Attorneys for Anton “Boombay” Boney made the claim before Justice Vasheist Kokaram in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Wednesday when they presented submissions in his false imprisonment lawsuit. Boney is challenging the police’s right to detain him for more than a week without being charged.

His attorney, Lee Merry, said Biney would receive between $100,000 and $150,000 in compensation if successful in as ordinary case, he was entitled to between $450,000 and $500,000 due to the peculiar circumstances of the case. “This is not over using obscene language, it is being accused of plotting to overthrow the Government by murder,” Merry said. He said in addition to being linked to the plot in local and international media, police further damaged his client’s reputation when they allegedly leaked false information that they seized terrorist propaganda material when they searched his home and arrested him on November 29, 2011. Responding to claims from State attorneys that police legally arrested and detained Boney under emergency regulations passed by Parliament as part of that year’s state of emergency (SoE), Merry said the police were still required to justify why they suspected he could possibly commit an act to jeopardise national security.

He said lead investigator, retired Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Mervyn Richardson failed to produce an intelligence report which detailed the plot or the police’s file on the investigation, which gave details on the reasons for Boney’s protracted detention.

“Why is the court being put in that position? Richardson should not believed based on what he has said,” Merry said.

He described Richardson’s explanation of the investigation as highly improbable. State attorney Coreen Finley saud the report was confidential and could not be disclosed as it dealt with matters of national security. “If this is allowed to pass then police would have a free rein in this country,” Merry said.

Merry also contended that Boney was arrested under false pretences as the police officer who detained him admitted he was told by his supervising officer that Boney was to be held for an outstanding warrant, not for the alleged plot.

“He admitted he never read the emergency regulations and was proceeding on the directive of his superiors,” the attorney said.

Justice Kokaram is expected to deliver his judgement in the case next Thursday. Boney, who has been on remand since being charged with conspiring to murder and attempted murder of another in 2014, was brought to court for the hearing.

The John John, Laventille, resident is also facing charges for being a gang leader. He is also being represented by Kelston Pope.

Despite being accused of chasing away investors with protests after bpTT pulled out of a multi-million gas platform project in their district, contract workers employed in the Caribbean Gas Chemicals Limited’s (CGCL) petrochemical complex yesterday shut down the construction site in La Brea, citing wage concerns and poor working conditions.

After the workers walked off the job at 11 am, some La Brea residents agreed with their MP, former Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre, that ongoing protest action in the district could have dissuaded bpTT from making a further investment in the community.

Roger Jones, who is employed on the CGCL construction site, said he did not agree with his co-workers after they took a decision to abandon their jobs.

“Some of us want to work but the majority saying they want better pay. They want to be paid like oil workers but they are not oil workers. This kind of nonsense is what makes us lose out on opportunities,” Jones said.

He added, “People’s attitude towards work is bad. They are contributing to half of the problems we are facing in this area.”

However, several other villagers said bpTT had no intention of building the platform in Trinidad, saying if they wanted to they could have built it another part of the country.

Businessman Wade James, who operates a mini-mart near the construction zone, said there were enough skilled people in T&T to build the platform.

“If they think that La Brea residents like to protest and the workers here have a bad work attitude, then why not take it to another part of the country? No, I believe that bpTT had other reasons for not building it in Trinidad. They probably got a better deal elsewhere. The Mexicans are very eager to work,” James said.

Along the La Brea stretch, David Knight, who sells mangoes, said La Brea people were being blamed wrongfully.

“Most of the people here want to work, only a few have a bad work attitude. La Brea has contributed to the rest of the country and over the years we have been deprived. Nothing is put back in the community to build family life. I feel disappointed that bpTT is not investing here,” Knight said.

Cheryl Thomas, of Vessigny, agreed that La Brea residents were willing to work.

“Not everybody’s attitude is the same. Lots of people cannot find work and are eager for an opportunity,” Thomas said.

Meanwhile, when the T&T Guardian visited the CGCL construction site yesterday, most of the workers had already left the compound. A few workers were seen under some tents but all heavy machinery was at a standstill.

Contacted yesterday, CGCL human resource manager Josie-ann Richards said they were advised by its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), that a work stoppage occurred on the construction site of the plant.

“MHI advised that discussions were held with the major contractors, as well as with workers’ representatives to address a number of issues, chief among them rates of pay for certain job classifications. CGCL was advised that some issues were to be immediately addressed, even as discussions are on-going on other matters,” Richards said.

She added that CGCL has since been advised that work will resume today.

Earlier this week, bpTT said it would no longer construct the Angelin platform in Trinidad, which would have provided employment to 150-175 people.

Over 2015 to 2017, Trinidad Offshore Contractors Limited (TOFCO) was in charge of building the Juniper platform, but this project was severely affected by frequent protests and in mid-2015, part of the platform was shipped to Texas for completion. The topside was completed in La Brea in January 2017.

Abdul “Krysis” Wakeel, a reputed leader of the Unruly ISIS gang of Enterprise who made a violent viral video and had a confrontation with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon last week, is now at the centre of a plan to broker a peace deal in the community.

He is also apologising to the Government and citizens of T&T and asking for their forgiveness.

Speaking at a press conference at Southern Hall, Centre Point Mall, Chaguanas, yesterday, Wakeel advised the media that he is no longer to be referred to as Krysis, nor is he and his followers to be referred to as members of the Unruly Isis gang. Instead, they are to be referred to as belonging to Masjidus Salaam (The Masjid of Peace).

Accompanying Wakeel at a press conference, held at the was Umar Abdullah, leader of the Islamic Front, David Muhammad and Mtima Solwazi, a community action officer from the recently disbanded Citizen Security Programme who works in Port-of-Spain hotspots.

Kerron Alexis, son of murdered Enterprise gang leader Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, was supposed to attend the press conference but did not show up.

Questioned about this, Abdullah said there was an issue of trust to be worked out while Solwazi said the changes in Enterprise would be a process.

Referring to the former Unruly Isis and Rasta City gang war, Abdullah said both parties and their members were now trying to change the perception around them.

“They’re doing prayers and engaging in positive activities. From here onwards, the names “Unruly ISIS” and “Rasta City” shall not be used no more when referencing the parties,” Abdullah said.

“Abdul Wakeel and his followers will now be referred to as belonging to Masjidus Salaam (The Masjid of Peace).”

Wakeel, dressed in full Muslim wear, said he wanted the nation to know the video he had made had nothing to do with Islam. He said he had decided to change because he understood what was right and wrong and he has chosen to do right and forbid wrong. He said the youths in Enterprise were also listening to the “brothers” who had been helping him and want to make a change too.

“The brothers at the masjid in Crown Trace (formerly Unruly Isis) want to make a change. Islam is about peace and this is what we are trying to portray from now on,” Wakeel said.

He admitted, however, that he felt afraid attending the press conference.

“I was afraid the cops might stop me and intimidate me or people will try to kill me,” he said, adding he summoned all his courage and decided to step forward regardless of the consequences.

Asked if an encounter with God had brought about the change in him, Wakeel replied, “I always felt the presence of God with me. But for the past few months I have been seeing things in the community that have been bothering me.”

Asked if their intervention could result in further splits in the gangs in Enterprise, who are said to be fighting mainly over drug turf, Abdullah said they had a plan of action to bring about a culture of peace and lawfulness in Enterprise.

He said two Islamic scholars will facilitate classes in Aqeeda (belief, character building and mannerisms) and Tajweed (the science of reading the Quran) at the new Masjidus Salaam at Walters Lane, Enterprise.

Solwazi said the Pan American Development Foundation, in collaboration with the Citizens Security Programme through the Resistance and Prevention Programme, will engage the two parties in a Muslim Youth Dialogue on April 8 and a Violence Prevention Seminar on April 22.

Abdullah said a healing procession is also being planned, which will start at African Grounds and end at the Dass Trace Ground. He said plans for the completion of the Dass Trace Grounds and other infrastructural projects will be unveiled there as well.

He called on the police to desist from a high-handed approach and asked officers to adhere to proper procedures and the rule of law in carrying out their duties. He also called on the police service’s Professional Standards Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into alleged corrupt practices by law enforcement officers attached to the Central Division and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We are asking that specific attention be paid to the circumstances surrounding the death of Anton Mitchel, Kwame Brown and Patrick Isles, and the arrest of Jilani Martin, Kendel Gill, Darrel Gray, Anton Jeffory, Dave Nesbit, Adrian Clark, Avenash Seepersad, Malcom Quinton, Amanda Joseph, Susan Williams, Shani Nesbit, Akeem James, Rat, Coco, Big Shane, Kudos and Kerron Alexis. (Rat, Coco, Big Shane and Kudos did not want their real names be used),” he said.

“We are urging the Director of Public Prosecution to revisit the files of these persons and to reconsider his decisions in their matters.”

Abdullah said warring parties in Enterprise were willing to come forward with information only when proper arrangements are made to receive it and the State agreed not to engage in intimidation, coercion or prosecution.

Media personnel were asked to leave the funeral of murder victim Melissa Mohammed-Ramkissoon yesterday, in order to allow her family the chance to grieve in peace.

Mohammed-Ramkissoon’s service was held at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Cedar Hill, Claxton Bay, about five minutes from where she lived.

When the T&T Guardian arrived at the church yesterday, a relative asked for all cameras and recording devices to be stashed away, but added that it was not a problem for the media to “stick around” for the service’s proceedings.

However, at about 2.20 pm an aunt told the T&T Guardian that the family had asked for utmost privacy and that was when she asked media to leave the compound.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian outside the church, Mohammed-Ramkissoon’s uncle, who did not give his name, said he thought the investigating officers should have at least allowed her close male relative the chance to pay his last respects.

“I was a bit disappointed that I did not see the police bring him ,but they must know why anyway and then too, maybe her immediate family did not request his presence,” the uncle said.

Up to late yesterday, both relatives who witnessed her murder were still in police custody as investigations continued.

On Tuesday night, Mohammed-Ramkissoon was fatally shot in the head while in a car with two relatives. Her body was driven to the Chaguanas Police Station by a close male relative at about 8 pm. He initially told police he was driving along Waterloo Road in Carapichaima when someone opened fire on his vehicle.

But police said when they pressed further he told them there was an argument between them in the car when he heard a gunshot and later saw Mohammed-Ramkissoon bleeding from the head and slumped lifeless in the front passenger seat. The man said the other male occupant then jumped out the car and ran away.

However, when Mohammed-Ramkissoon’s other relative surrendered to the police on Wednesday afternoon at the Freeport Police Station, he told police it was the driver who allegedly shot Mohammed-Ramkissoon in the head.

A team of officers went to the home of both men and conducted additional interviews and searches to add to their case file. Investigations are continuing.

Three more men, including a Guyanese national and a Maraval man who was reported missing last month, have been killed, taking the murder toll to 141 in less than 100 days.

In the first case, relatives of missing electrician Shawndell Glodon said he was chopped and shot and his body wrapped in a sheet.

The 22-year-old father of a two-year-old son was reported missing on March 10. On Wednesday, a fisherman at Paragrant Beach, off the north coast near Paramin, found a decomposing body which was recovered by police on Thursday afternoon. The body was later identified as Glodon by his mother through his clothing.

Speaking to the media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Glodon’s father, Curtis, said it was prayers from the family which helped them get some closure.

He said since his son went missing he had been praying for his safe return and while his death was not what they had prayed for, at least the family was able to retrieve his body.

“Prayer does move mountains. Where that body was, if that fisherman didn’t go to fish we would have never find him,” the senior Glodon said.

“Last time I saw my son was a few days before he went missing. He left by me in La Fillet to look for a job in Maraval and to stay with his mother in Paramin.”

Glodon added that one of his son’s arms had been hacked off and he was beaten. Police also told relatives he was shot in the head.

He added that his last born son was not involved in anything illegal that might have triggered his death and a marijuana case he had was insignificant to suggest he may have been killed because of drugs.

He said he felt his child may have seen or heard something that he should not have and paid with his life.

In the second killing, a relative of murdered Guyanese national Raphael “Boy” Collins said his killing has hastened her decision to return to her homeland.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, told the media that she had spoken to her nephew about his involvement with a teenage neighbour several times but Collins ignored her.

She said Collins had been in the country for just about a year before he was killed.

According to police reports, around 9 pm on Thursday, residents of Old St Joseph Road heard gunshots and later found Collins dead in a neighbour’s yard. He had gone there to get his hair combed by a female neighbour when they were attacked. The teenage neighbour told police she ran for her life when she heard gunshots and returned later to find Collins dead.

The relative said the killing took place opposite her home, but she was only informed an hour later by the teen.

She said she had dreamt that two men and a woman were shooting at her on Sunday, but it only after her nephew was killed did she realise the dream was a premonition of what was to come.

According to the relative, police said based on the varying spent shells, two gunmen attacked her nephew.

She is also curious about how her nephew was killed while seated between the teen’s legs, getting his hair combed, but the teen escaped unscathed.

One house away from where Collins was killed, 20-year-old Ayinde Williams, of Patna Road, St Ann’s, was killed yesterday.

Police said the two killings are most likely linked but could not specify.

Police said around 2.45 pm a car drove along Old St Joseph Road and stopped outside a house Williams was in. A gunman then opened fire, killing Williams on spot before the car sped off.

In the third shooting on Thursday night, which took place around the same time Collins was killed, police said they had two possible motives for the killing of 41-year-old Mukesh Pooran.

Police reports state that around 9 pm, Pooran, who was released from prison about three weeks ago, was approached by a gunman while liming near his Freeman Street, St Augustine home and shot in the head.

Police said Pooran was involved in a dispute over land and was also involved in the illegal drug trade, adding that one of these may have led his death.

Pooran’s relatives were too distraught to speak with the media yesterday, but residents told the T&T Guardian that Pooran had been warned about selling drugs in the area as there were “new drug blocks,” but he refused to take heed.

Another resident claimed Pooran was in a lengthy battle over a piece of land and suspected this led to his killing , since his release meant he would return to occupy the land. Homicide detectives said they were working on both theories.

Two brothers from Barrackpore were yesterday charged with the murder of former Caroni 1975 Limited worker Deoraj Bedassie, 52, who went missing on March 26.

A third suspect, a 20-year-old woman who had been detained for questioning, was subsequently released.

Investigating officers from Homicide Bureau in South were also expected to visit Bedassie’s family at their Black Street, Reform Village, Gasparillo home last evening.

On Tuesday, Homicide officers found the charred remains believed to be that of Bedassie and piece of a skull in a latrine at the back of a dilapidated wooden house at Black Street.

But investigating officers requested DNA swabs from siblings, which will be used to match DNA to be extracted from the bones found to determine if the remains are of Bedassie.

Shortly after 11 am on Tuesday, Homicide officers called in sewer truck to pump out a latrine and a nearby cesspit in a neighbour’s yard as they searched for Bedassie’s body. The officers said they were acting on information they received.

On Monday night, officers from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad and Homicide Bureau in South detained a 24-year-old man for questioning. His brother and his girlfriend were subsequently detained.

On the night of his 52nd birthday on March 26, Bedassie had a confrontation with a man and was badly beaten. But he was not missed from the area until Sunday by one of his nieces.

Reform/Manahambre Councillor of the Princes Town Regional Corporation, Chris Hosein, says he is now making arrangements to set up neighbourhood watch groups throughout the district in the wake of the tragedy.

Hosein urged members of the community and the public by extension to “not to remain silent” on criminal activity.

“Don’t remain silent if you see something or strange people coming into the community, or strange things happening. There are many avenues to pursue, such as the police, Crime Stoppers, etcetera,” Hosein said.

He said several weeks ago he held a meeting with Crime Stoppers officials, municipal police and officials from a private security firm to discuss the way forward in setting up the neighbourhood watch groups.

Government’s hopes to keep the Super Fast Galicia on sea bridge for a further three months have been dashed, but Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan says “we have options” as he looks to put measures in place by April 19 to ensure Tobago is not adversely affected when the Galicia leaves.

Sinanan told the T&T Guardian that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has been keeping in contact on efforts to resolve the problem.

Rowley is in New York on vacation following his recent trip to Houston for talks with energy sector officials and is due to return home today.

Sinanan said while Dr Rowley “wants us to find a solution, he also wants us to ensure that going forward we are not placed in this situation again.” It was for this reason Sinanan said Cabinet had agreed “that we will buy a vessel and build a vessel suitable to the needs of Trinidad and Tobago.”

The imminent departure of the Galicia on April 18 has prompted major concerns among stakeholders in Tobago. Sinanan said he listened to their concerns when they met this week. The stakeholders told the minister he should go back to the local agents and try to re-negotiate to keep the Galicia or to get an alternative vessel. They gave him until Monday to come back with a solution.

Late Thursday Sinanan did just that. He met with the local agent for the Galicia, John Powell, the managing director of Inter-Continental. Sinanan said “we made a suggestion to keep the Galicia for another three months, but they indicated that is not possible.” He said “they trying to get a boat by May, but that is too late, we want to have things in place by April 19th when the Galicia is no longer available.”

The Galicia’s owner, Transmed, has already booked the vessel to take up service in North Africa from June 1 and the vessel needs to get back to Gibraltar before it is reassigned.

Sinanan said after the meeting he felt “comforted we have options.”

Powell told the T&T Guardian the meeting with the minister and his team “was cordial and very solution-oriented and he promised the minister to “get back to him by Monday morning, with a few recommendations on what is available.”

Sinanan said he visited the port yesterday to look at the “two Coast Guard vessels. Obviously the options are not like the Super Fast, which is an excellent boat, but we have options.”

Sinanan said he had “no problem with the Galicia”, but the negatives outweighed the positives.

“The vessel is too large. When I visited the port this morning (Friday) the Galicia was parked out in the waters with a big barge behind it.”

The barge is used to load the vessel because it cannot be berthed at the docks, he said.

Sinanan said “if there is a cruise ship in port the Galicia cannot be in the port and when there is a cruise ship in Tobago it cannot dock. It is high maintenance, the cost of the fuel is twice the price of the vessel which it replaced.”

Contacted yesterday, chairman of the Inter Island ferry Commission in Tobago, Diane Hadad, said solutions put to the Tobago Chamber, including the tug and barge, Coast Guard vessels, and the TCL barge “just sounded like a whole lot of mess.”

She said stakeholders were not interested in a barge because “we did that before, we learnt from our mistakes and will not be making them again.”

Hadad said the “barge causes salt water exposure and puts goods through unnecessary damage, so that goods are not good for consumption. We don’t want to go back and do the same thing. There is no way tugs and barges will be accepted.”

Tobago Chamber president Demi John Cruikshank said the minister has until the close of business “four o’clock on Monday to get back to us, so we waiting on him.”

Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen is calling upon Chief Justice Ivor Archie and members of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) to disclose the criteria used for the appointment of High Court judges.

Speaking at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Ramdeen, an Opposition senator, said he decided to challenge the JLSC as he was reliably informed that it was about to announce the appointments of five new judges.

“As a member of the legal profession and a citizen of this country I will not stand and allow any JLSC to appoint people who upon an objective examination are not deserving to be judges of the Supreme Court,” Ramdeen said.

He claimed that of the five proposed candidates, two are sitting magistrates and another former Supreme Court Registrar. While Ramdeen raised individual issues with the candidates, he declined to name them.

“There is one civil practitioner who has little or no experience in civil law, who is a former Registrar of the Supreme Court. We have a duty to ensure that when these appointments are made they are done in a transparent and accountable manner,” Ramdeen said.

He also questioned whether the magistrates’ previous work as judicial officers was properly scrutinised by the JLSC before they decided on their appointments.

Ramdeen claimed that for the first time in its history, the JLSC required the 36 candidates who applied to write a written examination and undergo psychometric testing.

“Who sets the exam? Who marks it? Where is it in the Constitution that the JLSC has the power to set an exam?” Ramdeen asked.

He said the public should be concerned over the selection process because of the wide reaching powers afforded to judges.

“A Supreme Court Judge has the power to send you to be executed and to stop an execution. They are the persons who are vested with the power to decide whether you can be incarcerated or released. It is one of the most powerful positions that one can hold in a democracy,” he said.

Ramdeen also took issue with the process used for the selection of judges for promotion to the Court of Appeal. He referred specifically to the case of Justice Andre Des Vignes, who was elevated earlier this week.

“It can’t be seniority because Justice Des Vignes is junior to almost six sitting judges,” Ramdeen claimed it had a demoralising effect on the judges that were bypassed for promotion.

“There are many members of the Judiciary that are extremely upset about what is going on. Someone needs to speak on their behalf because they can not do so themselves. The persons deserving of judicial appointments are being bypassed and we must know why,” he said.

Ramdeen said he would be writing to Archie, who is currently overseas, requesting disclosure of the information and would consider filing a lawsuit seeking clarity on the JLSC’s powers if the request are not facilitated.

“The Judiciary is not a sacred cow who is unanswerable. What the JLSC does is subject to judicial review and if we do not get the answers we want it will be subject to judicial review,” Ramdeen said, as he noted that the Judiciary must be held accountable for the almost $400 million in annual funding from Government it receives.

Ramdeen also suggested the implementation a new system of selection of judges similar to the United States where judges are subjected to intense congressional hearings before being appointed.

A nursing assistant who claimed she was just a passenger in a car in which police allegedly found a gun, ammunition and $20 worth of cocaine has been granted $20,000 bail.

Nadine Shah, 44, charged together with Barry Brown, 37, and Kendell McIntosh, 42, appeared before San Fernando Second Court Magistrate Margaret Alert on Thursday charged with possession of a pistol, three rounds of ammunition and 0.2 grammes of cocaine.

They were arrested on Monday at Gulf View, La Romaine, near Pizza Hut. The police stopped the car they were in, searched it and allegedly found the gun, ammunition and cocaine.

They were charged by PC Trevor Rampersad.

McIntosh pleaded guilty to the cocaine charge while Shah and Brown pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutor Sgt Denzil Alexander said around 11.20 am the police stopped the car, searched it and found the cocaine in the console in the centre of both front seats.

Asking for leniency, attorney James Philbert said McIntosh, employed at the City Corporation has three children and is the sole breadwinner in his family.

He said McIntosh was not a cocaine user, but applied cocaine on the skin when doing tattoos.

McIntosh had no pending or previous convictions. Taking into consideration the small quantum, the magistrate said if he had three times the amount it would just be worth $60. She reprimanded and discharged him.

However, he was granted $50,000 approval bail or a $15,000 cash bail alternative on the other two charges. Attorney Subhas Panday, who represented both Shah and Brown, asked for reasonable bail for his clients.

He said Shah had two children and was a first time offender.

Panday said she boarded the car in San Fernando to be taken to Gulf View to do business. Brown, he said, also works at the City Corporation, was also a first time offender and has a five-year-old child.

Brown was granted $75,000 approval bail or a cash alternative of $20,000. They are to reappear in court May 4.

The family of a three-year-old girl who requires life saving surgery has threatened legal action if the State fails to assist in providing money from the Children’s Life Fund.

Attorney Gerald Ramdeen yesterday issued an ultimatum to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to process the application for Shannen Luke.

Luke, of Brazil Village, was diagnosed with beta thalassaemia major when she was nine months old and subsequently had to undergo monthly blood transfusions and other treatments to raise her blood count.

A medical report from the North Central Regional Health Authority stated that as the child gets older she will suffer complications such as cardiac failure, liver disease, endocrine organ disease, osteoporosis and other infections.

Speaking at a press conference at his Port-of-Spain office, Ramdeen said Shannen’s parents, Michelle Kallie-Luke and Arthur Luke, have mortgaged their house, taken loans and held fund-raisers to raise the $1.4 million needed for a bone marrow treatment at the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome, Italy, on May 3. They are scheduled to leave on April 25.

With the trip, hotel stay and other expenses, the amount could be closer to $2 million.

“If by 4 pm on Monday the application is not processed or the Minister of Health does not give a positive response to this application...I am going to go to court and this operation will be funded by the Children’s Life Fund whether voluntary by the Minister of Health or by court order...We should look after those who are less fortunate,” he said.

Ramdeen, an Opposition senator, said that money was a considerable amount and the Children’s Life Fund was established during the People’s Partnership to assist children who were in need of urgent funding for their medical needs.

“I have taken on his matter because what is happening here is wrong. The Children’s Life Fund was set up for children like baby Shannen. The minister indicated in Parliament that there was $55 million in the Children’s Life Fund and the minister tells the people of T&T that he would wait for a social worker’s report when the children’s life is at stake,” he said.

Ramdeen said no monetary value could be placed on a child’s life.

“The Minister of Health should do what any caring responsible government would do. A child’s life is at stake and the Minister of Health is sitting down and waiting for the parents.

“One would have thought a caring government should take the steps. It is very, very unfortunate. I wrote to the Minister of Health and am giving him until Monday at 4 pm to process this application and give a response to these parents,” he said.

“They have a duty to do all that they can do. This is where the government set up this fund for this exact purpose to help babies like this. This is not going to be a case like the others we heard before where children have lost their lives while their application was being processed,” he said.

Michelle said that citizens, strangers, co-workers, the Massy Foundation and family members rallied around them to show their support.

Michelle, a financial assistant and her husband, Arthur, a sales manager, have been unable to raise all the funds.

She said her daughter’s illness had taken much of the family’s time away from work but they still had to pay their other bills which amounted to over $24,000 a month.

Application being

processed

A statement issued by the Ministry of Health yesterday said the application was being processed by the Children’s Life Fund.

“The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that the Board of Management of the Children’s Life Fund Authority, and by extension the Ministry of Health, treats all applications for a grant of funding from the Children’s Life Fund with urgency, sensitivity and fairness in accordance with the existing legal framework.

Under this administration, over 50 applications for financial support via the Children’s Life Fund were approved between September 2015 and April 2017.

“The Ministry of Health is guided by the decision of the Board of Management which is supported by the Life Unit. The Life Unit conducts the clinical and financial assessments of the applications based on the criteria delineated in the Children’s Life Fund Act, Chapter 29:01.

The Ministry of Health will continue to prioritise the health and safety of the most vulnerable in society and to work diligently to offer world class health care to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.”

“Take your rig and go!” That’s the message from joint trade union leader Ancel Roget to bpTT and multi-national companies who may refuse to observe T&T’s safety laws.

Oilfield Workers Trade Union jefe Roget issued the retort at a protest demonstration by Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) bodies outside the Prime Minister’s St Clair office yesterday.

This following concerns that bpTT may have decided against fabricating its Angelin platform locally due to union protests.

Denouncing the Dr Keith Rowley-led People’s National Movement Government, Roget warned of a series of protests ahead.

“This Government has had 15 months to get its act together - all we’ve seen is a lot of failure. They’re devoid of any idea that can bring about good governance, we’re experiencing very poor governance,” he said.

“It’s the ‘Kamla Road’ which Dr Rowley is walking. If he didn’t learn from the mistakes she’d have committed then the same consequences will apply. Today is the beginning of mobilisation for further protests - we’ll put thousands of workers on the streets - we came here to send a message to those who’re not prepared to listen and who’re walking the road the last government did.”

Roget said JTUM was prepared to “shake up this blasted place” if Government didn’t treat workers with the respect they deserve.

The unions had initially gathered outside the Parliament to telegraph concerns on various issues to the Government. But Parliament didn’t meet yesterday. They thus shifted the demonstration to the PM’s Office though Rowley is overseas and returns today.

Roget responded on concerns that bpTT’s decision on the Angelin platform fabrication was due to industrial issues.

“BP is unfortunately holding the Government to ransom as they’d do with any Third World Country where a government is devoid of ideas or how to deal with multi-nationals,” he said.

He said while BP had committed to investing billions in T&T over coming years, the company also appeared to be telegraphing that if it didn’t have its way to support the exploitation of workers “who produce the wealth BP amasses”, they were prepared to withdraw the fabrication job.

“Well, take the platform and go, take your rig and go,” Roget said.

He added that the union wasn’t prepared to have workers in unsafe environments lacking good industrial relations practices.

“BP as a multi-national cannot allow local contractors to do as they please. We’re prepared to send that message internationally.”

Roget said the current economic situation cannot be used to sacrifice workers for economic gain. He said workers had been protesting for jobs and against unsafe workplace conditions and if this wasn’t handled pro-actively, “we’ll have more and more protests.”

Noting public sector retrenchment, he said the Finance Minister was devoid of ideas to balance his books, “but they’ll have much more to deal with figures. There’s a level of disrespect being meted out to the trade union movement.”

Despite calls for dialogue, he added, “You cannot find the Prime Minister, the Labour Minister is making vacuous, inconsistent, out of timing statements.”

On concerns that protests could put T&T at a disadvantage competitively, Roget said, “Should we work in unsafe conditions and take substandard pay and disrespect? BP and any multinational has to know we have laws that ought to be respected and protected.”

Roget said unions didn’t feel responsible for negative consequences following recent energy company protests in La Brea, since they had a responsibility to ensure lives aren’t lost. He said JTUM would make critical a announcement by May Day.

During yesterday’s protest, OPM workers peered at the demonstrating unions from upstairs the office building.

Unions participating included the OWTU, Communication Workers’ Union, T&T Unified Teachers’ Association, Steel Workers’ Union, Postal Workers’ Union, the Registered Nurses ‘Association, Fitun, Industrial General and Sanitation Workers’ Union, Bank and General Workers’ Union and University of T&T workers.

TTUTA head Lindsay Doodai also called on the Education Ministry to meet on issues at the Ste Madeleine Secondary school and to retract recent statements seeking disciplinary action against teachers.

CWU secretary general Joseph Remy also reiterated concerns about Tourism Development Company workers.

Of the nine police divisions in T&T, Northern Division has topped the list three years running for complaints against officers lodged with the Police Complaints Authority (PCA). The division, which comprises 12 police stations and stretches from Cumuto to St Joseph, is also one of the most densely populated in the country.

For the last three years, two other police divisions also made it to the top of the list—Port-of-Spain and Central.

These three divisions have the highest numbers of complaints against officers and the highest numbers of recorded crime according to statistics from the T&T Police Service (TTPS).

In 2015, of the 321 complaints received by the PCA, Northern Division officers accounted for 49, Port-of-Spain Division accounted for 45, and Central Division accounted for 43. For that same period, Port-of-Spain had 2,117 reported crimes, Central Division recorded 1,545 and Northern Division recorded 1,401.

One year before, in 2014, there were 103 complaints against Northern Division officers, while there were 57 reports against officers of the Port-of-Spain Division, and 44 against Central.

In the 2013 annual report, Northern again topped the list of complaints with 83 reports, followed by Eastern with 70, Central with 64 and Port-of-Spain with 63. There were 235 complaints lodged against Northern for the past three years; 165 against Port-of-Spain; and 151 against Central.

Since the PCA was established on December 29 2010, the authority received a total of 2,139 complaints, of which 1,279 are being actively investigated and 254 are before the courts of law.

Of the total number of complaints, 15.38 per cent of the complaints came from the Northern Division.

There is no report yet for 2016.

Complaints ranged from disciplinary to criminal offences and included police corruption, police misconduct, fatal shooting, murder, harassment, money laundering and rape.

The PCA report does not point to any specific factor for the disparity of complaints in each division.

In an interview last week, head of the Northern Division, Senior Superintendent McDonald Jacob, who inherited the post last November, said the main problem was that some officers did not know how to speak to members of the public, and some members of the public did not understand the powers granted to police officers.

Jacob also said urban areas usually saw people more inclined to have a confrontation with the police. In rural areas you might find a better relationship with police and villagers.

‘Police need to be educated’

Speaking about the division under his control, Jacob said Northern Division was the largest division in terms of population density.

Other than Southern Division, he said it was the only division with 12 police stations and there were about 978 police officers attached to the division.

“When you look at complaints in proportion to the size of division and the size of the police force, you will realise that the numbers may not be that high.

“There is more interaction with the people so the chances of complaints being more will be there.”

He said even so, police were mindful of the need for a better relationship with the public.

In the past three months, officers from his division have been sent on customer service training at the Police Academy in St James to update their skills.

Instead of having one town meeting with residents in the division last year, Jacob said his division had four.

“The whole point is to escalate the interaction between the police and the people, letting the people have a better understanding of the police and what is required of them and the officers need to understand their role better.”

“The police need to be educated about their powers and how to utilise it and how to use their discretion. Police label and stereotype. They profile people. They will stop someone and let them go and they might stop someone who they feel looks suspicious based on a hairstyle and people wonder why a certain type of person is always stopped.

“There needs to be education on both sides.”

On Friday, PCA head David West said one way to improve the image of the Police Service was to encourage graduates of the University of the West Indies to enlist as members of the Police Service.

West said there should be some motivating programme to encourage these graduates to enrol for training as police officers by the Police Service Commission.

Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has repeatedly noted the need for a better relationship between police officers and public in order to better serve the public and better fight crime.

David West, Director Police Complaints Authority, (PCA) has called for graduates of the University of the West Indies to enlist as members of the Police Service.

West said this was one way to improve the image of the Police Service.

He said there should be some motivating programme to encourage these graduates to enroll for training as police officers by the Police Service Commission.

West made the call in response to questions from members of the public about the attitude of police officers toward the public.

The questions came from residents of Sangre Grande during a PCA Outreach Programme at the Sangre Grande Community Centre at Duranta Gardens , Sangre Grande.

West said the problems the Police Service was encountering presently with some police officers was lack of proper training.

He called for more training for both regular and Special Reserve Police officers.

He told the audience he had three years left in the PCA and promised that he would make a difference to the people, as every day members of the public made complaints about police behaviour.

West also sought to make it clear that the PCA never had any interference with politicians and was an independent body.

He recalled that when a former minister of national security wanted to absorb the SRPs into the regular service he raised a red flag.

Best also commented on the issue of how police officers should treat with the mentally ill, adding that those situation needed to be handled by people with the necessary training.

​RALPH BANWARIE

With less that 100 days gone in 2017 so far, the murder toll in Tobago for this year has already surpassed the murder toll for last year. In 2016 there were four murders in Tobago. Tobago yesterday recorded its fifth murder for 2017.

With more than eight months still to go in 2017, this year has already recorded the third highest murder toll in Tobago over the last five years

Tobago’s latest murder victim has been identified as Richard Daniel,57, of Thompson Lane, Tunapuna.

According to reports, Daniel was discovered shot in the head, while in the bedroom of an apartment at Hope Trace, Hope shortly after 1 am yesterday.

Police believe that Daniel, a construction worker, who also owns a vegetable stall at Carnbee, was asleep when he was killed.

A co-occupant at the house told police he heard an explosion, but did not check on Daniel.

He ran to a nearby house.

Eventually when he checked on Daniel he found him dead with a wound to his head.

A family friend told the T&T Guardian, Daniel would travel to Tobago every weekend to ply his trade.

Relatives are also shocked over the incident, as they say that he was a law-abiding citizen and were unaware of anyone who wanted to do him harm.

Neighbours also confirmed that they did not hear anything related to the incident

An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted on the body on Monday.

The highest number of murders Tobago has recorded in the last five years is eight.

In 2014 eight murders were recorded.

Tobago Homicide Bureau is continuing investigations.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident another murder was reported in Trinidad.

Dead is Kern Alleyne. According to reports Alleyne was visiting friends in Belmont when he was shot.

Around 8 pm residents of St Francois Valley Road heard multiple loud explosions and upon investigating, discovered Alleyne’s bullet-riddled body.

The police were notified and officers from the Port-of-Spain Division, under the supervision of Snr Sup Hodge Griffith and Snr Sup Boxill, visited the scene.

Alleyne, police said, was known to them as a suspect in several criminal investigations and had even recently been released from prison.

Investigations are continuing.

Concerned that ten year olds were attempting suicide in T&T, secretary of the Association of Psychiatrists of T&T, Dr Varma Deyalsingh, yesterday called on parents to be more vigilant in observing suicidal traits in their children.

Speaking at the launch of a health fair at the Pleasantville Community Centre yesterday, Deyalsingh said the increase in child depression was frightening.

“We have ten year olds attempting to kill themselves. That is frightening to know,” he said.

Saying there was “a tsunami of depression with a startling figure of 300 million people including children diagnosed with depression,” Deyalsingh added, “Many times warning signs go unnoticed by parents or guardians. Parents need to look out for the warning signs which are: problems with sleep, irritability, not eating well, change in appetite , social isolation. These are the signs your child is crying out for help.” Calling for an increase in mental health awareness, Deyalsingh added, “Depression in children is also linked to aggressive parental behaviours and homes where children are sexually abused.”

He noted that “depression is coming closer and closer to our teens and right now from ages 15 to 29 year olds this group is also the second highest cause of death in suicides, so you need to look out for the signs of depression.”

Saying the latest statistics were even frightening to the psychiatric world, Deyalsingh said when parents detect symptoms linked to depression in children they must seek immediate help.

“Such help is available through the Student Support Services in schools or clinics. It is easier to take a child and fix that child rather than an adult who is depressed and already broken, so we need to act now. We need to go into schools and recognise these children,” Deyalsingh added.

He also suggested the hosting of talk shops to sensitise people about mental illness as he said people are now ashamed to visit psychiatric clinics because of the stigma attached to them. “When you look at mental illness, depression is very high world wide. People are getting depressed and they are not coming into the clinics so we are underutilised,” he noted.

Meanwhile, MP for San Fernando East Randall Mitchell said T&T was already facing the pressure of lifestyle diseases. “In T&T we are grappling with the heavy burden of lifestyle diseases, heart diseases, stress and mental disease. We want to bring people together to understand the impact this is having on us economically and how it impacts on our productivity,” Mitchell said.

Constituents were given basic medical screening including blood sugar, HIV testing, cancer support and psychiatric testing.

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams says the TTPS does not plan to investigate the allegations made by a fugitive police officer, who claims he was forced to flee to Canada after senior police officers allegedly ordered a hit on his life.

Williams was speaking to the Guardian after attending the launch of the Coromandel Police Youth Club in Cedros yesterday. Asked whether he intends to meet with the officer who went public in a viral video last week, Williams said no.

He attempted to show this reporter another recording to explain why the incident was not deserving of investigations. “You see any other media carrying that story? You see it on the Express, Newsday or TV 6? When you listen to this recording you will see why it makes no sense for me to comment on this,” Williams said. The audio on his phone was very low so it was impossible to hear the recording.

Williams promised to Whatsapp or email the recording but up to late yesterday, it was not sent.

Another senior police officer who attended the launch said he knew the man, identified in the video as Allan Gillman when he worked in the Central Division. Describing the officer in an unkind way, the senior policeman said, “I don’t want to comment publicly on that. Let the commissioner comment.”

Police Public Information Officer Inspector Michael Pierre also decline comment when given a list of questions. He also directed questions to Williams.

Last week, head of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) David West said he was investigating the complaints made in the video which went viral on April 4.

The male voice in the six minute-57-second video shows a ransacked room with documents scattered all over the floor and bed. He said he had been a police officer for the past 19 years and even shows what appears to be an authentic police badge. He explained that following an incident he was forced to run for his life to Canada as certain senior police officers had given an order to execute him.

According to the man, they include officers assigned to the North Eastern Task Force and the High Performance Team, a unit which operates out of the North Eastern Division.

The man said he was forced to flee to Canada on September 22, 2012, and was fearful for his life.

If some of the largest consumers of Brazilian meat such as China and the EU as well as several countries in the region have expressed confidence in the safety of the meat products from the South American country and lifted their import bans, T&T should follow suit also.

Brazilian Ambassador to T&T Paulo Sérgio Traballi Bozzi said this was a positive course of action that should be seriously considered by the T&T Government.

Bozzi, speaking to the Sunday Guardian from the Brazilian Embassy in St Clair, Port-of-Spain on Thursday, said of the 4,800 meat processing plants in Brazil, only 21 were under investigation and T&T’s supply of corned beef did not come from any of them.

Bozzi also said one of the plants under investigation was 700 kilometres away from the facilities that T&T’s corned beef came from and there was little chance of contamination.

Brazilian police unveiled on March 17 an investigation codenamed “Operation Weak Flesh” which found evidence of meat packers bribing inspectors and politicians to overlook health and safety violations such as processing rotten meat and shipping exports with traces of salmonella.

Bozzi said considering that most of the large importers such as China (the biggest national consumer of Brazilian meat), EU, US, Hong Kong, Egypt and even in the region, Jamaica, Barbados and Cayman Islands had already lifted the ban on imported meat products and actually returned the goods back to the supermarkets for retail after the authorities clarified details of a police investigation into alleged bribery of health inspectors, the Brazilian Government was now talking with T&T Government representatives to see if it can lift the ban.

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said on Tuesday that a temporary restriction on imports and retail sales of meat products from Brazil since March 21, will stay in place for T&T.

‘It’s not a sanitary problem,

it’s a corruption problem’

Bozzi said: “The problem with Brazilian beef is not a sanitary problem, it’s a problem of corruption.

“All the men responsible are either now in jail or being processed by the Brazilian justice system.

“The stance by the T&T Government took us as a very big surprise because T&T doesn’t buy Brazilian whole meat, Brazil doesn’t export fresh or frozen meat to T&T.

“What T&T importers buy from Brazil is corned beef which is processed meat which goes through many stringent safety measures for the health of consumers.”

Bozzi said another point that he wanted to stress was that the Brazilian meat industry was very transparent, anyone from any country can arrange a site visit and view a meat plant which met international health and safety standards as well as countries’ religious and dietary customs regarding the processing of meat.

He said Brazil was the second largest meat exporting country in the world and exported meat to Israel and the Jewish country which kept a team of veterinarians and health inspectors in Brazil to ensure that the meat was kosher, satisfying the requirements of Jewish law.

Bozzi said Arabic countries as well kept teams of inspectors in Brazil to supervise the exportation of meat bound for their market and that it was halal.

He said he hoped that the authorities in T&T can understand that a country that sells meat to 150 countries all over the world such as the US, China and Japan and also exported more than 1 million metric tons of beef in 2016 would jeopardise its reputation because of the graft of a corrupt few.

Bozzi said the Government of T&T was right to preserve and protect the health of its citizens but the Brazilian Government was waiting for the lifting of the ban.

“We believe by now that it has been amply shown that there is no danger and these measures should be reviewed,” Bozzi said.

Rambharat: Ban will be lifted

once Brazil provides certification

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said on Friday that T&T had asked the Brazilian Government to provide the ministry with specific assurances regarding the integrity of the certification process on which the ministry relied.

He said that it was one thing for the Brazilian Government to make a blanket statement about which plants were being investigated.

Rambharat said, however, that did not tell the ministry that other plants would not be added to the list.

He said T&T’s Ambassador to Brazil Dr Amery Browne met with some of the key people on Friday and he was awaiting his advice.

Rambharat said once they were assured that the certification process was being carried out with integrity, the ban and recall will be reviewed.

SATT: Local importers corned beef did not come from tainted plants

When Supermarket Association of T&T (SATT) president Dr Yunus Ibrahim was contacted on Friday, he said most of the importers had proof their corned beef did not come from any of these 21 plants.

Regarding the stocks of unsold corned beef in supermarket owners’ inventories Ibrahim said association members took it upon themselves to voluntarily remove them from their shelves.

Gang warfare on the streets of Enterprise has left residents in the crossfire as they struggle to live as normal a life as possible, even though they are aware that they can become collateral damage among the carnage of the battle for drug turf.

There is mistrust of the police and the perception that many are in the pockets of the drug lords. Some residents have a fatalistic approach; their options are either stay in the community, live, die or leave. This is the story of a young, professional woman and her family making the painful decision whether to stay in the Enterprise community or to escape the escalating violence.

My husband and I started to build our home in Enterprise, Chaguanas, in 2013. I moved into the neighbourhood in 2015. Even then, we knew that the area was a hotspot but the crime wasn’t the way that it is now. The very first week I moved into Enterprise was the first time I ever heard a gun being fired. It sounded like firecrackers or fireworks. My husband told me you have to duck down, peep through the window and take off all the lights. I didn’t understand it because I was not born or raised in it. I, coming from outside, have followed my husband to this community and I am now learning what it is.

I came from a gated community, this was all new to me. I asked my husband what was it’s like growing up in Enterprise, if it was always this way. He told me when he was seven years old there was a shooting involving Robocop, it was alleged that Robocop shot someone who was trying to rival his turf.

That was one event that stood out in his mind but after that, there were no murders, shootings or any gang-related incidents that he could remember.

My husband said it wasn’t like the way it is now. When he was growing up there, he had his brothers and sisters and they would go to Lendore Hindu School in the area and they lived nearby.

They could walk freely without fear, but now I can’t even stand in my own front yard. Now I can’t even stand in my own front yard without hearing gunshots and wondering if the person passing by is coming to shoot.

There are good, hard-working people here; doctors, nurses, policemen and businessmen. The streets have little shops and there are working-class people living in my community. We’re not just sitting down there idle, twiddling our thumbs and waiting to be caught in this crossfire that we are being told is gang warfare.

RECENT SHOOTINGS, POLICE SEEM AFRAID

On the night Sylvan Alexis, Robocop’s older brother was shot on March 24, I had just come home from work and was playing with my children in the yard with our pet dogs.

Neighbours were walking in the community, people were in their front yard; we felt comfortable.

One of the pups wandered into the road and a neighbour was walking along the street. Just as he placed the pup in my hands we heard loud explosions and we knew immediately what it was.

The murder of Sylvan Alexis, Marvin Allan, Patrick Isles and Dillon ‘Fox’ Grant prompted me to move out. I have taken a hiatus from the community and I have taken my children to my parents’ home. We are staying out until we hear that it is a little bit safe to come back.

These shootings are taking place in front the police. These men have to pass police posts in their vehicle on the street to get to where they are going to shoot people. It seems almost comical like you could just tell the police ‘good evening, I’m just going to kill a man there an I’ll be back.’ It is so blatant.

They are cutting through tracks to escape. To get to the scene of the recent killing takes the police 30 seconds, the killing happened a mere 100 feet away from the police post on John Street, but no one is held.

It is unbelievable that someone came pass the police and shoot Sylvan Alexis because the police are right there. That is also frightening because it brings into question what quality of Police Service we have if you could be posted 100 feet away from a shooting scene and they get away scot-free.

A LOT OF SINGLE PARENTS

The police seem afraid because they sit in their cars wherever they’re posted in Enterprise or drive by. I do not see them asking residents questions. I don’t see them coming out of their vehicles and looking for perpetrators of crime. They’re just driving by with their windows up as if trying to tick a list off something to do.

There are known elements within the Police Service that are protecting these gangs. You can’t prove it but it is known because there is an operation existing on Bhagaloo Extension Street in Enterprise, it is a drug block that has been there for the past 35-plus years.

What we can deduce from that situation is that because the drug lord had been running that block for so long, he was not a positive role model in the community for the young men to look up to.

There is a breakdown in family life. There’s no father figure, a lot of single-parent homes, a mother who is working two jobs to try and bring home enough money to send them to school to give them things to eat.

THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS

It’s all a matter of the haves and have-nots; the have-nots want what the haves have and the haves don’t want to give them.

My husband believes that the boys are “hungry”; they don’t have jobs to feed their families, they’re procreating, have children to mind and they have no money to provide for them and there is a need and no source for it.

But what is also part of the problem is that they don’t want to work. All they want to do is just go and work for two hours, collect a full day’s pay but come on the block and sit down and lime, but that is the culture of T&T.

Most of them wouldn’t be able to pass a drug test. There are cracks in our borders that are allowing the drugs to come in that’s why they have something to sell. If we were able to seal the cracks in our borders and intercept the drugs then they would have nothing to sell and there will be no drug block.

It is a whole cycle, some police officers are being paid by the drug lord for protection, the police officers need the money that the drug lord is giving them because they’re not getting a large enough salary to support their lifestyle.

A police officer may want to send their children to private schools which may cost $18,000 minimum a year, plus groceries that’s why they are enticed by the drug lord to pay them to make sure the area is clear.

ENTERPRISE POLICE STATION NOT MAKING SENSE

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon announcing plans to build a police station in Enterprise is a complete joke. That is an insult to residents because we think nothing is going to happen.

If I pick up myself to go to the Chaguanas Police Station and say I am here to make a report for you to investigate the drug block on Bhagaloo Extension Street, I am 100 per cent sure I will not live past the night because everyone knows about the drug block and nothing will come out of that report.

It may take me and 3,000 protesters in front the police station, the Prime Minister’s residence, Parliament, shutting down the roads in the country to let them know that we are fed up of this.

We want a clean community, you all come and do what is right to take these elements out of here because we cannot do it. If we speak out against elements we will be killed and eliminated to keep silent and send a message.

Continuing next week—Find out how a single mom from Enterprise used hard work and licks to keep her sons on the straight and narrow path.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan says Government will get value for its money by bringing relief to residents who live in vulnerable areas throughout the country.

He continued his tour of constituencies yesterday in St Ann’s East and Tunapuna to identify major areas of concern that required urgent attention.

Speaking to the media at Febeau Village, Sou Sou Lands, in the constituency of St Ann’s East, Sinanan said, “I must say that we feel this exercise...we will get value for money because we will not just be spending money in constituencies but on the areas that are most vulnerable.”

He was accompanied by St Ann’s East MP Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and officials from the Works and Transport Ministry.

Today, Sinanan is expected to tour La Horquetta and Arima with the MPs Maxie Cuffie and Anthony Garcia. He said he intends to visit the 41 constituencies over the next few weekends.

Sinanan said the tour was to see “first-hand” what was required in every constituency and prioritise the projects as funding was available.

“We have a priority listing for the projects and the idea is to bring relief as soon as possible to the residents on the request of the MPs and councillors.”

One young male resident told the ministers he was glad to see them and that proper roads were needed. An elderly woman also met them and expressed her views about the poor roads.

Meanwhile, Dolly said many of the areas “have been outstanding” for a number of years.

“In some cases they have roads but no drainage...the roads have been eroded and so on and that’s one of the basic things that people look out for and affects their quality of living.”

She said some of the roads extended as far as Maracas Bay and Maracas Valley.

To say that UWI St Augustine principal Brian Copeland has had a lot on his professional plate lately would be an understatement. Since being appointed to the post in July 2016, Copeland, 60, has been confronted with two primary challenges: battling to cater to the present needs of both the staff and student population at St Augustine, while at the same time attempting to mold the university into an institution capable of meeting the needs of a bold new world.

His most recent “test” revolves around finding a resolution to an undertaking three years overdue: the completion and enrolment of students to the UWI Penal/Debe campus.

The $500 million project has garnered no shortage of attention in recent weeks.

Copeland, the first recipient of the Order of the Republic of T&T—the nation’s highest award—sat with the Sunday Guardian for a Q&A on the south campus, and his desire to move the issue forward.

Q: Where are we in the stream of time with the completion of the Penal/Debe Campus?

A: Right now, we’re exactly where we were at the start of the year. We are finalising discussions and negotiations with the contractors who will be taken on board to complete at least phase one of the campus. We were supposed to start (construction) at the beginning of February, that was our plan, but contractor negotiations have held us back.

The university put out a release recently speaking about the implementation of an operationalisation committee to resume activity on the campus. Can you speak to what this committee is all about?

It was at the end of January that we put that committee together. Prior to that, we were in negotiations with the last contractor and that didn’t come to an end until late December. Only at the end of January we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and decided that it was time to start looking at the logistics of moving forward. The committee includes the administrative managers of the university, those who would be looking at things like security, transport, health and safety and the like. It also includes the Guild and it includes the faculty representatives from the Faculty of Law.

Initially the discussion surrounding the campus was that it was going to house the Law Faculty. The discussion seems to have broadened and the campus seems as if it is being repurposed. As principal, what do you conceive as the best use of the Penal/Debe campus?

We are looking at St Augustine right now and its current existence and we’ve recognised the need for us to essentially reinvent the campus. It’s 55 years old. It’s extremely difficult to do that while you’re in the same space. So what I see for the south campus is the opportunity to create a new UWI, or the nucleus of a new UWI. So we’re looking at a faculty that will take the leadership role down there but in doing so, we will look at all of the processes that pertain to the faculty, the way in which it operates, the entire system because it’s separate from here and we will use that opportunity to observe, and once it develops a sort of new operating environment we will try to clone that into this (St Augustine) campus.

This isn’t really a new technique. IBM did it when it was trying to reinvent itself whereby it selected a group of people and purposefully moved them out away from its central operations. They resourced them, allowed them to do what needed to be done there and then they copied that into their central operations. So that is the opportunity I see down there at that campus. So the new UWI we want to go to, for which we don’t have much time, we see the campus as providing us with a great opportunity to recast that vision.

You said a faculty taking the leadership role? Has that faculty been decided already?

Well we were pushing initially to shoot forward with law however, after a bit of reflection, we thought maybe we should just look at how best the space could be used. One dimension is the approach that I just described which is a sort of a new approach to university administration and organisation and so on. The other one is considering exactly which faculty could go down there and give us the best response to this mandate and objective. We’re still very early in this assessment and it will take us a couple extra months to get there. So the operationalisation committee will be tweaked a bit to accommodate this. Right now, the faculty representative is the faculty of law, but we intend to have reps from other faculties get involved. This is actually not new since before the work at the site ground to a halt there was in fact discussions with other faculties to see what they could offer at the south campus in addition to law.

All these plans obviously have to be guided by timelines. So tell me, what sort of timelines are we looking at for the south campus to ultimately be ready to admit students and to be fully up and running?

Well to force the timelines, we’re looking at January 2018. Again, this is to force it. This is, however, not a hard and fast thing that we’ll actually move into there by then since we would still have to do an assessment. Much of this will be guided by the operationalisation committee in terms of determining when the campus is ready to be occupied, how do we do it. But before we could even get to that, you have to make the place habitable. So when construction starts, we’re looking at about seven months from the restart of construction to the date when we can say ‘ok, this is no longer a construction site, and is now ready to be occupied.’ That being said, in terms of the site being ready to be occupied as a campus, that will take a bit longer.

Where are we today in the construction phase?

We are about 85 per cent complete. There is no progress to date because, as you know, construction has stopped and the building that is most behind in construction is in fact the signature building which is the library.

Has the construction remained on budget?

So far it is on budget.

What were some of the issues with the previous contractor?

Basically the progress was way too slow. We’re talking about a project that is now three years behind time. We negotiated with that contractor and decided to terminate our relationship with them. We’re now in negotiations with the local contractors who are interested in the job.

What do you think the public has been most misinformed about with the south campus?

I think the biggest misconception involved knowing what the finished campus would look like and how it would connect with the main campus here at St Augustine.

Is the south campus necessary?

We had started looking at the possibility of expansion way back in 2008, 2009 thereabout. Right now, the population density at St Augustine is quite large. We have 17,000 students and 4,000 staff members. For the acreage that we have and the buildings that we have, we’re actually crammed to capacity. So to answer your question, yes there is a need for another campus. I personally felt that the campus should have been in Couva. There are a number of supporting amenities, a sufficient amount of land, and its quite accessible from both the north and the south.

​ANDRE WORRELL