Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the head of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi is on the chopping block, as Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley gets set to reshuffle his Cabinet once again. 

Persad-Bissessar was speaking at the United National Congress public meeting at the Aranguez Community Centre on Monday.

Persad-Bissessar spoke primarily about the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) bill which she claimed would take away the rights of citizens and freedom of speech if certain clauses were not amended.

Stating that the bill was dangerous, Persad-Bissessar said the Government was now on its “back foot” after three of nine Independent Senators had failed to attend a meeting with the AG on Monday, which demonstrated that they were prepared to stand up for what they felt was right.

“We felt it was totally inappropriate for Independent senators to come to a meeting with the Attorney General. At the moment they (Independent Senators) are the guardian of the public’s interest with respect to the bill.”

Persad-Bissessar warned supporters not to trust Al-Rawi.

“In any other country an AG who did what he did would have some kind of sense to resign or his leader should fire him. But not here. They bold face and brass face.”

She said every citizen was now a target with the bill, including media workers.

“I am hearing from the grapevine, in Trinidad, everything is rumour, I am hearing that we are on the eve of a reshuffle of the members of the Cabinet of the Rowley Government.”

She said given all the missteps and mistakes taking place in the PNM, a reshuffle was imminent.

“And what I am hearing is the first head on the political block is, guess who? It’s the Attorney General. If that is not true, we are of the view that he should be removed as Attorney General for his role in the Malcolm Jones affair, for his role in the SSA bill, for his role in ArcelorMittal. There are so many others that we can lay on his doorstep. So when they say political heads must roll, one of those has to be that of the honourable and eloquent Attorney General of T&T.”

Following the firing of Marlene McDonald as housing minister in March, Rowley had his first Cabinet reshuffle.

She also called on party members to get on social media and radio stations to condemn the bill.

“Don’t let those people take you down.”

Persad-Bissessar said after Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh spoke about the abortion issue, Rowley “boof “ him, stating that he was not speaking for the Government.

She said the same thing happened with Al-Rawi after he commented about the decriminalisation of marijuana. Persad-Bissessar also questioned who was running the country.

Al-Rawi did not respond to a text message yesterday.

Police are investigating a incident in which radio announcer and soca artist Janelle “J Angel” De Leon was injured during a altercation with a group of women at a bar in Woodbrook on Monday night.

According to reports, De Leon went to the Elixir Nightclub, Ariapita Avenue, Port-of-Spain, with a friend around 9 pm. De Leon is employed with radio station SLAM 100.5FM, which is a member of Guardian Media Ltd (GML), which also publishes this newspaper.

Shortly after entering the bar, De Leon attempted to sit at a table but was confronted by three women who informed her the seats were reserved for them.

De Leon reportedly had a brief argument with the group when one of the women grabbed a glass bottle from a nearby table and smashed it on De Leon’s head. She was taken by ambulance to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she was treated and discharged.

By the time police were summoned to the scene the three suspects, who reportedly spoke with Spanish accents, had already left. Police are reviewing CCTV footage of the incident as they try to track down the suspects but no arrests were made up to late yesterday.

The T&T Guardian attempted to contact De Leon for an update on her condition but she did not answer calls to her cellphone up to late yesterday. 

Detectives from the Woodbrook Police Station are continuing investigations. 

A female teacher at the Robert Village Hindu School, who allegedly told one of her student to “drink pee”, was locked out of the compound yesterday morning, even as members of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) mounted a protest against her. 

However, T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA), which had to intervene to get the teacher back into the compound, is claiming now that the instructions to lock her out were given by a senior school supervisor from the South Eastern Education District.

“We are calling on the Ministry of Education to investigate the action of this school supervisor,” TTUTA second vice-president Lynsley Doodhai told the T&T Guardian, saying this was an abuse of authority. He said the teacher went to her car to retrieve something and was called by members of the media covering the protest. 

When she left the compound to respond to the media, instructions were given to the security guards to lock the gate. He said when the teacher asked the guard to allow her back in, she was told she was not wanted on the compound.

Doodhai said he was able to get a school supervisor to go to the school and get the problem resolved. He said the problem with the teacher was related to an issue she has with a senior school official, adding they have a very large file of complaints submitted by the teacher over the past few months. 

He said the union had been practically begging the ministry to deal with the situation. The protest, he said, stemmed from a report sent to the ministry that the teacher had instructed a student to drink urine.

Doodhai said the teacher was unaware such an allegation was made against her yet a log entry was made and reports sent to the ministry unknown to her. He said on that basis a protest was organised for yesterday in an attempt to get the teacher out.

He added: “TTUTA is extremely disappointed with the ministry because they have rebuffed all our recommendations to rectify the matter.” He said the teacher, who has 14 years service, believed she was being victimised.

At least nine schools were dismissed early as an unspecified problem at the Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) plant at the Union Industrial Estate, La Brea, caused power outages across the country yesterday.

At mid-afternoon, T&TEC corporate communications manager, Annabelle Brasnell, said power was restored to most areas. However, a delay in rectifying the problem at the power plant meant that some parts of east Trinidad were still without electricity. 

With a capacity of 720 mega watts, TGU is the majority supplier of power to T&TEC. Traffic backed up in some areas as traffic lights came off. The power outage began around 10 am and for customers in Diego Martin it lasted for 30 minutes, although it fluctuated during the morning period in some areas. 

In Biche, it lasted for approximately 90 minutes, two hours in Point Fortin while customers in Marabella waited for almost four hours. By 3 pm, a customer in Rousillac said he was waiting for a response from T&TEC as the power supply had not returned. A resident of Boos Village, Rio Claro, said her community was not affected.

At 2.45 pm, Brasnell said only customers between Five Rivers and some areas in Sangre Grande were awaiting a resumption of power.

“Most of the customers are back on. We only have the last set of customers in east Trinidad that are still out. We anticipate that they should be back on in about 45 minutes. TGU experienced some delays in rectifying the problem on their end so it has slowed down our restoration as well.”

She was, however, unaware of what was the problem at TGU. She added that while some schools may have been dismissed early, the commission received no negative reports of businesses having to close. 

A contact at the Ministry of Education said the impact was minimal but resulted in four primary schools and five secondary schools around Trinidad being dismissed between 1.15 pm and 1.30 pm. School officials ensured meals were provided to the students before they left school.

An advisory from T&TEC, at noon yesterday, requested customers to reduce consumption of electricity as work continued to restore supply to customers. T&TEC requested customers who were on supply to reduce consumption to speed up the restoration process. 

It suggested that switching off non-essential appliances/equipment, for example AC units, dryers or heavy equipment, would help in managing the load demand for distribution to more areas.

“Forgive Daddy, Sham, it was an accident.” This was the plea of Seeta Siewnarine to her dead brother, Sham Siewnarine, as she bid farewell to him during his funeral service yesterday. Sham, 28, died on Sunday night at his home at Gopie Trace, Penal, after being stabbed by his father during an altercation. 

Police confirmed they had been called several times to the home to deal with reports that Sham was abusing his parents and on Mother’s Day there was another domestic fight, this time resulting in a fatality. His father, Krishna Ramlal, a 60-year-old retiree, who has been in police custody since the incident, was brought to the house in handcuffs by police officers to bid farewell to his only son.

Ramlal remained seated in a chair on the front porch less than ten feet away from his son’s coffin surrounded by four plainclothes police officers. Relatives who swarmed around him, were allowed to speak to him for several minutes before being warned off by the officers. 

The man wept openly throughout the service and was allowed to view his son’s body for a few minutes before it was taken away. He did not speak but put his two hands on his head and wept. Before being taken away by the officers, he spoke briefly with his wife, Flora Siewnarine, and his only surviving child, Seeta. 

The couple had three children together. Their eldest daughter, Sandra, died five years ago after contracting pneumonia. Seeta, who spoke briefly, said she hoped her brother meets Sandra in the afterlife.

“Sham I hope you meet Sandra and you are happy now. Whenever my time comes, I will meet you guys... wait for me, ok,” she said.

“I just want to say goodbye. The last time I saw him was three months ago. I can’t believe he is gone, I can’t tell him I love him or mess up his hair, which was my favorite thing to do,” she said.

She described her brother as a “good boy” and someone who was loved by many. 

“Sham was a good boy, don’t mind he used to drink and get on stupid... anybody ask Sham to do anything, Sham would always do it for them.” She broke down in tears begging for forgiveness for her father and lamenting that she is the only surviving sibling. 

“Look how my sister and brother gone and I remain by myself and now what will happen to my father?” she asked.

“Sham, I hope you could forgive my father for what he did to you. It was an accident and he is so sorry... I think he is sorry. Forgive Daddy, Sham, he didn’t mean it, it was an accident,” she said.

Sham was cremated at the Shore of Peace, La Romaine. A police source yesterday said  the elderly man had requested to be taken to the funeral and the officers of the Penal Police Station, where he has been kept in custody, had obliged. 

The source said it may take another day for police to complete their investigations and for a file on the matter to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions who will determine whether charges should be laid. 

Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe yesterday confirmed that communications professional Dennise Demming has been fired as chairman of the Tourism Development Company (TDC) and that attorney Richard Duncan, who already serves as a director on the board, was promoted.

This comes on the heels of one other director, Dennis Sammy’s appointment being revoked around March, and another, Sherry Katwaroo-Ragbir, tendering her resignation days after she was appointed last November.

“She has been removed and replaced,” Cudjoe told the T&T Guardian yesterday. She was speaking to reporters at the opening of the Tourism Health and Safety Symposium at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

Six months ago, the new board of directors for TDC was installed with Demming at the helm. She had previously served as the campaign manager for Cudjoe in Tobago West in the run-up to the September 7 general election. 

The T&T Guardian learned Demming’s relationship with her directors was frosty and in frustration they reportedly penned letters of complaints questioning her leadership of the organisation.

 Cudjoe, when pressed on the matter, said: “I don’t think it affects the operations of the board. We have a new chairman who is already a member of the board, Mr Richard Duncan, so the board is moving ahead with its business. 

“We do admit there had been some interruptions and some challenges but the board and the company is moving full speed ahead with its business.”

Demming yesterday admitted she was terminated, effective May 4, and the reason was that the Government decided “to reconstitute the board.” She received an official letter yesterday. 

However, Demming said the bigger picture was getting State boards to function in the proper way.

“How do we ensure that they are selected in a way that good citizens are able to operate? How do we ensure the future of our country is protected and those are things we ought to be focusing on?” she asked. Her relationship with Cudjoe, she said, was good as with everybody else because she never burned her bridges.

Despite her termination, she said her issue was about governance and not herself. 

“I would like us to focus on governance, accountability and transparency,” she said. 

Meanwhile, Sammy, managing director of Nature Seekers, said it was a Cabinet decision and he was officially informed via a letter from the Ministry of Finance.

“I am not sure what happened but I received the letter and I abided. The decision was taken in March and the letter came after.”

Asked what the letter stated, Sammy said he was thanked for his services and that his appointment was revoked.

“That’s it,” he added.

Sammy said he had a “fantastic” conversation with the minister about the issue and that there was nothing he could “pinpoint” now that would have contributed to the revocation. His last meeting was in March. He said, however, everything has remained “very sketchy.”

He added: “My appointment being revoked is completely separate from what is happening now. I don’t know that anything is related at all.”

Opposition Senate Leader Wade Mark has said the Opposition will soon decide its next option on the passage of the Strategic Services Agency (Amendment) Bill and if to challenge it in court.

And one of the two Independents who voted for the bill says he was swayed by information on the bill received in Monday’s meeting, hosted by the Attorney General, with technocrats.

The controversial bill seeks to expand the power of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) to collect information on variety of serious crime, from treason to terrorism, excluding robbery. Concerns have been raised about its ability to undertake wiretapping for its work. 

The bill, however, was passed without amendment at 11.22 pm in the Senate on Tuesday, despite deep concerns by Independent Senators and the Opposition which had tabled 58 amendments.

It was passed with the support of two Independent Senators— Hugh Roach and temporary Independent Justin Junkere—and despite non-support by the six Opposition members and seven other Independent Senators.

The Opposition’s amendments were also rejected by Government, Roach and Junkere. The other Independents abstained on voting on those amendments.

Roach and Junkere had attended a meeting the AG held on Monday to allow experts to clarify concerns senators had. Roach was unavailable yesterday to say why he supported the bill.

Junkere, an attorney, said: “I believed in what the Government was trying to accomplish so I gave the support. Yes, I had reservations, I never went in saying I supported the bill carte blanch, but my concerns were adequately addressed in the meeting the Attorney General held with senators and technocrats.

“As a result the concerns expressed in my contribution were allayed. I did have concerns, but when I measured them against the risk of not having the proposal put into effect as legislation, I made a decision.”

Junkere said if the bill wasn’t passed and T&T came out on the wrong side of compliance with international bodies in future, T&T would have paid for the situation down the road. He said while he understood the concerns about possible loss of privacy and other issues, the matter had to examined in the perspective of T&T’s greater good.

However, Mark expressed concern that Independent Senators who had called for safeguards, did not support the Opposition’s amendments and had abstained in voting on them.

“They (Independents) have a right to vote how they wish but there must be justification and rationale for action. 

“The contributions by the two senators (who voted for the bill) and the outcome was highly contradictory and inconsistent. In their contributions they said they would support amendments and wanted safeguards but when safeguards were advanced, they didn’t support them,” he added.

Mark said with the bill’s passage, the Opposition’s caucus would decide in due course “what options” it should explore in the matter and take it to another level. Asked if the UNC would challenge it legally, Mark said it would be up to the leadership.

He said there was no genuine attempt by the AG to engage meaningfully on the Opposition’s amendments or with the larger community. 

As officials of Brazilian construction company, Construtora OAS are expected to leave Trinidad this month, the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) is demanding the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) settle its dispute with the company so that workers can be paid their severance benefits and outstanding salaries.

Retrenched highway workers of Construtora OAS continued their protest in the wee hours of yesterday, blocking Mosquito Creek with debris, including pieces of wood, steel and tyres they took from one of the construction sites along the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension project. 

Police and fire officers were out quickly to clear the road. However, none of the protesters were there and the roadblock created less traffic congestion than the previous days.

Speaking by telephone yesterday, OWTU president general Ancel Roget said the union wrote the company requesting a meeting to deal with the unpaid severance benefits but there was no response up to yesterday. This was followed by letters to Nidco and the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development.

Nidco is the project manager of the $7.4 billion Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension project to Point Fortin. Reiterating his earlier concerns that the company would leave the country without settling its arrears, Roget said that matter needed urgent attention. He added: “We have to be careful that they do not skip the country and leave the workers hanging.  “We have records of their history of operation, therefore, we have to be proactive and take in front. 

“Right now, we are trying to write all the relevant Government agencies—Nidco and of course the Ministry of Labour —to ask for their intervention and to get OAS to pay the workers their money.

“OAS is claiming that Nidco froze their assets, which they wanted to sell to make good on their payment, so we have requested a meeting with Nidco and that is where we are.  “We wrote the company (Construtora OAS) requesting a meeting based on the latest development, they have not responded,” Roget added.

On April 25, Construtora OAS terminated 860 bi-monthly employees as they handed over work on the highway to several local contractors.  

This was the result of a lack of funds to pay their sub-contractors, purchase material and pay salaries after their parent company, Grupos OAS in Brazil, filed for bankruptcy.Its access to financing was severely restricted by a corruption investigation at Brazilian state-owned oil company, Petrobras. 

Given that T&T is already experiencing a harsh social fallout from the liquidation of ArcelorMittal Point Lisas, Roget warns that Government’s failure to intervene in former highway workers’ matter would deepen the country socio-economic problems. 

He said: “Knowing what happened with ArcelorMittal, we are saying that the client, Nidco, as a Government agency, should have taken into account that these people (Construtora OAS) could flee the country. 

“Therefore, they should have protected the interest of the country. Paramount to that is the interest of the workers and that is why we are writing to them because they were supposed to make sure that they were holding some kind of performance bond.” He added: “If they are holding that, we are calling on them to use that to make good the payment to the workers. 

“Part of the company's performance has to do with how they treat with the local workforce. We are having a problem with all of the standoff approaches the governmental agencies are taking on issues relative towards labour.

“It is becoming a highly explosive situation and it will carry a lot of social consequences for the workers. 

“Therefore, there ought to be some consideration for that and adopt a proactive approach to ensure that workers are not unduly burdened in this period when they are obviously owed money,” Roget said.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley must clear the air and say whether the Government will actually be using One Alexandra Place and if rent is being paid on the building since the People’s National Movement assumed office, Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal said yesterday.

He said the issue of One Alexandra Place, rented by the People’s Partnership for five years to the tune of $48 million and never occupied, continued. 

A further $50 million had been spent to outfit the building to accommodate government offices.

The People’s Partnership was faced with renting the building after the PNM administration, under former prime minister Patrick Manning, signed a lease/rental agreement for the building in 2010. The PNM paid $4.3 million in rent before it was voted out of office in the 2010 general polls and the PP entered office.

The PP had accused the PNM of renting the building from the family of PNM’s Faris Al-Rawi, now Attorney General under the Rowley PNM administration. Al-Rawi was the legal representative for the building’s owner, who the PP said was his close relative. He hasn’t denied this.

The PNM, in turn, has alleged the PP failed to outfit the building and left it empty because it wanted to give a “preferred bidder” the outfitting contract.  

Former PP ministers last weekend said the delays in occupying the building were caused by changes as a result of various entities seeking to be housed in the building. The outfitting contract is under review by the Solicitor General though the contractor has sent the Government a pre-action protocol letter seeking the rest of payment owed.

Moonilal said there had been conflicting reports on whether the PNM administration “is paying rent for the building or not to the AG’s (Al-Rawi’s) family.

“There also seems to be some muddle among ministers on whether the building will be used or not by the Government since one minister didn’t say it would not be used.

‘He said it may be and another says they are still talking. Which is it? Does one minister wants it, has the Government decided? They’re contradicting each other... (so) the Prime Minister must say,” he added.

Rowley is due back from his overseas trip on Saturday, the OPM confirmed yesterday. Moonilal also responded on PNM claims about “Villa 111” at Tobago Plantations. 

PNM Senator Foster Cummings in the Senate’s debate of the SSA Bill on Tuesday, accused the UNC of having “cocoa in the sun.” He asked who owned Villa 111 at Tobago Plantations. 

Yesterday PNM officials claimed it was Moonilal but the latter said he owned no property there.

A Siparia man was sentenced yesterday to 22 years for raping a schoolgirl in 1997 but his victim left the court disappointed. The victim, now 34 years old and a mother of three children, said she felt her attacker, David Baptiste, deserved a longer jail sentence and strokes for the pain he put her through.

She spoke with reporters shortly after Baptiste, 43, was sentenced by San Fernando Second Assizes Judge Hayden St Clair-Douglas.

“I feel that he could have gotten more than 22 years and he should have gotten strokes. Not just for me but for the other girl (the 2000 victim). He did more to her and worse than I got.” She said the other woman also left the court disappointed.

Saying she would not wish what she went through on anyone, she said men who raped should feel the full penalty. “To deal with this was really hard for me. I don’t talk about it with anybody.” She said she lives for her children, one of whom is a girl. “I am always there for her,” she added.

Baptiste was charged with raping two other women but he absconded while on bail to the United States for eight years, resulting in the collapse of those cases.

He was returned by United States Marshals to face trial here for the 1997 rape of the schoolgirl. Baptiste had pleaded not guilty when the trial began before St Clair-Douglas on March 1. 

In passing sentence the judge said Baptiste showed no remorse and women needed to be protected from him. Saying there were no mitigating factors, the judge said his sentence had to be on the higher scale of sentencing. 

He said the maximum sentence was life imprisonment and it ranges from about 25 years. The judge said the aggravating factors were the girl’s age, she was dressed in her school uniform, she was a virgin and he offered to give the girl a drop home.

The jury heard that in June 1997 the victim, then 15-years-old, was walking home after school along Quinam Road, Siparia, when the accused picked her up in his car and offered to drop her home. Instead he took her to a dirt road where he raped her.

During the trial as part of the bad character evidence, State attorney Trevor Jones called one of Baptiste’s other rape victims who recalled how she was raped and stabbed by Baptiste. That incident took place in 2000.

Baptiste’s defence was that the women had mistaken him for another person with his name.

After doctors told Abiola Thompson Abraham and her husband, Kerwin Thompson, their five-day-old baby had died, they spent about three hours kissing him and “bonding” with him in a room at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.

“When he was born, I had only touched him. I had never held him.

“When he died they allowed us to be with him for about three hours. We were holding him, kissing him, bonding with him,” Thompson said.

Kayleb Keanu Alexander Abraham was going to be their first son and second child.

Thompson said she did regular doctor visits during her pregnancy and had no complications and her baby’s death threw her into a state of shock and depression that lasted almost a year. She even planned to commit suicide and only changed her mind when she saw her nine-year-old daughter crying for her. 

Thompson said the terrible experience brought her closer to God and she realised His plans were greater than hers. She said she still prayed for another son and trusted she would get him. She is pregnant again and due next month.

Tracing the start of her ordeal, the 30-year-old Toyota employee of San Juan said when her son was born, medical personnel told her he was not breathing properly and they needed to put him in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

“They said everything so casually. Just before I gave birth, the nurse told me my baby had passed his first stool inside me. 

“I didn’t know at the time this was a deadly thing. She said it so calmly, I did not think it was of any great concern.

“I later learned the right thing to do was perform emergency surgery on me since my baby could have inhaled the stool through his nose and into his lungs.

“Instead, after he was born they kept him five days in the NICU, giving him antibiotics and medication and trying to flush out his lungs.

“They even called us during that time and asked us to bring a Viagra pill to make a mixture for him to get his heart rate going again.

“Five days after, on a Thursday, the hospital called while we were having breakfast and said our son had stopped breathing.

“When we got there they resuscitated him but he gave his last breath at 11.30 am that day.”

Describing her emotions while spending time with her dead baby, Thompson said: “It wasn’t real. I could not talk for two days after.” She said she wrote a suicide note for her daughter a few months after telling her she will always love her. “I felt God had let me down. Counselling was not helping.

“I was waiting to commit suicide on a day when my daughter was not at home and during the waiting period she saw me crying and said, ‘Mummy don’t cry’ and started crying too.

“I could not do it again because I could not bear the thought of her crying for me after I was gone.

“That was the moment I began to heal. My husband and I got baptised and started really listening to God’s Word. Before, we were neither here nor there. I accepted there is a greater plan for me than mine.”

Thompson pressed on in faith, confident a son would be returned to her.

“One week before my son’s birthday, I found out I was pregnant.”

Her joy returned, she said. “We still had everything we had prepared for our first son. I was going to give away his baby clothes but my girlfriend, Suzette, pleaded with me not to.

“She even offered to buy storage containers to keep his things at her home. I’m glad I listened to her. We don’t have to buy anything for the new baby.”

Thompson said she would be having her baby at the St Augustine Private Hospital this time. And she will never forget her first son, she said “For his birthday on November 6 every year we distribute lunches to the homeless in Woodford Square.

“As difficult as it is, we are giving back in our own way,” she added.

Government is actively considering increasing the speed limit on the two main highways from the current 80 kmph to 100 kmph and is also looking at the speed limits for other roads, acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert confirmed yesterday.

A recommendation on the speed limit issue is expected from Works Ministry technocrats in a week, Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds added on the issue.

Hinds, who made the opening statements on the matter at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, said there had been a lot of debate about the speed limit since speed measuring devices were introduced on April 29. 

He said he had not seen a petition rumoured to have been mounted by people who were unhappy with the current 80 kmph limit and no-one had approached him on the matter. 

Hinds explained the speed limited was based upon scientific means, including the road design. 

He, however, noted the speed limit matter was under review constantly and ministry experts who have been monitoring the issue would be giving him feedback in a week. Following analysis of data, he said, a decision would be made on the way forward. 

Some quarters, Hinds noted, had suggested the limit be increased to 100 kmph on specific roadways, such as the two main highways, particularly.

Imbert, subsequently clarifying the situation, said he had asked Hinds to come and speak on the matter yesterday, since he did not want the speed limit matter to become an issue that has a “... life of its own and it gets out of control.

“I want the population to know decisively that we are actively considering, as a Government, the increase of the speed limit on the Churchill-Roosevelt, Beetham, Uriah Butler and Solomon Hochoy Highways to 100 kmph and then looking at all the other roads... and all the quirk and anomalies,” he added. 

Imbert said the introduction of new processes, such as the speed measuring “guns”, had caused issues to manifest.

“So we wanted to be decisive and ease the tension where this is concerned and state the Government’s intention as clearly and decisively as possible,” he said.

Imbert said he had gotten messages from the business community and members of the public that the current 80 kmph speed limit was causing traffic congestion and leading to other problems.

He acknowledged the limit could cause issues, such as congestion and lack of productivity, and Government, therefore, had to balance safety, productivity and convenience in making decisions on the matter.

He said Government intended to enforce the law but also intended to pursue actively the 100 kmph on the main highways. For other roads, a proposed 65 kmph would be examined, he added.

Imbert said Government would also examine a 50 kmph speed limit for the Diego Martin Highway. He said Works’ Traffic Management officials had held discussions up to yesterday and had recommended an upward adjustment of the speed limit for that area of 50 kmph. He said they looked at the geography, lane widths and other issues.

A speed limit was based on a comfortable, safe speed and is the speed which 85 per cent of drivers use when there were no restraints, he said. Imbert said if authorities said leeway would be given on the speed limit, it would have to be formalised in a regulation or order of the law. 

Hinds, however, commended the driving public, whom he said had been driving better under the 80 kmph limit since the ”speed gun” system was implemented. 

Arrive Alive’s Brent Batson or Sharon Inglefield did not immediately answer calls on the 100 kmph proposal.

Local Govt poll before year-end

Local Government polls will “very likely” be held before year end, Rural Development/Local Government Minister Franklin Khan said yesterday.

“Under no circumstances will Local Government polls be postponed,” he added.

He said polls were due between October 21, 2016 and January 21, 2017 but it would be kept within that time and “very likely” would be held before year-end. 

Khan said today’s Parliament session would debate a motion on the draft Election and Boundaries Commission order. He said that would clear the way for Local Government polls to be held.

He noted the PNM had held a series of consultations on Local Government reforms all over T&T, concluding recently in Diego Martin. Proposals in reform plans include having full time councillors and for elected aldermen. 

He said Government would bring reform legislation to Parliament in September. He said that even if Local Government reform plans were not fully instituted, polls would be held before year-end.

Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke spent the night in police custody after being detained in relation to a rape allegation made by an attorney working with his organisation. 

Accompanied by his lawyer, John Heath, Duke had surrendered to detectives of the Port-of-Spain Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Central Police Station, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, around 2 pm yesterday. 

Bombarded by a group of media personnel at the entrance to the station, a seemingly unfazed Duke promised to comment on the accusation upon his exit. 

However, after several hours, Heath came out of the station without his client, who, sources said, was detained for interrogation. 

The T&T Guardian understands that investigators had visited the PSA’s headquarters on Abercromby Street to arrest Duke yesterday morning but left empty handed as security informed them the (Duke) was at a meeting at his attorney’s office. Duke later surrendered at the station.

According to police reports, the victim, a 33-year-old attorney from Central Trinidad, claimed the incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon after Duke invited her to accompany him to a meeting at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. 

Duke and the victim went to a room at the hotel, where she claimed he overpowered her and had sex with her against her will. After the incident, the victim allegedly returned with Duke to the union’s office and then went home. Hours later she reported the incident to the Cunupia Police Station. 

Speaking with the T&T Guardian on Wednesday, Duke denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was being framed by the victim. 

“My lawyers have advised me to say nothing more on the allegations but I am willing to tell you that I am certain that she has no evidence that could back up the allegations,” he said.

Police sources said yesterday investigators were attempting to complete their investigation by today in order to consult the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to determine what charges, if any, should be laid against Duke. 

ASP Ajith Persad of the Port-of-Spain CID is leading the investigation.

Former temporary Independent Senator Justin Junkere says he is standing by his vote in support of the Government on the SSA Amendment Bill on Tuesday and will vote the same way in similar situations.

In an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, in response to Opposition claims he was unfit to hold the post of Independent Senator because he had been retained by the AG’s office, Junkere, whose temporary appointment has ended, said he was offered no inducements from Government for his vote. (See story below).

He said while he was offered a brief from the Office of the Attorney General, it was not from the incumbent AG Faris Al-Rawi. 

Junkere said he was “certain it was not from this present Attorney General,” adding it was in 2015 from the then AG Garvin Nicholas. He said he had not as yet submitted an invoice for that brief and was not paid either.

“Since AG Al-Rawi has taken up office I have not received any State briefs from the Attorney General’s office,” Junkere said.

He said he received “a single brief from the Office of the AG but it was given to me by the previous (PP) administration.”

He also denied receiving any State brief from the AG as an inducement to vote on the SSA Bill. 

“I have been made no offers of any favour of any kind in respect of anything,” Junkere said.

He said as a practising attorney he also felt entitled to accept a State brief. He said Ramdeen and other attorneys, like the late Dana Seetahal, SC, who was also an Independent Senator, accepted State briefs.

According to Junkere: “The only persons to fear this (SSA) bill would be the criminals and those suspected of being in serious offences.”

He said he was uncertain “why anyone else would have concerns,” adding that the public outcry seemed to be “coming loudest only from a particular quarter.”

Junkere said if he had to choose between apologising to someone for having lost his privacy, or someone who had lost a loved one in a serious offence, his choice would be clear.

“If I am asked to make a decision that could save a life as opposed to sparing someone’s sense of privacy, I think saving a life matters,” he said. 

Junkere added: “We are engulfed in a crime wave and it is not going to get better unless we do something.”

On suggestions that the bill could be improved, he said he did not think there was the time to do that. 

“We have a bill that expands the powers (of the SSA) and if made an act they can operationalise something that can assist in the fight against crime,” Junkere said. 

“If given an opportunity to do that I would support it again and again and again. If we did not have that time sensitivity and if it was not as serious as it appears to be it may be different but I stand by the decision I made and I will make it again,” he added.

Temporary Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen yesterday presented court documents to show that temporary Independent Senator Justin Junkere, who voted with Government on the SSA Amendment Bill in the Senate on Tuesday, was employed by the Attorney General’s office since 2015.

Speaking at a news conference at his Port-of-Spain office, Ramdeen said the information was “very disturbing” and meant Junkere should not have been allowed to serve on the Independent bench.

Junkere and another Independent Senator, Ian Roach, voted with the Government on the legislation. The Government required the support of at least one Independent Senator to secure passage.

Ramdeen claimed Junkere “remains retained on the payroll of the Attorney General while holding the position of an Independent Senator.” 

He said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi was in serious breach of the country’s democracy by not informing the Parliament of the fact that Junkere was employed by the Office of the AG.

“We find that to be extremely, extremely disturbing for the democracy of this country,” Ramdeen said.

Junkere attended Monday’s meeting organised by Al-Rawi and the SSA director to explain concerns about the bill. Ramdeen said that latest development confirmed Al-Rawi’s unsuitability to hold office and said he must resign or be fired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. He said the Opposition would be writing to President Anthony Carmona, who appointed Junkere, “and we will leave it to His Excellency to do what he considers to be right and proper in the circumstances.”

He said the Opposition would also seek to determine if there was a “breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act, whether there is any remedy that resides in the powers of the President, be they constitutional or any other, that he may have.”

He said the matter would also be brought to the attention of Senate President Christine Kangaloo.

Contacted for comment afterwards, Al-Rawi said Ramdeen “has put himself into significant difficulty and has poured scorn and ridicule on his own position.”

The AG explained that Ramdeen must be aware that he (Ramdeen) is an attorney “working for me as Attorney General. He would also know that he has received more than $24 million from the Government for work that he has done, including work worth close to $18 million from the Office of the AG.”

Al-Rawi said Ramdeen was an attorney on record for the AG “and I do not recall him declaring at the point of him being sworn in anything of that nature and in the manner that he now pretends the Independent Senator should have done.”

While Ramdeen said Al-Rawi must be aware of Junkere’s employment at his ministry, the AG said he was not aware of the Independent’s employment at his ministry. 

“I wasn’t aware, I don’t recall it,” Al-Rawi added.

The AG said if the claim was true, Junkere would be no different to the position Ramdeen was in. Al-Rawi said Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge was also in a similar position, as he had benefitted from employment from the AG’s ministry or the Government. He said Sturge did not make any declaration as was being requested by Ramdeen of Junkere.

He said the issue of his resignation did not make any sense if Ramdeen’s claims were “shrouded in conflict or double standards.” 

He said the SSA Bill was passed with constitutional muscle and any challenge would be defended in court. (RL)

Central-based television station, WIN TV, is said to be in dire financial difficulties and management temporarily sent home nine of its employees on Wednesday.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian, a senior employee, on the condition of strict anonymity, said since the employees were briefed on the downsizing of the company’s operations significantly many of them have been in a state of uncertainty.

Some were seen crying, while some, who knew what was coming, sent in their resignations with immediate effect.

T&T Guardian was told that Head of News, Sunil Ramdeen, resigned about two months ago, leaving Erica Ramjass as the acting Head of News.

As part of the downsizing, the remaining 12 members of staff have been informed by the chief executive officer (CEO), Hansen Narinesingh, that a shift system will be introduced; there would now be a 20-hour work week with pay cut; there will no longer be a midday news and the 7 pm newscast will now be recorded at 4 pm and broadcast at 7 pm.

Its morning programme, Sunrise, and radio news and radio station 101.1 FM will not be affected in any way.

Another employee at the station, who wished not to be identified, claimed that subsequent to the death of WIN’s owner Mohan Jaikaran in April last year, the station had been heading downhill.

The employee added that it seemed to get worse when, in February, Jaikaran’s daughter, Shantel and her mother, Indra, made a public announcement on the company’s television station, WIN TV, claiming it was being “hounded out of business.”

In the statement Shantel gave no reason for the company’s trouble but said there was a possibility of losing its licence from the Telecommunications Authority of T&T and that there were people who did not want the company to survive.

“It is from then we knew that things were not right here at the station and the future seemed hopeless. 

We remained in the dark throughout until Wednesday when they sent home the nine employees. 

“Although they said it is not permanent and that if things improved they would get back their jobs in three months time but what happens if things don’t improve? 

Yes, they said they will be given VSEP packages but we don’t even know if that is a surety. Nothing is sure right now,” the employee said. “Things are very grim, the CEO is not even talking, not even to the media. 

We are all in a sombre mood,” the employee added.

The senior employee, who spoke with the T&T Guardian, said only about $1 million was paid to the Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT), which was a portion of the $5 million in outstanding licensing fees owed to TATT. “We are hearing that it is just a waiting game. The management is still waiting on word from TATT with regards to the licence. 

We were told that there is a new board so maybe there is some kind of delay, we do not know. 

It is because of this delay that the station is unable to generate revenue,” the senior employee added.

BACKGROUND INFO

​On February 26, WIN Caribbean Ltd was given a few days to pay almost $5 million in outstanding licensing fees to the TATT or it will be forced to shutdown its television and radio stations. 

The company’s owner, Shantel Jaikaran, lost her application for an injunction which would have forced TATT to grant it a temporary extension of its licence while it challenged TATT’s decision not to renew it until the arrears, owed since 2011, were cleared. In a 17-page judgment, High Court Justice Vasheist Kokaram ruled he could not grant the injunction as the company had failed to raise an arguable case that TATT acted irrationally and unfairly when it made its earlier decision. 

In her application for judicial review, Jaikaran claimed TATT had informed her that the company’s non-transferable licence was not being renewed because it was in the name of her father, Mohan, who died in April last year. TATT had agreed to consider transferring the licence and recommending its renewal if the arrears were cleared. Jaikaran had claimed that she only learned of the debt after her father’s death and needed time to sell some of the company’s assets and could not meet the deadline set by the authority. She had also contended that she was in ongoing negotiations with TATT when it made its final decision and was not consulted before being informed on February 17. 

Kokaram also criticised Jaikaran for waiting on the eve of the expiration of the company’s licence to file a lawsuit and intensify negotiations with TATT, which he said should have been finalised by her father before his death. 

As part of his judgment, Kokaram also ordered that the company pay TATT’s legal fees for defending the injunction application. Efforts to reach the CEO Narinesingh for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

Shocking and quite worrying.

That’s how Medical Chief of Staff of the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital, Dr Karen Sohan, yesterday described information which revealed “74 girls under the age of 16” gave birth at the hospital last year.

The figure came days after police opened an investigation into who was responsible for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl who gave birth to a baby boy on April 23 at the San Fernando General Hospital. Of this figure, Sohan said “12 girls under age of 16 had delivered” post-Carnival babies last September.

“As a social issue, this is very significant if you have 74 children under the age of 16 making a baby. The target should be the schools. Apart from when they come into the hospital to deliver, somebody must have known they were pregnant. “Therefore, we should also be addressing the issue of contraceptive. The issue here is preventing teenage pregnancy. We have to try harder, without a doubt,” Sohan said.

She said the nurses at the hospital did their part by going into schools to educate students about sex. 

“It is not a national policy. You have to depend on the individual school to invite you in. If you have 74... 16-year-olds and less you must address contraception. It is always worrying if a 16 or less gets pregnant.”

Of the 74 pregnancies, Sohan could not say how many were reported to the police. “Our doctors have been reporting. It is the law. I would have expected that all have been reported,” she added.

Yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia admitted reports came to him “where principals have extended the suspension of students who have engaged in sex in the classroom. “We know that there is a problem of sexual activity among our schoolchildren. We cannot hide that fact,” he added.

Garcia said the school population was often “bombarded with sexual images” on social media, which attributed to the problem. Questioned if the ministry intended to advocate that students use contraception, Garcia said that had never entered the mind of the ministry. 

“That will require national debate. It will require discussion with parents in particular. I am not sure whether our parents will accede to such an initiative,” he said.

Head of the police Victims and Witness Support Unit Margaret Sampson-Browne said the figure was unacceptable. “I am angry and saddened because everything is happening after the fact. We have to get serious,” she added.

She said many of those girls got pregnant by their fathers and grandfathers. “Why are the perpetrators walking free?” she asked.

Outside of this figure, Sampson-Browne said she knew of a 12-year-old girl who was pregnant with her second child. “We have no evidence of these reports (74). The Child Protection Unit must be informed about this. 

That information should have reached our unit and an aggressive kind of investigation should have taken place. It’s time some of those caregivers come to the police in handcuffs,” she added. 

Former chief executive officer of the Estate Management Business Development Company Ltd (EMBDC), Seebalack Singh, has been awarded more than $.5 million in compensation in a libel lawsuit brought against the Trinidad Express.

In delivering the 51-page judgment in the San Fernando High Court yesterday, Justice Frank Seepersad was critical of the standard of journalism in T&T.

Singh, through his attorney Prakash Deonarine, filed the lawsuit in relation to two investigative stories published on April 22, 2013 and June 30, 2013 which suggested some wrongdoing on his part which resulted in his resignation. 

Singh, who subsequently lost his job at the First Citizens Bank where he began working after resigning from EMBDC, sued the newspaper, an editor and two senior journalists who wrote the articles. The defendants argued the matters in the articles were of significant public interest and they met the standards of responsible journalism. 

Describing the actions of one of the reporters as reckless, the judge found the journalists “failed to discharge the onerous obligation that rested on their shoulders as investigative journalists and their focus was on character assassination and scandal.”

Seepersad said: “Character assassination should never be the focal point of any investigative piece of journalism.” 

In awarding $450,000 plus interest in aggravated and general damages, the judge said he considered the allegations against Singh were grave and impacted in a material way on his integrity, honour, professional competence and his reputation. Saying “more likely than not,” the first article was the reason why he lost his job at the bank, the judge also awarded $100,000 in exemplary damages. Singh was also awarded costs.

Attorney Faarees Hosein, who represented the defendants, asked for a 21-day stay of execution which was granted.

The body of a man who escaped from a police cell was found yesterday off Mausica Road, D’Abadie, wrapped in plastic. 

Police were alerted of the body by relatives of Peter Solaiman to a bushy area near Chai’s Exotic Fish Farm around 10 am.

Investigators said they were unsure how Solaiman was killed and an autopsy was scheduled at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, today.

Solaiman, 26, squeezed through the food tray area of a holding cell on November 9 last year at the Central Police Station, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, hours before he was scheduled to appear before a magistrate charged with being a gang member and possession of a bulletproof vest. 

He sneaked past police officers who only found out he was missing when they went to take him to court.

In another incident, relatives of taxi-driver Anthony Superville, 57, of Cane Farm, Trincity, believe the charred remains found on a pyre of tyres at Windy Hill, Arouca, on Tuesday is that of Superville. 

The relatives went to the Forensic Science Centre yesterday with dental records in an attempt to confirm his identity.

Superville was reported missing last Friday. Eight people, police said, were held on Wednesday and are being questioned in relation to that crime.

In a separate incident, police responded to a report on Wednesday after the discovery of the skeletal remains of a human were found in some bushes just off Sellier Street, Wallerfield. 

The former People’s Partnership administration’s URP social programme hired 300 people as “area foremen” because they were the parents of children with cerebral palsy although there was no evidence they were at work, acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert has said.

“It’s a very strange arrangement, where you had these people being paid every fortnight as area foremen but not associated with any project, working on any gang and with no evidence they were at work,” he added at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

He revealed one of the names listed was that of a “famous person”, but admitted Government didn’t know if it was just someone with the same name. The T&T Guardian learned the name is similar to that of a female personality who was involved in PP’s now defunct Life Sport programme.

The situation was revealed in an audit of government departments, Imbert said.

“It was a methodology used by the previous government to give these people money on a monthly basis. It makes no sense to give the money for not performing work. There’s a difference between a salary — money paid for services — and a grant, which is given without expectation of work... this shouldn’t have been hidden under URP’s payroll,” he said.

Saying it was odd, Imbert added that a few names were associated with special schools but others lacked information and in some it was possible the person listed was not the parent of a child.

Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said the arrangement cost $3.1 million annually over August 2011 to very recently. He said it would be determined if there was fraud or a matter to attract a “different intervention.”

Imbert said the arrangement would be transferred to Social Development for case-by-case scrutiny, to assist those who need help, via disability/public assistance grant, and determine if there had been any duplication on social development listings.

Contacted yesterday, former PP social development minister Christine Hosein said she met the “area foreman” arrangement when she entered the ministry and it was started under former minister Glenn Ramadharsingh.

She said it was not meant that the parents had to do work. She said the programme was started since such parents didn’t qualify under the public assistance/disability criteria. She said she had visited homes of some “area foremen and could vouch they were bona fide cases.

“The PNM doesn’t take time to try to understand any system. They only want to pass off everything the PP did as waste and corrupt,” she added. 

Calls to Ramdharsingh were not immediately answered.

14,000 Venezuelans

come in five months

Imbert also said yesterday the number of Venezuelans entering T&T via legal air/sea ports of entry has significantly increased over previous years’ level of 300-400 a month, to the current level of about 3,000 people monthly.

“... A tremendous increase in the numbers entering... but at this time, 99 per cent return home,” he added.

Imbert said the National Security Ministry told him preliminary figures showed 14,000 Venezuelans arriving in T&T between January and May 2016. Of this number, 43 had not returned to Venezuela. 

He said he was surprised by the numbers and asked for it to be doubled checked. However, he said most came to trade, buy things to take back home and buy US dollars. He said Cedros was a lawful port.

“Immigration is looking for the 43 that didn’t return but (Immigration) seems to have the matter under control... it seems most of them are observing the law and returning... the matter isn’t one to red flag but to keep an eye on,” he added.

He said T&T and Venezuela have an arrangement where nationals of each state could enter for 90 days on visitors’ visas. He said people did not need to enter illegally but became illegal if they overstayed their time.

The Opposition will be keeping an eye on President Anthony Carmona to see if he will exert the powers he believes he has as it relates to the Strategic Services Agency (Amendment) Bill 2016 being assented to on the basis of a simple majority.

The controversial bill, which was passed in the Senate earlier this week with the help of two Independent Senators Hugh Ian Roach and Justin Junkere, still has to be assented by the President. 

Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan said yesterday he was dissatisfied that the Government pressed ahead with the legislation in its current form, despite objections by seven Independent Senators and civil society groups which asked for more consultations, checks and balances.

“Is this the way the PNM intends to govern for the rest of their term?” Rambachan asked. He said the two Independents who voted with the PNM ought to be reminded that their responsibility was far more than they appeared to appreciate. 

“In the past, one of those two senators left great doubts about rationality,” he said.

Acknowledging that the Independent bench ought not to frustrate the Government, he insisted they must also take heed of the fact that they represented the public interest on the basis of being appointed by the President, who in his own right is guardian of the public interest. 

“Such is the trust which the people have placed in the President,” Rambachan said, referencing his inaugural speech at his swearing-in ceremony when he alluded to powers he had and powers some thought he did not have.

Rambachan said the insinuation was that the President was not as powerless as one may think and questioned whether he would give assent to the bill on the basis of a simple majority when so many wanted a joint select committee to tighten the controls and protect the public interest. 

He drew a parallel with the action of the late prime minister and president ANR Robinson in appointing Patrick Manning as Prime Minister over the incumbent Basdeo Panday during the 18/18 tie.

“The late ANR Robinson also used moral and spiritual grounds to remove a PM, who, though there was a 18/18 situation had gotten the majority of votes.”

Rambachan said citizens really did not know what had happened to their privacy with the passage of this bill and while the public was disappointed, they remained quiet, because of their respect for majority rule.

“But they have noted the disrespect and arrogance of the PNM on this matter just concluded. They will speak at the right time,” Rambachan added.