Volunteerism is proving to be costly, says Reema Carmona, wife of president Anthony Carmona. 

She made a plea for citizens to make greater efforts to ensure that young girls realise their potential and empower themselves. 

Carmona, a patron of the Girl Guides Association of T&T (GGATT), was the feature speaker at a celebration of World Thinking Day held at the St Augustine Secondary School, Warren Street, yesterday. 

She said an annual subvention of $80,000 cannot effectively run the association. 

The theme this year is—Connect.

Carmona asked the gathering, “As your patron, I am reaching out to citizens from all sectors of our society, can you for one hour a week encourage a young girl to realise her potential and her ambition, can you for just one hour a week empower a young girl to build confidence and self-esteem and keep her on track?”

She urged those who were once guides to come forward and volunteer. She told them not to forget where they came from.

The GGATT, she said, has always produced women who have attained great stature in society in their adult years. 

“We, therefore, need to put in much needed resources to support this organisation because genuine volunteerism is on the decline not for the want of volunteers.”

She said those at the helm of organisations like the association and also those in the trenches, often without complaint, have to pay for transportation for their charges, travelling long distances to ensure proper stewardship. 

“Some troop leaders buy food and uniforms for those charges who are unable to afford same and they do it all out of a genuine love of service to our young women and the reality is that they do wear down and their numbers are diminishing.”

“He’s a good child who wants to be a chef. He will never carry out any violent act against anyone.”

Words coming from the mouth of a hurting mother of one of the boys allegedly involved in criminal behaviour and activity at the Chaguanas North Secondary School.

Afraid that her 16-year-old son has already been branded a criminal by many, including the police, the single mother said all she wanted was for him to complete his upcoming food and nutrition examinations in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate.

The boy is an aspiring chef who wants to pursue studies at the T&T Hospitality and Tourism Institute in Chaguaramas. 

He has been charged with issuing a threat to cause grievous bodily harm to a teacher at the school. He was placed on $10,000 bail.

On Wednesday, when the Sunday Guardian visited the family home in a Central community, the boy was preparing a meal of rice and cabbage with tomatoes and salted fish. 

His mother, who now works three days a week instead of five because of the recession, was accompanied by an older son—a son who was adamant that his little brother had done absolutely no wrong. 

She is hoping it can all blow over soon. 

He’s not a criminal 

The older brother, a bartender at a south nightclub, said he was happy and proud to see his younger brother excel in school and have a dream. He said he had never gone down the “criminal road.” 

“I look like the criminal. I am going to sing about violence out here and get the youths organised for this because it is out of timing.

“The police not giving a youth man a chance to say something. They just branding little boys criminal and putting them in the system.”

He said there were many “good” youths and people needed to assess situations properly before jumping to conclusions. 

Throughout the interview, mother and son repeated, “he is a good child.”

Asked to describe her second child, the mother said, “He is a good student.

“If you talk to his teachers...he is a good student. Some of the teachers in school right now are so saddened by it because he is a good student and is not a trouble maker.”

She said the Form Five student heads straight home after school, is on time and only interested in his studies.

“The way they are making it sound is like he is a criminal but he is only 16 years old. 

“He is about to write exams and right now he has SBA submissions. Yesterday, (Tuesday) he had to miss it. I went to school today (Wednesday) to find out if he can do his exams later on and they said yes. 

“That’s all I am interested in—his exams.”

She maintained that her son would not do anything out of the ordinary. 

“He has a dream and he wants to pursue that dream.”

She said her son could prepare meals such as sada roti, curried potatoes, lasagne and bread.

“He can knead flour better than me. He is always trying new recipes.”

Gone into isolation

The young boy has since gone into isolation, the mother said. 

She said he has not been sleeping or eating and refused to leave the house. 

He has since pleaded guilty to the offence but the events have had a negative impact on him.

The mother said, “While I understand the teacher felt threatened by what he said to her, he admitted he was wrong and knows that he made a silly mistake. 

“At the spur at the moment he just said it. He is not the type of person to do that. My son is a real quiet boy, a quiet child. I would go to work and come back and sometimes food cooked already.”

She said because of innocence, he did not even understand at the point in time how serious things had become after the police were called to the school. 

Regarding other illegal and gang-related activities at the school, she said he had no involvement.

She said she was angry that police were trying “to pin” him with another incident where a student was attacked.

“My son insisted it is not him.”

Relaying what happened, she said a female teacher was speaking to her son very calmly in the corridors in front of other students and then started to raise her voice. 

Her son, she said, felt embarrassed and said, “I will shoot you in your face.”

The teacher felt threatened and the police were called in.

The mother said, “I sat in that station with my other son for almost two hours waiting before they could bring my son to the station.

“He’s not a criminal; he’s my son and only 16 years.”

Teacher: He never had 

one suspension to his name 

A teacher at the school, speaking under anonymity on Wednesday, defended the student and many others allegedly involved in illegal activities.

The teacher said before casting aspersions, people needed to get their facts and understand situations. 

“Where these children come from it is their normal language to speak the way they do.

“I have not finished my investigations as yet.”

The teacher said over the years, discipline and behavioural patterns changed all the time. 

“Sometimes you get good students, sometimes you don’t. The children may do their stupidness in between but you have to know how to handle them. 

“I was very disturbed. The child never even had one suspension to his name.

“I was very surprised. Normally when they say children giving trouble, I would say I don’t have that problem with them. 

“But sometimes you can’t always be sure because it will look like you’re siding with the children, so I have to be careful. 

“Nobody talks for the children.”

Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie says he would like to see Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George be more even-handed in the Lower House.

Speaking to the T&T Guardian at the Caroni Central Farmers Market Fair and Tutorial at Preysal Secondary School, Couva, yesterday, Tewarie said Annisette-George tends to narrow opposition members’ contribution while giving unfair leeway to government MPs. He was commenting on a heated response by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to his question on the Couva Children’s Hospital in Parliament on Friday.

“The Speaker also has a way of narrowing the range in which members of the Opposition can make contributions and she gives a tremendous leeway to the Government and that cannot be right. The Speaker is supposed to be an arbitrator in the parliamentary process and she is to give equal due to all members of Parliament regardless of the side which they sit. I will like to see that principle executed and observed by the Speaker,” Tewarie said.

He said Deyalsingh’s outburst was unnecessary as he was only seeking clarification on whether the hospital would be opened in 2016. On Friday, Deyalsingh said that former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar commissioned the hospital on August 14, 2014. Responding to Tewarie, he said, “You have the temerity and gall to ask me today when I am going to commission the hospital that you commissioned.”

Clarifying Friday’s question, Tewarie said, “I asked a simple question of Deyalsingh. He outlined what they needed to do before they opened the hospital and I asked a simple question, which was, ‘Will it be done in 2016?’ It was a reasonable question.

“We are two months into the year, there are ten months remaining and when you ask about the hospital, the critical question is ‘when?’ He did not answer the ‘When’ part of the question and I simply wanted clarification on whether they are likely to do it this year. 

“I don’t know why he went into that speed, I don’t understand it at all. But everybody has their own way. I think it was totally uncalled for.”

An aspiring disc jockey and reserved national cricketer was killed on Saturday night as he and others were demolishing a stage opposite the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception along Independence Square, Port-of-Spain on Saturday night.

According to police, Lorenzo John, 20, the son of a police officer, was employed as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken Independence Square, fastfood outlet was loading a truck with others around 9.30 pm when a car pulled up behind him and a gunman emerged and began shooting, hitting John three times, once in the back, chest and forearm.

The shooter ran towards George Street, eyewitnesses reported. Officers on patrol along Charlotte Street, alerted by the gunshots, responded immediately and saw the suspect running away but he eluded capture after running through the Duncan Street Plannings. 

Police said the driver of the car also escaped. Speaking with the media at their Mango Alley, Trou Macacque home yesterday, John’s father, Lawrence John, said his son was an independent self-motivated young man who was killed because the shooter’s aim was not good.

John, a police officer attached to the Court and Process Branch, said his son was off-duty from work on Saturday and was hired along with others to help demolish the stage following an open air concert help by the church. “He was an avid cricketer and footballer. He wasn’t involved in anything. He don’t smoke. 

“The only thing is he liked to dress go and lime. He liked to play music. That was his thing because he used to dj. 

“All his friends, everybody from school who he used to play cricket with in shock right now because the type of person he was he never used to interfere with anybody he never used to do anybody anything. This is coming as a real blow to us,” John said.

The father of two said he was doubtful that the killer took his son’s life as some sort of misguided revenge because of he is police officer. 

John added: “You know I hear a lot about this and I see a lot of it, but for it to hit home like this is really hard. For me things really getting out of hand and a lot of things have to change for the country to come back to the way it was once before. And it is not just the police, it involves parents, churches and schools.”

In an unrelated killing, police were alerted around 2.30 pm, yesterday by residents of La Resource Road, Laventille after several gunshots were heard. The residents later saw a man lying on his back with a portion of his neck blown away. He had several other gunshot injuries. Residents told police the man was not from their area as up to press time his identify was not revealed. 

The victim was wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans.

A man resembling Ronald Bissoo, who police are searching for in connection with a report of an acid attack was arrested and later released by Arima police officers yesterday. The man was released shortly after 4 pm after his identity was confirmed.

Police believe Bissoo, 40, can help them solve the case where acid was thrown on Rachael Chadee, a mother of three, of La Romaine.

Chadee, 35 remains warded at San Fernando General Hospital under police guard after she was slashed across her face, doused with acid and forced to drink it by a man who invaded her La Romaine home on February 22. Chadee remains in a critical but stable condition and is unable to eat, drink or speak since her throat was severely damaged by the acid.

Of the 82 murders committed for the year, 22 of them happened between 8 am to 6 pm. In most of those murders, police reports stated that people only heard the gunshots and later found the victim/s dead, even when the killings took place in areas of heavy traffic. 

One such killing was the double murder of a couple in Laventille on their way to work last week. 

According to police reports, Abiola Noel, 25, and Andre La Touche, 28, were leaving Noel’s Eastern Quarry, Laventille, home in a silver Nissan Tiida around 8.30 am on February 22 when gunmen approached the moving vehicle and fired several shots at it. Police said no one claimed to have seen what happened but only heard the gunshots then heard the crashing of La Touche’s car. 

Another brazen attack was the killing of Ashton Villafana, near a Lotto booth, along the Southern Main Road, in Cunupia last Friday. Again police said those nearby said they heard the gunshots and later found Villafana dead. A video clip of the killing captured on a CCTV camera showed two men emerging of a green Toyota Yaris before they snuck up Villafana and opened fire.

Villafana was seated on his bicycle apparently speaking to the Lotto agent when he was attacked. The two shooters escaped in the waiting car which was later found abandoned in Enterprise, Chaguanas. This murder took place around 3.30 pm. In the video a vehicle is seen reversing as the gunmen attacked while a woman who was headed in the direction of Lotto booth turned around and ran.  

Head of the Homicide Bureau Snr Supt Oswald Cudjoe told the T&T Guardian in a interview earlier this year, that the first two months of the year are usually record high number of murders. In an interview yesterday Cudjoe maintained that the increase in the murder rate compared to last year can be directly attributed to the increase in killings overall within the first two months of the year. 

Cudjoe added that the murder patterns have also changed in that the murders are no longer concentrated to the Port-of-Spain Division but are more sporadic. He said that the problem of witnesses unwilling to come forward with credible information was also affecting the detection rate which as of February 26, stood at four of the then 79 committed murders. 

According to homicide sources, the current murder toll is in line with the 2014 figures. That year the murder toll ended with 403 murders. As of February 26, there were 79 murders committed compared to 59 for the same period last year. There were three other murders between Saturday and yesterday, up to press time. 

Business groups—and the Opposition—who’ve pronounced on Government’s performance so far will be monitoring the results of the administration’s upcoming retreat this week to see where it takes T&T. Views were expressed to T&T Guardian by the TT Chamber, TT Manufacturers Association, Couva/Pt Lisas Chamber of Commerce and Opposition on the eve of the retreat.

Prime Minister Keith Rowley on his return from Belize recently said his government has done “reasonably well” so far but “there was always room for improvement”. Communication Minister Maxie Cuffie said the retreat will reassess and refashion operations. It coincides with Government’s six-month mark in office this month. 

Cabinet will meet in Tobago on Thursday. Members undertake the retreat after. Venue is the Magdalena Beach and Golf Resort, Lowlands. The People’s Partnership administration had used the same venue for some retreats.

On Government’s performance so far, T&T Chamber chairman Robert Trestrail says, “Government has now had the opportunity to review the economy’s state in greater detail than when they entered office and issued a Budget, so the opportunity to accept there’s room for improvement is a good outlook.”

“So too is the retreat as an initiative to chart the course forward in these trying, difficult times. We look forward to the Finance Minister and PM’s mid-year review and are also very happy to see reinforcement of the National Security with two additional ministers and to hear government is seeking to have Police Commissioner appointed.”

“What the business community is also very concerned about in these difficult times will be its (times) social impact and the need for respective arms to be ever more vigilant in ensuring crime is curbed as the PM articulated at the Chamber’s dinner, crime remains the number one problem on government’s agenda.”

TTMA chairman Rolph Balgobin who said it was still early days yet, believes while people are anxious for quick  action, “on a national level one has to be careful before one moves.”

“Government has taken its time settling in, making sense of the state of play and amalgamating ministries so there’s an inevitable period of orientation and adjustment. What’s going to be interesting is to see where we go from here the speed at which decisions are made and the direction the economy and society are pointed in.”

Couva/Pt Lisas Chamber of Commerce president Liaquat Ali said government hadn’t done “reasonably well” in getting a handle on crime and Rowley had acknowledged that. Nor has government gotten the economy going, though  Ali conceded that was due to the falling oil price. “We’d like to see things happening at a faster rate, but we have to allow time. The private sector will clearly have to drive the economy, but government must be a facilitator,” Ali added.

Even though the Government is trying to put things in place in this recession year, crime, shortage of foreign exchange, the high price of food and declining oil prices are having an impact on citizens and the business community. 

Speaking to the Guardian about the six-month performance of the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government, led by Keith Rowley, political analyst Dr Maukesh Basdeo said it was best to wait until April when Finance Minister Colm Imbert submits his revised budget. 

The PNM assumed office on September 7, 2015, but has been saddled with many challenges. Basdeo said, “I think since they came into office they have experienced a lot of challenges. 

“The major challenge for them has been how they have managed the economy since the presentation of their budget in October. The price of natural gas and oil has continued to decline way below their projected figures of US$2.75 for natural gas and US$45 a barrel for oil. 

“That has created a lot of problems and we need to wait until the Minister of Finance submits his revised budget in April.” He said another issue was crime, which was also a major problem for the last administration. He said crime seemed to be unabated. 

On moving forward, Basdeo said the Government would continue to face economic challenges for at least the next 12 to 18 months. He said all projections showed that possible recovery was set to take place somewhere around 2020.

“So we are going to have that impact and it will make the government’s ability to formulate policies much more difficult.” Asked how well the Government has put things in place, Basdeo said while they tried, everything seemed to be at a standstill and “a waiting scene.”

But another political analyst, Dr Winford James, says six months is a short time to assess the Government. He says on a scale of one to ten, he’d rate the Government at seven. He said while there were some disturbances “here and there,” people were not marching the streets against Government’s measures. 

James said the Government was able to cut back for Christmas and Carnival events and also asked the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to cut its expenditure by seven per cent. In the oil industry, there are companies that have been sending home workers and in the THA, people have been quietly retrenched, he said. He said, “There is a lot of austerity taking place and this includes laying people off. 

“That of course has its repercussions; and then there is the re-organising of the Value Added Tax schedule and opinion is divided as to whether the new system is disadvantaging shoppers or whether it is easier for them.” 

James said the Government had not really brought any relief to the population.

“Despite the best intentions of a political party, there are sometimes events that overtake us and we got to manage those events as best as we can. 

“So that the Government finds itself having to manage the people and the economy by making cuts in sensitive areas by laying off people and in some by freezing salaries.”

James said his point was there was nothing to be joyful about. However, he said, it was an excellent opportunity for the Opposition to find the Government “lacking.” He said Government supporters needed to decide whether they were willing to bear the burden and make the sacrifice until better times arrived. 

“When I look at what the Government has done, I cannot jump for joy because my jumping for joy will have to depend on whether, in fact, my life is being improved.

“It is more than apparent that the lives of most people are not being improved and that is directly as a result not of government’s management, but it depended on the kind of revenue the Government has to work with.”

He said the Government was staying clear of controversy, that it should be a bit more respectful of the population and that the Prime Minister should refrain from making comments that would result in “bad press.” He said while there were plans, they had not embarked on any major projects. 

Khan: We did reasonably well

Meanwhile, PNM chairman Franklin Khan said his government had performed “reasonably well” since assuming office in September 2015. He was speaking to reporters after Saturday’s general council meeting at Balisier House, in Port-of-Spain.

Khan said, “I think Dr Rowley said we have performed reasonably well. There are a lot of areas for improvement. It is not that the performance has not been good but we have been hamstrung by a lack of financial resources.” 

Khan said there were many issues facing the country “fiscally” that had to be attended to. He said that took up most of the Government’s time. 

Officials from the Port-of-Spain City Corporation, Housing Ministry and Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) will meet this afternoon with Salvatori site vendors on a “Plan B” alternative relocation site at Independence Square. 

This, after vendors recently rejected the Corporation’s initial offer of a South Quay location and expressed anger at the Government and Corporation.

Corporation workers began erecting a wooden and galvanised fence around the Salvatori site yesterday. Some vendors began shifting their stocks, in preparation for today’s handover of the building to Udecott, which had initially given a February 14, deadline. The processs was monitored by several police officers at the site.

While some vendors have completely removed from the site, others were still there up to yesterday afternoon as corporation workers began erecting the fence from Frederick Street side.

Port-of-Spain mayor Keron Valentine, also met with vendors yesterday. Prior to Valentine’s arrival, one vendor, Ermine Joseph, who said she lives in Laventille West, said, “We want to see the honourable Prime Minister right now. Why he wouldn’t come and see small business people like us? We need to see the Prime Minister with all that is going on with us. I begging the Prime Minister to do something for us. Don’t break our booths,” she pleaded.

“Dr Rowley, reach out to us, please. We reaching out to you,” she cried.

“He could at least do that for us, we voted for him, I walk in the rain to campaign for (Laventille/West’s Fitzgerald) Hinds but we not seeing him or anybody coming to our rescue now. Please, Dr Rowley do something for us,” Joseph said.
 Jude White and other vendors agreed, pointing to the recession and their bid to “make an honest living”. 

When Valentine arrived, another vendor Steve Fletcher told him: “We know it’s a heavy load you take up. Don’t see us (as) trying to chastise you for people’s mistake, is only our bread and butter we’re trying to save. We’re trying to abide with the rules even though they harsh. You have a way to make a dollar and we have our own, all we ask is to help us make a fair deal.”

“We visited the South Quay site and were told it will be ready next week. Last night a man got stabbed there, higher up another one died. So we ask you do to something as fast as possible. We know it’s a large cake and everybody have to eat out of it and we don’t want to get the crumbs.”

Valentine told them he’d spoken with Housing Minister Marlene McDonald and was inviting them to today’s emergency meeting with her and Udecott chairman Noel Garcia to discuss the “Plan B” relocation site.

That area is in a building next to the Drag Brother’s New City Mall. It’s near the corner of Henry Street and Independence Square (south) and is obliquely opposite to their Salvatori location on Independence Square (north).

Valentine, however, advised them to remove their stock since corporation crews were erecting the fence around the site and the building has to be handed over today. 

“But we won’t be throwing out any of your stock or damaging it or confiscating it. Security will be here round the clock,” he assured.
Keron Valentine
Fletcher, Joseph and others said they’d attend the meeting.

President of the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce Richie Sookhai has challenged members of the business community to play a role in curbing violence in society.

“Given all the violence that we are seeing in our schools, in our homes and on our streets I think it is time that we as a business community reflect on what role we can play in making our society less volatile and seemingly out of control,” he said.

Sookhai was speaking at the formal opening of ANSA Motors, in Chaguanas on Saturday. He praised the vision of the ANSA McAL Group for its significant investment in the borough of Chaguanas.

“That vision, and the commitment to grow with Chaguanas has always been reflected in the companies that the ANSA McAL Group has established in Central Trinidad over the years. I make mention here of the Abel factory in Longdenville, the Penta Colour Shop, AMCO, amongst others,” Sookhai said.

“We in the business community know quite well how challenging it is to move the entire operations of a major national company outside of the capital city, (of Port-of-Spain) and we must applaud the incredible business acumen and vision that brought this move about,” he said, noting the relocation of Guardian Media Ltd, was another significant decision.

Last May, Guardian Media Ltd relocated its head office to Rodney Road, occupying the building to the southern end of the AMCO Compound. 

“As head of the Chaguanas Chamber I also wish to acknowledge all of the good work the group has done through the Guardian Neediest Cases Fund and through the ANSA McAL Foundation, an organisation that has led the way in honouring excellence in the Caribbean community. I would certainly want to see more organisations follow the example of the group by getting involved in all levels of community work especially as we go through our lean economic times.”

So today, as we welcome the stronger presence in Chaguanas of the country’s most powerful conglomerate, I want to urge everyone here to play their part in ending violence in our society, starting with the violence against our women and children”.

Neil Mohammed, General Manager of ANSA Motors, said the new facility, located off the is a one stop shop for car sales, service, insurance and financing. On February 1, ANSA Motors opened its sprawling, multi-product showroom in the borough of Chaguanas. It is located on the corner of Chan Ramlal Street and the north-bound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway and sitting on five acres of land with 50,000 square feet of space allocated for the show-room.

In an interview with the Business Guardian earlier this month, Mohammed made it clear that the vision shared by the ANSA McAL group chairman, Norman Sabga, its chairman emeritus, Anthony Sabga and head office executives was that Chaguanas will emerge as the largest hub for commercial activity across T&T. 

Specially invited guest at the formal opening, Minister of Works and Transport Fitzgerald Hinds told guests about Government’s plan to complete the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin. Hinds said the Government also plans to construct the San Fernando to Mayaro Freeway and the Wallerfield to Manzanilla Highway with a ring road around Sangre Grande. 

He said the government also proposes to develop a ring road around Chaguanas to alleviate the severe traffic problems in the borough and create a direct route to Port-of-Spain.

The Minister said the government also proposes to construct overpasses and interchanges removing all traffic lights along the highway from Port-of-Spain to Sangre Grande and build a first class road to Toco to meet the demands of a proposed new ferry port which will bring about a faster journey to and from Tobago. He said this would also serve to open up the entire northeastern region of Trinidad and create opportunities for new industrial and commercial development.

Five illegal firearms were recovered by the police in Port-of-Spain and environs this past weekend.

Two high-powered rifles, a submachine gun and two pistols were seized by the police who said the firearms were recovered in a series of exercises in the Laventille and Sea Lots communities. Officers from the Inter-Agency Task Force, Besson Street Police Station and the Port-of-Spain Task Force took part in the exercises.

In other crime-related news, three men, all employed with a security company were arrested in connection with a robbery at a bar in Lopinot Road, Surrey Village on Saturday. Police recovered two firearms, stolen cash and a bottle of whiskey from the suspects. 

In a separate incident, police are calling on members of the public to come forward and identify several stolen items which were recovered by the police in Arouca and environs on Friday. Two suspects were held in that raid and linked to ten reports of robberies as they preyed on passengers while plying their cars for hire.

My name is Sophia Bacchus and I’m the manager of a condominium complex.

Bacchus is a good Trinidadian Carnival name but I don’t play mas. No bacchanal with this Bacchus! Maybe next year! But I say that every year.

I’m originally from the Morvant area but my mother moved a lot of places. My favourite was Belmont— because that was when I start to come out my shell!

Every little piece of (certificate) paper helps but I don’t have “DP” in there: I’ve got my learner’s permit twice. Passed the written test twice. And have now promised my employers that, third time, I’ll actually go through with the driving exam! I chicken out every time. I’m afraid of the road: every time I see one of those big trailer trucks, I panic.

Roger Kirton and I have been together for 11 years but he’s still my boyfriend: we not married yet. After 11 years, I don’t like to say, “boyfriend” so I told him we’re going to start over: from now on, I’m saying we’re together one year. But I ent rushing anybody!

I want one child, two for the most, hopefully twins. But, if I don’t have, I still have my nieces and nephews to love up!

I do believe in God but I wouldn’t call myself either religious or churchgoing. I believe in love: that is my religion. Not to bring down anyone’s religion, but you’re fighting to prove your own is the best – and you’re hurting other believers! That makes absolutely no sense to me.

I travelled to New York for the first time last year and (got) a tattoo saying, “Faith (in) Love”. I came to (that belief) on my own. No matter what, I approach everything with love. I will always have faith in love. Yeah.

I love horror movies but the gaps between the really good ones are far and few! The last good scary movie I had was the first, first Paranormal Activity! They needed to stop after the first one, though.

Monday to Friday, I’m supposed to work from 7 am-4 pm. But I’m in office from 6 am sometimes until 6 pm. A lot of people  my boss, too—find I extend myself a bit too much. But I love my job and it is what it is and I am what I am. Better to do too much than too little.

With 67 units and over 150 people on the compound, you often don’t see people! It’s kind of hypocritical of me to say it because where I live is also a gated community, and I keep to myself, don’t even know what my neighbour looks like! But I find there should be more camaraderie on the compound. We tried to have a social evening but that didn’t work out. People are afraid to be friendly and kind now. People rather text you than call you—I’m guilty of that, too!

The best part of my job is working alone: none of my bosses breathe down my back. There’s no bad part, with the exception of some people having really foolish demands. Lately I find my tolerance for foolish requests being low.

God forgive me but I don’t like animals. Walking down the hill the other day, a dog tried to bite me. That was it: all dogs gone through now!

To avoid facing the facts, we like to say that most likely the young man who got murdered was in something or had to do something. Yes, a lot of times their parents say, “Oh, he was a good boy!” — and he really wasn’t! But there are the cases where they really were good boys. But we just sweep it and say, “Oh, probably gang-related”. To comfort ourselves. Until it hits home.

A Trini is a happy, warm person. Who loves to lime!

Liming on my friend’s stoop in Brooklyn, I’m saying good night to people passing. And my friend says, “Sophia, do NOT do that!” You get in trouble for being friendly in New York. If something fall from someone, you can’t pick it up and hand it to them, because is fight. Here, even with the fear of crime, we still look out for one another. That kindness makes me love my Trinidad.

Read a longer version of this feature at wwwBCPires.com

A quick response by Mon Repos fire fighters averted a possible million-dollar disaster as they battled a raging bush fire that set ablaze near UMR Furniture Manufacturing Company, in Debe, on Saturday.

A report stated that a bush fire had started at the back of the compound along the SS Erin Road, Debe, and within two hours, the warehouse section of the building caught on fire. 

The security officer contacted the Southern Division Headquarters and fire appliances were dispatched. The fire fighters were able to extinguish the blaze at the warehouse as well as the bush fire before it could spread to the furniture store at the front of the compound.

Fire prevention officers were back at the scene yesterday but the value of the damage was yet to be ascertained. UMR Furniture Manufacturing Company is a landmark establishment in Debe since 1977 and engages in retail sales at its furniture store and supplies other furniture outlets in T&T.

The failure of the State to implement legislation to ensure the safety of prisons officers has led to the murder of a dedicated officer and the Prisons Officers Association (POA) is now threatening to head to court to force affirmative action.

Another immediate solution, according to an executive member of the POA, was to let police officers be responsible for remand inmates.

In a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Gerard Gordon, general secretary of the association, said one of the things discussed was the removal of remanded inmates from the care of the prisons to the police. 

The association member added that was done throughout other Commonwealth regions. The member said the association would also be seeking to meet with two United States Senators who took a bill to Congress similar to what they were requesting and were successful in having it become law. The officer added that the bill came about after a prisons officer was murdered in the US.

Speaking earlier at the association’s office on Railway Road, Arouca, head of the association Ceron Richards said his organisation had already met with Senior Counsel Ramesh Maharaj and later this week would sign off on an affidavit giving the all clear to begin legal proceedings against the State to force the implementation of legislation to protect prisons officers.

Richards said the action was necessary after successive governments failed to address the issues regarding the safety of officers. 

"The State is setting us up and it is as though the murders have been accepted. Prisons officers are being set up in Trinidad and Tobago. The persons who are elected every five years to implement laws and policies to shape the cultural directions are not doing their job," Richards said.

He added that rather than taking a look at themselves politicians have sought to place the blame on officers. Richards said there could have been two prisons officers killed yesterday after the home of another officer was shot at on Sunday night. 

“We will reach the stage where the Government will have to look for people to man the prisons. Prisons officers are being killed and their blood spilled, this cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.

Gordon said he was brought to tears after learning of the murder of Fitzalbert Victor Jr. He added that rogue officers were not gunned down so the issue of Victor being a target because he was in cahoots with criminals within the prison system was foolishness.

He complained about the snail’s pace at which trials of prisoners were being heard as one of the main factors which led inmates to become agitated. In turn, he said, the inmates took out their frustration on officers.

“The remand population is bursting at the seams again, even after transferring a number of remandees to the Maximum Security Prison, we are bordering at 1,100 mark in Golden Grove Prison again.

“Officers are losing their lives simply because they are part of a system that is ineffective, heartless and is setting them up, putting them in place, and I am begging anyone to tell me different,” Gordon said. 

Richards added that a prisons officer being killed was an attack on the country and its freedom. He added that law enforcement was one of the main institutions and apparatus and when that was attacked it was a sign that the State was failing.

“I left school in 1988 and hearing in class prisons officers being shot at. Since then to now, it's decades passed and you are telling me not one single legislative intervention by any administration in T&T, yet in the US one correctional officer was killed and in weeks Congress responds?

“In T&T 30 years can pass and not one single parliamentary response? Something has to be wrong. We are in a failed State,” Richards added.

After a failed attempt at his life six years ago, a gunman climbed the walls surrounding the Prizgar Lands, Laventille, home of prisons officer Fitzalbert Victor Jr and shot him repeatedly in the head and upper body yesterday.

The killing of another prisons officer, the third within 12 months, has unified both the executive of the Prisons Service and the Prisons Officers Association who both say their men and women are being hunted and killed by criminals. 

In a media release yesterday Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart, condemned the killing of Victor who he described as an honourable and exemplary officer. 

Stewart added his men were being targeted by criminals and have been for some time, yet, with God as their protector they would continue to seek to rehabilitate those in their care. 

“How much longer will we continue to say farewell to good, honest officers while it appears that these persons who are guilty of these cowardly and heinous acts continue to pick us off with apparent impunity? 

“How much longer must we wait before the perpetrators of these dark dealings are brought to justice? We are under attack. We have been for some time now and far too long. There are too many lawless, brainless killers roaming free. We call for justice. We demand decisive actions now!” Stewart said in a statement.

Victor, who had ten years’ service could offer little defence when he was attacked as his back was turned, he had headphones on, the family’s pitbull was locked away and his service weapon, given to him after the first murder attempt, was locked away upstairs.

According to police reports, Victor, 32, was just about to clean his vehicle, a black Nissan Xtrail, around 6 am in preparation to assume duty two hours later at the Remand Yard, Port-of-Spain Prison, when the gunman snuck up and shot him. After the shooting, the killer ran off and escaped. Victor was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but died while being treated. 

Speaking with the media at the family’s home yesterday Victor’s father, Fitzalbert Victor Snr, said his son was loved by all in the community and he was adamant his killing was a direct link to his profession of choice. 

Victor Snr added the escalating crime rate, his son’s murder among the 85 recorded for the year, 25 more than the same period last year, was out of control and there was little that could be done to address it. 

“I don’t see anything can be done now it (crime) has escalated, the whole thing, trying to settle it now is a waste of time because the youths don’t want anything now. I just want everything to be smooth and let Jah do his work.

“I know he is a saltfish and is loved by everyone and everyone loved him. As far as I know it even have prisoners who speak good about him so i don't know what went wrong,” he said, when asked to describe his son.

The prisons officer’s younger brother, athlete Quincy Wilson, said he was currently training for the Olympics in the field event of discus throwing and would hope to honour his brother’s memories. 

Wilson said he was not sure how he would be able to focus on his training now but he must for the sake of his brother. (JLV)

Police are seeking the public's assistance in identifying the body of a man found Sunday evening in San Juan.

According to police reports, around 6.35 pm officers responded to a call about the body seen in some bushes and went to Upper Lloyd Street, Sunshine Avenue, San Juan, where they found the man's body.

Police said he appeared to be of mixed race, brown complexion and was wearing a brown three-quarter pants and brown netted vest. He was found lying face down in some bushes with his hands tied behind his back with a black and white bandanna. 

He also had injuries to his face and stomach. Police believe the man may have been there for a few days as his body was already decomposing. 

In a separate incident, police were called in after the body of Ramnanan Singh was found lying face down in a drain at El Dorado. Police believe that Singh, 52, who lived under a bridge near Cost Cutters Supermarket along the Eastern Main Road, El Dorado, may have been intoxicated and fell into the nearby drain. 

Police said Singh was a “heavy drinker” and was last seen alive intoxicated around 11 pm Sunday night. His body was found around 6.15 am yesterday. Singh was identified late yesterday and an autopsy will be done today to determine the cause of death. (JLV)

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” was the Bible quote Darlene Gordon used in describing her son Ronaldo Gordon’s tragic death.

However, it was hard for the Moruga mother of five to accept the way her son’s life ended: Gunned down outside a Princes Town bar on Sunday night.

Holding her own yesterday as she reminisced on the humble life Gordon lived, she said it was only now that she realised that innocent people were also murdered.

“When you hear people get gunned down, you would think they were gunmen, drug men or bandits but my son was a quiet and nice child,” Darlene said.

Police said Gordon, 23, a security officer at Anscot Security & Service Ltd, was liming with friends outside Seerie’s Bar at the corner of Manahambre and Circular Road, Princes Town, around 10.30 pm when a silver Nissan AD Wagon pulled up. 

Two gunmen came out and opened fire in the direction of Gordon and his friends before returning to the wagon which sped off.

Gordon was shot several times on the head and upper body and died within minutes. Bar patrons—Kareem Toussaint, 32, Samantha Roopnarine, 31, both of St Croix Road, Princes Town, Kabeer Mohammed, 20, of Charlotte Street, Princes Town and Joshua Sankar, 20, of Lothians Road, Princes Town—were all shot in their legs. They were taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where they were treated and warded in stable conditions.

District Medical Officer Dr Bachan visited the scene and ordered Gordon’s body to be removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, for an autopsy.

When the T&T Guardian visited Seerie’s Bar yesterday, the carpark was still cordoned off with police tape and on seeing the news team, an occupant of the home upstairs the bar went inside and closed the door.

Police had no motive for the murder, saying that although it appeared Gordon was the target, he was not known to be involved in any criminal behaviour.

At their Bois Jean Jean home yesterday, Darlene said Ronaldo left home Sunday afternoon to attend a football match in Couva with two friends. While returning home that night, one of his friends saw someone they knew at the bar and decided to stop for a while. 

She said they decided to have a drink and within two minutes of being there, the gunmen attacked. She said his friends escaped by jumping over a wall on seeing the gunmen.

“He was a quiet and nice child. I did not really have any problems with him. He did not really drink or smoke. Ronaldo knew he did nothing to no one so I’m sure he was not thinking that someone was after him. I can’t see a reason why someone did this,” she said.

She said her son had no threats to his life and had no issues with anyone. She said he was her only boy child and he worked as a security officer with his father at a T&TEC facility near Gasparillo.

Unable to repay thousands of dollars in debt, Couva couple Ralph Buchoon and Yvonne Arjoon, decided to commit suicide together on Sunday evening.

However, minutes after ingesting a weedicide, paraquat, Arjoon, 42, called out to her 65-year-old mother and confessed what she and her husband had done.

An ambulance was called and the pair were taken to the Couva Health Facility but Buchoon, also 42, was pronounced dead on arrival.

Arjoon, a mother of two teenagers, was transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital and remains warded in a critical condition. The teens live with their father, who separated from Arjoon years ago.

Her mother, Leela Arjoon, told the T&T Guardian yesterday Yvonne was in a lot of pain.

“She was speaking a little but she has a lot of pain. The doctors say the medicine taking a while to work on her,” Leela said. “She didn’t ask for him or anything because the two of them plan that together.”

Leela said the couple, who usually sold fruits together close to the Point Lisas roundabout, returned to their home at Perseverance Village, Couva, around 3 pm on Sunday.

“They come home around 3 o’clock, they bathe, eat and then they sit down inside drinking like they always do. About 5 o’clock I come downstairs to feed my chickens and I hear Yvonne bawling.”

When Leela pulled aside a curtain, the scene waiting in her daughter’s one-room apartment was chilling.

“She was mess up with the gramoxone and bawling, telling me ‘Ma meh chest hurting meh!’ and when I ask what she do, she say, ‘Ma I can’t take it again, we owing too much people money...he drink first and then he give me the bottle.’” 

Ralph was already frothing from the mouth and hanging off a chair. Leela said the couple had apparently been planning to take their lives for sometime.

“They took fruits on consignment from people and when the people come for their money, they couldn’t pay but I didn’t know all these things. Some people tell them they will come with police for them and some people does come by the house regularly looking for them.”

Leela, who has six other children, said she rescued the couple a few years ago when they had nowhere else to turn.

“They didn’t have nowhere to live and I tell them come and live by me but when two of them drink they always fighting and arguing. I used to come downstairs and tell she ‘Yvonne, when you done drink, go lie down and sleep,’ but she never listened.”

The elderly woman could not say where or when Ralph would be laid to rest.

The Board of Inland Revenue which is key to making a dent in corruption has been described as a “sleeping giant” and was ordered to “rise from its slumber.”

Making the call was President Anthony Carmona while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Integrity Commission’s regional conference of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies, themed “The role of the integrity commissions and anti-corruption bodies in transforming the Commonwealth Caribbean,” held at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

The conference is expected to end on Friday.

Carmona said as much as the law continued to evolve, there were already laws which were implementable but were not being implemented throughout the region including the Proceeds of Crime Act, money laundering legislation and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The one with the fatal sting in its scorpion tail is the Prevention of Corruption Act, a piece of legislation that I had input in. It was considered draconian and it is, yet it is indeed a rare moment when this particular piece of legislation is invoked.

“What about the scorpion itself, the Board of Inland Revenue. During my some 30 years as a state prosecutor and then as a deputy director of public prosecutions and finally as a criminal judge, I have pronounced on the potential effective utility of the Board of Inland Revenue in T&T and correspondingly in the Caribbean region. I can recall that whenever I mentioned it at workshops and conferences, the room would go silent and officials in authority would look at me with a jaundiced eye,” Carmona added.

He said society had become a place where the goodwill of people could no longer be depended upon, adding that there have been allegations of profligate enrichment by those in authority.

“There have been complaints and observations for just as many years that the asset base of politicians is inconsistent with their income and tax returns and there has been a hue and cry for the intervention of the Integrity Commission or the Fraud Squad. 

“Why are we taking such a divergent route when we can wake up that sleeping giant called the Board of Inland Revenue? Rise from your slumber,” Carmona said.

The issue of confidentiality was also brought to the fore as the President said people who fell under the ambit of the integrity commissions had expressed great apprehension that highly personal information, mainly of a financial nature, was not absolutely secure.

“I therefore submit that this issue of confidentiality touches a raw nerve and needs to be treated more stringently and with greater sensitivity.

“There has to be a modernisation of the process of handling confidential data by the integrity commissions of the region with watertight safeguards, and it invariably will impact on the willingness of persons to serve as commissioners and will ease the minds of those who are required to report to the various integrity commissions in the regions,” Carmona said.

He also urged that in order to ensure the integrity of the very integrity commissions throughout the Caribbean, confidentiality must be the bedrock, especially given how society throughout the Caribbean was so interconnected. 

Chairman of T&T’s Integrity Commission, retired justice Zainool Hosein who delivered the welcome remarks, said through the conference it was hoped that anti-corruption measures would be brought in line with international best practices.

He said the conference was the first of its kind in T&T and offered an opportunity to take a renewed look at how the respective systems were working to cope with the present needs and what their likely response would be in the future.

“It is our hope that appropriate changes, where necessary, will be made,” Hosein said.

Chair of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies, retired justice Dame Monica Joseph, also emphasised the need to root out corruption.

She said while there have been and would continue to be challenges both in and out of court, all parties must work together for one common good.

Debt burdens

​Deputy Secretary-General, Commonwealth Secretariat, Deodat Maharaj said to lure investors to the Caribbean it was critical to enhance transparency and accountability.

Corruption could not be tolerated in any form, Maharaj said, and this was especially so in small states as every dollar lost to corruption was a dollar lost to health care or education.

“The beauty of the region masks the fact that it was one of most heavily indebted regions on this planet,” Maharaj added.

Nine babies born at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday will join the list of people who wait every four years to celebrate their birthday on the actual day of their birth.

This means that in 2020 when the babies—two girls and seven boys—are four years old they will celebrate their first official birthday on the actual day they were born, February 29.

Nurses confirmed that two babies were born via Caesarian section while the others were natural deliveries.

Six of the mothers who were interviewed had two things in common, none of them were expecting to have leap year babies and they all plan to have a grand celebration every four years to celebrate their baby’s real birthday. 

Of the nine babies, the two girls were the first to be born.

At around 2.52 am baby Feyise Kirton, weighing five pounds, was born to her mother Ayanna Joseph.

Her proud mummy said baby Feyise came four days early.

“I was not expecting her today. Not, at all.”

“We’ll be celebrating her birthday every for years. We will have a grand celebration,” she said.

Shelly Backarali, 20, said she was expecting her daughter Shelina on her birthday which was February 22. 

“She came after time,” smiled Backarali who has not yet decided if she will celebrate her baby’s birthday on March 1 or February 28. 

Thirty-seven-year-old Rosetta Mohammed gave birth to her second baby Christiano Kendell at 4.57 am. 

“No I was not expecting him today. They induced labour. I came in on Sunday morning.” So when will she celebrate her baby’s birthday? Mohammed said: “They say I can’t go backward. I have to go forward.”

Marabella resident, Sue Jagan, 27, has not yet named her baby. “He came six days early.” The baby, who weighed 2.82 kgs, is her third child. 

“I say I will celebrate his birthday in February come down, the whole of February,” she laughed, adding: “I have a daughter who is February 6.” 

Jamila Johnson’s baby was born at 6.15 am and weighed 2.73 kilogrammes. Just like the other’s Johnson was not expecting him yesterday. She did not want her son, Jamarli Rodriguez, to be born on February 29 “because, he will not get to celebrate his birthday every year.” 

Her first son, but second child, the 28-year-old Ste Madeleine mother said she would be celebrating his birthday on March 1. Kerry Pooranlal, 28, said she and her husband, Basdeo, have not decided on a name yet. 

“The sex of the baby was a surprise. We did not know what we were having,” she said. 

Most likely she will also be celebrating his birthday on March 1. Basdeo said he was very excited about the birth of his first baby. “I guess we will celebrate his birthday on February 28 and March 1 and every four years on February 29 we will have a grand celebration,” he added.