JOSEPH: JOAN formerly of Siparia went to her rest in the San Fernando General Hospital on Monday 27th December, 2010 at the age of 56. She was the beloved wife of Kenwrick Joseph aka “Kenny J”. Mother of Kerry & Jeselle Joseph. Grandmother of Jordan Shallow. Daughter of Donette & Veronica Williams. Sister of Marilyn, Celia, Donacious, Sandra, Erica, Joanne, Nigel, Anthony, Martha, Michael, Anthony Celestine (USA), Shirlyn Thompson. Dauthter in law of Eversley Joseph & Rita Joseph (deceased). Sister in law of Dolin, Allison, Grace, Jan, Marina, Mecrina, Sherry- Ann Marvin, Sano, Glen, Ray, Anthony, Vincent, Ricky (deceased).

Mother in law of Selwyn Shallow. Aunt of Michelle, Sherwin, Kizzy, Marissa, Carlene, Shurlana, Cowen, Meranda, Theodora, Roger, Deshawn, Crystal, Nicholas, Ming, Nicholai, Luen, Sutherland, Trivie, Mandy, Chad, Sugar,Santana, Chavez, Anelka, Sherry, Collin, Anton (deceased), Chris (deceased) & others. Relative of Elaine Brathwaite, Marcelle Jeremy (deceased), Emmanuel Jeremy (deceased) Paul Jeremy (deceased), The Lamorell, Williams, Jeremy & Ramjohn families (all of Arima). Godmother of Sherwyn, Wendell, Zwena, Shenice, Martha.

Friend of Lydia Gary & family, Roy, Gloria, Jose, Merle, Cheryl (USA), Pamela, Scopie, Cecil & many others. The funeral service for the late Joan Joseph takes place at 3pm on Thursday 30th December, 2010 at La Divina Pastora Roman Catholic Church, La Pastora Street, Siparia, followed by Cremation at Belgroves Crematorium, 107- 109 Coffee Street, San Fernando at 8pm. In lieu of flowers, a collection will be taken up for her favorite charity. Enquiries can be made at Belgroves Funeral home at 223-2178
 

While Barrackpore and Moruga residents were busy cleaning and some businesses reopened, canoes and pirogues had to be used to access the stranded residents of Woodland and San Francique.

Yesterday marked five days since the Oropouche Lagoon and its rivers overflowed into residents’ home, due to prolonged rainfall from the passage of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone.

Businessman Ashmead Mohammed, through his AshNad Foundation, used 10-tonne dump trucks, flatbed trucks and off-road vehicles to travel through the deep areas along Pluck Road. But to reach into the traces where elderly citizens had been marooned, they had to load meals and supplies onto canoes and boats. Mohammed, who sent out a challenge to contractors to adopt a river, said after praising God, it was everyman’s duty to help his brothers and sisters.

“What we did today was to distribute 2,200 lunches for the people of Mafeking, Penal, Debe, Woodland and Barrackpore. I had people in all those areas but I oversaw the Woodland community because it was the worst. The water is still three to four feet in some areas. Everybody knows the main road but there were some areas leading into San Francique, like Birbal Trace where the residents are totally cut off,” Mohammed said.

Siparia Regional Corporation chairman Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh said he has not seen the active presence of the Regiment and the work of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management. Saying that the Woodland area felt like another country, he called for intervention from the various State agencies to kick in.

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal called on Government to deploy CEPEP crews to help clean flood-affected properties.

It was a horrible Saturday night for commuters living along the South West peninsula as the Mosquito Creek was closed. Many paid as much as $50 for a trip to Point Fortin as the alternative Pluck Road, Woodland route was also flooded. Drivers had to use the SS Erin Road which took up to one and two hours longer than usual.

By 11 am yesterday, the Ministry of Works and Transport contractors had pumped most of the water off the creek by bringing in additional pumps and the roadway was reopened. They were aided by the low tide; however, the drainage along the creek was blocked due to construction work on the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension to Point Fortin. Meanwhile, the Manzanilla/Mayaro Road remained flooded and was closed off to traffic.

Expect heads to roll at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) for its poor performance in alerting citizens of the flooding disaster which affected communities across eastern, central and southern Trinidad.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday the Government will be taking “firm action” to review the operations of the ODPM because of its repeated failure to respond to flooding disasters.

Rowley, accompanied by several government ministers, went to Sangre Grande and Mayaro yesterday to get a first-hand account of the plight of residents whose homes have been flooded for five days.

Citizens have been expressing outrage following statements by ODPM deputy CEO Dave Williams. Williams hosted a press conference on Friday where he dismissed the widespread flooding which began to affect areas of the country on Divali night as not “a big thing” and said there were communication issues which prevented the organisation from verifying reports.

In an apparent response to Williams’ statement, Rowley said, “I am convinced that we do not have the correct personnel in there and that we are not prepared to respond. We had adequate notice for this development and we ought not to be blaming it on communication. This is the age of cellphones. Every two-year-old has a cellphone. We really need to do better than that.”

Rowley said the Government was “not happy with the response mechanism especially after what happened with (Tropical Storm) Bret where we were slow on the draw in getting to people.”

The ODPM faced similar criticism in June after the passage of the storm where citizens were not informed in a timely manner of flooded areas.

“I think by now we should have within the public system, a kickstarting that is smooth, where we get notice of incoming weather systems,” he said.

Rowley said the Government will ensure the ODPM has the necessary personnel “who have the attitude and the aptitude to respond to this kind of disaster.”

“I would expect that this would be the last situation where we are responding so poorly,” he said, during an interview in Mafeking, Mayaro.

Before heading to Mayaro, Rowley visited Vega de Oropouche, in Sangre Grande to see what preparations there were and how it worked for people who needed shelter.

“I discovered that the designated shelter is the first place that will be flooded as it was close to the river,” he said. To make matters worse, he said, the community’s Civic Centre, which was located on higher grounds was not available to flood victims.

“The ODPM needs to ensure shelters are designated by common sense and that there will be no security guard to say that he or she cannot enter,” he said.

He said while there is a lot of blame and finger-pointing taking place, that was part of the course for some people for political survival.

Responding to a complaint in Mafeking that incomplete box drains were responsible for the flooding, Rowley said: “It is not the box drains but the Ortoire River which surrounds the village and for every 15 years this type of flooding will occur.”

He said in the coming days a lot of work will be taking place in the area washing, spraying and sanitizing so as to prevent the dust coming from the mud that might have health problems.

This will be followed by officers coming from the Social Development office to have assessments done for compensation, he said.

Accompanying the Prime Minister were Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Kazim Hosein, Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat, Permanent Secretaries and technical staff.

Contacted for comment yesterday following the Prime Minister’s criticism levelled against the ODPM, Williams said: “I don’t want to comment on that.”

Williams was on tour with the Prime Minister when Rowley raised his own concerns about the organisation.

Asked whether he got a sense from the criticism that the Prime Minister wanted him to resign, he said, “I cannot speak for the Prime Minister. I don’t want to say anything about that anymore.”

Williams has been steadfast that he will not resign as the Deputy CEO of the ODPM. He told the Guardian on Saturday, “personally there is no need for me to resign.”

RALPH BANWARIE
 

For the second time in less than six months, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) will undertake a review of its response to citizens affected by bad weather conditions.

In a repeat of what happened in June after the passage of Tropical Storm Bret, the ODPM has been blasted for its slow response in the latest flooding disaster which affected several areas of the country.

The organisation, charged with leading the way in the event a disaster affects the country, has taken a beating for the lapse in response time from the unfolding of events on the Divali holiday to its reaction to those events which many affected say was slow and late.

Speaking to the T&T Guardian yesterday, Relief Officer at the ODPM, Captain Neville Wint said: “After every incident, there is an after-action review where all agencies involved come together to review the incident, the action taken and how we can improve going forward.”

A similar exercise was undertaken in the wake of Bret in June. So did the ODPM learn anything from that exercise?

Wint defended the organisation saying the difference this time was “the unique occurrence of the ITCZ merging with the spring tide or new moon, so there was excessive rain and rising tides hindered the run-off.”

There were flood bulletins, he said, being issued with riverine bulletins, “that usually come like two days later but in this case, it came with the flooding event, this was the unique circumstance we faced.”

In addition, Wint echoed the words of Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan who said since June the ground had not really dried up because of constant rains.

That, according to Wint, “contributed to the sudden rise in water and the floods which we saw in the last few days. So that a challenge was the slow run-off, the effect of the riverine flooding and continuous rainfall which we are experiencing in some parts of the country right now.”

Clearly, though there is a need for the ODPM to look at what happened between June and the latest episode and factor in the issues in the review of the response to the recent floods, which even evoked some criticism from the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who felt that the response time needed to be improved.

Wint said all of it will be looked at when the agencies come together.

As Relief Officer, Wint is charged with co-ordinating with the first responders. From his end, he said, he has had “no problems,” communicating with various regional corporations and supporting their requests.

He said “the ODPM has been co-ordinating with first responder agencies since (last) Wednesday afternoon when we got notification of the incidents. We communicated with the various regional corporations and they activated their response mechanisms. Agencies such as the Defence Force, CEPEP and the Red Cross and volunteers have been deployed to assist the corporations in damage assessments, relief, aid operations and other duties.”

The ODPM, he said, continues to monitor weather conditions in light of the forecast for more rain “and we are working with first responder agencies to ensure that relief can be dispatched to the affected areas.”

In some areas, he said, “we need to wait for the water to subside, but we have been utilising inflatable zodiac boats to rescue persons marooned. Some persons, however, do not want to leave their homes.”

Wint said one of the most critical requests from regional corporations at this point is for “assistance with detailed damage assessment and a needs analysis. That is being done at this point in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government and the Ministry of Social Development.”

Those assessments, he said, are critical “so that they can determine what persons lost and what is required and will trigger the social response from the Ministry of Social Development.”

Farmers whose crops have been affected by recent floods are being urged not carry their produce to markets.

This from Nirmala Debysingh-Persad, Acting Chief Executive Officer, National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) yesterday.

“It is highly recommended that flood-affected crops do not enter the market place for sale and consumption. Produce affected by flood waters are at high risk of safety and quality,” she said by phone yesterday.

Based on preliminary data obtained over the weekend, some of the areas affected by flooding in the country include Felicity and Caroni in Central, Bonne Aventure and Rio Claro in South, Aranguez and Taparo in the North and Valencia in East Trinidad.

Some of the crops damaged include cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, cassava fields, sweet potato fields and dasheen fields.

“We have unconfirmed reports that water reached as high as banana and plantain trees. We are recommending that consumers do not collect fruits and vegetables that have been damaged.”

“We are about to go in the fields to do the proper assessment of the damage in terms of assessing the areas and looking at the cost of the damage,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dr Yunus Ibrahim, President of Supermarkets’ Association of T&T does not believe that food in the market places and supermarkets will be at any risk because of possible contamination of crops from recent floods.

“If crops get covered by water then they do not survive to be able to carry them anywhere. Even if the crops survive where will they get the mechanisms to carry them out of the area? I do not think that will reach to market anyway,” he said yesterday.

He also said that there are other issues of contamination that is not normally talked about.

“Contamination goes both ways. The reality is that we do not farm in the correct areas in T&T and we do not use the appropriate lands for farming. The land use is not spread in the way it is supposed to be.

People have farms at the side of the highway and they are taking in exhaust all day and we buy those vegetables. We should be more concerned about that.”

Omardath Maharaj, agriculture consultant and economist told the T&T Guardian yesterday that the public should be aware of the damage to crops.

“No flood soaked foods would be safe to eat considering the level of contamination in the waters.”

As financial institutions continue to grapple with the downturn in the economy, experts believe the only way to progress is through innovative and bold moves to stimulate the market and attract clients.

Heeding government’s call for new and emerging entrepreneurs to lead the diversification thrust, Republic Bank’s Marketing Manager, Damian Cooper revealed that the Bank had started consulting entrepreneurs to find out where they needed assistance.

Speaking at the launch of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) which will run from November 13 to 19, Cooper yesterday said, “We have recognised and started conversations with some of the entrepreneurs to find out more about what are some of the things they would need to help them to achieve their goals.”

He said the Bank needed to ascertain exactly what entrepreneurs needed in order to better serve them.

GEW is the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators who launch start-ups and bring ideas to life and drive economic growth.

As one of five sponsors this year, Cooper said Republic was committed to having, “Conversations with these entrepreneurs because we may have to tweak our model a bit in terms of how we go about assessing entrepreneurs and how we got about supporting them.”

He said exciting and interesting times were ahead as they had engaged a particular NGO to guide them through the process to understand entrepreneurs better.

Cooper added, “The fields are wide and diverse and our traditional model of looking at cash flows on a monthly basis and expecting income at every juncture, is possibly not the best model to use in this time.”

He said, “Income to a lot of entrepreneurs is inconsistent and they come at different times and it flows differently so the Bank has made a concerted effort to understand entrepreneurs more and we will be partnering with a lot more entrepreneurs and NGO’s to see how we can change the landscape and really make entrepreneurs game changers.”

GEW is celebrated in more than 170 countries.

Hosted by Youth Business T&T (YBTT) for the past seven years, the GEW provides training, mentorship and funding for entrepreneurs.

Officials said the current state of the economy indicated a large percentage of persons both under and over the age of 35, were either unemployed or under-employed.

The GEW 2017 sponsors include Shell, TSTT/Blink B-Mobile, T&T Unit Trust Corporation, Republic Bank Ltd and Massy Foundation.

Students are being urged to make full use of technology in the education process.

This advice came from Chairman of the Siparia Regional Corporation, Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, when he delivered the feature address at the Siparia Road KPA (Kabir Panth Association) Primary School on Friday night.

The school held a special celebration to honour Dhana Soodoosingh who placed 26th in the 2017 SEA exams.

This was a hallmark achievement for the KPA since the association has only two schools in T&T.

Ramadharsingh said students should use technology to empower themselves rather than play games.

He urged them to use YouTube to learn about history and culture.

“Use the books that you can read on the Internet to educate and empower yourself.”

Ramdharsingh spoke about his own experience of earning his Law degree online. He urged young people to ensure they have a holistic education.

“The education is not a true education if its not a holistic education, you are educating yourself to empower yourself.”

He said if a person was not well rounded and in good health they would not enjoy the benefits of their schooling.

He said the human body was designed to work.

He urged students to network and get involved in community groups and projects.

He said social interaction was also necessary for happiness and strongly advised youths against following a reclusive lifestyle.

Cancer survivor Pyardevi Parasam, 63, has no choice but to make two daily trips to her brother’s home to take her insulin.

The medication has to be kept refrigerated, but her fridge was among several items destroyed in recent floods at her Woodland home.

She and her family fled to a relative’s house when flood waters began gushing inside their home at Mungal Trace#2 following torrential rainfall two weeks ago. Her other son Ramdeo who lives with his wife, ten-year-old son and three-year-old daughter in an adjoining house, also lost everything. Her other son, Ryan Parasram, a third year medical student and former scholarship winner, also lost his school books. Parasram also lived with her husband, Parasram Maharaj, 71, and her daughter Vissondaye, 40, who became blind in one eye and never fully recovered from a brain surgery to remove a tumour when she was 12. Her other sons Amrit and Ganesh also live there.

Yesterday, they received mattresses and bed frames during a flood relief drive organised by Indra Roopnarine from Touching A Life Foundation For Kids and Vijay Jaimungal from Spice Boys Foundation who were able to able to mobilise and collect items from over 20 businesses to help flood victims in south Trinidad.

Most of the Parasrams’ household articles and belongings were stacked up in the yard waiting to be sorted out. The damaged stuff will be dumped. As she tried to hold back the tears, Parasram said she doesn’t know where to start picking back up the pieces. She said the chemotherapy and radiation therapy three years ago was too much for her body.

“I have side effects like internal bleeding,” said Parasram who also suffers from high blood pressure.

She recalled the floods came up the day after Divali. “It was to my waist inside the house. We had to leave. Everything gone, beside the television and the stove.”

She said since the good Samaritans have been providing them with breakfast, lunch and dinner. “I borrow a mattress and sleeping on my bed. It break but someone come and weld it. I need help to get back things for my house,” she sobbed.

Ramdeo said, “We can’t keep anything, everything was under water for five days. The only thing we have gotten assistance with so far is food and we are grateful. But, financially I don’t know how I am going to get back everything,” he said.

Also receiving a bed and mattress was flood victim, Kavina Singh, 12, who lives close to the Parasrams and is physically challenged.

Singh, who suffers with a brain disorder, cannot speak. Expressing her gratitude to everyone who assisted them after their plight was aired on CNC 3, grandmother Devika Singh said they now want to donate some of the things they received.

Singh also said more needs to be done to help children like her granddaughter. “It is very difficult to deal with a child like this.You have to be with them 24/7.”

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Disappointed that a rift between the San Fernando City Council and the Municipal Police has gone public, Rural Development and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein plans to meet with both parties this week.

Hosein was responding to a call by San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello to Hosein and Assistant Commissioner of the Municipal Police Brian Headly to investigate the inefficiency of the officers in San Fernando. During last Wednesday’s statutory meeting, Regrello said the officers’ inaction was responsible for the indiscriminate blocking of sidewalks by street vendors and some store owners. He added that there was little help from the city police in rolling out the recent traffic plan, which has helped to curb congestion in the busy school and shopping districts.

“There must be consultation, you must sit and talk. The mayor, the police and the administrative arm of the corporation must have an open policy meeting and they should come to a conclusion because every problem has a solution and this should not be brought into the public domain,

“ I intend to meet with him this week coming up here, probably Tuesday and I will keep a meeting with the police, the administrative arm and the council, which is headed by the mayor,” Hosein said.

With the new refurbishment of the old San Fernando Fire Station almost complete for the relocation of the city police, Hosein said he will also be seeking to address that issue. The municipal police are currently housed at the San Fernando City Corporation’s administrative building along Penitence Street.

With work on the San Fernando Waterfront Redevelopment Project set to begin next month, Hosein said the area would be a hub for various activities and a police station there would be needed.

The quality of education being imparted to students in T&T have made them ideal recruits for leading universities in the USA and Canada.

This is according to the US Charge d’Affaires John McIntyre and Canadian High Commissioner Carla Hogan-Rufelds who both echoed the same sentiments as they spoke with students and recruiters during the 2017 College Fair at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain yesterday.

As he addressed students and their parents yesterday, McIntyre reflected on his own university experience as he urged them to explore all the opportunities available to them.

He acknowledged that while financing was a “big deal” for many, “It should never impede your thinking of going to school in the US.”

Indicating there were many scholarship offerings based on athleticism and merit, McIntyre said while there were only 41 US recruiters participating in this year’s fair, the choices were far greater than persons believed.

He said: “You have so much choice in the US. If you can’t find a school that works for you and works for your parents and your family, you are just not trying.”

A Texan native, McIntyre obtained a BA in Political Science and Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and completed his Masters in Public Administration at the University of Kansas.

Seeking to allay the fears of the parents and reassure them of their children’s safety if they opted to study in the US, McIntyre advised: “Schools take the safety and well-being of your child very importantly.”

Joking that he never qualified for any merit-based scholarships but was now head of US Embassy in T&T, McIntyre described the pressure placed on local students to perform at the exam level in Form Five and Six as “insane.”

However, he said this preparation had served to prepare students, “to do a really good job of the pressure you would feel potentially in college, as you guys have already accomplished that with your Ordinary and Advanced Level exams, you guys are already set.”

McIntyre said some foreign schools were particularly interested in T&T students as, “You all have such a massively improved base foundation for us and for our universities that people want you all to come.”

Impressed by what she claimed was a “huge upswing” in the number of students who had attended the two-day fair this year, Hogan-Rufelds said representatives from 19 universities across eastern and western Canada had participated in the event.

Pressed to say why they too were appealing to persons to study in Canada, she said, “There is a very strong people-to-people connection between Canada and T&T.”

She said many Trinbagonians had relations living in Canada and coupled with the educational opportunities available, it was ideal situation for persons to take advantage off.

Information from the Immigration Division, Canadian Embassy indicated that following the yearly event—hundreds of student visas are usually issued to persons as a result of the interaction. Approximately 700 student visas were issued in 2016 to students wanting to study in Canada.

Buoyed by the sharp increase in the number of attendants compared to last year, both McIntyre and Hogan-Rufelds agreed persons coming to the US and Canada would get value for money.

Dismissing claims that more Trinidadians were being turned down after applying for a visa, McIntyre said: “We have an incredibly low refusal rate across the board for tourists and students. The vast majority of Trinidadians qualify for a US visa, this hasn’t changed. There is a public perception out there about other changes in our visa policy and that has nothing to do with T&T and nothing to do with students.”

Hogan-Rufelds said: “We do issue an average of 250 student visas a year.”

President of the Public Services Association (PSA) Watson Duke yesterday threatened to take legal action against the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) following the sudden dismissal of six permanent workers from the State-owned company.

Five of the six workers have been identified as Marcus Hudson, Rakesh Ramnath, Cherisse Solomon, Stacy Valdez and Christopher Mc Lean.

The dismissal came six weeks after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and several union bodies agreed to a moratorium on State sector retrenchments until December 2017.

The CDA has cited financial challenges for the retrenchment, stating that its board, chaired by Gupte Lutchmedial, felt it was no longer feasible to retain the top positions of assistant manager of IT, project manager, public relations specialist, document specialist and quality specialist.

The workers, who had between three to five years of service with the CDA, were told that their jobs had become redundant. Collectively the workers’ salaries were over $100,000 monthly.

While the proposed date of retrenchment by CDA was listed as November 30, the employees’ last day of work was October 20. The workers were not informed before hand of their terminations, which left them in shock and tears.

In June, CDA retrenched four workers, bringing the total figure so far to ten in the last four months.

“As a chairman and board they lacked the respect for agreements made between the unions and the Government. They have defied that. That agreement still stands and we expect the Government will stand up and tell the CDA to reinstate these workers, Duke said yesterday.

The PSA, Duke said, held a meeting with CDA about two weeks ago and agreed to withdraw all efforts to retrench its workers which was minuted.

“While we met and agreed on good faith tthe CDA would have acted in bad faith once our backs were turned. We are not going to talk, but act. You can expect legal action will follow. We are concerned with the manner in which CDA has been sending workers home,” Duke said.

Duke said he was most upset by CDA’s callous move.

Recently, CDA in a 2017 draft report had estimated its debts at $118 million.

Calls to Lutchmedial’s cellphone went unanswered yesterday and he did not respond to a text message.

With work stalled on the National Oncology Centre (NOC) for the past year, chairman of the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) Noel Garcia says Government may have three options— terminate the contract, borrow a loan or scale down the size of the million- dollar project.

This was Garcia’s view as he weighed in on the project which has come to a grinding halt.

In 2003, former prime minister Patrick Manning promised to build the NOC at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex at Mt Hope which was supposed to transform the way cancer patients are treated.

Back then, it was estimated to cost $144 million, but its costs has skyrocketed significantly.

Fourteen years later, and after five administrations, Garcia said only 32 per cent of the project has been completed,.

Garcia admitted that nothing has happened on the centre “all of this year. And it seems it would go into the next fiscal year without nothing happening.”

The project has been put on hold after Cabinet queried if they were getting value for money.

In the coming months, Udecott would get some definite word as to what would happen with the project, Garcia said.

Garcia said he cannot act unilaterally, but have to wait on Cabinet’s decision.

In addition to this, Garcia said things that go to Cabinet are referred to “FNGP and they are the ones who would question a number of things and raise a number of issues.”

He said while the project has been put on hold, he would have liked “things to go much quicker. but I am not FNGP (Finance and General Purpose Committee) I am not the Cabinet. I am subject to policy directions. I just have to accept the things I cannot change.”

Asked if Government had allocated money in this fiscal package for the project, Garcia said “I think so. I think not the kind of money that is required. I think it is a holding action really because I suspect if they are going forward with the Oncology Centre we probably may have to look for some kind of loan financing to go forward because it is a lot of money. I think the problem is the cost.”

From the offset, Garcia said the project has been riddled with challenges.

After the first contractor abandoned the job, Garcia said the architect experienced bankruptcy.

“Then it was discovered that the building was not conforming to the new seismic codes and had to be redesigned. So it is really a project that has had all kinds of challenges and probably needs a bush bath.”

The project is currently being undertaken by French contractor Bouygues Batiment T&T Construction Company.

In 2016, Garcia estimated the project’s cost at $700 million.

“The contractor is not working. They are virtually marking time for almost a year. You just can’t have the contractor in abeyance. So is either the Government terminate the contract or they decide to go forward with the contract or decide to go with a scaled down version of the contract. You just cannot be saying anything,” Garcia said.

Garcia did not agree with the centre being scaled down, stating that cancer is the leading cause of deaths in T&T.

“In Trinidad it is of epidemic proportions…from stomach cancer to liver cancer and colon. This would bring a relief to a number of people who would otherwise would not be able to get that level of sophisticated treatment. It would not cure cancer, but it would certainly afford people the opportunity to be treated.”

He said the most Bouygues can do was sue the State for standby charges.

“The contractor has that option, but I don’t know if they would want to excise it. In fairness to them they have reduced their workforce to a minimum. I don’t know if it would be worth their while to sue.”

The NOC, Garcia explained was designed with cutting edge technology, which would have taken up 55 per cent of the project’s overall cost.

“That was one of the reasons they were spending all of this money to build this state-of-the-art centre. But it has been bugged down.”

If the project gets restarted now, Garcia said the centre can be completed by early 2019.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the project is before Cabinet.

“I can’t say anything to jeopardize Cabinet’s consideration,” Deyalsingh said.

Derek Achong

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal has told police that his

implication in Government's $200 cartel claim against a group of

contractors is a fabrication by members of Cabinet.

In a letter sent to acting Supt Yussef Alexander of the

Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau on Thursday, Moonilal's lawyer

Israel Khan, SC, sought to respond to the allegations, which were made

in a civil lawsuit with the contractors and reported to police.

Khan questioned a text message exchange between his client and former

Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD) CEO Gary

Parmassar, which were cited by Minister in the Office of the Attorney

General Stuart Young when he revealed the claim earlier this month.

Young had alleged that the messages showed that Moonilal attempted to

exchange a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) house for Parmassar's

participation in the conspiracy with the contractors.

"The said messages appear to be a cut and paste job which attempts to

link unconnected bits of exchanges to mischievously present a

conspiracy," Khan said as he claimed that the messages were not

certified by a telecommunications provider.

He also noted that the allocation of HDC units was outside the remit

of the Minister of Housing.

Khan accused Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi of making a fraudulent

report to police of the alleged conspiracy.

Khan said: "If the above is true, it reasonably suggested that the

Honorable Attorney General deliberately and willfully supplied

incorrect and erroneous information to the police upon which to

maliciously procure a search warrant with my client's name."

"The Attorney General ought to know or take reasonable steps to know

the correct process used by the HDC to select successful applicants

for housing," he added.

Khan also questioned how Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis

procured a copy of a search warrant, which was obtained against

Moonilal. While Robinson-Regis read the warrant in Parliament earlier

this month, it is yet to be executed.

"Please be informed that my client has filed a strenuous complaint

with the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) on this matter since if the

warrant is indeed authentic, it appears Robinson-Regis could only have

received the document from a police office, who would have leaked such

a sensitive document to her," Khan said.

Khan told Alexander that he had written to acting Police Commissioner

Stephen Williams twice about the issue.

The conspiracy allegations were raised in a counterclaim filed in

relation to a series of lawsuits brought by the contracts, who are

seeking payment for construction works done under the previous

administration.

The Government is only challenging a portion of their claims which

relates to work done for the EMBD before the 2015 General Elections.

The contractors named by Young were TN Ramnauth and Company Ltd (TN

Ramnauth), Mootilal Ramhit and Sons Contracting Ltd (Ramhit), Namalco

Construction Services Ltd (Namalco), Fides Ltd (Fides) and Kall

Company Ltd (Kallco).

The Government is alleging that Moonilal, Parmassar and the

contractors were part of a conspiracy to defraud the State through

inflating costs and delivering incomplete work. The contractors have

denied any wrongdoing.

Speaking at a People's National Movement (PNM) political meeting held

at the San Fernando City Hall on Friday night, Young said that

Moonilal will be served with the lawsuit and the warrant soon.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is calling on acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams “to take careful note of what happened in the Parliament” when casino workers disrupted the Senate’s sitting on Thursday.

Speaking at the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) public meeting at the San Fernando City Hall on Friday night Rowley called the casino workers “rabble-rousers” that created “mob rule” in the Parliament.

During Thursday’s sitting of the Senate casino workers who were seated in the public gallery created havoc while Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West was speaking.

They were eventually escorted out of the Parliament building by police.

The Parliament also banned Maxine Gonzales, the spokesperson for the Members Clubs and Lottery Workers Union, and Robert Sagramsingh as a result of the situation.

Rowley said this country needs to begin regulating the gambling industry as it threatens to derail our banking system.

He accused a “member of the opposition who is a high price and high paid consultant to the gaming industry” for mobilising the casino workers to create “as much mayhem in the country as possible”.

Rowley said even elected officials have to abide by the rules of the Parliament.

The Members Clubs and Lottery Workers Union signalled that is has referred the Parliament ban to its attorney for an opinion and once advised would not hesitate to take legal action against the Senate President.

“The Union of Members Club and Lottery Workers stands fully behind our comrade Maxine Gonzales and defend her right to freedom of expression,” it stated in a release yesterday.

Gonzales was not given “an opportunity to be heard which natural justice demands” before the ban was imposed, it stated.

“The Speaker has begun along a very slippery slope by banning the people from the people’s chambers. This government is now insulating itself from the very people who they claim to represent. This act of banning is one often found in undemocratic nations and as such weakens our democracy,” the union stated.

It also questioned why Verna St Rose was not banned when she disrupted the Senate during the last administration.

The newly-formed Independent Fishermen Union of Trinidad and Tobago (IFUTT) has described the ban imposed on its president Robert Sagramsingh from Parliament following the disruption at Thursday’s sitting as a blow to democracy and is threatening legal action.

The ban was imposed on Sagramsingh and Maxine Gonzales, spokesperson of the Members Club and Lottery Worker Union, by the House Speaker after they disrupted the contribution of Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West.

Sagramsingh and Gonzales, along with other fishermen and casino workers, were subsequently ejected from Parliament.

The statement last Friday night stated that the ban prevented Sagramsingh and Gonzales from accessing the Parliament Chamber, public gallery, media gallery and all other rooms in the parliamentary buildings used for committee meetings. The statement further stated that all police officers employed at Parliament are empowered

directly/indirectly and/or through the Office of the Marshall, to remove the, from Parliament precincts should they try to enter.

The order was issued in accordance with Section 6 (1) of the House of Representatives (powers and Privileges)

Act and Standing Order 123 of the House.

Responding to the ban in a statement IFUTT stated, “IFUTT finds offensive the position taken by the unelected President of the Senate in banning the president of the IFUTT, Robert Sagramsingh, from the Parliament. “ Stating that the increase in the fuel taxes has had a severely debilitating effect on the fishing community, he said no no consultations done with the stakeholders of the industry.

It further stated that several unsuccessful attempts were made by IFUTT to speak with “the incompetent minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat.

“In an off- the- cuff comment to the IFUTT the minister quipped that he didn’t know about the fuel increase and could do nothing about it. While the maxi taxis and taxis are simply prepared to increase fares and pass it along to an already over-taxed population, we the fishermen of Trinidad and Tobago are not prepared to do similar. IFUTT is not prepared to quietly accept and roll over to the Government destroying our lives without responding. “

The IFUTT further stated, has had no choice but to resort to lawful protests and demonstrations to hopefully get the attention of and audience with the Government.

The IFUTT said: “The unelected President of the Senate has dealt a blow to the democracy of the nation with this obscene ban on the fishing community.

The Parliament is supposed to be the house of the people, the people are now being put out. Trinidad and Tobago under this government is bent on taxing

the population to death which has set us on the road of the great banana republics and failed states of the world. IFUTT has engaged the services of a lawyer to review the ban which suppresses our democratic rights and we will take legal action if possible.”

Three differently-abled children are due to receive Advanced EyeGaze Technology (ART) devices through an anonymous donor.

The Children’s Ark facilitated the donation of the technology which empowers people withdisabilities to interact and communicate by generating speech though typing or selecting varied programmes with their eyes.

Each device costs between US$12,000 and $15,000.

The NGO’s founder Simone de la Bastide explained that after being contacted by the donor, the organisation conducted a search for 12 possible candidates, between the ages of 4 - 19, for the devices.

“This allows them to use the intemet, study, participate in conferences, write books, earn their degrees etc. It opens up a whole different world for AET users,” de la Bastide said.

The candidates were all children with various conditions including muscular dystrophy, brain /spinal injuries, multiple sclerosis, quadraplegics and cerebral palsy.

Representatives from the LC Technology, which invented the device in the United States (US), visited Trinidad earlier this month to host a training session with the candidates.

At the end of the session, three candidates were selected for the devices, with a fourth being donated to the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), where it would be used to train other children and adults.

“The renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at age 21 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), was one of the first users of the AET Device.

Over the years he has written over 105 books by using the system,” de la Bastide said.

The distribution of the ART device was the second major project completed by the organisation for the year, the other being the construction of a library and reading room at the Port-of-Spain State Prison.

Fourteen colonial death row cells were demolished to build the facility, which will be used to facilitate a project where inmates read to their children.

Homeless persons who use Tamarind Square in Port-of-Spain as a makeshift shelter will now have to find alternative accommodation, after one of them lost his lawsuit against the Port-of-Spain City Corporation.

Delivering a 19-page judgment in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday, Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell dismissed Hugh Bernard’s lawsuit, in which he was claiming his constitutional rights were infringed when the corporation constructed a perimeter fence and gates at the public square almost two years ago.

In addition to facing the prospect of relocating, Bernard has been ordered to foot the corporation’s legal bill.

The corporation’s lawyer John Jeremie, SC, said his client was seeking costs from Bernard as it had expended a lot of money on legal fees in the case. Jeremie’s submissions were opposed by the Bernard’s lawyer Christopher Hamel-Smith, who said legal costs should be waived as the lawsuit was a legitimate public interest claim filed on behalf of Bernard’s fellow street dwellers. He said his client could not afford to pay and their legal team had taken the case pro bono.

“They are the voiceless and most downtrodden in society. The courts ought to be open to all, not just the ones with deep pockets,” Hamel-Smith said.

Donaldson-Honeywell agreed with Jeremie, saying there was no evidence of Bernard’s inability to pay.

“They can’t work?” Donaldson-Honeywell asked.

Hamel-Smith also requested that an interim injunction be granted against the corporation while his client considers an appeal. However, the request was challenged by Jeremie and eventually rejected by Donaldson-Honeywell.

In her judgment, Donaldson-Honeywell said Bernard’s claim failed because he could not produce evidence the corporation fenced the property and locked four out of five gates in a bid to specifically bar him and other homeless persons access.

“There has been no exclusion of the applicant from the square and consequently no deprivation or interference with his use of the square. The evidence of the health inspector is that after the square was fenced, he noticed that the homeless had moved into the square,” Donaldson-Honeywell said.

She said she believed the evidence of the corporation’s CEO Annette Stapleton-Seaforth and engineer Jason Lalla, who both testified the corporation fenced the property to secure it and not to bar the homeless entry.

“Although the corporation strongly maintained that it intends no draconian measure to keep Bernard and other homeless persons out of the square, there is no admission by the corporation that Bernard has a right to sleep there,” Donaldson-Honeywell said.

She also ruled she could not consider Bernard’s claims of unsanitary and inhumane conditions at the Centre for the Socially Displaced at Riverside car-park (located opposite Tamarind Square), as the corporation is not responsible for homeless shelters.

“As a result, the claim for tents and portable toilets to placed by the corporation in the square also fails. This is so because neither the right for Bernard to sleep in the square, nor the duty of the corporation to provide accommodation has been proven,” Donaldson-Honeywell said.

Contacted afterwards, Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez said he had not had an opportunity to analyse the judgement and would have to discuss it with his executive council and administrative staff before deciding on the next move.

However, he said: “From what I understand the corporation won the case. Therefore there is the likelihood that we would move forward with removing persons from the square. Our intention would be to unlock the square and bring it back to the pristine order that it was prior to the homeless occupying it.”

Prison Commissioner William Alexander says there was an increase in absenteeism at the nation’s prisons yesterday, in wake of a voice note circulating on social media that was alleged to have called for prison officers to take industrial action.

The social media threat came in the wake of the murder last Thursday of prison officer Glenford Gardner in Bagatelle in Diego Martin. Gardner was assigned to the Carrera Island Prison and was killed two weeks after another officer, Richard Sandy, was killed by an ex-convict at a Gasparillo bar.

But on Sunday evening, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, in a press release which highlighted the voice note was purported to have come from Prison Officers’ Association president Ceron Richards, appealed to prison officers to ignore any attempt by anyone to prevent them from lawfully carrying out their duties. Dillon added in the release that advice from the Office of the Attorney General on whether any legal action could be taken against those officers who engage in the industrial action alluded to in the voice note.

Yesterday, Alexander confirmed the nation’s prisons had been hit by the action as early as Sunday.

“There was some and it started from yesterday (Sunday), some absenteeism and we are grateful to the dedicated officers who are performing their duties notwithstanding the death of officer Gardener. He was a quiet man,” Alexander said.

Alexander said officers were being killed and it was distracting from the issues the service faced. He said he was not interested in taking disciplinary action against Richards, but admitted Richards should stand up and admit he sent the voice note.

“Let him be a man. We’re all grieving, we are making the situation worse by not showing up for duty. You putting hardship on the other officers and the inmates. My attention is to keep the prison steady and stable and my major focus and I will not be sidetracked in talk. There is always room for discussion,” he said.

He said citizens were living in a violent society and we should be emphasising on bringing the murderers before the courts and not turning the current situation into a political football.

Contacted on the matter yesterday, however, Richards said the National Security Minister seemed more concerned about a voice note than the problems plaguing the Prison Service.

“The minister is doing a lot of talking rather than meeting and treating with the Prison Service. That is the only time I heard from him and his only concern is to ask me about a voice note. Thank God for a voice note, if it wasn’t then I wouldn’t hear anything,” Richards said.

He said on many occasions the association, along with the Fire Service Association, had attempted to meet Dillon on issues affecting their members.

“Over a year we haven’t met with the minister and now he all of a sudden has gotten active. We thought that energy would be deployed then. Their (prison officers) families are afraid for them, all are running scared.”

He said the officers were being attacked and facing a lack of support from the state, noting there has been no word on whether their calls for legislation to protect prisons officers from attacks would be looked at.

On whether he organised the sick-out, given that last week he had suggested such action could occur, Richards said: “I was predicting on the basis of how they feel that is all. I just stating my concern and that the powers that be, I just want to re-iterate that we (association) are not in support of any industrial action and we are responsible. We demonstrated that. That is how they feel at this time.”

He said government had previously passed legislation years ago when kidnappings were rampant across the country.

“They did everything in the past to arrest it so it down to zero. Where is the same approach for prison officers?” he asked.

“Prison officers are looking at that and feeling worthless. That is the bigger issue and putting focus on it. We are not in support of industrial action and I don’t know what accusations the minister is making. The lack of action, government intervention and parliamentary response is not the issue. Ceron Richards is ...”

The Ministry of Finance says it made the necessary funds to pay salaries for the month of October 2017 available since last week. The ministry payments were made in accordance with Civil Service Regulation 39, which states that salaries should be paid on the day previous to the last full business day of the month, which was yesterday.

The ministry’s claim came even as Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association president Hayden Stewart said this was the third month nurses employed by the regional health authorities (RHAs) had been paid late without any explanation or apology, adding the association’s attorneys are now looking at sending legal letters to the RHA CEOs and Ministry of Finance.

Stewart said as of midday yesterday, “only one group of workers employed in the NCRHA had been paid through Royal Bank.”

He said the association had sought answers from Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh and he referred them to the Minister of Finance Colm Imbert, but all attempts to get answers from Imbert were unsuccessful.

Stewart said, “We have started speaking with our lawyers, because it is not a favour that they are doing, this is scripted in law. We want to ensure this does not continue and that nurses are paid as they are supposed to, two days before the end of the month.”

Stewart said he could understand a one-off situation but it seemed it had become “a habit and we will take the necessary legal recourse. We want to make sure the ministry obeys the relevant guidelines.”

PSA president Watson Duke said Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex workers were furious they had not been paid.

He said late payment of salaries was in contravention of section 39 of the Public Service Act, adding salaries should have been in the bank either last week or by yesterday morning.

Duke said these “scare tactics” will not force workers into believing that “things are really hard and our jobs are under threat. There is money and there is work. Pay us to do our work.”

TTUTA president Lyndsay Doodhai said his members also complained salaries were late. But he said he was assured by Ministry of Finance officials that teachers should be able to access them this week.

Fire Services Association president Leo Ramkissoon said they were told that “the Minister of Finance only released funding for payment on Friday and the information is between today and up until Wednesday fire officers will get their payments.”

Although Rousillac residents yesterday said their protests over poor roads had nothing to do with politics, an unapologetic Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan yesterday deemed the action to be politically motivated.

However, he said the road was already scheduled for repairs later this week and next week. He said because of the unstable soil there is constant movement along Grant Road and its tributaries. What makes it worse, he said, was the burning of debris, as it damages the road surfaces and results in the ministry having to spend more on repairs.

“That road was repaired several times but there is a problem with earth movement, so constant maintenance has to take place. According to our programme, the road was scheduled for repairs later this week and next week. It will not last 10 years because of the constant movement, the type of soil and the pull from the pitch lake,” Sinanan said.

“A lot of these protests are politically motivated, but we are doing what we are supposed to do. It’s an ongoing process and the ministry will do what we need to do when funds are made available.”

In the long term, Sinanan said the completion of the highway will reroute the heavy traffic from the community, resulting in the road lasting longer. He said that section of the highway should resume by the end of the year.

La Brea MP Nicole Olivierre also echoed Sinanan’s sentiments of a politically motivated protest, as she said the residents never engaged her on the road conditions. She said while she is aware of the situation of bad roads in the constituency, she does not respond to protest.

She said the road was paved twice under the UNC government following the construction of the highway that ended at Rousillac, but within a short period the road gave away. She said if the UNC’s plan was to increase traffic on the road they should have upgraded the pavement.

“I don’t respond to protests and these residents never engaged me on the matter. They could have called or come to my office. I sent a message to them, informing that they can meet me at my office from 10 am. The action is not proportionate to the complaint they have and they did not come and engage me. It also seems that a tyre shop has supported them because they have an unlimited supply to burn and that should be looked at.”