then opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley condemned the purchased of the Porsche Cayenne by former food production minister Vasant Bharath.

Bharath’s ministry had paid $400,000 in 2010 for the high-end vehicle following exemption of taxes and duties. Its original price was $925,000.

Rambharat was responding to questions about the high-end vehicle which was now gathering dust and depreciating in value at his St Clair’s ministry.

Rambharat has never used the luxury vehicle since becoming minister last September.

Asked what he meant by “unsuitable for the ministry’s fleet”, Rambharat did not respond, nor did he say whose decision it was to sell the vehicle.

“The ministry is also going through the process of identifying unwanted and unserviceable vehicles for disposal. The Porsche Cayenne will be put up for auction and the price will be determined through that process. The starting price will be disclosed at the auction,” Rambharat wrote in a text message.

The advertisement asked that interested parties to either view the vehicle at the ministry’s St Clair’s office from Monday to Friday or send sealed bids to the Central Tenders Board by July 14.

Admitting that he used PCR 100 several times, Maharaj said he was not against the sale, saying it was good decision taken.

“By and large I was satisfied with the vehicle’s performance. I experienced no difficulty using the Porsche going to Cabinet meetings, Parliament and remote agricultural places. The vehicle worked well.”

Maharaj said he had no intention of criticising the Government’s position to auction the vehicle.

“I don’t have a problem with the vehicle being sold. I think it is a standard practice not only for businesses but government agencies and ministries to sell vehicles that are beyond five years to help reduce maintenance cost, which is anticipated to be higher after five years. It should be replaced.”

He said the SUV was well-kept and serviced by the ministry.

“It did not ensure any kind of harsh treatment or licks. It was in good condition when I left. They should get a good price for the vehicle.”

Despite numerous discussions on climate change the country needs to do much more, especially as T&T is an energy-based one, says deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Planning Beverly Khan.

Khan spoke on behalf of Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis at the UNDP’s Development Dialogue on Climate Resilience for Small Island Developing States in the Age of the Sustainable Development Goal held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, yesterday.

Khan said the projected impact of climate change on this country was particularly worrying given the inherent constraints of capacity to address these impacts.

“Increase in temperatures, rising sea levels, the projected increase in extreme weather patterns and weather events, and changes in rainfall with their impact on important ecological and economic sectors present challenges that we have not yet faced before,” Khan said were areas of grave concern.

She said this country was faced with a particular dilemma especially as a fossil-fuel-based economy.

“The socio-economic consequences are now forcing us to ask and answer difficult questions about our future as on the one hand our economy is supported by a resource base that has been attributed as the de facto cause of global warming and climate change,” Khan said.

On the other, she said, T&T may be faced with existential threats arising our of the impasse of climate change. 

Saying that climate change was inevitable, she warned that the country must prepare for this while at the same time mitigate future emissions to minimise the amplitude of future temperature increases. 

What must also be avoided, Khan added, was signing multilateral agreements which were soon forgotten with little or no implementation at the national level. 

Building climate resilience and charting a low carbon path were two policy aspects being examined by the Government.

Khan said the national climate change policy of 2011 was expected to be reviewed this year.

Rosemary Lall, programme officer, Energy, Environment and Disaster Management T&T who delivered remarks on behalf of Richard Blewitt, UN Resident Co-ordinator and UNDP Resident Representative T&T said it could be argued that small states such as T&T were among the countries that faced the greatest need to formulate and implement comprehensive approaches to combat the negative impacts of climate change.

She said the Caribbean region as a whole was faced with seasonal events such as droughts, heatwaves, heavy rains and violent winds.

There was also the issue, Lall added, of slow onset events such as increased temperatures that affect sea and land surfaces, sea level rise, coastal erosion and coral bleaching.

Heads of the various Elections and Boundaries bodies throughout the Commonwealth have been urged to always bear in mind the importance of transparency, accountability and accuracy in electoral administration.

T&T’s chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), Mark Ramkerrysingh, gave this advice during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Electoral Network (CEN) Biennial Conference, which was held on Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain.

Ramkerrysingh also stressed on the ethical behaviour of key players, which, he said, all contribute to gaining, maintaining and enhancing credibility in the electoral process.

“Elections by themselves are not sufficient to constitute a truly representative democracy but there can be no truly representative democracy without elections. Genuine and credible elections are therefore a cornerstone of our various constitutions,” Ramkerrysingh said.

“The means to safeguard electoral integrity therefore should be enshrined within the legal framework for elections; implemented through the institutional structure; and administered competently and impartially by election management bodies and other authorities involved in election administration,” he added.

Ramkerrysingh said he believes that an active and educated electorate, effective and responsible political parties and candidates, and objective national and international election observation in turn strengthen the official safeguards of electoral integrity.

With regards to T&T, he said, the EBC has successfully conducted elections with the highest probity and transparency.

He said several regional and international election observer missions who were invited to monitor our electoral procedures could have attested this to.

Ramkerrysingh also paid tribute to the contribution of the former chairman of the EBC Dr Norbert Masson.

“Throughout his tenure until his retirement in 2015, Dr Masson worked tirelessly to implement several policy directives that have improved our electoral processes and which will serve the EBC well in the future,” he said.

During the conference, Ramkerrysingh said he expects that there shall be further defining of electoral standards by advancing commonwealth principles for good electoral practice.

“The network promotes good practice in managing elections, facilitates peer-to-peer exchanges of experience and fosters the community of Commonwealth electoral management bodies,” he said.

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General, Dr Josephine Ojiambo, in her opening remarks, said lifting the quality and strengthening the relevance of its election management bodies is a continuing work in progress.

In the Commonwealth, Ojiambo disclosed that increased focus is placed on the quality of electoral processes and institutions.

Election observation work is one of its brand strengths.

Ojiambo noted that more than 130 observer groups have been sent to elections since 1990.

She also noted that in a continued attempt to raise governance standards, there needs to be a conscious need to follow up the recommendations of election observers.

“Their reports are intended to support your work and we would therefore welcome your thoughts on how to make further progress in this regard,” Ojiambo said.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was mentioned in the official programme to deliver remarks at the event, however, he failed to show. 

There was no mention of his absence or no apology for his absence given on his behalf.

Premature!

That’s how Secretary of Tourism and Transportation in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Tracy Davidson-Celestine, yesterday responded to the online petition which called on the assembly for public consultation, full disclosure and accountability into the proposed development of Sandals Resort in Tobago.

The petition, organised by businessman Dedan Daniel, has garnered over 2,000 signatures and 9,000 views in the last few days.

Once Daniel has obtained 3,000 signatures he will hand over the petition to the THA in a bid to force them to come clean with Tobagonians before making any drastic decisions on the project.

Four days after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that Tobago was earmarked for a 750-room Sandals Resort, Daniel started the online petition. 

Daniel also objected to No Man’s Land, which was rumoured to be the proposed site for the development. 

Having heard about the petition, Davidson-Celestine said the move by Daniel was “premature to suggest we have not disclosed any information to the public. At the end of the day, as the Chief Secretary pointed out, all we have had was preliminary discussions with Sandals founder and chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart.”

She said if Sandals, THA and the Government were to hammer out an arrangement for the hotel to be built, the public would be told and would have a say. Davidson-Celestine said the THA has always maintained that Sandals was interested in putting its brand in Tobago. 

The four meetings the THA had with Stewart, Davidson-Celestine said, would suggest that talks were still in the early stages.

“There is interest. There is possibility. We want to see it happen. That is all we can say. Some ideas have been put forward in terms of what is possible. But we have not agreed on anything. It’s too early to make any concluding remarks on Sandals.”

If Sandals opens its doors in Tobago, Davidson-Celestine said it would provide Tobago with many opportunities to boost tourism. Davidson-Celestine said she had no idea who was feeding Daniel information about where Sandals would establish its development.

“Again. That is premature.”

She also could not say if and when the deal would be finalised.

“I can’t say because there are quite a number of [matters] must be taken into consideration first. There is no timeframe at this point with Sandals.”

Over the years, Davidson-Celestine said, many hoteliers had expressed an interest in bringing business to Tobago. 

However, she said, these discussions never materialised. 

“They would have come with plans and financial arrangements to the THA. We have had ten to 15 (investors/hoteliers) and nothing has happened to date. The point I am making here is that we don’t know where this will go. There was an investor here two or three months ago who looked at the Magdalena Hotel and other properties. We have not heard from that investor. They have several companies around the globe.”

If Sandals gets the all clear, Davidson-Celestine said it would the first five-star hotel for Tobago.

“We don’t have any significant high-end hotel here. These are the people who spend their money. The largest number of rooms we have on this island on a single property is Magdalena Hotel. We want five-star and four-star service going forward that we can move out of the range of targeting mainly the lower and middle income passengers to our destination. We need a hotel that has an international reputation that can give credibility to Tobago’s tourism.”

Tobago currently has between 4,500 and 5,000 hotel rooms.

Davidson-Celestine said every international guest who visits Tobago spends an average of US$207 per day for a stay of ten to 12 nights.

Passengers on cruise ships would fork out US$74 daily.

Members of the People’s National Movement (PNM) in Tobago will come out today to vote for two candidates to fill the posts of political leader of the party’s Tobago council and chairman.

After weeks of campaigning, ending with rallies across the island late last night, over 8,000 party members are expected to begin voting at 13 polling stations from 6 am to 4 pm today.

The results for the election should be announced by 7 pm this evening. 

Over the past weeks, the 12 candidates have been making promises to voters on the future of the internal affairs of the party in Tobago.

The seven candidates vying for political leader have also already begun campaigning for the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections which will be held in January.

For the first time, the internal elections of the Tobago Council will be conducted in the one man, one vote system.

Chairman of the Elections Supervisory Committee, Alvin Pascall in an interview yesterday said all was prepared for the election.

“The microphones are in the air, the ads are in the media. We are winding down. Polling station workers took away paraphernalia for polling stations and we are all prepared so that if voting goes well, we can expect to have results within three hours of the start of the count.

The count starts at 6 pm.

Pascall described the campaigning by candidates as normal.

“They were in the trenches doing what they had to do, but it is a bit different because of the new voting structure. It’s hard to tell who will win. We are hardly getting any feedback from the ground.”

The new political leader is set to replace Orville London as Chief Secretary of the THA.

London has held the position since 2001.

London assured that the playing field has been levelled for all the candidates contesting the election and said the results must be accepted by people on all levels. He said there would be ten losers and expressed hoped that they would remain loyal to the political party

“I am hoping that the losers will remain loyal to the organisation, and that the losers will understand that in the final analysis it was a fair fight, that is why this particular gentleman Mr Alvin Pascall attorney at law, highly respected, was placed in charge of the elections supervisory committee” London said.

In interviews last week, the candidates all expressed their commitment to a better Tobago and a better party, with some citing healthcare as the most important issue for Tobagonian voters, while others stressed on integrity in leadership.

Tsoi-a-Fatt

In an interview on Friday, political leader candidate Denise Tsoi-a-Fatt-Angus described the campaign as an extraordinary journey.

“It has helped me to develop new relationships while discovering the legacy of service left by my grandfather and parents across Tobago.

“It has confirmed to me my commitment toward selfless service, to remaining approachable, committed and delivering with integrity to contribute to a stronger PNM and a better Tobago,” said Tsoi-a-Fatt-Angus.

She said her objective has always been to preserve the integrity of the party.

“I have run a clean campaign that in no way can be perceived to undermine the strength of the PNM. My plans therefore would be to bring my colleagues together after the elections to energise the new recruits and get them engaged in the party while mobilising existing members and mobilising the THA elections.”

She said she hoped that if elected, she could improve the internal democracy of Tobago PNM, ensuring transparency of elections will be preserved, promoting a political identity, ensuring a robust education system is in place for new members and reminders to the old. 

Tsoi-a-Fatt-Angus, who served on the board of the Tobago Regional Health Authority twice and is a medical doctor, said she was committed to sustainable diversification and food security.

Cynthia Alfred

One of the other candidates, Cynthia Alfred, who served twice as deputy chief secretary at the Tobago House of Assembly said she felt her experience and knowledge made her the most suitable candidate.

“I have had a lot of experience and knowledge, both party-wise and managerial-wise, so with all those put together, I believe I am the most suitable person. Alfred, a former teacher, public servant and senator was also the representative for Bacolet/ Mt St George for two terms. 

“I have not been involved in bobol, my record and reputation is as clean as can be and that is important. 

“People must select someone they know is unbribable. I have the knowledge and experience to run Tobago. People must look for someone who they are convinced can be a true leader regardless of the situation.”

Beckles

Handel Beckles, in an interview yesterday, said he had spent the day resting and was confident that God had the election in hand and that people would vote for the leader they were most comfortable with.

“If you are looking for a leader to represent all the people on this island, I am best suited.

Charles

Kelvin Charles, last week described himself as a credible option.

“I am community oriented, I am trustworthy, not easily corruptible. I have stature. I can bring a degree of boldness to the leadership and that is combined with passionate leadership. I feel I posess an integrated tapestry of relevant skills, competencies, attitudes and behaviour to operate efficiently as political leader and later Chief Secretary.”

Davidson-Celestine

Tracy Davidson-Celestine, the current deputy chief secretary said she hoped today’s results would reflect the feedback she had gotten from PNM members.

“I hope that feedback translates into votes. People have been supporting me and I know I will be the best candidate for Tobago.”

Neither Trevor Craig or Rennie Dumas were available for interviews yesterday.

The party members will also choose between five people for the post of chairman today.

The five are, Stanford Callender, Dr Carlton Guy, Kurt Salandy, Keron Eastman and Wendell Berkeley.

The current leader, Dr Orville London, will not be contesting the position and has not endorsed a candidate.