Police are yet to identify the body of a man who was found with a gunshot wound to his head in La Romaine yesterday.

Checks were being made to the missing persons database and fingerprints were taken yesterday as up to late yesterday, no one came forward to claim the body.

Police said around 3.30 am a passerby alerted officers who were on patrol to the body. On checking 20 metres into the bushes off Pluck Road, they found the body of a “heavily built,” Afro-Trinidadian man, who appeared to be in his early 30s. 

He wore a pair of three-quarter khaki pants and purple vest and had a gunshot wound to the back of the head. 

The body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy will be done once it is identified.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the San Fernando Police Station at 652-3206, 652–2858, 652-1771or the Crime Stoppers at 800-8477.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert says the Government is still awaiting a response from the US Treasury Department on its request for an extension to have the FATCA legislation approved. 

The extension may turn out to be Government’s only hope of saving some sectors of the economy from collapsing after the Opposition’s walkout on the debate yesterday, leaving the Bill’s passage before the September 30 deadline in jeopardy.

Speaking to reporters about the Bill’s future some time after the Opposition walkout, Imbert said he expected the response from the US authorities next week, adding what the Government was not prepared to do yesterday “was to allow this Bill to go to a vote and fail.”

He said if that were to happen the matter could not return before a six-month period and if it had failed “it would have sent an entirely wrong signal to the US Treasury and American authorities.” 

He reiterated that was the Government’s major concern, adding that “under no circumstances are we going to do anything that will allow this Bill to fail.”

Imbert said he also wrote to the US ambassador in Port-of-Spain, John Estrada, who “has gone off to Washington and he told me he was also going to speak to people in the (US) Treasury and we will see what happens.”

He said: “It was not a time for nervousness but a time for being purposeful and doing it the right way and making sure we don’t give the US the wrong message as a country, that we are prepared to be flippant abut this whole thing.”

Imbert said since September 12, following a private meeting between the Government and Opposition, he had realised the Opposition had no intention of supporting the Bill. He said the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government did everything it could do to secure approval of the measure and it would have been very easy for the Opposition to draft and present its amendments to the legislation two weeks ago.

He also dismissed an Opposition claim that Government brought the legislation to distract attention from the national budget to be presented next Friday. 

Rather, he said he, his staff and the Government were being inconvenienced “by accommodating the antics of the Opposition.” 

Imbert said instead of yesterday’s fiasco he should have instead been “going through the 10,000 line items in the budget” and looking at specific documents. He said the estimates were to be printed yesterday. 

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart Young, said the inability to have the legislation approved “lies at the footstep of the Opposition.”

“They have not shown that they are responsible. Their display and behaviour today was obviously staged and they came here intending to walk out and to not support this legislation.”

Young insisted the legislation was “not legislation that affects the rights of citizens of T&T. This legislation affects US taxpayers and residents. So all the propaganda that they (Opposition) are attempting to protect citizens of T&T are completely false, inaccurate and wholly irresponsible.”

Young added: “This legislation is not about T&T citizens.”

He insisted that the issue of reciprocity “will not come into play until the US Government passes domestic legislation.”

The walkout caused House Leader, Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, to call for the early adjournment of the House to Friday at 1.30 pm, when the national budget for 2016/17 will be presented by Imbert.

There were political fireworks at the start of the Parliament’s Second Session yesterday, as government’s bid to push through with the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (2016) bill in Parliament hit a “wall” when the Opposition refused to have a meeting on the proposed bill.

This was despite the Government agreeing to change certain clauses of the bill which the Opposition had objected to.

During the tea break, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar told reporters, “I’m not convinced we should speak to the Government in secret, since those secret talks end up public for their distortion and lies. Also, you don’t breach the rights of the minority by invoking the Standing Orders of the House (to call the meeting).

“What a day...what a day for the first day as we come back (to Parliament). I’m convinced the Government doesn’t want to pass this bill. They know very well they will get an extension from the US (on the bill), but they just want to rant and rave from their platform to blame the Opposition. So they don’t care to pass the bill and every media forum will be blaming the Opposition.”

The legislation, designed to facilitate the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Agreement which T&T signed with the US in 2013, allows the T&T Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) and other financial institutions to share information with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Failure to pass it by the stipulated September 30 deadline could result in the halt of transfer of funds and transactions between the two countries. The bill was top of the agenda at yesterday’s launch of the Second Session of Parliament. 

Finance Minister Colm Imbert slammed “misinformation and misunderstanding on the bill.” He detailed the bill’s genesis from the time the past People’s Partnership administration signed the agreement with the US in 2013, to its moves to begin drafting legislation in the first quarter of 2015. But nothing was done to further it after, he said.

“For reasons best known to themselves, they didn’t table the law...this (2016) bill is the same bill they had...now we have to come to them and beg them to agree on the bill? That’s not going to happen.”

Imbert, however, agreed to delete the clause (six) the Opposition had concerns about and change clause seven’s stipulation from having the “minister” provide information sought under the T&T-US agreement. He said T&T’s BIR Board would handle the task instead.

Concessions brought desk-thumping approval from the Opposition. Imbert subsequently said the Government was ready to vote and proposed suspension of proceedings for an hour for the two sides to meet on amendments.

But the Opposition objected. Following a successful Government majority vote on this, the sitting was adjourned for an hour. But during that time, Persad-Bissessar told reporters: “Government has no concern or respect for process. Why should we go behind closed doors? Let’s talk here in Parliament so people can see, because Government distorts things and it ends up in lies.

“We want to pass this bill but Government has its own agenda. I figure from their behaviour and things they’re saying, they don’t want this bill passed. I discovered at 6.15 am the bill would be debated today. Apart from the order paper, there was no indication of debate before—so brinksmanship again.”

She added, “There was only one concession on clauses, but (Imbert) said no to others. It’s insufficient, the Bankers’ Association had 13 amendments, I’m not taking any blame for the government’s recklessness and brinksmanship.”

Moonilal ejected

One of the “casualties” of yesterday’s argument on suspending the sitting was UNC MP Roodal Moonilal, who was told by House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George to leave the chamber. This occurred when Moonilal, in voting against the adjournment, said the Speaker could have intervened. He denied he was being contemptuous, but was sent outside.

Rosemarie Sant

Higher food prices, loss of investor confidence and a worsening of the country’s already bleak foreign exchange situation are among the repercussions T&T could face if the Tax Information and Exchange Agreement (TIEA) Bill, 2016, is not debated and passed by Parliament ahead of the September 30 deadline for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) legislation to take effect.

That was the grim picture painted by economists Vaalmikki Arjoon and Indera Sagewan-Alli who both warned that non-compliance could ultimately result in higher prices for the average consumer.

“This is not a matter that they should be playing politics with,” Sagewan-Alli said.

She said many every day transaction could become most costly and complication because FATCA affects bank to bank relations. 

“If you have a child studying, whether it is in the Caribbean or the US, once it involves US dollars and you want to send money it is done through an intermediary bank. If the local banks are not compliant then you cannot send the money,” she explained.

Sagewan-Alli said without compliance any US transaction would be subject to a 30 per cent withholding tax.

“That is then what you the customer have to pay. So if you want to wire transfer US$100 you will have to pay 30 per cent on that. Does that make any sense?”

Arjoon said: “The entire financial system is now on pause. Everyone waiting to see what will happen.” 

He described FATCA as “one of the most significant pieces of financial regulationsin history. 

“The implications for the local economy is so huge that those in authority must move swiftly to ensure its passage. It does not just affect banking and business, it affects everyone.”

Arjoon said ailure to pass the Bill, which was being debated in the House of Representatives yesterday, would ultimately result in higher food prices. 

“It could mean that businesses would not be able to get products from abroad resulting in shortages and higher prices. There would be an inability to pay for goods and services.

“We are an import intensive economy and in order to pay for goods globally businesses have to pay through the banks. If the legislation is not passed they will not be able to pay on time.”

He said the ripple effects include businesses being forced to downsize and workers not being paid on time.

“In the worse-case scenario some businesses may be forced to close down. Credit card transactions will be affected, this will affect persons who shop on line, wire transfers—your bank may not be able to send money to your children studying abroad—remittances will be affected and there are implications for the already strained foreign exchange earnings of the country,” he said

“A loss of financial relations with the US could affect the day to day economy.”

How FATCA failure affects you

​Does non-compliance with FATCA affect ordinary bank customers?

Yes. Local banks may eventually be restricted or cut off from relationships with correspondent banks internationally, if they or T&T are not FATCA-compliant. This would result in reduced availability or unavailability of everyday banking services we take for granted, such as remittance services, wire transactions, currency transfers and other services requiring access to the US. financial system. Even if these services remain available, the cost of accessing them will increase if the appropriate FATCA regime is not place. 

Will local businesses be affected?

The ease of doing business in T&T will be affected if there is a loss of correspondent banking relationships. The capability to provide certain services will be adversely affected and access to trade services which are indispensable to many local businesses, will be restricted or unavailable. This will increase the cost of doing business in Trinidad and Tobago resulting in reduced profit margins for businesses in general. 

Are there any penalties for banks that are not FATCA compliant?

Banks that do not comply with FATCA are subject to a 30 per cent withholding tax on US. They also risk probable termination of their correspondent banking relationships and jeopardize their access to the international financial system. Banks that have suffered such disruptions cannot easily provide services to their clients in the areas of trade finance and facilitation and foreign currency transactions. The costs of doing business will increase and their profitability will decline.

Banks cannot adequately discharge their FATCA reporting obligations without establishment of an appropriate institutional and legislative regime for FATCA compliance at the national level. They are required to partner with Government to set up the systems for compliance and, in particular, reporting. 

What is the impact of failure to implement FATCA on the economy? 

A country that is non-compliant with FACTA runa the risk of erosion of competitive advantage, perception of a lack of transparency abd the possibility of negative impact on the local economy. The financial services sector contributes approximately 14 per cent to T&T’s GDP. If this sector is adversely affected by imposition of the 30 per cent withholding tax on many of its financial institutions and disruption of access to international financial markets, this will directly affect an economy that is already affected by depressed prices for its energy commodities. 

What does T&T need to do to implement FATCA?

As the financial services hub of the English-speaking Caribbean, T&T has important responsibilities in concluding an Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) with the Government of the United States to cover matters relating to the role of the Board of Inland Revenue, the governmental agency which will have authority to receive FATCA information from local financial institutions and to report that information to the IRS. 

This country also has a responsibility to enact legislation for stablishment of a FATCA compliance regime that will provide for the obligations of financial institutions and the Board of Inland Revenue regarding FATCA information on clients and the secure and accurate transmission of that information to the IRS. 

Some of T&T’s CARICOM neighbours have already enacted legislation to support the implementation of FATCA, including Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, St. Vincent and St. Kitts and Nevis. 

To avoid any adverse consequences, conclusion of an IGA must be accompanied by an appropriate legislative regime to support the domestic enforcement of obligations under the IGA. 

The Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act (FATCA), which was enacted by the United States Government in March 2010, requires foreign financial institutions to report directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all clients who are US citizens, green card holders living in the US or abroad, or foreign entities in which US taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest.

FATCA requires US citizens and green card holders with financial assets outside of the US exceeding US$500,000 to report these assets to the IRS.

The legislation is structured so that all accounts will be deemed non-compliant or recalcitrant unless the institution can demonstrate it undertook a rigorous due diligence process to prove it has no US account holders.

A participating foreign financial institution will be obligated to:

• Obtain information to determine which account holders are US persons

• Comply with verification and due diligence procedures on such account holders as required by the IRS

• Report annually to the IRS on the name and address of each US client.

Correspondent banks everywhere may refuse to deal with a financial institution unless that institution can show it is FATCA compliant.

Foreign financial institutions include every member of the investment community—banks, credit unions,asset managers, investment funds and pension fund schemes, brokers and insurance companies.​​

President Anthony Carmona will address several issues raised in the public domain related to his office on Monday.

Over the last couple days debate has been raging about spending at the President’s House, after the Auditor General’s report pointed to “85 instances of incorrect classification of expenditure, totalling $2,685,236.90, in contravention of financial regulation 65, which stipulates that a vote may not be applied to a purpose for which it was not intended” at President’s House.

In the report, Auditor General Majid Ali said: “Typographical and other errors, as well as omissions continue to be evident in certain Appropriation Accounts submitted for audit.” 

However, he made it clear that errors or omissions which were referred to “have no material effect on the truth and fairness of the Public Accounts,” unless otherwise stated in the report. 

There were also queries about spending on wine and jewelry.

In a press release yesterday, Carmona said he would address the matter on Monday.

He also offered condolences to the family of his butler Choy Richardson who died earlier this week.

“Choy Richardson was a genuine, loving human being we were privileged to know and who we respected tremendously for his exemplary selflessness and his sense of personal consideration for all. 

“His loving sense of genuine service ensured those he served enjoyed every moment of the function they attended. His work ethic was phenomenal. Choy was very compassionate and kind to our children, Christian and Anura, and for this we are eternally grateful. 

“His capacity to please and comfort knew no bounds. We are in deep grief at his untimely passing,” Carmona said. 

Richardson’s funeral is carded for Monday.

Rosemarie Sant

In just under seven days Finance Minister Colm Imbert will present the country’s fiscal package in an economic climate which the Central Bank has said is challenged by lower global energy prices, reduction in local gas and oil production and Government spending cuts.

It is very likely that the value of the fiscal package could be in the region of $57 billion. 

Imbert is expected to address outstanding debts owed to public officers and contractors.

Partial payment of both debts have been made but a huge sum remains outstanding. In the case of the contractors, over $2 billion is still owed and contractors are hoping that there would be some effort to pay off the debt and give new hope to the industry, even in the face of fiscal prudence which would have to be adopted by the Government.

In April this year, during a mid-year review, Imbert revised the $63 billion fiscal package announced last October to $59 billion. He has already indicated that he wants to “bring the Government finances into approximate balance by fiscal year 2018.”

Imbert told the country a year ago that he was aiming to reduce the deficit from $7 billion or 4.2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to $2.8 billion or an estimated 1.7 per cent of GDP. 

In the past year State enterprises, statutory bodies, all ministries and the Tobago House of Assembly were directed to review their operations and make identifiable adjustments of a seven per cent reduction in proposed operating expenses.

Government also withdrew US$375 million or TT$10 billion from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund in May of this year. 

But the Central Bank’s quarterly report released in early September reports that for the period October 2015 to June 2016 Central Government registered a deficit of $6.2 billion or 4.6 per cent of GDP.”

The deterioration, according to the Central Bank, was due primarily to “a sharp fall-off in energy revenues which was partially offset by a reduction in Central Government spending.” 

Energy revenues declined to $4.8 billion. Non-tax revenue from the non-energy sector grew to $6.6 billion.

Taxes from income, as well as receipts from goods and services remained relatively flat. VAT collections totalled $4,711.5 million.

Transfers and subsidies fell by $1.6 billion to $20.9 billion as a result of a fall-off in the petroleum subsidy to $466.3 million in the nine-month period.

The Central Bank report said Government collected roughly “$30.3 billion in the nine month period to June this year.

Respected business publication, Bloomberg, also paints a gloomy picture, noting the numbers from the Central Bank report which noted GDP contracted 5.2 per cent in the first quarter, the largest contraction since 2009.

Headline inflation increased to 3.4 per cent in June from 2.4 per cent at start of year.

Natural gas production dropped 11.2 per cent in first half of the year; 

Crude oil production was down by 10.4 per cent.

It is in this scenario that the minister will present the fiscal measures next Friday.

Where will major allocations be? 

Given the crime situation there is expectation that National Security will again get the biggest slice of the pie, followed by Education, Health, and Works and Infrastructure. Local Government will also be given a larger slice of the pie. The Local Government election is due early next year and the ministry also now has responsibility for the CEPEP programme.

Over the next seven days the T&T Guardian will be delving deeper into the measures announced in the 2015-2016 fiscal package and examining how the money was spent. 

We will look at some key ministries and the allocations, what they achieved and where they failed.

In tomorrow’s Sunday Guardian we examine the allocations to National Security and Health.

Parents of students attending the Curepe Presbyterian Primary School are calling on the Ministry of Education to complete the new school building so that students can be relocated from the old facility which is now posing a threat to their health.

During an early morning protest outside the school at Lyndon Street, Curepe, yesterday the angry parents said work was halted last May but was yet to resume one year later.

Claiming they were unaware as to why it had officially stopped, parent Aruna Mohammed-Singh explained:

“They took almost the entire back of the compound where the football field was to start construction. They raised the level of the new school so that it was slightly higher than that of the existing school so whenever there is heavy rainfall, it is now affecting the building the children and teachers occupy.”

Mohammed-Singh said a temporary connection with the existing drainage and sewer system had led to the old school building flooding every time it rained heavily.

She added: “There is flooding in the bathrooms the students have to use as well as those used by the teachers. 

“There is sewer water gathering and settling near the Infants Department which encourages mosquitoes and is a health hazard to all the students. Also, there are rats now as the bushes at the back are overgrown.”

Adding that there was a lack of parking spaces on the compound with teachers having to park on the roadway, she said students were unable to enjoy any recreation as the school was cramped and overcrowded.

Mohammed-Singh said they had been warned by the contractor not to enter the unfinished premises which remained locked.

She said teachers and parents were willing to clean the site which also had containers on it but that suggestion had been rejected.

She appealed to the authorities to complete the building which she said was already 75 per cent finished.

Mohammed-Singh said the new building needed to be wired and outfitted with furniture.

Revealing the problems had resulted in the early dismissal of classes several times since the new school term started, she said the 660 students and 28 teachers were unhappy about the matter.

Calls to the head of the Presbyterian School Board, Lennox Sirjuesingh, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association Devanand Sinanan and Education Minister Anthony Garcia all proved futile.

Meanwhile, teachers of the Sangre Grande Secondary School remained away from work for a third consecutive day yesterday.

Teachers reportedly embarked on sick out action on Wednesday morning after the sewer system began malfunctioning.

Parents claimed school officials assured that remedial work would be carried out this weekend.

However, they have vowed to continue to stay away from classes if the problem was not rectified by Monday.

Rosemarie Sant 

A former journalist who has been immortalised in a book written by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley titled From Mason Hall to Whitehall is seeking legal advice on the contents in a chapter of the book in which political allegations have been made about her. 

Eight paragraphs of the chapter “Institutional Failure and Political Nastiness” have been dedicated to former journalist Anika Gumbs and detail a visit to Rowley’s Diego Martin home for an interview. 

Gumbs told the Sunday Guardian she had “informed her attorney Nizam Mohammed about the matter” and referred all questions to him. 

Mohammed confirmed he had “a phone conversation with Ms Gumbs” whom he is also representing in a matter between Gumbs and the Sunshine newspaper over similar allegations. He gave no further information, only adding that he has a heavy workload at this time. 

In August last year, Gumbs, through her attorney, initiated legal action against the Sunshine newspaper for what she described as malicious attacks designed to deliberately defame her character. 

The pre-action protocol letter to the newspaper demanded an apology, a sum in “exemplary” damages for injury to her reputation, and legal costs of $15,000. Mohammed confirmed there has been no case management hearing in this matter. 

In his book, launched on September 17, Rowley made claims about contracts, a mansion and a luxury vehicle. He also goes into detail about a visit by Gumbs to his home in April 2015 at her request to discuss a story she was working on. 

He said he asked his trusted assistant Cleveland Howell who was at home with him to let her into the family room when she arrived. He said, “She fidgeted and nattered without engaging me in any serious conversation. She asked me a couple of nondescript questions about nothing that I found particularly interesting.” 

Rowley said he found it curious that “nothing that was being said was so sensitive that it could not have been raised over the phone,” but he said he thought nothing sinister about it at the time. 

That is until the Express carried a story in which Gumbs reported to her editor-in-chief that she had been to his house in pursuit of her job and he had made comments to her that were “so inappropriate and that so traumatised her that she had to enter a counselling programme.” 

Rowley said she indicated that “when she arrived at my house I greeted her bareback at the gate and upon hearing that she was being stalked I offered to guard her bedroom.” 

He said, “According to her I was also interested in knowing about some tattoo she had on some exposed part of her body. She also alleged that I praised her sucrose or saccharin levels when a bee inadvertently landed on her.” 

According to him, “This was too much.” 

He alleged that the incident was linked to the NO ROWLEY campaign launched by the then PP government. 

He said he felt she came to his home “with a plan to accuse me of something very serious which would have seen me possibly being arrested and certainly scandalised for some sexual assault and in which case I most certainly would have been out of the election race.” 

But he said the “unexpected presence of Cleveland caused her to concoct an unbelievable tale." 

In her resignation letter to Express Editor-in-Chief Omatie Lyder in early August 2015, Gumbs detailed three meetings with Rowley—one at the office of the then Opposition Leader in January, and two other meetings at his private home on April 9 and April 21. 

She alleged that at the April 9 meeting he touched her on the back while asking about her tattoo and on April 21 Rowley asked about being a bodyguard outside her bedroom. She also said he was bareback during their meeting. (See Page A8)

Rowley responds: 

Tell her to read Nike ad

When told last evening via text message that Gumbs was contemplating legal action with regard to comments he made in his book about her, Rowley’s response was, “Contemplate? Tell her to read the Nike advertisement! I would welcome her return from under whichever stone she has crawled out from under.”

(With reporting by Kalifa Clyne)

President Anthony Carmona took traditional and social media to task yesterday as he slammed newspapers for becoming “garbage dumps” and lamented the rise of “armchair journalism.”

Carmona has now called on all law-abiding citizens to take a stand as he declared that “enough is enough.”

Over the past week Carmona has been called upon to answer questions about the purchase of Italian wine bottled with the embossed label “Presidential House Sparkling Wine, Office of the President of Trinidad and Tobago” and bearing the country’s coat of arms as well as his decision to have a meeting with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon without reference to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Carmona, who has signalled his intention to address the queries tomorrow, yesterday warned those in the Mercy Village at the Jean Pierre Complex, Port-of-Spain, of the “slings and arrows” they will face in life.

Carmona’s address at Mercy Village was his first jab at the media.

The Mercy Village which was launched yesterday was organised in the name of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain as part of the church’s celebration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. 

The Mercy Village is aimed at encouraging the nation's youth to take a more active role in the country's development.

“We must ensure that we in fact become creatures of empathy, compassion, selflessness. And service to humanity must be our philosophy because ladies and gentlemen we will in fact suffer the slings and arrows of those who are holding on to the Devil’s tail and there are many in our society who would not countenance good when they see it, who will condemn good when it comes knocking on their door, who will in fact pervert the descriptions of what is in fact being done for the good of Trinidad and Tobago and this happens throughout the world,” Carmona said.

“That is why ladies and gentlemen, young men and women we have to evangelise on a different level, we have to tell the newspapers and social media and all of them that enough is enough. We have to tell the CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) and the managing directors and the editors of newspapers that in fact your newspaper is not a garbage dump because I remember, I remember ladies and gentlemen when in fact I saw an article where they referred that there are in this world two St Thomas ‘Aquinasses’ and my religion was mocked, my Christianity was mocked and I felt in the circumstances that will not deter me from invoking the power of God in public places and we must not be afraid of our religion, we must not in fact concede to those who are non-believers to those who are agnostics, to those who are doubting Thomases because you know what ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we believe in the power of God, we believe that in fact there is a God that will bring miracles to this land of ours,” he said.

In his Republic Day address to the nation Carmona continued his criticism of the media as he slammed those who engage in “armchair journalism.”

Carmona said “moral authority” is diminishing in this country.

“On this Republic Day, I ask you citizens to remember some of the great journalists and television personalities of the past. To name a few, George John, John Babb, Therese Mills, Hazel Ward, Holly Betaudier and Owen Baptiste. They continue to be my standard and I feel they must become our standard. Their stewardship was marked by civility, probity, comity, simple good manners and decency. There is simply too much journalistic overreach going on today,” Carmona said.

“There are some journalists, and I repeat some, who denigrate without evidential basis engaged in armchair journalism who hear something by the way and it becomes reliable news. There are persons in reality media, who are bad examples for our children and the youth of this nation,” he said.

“Decent, law-abiding citizens must take a stance because it appears that offensive is in and decency is out. Theirs has become the language of obscenity and racial slurs—yes, that small circle that is leading the national dialogue, you are not the voice of the people because you have unfettered and unfair access to the press and media, because you have created vlogs and videos that rely for viewership and followers, not on proper and responsible research and wisdom, but on distortions and sensationalism. Fairness, respect and international knowledge are still very much in and will always be the standard and foundation of a progressive society,” Carmona said.

What Imbert said:

Health: “Our public health facilities, with deteriorating infrastructure, are not patient-friendly and with acute shortages of medical personnel the patient experience leaves much to be desired. We will review the existing hospital strategy through a scientific evidence-driven Hospital Construction and Refurbishment Plan and, where necessary, we will refurbish and modernise our existing ageing plant and will construct new heath facilities where they are required.”

Patient:

A 29-year-old pregnant mother from Point Fortin called on the Government to bring the Point Fortin Hospital up to standards

The mother of two, Ashley, said the hospital was “unacceptable” in these modern times. She rated the hospital, its facilties and services, four out of ten. She said at any given time, the hospital would have about 40 pregnant women while the Sangre Grande Hospital, where she delivered her two children, had about 150.

She said Point Fortin has two available doctors while Sangre Grande had nine. 

“Now that I am in Point Fortin, I get to the clinic around 6.30 am and start triage and then I wait until 9 am for the first doctor to show up and we sit and wait for a really long time,” she said.

Ashley’s platelet count also drops from time to time so she does regular blood tests. She described herself as a “complicated patient.”

“They do not have basic, required stuff. The cesspit stinks up the clinic. The staff tries its best though with limited resources. The place is hot, there’s no air-condition. It’s a hospital in the 80’s.”

In May 2015, former health minister Dr Fuad Khan turned the sod to begin construction of the $1.2 billion Point Fortin Hospital in Egypt Village.

Ashley hopes to see the following:

*More doctors;

*More efficient service;

*Modern facilities; and 

*Better lighting and ventilation in maternity ward.

Nursing Association:

President of the T&T Registered Nurses Association, Gwendolyn Loobie-Snaggs, said the year gone by in health was “most challenging.”

She said there were too many incidents of “ill-health issues” which were unfavourable for the public, healthcare professionals and moreso nurses.

“I would like to see for this upcoming Budget a little more towards health because it is crucial at this time when we are experiencing new diseases and viruses. If, as the minister indicated, that diabetes is the second highest cause of death, then it means that we have to have a new approach in terms of how we deal with chronic diseases,” she said.

The population is ageing, life expectancy is longer, and as a result, she said, healthcare should be better planned.

Loobie-Snaggs said hospitals and other health institutions should be looked after properly in terms of their management, changes and structures so that healthcare could be delivered efficiently and effectively. 

She said the Finance Minister should take a “stringent approach” when allocating to health. However, she said, while she understood the country’s economic challenges, “we cannot afford to be cutting, cutting, cutting in crucial areas.”

She added that unhealthy people cannot lead to a healthy nation. 

The association’s expectations are as follows:

*Equality in service;

*Reduction in waiting time;

*Up-to-date technology to meet the needs of the population;

*Allocation of ten per cent more.

DOMA president:

Giving an overview of his expectations, Downtown Owners & Merchants Association (DOMA) president Gregory Aboud said T&T finds itself in a very difficult position and the association was concerned that this difficult condition should not become more difficult by failure to take in the early term the necessary action to stave off a possible economic calamity.

He said the fact was that the Government had grown accustomed to “heavy, excessive spending” and the population also, so the need at this time was for the Government to curtail spending money which it could not raise.

“It’s also for the country to increase its productive output and for us to learn to live with less than we have lived with in the last ten or 15 years,” he said.

Aboud said the association was hopeful that whatever strategies the Minister of Finance employed would not send a negative message to those who were waiting on the sidelines, trying to decide if to pursue investments or not. 

He said, “We clearly need a combination of sensible expenditure by the Government and strategies to encourage productive output, especially the improvement in productivity.”

Ministry of health $6.09b

1. Address the shortage of medical personnel immediately.

2. To establish universal health coverage for the national community.

3. To expedite surgeries and expand and improve the CDAP

4. To review and audit the Children’s Life Fund

As the search for Debe hairstylist Ria Sookdeo continued yesterday, her husband, Mark Sookdeo, made a teary-eyed and desperate appeal to her abductors to return her to their family.

“I’m here today pleading to those who have abducted my wife to please return her home to her family. Please, I am begging, I am pleading to those people to give in, please return Ria Sookdeo home to her family,” Mark said at his Raghoo Village home.

Eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, his body frail from not eating, Mark said no one could describe the pain his family was feeling. His innocent five-year-old son, Torres, pranced around the yard as relatives cleaned, but nine-year-old Elana has been crying since learning of her mother’s abduction.

Around 8.30 am Thursday, Sookdeo dropped off the children at the Picton Presbyterian Primary School and drove her red Nissan X-Trail SUV to Picton Estate Drive to turn. That was when a black Nissan X-Trail pulled up behind, blocking her path. Two gunmen wearing tactical clothing bundled her into their SUV and drove off.

At his Philippine home yesterday, her father, Frankie Rajkumar, wept. 

“I never thought this would have reached home to me, I am devastated. I really don’t know, I just want my daughter back home with me,” Rajkumar said.

Police upset 

On Friday night, relatives got a tip-off that someone saw her tied up in an abandoned building in Cedros. 

When they checked, she was not there. Officers said a lot of people were giving false information, which has distressed the family. 

Police said while they continue to seek the public’s assistance in finding Sookdeo, people should be responsible with the information they share. On Friday, Sookdeo’s photograph was shared on Facebook with the poster saying that she was found dead in New Grant. 

However, police said that was not true. Searches were made in Princes Town, Cedros, Palo Seco, Chatham, Barrackpore, Moruga and Penal.

Spiritual people have been pointing relatives to southeast and southwest Trinidad, saying that their visions showed sea and a foreign country. An investigator told the T&T Guardian yesterday that they were focusing on intelligence gathering. 

“We are getting one to two tips that people saw her on the beach or walking here and there which has been reckless. We are asking people to be professional and be honest about what they are saying and seeing because they are allowing law enforcement agencies to waste resources,” the investigator said.

They said it was unlikely that she would be a victim of human trafficking and smuggled into Venezuela, where there is a severe economic depression. They added that Venezuela’s coast guard, La Guardia Nacional, patrols the water frequently and it would cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to ship someone across.

Anyone with information is asked to contact these numbers: 652–2858, 679-3165, 800-8477.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert says the Government will proceed with the Tax Information Exchange Agreements Bill, 2016, in Parliament once the 2017 Budget is wrapped up.

Debate on the bill that would see this country complete measures in alignment with the United States FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) came to a standstill Friday when Opposition members walked out of Parliament.

FATCA is a US legislation which aims to prevent tax evasion by US taxpayers who use non-US financial institutions.

The act demands banks, investment funds and other financial firms outside the US to report the details of any accounts they hold for US taxpayers.

In August, 210,057 financial institutions in more than 200 countries had registered as FATCA compliant, with 87 of those institutions located in T&T.

However, Government needs to pass legislation to bring the intergovernmental agreement into effect. The deadline to pass the legislation is September 30.

Speaking to reporters yesterday following a Day of Prayer event at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Imbert said he was hopeful he would get a response from US authorities soon regarding his request for an extension.

“Our counterpart that we deal with is returning to office on Monday. We expect a response by next week,” Imbert said.

Asked about the next step, Imbert said the Government would wait on a response from the US.

Ghany: JSC needed, legislation needs 

to ber passed

In an interview yesterday, political analyst Hamid Ghany said a Joint Select Committee (JSC) would have been the ideal measure for the Government and Opposition to discuss the legislation.

“I think that the issue of a Joint Select Committee that had been promised by the Minister of Finance seems to have been overruled internally and is no longer an option that is being pursued,” said Ghany.

He said, however, a JSC would have accommodated all of the views in one setting and if Government had stuck to Imbert’s announcement of a JSC on September 12, there would have been ample time for a JSC to have met on several occasions before next week.

“A JSC is the ideal option. All entities deserve to be included in such a discussion and civil society groups can be interviewed by the JSC.”

Ghany said it was a mystery why the option to have a JSC had been withdrawn. 

“I think that the legislation needs to be passed. 

“The argument that is being made from the Opposition is that there are clauses in the bill that overreach the powers that should be there, that would confine it to US citizens only, and whether T&T citizens should have a minister being able to go into their bank account,” Ghany said.

What Imbert said:

Crime: “Our first priority is to establish an optimal security apparatus, the broad elements of which the previous PNM administration had put in place to bolster the nation’s external and internal defences. A review of the systems, equipment and processes in place is now underway.”

As the fiscal year comes to an end on Friday, the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government, led by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, is expected to deliver its second National Budget in the Parliament. The Sunday Guardian looks at the Ministries of National Security and Health and the plans that were announced in the last fiscal year and how successful they were in the delivery of those plans. The Ministry of National Security was given the largest allocation of $10.81 billion while the Health Ministry received the third highest of $6.088 billion. 

The budget presentation will be delivered by Finance Minister Colm Imbert. As the economic climate remains stagnant for the PNM adminstration, the population eagerly awaits government’s plans to increase revenue and to learn how monies will be expended on critical areas such as crime, health, education and investments. The fiscal package allocates money to run the affairs of the economy from October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017.

Efforts to contact Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon all of last week, via calls to his mobile, proved futile. 

Police Welfare Association:

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association, Insp Micheal Seales, said a priority for the association is to see the appointment of a Commissioner of Police. 

He said in the last year, there were discussions about the establishment of the Police Management Authority, the Police Inspectorate and the local constabulary.

“To date, the association is a bit concerned that those talks would have progressed to some measure but we are a bit bewildered as to when most of these ideas will flesh out,” he said.

He said the plans were to be done in conjuction with a manpower audit of the Police Service. 

Seales said, “The association is very concerned about the performance of the TTPS and more importantly the management of performance. We have held the view that these things are instrumental in turning the Police Service around and driving it to successful performance.

In the next fiscal year, the association is hoping to see the following:

1. Appointment of a CoP and his deputies;

2. Manpower performance audit of TTPS;

3. Settlement of outstanding arrears for officers; and

4. Introduction of the $1 million for families of officers slain in the line of duty. 

Former PSC head:

Former head of the Police Service Commission, Professor Ramesh Deosaran, said it was well known that the last three governments in particular had not done well in reducing crime in sustainable ways. 

He said, “Spikes up and down, here and there, are not the answer. We now look forward not only to expenditure quantities but to strategic systems, more professionally than politically driven, and well designed operational targets with fuller accountability. 

“The lump sum monies given to both National Security and Education should be more precisely targeted for such accountability.”

He said education and crime were intrinsically connected with up or down movements and it was high time that people recognised money was not all, but it was how it was used and accounted for. 

“This is ever more urgent given the financial challenges all around.”

National Security $10.81b

1. Establish Joint Border Patrol Agency to manage the security and integrity of our open and vulnerable borders. 

2. Establish a Police Management Agency with a mandate to develop the necessary leadership expertise, skills and professionalism. 

3. Introduce early legislation to amend the present procedures for the appointment of a Police Commissioner and his deputies. 

4. Partnership with regional corporations and Police Service to combat crime.

5. Establish Police Service Inspectorate.

6. Strengthen prison management. 

7. Re-engineer justice system.

​

Rosemarie Sant

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley dedicated a chapter in his book, From Mason Hall to Whitehall, to his dismissal from the Cabinet of the late prime minister Patrick Manning.

In a chapter titled NAPA and My Dismissal from the Cabinet, he recounts a standing joke which he shared with one of Mr Manning’s closest friends, Dr Lenny Saith, who often acted as Prime Minister in Manning’s absence. 

Rowley said he would often ask: “Saith, what have you done today boy to bring the Government down?” 

Saith would laughingly reply: “Boy you could blame everything on me. I could take it. I am not so sure you could deal with it.”

Those words would ring true when the issue of the hotel at Napa was put on the table and Rowley opposed it. It is now history that he was dismissed. Rowley admitted to being “shocked and let down” by his colleagues.

Dr Rowley recalled: “I would sit by myself in the Parliament tea room. The one person who would come and talk to me was Kelvin Ramnath. Donna Cox would come by sometimes and Junia Regrello was a bit more forthright but Kelvin Ramnath was my closest friend at work as it were.

He wrote: “Patrick Manning did some very good work, he was a hard worker, had high standards and the scandalous things that occurred under the People’s Partnership Government would never have happened under him.” 

Rowley said it appeared that Manning’s admiration for Calder Hart “made some ministers secondary in the thrust to get things done.” He felt Hart’s use of a small contractor to build the Brian Lara Promenade propelled him “into Patrick’s vision and he became his go-to man and the man in charge of getting his projects done.” 

Reflecting on the issue which got him fired, Rowley said at some point a hotel was inserted into construction plans for Napa and a minister brought a note to Cabinet on April 7, 2008. He believed the minister who brought the note to the Finance and General Purpose Committee (F&GP) “knew nothing about what was contained in that note.” He described her as a messenger.

Rowley said he objected to the hotel because “the PNM could not face another allegation of corruption or mishandling of public affairs.” The note was withdrawn and when Manning, who was out of the country at the time, returned he learnt that the note had not been passed. 

“A Rubicon had been crossed. Something had to give,” he wrote.

Two days after the note was rejected, Manning told Rowley he had reports “of me misconducting myself at F&GP.” He said he told him in no uncertain terms that “whoever told him that was not being truthful” and challenged Manning to bring the people who made the allegations against him into the room.

“I would have told them to their faces that they were lying,” he said.

An hour later, having canvassed the opinions of four ministers, Manning told Rowley his behaviour was described by one as “wajang.” Rowley defended himself, saying it was “a grotesque lie,” but Manning told him the President would be asked to revoke his ministerial appointment with immediate effect.

Rowley’s response was: “Well you know what to do. You have the authority to determine who sits in your Cabinet.”

He said he extended his hand to Manning and thanked him for the opportunity to serve but admitted he felt let down by his colleagues.

On April 23, Manning announced Rowley’s dismissal and told the country he had been “fired for conduct unbecoming of a minister.” 

Rowley said he took umbrage. 

“I was proud of my work as a minister and asked myself what was conduct unbecoming of a minister? How will my children wear this?” 

He was also concerned about his constituents in Diego Martin West.

Rowley said he went on the defensive, telling the media his dismissal had to do with “Udecott and lack of Cabinet oversight.”

Rowley writes that he never had an ambition to be political leader of the PNM but felt the party was going down the wrong road and the membership was powerless to intervene. In his view, “the membership must assert itself in the party.” 

Rowley said he was not “office crazy” and is happy with his life, his accomplishments, “what I look like and who I am.”

He views the leadership of the PNM as an “assignment, a responsibility.” 

While he is willing to forgive, he admits: “When forgiveness is finally exhausted I conceive of a pen filled with indelible ink and draw a line through the name of the person whom I think is no longer salvageable, is destructive and dangerous. I write you off!

“I give people every opportunity to redeem themselves; I don’t bear malice.”

While the gifts given two Christmases ago to other children her age may already have been tossed away and long forgotten, six-year-old Aaliyah Henry still cherishes the one given to her by her father.

In December 2014, Ancil Henry gave his youngest daughter Aaliyah a kidney and, in effect, the gift of life.

Aaliyah had just turned five years old when she underwent her kidney transplant surgery in Argentina.

It was a medical journey that began when Aaliyah was only one month old.

Last month, Guardian Media Ltd launched the Gift of Life, a campaign to promote public awareness about organ donations and transplants with the aim of encouraging citizens to augment this country’s donor pool.

This week we take a look at Aaliyah the “little trooper.”

Aaliyah was born on November 9, 2009, via caesarean section because she was a breech baby, her mother Laureen Thomas-Henry said. At just one month old Aaliyah began to cough continually.

“It was not a normal cough. You were hearing a gurgle like she was choking. I was panicked,” Thomas-Henry said.

Thomas-Henry said the family had a “terrible” Christmas that year because both of her daughters, Aaliyah and Ashley, were very ill.

Over a period of time, Aaliyah’s continual coughing was misdiagnosed by doctors as first whooping cough, crepitation, asthma and even acid reflux.

In June 2010 while Thomas-Henry was out of the country, Aaliyah was taken to the Wendy Fitzwilliam Paediatric Hospital in Mt Hope after her eyes had swollen shut. Protein was discovered in Aaliyah’s urine.

The doctors prescribed some medicine to see if they could reduce the damage to Aaliyah’s kidney.

Thomas-Henry “started to send letters all over” seeking help for Aaliyah.

The Miami Children’s Hospital eventually got in contact with Thomas-Henry.

Following a biopsy, Aaliyah was diagnosed with Congenital Nephrotic Syndrome which occurs predominantly in families of Finnish origin.

Thomas-Henry was provided with a letter to give to local doctors saying that all the medication Aaliyah was given before did not really help and most likely made her kidneys worse.

A ticking time bomb

In 2012 Thomas-Henry received a backpay and took the family on vacation with the aim of Aaliyah getting a check-up at the Miami Children’s Hospital.

As Aaliyah landed in Miami she began to cough again. She was immediately warded and tests were done. 

“By that time her cholesterol was off the charts. Other things had started to fail also because Trinidad was just dealing with blood pressure and protein in urine, but when the doctors in Miami did their battery of tests her cholesterol was high and her other body functions were affected by her kidneys starting to decline so they literally said she was a ticking time bomb,” Thomas-Henry said.

In 2014 Republic Bank brought the United Kingdom-based Transplant Links Community to this country. Some more tests were done on Aaliyah.

“The verdict was that they needed to remove both kidneys, put her on dialysis because there was so much protein in her blood and do the transplant,” Thomas-Henry said.

This could not be done in this country, Thomas-Henry said.

Eventually a doctor from Argentina came here. Within a week Aaliyah was accepted as a patient at the Privado Hospital in Argentina.

The Children’s Life Fund paid for the surgery. Thomas-Henry and Ancil took a loan to take their other children, Adel and Ashley, with them. Aaliyah was placed on dialysis and eventually got her transplant on December 3, 2014.

Two days after Christmas, Aaliyah was discharged from the hospital. The entire family spent over three months in Argentina.

Thomas-Henry said her employer, National Insurance Property Development Company Limited, gave her the time to spend with her family. Work colleagues also helped financially. 

For Sarah Perez, who is the head of her household, it is a constant struggle to keep up with rising food prices.

Perez lives in Chaguanas with her daughter and two grandchildren.

Often, meals prepared are shared between the members of her household and her ex-husband who visits frequently.

“Things are very expensive. Everything gone up,” Perez said as she shopped for groceries at a Chaguanas supermarket.

Fast food, though sometimes cheaper than a home-cooked meal, is not a regular option for her family.

Yet, as prices increase, she cooks less.

“When I cook on Sunday, I cook enough so that it lasts until Wednesday. We don’t eat something different every day.”

Still, changes in lifestyle, though helpful to her pocket, does not ease the full effect of ever-increasing food prices.

“When I go to the grocery today I will pay $20 for something, by next week that same item is $30.”

She buys basic items such as oil, flour, rice and sugar in bulk, and budgets separately for this.

Even the items she buys in bulk are increasing in prices.

“I used to pay $95 for a sack of potatoes up to last year. Now it is $165. 

“I bought two chickens the other day and it cost me $140. Long time I could get three chickens for $100 but that doesn’t happen anymore.”

Her typical daily meal is rice, peas and a meat.

On Sundays, macaroni pie and callaloo is added to the mix.

Using cost saving measures like buying in bulk or double checking that soft drink is closed tightly after one use at home so it lasts longer are tactics Perez uses to ensure money is not wasted and she gets the most out of her purchases.

Food prices 

increasing steadily

Between August 2015 and August 2016, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) recorded an increase in food inflation by 7.6 per cent.

The rate of food inflation, according to the CSO’s Index of Retail Prices, has been rising steady over the one-year period.

While food inflation is not an indication of overall (headline) inflation, it does contribute to the figure.

More importantly to citizens, it reflects the change in prices, spending and household budgets and impacts the financial decisions they make daily.

The CSO’s figure for food inflation seems tame compared to the complaints of shoppers at local supermarkets, who unanimously felt that prices were increasing at ridiculous rates and in unpredictable manners.

Food inflation is naturally volatile as it depends on a number of variables. 

Comparing 2015 and 2016 prices

In 2015, one week before the national budget, the Business Guardian published prices for a list of items.

Last week, the Sunday Guardian got prices for 26 of these items and compared the totals, which showed a 22.3 per cent increase in this specific food basket over the course of one year.

A tin of crix moved from $110 in October 2015 to $140.69 in September 2016, although the 12.5 per cent VAT added to the item showed an increase to $123.75.

While a 10kg all purpose flour kept its 2015 price of $59.99, items like split peas increased from $16.95 for five lbs in 2015 to $19.85 in 2016.

Toilet paper moved from $87 for a 48 roll package, to $106.

The Guardian survey undertook a completely different methodology to the CSO. Where the Guardian used prices from one grocery in one specific part of the country, the CSO uses different types of data to arrive at an index.

Economist: Lower income groups more largely affected

Economist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon, in an interview with the Sunday Guardian on Friday, said the CSO index was not a change in the price, but a value computed which reflects the increase in prices.

“It takes into account that the expenditure of different people would be different.

“You might spend one per cent of budget and another person would spend ten per cent and that is taken into consideration.

“It is not taking the cost of items.”

He said the increase in food prices would impact different socio-economic groups in different ways.

“If I spend ten per cent of my salary on food and prices increase by nine per cent, that means something different to me, compared to someone where food is 40 per cent and 50 per cent of their income,” said Ramkissoon.

He said for lower income groups, food was a larger proportion in their basket of expenditure so it would matter more.

“There is that, but there are several issues around food prices, it is what people spend, whether they are spending because items are more nutritious or is more convenient.

“A lot of the expenditure on food is in fact hurting us rather than helping us across the board. You spend a lot on food but very little on nutrition.”

He said the cost of food and spending on food had a spinoff effect on how much the country spent on health and even on demands placed on Government and private sector companies for wage increases.

‘It’s expensive to eat healthy’

Perez admitted that she sometimes did not make the most efficient choices.

“Soft drinks are cheaper than juice,” she explains.

“It’s expensive to eat healthy.”

Still, she said she attempts to include proteins and starches and other nutritious items on her plate.

“I don’t use salads though. Lettuce is expensive.”

SATT: We anticipated 17-21 per cent rise

Supermarket Association President Dr Yunus Ibrahim said they had anticipated immediately following the budget that prices would increase by 17 to 21 per cent within the year.

“Some of it would be due to the VAT, and additional issues like access to US dollar but the prices are still trending upwards.

“The prices have been increasing slowly but surely. There was the US component, the increase in fuel so increased transportation costs, shipping and the removal of many of the food items from the zero-rated list.”

He said direct taxation had affected the cost of food.

“It has nothing to do with supply of the product, drought or scarcity. It’s a combination of things which have driven the prices up.”

He said while Government must be commended for not letting the dollar float too high, businesses wanted the value of the US to decrease further.

“Praise the Lord, they must be commended for not getting the dollar to float too high. We would like it to come down.”

Process Plant Operators (PPO) at the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) will not be facing any disciplinary action and all working arrangements are to be normalised with immediate effect.

This was the agreement reached during continued crisis talks by the State-owned company and the representing union, the Public Services Association (PSA), on Thursday night. 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was also signed by five representatives of each of the two parties, including WASA’s chief executive officer Alan Poon-King and PSA's president Watson Duke. The document promises that 14 issues will be addressed soon, including the procurement of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) kits within eight weeks.

An agreement was also reached for all fit testing/training for PPOs in the north, south and Tobago to be conducted within two weeks from September 22. Also, a crew of trained and fit-tested personnel is to be established to conduct chlorine operations pending the completion of fit testing/training for PPOs.

Every chlorine room is to be reviewed to ensure that it is consistent with industry standards within three months and based on the outcomes of the review, redesign will commence. 

Chlorine detection alarms and extractor fans are also to be installed at these installations within three weeks.

An audit, effective September 22, of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is expected to be completed within a week. PPE will be replaced/provided where required. The PPE comprises form-fitting gloves, full-face respirators, long-sleeved coveralls, steel-tipped boots and helmets.

With respect to security issues, it was agreed that a complete risk assessment of all plants, wells and intakes be conducted by the Security Department for the purpose of determining estate constable staffing requirements at various plants and a report will be provided within one week.

According to the MOU, the needs identified by this risk assessment will be implemented one week after September 29, that is, October 6. In the interim, Mobile Response Units attached to satellite centres shall be established to provide immediate security needs for the PPOs as well as “off” site facilities.

With respect to communication issues, telephone lines at the Las Lomas and Hollis Water Treatment Plant will be reinstated immediately. A radio will also be installed at the Matura Station to provide communication. At the Matura, Clarke Road and La Fortune installations, where a container exists, offices shall be built to accommodate the PPOs at these areas within four months.

On Wednesday night at about 9.30 pm, 75 per cent of WASA’s treatment plants and wells were shut down. WASA workers then made their way to WASA’s Public Education Centre building at Farm Road, St Joseph, where they met with Duke to discuss health and safety issues. They were later given a hearing by WASA’s chairman Romney Thomas, chief executive officer Alan Poon-King, and other executives, including members of the Board of Directors.

Talks resumed during the day on Thursday, ending at 9.45 pm.

The Media Association of T&T says President Anthony Carmona was wrong to use his Republic Day message to “deflect legitimate questions raised in the media about the use of public funds by President’s House.”

During his address, Carmona launched an attack on journalists who raised the issue involving the use of public funds by President’s House.

The association said yesterday “rather than demonstrating his commitment to transparency and accountability,” Carmona “regretfully chose to smear the work of journalists seeking to hold public officials to account.”

It said citizens of T&T have a constitutional right to freedom of expression, adding that social media commentators were not excluded from that right. 

The association: “No public official is spared valid, persistent questions and commentary. The era of not questioning high office holders has ended. 

“The association said it was responsible journalism that motivated reporters to try unsuccessfully and in different ways to get responses to public issues from Carmona. 

“Instead of a measured response to accumulating queries, the President opted to attack a noble profession,” the organisation added. 

The association said Carmona’s holding up of selected distinguished former journalists “to launch personal attacks” was “an affront.”

Matt said those distinguished former journalists “will vehemently oppose the President’s expansive effort to shoot the messenger, while ignoring legitimate public interest questions.”

President of the T&T Chapter of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) Karan Nancoo says suicide may be the only option for some teenage girls if the Hindu Marriage Act is repealed.

He made the comment yesterday while delivering the opening address at a symposium titled Awareness of the Pros & Cons of Child Marriage. The event, hosted by GOPIO, was held at Extra Foods building, Eleanor Street, Chaguanas,

Nancoo said very often some teenage girls find themselves pregnant with no alternative but marriage. 

He said the Hindu Marriage Act offers the young women option of marrying and raising a family. He told the gathering that many may agree to raise the age of marriage to 18. 

“I have heard a number of negatives why should you force a child to marry. Today according to the Hindu Marriage Act a young lady between the age 14 and 16 can legally get married with parental consent over the age of 16 she can get married on her own. The thing is we must respect people, we must respect children, we must respect everybody’s rights. There are many people who say, why must a child get married? that is time for school. But I will ask a different question, why must a 15-year-old girl become pregnant and nobody so far has found the solution to it?”

He said under the Act a young male can only get married at the age of 18. 

Nancoo said: “In an unfortunate circumstance where a girl child becomes pregnant she has the opportunity to get married if she so wishes, if the father of that child so wishes and if the parents allow it and that is a solution.” 

He said: “If law is to be passed to outlaw marriages under the age of 18 when a young lady becomes pregnant at the age of 15 what will take place? And trust me you will get massive suicides. Is that what we want for our young children or do we want in common terminology to patch it up and get her married. And if it is she commits suicide, the father of that child would have also committed an offence of statutory rape, he will be going to jail.” 

Nancoo said the Hindu Marriage Act does not force marriage on anyone.