Over 400 members of the United National Congress (UNC) have filed nominations for a chance to represent that party in the Local Government Elections, constitutionally due this year.

The party, in a statement, said at the close of nominations at 4 pm on Sunday, more than 400 people had filed.  Party leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had announced the opening of nominations in April, in preparation for the Local Government elections.

At last Thursday’s post-Cabinet news conference, Local Government and Rural Development Minister Franklin Khan assured that the elections will not be postponed. He gave a commitment that it will be held before January 21, 2017.

Khan said the due date for the local government elections is October 21, 2016. He pointed out that government has up to 90 days thereafter to go to the polls. His ministry is in the process of preparing a policy paper to present to the Cabinet, following consultation on Local Government reform.

 Party executive, Davendranath Tancoo, said it is very pleased with this heightened interest in the party and thanked the 400 prospective candidates who have expressed an interest in serving their country at the Local Government level. 

Tancoo said the UNC will immediately begin its rigorous in-house evaluation procedures with a view to commencing the screening of candidates shortly.
 

The July 24, 2015 Port-of-Spain Prison break which resulted in the death of PC Sherman Maynard has the characteristics of organised crime and a commission of enquiry will reveal the network of players involved.

This was the conviction of Insp Anand Ramesar, president of the Police Social and Welfare Association, who is calling on President Anthony Carmona to set up a commission of enquiry into the incident.

Shortly before he boarded a flight out of the country yesterday, Ramesar, in a T&T Guardian telephone interview, said, “We put a lot of things into context, the information that was brought forward before that day and after, and one thing stands out, it’s that this particular break has the characteristics of organised crime.

“You need a network of several players, both internal and external, to the prisons service for this to happen. A commission of enquiry will reveal who were involved in this network.”

Ramesar has sent a collection of documents to Carmona which include statements from acting Prisons Supervisor, Francis Fournellier, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Thomas Espinoza, and acting Prisons Officer 11, Mervyn Pierre. 

The statements revealed that shortly before the prison break, high-profile murder accused Rajaee Ali told senior prisons officers about it. Detailed plans about the break and minutes of meetings held by senior prisons officers prior to the incident were included in the statements submitted to Carmona.

Ramesar, in calling for an enquiry into the matter, told Carmona in a May 13 letter his association believed the matter was “being swept under the carpet” and police officers “are being restricted from getting to the bottom of this event”.

He told the T&T Guardian it is an insult for senior prisons officers to dismiss the incident by saying such reports are common, given it was someone like Ali who brought forward information of the planned break.

“We are also hearing the prisons service is pursuing a disciplinary matter against a junior officer in relation to this incident, instead of dealing with the big picture.

“This is the worst crime you could perpetrate on the public. This is not commensurate with the gravity of the offence that led to the death of the officer,” Ramesar said.

“Someone has to answer why Maynard was placed on duty outside the prison without sufficient information being given to him and why wasn’t a contingent of officers placed outside given the information that was forthcoming?

“A policeman has lost his life and the police service and the public are calling for answers. The officer’s family needs answers.”

Ramesar said the association is being led to believe the matter is being swept under the carpet because of the length of time that elapsed since it happened.

“We are at the point where, not just the police, but members of the public have not gotten any feedback on what happened on that day.

“The association is sufficiently clear that its call for a commission of enquiry is founded on sound principles.”

If the President does not think the prison break warrants an enquiry, the association will start a petition to present to him, Ramesar is warning.

PRISON ESCAPE
On July 24 last year, Christopher “Monster”  Selby, Hassan Atwell and Allan “Scanny” Martin shot their way out of the Port-of-Spain Prison on Frederick Street. They reportedly had a grenade in their possession.

Maynard was shot dead during the escape. Martin was killed by the police shortly after and Atwell was found dead in Laventille on July 26. Selby later surrendered to the police and is incarcerated at the Maximum Security Prison.

Nobody knew it but the quiet young man working in the little known Bumbleberry Dessert Cafe in Duncan Village, San Fernando,  making desserts in the kitchen and serving tables was nurturing a big dream inside of him.

A graduate of the T&T Hospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI) with a diploma in Baking and Pastry Arts, Sharad Thompson had a burning passion to become one of the best high-end pastry chefs in T&T. If not the best. He worked at various establishments until two years ago, at age 23, with $3,000, his dream and faith, he took the bold step and launched Morsels, which he brands as T&T’s first fully online bakery.

Today, Thompson is owner of one of T&T’s most successful cake businesses which has a staff of seven, all family members. His wedding and other cakes are known for their bold, vibrant colours and simple, meaningful meticulous designs. “Instead of just throwing things ‘coskel’ on the cake, everything on it should be there for a reason,” he said.

People are so pleased with Thompson’s cakes that Morsels will have to acquire a second delivery vehicle soon. He said business is particularly good this “wedding season” because a lot of people have been getting married. He has orders for wedding cakes until November. 

“I don’t think marriage is dead yet.”

During such times, Thompson sometimes spends the entire night decorating cakes and continues working straight into the next day with hardly a break. Those wishing to purchase his cakes place and pay for their orders online.

“Online shopping is the craze and will continue to be. Trinis love it,” he said.

Morsels delivers the cakes straight to offices or homes all over Trinidad. But getting here wasn’t an easy road. Thompson of La Romaine said he was never good in the academic subjects at St Madeleine Secondary which he attended.

“I did not graduate with full passes and had to repeat some subjects.” He said it is in the non-academic area of cake decoration he now shines and flourishes, and laments that T&T’s schools place little focus on the creative arts.

“This is not ruling out the academic subjects but students should also be taught how to make a success of their talents.”

Thompson, son of an engineer who is working in Saudi Arabia, said it was only when he enrolled at TTHTI that he felt completely at home. “My dad never wanted me to be in the culinary field. He felt this was a woman’s thing. But I had begun praying for a business of my own after I felt being an employee in the industry was not working for me. Running your own business is no piece of cake, however, Thompson said.

“It’s quite hard, actually. I have many sleepless nights staying up to get the work done for the next day. I didn’t sleep last night. I was decorating a cake in the shape of a Mac truck with an excavator.”

Thompson worked meticulously all night, doing most of the decorating himself and started working again at 6 am in his business.

“I started crumb coating cakes to be decorated the following day and made some macaroons.”

The only child for his parents, he said he always wanted to be a success to make them proud and this is what drives his discipline. “And you just have to get up and go. There’s no other option.”

Thompson has been asked to be a motivational speaker with Atlantic LNG in the company’s schools programme, Entrepreneurship Village 2016: Pioneer Your Passion. 

“We are going into the classrooms to tell those who need to hear how to get into their own businesses.”

An attorney yesterday urged people who have been posting her photo on social media, identifying her as the victim in the alleged rape case against Public Services Association president Watson Duke to desist from doing so.

Cherry Ann Rajkumar made the appeal at her home in Vistabella, San Fernando, as she said whoever was responsible for posting the initial photo had made her a victim of “character assassination.” 

She also called on the person/s responsible to apologise to her in a way that is fitting to repair the damage that had been done. 

Rajkumar, who has been practising since 2002, said just after midday last Friday she was contacted by phone and told her photo was circulating via social media in connection with the case. She said by 4 pm she was being bombarded with phone calls.

In a bid to stop the attacks against her, Rajkumar went to the Marabella Police Station where she officially made a report.

The investigating officer was given two cell numbers, a suspect’s name and that of a political group with alleged links to the acts against her. 

Asked where such allegations could have come from, Rajkumar said she was unsure, since she only had dealings with Duke once. She said she first met him in 2012.

“I met with him along with other PSA members and it was in the interest of the PSA. I had filed action on behalf of a public servant who was being bypassed for a position in the Public Service. It was against the Ministry of Local Government. I had invited the PSA’s involvement because it would have been of interest to them,” she said.

She added that at the time of the alleged incident, she was at home doing work on her computer. She said she often had no reason to even go into Port-of-Spain as she worked in south Trinidad. Rajkumar said she would seek to meet with Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to discuss in depth the Libel and Defamation Act.

“Today is me and tomorrow it can be anybody else. Right now we live in the age where there is very little privacy in the sense that we need to put some sort of provision in place to protect data and to protect the privacy of individuals, given the fact that we can become victims of cyber crime.”

“I will not resign,” a defiant Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke said yesterday, moments after he was released on $250,000 bail following an appearance in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court on charges of rape and sexual assault of a union employee. 

Mobbed by reporters, Duke, who was in the company of his wife, Kimberly, again denied any wrongdoing and said the union’s constitution did not require him to resign from his post because he was charged with a criminal offence. 

In an apparent jab towards his accuser, Duke said: “It (the allegation) doesn’t affect me in any way whatsoever I say and I didn’t commit the act and I’m sure with time that will be proven. So I do not feel small, I do not feel embarrassed, I do not feel as if I have done the act. I feel very normal, like Watson Duke.” 

His position appeared to be supported by the PSA executive members who attended his court hearing in a show of solidarity. 

Speaking to the media outside the court, first vice-president Christopher Joefield said: “The executive of the PSA stands firmly behind him in this matter and we would see where things stand after the process is concluded. In the meantime, we will continue to ensure the strategic direction of the PSA does not get railroaded.”

Asked whether the union’s general council will meet to consider calls for Duke to be suspended pending the determination of the charges, Joefield said a meeting was carded for next week but noted that a final decision on the issue was yet to be made. 

“The executive is going to examine the constitution to see whether there is any validity in such a position coming from outside sources, given the fact that the PSA is a sovereign union and has the responsibility to manage internally,” Joefield said. 

Saying the PSA had five offices acrosss T&T, Joefield said the alleged victim would be transfered to a “more comfortable and remote” location to prevent interaction with Duke. 

“The PSA plans to ensure that her rights are not violated in any way. We are also employers and therefore we will treat this matter with a degree of objectivity,” he said. 

But even if the union’s general council does not suspend Duke his post may be still in jeopardy, as his employer, the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), may also decide to suspend him due to the charges and revoke allowances given to Duke to operate as a full time union officer. 

Duke yesterday appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar charged with four counts of serious indecency and one charge for rape. 

He is accused of committing the acts of serious indecency on the victim at the union’s headquarters at Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, on four separate occasions between January and April this year. 

He was also charged with having sexual intercourse with the victim against her will last Tuesday in a room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Wrightson Road. Dressed in a black suit, Duke stood silently in the prisoners’ dock and was not called upon to plead to the charges as they were laid indictably. 

Police prosecutor Insp Kenneth Cordner did not oppose bail for Duke and said ordering him to surrender his passport was unnecessary. As a condition of his bail, Ayers-Caesar ordered that Duke must stay 500 metres away from the victim and refrain from contacting her via telephone, texts or social media. 

Duke was represented by Gilbert Peterson, SC, and John Heath. He will reappear in court on June 9.

The union boss presented himself to police last Thursday, after the victim, a employee at the union, reported the latest attack hours after it allegedly occurred. 

He spent almost four days in custody at the Central Police Station, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, before the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advised on Sunday night that he be charged.

Teenager Dionneze Tardieu held her 12-year-old sister Alyiah and wept as undertakers brought out their father’s body from inside their home, more than 12 hours after he was shot.

Rudy Ramkissoon, 39, a real estate agent of Oleanda Circular, Couva, died after being shot three times while watching television at his home. With tears streaming down their faces, the girls begged to find out why their father was killed.

Ramkissoon bloodied corpse was found around noon by his mother, Savita Ramkissoon, and his friend, Phillip Sinaswee. 

Police believe while he was watching television around 3 am someone went into his house and shot him in the head and chest. It is uncertain whether anything was stolen.

Ramkissoon’s daughters and his eight-month-old son, Raffeal, who are now orphans spent most of the day being consoled by their grandparents—Savita and Ramjattan Ramkissoon—as they waited for police to find clues into the murder. 

The sisters had been staying at a relative’s home since last Wednesday after gunmen came into their house and threatened their father. The gunmen stole thousands of dollars in cash and jewelery. Police believe the robbery and subsequent murder were related.

Following the robbery, Ramkissoon told his mother he was uncertain about the children’s safety. They were sent to a safe location. 

During an interview yesterday Savita said Ramkissoon came to her home around 9 pm on Sunday to have dinner. One of his friends had died and he went to the wake to carry cases of Chubby and water, Savita explained. 

She said she and Ramkissoon drank a beer and she invited him to stay the night.

“He told me that he wanted to go home. He was more comfortable there and he told me that he will call when he reached home,” Savita added. She said Ramkissoon called as promised but on Monday morning when she tried to reach him, he did not answer the phone.

“I got worried and around lunchtime I called his friend and we went to the house.” Savita said the bedroom doors were open and the door leading to the TV room was halfway closed.

“The room was dark and when I got in he was lying on the couch. I saw something on his stomach but I did not think it was blood. When his friend put on the light, and touched him he was cold,” Savita whispered as she broke down in tears. She said since Ramkissoon’s wife died, she has been comforting him.

“He was good to everybody. We are really confused about why someone will do this to him,” Savita said. 

Ramjattan said that Ramkissoon’s work involved going to Caroni workers and organising sales for their lands. “He never had no quarrel with anyone as far as we know,” Savita added.

Sinaswee said despite the recent robbery, Ramkissoon was not afraid for his life. “He was not one to talk about his problems. When his wife died we made sure he was okay,” he said.

Councillor for Calcutta, Allan Seepersad, whose brother, Roopnarine Seepersad, was murdered at Exchange, Couva, last year, visited the grieving family. Seepersad called on the Police Commissioner to organise joint patrols for the district. He said too many people were being killed in the Central region.

Over the weekend — two youths Jakan Lezama, 22, and Abdiel John — were shot dead at Lisas Boulevard. 

Another man Ryan Hercules was gunned down at Enterprise in Couva. 

Police are asking anyone with information on Ramkissoon’s killing to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS. Cpl Jeremiah Rambutan and officers of the Couva police station visited the scene and are continuing investigations.

While Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has assured his drivers will be traversing at the required 80 kilometres on the highways, head of the Police Social and Welfare Association, Insp Anand Ramesar, says there was no provision in law for officers to drive above the speed limit anyway.

In a telephone interview, Ramesar said: “There is no law. Everybody is governed by the rules of the Trinidad and Tobago, without exception, unless the law states. 

“If a policeman is found wanting while driving he will be judged like any other driver in Trinidad and Tobago, including in an official police vehicle. 

“There is no exception. If in hot pursuit then that will be up to a judge or a magistrate’s discretion.”

On his return from a 12-day trip abroad on Saturday night Rowley told the media his drivers would be adhering to the speed limit.

“They had better. I’m very scared of fast driving,” Rowley said, adding his drivers can attest to him not tolerating speeding. 

Constable Brent Batson, co-ordinator of the Road Safety Project, in a telephone interview also said there was no law allowing police to drive in excess of the speed limit but he believed there was a High Court judgment that gave officers leeway. 

Batson admitted his memory of the case was not the best but he believed the judgment allowed for officers, in the pursuit of their duties, to drive in excess of 80 kilometres as well as drive on the shoulder of the highways. 

During last week’s media briefing, communication manager of the Police Service Ellen Lewis said police officers were allowed, in the execution of their duties in police vehicles, to drive beyond the speed limit. 

She added that civilians could drive a maximum of two kilometres above their vehicle prescribed limit without incurring a $1,000 ticket.

One week after Dennise Demming was removed as chairman of the Tourism Development Company Limited (TDC), the Ministry of Finance has sought to clear the air on what led to her termination.

In an interview with CNC 3 last week, Demming, who was fired earlier this month from the post she has held since last year claimed the termination arose “out of a total misunderstanding of the role and function of the board and the boards of State enterprises.”

However, a release from the Ministry of Finance yesterday stated: “The decision to terminate Ms Demming’s appointment was made based on the concerns raised by the members of the board of directors.”

Revealing that the board’s concerns had been outlined in a letter dated April 17 and addressed to line Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, the Ministry said: “In this letter, the board of directors outlined their loss of confidence in the chairman based on several actions/decisions taken, and that such actions exposes the board, its directors, the employees of the TDC... to an unacceptable level of risk.”

In the letter the five board members — Frederica Brooks-Adams; Richard M Duncan; Tonya Laing; Eric Taylor and Davlin Thomas — underscored their loss of confidence in Demming to continue operating as the chairman of the TDC.

They wrote: “The chair has on several occasions acted without the advice and consent of the board, its directors, the employees of the TDC and ultimately the Ministry of Tourism to an unacceptable level of risk and that such actions are not in accordance with good corporate governance.”

Attempts to contact Demming yesterday to ascertain what actions she had taken that were against the board’s wishes, proved futile.

Similarly, efforts to contact three of the five TDC board members to hear from them also proved futile.

Asked why the issue was once again being highlighted, officials from both ministries declined to comment.

The opposition’s no-confidence motion against Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi will come up for parliamentary debate between next Thursday and next month, Leader of Government Business in the Lower House Camille Robinson-Regis said yesterday.

The Opposition last week filed a motion of no-confidence concerning the AG after he successfully piloted the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) bill to passage last Tuesday. The controversial bill seeks to expand the remit of the SSA to collect information on a wide range of matters rather than dealing with drug interdiction only. The SSA has the power of wire-tapping following application for a warrant. The Opposition has argued that the bill violates fundamental freedoms including privacy and requires a three-fifths majority for passage, rather than the simple majority via which it was passed.

The no-confidence motion qualifies for debate 12 days after it was filed. Opposition business such as this is handled every fourth Friday of the month which is Private Members’ Day. Yesterday, Robinson-Regis said the motion qualified for debate any time after next Thursday (May 26)

However, Opposition officials noted another Lower House session will not be held in May again after next week since next Thursday is a holiday. The Lower House will not be meeting on the Friday after that (May 27). Therefore, after that, the next available opportunity for the motion to be debated may be on the next Private Members’ Day, that is, June 24.

On whether the UNC will seek earlier debate (some time immediately after May 26) Opposition MP Barry Padarath said the UNC’s caucus meets tomorrow and will discuss the issue.

Robinson-Regis said the Government is ready whenever the Opposition is with all speakers in reserve. But she noted next Wednesday—when the Lower House meets—is the day for government business.

Robinson-Regis also noted that Friday’s House session will feature debate on the long-awaited procurement legislation which has been reviewed by a joint select committee. The latter’s report on the legislation will be debated and it will be debated in the Senate next week Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the SSA bill is being sent to the President for assent, Parliament confirmed. Yesterday, former PP activist and now “social/political activist” Philip Alexander wrote the President calling on him to “hold his hand” on assenting to the bill pending investigation of whether it really needed a special three-fifths majority vote for passage, rather than the simple majority vote via which it was passed.

Ramadhar responds to Rowley

It was very disappointing that Prime Minister Keith Rowley could only say ‘crime is unacceptable’ and not give a sense of hope that the situation will be dealt with, Opposition MP Prakash Ramadhar has said.

Rowley expressed the view when he returned home from overseas last weekend. But Ramadhar (Opposition shadow National Security spokesman) said, “The PM’s utterance was extremely disappointing in terms of the best that could have been offered by the country’s leader. We’ve always known crime is unacceptable and it’s so atrocious now that people are living in greater fear. So they look to the leadership to send some sense of hope, for light at what is hoped will be a short tunnel, but we’ve been disappointed.

“It requires a more robust effort in terms of police response and it must be ensured that responses received by agencies must also be attended to as sometimes a murder is triggered from small arguments. A breach of the peace can therefore lead to something far worse and if intervention is made at the earliest opportunity, many crimes—especially murder—can be avoided.

“What this does is empower the lawful and law-abiding to know that state resources will come to their assistance, whatever their difficulties. It will also weaken the criminal element’s resolve if they know that every infraction of the rights of others will immediately be met by the full force of law enforcement.”

The reference made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that Opposition Senator attorney Gerald Ramdeen was a “person of great interest” to the State was in the context of an ongoing audit being conducted by the Attorney General’s office.

AG Faris Al-Rawi emphasised that neither his office nor that of the PM had the authority to probe anyone, adding that was the role of the police.

At a press conference at Piarco Airport on his return to the country, Rowley was asked about the concern raised by Ramdeen about Justin Junkere following news of Junkere having a State brief from the AG’s office.

Junkere was one of two Independent Senators who voted with the Government to pass the SSA Bill. 

Rowley, in response said: “I just find it a little offensive to be receiving queries from Gerald Ramdeen. Gerald Ramdeen is a person of great interest to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and I have some questions for him too, and one of them is whether in fact the people of Trinidad and Tobago should support what they represent and to the best of my knowledge this Government has done nothing inappropriate with Mr Junkere. 

“There are some appointments that we make and some that other people make and I don’t know that we are having to answer any questions from Mr Ramdeen, who as far as I know the last time I heard his name he was under criminal investigation, a series of them,” Rowley said.

Junkere’s State brief was received under former People’s Partnership attorney general Garvin Nicholas.

Al-Rawi said Ramdeen and Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge have amassed a bill of State briefs from the AG’s office, amounting to more than $26 million and $10 million, respectively.

Al-Rawi said while he could not give a time frame as to when the audit would be completed he said it primarily focused on the “value for money “principle regarding the hiring of State attorneys.

“It has nothing to do with a police investigation which Mr Ramdeen may be subject to. We certainly have no part in that,” Al-Rawi added.

He said under the last regime some 1.2 billion was forked out to pay for State briefs.

Ramdeen's response 

Contacted yesterday Ramdeen said Rowley's statements were clearly designed to instill fear in citizens but added that he (Ramdeen) would not be sidetracked.

“As to the Prime Minister's statement that I am a person of great interest to the people of Trinidad and Tobago I would like Dr Rowley to know that such statements which are clearly designed to instill fear in citizens of this country will not deter persons like myself who are prepared to stand up for what is right and defend the people of this country from this regime that he leads.

“As to his reference to criminal investigations, certain allegations were made against me which have been investigated and proven to be unfounded and I am confident that the prisongate investigation will suffer the same faith as emailgate,” Ramdeen said.

He said regarding statements of the fees that he and Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge had earned he called on Al-Rawi to publicly explain:

• The number of matters that those fees represent.

• The exposure of the State with respect to those matters.

• The success rate regarding himself and Struge. 

Saying he had very little confidence that the AG would in fact do so Ramdeen added: “I don’t expect that his obsession with numbers would allow him to reveal these statistics because they will again expose his folly.

“The population of this country should now accept that it is the strategy of this regime, led by Dr Rowley, to resort to debasing peoples character when they are unable to answer the criticisms of his government.

“ I challenge the Prime Minster and the Attorney General to deal with the issues that I have raised in the Senate and elsewhere.”

Chaguanas residents say the crime in the area is out of hand and the police need to patrol the community more often.

This comes in the wake of the death of seven people in the Chaguanas community over the weekend. Altogether nine people were killed across the country between Friday afternoon and Sunday bringing the murder toll to 178 for the year.

When the T&T Guardian visited the area yesterday, Enterprise which has been deemed a hot spot during the past few years, was like a “ghost town.”

In a brief interview, residents from Enterprise and Cunupia said they were fed up of the spate of murders in their community.

The residents wished to remain anonymous during the interview.

One shopkeeper from Cunupia said they needed to go back to basics and make citizens had respect for the law.

“Is long time the police not able. They could bring 500 of them and they could not handle it. They trying but it is too much work,” he added.

He said the police made regular patrols but the killings were at random.

Kerron Alexis, son of Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, yesterday lamented on social media about the state of his community. 

“Watch how serious it is in Enterprise now, a community where I used to leave Freedom Street, walk across Bagaloo (Trace) then through Crown Trace. Lime on the (Hundred) walk through Walters (Trace) down Enterprise Street lime on African grounds...”

Alexis said the community was divided and not united.

Head of Central Division Snr Supt Jayson Forde said the majority of the deaths in that division were not gang related.

“We will continue to make ties with the public to gather information and our partnership with them in crime-fighting. We continue with our anti-crime exercises, increase patrols on foot and searches and other crime-fighting initiatives,” he said.

Forde said there were joint patrols in Enterprise, Couva and Cunupia. 

“The majority were altercations and domestic in nature not gang related. We have a 24-hour patrols in the whole division and patrols can’t stop that (domestic situations),” he added.

He said during this past weekend five crime bosses in that community were held for questioning.

“We locked up five over the weekend and a few were charged with various offences. Some went to court and few were released,” he said.

However, according to statistics of the Crime, Analysis and Problems Unit, Northern Division is leading in the number of homicides for the year. 

However when contacted, new Northern Division Snr Supt Rajkumar did not wish to comment.

Homicide breakdown this year:

Total of homicides for the year is 176

Divisions: 

• Port-of-Spain Division: 33.

• Southern Division: 24.

• Western Division: 10.

• Northern Division: 42.

• Central Division: 25.

• Southwestern Division: 9.

• Eastern Division: 21.

• Northeastern Division: 12.

• Tobago: 0.

Murders over the weekend: 

• Ryan Hercules, 39, a security guard of John John, Laventille, shot at Crown Trace, Enterprise. 

• Patricia Fletcher-Thomas, 26, stabbed to death at her Phyllis Lane home, Enterprise. 

• Dirk Ramkissoon, of Chin Chin Road at home in Cunupia on Saturday. 

• Dhanraj Rajpaul, 54, found dead at car at Mt Moriah Road, Welcome Road, Cunupia, on Saturday.

• Gowrie Sankar-Choon, 59, killed at his Persad Avenue home in Mon Plasir, Cunupia, on Sunday. 

• Clint Phillip, 40, of Pineapple Avenue, Valencia, shot outside his home on Saturday.

• Body found at Old Train Line, Bay Shore, Marabella on Friday morning. 

• Lloyd Ramkissoon, 47, and his son, Ryan, 19, at Langusta Trace, Balandra, on Sunday morning.

Police had to be called in yesterday after disgruntled San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) workers formed a human barricade around the vehicles of the city engineer and the human resources manager, refusing to let them leave Skinner Park.

About 150 workers who were protesting the corporation’s failure to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), health and safety issues and the SFCC’s failure to provide their TD4 forms, blocked engineer David Heeraman’s car and HR’s manager, Bobby Boodram’s SUV for about 20 minutes before police arrived.

However, even after the arrival of two uniformed officers, the workers still refused to let either man pass. 

The workers protested at the corporation’s Carib Street Complex from 4 am yesterday but headed to Skinner Park around 10 am after learning both men were there to address Skinner Park workers and South Eastern Ward workers.

Lead by Contractors and General Workers Trade Union (CGWTU) general secretary, Ermine De Bique Meade, the workers chanted and surrounded Boodram’s car. 

When the officers arrived, one of them tried reasoning with the workers, telling them it was illegal for them to block Boodram’s vehicle.

Through the officer, De Bique Meade requested that Boodram meet with the workers but Boodram said he would not meet with them under the circumstances.

After about ten minutes, the workers agreed to let Boodram leave but then blocked Heeraman’s vehicle for a further ten minutes until he agreed to meet with them later in the day. 

Speaking to the T&T Guardian, De Bique Meade said: “We came after learning both of them had gone there to address workers but when we got here we learned they had only met with the supervisor and the checker.

“They also threatened the workers, saying if the work-to-rule action continues, they will send home guaranteed workers and regular workers. This union is not prepared to tolerate that type of intimidation.”

She said the corporation’s March 31 deadline to provide workers with PPE had long expired with no action on management’s side, prompting the first leg of the protest. 

“We are protesting the failure of management to provide stipulated uniforms and PPE to the employees. March 31 has long passed and to date, three-quarters of the workers have not been provided with any PPE,” she added.

She said the corporation had also failed to provide the workers with TD4 forms necessary to file their tax returns.

“No workers have been given their TD4 slip, although the stipulated date to file returns was April 30... almost 1,000 workers have not received their slips. We are giving them until Wednesday to hand out the slips or we will be going to City Hall in our numbers.”

She said the workers were now taking work-to-rule action and warned of the impact that would have on the city.

“If the city is not cleaned the way it has to be, you cannot blame the workers. We intend to keep up the protests every day until management sees it fit to meet the workers and the union. 

“Right now the workers self esteem and enthusiasm are very low because of the way they are being treated and that is significantly affecting the way they do their jobs.”

The corporation’s communications department forwarded a press release from May 4 and stated that its position on the issues remains the same as last week. No reply was forthcoming for subsequent questions sent via email on the issues affecting the workers. 

Police foiled a major roadblock at Mosquito Creek, La Romaine, during the pre-dawn hours of yesterday as retrenched Construtora OAS workers tried to use concrete barricades to block the road.

The former workers arrived at the Creek from 3 am. 

Using a truck they attempted to drag the heavy concrete barricades across the road. However, patrolling police officers arrived on the scene and most of the workers fled. 

Around 5 am, they again attempted to block the road using debris. Police cleared the road before dawn and kept frequent patrols which allowed for a free flow of traffic.

Around 8 am, workers left the Creek and went to the OAS headquarters in Golconda where they were asked to verify their Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) number. One of the workers, Sunil Sookram, said the company has not yet started payments.

“They are telling us they need us to verify the information for payroll,” Sookram explained. He said he was suspicious because OAS had already terminated payroll staff as well as officers from the Human Resource Department.

Ann-Marie Morgan, who also came to OAS to verify her BIR information, said she asked officers when she could expect her outstanding salary and retrenchment benefits. 

“I could get no clear answers. We are asking the Government to liaise on our behalf so OAS cannot pack up and leave the country without paying us.”

Bryan Ramtoole, who worked as a timekeeper, said he was not satisfied with the delays in payment. “If this is a gimmick, we will know and OAS will face the consequences. All we want is our just dues,” Ramtoole said.

Last week, for three consecutive days the workers blocked the Golconda Connector Road and the South Trunk Road over the non-payment of wages and severance benefits. 

They called on Nidco, the project manager, to release OAS performance bonds so it could pay workers. 

A senior Nidco official said releasing the bond before the end of the contract could have legal ramifications. 

Nidco’s communications manager, Ingrid Ishmael, said workers who believed that could be done were misinformed.

OWTU’s president general Ancel Roget said OAS must honour its commitment to pay workers.

He called on all workers to join with the union as it lobbied Government to change anti-worker legislation, including the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and Companies Act. 

Before being involved in an accident that took her life yesterday, Candian Boisson’s kindergarten class was told she was not going to see them next week. Someone then jokingly asked if she was going to die. 

Boisson, 29, of Upper Paramin Hill, Maraval, later left Giselle’s Pre-School and Daycare, where she has been a teacher for the past nine years, to pick up her two children in Petit Valley around 11.30 am. 

By 1.30 pm she was dead. 

Police said the jeep she was travelling in veered off the Morne Coco Road leading into Petit Valley and went down a precipice. The driver, Troy Letren, and another passenger, Dillon Fournillier, 25, Boisson’s younger brother, survived, but are listed in serious condition at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. 

Speaking with reporters at the school, Boisson’s aunt and principal, Giselle Boisonelle, said her niece might have survived the accident if help had arrived sooner. 

Boisonelle added that one of her niece’s arms was almost severed and she sustained a head wound which may have caused her to bleed to death in the overturned jeep. 

A fellow teacher, Sharon Romano, said Boisson was a “wonderful person” who was “very beautiful and was great at arts and craft.”

Romano said Boisson had a good day with her class of three-year-olds yesterday, teaching them to sing for an upcoming graduation. 

Romano added that Boisson’s children were usually picked up by their father and that yesterday’s accident was just “sad, sad, sad.”

Krishna Ramlal’s biggest regret in raising his son, Sham, was leaving him when he was just a boy in Trinidad and journeying to New York in search of a better life for his family.

Ramlal now believes that Sham was starved for love in his formative years, causing him to act out with violent outbursts towards him and his wife, Flora Siewnarine, in his adult years.

Ramlal, 60, was released from police custody on Saturday night, six days after he was detained for questioning in Sham’s death. 

Sham died at the house he shared with his parents from a stab wound to the stomach on Mother’s Day. 

In an interview yesterday, Ramlal had this advice for parents: “Do not miss out on those important years in your children’s lives. It can make all the difference in the world.”

Ramlal said he and Flora had left Sham, then eight, and his sisters—Sandra, 14 and Seeta, 12— with their paternal grandmother to try to make a better life for their family in New York.

“I couldn’t take them with me at that time. I didn’t know where I was going or what I would meet. We were just trying to get a better life for our children, to make something that they would have for the rest of their lives.”

While in New York, Ramlal worked in one menial job after the other, pinching pennies until he was able to make a downpayment on a house.

Things seemed to be going according to plan until Sham began having seizures and blacking out, he said.

“When he started having seizures, he was about nine and my mother took him to all the doctors and hospitals in Trinidad but nothing was working. 

“When he was about 12 or 13 I came home and took him to New York with me to try to get him some help,” he said.

His daughters would soon follow as their grandmother passed away some months after. 

“We were together as a family again and Sham started getting treatment at hospital where the doctors had him on a lot of medication. 

“After about two years, the doctor called me in one day and said that they had seen a clot in his brain during an MRI scan.

“He said when Sham was exhausted, the clot expanded and caused him to seize and blackout, but he told me that because of the treatment the clot would not bother him.

“The only condition he gave me was that Sham should not be allowed to drink alcohol or use illegal drugs.”

But when the family returned to Penal from New York seven years ago, Sham began to spin out of control slowly. 

The death of his eldest sister, Sandra, five years ago was a major tipping point for him, his father said.

“He started with one or two drinks but after Sandra died he started to get out of control. He would come home drunk, mash up anything, curse me and his mother. It was not a nice thing to live with.”

In spite of all of that, Ramlal said he tried his best to live with his son.

“He was my only son, everything I have, down to my last pair of underwear, was Sham’s. I made my will years ago, leaving the house and land to him.”

He said if he could do it again, he would have stayed in T&T with his children.

“Now I could look back and say it didn’t make any sense. I should have stayed here with my children.”

‘I didn’t know he was injured’

Relating his experience on the night his son died, Ramlal said: “We were sleeping and he came and started cursing and beating the door.

“He was playing the radio loud and when I went outside to take it off, he started beating me. I got away and come inside the room but he followed me... I was bending down to put the radio on a chair when he jumped on me and started kicking me.”

Ramlal said the knife which would end his son’s life was on his dresser at the time.

“Most of the time we would hide the knives and cutlasses from him. I guess he see it then and pick it up. We started to struggle for it and the whole time he was kicking me and cussing me.”

The struggle led them into the kitchen area where Ramlal said Sham slipped on a mat and fell to the ground.

“He was holding onto the knife and I was trying to take it from him. When he fall, the pointy tip of the knife was facing him.”

But he said he did not realise Sham had been injured.

“I fell on top of him and suddenly I couldn’t find the knife, so I ­jump up and ran outside. I didn’t know anything was wrong with him. It was only when his mother went into the kitchen, she started bawling, saying ‘Sham bleeding.’”

Ramlal was taken into custody on the same night by officers of the Penal Police Station.

Ten days after the president general of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), Ancel Roget, was offered a 50 per cent discount in exemplary damages if he apologised to the former manager of the National Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd (NP), Geeta Ragoonath, for defamation he has vowed that none would be forthcoming.

In an immediate show of solidarity, NP workers began offering financial contributions which they claimed would form part of the $80,000 payment to Ragoonath (now an HR Manager at Guardian Media Limited).

Standing outside NP around midday yesterday, Roget said he was deeply appreciative of the generous gesture which saw workers placing cash in white envelopes marked No Apology and slipping it inside a black box spray-painted with the words No Apology Geeta on it.

Surrounded by the workers, who were led by NP's branch president, Wayne Leacock, and the union’s education and research officer, Ozzi Warwick, Roget said:

"The workers have spoken and I have listened carefully. On the basis of a firm principle position, this union and this president would not issue any apology.

"As a matter of principle, whether the option is to save $80,000, $800,000 or $80 million, there will be absolutely no apology."

Although the matter is still before the court, Roget declared: "Let them take that and do what they want with it."

On May 6, Justice Vasheist Kokaram ruled that Roget had made allegations against Ragoonath which were “wholly unsupported, untrue and outlandish.”

He ordered Roget to pay Ragoonath $200,000 in general damages and $160,000 in exemplary damages for making statements which he knew were untrue.

Also, in an unprecedented move, Kokaram promised to reduce the exemplary damages by 50 per cent if Roget agreed to issue a public apology within 14 days.

Calling on Ragoonath to apologise to the 68 workers who had been retrenched and were later reinstated, Roget said they were the ones who deserved a public apology from the managers at the company.

Addressing members, Leacock said Roget should not apologise for speaking the truth in order to get a discount before the court.

He said the workers had resolved to contribute to the $80,000 payment as he highlighted the trauma, hurt and pain experienced by the fired workers who had been sent home for a little over two years before the Industrial Court in March ordered them to be reinstated. 

Warwick called on the workers to stand together as he reminded them they were members of the working class who were responsible for ensuring that NP could operate and thus contribute to filling the country's coffers.

Ragoonath responds

In response yesterday, Ragoonath said: “I am disappointed but not surprised by Mr Roget's refusal to apologise to me as ordered by the court. The defamation case I won against him has nothing to do with the dismissal of workers by the management of NP. 

“It concerned Mr Roget's false and malicious statements that I had written a letter to the President of the country, His Excellency Carmona, seeking to have the president of the Industrial Court removed from office because I was displeased with her judgment. 

“This is a not-so-clever attempt by Mr Roget to link his illegal libel against me to a popular cause and whip up sympathy from unsuspecting workers. 

“It is an attempt to divert attention away from Roget's illegal actions. I am not in the least bit surprised at his antics. 

“I expected nothing less from a man whose intimidatory tactics are well known to the nation. It takes a big man to say "I'm sorry" and clearly, Mr Roget cannot measure up.

Ragoonath is currently the human resource manager at Guardian Media Ltd, which publishes this newspaper. 

Possible arrests stemming from the controversial Life Sport programme can soon materalise following a completed audit.

So said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, who was fielding questions from members of the media after speaking at a privacy and law enforcement forum at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, yesterday.

He said the First Citizens’ ILO audit is also completed and that would also engage the attention of relevant officials to determine the next course of action.

“As a result of audits performed in the government sector and institutions, information has come forward and due process has to be followed and that will happen by those who have the responsibility to do that. You will hear about that quite soon,” Al-Rawi added.

Pressed on whether that included the laying of charges, he maintained that due process must be followed, adding it would be up to the police to decide.

“The matter is in train... there are many bits of consideration over these issues, some are civil, some are criminal, some are in other camps. Some are in the Government’s camp. 

“The Government could never intrude upon the work of independent entities. We are not the Police Service and we are not the DPP. We are enablers of certain things,” Al-Rawi added.

On the effectiveness of the Interception of the Communication Bill, he said that piece of legislation led to a breakthrough in the Dana Seetahal murder probe.

But Dean of the Law Faculty, Rose-Marie Antoine, expressed concern over the authorities having access to interception without a warrant.

She added that greatly worried her.

Al-Rawi said there was a lot of confusion regarding the SSA Amendment Bill and the Interception of Communication Bill.

“It seems as if many people had just woken up from a deep sleep for the last five years,” Al- Rawi said, adding that the Act was passed in 2010.

He said areas of the Act must be carefully followed to obtain evidence, otherwise it could be deemed null and void.

‘Right to privacy must be ensured

Deryck Murray, chairman of the T&T Transparency Institute, said: “Corruption thrived in a veil of secrecy” adding that very often secrecy and privacy were often intertwined.

Saying it was, therefore, up to civil society to ensure there was a balance between information being readily available and the work of law enforcement officers, Murray said the right to privacy must be ensured, especially to those who were not the perpetrators.

Regarding the issue of trust he said oftentimes members of the public questioned whether the judicial process was fair and above board.

He added that T&T ranked 39 on the current corruption index.

He asked: “Do we just want laws on the books? We the people who form civil society need to make our voices heard. We need to see implementation.” 

Commenting on 14 people being killed over the last weekend Murray said it had come to a point where murdering someone was now the answer if somebody got vex with someone.

Gail Alexander

The liabilities of Clico have climbed from a reported $23 billion in 2010 to $30 billion in 2014, according to chairman of the Clico Stakeholders Alliance (CSA) David Walker.

Walker confirmed the figure as the new group, CSA, prepared for its formal launch today at Cascadia Hotel, at 2 pm. The group, which involves British American stakeholders, has been in the making recently.

Word on the group arose last month when CL Financial’s (CLF) majority shareholder, Lawrence Duprey, signalled he was heading to legal action following non-response from Government on his proposal to repay the debt owed to Government from the 2009 Clico bailout following CLF’s collapse.

Yesterday, Walker said: “The CSA has been formed to bring all affected parties together to lobby for the end of Central Bank control through a recognition of the fact that firstly taxpayers and secondly all other parties continue to suffer through continuation of a failed policy. 

“We advocate a return to respect for the laws of T&T, certain that a legal plan is the only route to a final solution.

“Our founding document describes the mandate as to restore CLF to private sector control, to ensure that taxpayers are fully reimbursed in respect of the Government’s intervention in CLF and to implement a strategy that fully respects and acknowledges CLF’s contractual obligations to policy holders,”

Walker said at today’s launch the group would be citing the implications of the latest liability figure and dealing with a number of other inconsistencies in Government statements on the issue.

He said in October 2010, the then PP administration said Clico had a deficit of $7 billion: Assets of over $16 billion and liabilities of over $23 billion.

“But in the latest Clico accounts (December 2014), the latest liabilities figure is $30 billion, so after spending taxpayers’ monies Clico owed more than that it did at the start,”

Walker added: “In October 2010, our prime minister told us that rescuing Clico legally would cost $14 billion. She chose instead to execute an illegal plan that cost more than $20 billion. Taxpayers are the clear losers. Every other stakeholder in Clico also loses and the losses will continue until we have legal closure. Our tax dollars should not be exposed to unquantified business risk.

“Even in 2009, at the lowest point in the company’s operations, its ‘traditional’ business was hugely profitable, like every other major insurance business in the country. 

“Now, after seven years of intervention, that has been turned into a loss maker (Clico accounts 2014). Further Central Bank control means unending losses and more pain. It continues to cost us about $5 million every day according to those 2014 accounts.”

He said CSA would be calling on people to join the exercise, “those who desire to see this burden removed from the backs of long suffering taxpayers and others.”

The Finance Ministry on Monday confirmed there had been no sign of legal action from Duprey or any other groups. A spokesman said the ministry continued to be in talks with the Clico representatives and talks were “cordial and functioning.”

The Opposition is insisting that its no-confidence motion against Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi must be debated next week Friday and not next month, since opposition business takes precedence in Parliament every fourth Friday of the month.

Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal said this yesterday following signals from Government that the motion—which qualifies for debate after next Thursday—could end up being debated next month.

The motion, filed by Moonilal, calls for the Lower House to express loss of confidence in the Attorney General and to call on the Prime Minister to immediately relieve him of his portfolio. 

The motion, which was filed last Friday, qualifies for debate any time after next Thursday (May 26). Opposition business such as this is handled every fourth Friday of the month which is Private Members’ Day. 

Government has said the Lower House meets next Wednesday but government business will be done on that day. It has been noted that another Lower House session may not be held next Friday (May 27) or in May again after Wednesday’s sitting, since next Thursday is a holiday. After that, the next available opportunity for the motion to be debated may be on the next Private Members’ Day—June 24, the fourth Friday in June

But Moonilal said, “This is an opposition motion. The day for opposition business to be done in the Lower House is the fourth Friday of every month. And May 27 is the fourth Friday of this month so that is when this motion must be debated.

“The day for opposition business can only changed with consensus and we’re saying this has to be debated on the appropriate day—this month.”

The motion’s preamble states that the AG was aware of the $1.2 billion claim by Petrotrin in 2013 against Malcolm Jones for a breach of his fiduciary duty as executive chairman concerning the failed Gas To Liquid project; and that the AG gave instructions to Petrotrin attorneys to file a Notice of Discontinuance, thereby bringing the legal proceedings to an end prior to the commencement of the trial. 

The Opposition said this effectively “ended any independent, impartial and judicial attempt to bring accountability and transparency to a matter involving $1.2 billion of taxpayers’ money lost.”

The motion stated the AG “has in relation to this matter proffered incomplete and unsound legal advice to the Parliament and the national community and has, as a consequence, conducted himself in a manner to compromise his office.”

At least two imams in Central Trinidad are ready to meet with the relevant authorities including the Minister of National Security to talk about the upsurge in murders and crime/gang violence, as they are fed up and ready for action to clamp down on crime.

The T&T Guardian was told that members of the Unruly Isis Gang in Enterprise, Chaguanas, are constantly instilling fear in residents. There are about 20 members of this gang and they are said to be all under the age of 25.

Crown Trace mosque Imam Morland Abdullah yesterday confirmed this and added that it was high time that every law enforcement officer, including the army and police, got their act together and came into the area to deal with the troublemakers.

He added that joint police/army patrols should recommence but at the same time be stepped up a notch by having the soldiers and police walk the streets.

"We are expecting retaliation for the recent murders but we are hoping that the police come in and take over," Abdullah said.

The imam also called for a security meeting with the relevant authorities.

Also sharing Abdullah’s sentiments was imam of the Enterprise Community Musjid, Taulib Searles. He said he was yet to meet with the relevant authorities to seriously discuss crime and ways of combatting it.

"There is need for conversation. The relevant authorities need to meet with us the community and the leaders and discuss, find the root cause and find ways and means of dealing with the issue that is plaguing our communities," Searles said.

Asked if he would welcome the redeployment of joint police/army patrols in the area, Searles said that whilst it may bring temporary relief there must be a permanent solution.

A community leader, who wished not to be identified, admitted that there were too many stupid acts of violence and murders taking place among the youths.

"They are getting themselves involved in too much stupidness and silliness and that must stop now. Every little thing they want to kill and kill but they ought to really man up and get serious and stop the stupid and unnecessary acts," the community leader said.

A resident, who also wished not to be identified, fears that there will be reprisal killings for the murder of Ryan Derron Hercules, 39, of 11 Circular Drive, Enterprise, who was gunned down on Friday night. He was killed while walking along the pavement at the corner of Crown Trace and Circular Drive, Enterprise, at about 8.30 pm. 

Hercules was the son of Mark Guerra, a former top-ranking official of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen. Guerra was gunned down at his farm in Wallerfield on March 23, 2005.