Claudette Spencer was a United States attorney working with the New York Prisoners’ Right Project of the Legal Aid Society when she visited Elmira Correctional Facility, New York in 1984 to investigate some Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activity taking place at the prison.

And as part of her investigation, Spencer had to interview an inmate born in Trinidad and Tobago named Ernest Nurse, who was found guilty of murder.

“I had never believed in the concept of love at first sight, but I think I fell in love with Ernest from the minute I laid eyes on him. From that day in the Elmira visiting room onward, I never stopped thinking about him and his gorgeous smile,” she said.

Luckily, Nurse felt the same way about her.

Nurse told his fellow inmates that he just met the woman he would one day marry.

They laughed at him when he told them it was an attorney.

Spencer was engaged at the time she met Nurse.

She also had a baby daughter named Shahidah.

Spencer did not see Nurse again until six months later when she returned to Elmira to conduct another investigation there.

By that time, she had broken off her engagement with her fiance.

“Most of the conversation I had with Ernest that day at Elmira was personal. We chatted as if we were old friends and had known each other our entire lives,” Spencer said.

Toward the end of the visit, Nurse asked her “Do you think you could ever visit me without the lawyer clothes?”

Spencer said she laughed and told him she could never visit him at Elmira other than as an attorney.

Nurse said he would put in for a prison transfer then.

Nurse was transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility, in New York.

Spencer visited him there.

“When I decided to go see him at Clinton it was to be as platonic friends...or so I deceived myself into believing,” Spencer said.

“I could hardly believe that six hours had passed. I was sad to see him go back up to his block,” Spencer said.

“I reflected on the relationship that was developing between Ernest and me. I realised that I was attracted to him and wanted more than a platonic relationship,” she said.

Spencer said she fell into a state of depression wondering how she could be falling in love with a man who could be spending the rest of his life in prison.

She saw a therapist.

“For months I agonised over whether I should pursue a relationship with Ernest. But in the end, I decided that since you never knew where you’d find love when you did find it, you had to follow your heart and see where it took you,” she said.

Nurse was transferred to the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, New York.

Spencer followed him and continued visiting him and the relationship blossomed.

In 1989, Nurse broached the subject of marriage.

“There were so many reasons not to marry a man in prison, especially one serving 25 years to life,” Spencer said.

“But with all the reasons not to marry him there was still one reason to get married, and that was love,” she said.

The wedding took place on August 31, 1989, Independence Day here.

“There were no flowers and no wedding cake, but after the ceremony, I bought a pack of cupcakes from the vending machine that we shared with our guests. There was no honeymoon to Hawaii or Mexico, and we had no idea when the marriage would be consummated,” Spencer said.

Eventually, Nurse was allowed a conjugal visit.

Conjugal visits lasted 45 hours starting Saturday afternoon and ending Monday morning.

“We felt like we had died and gone to heaven as we spent time snuggling, watching TV and getting to know each other like we had never been able to do in the visiting room,” she said.

The conjugal visits continued and after a while, Spencer got pregnant for Nurse.

On February 4, 1992, their daughter Zakiya was born.

Spencer helped Nurse successfully get parole.

On March 18, 2003, he was deported to Trinidad and Tobago.

She followed him here the next day.

The couple has been happily married living in Trinidad and Tobago since then.

Now know as Spencer-Nurse she has written a book titled “Memoirs of a Prison Lawyer, Prison Wife”.

The book was launched at her family’s home in Trincity yesterday. She described the book as a coming out.

Spencer-Nurse said her intention for the book was to give hope to people.

“I wrote this book to get out of the shadows and to help those who are still in the shadows,” she said.

The couple now has six grandchildren.

Some 60 Rio Claro and Mayaro woodworkers (licensees) who purchase trees through the Forestry Division are begging Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to help them.

The licensees are claiming that they have been unable to purchase or sell the trees to earn an income to support themselves and their families for almost two months.

During a placard demonstration in front the Rio Claro office yesterday, Imtiaz Mohammed said on June 20 during a meeting with Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambarat and the Conservator of Forests, a directive was given to a senior officer attached to the Rio Claro office to start processing the paper work to allow the licensees to buy the trees and remove the trees which they have already purchased.

Licensee Imtiaz Mohammed complained that the officials at the Rio Claro office are failing to comply with this directive.

He claimed they are still failing to accept their applications, stamp the trees and issue permits to them to remove the trees.

He said, “The other problem is it have officers sitting in the office here failing to give us permits to remove the wood that we already purchased and have by the road. In that order, we cannot make back the money that we invest...plenty people here have no salary, no form of income without getting these wood move out from there and is just a simple thing as a little document for the ranger to write for us.

Faiz De-Grilla, vice president of the T&T Workers Cooperative Society, said they had also set up a meeting on Friday to discuss the alleged bribery.

“We want to put an end to this once and for all. We fed up with the victimisation, we fed up with the extortion and exploitation. We just had had enough. We are asking the Prime Minister to intervene.”

Complaining that they are unable to pay bills and care for their families, Alimool Rahim, who is also an imam, pleaded, “We are pleading once again to the minister who has done a very professional job and the head of forestry who has done a professional job to stand up on your feet and stand for what is right and give us what is just due for us .”

When contacted, the minister said a team of officers will be visiting the office today.

He said, “This is an issue dating back several years. I have been meeting with the woodworkers for over a year and in May 2018 we settled all the issues. The end result is that we have more licensed woodcutters and all of them have forested areas where they can access trees. They reached out to me to complain that the Forestry Division office in Rio Claro is not processing there documents quickly enough.

“A team headed by the Deputy Conservator of Forests and including the Assistant Conservator of Forests and Forester 3 for the area are going to the Rio Claro office to resolve these issues. The issue of lack of productivity at that Rio Claro office is a complaint I continuously receive from the public.”

Rambarat said he has brought these issues to the Conservator of Forests.

An offshore worker who was caught driving under the influence of alcohol for the second time was yesterday slapped with a $10,000 fine and disqualified from driving for a year.

Romel Darson was also advised by Couva Senior magistrate Siumongal Ramsaran to enrol in Alcohol Anonymous sessions.

Darson, a platform operator, who was more than two times above the legal limit, pleaded guilty. Darson was arrested after he was involved in an accident along Main Road, Balmain, on June 23.

While interviewing Darson at the scene of the accident, court prosecutor Sgt Lincoln Bonnett said WPC Douglas detected a strong scent of alcohol on his breath and observed his speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot red.

Darson admitted to the officer that he had been drinking. Darson failed the three breathalyser tests with an official reading of 114 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He was convicted in the same court in 2016 for a similar offence and fined $5,000. If he fails to pay the fine he will serve three years in jail.

(SW)

Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Fitzgerald Hinds has been sued by a Canadian resident who is claiming he was injured by the Minister’s vehicle in a hit-and- run accident.

David Seemungal, 57, is seeking damages for negligence, personal injuries and medical expenses in the lawsuit in which he is suing Hinds and Trinre Insurance Company Ltd.

Prior to filing the action at the San Fernando High Court, Seemungal’s attorney Saira Lakhan had sent a pre-action protocol letter to Hinds in April.

The lawsuit stemmed from an incident on December 16, 2015 near the westbound intersection of Anderson Terrace and Saddle Road, Maraval.

According to the court documents, Seemungal was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his father Satyernand Seemungal, an attorney.

The vehicle began experiencing mechanical problems and it subsequently stalled. A black Porche Cayenne (registration number given), which was following his father’s vehicle, sounded its horn several times.

Seemungal’s father came out from the vehicle and indicated to the driver of the Porche, who appeared to be a person of African descent and having a dreadlocks hairstyle, that he was having mechanical problems.

The document stated that drivers on the southbound and northbound lanes stopped to allow Seemungal, his father and a street vendor to manually move the vehicle to a parking lot at Boissiere Place.

The driver of the Porche, according to the documents, went around the vehicle which was about to enter the parking lot and swerved in front it to head north in a hurried manner.

Seemungal is claiming the Porche made contact with his left heel causing his ankle to twist. As Seemungal screamed out in pain, according to the document, the driver of the Porche slowed down and then drove off at a high speed.

Seemungal made a report at the Maraval Police Station after he sought medical treatment at a private doctor.

Seemungal is claiming that on December 18, 2015 Sgt Theophilus, of the Maraval Police Station, informed him that Hinds, who was then Works and Transport Minister, was the owner of the vehicle.

According to the document, Seemungal’s father contacted Hinds who admitted to owning the vehicle, but refused to disclose who was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident.

Due to structural damage to the tendons and ligaments around the ankle, the document stated, Seemungal has to wear custom orthotics for an indefinite period of time.

He has difficulty walking and managing work due to the pain and is still undergoing physiotherapy in Canada.

Accountant Chandricka Seeteram will have to wait until next month to find out the fate of his lawsuit challenging an investigation by Institute of Chartered Accountants of T&T (ICATT) into his alleged impropriety in preparing the financial records of the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) before its collapse.

Appellate judges Peter Jamadar, Andre Des Vignes and Judith Jones reserved their judgment in the case after hearing submissions by both parties at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

The judgment is expected delivered before the close of the 2017/2018 law term, next month.

Seeteram is appealing a decision by High Court judge Devindra Rampersad to dismiss his judicial review lawsuit challenging the process used by ICATT to investigate the allegations against him.

His lawyers are contending that ICATT claimed that the investigation was initiated by its council, when in fact, it was raised by former government minister Mariano Browne, who is also a member.

In his submissions, ICATT’s lawyer Fyard Hosein, SC, admitted that the investigation was mistakenly initiated under the wrong section of the organisation’s Rules of Professional Conduct.

Asked by the appeal panel if he could provide evidence that ICATT had admitted to its mistake, Hosein said no.

“Intent does not matter, it depends on the end product,” Hosein said as he called upon the court to uphold the final decision of the investigative committee to institute disciplinary charges against Seeteram.

In response, Seeteram’s attorney Douglas Mendes, SC, claimed that his client would not have handed over prejudicial evidence to the investigative committee if he had known the investigation was improperly initiated.

The disciplinary allegations stem from issues raised in the commission of inquiry into the collapse of insurance giant Clico and the HCU in 2012.

Seeteram had testified that he failed to disclose a $150 million consolidated loss at an annual general meeting, concealed a $31 million loss among “prior adjustments” in the 2005 accounts and back-dated audited accounts and rushed preparing accounts which were later represented as fully audited accounts. He claimed this was done upon the request of former HCU president Harry Harnarine.

Seeteram, who began doing work for the HCU in 2003, later denied any wrongdoing but blamed a typist for a crucial oversight on the HCU books.

His explanation was rejected by chairman of the commission, Sir Anthony Colman, who in his final report noted that the ICATT complaints had been filed by Browne.

The complaint alleged that Seetaram was responsible for HCU financial statements which were materially misleading and in non-compliance with requisite accounting principles. It also alleged that he failed to inform HCU members of the issues as required under general auditing standards.

The ICATT’s investigative committee had initially found that a prima facie case had been made out against Seetearam and referred the matter to the organisation’s disciplinary committee.

The committee included retired banker Richard Young, Junior Frederick, Kyle Rudden, Luana Boyack, Jo Anne Julien, Nigel Baptiste and Raymond Crichton. Browne was also selected but recused himself from taking part in the process.

He appeared before the disciplinary committee in April 2015 but challenged its jurisdiction to hear the claims.

The committee has put its work on hold while Seeteram’s legal challenge is still pending.

Seeteram is also being represented by Jason Mootoo while Anil Maraj and Sasha Bridgemohan appeared alongside Hosein.

Martin Julien, 44, was excited of meeting his first born grandchild and couldn’t have waited for morning to clear yesterday so that he could go to the hospital to hold his only daughter’s new baby. However, unfortunately he was killed on Sunday night shortly arriving at his home in Morvant.

Julien was not only a taxi driver but a well-known bass guitarist over the years who played for several soca artistes and soca and reggae bands. Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, Julien’s nephew, who did not give his name, denied reports which stated that his uncle’s killing was gang-related. “I can tell you that all my uncle ever spoke about was his music and singing because he sang too. He was never involved in any gang or gang affiliate, nothing. We are shocked as to why he was killed,” Julien’s nephew said. “All we know is that whoever it was they were waiting for him to come home because as he pulled up in his car and was taking out bags from it someone came and shot him multiple times. Maybe, because over small talk or a bad drive or envy but we may never know why,” he added. Julien was described as a cool and humble individual by the mother of his daughter, “his daughter had a baby yesterday (Sunday) and he only got to see the baby over the phone. Imagine they kill him and he didn’t even get a chance to see his first grand in real or to hold the baby. This killing in this country is senseless and sickening.” According to a police report, at about 5 am yesterday Julien’s body was found near his car at his home in Morvant. In a separate incident, shortly before 7 pm on Sunday, Quincy Lezama, 26, was liming with a group of friends near the basketball court, along Erica Street in Laventille, when a black Nissan Xtrail SUV drove up and its occupants opened fire.

Lezama, of Bascombe Trace, Laventille was shot multiple times. Police said the vehicle was found abandoned later on Upper Wharton Street, Port-of-Spain. Police are yet to determine a motive for Lezama’s killing.

A tragic accident in Tobago has claimed the life of a pregnant teenager.

Donielle Nelson, 17, of Harmony Hall, was killed in a hit-- and- run accident on Sunday night.

The accident happened at Government House Road, Scarborough shortly before 8 pm in the vicinity of the Union Funeral Home.

The T&T Guardian understands that Nelson was standing at the side of the road when a Nissan Navara driven by a man in his 30s slammed into her and threw her some distance away.

Police said the man, a plumbing contractor, failed to stop and render aid. Nelson, who was said to be four months pregnant, suffered severe head injuries and multiple fractures about her body.

She was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital but succumbed while undergoing medical treatment.

Shortly after the incident, police officers received information and went to the driver's home and detained him. Sources say the man was intoxicated and was made to undergo a breathalyser test, which he failed.

Charges are expected to be laid soon. Scarborough Traffic Branch is continuing investigations.

As the countdown to the July 16 by-election draws closer both the United National Congress (UNC) and the People’s National Movement (PNM) have accused each other of a dirty campaign in one of the two electoral districts they are contesting.

The accusations were levied yesterday by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young and UNC Senator Wade Mark as six candidates filed nomination papers for the Barataria and Belmont East electoral districts.

The UNC, however, intends to lodge a complaint to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) returning officer and the police over the PNM’s nasty campaigning.

The Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) is the third force in the race.

For the Belmont East district UNC’s Lianna Babb-Gonzales, PNM’s Nicole Young and PEP’s Felicia Holder filed at the office of the returning officer at Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, before 10 am.

Filing of papers for the Barataria district was done by UNC’s Sharon Maraj-Dharam, PNM’s Kimberly Small and PEP’s Christoph Samlal before the 3 pm deadline in Aranguez.

The seats in the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation and Port-of-Spain City Corporation became vacant following the death of councillors Pernell Bruno on July 8, 2017 and Councillor Darrly Rajpaul on November 18, 2017

Babb-Gonzales said she was not scared that Belmont has been a PNM stronghold since she been gaining traction.

Next Sunday, the UNC will provide a battery of lawyers to families of individuals who have been incarcerated while a team of doctors will offer medical services to burgesses in Belmont.

“The PNM is conducting a very dirty campaign. What they have been doing is that all our posters that we have put up they have hired thugs to go and paint them over and pull them down. We are not doing that to the PNM,” said Mark who led a team of UNC supporters who came to support Gonzales-Babb.

Asked if the UNC have evidence of such claims, Mark said let the PNM deny it.

“The only person who would want to destroy our posters would be our enemies. This is a police matter and we will talk to the EBC as well about the dirty campaign that is being conducted by the PNM,” Mark insisted.

Gonzales-Babb said people have seen PNM supporters ripping or covering their posters.

“They are mortally afraid of Jearlean John who has been campaigning in Belmont,” Mark said.

Mark said after the UNC defeats the PNM in Belmont and Barataria his party will call on Government to call a by-election in the constituency of La Horquetta/ Talparo.

“And they know they are going to lose that seat because Maxie Cuffie is not going to be back in town for a long time. Once the four- year period is up under the Constitution you cannot call a by-election. We are going to put sufficient pressure on them (PNM) to ensure that they call a by-election.”

An upbeat Young said she was confident of victory.

On the issue of claims by the UNC that the PNM has not been fighting clean, Young (Stuart) who came out to support their Belmont candidate, said the situation was the opposite, as he blamed the UNC of covering PNM’s posters.

“The PNM never engages in that type of dirty campaigning. There is certainly no need for PNM in Belmont East to engage in anything but clean campaigning because it is going to be a clean sweep in Belmont,” Young said.

He said the PNM is expecting the UNC to lose their deposits as happened in the 2015 general election.

He said if the UNC gets more than 50 votes in Belmont they would achieve something.

THE UNC captured 49 votes in Belmont for the 2016 Local Government Election.

If PNM supporters are found to be engage in dirty campaigning, Young said the party would not condone it.

“I don’t know how the UNC behaves. What I do know is the way the UNC behaves the PNM would never behave. If you take a drive through in the Belmont constituency as I did yesterday, you will see whose posters are on top of the other person’s posters. And it is certainly not the PNM’s posters on top of UNC’s posters,” Young said.

Holder who was born disabled said she was optimist of her chances for PEP.

“I think my chances are amazing. I have been walking around Belmont and people are desperate for change,” she said.

Samlal said burgesses in Barataria want to support a third party.

Calls yesterday to EBC’s communications manager Dominic Hinds went unanswered.

Having earned annual interest of just $7 from one of his bank accounts, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday called on the business sector, NGOs and customers of commercial banks to invest in Government’s National Investment Fund (NIF), which he assured will generate higher returns on their investment.

As Rowley made the call during his contribution to the Corporation Tax Bill in Parliament, he also slammed commercial banks in T&T for their service charges passed on to customers.

Responding to Opposition MP Bhoe Tewarie, who stated that the NIF would not create an appetite for investment from the public, Rowley said the establishment of the fund was not a “willy-nilly” decision since they obtained the best advice from experts.

The public offering was made by Finance Minister Colm Imbert recently in a bid to recover $16 billion still to be repaid to the Government by CL Financial, which collapsed in 2009. The government bailed out the company to the tune of $23 billion. The assets of CL Financial are valued at $10 billion, while the fund is expected to generate $4 billion through the public offering.

Yesterday, Rowley said when they thought that the People’s Partnership had fixed the CL Financial issue they did not and a such the PNM was now seeking to recover $15 billion of taxpayers’ money from the bailout.

“The minute we mentioned NIF there were those who jumped out in front and was saying it would fail,” Rowley said.

He said there are people in the country, Opposition included, who object to everything the PNM puts forward.

“They have a negative outlook to it and some of them want it to actively fail,” Rowley said.

Looking at the commercial banks, the PM said citizens owned $103 billion in cash.

“Mr Speaker, a small amount of that is mine. I have a small account in a bank…very small, but small enough that I expect to earn something on it. When I get my bank statement I see that on my substantial amount of money in the bank I earned $7 in interest.

I can’t even buy gas to go and collect the $7. I am sure there are many people who would be hearing me say this now…who have significant sums in the banks earning next to nothing,” the PM said.

Rowley said some customers get zero interest.

“I am told the way these banks behaving, after they deduct charges you have to pay them to hold your money in the bank. That is why we expect that persons who are owners of this money will take the opportunity to put it in a situation to earn something on it.”

In light of this, Rowley said it would be wiser if the public, NGOs and businesses invest in shares of some CL Financial companies through a public offering - the NIF.

“In the public sector deposits in the commercial banks, there was $6.9 billion. That is taxpayer money in the public sector. State enterprise sector, $6 billion they have there. The private financial institutions, $10 billion.”

The businesses, Rowley said, amounted to $10 billion, while the private sector businesses had $25 billion and NGOs and sole traders accounted for $3.8 billion. He said some citizens had US$18 billion “in cash” at local commercial banks waiting to invest.

“And citizens of Trinidad and Tobago as individuals have $51 billion in T&T. And you want to tell me that we give them this opportunity to invest to the tune of $4 billion and they will turn their backs on it because we have done the wrong thing?”

Rowley said they had already advised people that even though they have “a small cacadah” to invest via the fund “to get good returns. I have every confidence that the bonds that the Minister of Finance will make available in the coming weeks, that the people of this country will not be advised by others but will be advised by those who wish this country well and they will participate in this bond.”

He said those who invest in the bonds will collect a return of 4.5 per cent over a five-year period without being taxed.

The 12-year bond, Rowley said, will guarantee 5.7 per cent return, while a 20-year investment will generate 6.6 per cent, saying there was a greater need for people to save and to contribute to T&T’s overall development.

Caroni East MP Dr Tim Goopeesingh, in response, described Rowley’s contribution as a “tirade of pavement talk and hogwash”.

Gopeesingh said when CL Financial collapsed nine years ago Rowley was part of the then government, pointing out that he (Rowley) has to take the blame for the CL Financial fiasco.

“The Prime Minister now owes us an apology for the debt he has cost this country for being part of that government,” Gopeesingh said.

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) wants a total of more and four and a half billion dollars from the Central Government to run the island’s business in the next fiscal year 2019. Of that amount, $3.2 billion is for recurrent expenditure and $1.38 billion for the island’s development programme.

Finance and the Economy Secretary Joel Jack, in presenting the fiscal package yesterday, made it clear that the urgent need to intensify a diversification programme could not be “overstated”, as he announced plans for improvements in the tourism product, agricultural sector, an accelerated housing programme and improvements in the road network.

Of the $3.2B, Jack said $901.2 million is for personnel expenditure, $1 billion for goods and services, $113.7 million for minor equipment purchases and $1.1 billion was for transfers and subsidies, an increase of $40.7 million from last year’s request.

Jack said the request for $1.38b for the island’s development programme represented a $328.4m decrease from the 2018 estimate. Of that amount, $263.7m will be spent on economic infrastructure and $230.9m on social infrastructure.

Jack said 62 per cent of the people on the island are employed in the state sector and 38 per cent in the private sector. In the last year, he said unemployment had grown to 6.6%, up from 4.8% in 2016. Jack said the data pointed to the urgent need to diversify the economy.

As he unveiled the fiscal package, Jack admitted the private sector on the island had faced challenges because of the air and sea transportation problems, assuring that the THA will continue to work with the private sector. He said the inter-island transport system provides “critical support”, particularly to the tourism sector and over the past year it had become “a major source of concern for Trinidadians and Tobagonians.”

The impact of the problems on the sea and airbridge, he said, were “far-reaching” and includes not only the business community but the wider population. He thanked Tobagonians “for their patience while we seek to find a sustainable solution.” He said although things had improved significantly, the objective was to ensure that Tobagonians and visitors alike can travel between the islands in a “dignified manner”.

In that regard, he said the THA is in discussion with consultants to conduct a study on the inter-island transportation system. This study includes a review of the operations, evaluation of management structures and the “possibility of alternative arrangements for improved travel.”

Jack said he was also “heartened” by the news from the Prime Minister’s visit to Australia that Government will acquire two new fast ferries for Tobago. “These vessels, along with the Galleons Passage, will replace the ageing fleet and minimise the current challenges on the seabridge,” Jack said.

Jack also announced that administrative challenges with the Land Licence Regime, which had affected foreign direct investment on the island, is being reviewed and a statement will be issued shortly.

Among the development projects on the cards is a new cargo port for Tobago. He said the consulting engineering firm Lee Young and Partner was contracted to conduct a feasibility study to select the best location for the commercial cargo port. The study is at an “advanced stage and a final report is expected before the end of the fiscal year. A commercial cargo port will facilitate the development of the light manufacturing sector and improve the efficiency of commercial activity between the two islands, he said.

Declaring that current economic challenges “compel us to take a more strategic approach to the way we conduct business”, Jack quoted Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles as saying “it is business unusual.”

The Galleons Passage ferry should arrive in T&T by July 16 following certain upgrades currently being done in Cuba by the vessel’s seller, Works Minister Rohan Sinanan said yesterday.

Sinanan gave the update in response to Opposition questions in Parliament following reports the ferry will once again remain in Cuba for upgrades.

Last week, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said planned upgrades to the ferry by the seller and the T&T Government wouldn’t take place again since the seller had difficulties getting material and equipment from Australia to Cuba due to Cuba’s embargoed status.

Imbert had said Government couldn’t wait any longer and the ferry would be brought to T&T immediately and the planned works would be done on a phased basis in between the vessel’s Tobago ferry operations.

However, a subsequent Nidco report statement last weekend revealed the seller’s retrofitting upgrades would still be done in Cuba and the vessel was expected to depart Cuba on July 10. Following arrival in Trinidad, the owner’s (Government) proposed enhancements will be done on a phased basis while the vessel is in service, Nidco added.

Yesterday in Parliament, Sinanan, rather than Imbert, speaking on the issue, reiterated the work being done in Cuba is the seller’s retrofitting. This involves the front canopy of the vessel and other aspects. After a four to six day sail from Cuba, leaving July 10, it’s expected in T&T by July 16, he added.

Sinanan said he’d be able to give the total approximate cost of the vessel when it arrives.

On another query involving transport, Finance Minister Imbert said a Caribbean Airlines aircraft is currently in the process of undergoing a full overhaul. He said this takes a month.

He was replying to UNC MP Fazal Karim query on whether a CAL aircraft to be used in the upcoming busy travel period was sabotaged. Imbert said all aircraft are in full compliance with Civil Aviation law. Karim gave the date, June, when the aircraft in question was taken off the route. But Imbert didn’t address the question of sabotage.

You saw them over the weekend. Frantic half-time sorties to the supermarket for snacks and drinks. Then, in an instant, roads were clear enough to make a maxi man cry. Not a peanut vendor in sight. A solitary doubles vendor. The oysterman in Curepe buss.

There they were. Glazed looks in their eyes. Sworn sports lovers who didn’t know that the Third Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka started in Barbados on Saturday or that the NAAA National Open Championships was on at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

Now, Russia has 11 time zones. Had most matches not been in Moscow Standard Time and had been located in the ANAT time zone, for example, the Employers Consultative Association (ECA) would not have been in such a tangle trying to get people to watch football only during their lunch breaks.

Had the time zones been different, however, employers would have been happy but fans would have been having trouble picking up snacks in the wee hours of the morning. Where does one get khurma at 1 am?

Back in the day, the ECA was kept happy on match day since it was possible to hold your horses for the evening replays. Not so any more. Spoilers facilitated by social media abound.

Somebody can and will send a Whatsapp message or text. “Ronaldo missed a penalty.” Or “Bettie Goatie, Saudi Arabia just beat Egypt.” You would also need to stay away from Twitter and Instagram and wear earplugs at City Gate.

In any event, ECA, what football is there between the standard lunch break of noon to one? True, at some government offices there would be enough time (especially for cashiers) if the game starts at 11.30. For others though, a lunch break is typically 60 minutes long and a football match runs for 90 minutes plus 15 minutes half-time and time added on for Germany to save its hide.

Plus, Brazil is playing Serbia today at 2 and tomorrow Senegal comes up against Colombia at 10 am. This week, as well, matches are being played simultaneously. This means that in addition to a television set, there would need to be mobile phones and tablets handy.

Oddly enough, I am sure some of you know about citizens of this republic who have seen every single match “live” so far. Others have work to do. I for instance saw the missed Ronaldo penalty in a Chinese restaurant in Mayaro following a Rio Claro work assignment.

But wait. What on earth are we doing talking about football on a day like today? Monday was nomination day for two local government by-elections due on July 16 – the day after the finals of World Cup 2018 and that also happens to be the same day the Galleons Passage arrives in T&T waters.

A New York apartment has been sold for US$10 and official statistics show that there are more Trinis bearing refugee status abroad (312) than there are non-nationals (288) in such a category here.

Tomorrow, at 10 am, the Caribbean Court of Justice will hear an appeal by transgender persons against a decision of the High Court of Guyana to convict them for wearing female attire in public for an ‘improper purpose’. As is usually the case, the matter will be streamed live.

But, at the same time Senegal and Colombia line up against each other at the Cosmos Arena in Samara, Russia. At that very time as well, Japan play Poland. Then when those games end, there will be England against Belgium and Panama versus Tunisia.

“How much longer does this football thing go on for?” asked one newspaper editor dryly on Sunday.

Oh, that comes to an end on July 15 – one day before local government elections, the closure of schools for the long holiday, a series of Carnival band launches and two weeks before Emancipation Day on August 1 - which is a week away from the August 8 start of the CPL T20 tournament, which opens with a match between Trinbago Knight Riders and St Lucia Stars in Trinidad.

Yep.

Local author Kevin Jared Hosein has won the Caribbean regional winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the second time.

The prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from the Commonwealth and it is the only prize in the world where entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, English, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, and Tamil.

Hosein’s winning entry, Passage, sends a midlife crisis-ridden protagonist into the wilderness in search for a mystery woman—with unforeseen consequences for others, and for himself. He won the prize in 2015.

The international judging panel, chaired by the novelist and poet Sarah Hall, has chosen the five regional winners—tackling issues from abortion to transgender identity, from religion to mental illness—from a shortlist of 24, with 5,182 stories submitted from 48 Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is run by Commonwealth Writers, which develops and connects writers across the world and tackles the challenges they face in different regions.

Hall said: “Each of the winning regional stories speaks strongly for itself in extraordinary prose, and speaks for and beyond its region, often challenging notions of identity, place and society. Individually, the stories exhibit marvellous imaginative and stylistic diversity; together, they remind us that our deeper human concerns and conundrums are shared, and that the short story form is uniquely adept at offering the reader a world in which she or he might feel a sense both of belonging and un-belonging, might question his or her understanding of the world.”

Commenting on his victory, Hosein said: “Trinidad and Tobago writes itself. It writes loudly and quietly at the same time. Loudly, because it likes to boast of its best and worst parts. Quietly, because it thinks nobody cares to listen. This win, along with the many voices year after year whom have shortlisted and won for this little twin-island nation, is reinforced proof that people out there are entertained by our stories, derive meaning and relevance from them, and are moved by them. It is proof that people care to listen.

Today marks 15 days since 19-year-old Anil Matagoolam walked away from his home at Rivulet Road, Couva to visit friends.

He has never been seen since.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Matagoolam’s sister, Indrani said her family remains very worried but “Still with hope.”

“When he was leaving he told mummy that when he comes back he will eat. We waited for him and nothing. Usually, when he goes by his friends he would bring them back to eat with him. We have not seen him since,” Indrani said.

Matagoolam was last seen on June 13.

Yesterday, police officers found a skull, believed to be human in some bushes near the abandoned Brechin Castle. However, Indrani said she was told that it is believed that the skull is about one to two years “and not Anil’s…thank God. We hope we can get him back alive and well.”

Anyone with information can contact Couva police at 636 2333 or the family at 703 9623.

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that presidents of Guyana can only serve two terms in office.

Delivering a majority judgment at its headquarters at Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, six out of seven judges on the appeal panel ruled that term limit, introduced by an amendment to Guyana’s Constitution in 2000, was not unconstitutional.

In their judgment, the court ruled that the amendment was not introduced by a political party intending to manipulate the requirements for the office but rather through extensive national consultation over enhancing that country’s democracy.

By making the ruling, the CCJ overturned two previous decisions by Guyana’s High Court and Court of Appeal, which both felt that the amendment infringed on Articles 1 and 9 of the Constitution, which declares that Guyana is a “sovereign democratic state”.

The amendment, which was passed unanimously by Guyana’s National Assembly, also requires that presidential candidates be Guyanese by birth or parentage and reside in the country continuously for seven years before and on the date of nomination.

Both lower courts had also agreed with claimant Cedric Richardson that such a change could not be passed by the National Assembly but rather through a referendum.

CCJ President Sir Dennis Byron and Judges Adrian Saunders and Jacob Witt wrote separate judgments that were supported by their colleagues, while Justice Winston Anderson dissented. Judges David Hayton, Maureen Rajnauth-Lee and Denys Barrow also sat on the panel.

In their judgment, the CCJ ruled that the Constitution did not afford citizens unlimited rights when choosing their head of state.

“Democratic governance allowed for reasonable qualifications for eligibility to be a member of the National Assembly and hence to be President. This was supported by objective, international standards of what a democratic state entails,” the CCJ said in a press release issued yesterday.

It also stated that a referendum was not necessary to introduce valid constitutional amendments, which simply required a two-thirds majority from members of the National Assembly.

In his dissenting judgment, Anderson stated that the amendment was unconstitutional as it excluded thousands of Guyanese citizens, who would have otherwise been eligible to run for elections. He suggested that such a constraint need the approval of citizens, through a referendum.

As part of the ruling, the CCJ gave advice to Guyanese courts on how to assess whether future new constitutional amendments required a referendum.

“Ultimately, the test was whether any such new amendments were “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society”,” the release said.

The CCJ advised judges to consider the history, substance and practical consequences of the legislation as well as the reasons advanced for it and the interests it serves.

Richardson was represented by Douglas Mendes, SC, Devesh Maharaj and Kandace Bharath. The legal team for the Guyanese Government was led by Attorney General Basil Williams, SC, and included Hal Gollop, QC, and Ralph Thorne, QC.

Frustrated by the delay in rebuilding the Princes Town Presbyterian No. 1 School, parents blocked the road with burning debris and kept their children home yesterday.

Police and fire-fighters responded to the fiery protest which saw parents blocking the two main entrances to the Princes Town Presbyterian No. 2 School with burning debris resulting in the school being inaccessible to vehicles.

The action of the angry parents followed the failure of the Ministry of Education and Presbyterian Primary School Board to meet the parents’ deadline to give a definite answer on when the school will be built.

Three years ago, Presbyterian No. 1 School was condemned because of structural defects and the pupils were temporarily relocated on a shift system to Presbyterian No 2.

Parent Teachers Association president of Presbyterian No 1 Nola Ramjohn-Karim, who spoke on CNC 3’s Morning Brew yesterday said she was not aware of the protest, but the parents have her full support.

Ramjohn-Karim said, “The principal would have called me to say that the road was blocked. All I can say this morning from what has been told to me is that the parents are very angry, especially the fathers. Fathers have been coming out and they are saying that this is really difficult for them now and they have to come out and take a stand because their children are suffering. Many of our fathers are self employed some of them have their own business and they cannot make a living, they cannot earn an income because they are on the road four and five times a day transporting their children up and down.”

She said parents have also decided not send to their children to school for exams.

Ramjohn-Karim said, “They cannot take it any more they want an answer from both the Board and the ministry on when construction will start of this Presbyterian No 1 School.”

Ramjohn-Karim said parents of Presbyterian No. 2 School are also protesting with them because they want back their school.

She said the ministry is boasting about holistic development and the all rounded child, but that is not being provided to the 900- plus pupils from both schools.

She said the Board and the ministry must bring a quick resolution to this matter.

Ramjohn-Karim said on one hand the Board was saying the school will be built at the original site but it is awaiting a decision from the ministry and on the other hand the ministry is stating that it is committed to building the school, but the church owns the school.

The parents intend to continue protest action until the problem is resolved.

Calls and Whatsapp messages to the cellphones of Education Ministers Anthony Garcia and Dr Lovell Francis went unanswered yesterday.

A Special Reserve Police officer (SRP) and two Charlieville men were granted bail with a surety in differing amounts when they appeared before a Chaguanas magistrate jointly charged with common assault against a 47-year-old man.

SRP Naren Beharry, 30, of Joyce Road, Chaguanas, who last attached to Chaguanas Police Station, Sanjay Arshad Baal, 29, of Medford Street, Charlieville, and Nicholas Roopnarine, 27, of Gaindiah Street, Charlieville, appeared before Senior Magistrate Jo-Anne Connor in the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Beharry also faces additional charges of common assault and possession of a firearm and ammunition to endanger life against four other male victims which occurred on June 18, 2018.

He was granted $400,000 bail while Baal and Roopnarine were granted $250,000 and $65,000 bail respectively to be approved by a Clerk of the Peace.

The matter was adjourned to July 23.

The 47-year-old victim, of Charlieville, was liming at a bar in the area around 9. 30pm on June 17, 2018, when he was approached by three men, one armed with a gun. The men proceeded to beat the victim about the body with the weapon before leaving.

Hours later, around 12.15 am on June 18, the armed assailant proceeded to Gaindiah Street, Charleville, where he fired several shots at four male victims— a 70-year-old, a 40-year-old, a 35-year-old and a 28-year-old. No one was injured.

A statement from the Policer Service said the two incidents resulted from an ongoing domestic dispute.

Investigations were supervised by acting ASP Richard Smith and acting Inspector Marlon Alexander, of the Chaguanas CID, while the trio was charged by Sgt Joseph Jagmohan, also of the Chaguanas CID following advice received from Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard

A 19-year-old woman hid under a bed to escape a gunman who stormed into her house and sprayed bullets in her bedroom and in the bedroom of her 28-year-old relative Samuel “Sam” David during the wee hours of yesterday morning in Never Dirty, Morvant.

David was shot several times about the body while in another house his 32-year-old cousin, Adrian Gabriel, was also gunned down by same assailant.

Both victims were taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but succumbed. The incident happened at about 2.15 am.

The young woman is said to be very traumatised and staying with relatives at an undisclosed location. She was not shot and wounded in the incident.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, David’s 74-year-old grandmother, who did not give her name, claimed her grandson’s killing stemmed from a recent chopping incident which was the subject of a court matter.

She said the chopping incident stemmed from an ongoing dispute over a parking space on a “public roadway.”

“Sam was a quiet person but he not taking any nonsense from people. He parking his car on one of the road and the next man parking his car on the other side,” the grieving grandmother said.

She lamented how times have changed from people “fighting out” issues to nowadays where people pull guns and shoot to kill. “Is a set of mad people with no values and is just because they have ‘bad boy’ friend who could kill people over nothing,” she said.

Another male relative, who wished not to be identified, called for justice,

Investigating officers yesterday assured that investigations were ongoing and that there were leads into the case.

The two killings pushed the murder toll to 278.

Rosemarie Sant

Another International hotel chain is interested in investing in Tobago but Secretary of Finance in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Joel Jack says he is unable to give details on the prospective investor at this time. He is hoping to be in a position to do so by the end of the year.

He is also assuring that the THA is willing to help businesses affected by the collapse of the seabridge which he admitted led to some “fallout.”

One day after he presented Tobago’s TT$4.7 billion budget, Jack made the media rounds in Trinidad, where he again spoke of the Sandals and Beaches Resort as a “game changer” for Tobago.

He made it clear that “nothing has been signed off formally as yet,” but he said just the prospect of the international brand name coming to this country should spark positive interest. “The potential to earn foreign exchange and job creation,” are some of the pluses, he said.

He noted that in Grenada, Sandals had “transformed the agricultural sector,” and added additional airlift. “It will benefit a number of hoteliers,” he said.

Jack said Tobago has a room stock of between 2500 to 3500 rooms and while Sandals will not take care of it all, “750-850 is what is projected so we will still have a gap.”

He said there is now a lot of interest by international investors as “other hotel chains are talking with us.” Jack declined to say who they are “because the discussions are preliminary.”

His anticipation is that “at least another major hotel chain” will be coming to Tobago. Jack said, “I am hoping by the end of the year I will be able to make a more definitive pronouncement on some of those deals.”

Jack said an analysis of the economic data in the past year shows there was a “marginal decline of 1.8 per cent in GDP year on year” and a reversal is expected next year.

He admitted there had been a decline in both the tourism and construction sectors. Domestic tourist arrivals, he said, had declined because of the seabridge, and although it was mitigated by Caribbean Airlines, he expects things will get better when the Galleons Passage arrives in mid-July.

Admitting there had been “some fallout as a result of challenges on the seabridge,” Jack said discussions had been held with the Tobago business community to get a sense of the monetary value of the collapse of the seabridge. “There are some estimates bandied about by the Chamber of a TT$700 million fallout,” he said.

He said at a recent meeting with the business community “we said we will like to work with them and see the data. We are awaiting details from the Chamber on the magnitude of the problem.”

Jack explained that because the Board of Inland Revenue is also in the Division of Finance, “we have a sense of the challenges and we are willing to work with them.”

He said the Chamber had given an estimate of 34 businesses closing. “And we have asked them to come sit with us and present us with a formal plan. We are prepared to work with the private sector to create an enabling environment for the business community to succeed.,” he said.

To this end he said the THA met with the Bankers Association on complaints from the business community that they were not getting access to credit and funding and that the bankers are levying on them.

Jack said, “When we met with the Bankers Association they were saying that contrary to the reports that we received, they were not in the business of foreclosing in terms of selling real estate and that they were willing to help their customers as far as possible.”

However, business owners told the T&T Guardian that as recent as three weeks ago at least 10 businesses in Tobago were served with foreclosure letters from the banks.

Jack said issues affecting the Tobago business community will be further discussed at further meetings with the Bankers Association,.

Chairman of the Tobago Division of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Claude Benoit admitted that the THA had asked for documentary evidence of the losses and impact of the sea and airbridge problems on the Tobago business sector.

He said a report is now being compiled by economist Dr Vanus James for presentation to the THA. Benoit said the Chamber is still looking at the overall packaged presented before it responds.

Jack, who on Monday presented a TT$4.7 billion budget for Tobago, said the figure included the allocations of $70 million to URP and $54 million to CEPEP.

The $4.7 billion request, he said, is predicated on the bill now before the Joint Select Committee of Parliament to give greater autonomy to Tobago and which proposes to give Tobago eight per cent of the national budget. —Rosemarie Sant

Local contractors are optimistic that they will get a fair share of the pie when mega projects get going in Tobago. It includes construction of 300 new houses, construction of the new terminal building at the airport and the Sandals and Beaches Resorts.

Speaking to the T&T Guardian yesterday, president of the T&T Contractors Association Ramlogan Roopnarinesingh said he would like to see a “sixty per cent local content” on all projects to be undertaken. That local content, he said, must not just be “aggregate from Tobago, but we are saying equipment and other resources which we have in Tobago should also be utilised.”

Roopnarinesingh said it is the “same battle we have with projects in Trinidad. We want local content on the projects and that must include labour.”

He acknowledged that Tobago contractors may not have the capacity to handle the mega projects on the cards, but he said whether the contracts are awarded to Trinidad or foreign contractors “we are looking for higher local content as the case may be.”

The airport project alone is estimated to cost half a billion dollars and the construction of houses will be done utilising the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Roopnarinesingh said he had been talking to the THA “and everyone knows my position contractors in Trinidad and Tobago should be getting their fair share.”

He said a major advantage in using local resources is that “the money stays around and there will be some type of growth taking place.”

As he made the rounds of the media to explain in greater detail the $4.5 billion budget, Secretary of Finance Joel Jack assured that there will be “an open tendering process and we will factor in local content to ensure that Tobago contractors are given a fair share of the contracts.”

That, he said, is “not unique, that is something we will stress because it is important for our contractors to grow.”

Jack said what the THA would be looking at especially for the construction of houses is “primarily in the first instance value for money, that the projects are delivered on time and within budget.”

Jack admitted that the Contractors Association had been very “vociferous” about the issue of local content and he expects that they will make a “strong case” to ensure that the issue of local content is addressed on projects to be undertaken..

The 300 housing units will be constructed at Shirvan and Jack said they will be constructed “within the next 12 months” once some details are dealt with including the infrastructural work to be done on the land and requests for proposals (RFPs) and tenders will be invited.

He said the intention is to take care of the “very sizeable application list,” which currently exists for houses in Tobago.

Shirvan has also been identified as one of the sites for the relocation of persons for construction of the new terminal building for the ANR Robinson International Airport.

He admitted, however, there had been “pockets of resistance” by some persons who are saying they “don’t want to move.”

But he said the “consensus” is that persons are willing to move but they wanted details which he said has since been provided “on what will be offered for the land.”