A man who claimed he was intoxicated when he stole $35,496.95 worth of items from a workshop was yesterday ordered to serve the next 12 months doing hard labour in jail.

Alvin Sookram, 24, who dropped out of primary school at age 11, pleaded guilty to the larceny charge when he appeared before Magistrate Margaret Alert in the Siparia court.

Sookram, who appeared unconcerned by his actions, claimed some men he did not know carried him to steal the items.

However, the magistrate found his explanation made no sense. In reading the facts, court prosecutor Sgt Starr Jacob said on May 9 the owner last saw his tools, including two brushcutters, a welding plant, two saws, a nail gun, a ladder, water pump, a pressure washer, two gas tanks at his workshop at Sunrees Road, Penal.

When he returned the next day, he discovered the items missing. WPC Charles inquires led her to the accused who admitted he and other people stole the items. The officer found one of the stolen brush cutters at his home.

Asked again why he stole the items, Sookram claimed he was intoxicated.

When asked by the magistrate if he had anything to offer as to why the court she be lenient with him, Sookram said: No.”

The magistrate said, “It seems to me that I am more interested in you than you are in your self. That is not a good thing.” She noted that he had previous convictions in 2016 for sacrilege, obscene language, resisting arrest and cocaine. The maximum sentence for the offence is five years hard labour.

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt has announced that his government intends to reopen schools as “quickly as possible,” and to this end students will soon be accommodated under tents to be erected across the island to continue their education.

Skerritt announced that the reopening of schools is being done with the assistance of “a benefactor” who had come forward indicating “a willingness to procure fifteen large tents,” which the Prime Minister said will be “erected in communities to serve as schools.”

He said the decision to reopen schools quickly was two fold: “to stop children from thinking about and enduring the hardship of Hurricane Maria, and to give their parents the opportunity to get to work and restore their lives.”

Having done an assessment on the “structural integrity of several schools,” he said it was found that many were “impacted beyond repair.”

Skerritt gave no timeline for the reopening of schools under tents but assured that the benefactor has agreed to provide “desks, chairs and teaching resources.” In addition he said “hot meals,” will be provided to students and teachers.

In addition Skerritt said “chemical toilets will be imported for the schools.”

The first to be accommodated in the makeshift schools he said will be the fifth formers who are preparing for their CXC examinations, primary school students and the focus will then shift to other students.

T&T and the Bahamas have offered to take in Dominican children at schools and already Education Minister Anthony Garcia has indicated that there is a willingness on the part of many schools to take in the Dominican students.

CXC officials in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday also confirmed that Form Five students from Dominica who agree to come to school in Trinidad, can sign up for the examinations here.

On the issue of security, Skerritt said with the help of T&T, Jamaica and the Regional Security Services, the island’s security needs were being addressed, but he realised that more needed to be done.

It was on that basis he requested from his Jamaican counterpart “a security adviser to look at the security of the state,” not just for the protection of citizens, but also “to enhance security for the private sector to open business.”

The adviser and a team of four he said were on the island “assessing security needs,” to ensure that criminals do not take advantage of the disaster “we have to ensure we can intercept drugs, guns and ammunition.”

Skerritt said he was optimistic that the island’s security arrangements will be vastly improved by next week.

The Prime Minister warned Dominicans at a daily briefing in Roseau that recovery will be a “long journey.”

He said the government was now in the process of putting “a team of economists together to draw up an economic recovery plan.” In addition he said a “national reconstruction team,” drawing on the strengths of international and regional stakeholders will be put in place.

Skerritt said the intention is to rebuild the country “to ensure that in the event that these things happen in the future we will be standing much better than we are now.”

Derek Achong

A group of men attempting to overturn their convictions for the murder of Thackoor Boodram, the brother of drug kingpin Dole Chadee, yesterday called a fellow murder convict as a witness in their appeal.

Shawn Parris, the man serving a life sentence for murdering Dr Chandra Naraynsingh in 1994, was yesterday brought to the Hall of Justice to testify about his friendship with Junior Grandison, the State's main witness against the group.

The appeal centres around Grandison's decision to recant his evidence almost a decade after the group was convicted.

Testifying before Appellate Judges Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Rajendra Narine and Prakash Moosai, Parris said he met Grandison when the two were cell-mates on remand for murder.

Parris claimed that during their conversations Grandison told him that he was forced to fabricate evidence against the group of men.

“When I saw him he was crying a lot and he said he did not want to give evidence and that he was being forced to do so. He said he lied to the authorities about feeling sick. He was crying a lot and he was very emotional,” he said.

Questioned by State prosecutor Travers Sinanan about why he did not ask Grandison why he chose to go through with his testimony during the group's trial in 2001, Parris said it was not his place to ask.

“We know that everyone will be judged at the end of this life. I do not go around casting aspersions on people. I also have my own situation to deal with,” he said.

Asked why he (Parris) only agreed to testify when the appeal came up for hearing last week, Parris said that Grandison had assured him that he would correct his mistake by admitting to lying.

"For most of my life, I was never very good at making a positive difference. I just feel very good right now to know that I can come forward and make a difference and have a clear conscience before God,” Parris said.

The Appeal Court attempted to get Grandison to testify before them but were unable to locate him at his two addresses in San Juan and San Fernando.

In the event that he does not come to court, the group's attorneys would be relying on Grandison's sworn declaration as well as secret telephone recordings between him and group member Michael "Rat" Maharaj, in which he (Grandison) admitted to fabricating evidence.

The appeal continues next Tuesday.

About the case

Boodram, a pig farmer, was kidnapped from his home at Spring Village on December 20, 1997.

A ransom was demanded by his abductors, but 10 days later his head was found in a whiskey box at the Caroni Cremation Site.

Michael “Rat” Maharaj, Samuel Maharaj, Damian Ramiah, Bobby Ramiah, Seenath Ramiah, Daniel Gopaul, Richard Huggins, Leslie Huggins, Mark Jaikeran and Junior Phillip were convicted in August 2001.

Their appeals to the Court of Appeal and Privy Council were rejected, but the latter commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment as there had been delays in hearing their cases.

In the event that the court agrees to overturn their convictions, Phillip would not benefit as he was implicated in Boodram's murder by another witness, his cousin Haile Selassie Amoroso.

To combat rising gang violence in the country which has been linked to the bulk of the 362 murders committed this year, two elite police units have combined forces to focus on improving arrests and conviction of such offenders.

The merging of the units — the Organised Crime Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB) and the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit (CGIU)— will now be named the Organised Crime and Intelligence Unit (OCIU).

Speaking at the weekly police media briefing yesterday acting Police Commissioner Harold Phillip, said the formation of the new unit on September 22 will “realign its responsibilities in an effort to reduce the level of organised criminal activities”.

He said the unit now consists of 140 police officers led by ACP Lloyd Mc Alpin.

Phillip said the unit will be a specialised one and therefore the remuneration for their officers will be greater than their equally ranked peers.

The increase allowances will become effective at a later date, he said.

“This unit’s mandate will be to dismantle, disrupt, suppress and prosecute members of organised criminal groups which have over time arranged themselves into organised criminal networks. The combined resources of this unit in its initial start-up are expected to facilitate its targeted operations,” Phillip said.

Asked why the merger Phillip said after analysing the criminal activities with current police resources, it made “good sense” to pool resources given the responsibilities of both units.

Phillip said the Police Service has made recommendations to their parliamentary representative to improve the repeal Anti-Gang legislation, which he said will be debated on soon.

In a media release issued on Tuesday which announced the merger of the police units, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said the new unit will have a more robust intelligence-gathering and intelligence-led policing system, which will be used to operationalize anti-crime initiatives and raise the current rate of crime detection.

He said that in recent years there has been a marked increase in crime detection from 18 per cent to 31 per cent.

"The OCIU will collaborate with other units of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service; other Ministry of National Security agencies like the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) and the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF); and with other government departments such as the Financial Investigations Bureau (FIB) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)," Dillon said.

When Parliament reconvenes tomorrow there will be new faces on the Senate Opposition bench.

Outspoken attorney Wayne Sturge, former Congress of the People minister Rodger Samuel and Daniel Solomon have been removed to make way for three new faces.

Sturge and Solomon could not be reached for comment but Samuel said UNC Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had indicated in August that the senatorial line-up was going to change because she wanted to bring in young people to give them exposure.

He said he was not shocked and did not take personal issue with the decision to remove him.

"When you are in the Senate, whether in the government or opposition, you are there based on the grace of the leader. They have the prerogative to adjust or change as they see fit,” he said.

Samuel said he had been given an opportunity to serve in both houses of Parliament and was grateful.

The remaining Opposition senators, Wade Mark, attorney Gerald Ramdeen and Khadijah Ameen, will be joined by attorney Saddam Hosein, UNC public relations officer Anita Haynes and business graduate Taharqa Obika, son of this country’s former High Commissioner to Nigeria Nyahuma Menthuhotep Obika.

Hosein was called to the bar in 2014 and has experience in criminal and civil law. While at the UWI Cavehill, Barbados where he read for his Bachelors of Law degree, he was elected president of the T&T Students’ Association and served as the student ambassador to the Vice Chancellor promoting the UWI.

Hosein is currently reading for his Master’s Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Haynes, who has a degree in Government and Politics from St John’s University, New York, also holds a law degree from the University of London and is a graduate of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando.

Obika read for his BSc in Economics at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, and then for a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in Accra, Ghana.

He has worked in banking in the area of corporate and commercial lending and lectured in economics at TT Hospitality and Tourism Institute.

Persad-Bissessar said in a statement: “The UNC’s policy commitment is to ensure and ultimately realise young people’s right to participate and be included in our democratic processes and practices if this country is to achieve its globally agreed sustainable development goals and to refresh the entire development agenda."

UNC Youth Officer Chris Arshad Hosein hailed the senatorial appointments as a step in the right direction for the party.

He said Persad-Bissessar has shown genuine interest in the young people of T&T by giving them a voice on all levels and he is confident they will "represent us well and will conduct the people's business with pride."

The newly-selected Opposition senators will be officially sworn in tomorrow when the Senate holds its first sitting in the new session of Parliament. The House of Representative will sit simultaneously at 1.30 pm to mark the start of the new session before adjourning to Monday when the Budget would be read by the Finance Minister Colm Imbert.

Jensen La Vende

Corporal Roxanne Sealey, who was shot in the abdomen while on duty at the San Juan Police Station on Tuesday, had one of her kidneys removed and has a 50 per cent chance of becoming paralysed, according to a relative.

Doctors also removed her spleen and the bullet is lodged in her spine, the relative said. Other organs were also damaged including her liver.

One of Sealey's colleagues described the injured officer's medical condition as “one foot in and one foot out” as family and friends prayed for her speedy recovery.

The relative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the bullet struck Sealey spinal cord “but there is hope.”

According to police reports, a police officer was cleaning his service weapon when the gun misfired, hitting Sealey in the abdomen and grazing him in the hand.

Public information officer ASP Michael Jackman said an investigation is ongoing and he is unable to say what, if any charges may arise out of the incident.

Last year, PC Prakash Deosaran was charged with manslaughter after his gun accidentally fired, killing colleague Constable Govindra Ramroop.

Deosaran is currently on $100,000 bail as the matter is still before a Point Fortin Magistrate. That incident took place in November 2015 at the Guapo Police Station.

kevon.felmine@guardian

The hills of Tortuga and the opposing Forres Park landfill have been used before as a dumping site for murder victims, but even the scavengers who scour the dump could not bear the site of corbeaux picking decaying bodies of two newborns yesterday.

Couva police detectives were checking with medical institutions trying to identify the parents of the baby boy and girl, believed to be twins, who were found wrapped in a blanket and discarded like garbage.

It was the second case in recent months for investigators as on August 22, scavengers found a newborn's body in a garbage bag in the Beetham Landfill in Port-of-Spain.

A police report stated that around 7 am, a scavenger saw a corbeaux pecking on something. As he walked across, he was horrified to see it was a baby's foot protruding from a soiled grey blanket. On further checks, he found another baby's body.

He covered bodies with a discarded cardboard box and contacted the police.

The bodies were taken to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy, which was inconclusive. Investigators said that in addition to determining how the babies died, they needed to know the age, sex and ethnicity to narrow the search for the parents.

Police said they have already started checking with health centres, hospitals and private clinics to ascertain whether there were any mothers who were pregnant with twins and was due to give birth around this time.

An appeal was made for the public to contact the police if they knew of any pregnant women who may have given birth and the children could not be accounted for.

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Police said they were baffled when they were called to investigate the murder of family man Larry Garcia who was described by relatives and neighbours as "a good man."

Garcia, 31, was dragged off his bed around 3 am yesterday before his killers used a sledgehammer to smash his skull and slit his throat. According to reports, Garcia, who operated his home business selling industrial hoses, was asleep with his wife and five-year-old son at their humble Ecclesville, Rio Claro home. Three masked men forced their way through the front door and attacked Garcia.

As he fought with the men, his wife grabbed her son and locked herself in another room and contacted Garcia's brother.

The victim's mother, who asked not to be named, told the T&T Guardian her other son rescued Garcia's wife and son through another door in the pouring rain.

"When I did learn what happened, everything was done. The rain was falling so heavy, so my son went across. She had called him so he went across to get her. When they got back, he came and said 'robbery, they robbing Larry," the weeping mother said.

One of the killers had taken up Garcia's sledgehammer from his workshop and smashed it on his head and torso several times.

They then dragged him into the workshop and cut his throat. Before leaving, they stole a sum of money from the house and drove off in Garcia's white Nissan AD Wagon. The vehicle was found abandoned a few streets away.

Although relatives believed the attack was motivated by robbery, judging from the brutality of the murder, they believe it was something personal.

Garcia's mother said her son was well known as a hard worker, who split his time between church, family, work and gardening. Police also said robbery did not appear to be the motive.

The suspected mastermind of robbery gang operating in Barrackpore and Penal was killed in a shootout with police yesterday and his accomplice taken into custody.

The suspect, believed to be a 34-year-old man from Teelucksingh Trace, Barrackpore, was fished out a river along Sukhan Trace, Barrackpore near his home.

Police said he and his accomplice were part of a group responsible for hijacking motorists and using the stolen vehicles to commit robberies and other crimes.

Police said that on 12.05 am, the suspects robbed a home in Barrackpore and drove off with the family’s black Royal Saloon.

The suspects then used the car to carry out other robberies in Penal and Barrackpore yesterday.

But with an All-Points Bulletin issued for the car, two South Western Division officers on patrol spotted the car along Manohar Trace, Rochard Road, Barrackpore and chased the suspects.

As backup arrived, the suspects eventually crashed on the roadside. One of the suspects was held while the other escaped and robbed a woman of her Nissan Almera at gunpoint.

PC Ali and PC Tambie of the Barrackpore CID gave chase and spotted the car turning from Manohar Trace into Sukhan Trace. In a bid to evade the officers, the suspect sped off and crashed.

The deceased suspect, who wore a mask over his face, exited the car and ran into a swampy area. As the officers drew close, the man opened fire. However, the officers returned fire and the suspect fell into a river.

A .38 revolver and a quantity of ammunition were recovered from the river. The officers, including ACP Dookie, ASP Ali, recovered a gun, ski-masks and gloves from one of the stolen vehicles.

Rhondor Dowlat

A parcel of land just in front the Riverside Plaza’s carpark in Port-of-Spain has been given to the Port-of-Spain City Corporation by the Government for the construction of a centre for homeless people.

This was yesterday disclosed by the city's mayor Joel Martinez after yesterday’s statutory meeting that took place at City Hall.

During the sitting, Martinez said discussions were ongoing with several parties including the Ministry of Social Development and the Downtown Owners Merchants Association regarding the construction of the centre. He said he will be approaching the business community to help in its construction.

Martinez later told the T&T Guardian that he was being assisted by assisting by a citizen who the homeless close to his heart and an institute based in Miami.

“The homeless have taken over the streets. The Prime Minister said the city streets were like an open sewer. The streets of Port-of-Spain were not a place of pride that is why I have embarked upon trying to find a solution knowing that previous mayors tried and encountered problems that led to injunctions and a court case that is still active,” Martinez said.

“We will be guided by the institute throughout the process. The Ministry has their ideas also so we all will be bringing together all the ideas to try to get everything done in a humane manner and properly,” he said.

SASCHA WILSON

The daughter of Leona Scott who was fatally knocked down while crossing in La Romaine on Monday night is pleading with the police to release the footage of the incident to help catch the culprit and get closure.

Shernice St Clair, the eldest of Scott's four children, said she was told that there was closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the Gulf City intersection where her mother met her death.

Police sources confirmed that there are working cameras at the traffic lights there, but they could not say whether or not investigators obtained the footage.

St Clair, her mother, their friends and neighbours had gone on an excursion to Clifton Hill Beach Resort. On their way back to their Indian Walk, Princes Town home, St Clair wanted to urinate while other passengers wanted to purchase food from KFC, so the bus driver stopped near the traffic lights around 7.45 pm.

St Clair said, "Before we stopped my mother was dancing and having a good time on the bus. My mother was the first person off the bus. It happen real quick. My best friend who is like a daughter to my mother said, 'Ma don't cross that road.' Then right after we hear a bang and someone shout out my mother get bounce down. I jump through the window and cross the road. I see my mother in a puddle of water on the side of the road. Blood was coming out her nose and mouth."

St Clair said a nurse stopped and took her mother to the San Fernando General Hospital.

"I think she died on the way," said St Clair. The accident caused a collision with other vehicles. St Clair, however, said no one at the scene admitted to knocking down her mother.

She said her aunt went to the San Fernando Police Station yesterday for an update but was told that the matter was still being investigated.

"I want to see the footage. I want to see who bounce my mother. I want to see what really happen," said St Clair.

She said her mother, a single parent, had plans to fix her house. Scott's other children are 21, 16 and two years old.

Scott's funeral service is expected to be held tomorrow at the Open Bible Church at Indian Walk and then to the Perry Young Cemetery.

Government is being told to convert the Community-based Environment Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) into “Farmpep” agricultural programmes or divert surplus CEPEP and URP labour into agricultural projects.

These suggestions were made at yesterday’s Government think-tank by economists Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon and Dr Roger Hosein.

Arjoon said CEPEP-URP spending needs to be curbed and reallocated to capital expenditure.

“Convert these programmes to a ‘Farmpep’ for promoting agricultural programmes,” he said.

Hosein suggested surplus CEPEP/URP labour go to agricultural projects or manufacturing. He also reiterated a previous recommendation to increase VAT to 12.5 per cent and increasing tax revenues. If T&T had to tighten systems, increasing taxes must be considered.

He suggested cutting nationals’ propensity to import from 53 per cent to 40 per cent.

Hosein and Chamber president Ronald Hinds both expressed concern at the toll crime has taken on productivity levels. Arjoon said some manufacturing employees couldn’t work late shifts for fear of being mugged. Hinds said people were unable to attend work due to crime or domestic violence.

The devastation caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria in the Northern Antilles has resulted in Sandals resort chain putting plans for building a 750-room hotel in Tobago on hold.

Confirmation came from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel yesterday, following a six-hour discussion with the business community on a theme entitled Prime Minister on Spotlight of T&T’s Financial Circumstances - The Road Ahead.

In giving new details about the project, Rowley said one of the things his Government has been trying to do was attract our nation with a positive, even though some people saw “scandal in that.”

Regards negotiations with Sandals, Rowley said things had started to progress well and head of the Sandals group Butch Stewart was actually planning to come to T&T to wrap up discussions and sign a memorandum of understanding to finalise the mega project.

“And just as that was about to happen…I think the very said day...the day of Hurricane Irma or something like that, the group suffered significant damage to a number of properties in the Northern Antilles and they say they had about 5,000 people on their hands to treat with who were struck by the hurricane. And that had put back the meeting we had plan,” Rowley said

Rowley said he hoped that Sandals “does not lose their interest in Tobago as a result of the Irma and Maria losses and more so by a rejection of this approach by influential voices in Trinidad and Tobago.”

The PM said they are inviting a brand, referring to Sandals, into our shores, but noted that the national conversation for some people was that the country was giving away something.

“I want to make it abundantly clear that the Sandals project we have on the drawing board is not giving Sandals anything. Whatever we give or invest in that project, we are not giving Butch Stewart and Sandals anything. What Sandals will bring is the brand, the labelling and the management.”

He said the Government was aiming to expand tourism and associated with that expansion will be a label that will bring to T&T the benefits as described.

Rowley said the same model that the Government used with state-owned Hilton Trinidad and Hyatt Regency Hotels, they will adapt for Sandals.

“We will be very pleased to be able to put on it a brand that by nature will attract to Tobago certain kinds of responses.”

He said the scale at which they want to build Sandals will have a transformation effect on Tobago.

“Not by just tourists coming to a location but by the economy of Tobago, which has become fairly comfortable without doing certain things and we are aiming to use it to lift Tobago as a Caribbean destination.”

Rowley said he was confident that if we welcome Sandals to T&T it would be a plus for our effort and economy.

“We will do anything that is reasonably possible and doable to keep that as one of the projects we are working on.”

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday made it abundantly clear that when he made his “shut your mouth” statement in relation to his proposed plan to house Dominicans affected by Hurricane Maria on Tuesday, he was not directing this to the public. Rather, he was referring to his Parliamentary colleagues.

Rowley tried to clear the air on his comments at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, hours after he appeared at a Government forum looking at the state of the economy at the same venue.

During a sod-turning ceremony for the Churchill Roosevelt Highway Extension to Manzanilla in Cumuto on Tuesday, Rowley said he had been disturbed by the negative comments his suggestion had brought.

Alluding to the fact that similar anti-Caricom sentiments had almost sparked a boycott of T&T goods by Jamaicans the year before, Rowley had said: “Those now who have a lot to say about what I said about Dominica had misconducted themselves and so annoyed our Caricom purchasers of our goods that we were in danger of losing our Caricom market and all I will say to them is just shut your mouth and let Trinidad and Tobago strive.”

Yesterday, however, some people on social media felt his remarks were un-priministerial, which the media brought to his attention during the press conference.

But in going back to the issue, Rowley said the sound bite of what he said “portrayed what I said in an incorrect way.”

Rowley said he spoke “specifically to the politicians who had put us in difficulty with Jamaica under the UNC. And that difficulty they put us in caused me to have to go to Jamaica eventually and prevent Jamaicans from boycotting our manufacturing goods.”

The PM said these same people who would have seen the outcome of their behaviour then “have learnt nothing, jumped out of the forefront again of this situation and have either encouraged or have themselves made statements which could damage Trinidad and Tobago’s interest in the very Caribbean, among the very market partners. And they are the ones I was saying we would just appreciate if you just shut up and let the country strive.”

“I was not talking about John Public across the board. I was talking to my Parliamentary colleagues who got us into trouble in 2010/2011 and who are again at it.”

BHOE SURPRISED ME

Rowley said he was particularly surprised at Opposition MP Bhoe Tewarie, who he thought was a Caribbean man and who would have been in a position to empathise with what is happening “if only from whence he had come.”

With his shut your mouth statement, Rowley said he has not “in any way put an impediment in the way of anybody’s free speech. I am exercising my free speech.”

Rowley also made it clear that it was never his “statement or intention to offload Dominicans into T&T.”

He said he chose his words very carefully when he urged citizens in T&T who could accommodate relatives and friends from ravaged Dominica if they had the wherewithal to get here, saying Government would facilitate their entry and extended stay as oppose to providing them with cash.

“I think the vast majority of people understand what I said and what I am thinking and I think the response of the vast majority of people in this country is what I expected it to be,” the PM said.

Rowley said following his proposal he was not surprised by a small minority who published “some of the nastiest responses to my comment, which has belittled and embarrassed our country. They are the ones I am speaking to…especially the ones in the political arena who believe that their political fortunes can only be advanced by the nastiness they would encourage amongst our population.”

Hold strain, vary your taste - and cut that Forex use.

With that advice, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday put T&T on notice that Government’s first priority for foreign exchange will be given to firms or industries that generate reasonable amounts of foreign exchange earning.

“If the demand for foreign exchange isn’t curtailed we’ll eventually be forced to live with the rate determined by the market. This is where holding strain and varying our tastes come in,” Rowley said at yesterday’s Government symposium on T&T’s economic situation, titled “The Road Ahead.” Attendees included private and public sector leaders, academics and students.

Although it precedes Monday’s 2018 Budget presentation, Government said the session wasn’t about Budget preparations but about brainstorming on T&T’s way forward. However, he said if anything emerged from the session that could go into the Budget the door was open.

But Rowley warned Government’s revenue collection will be tighter in 2018 and “there’ll be some things which the country may want to happen in 2018 which will have to be postponed.”

Rowley said T&T’s biggest challenge was dealing with the deficit and restoring growth following its “very bad economic and financial” situation.

He warned, “The revenue situation facing us in 2018 remains a very challenging one. Government will be taking steps necessary to ensure it will be tightening revenue collection mechanisms.

“The country, out of necessity, should remain open to any and all suggestions to boost revenue levels. We’re hopeful that today, even at this late stage, useful suggestions can still be put forward, if not for Budget, but for months and years ahead.”

He said new expenditure monitoring systems and a new procurement system ahead are expected to reduce expenditure levels.

“But faced with a possible deficit in 2018 - about $18 billion dollars - further expenditure cuts will be unavoidable. There will be some things which the country may want to happen in 2018 which will have to be postponed,” Rowley said.

“This is where the population’s patience will be important. As we position ourselves to do more with less in the future, we’ll have to hold some strain for now.”

Calling for national efforts to prioritise use of limited inflows of foreign exchange, he added, “We will not be going back to the exchange controls we had before 1993, but we’ll certainly not be using up our foreign reserves to keep the exchange rate at levels which will maximise our imports.”

He said when T&T was in a period of favourable foreign exchange inflows,”if the market called for a big change in the exchange rate, we’d use our reserves and put enough currency in the market to keep the rate at a level with which we were comfortable.”

“However, in this period of significant decline in foreign exchange inflows it will be unreasonable and dangerous to use up our foreign reserves as we were accustomed. This would be paving our way into the IMF’s arms - something this government isn’t prepared to do.”

“The only way in which the exchange rate will be held to its traditional level is if we cut back on demand, bringing demand more in line with the reduced inflows. This is where prioritising comes in.”

Change behaviours in T&T and raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 in order to increase productivity levels.

These were among suggested solutions to move T&T forward from T&T Chamber of Commerce president Ronald Hinds and economist Dr Roger Hosein at yesterday’s Government think-tank at the Hyatt Regency to drum up solutions to get T&T moving out of its economic circumstances and in new directions away from oil dependency.

Hinds said change in behaviours and certain culture was imperative in order to change T&T’s negative bottom-line “figures.”

He said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s proposal yesterday for private sector investment in priority sector depends on changed behaviours. This is because there is a lot of absenteeism and low productivity in T&T, he added

“If that’s (behaviour) left unchanged it will negatively impact on every sector identified for diversification,” Hinds said.

He said diversification will only be successful if issues that need to be addressed are pre-identified and real cultural shifts are implemented.

Hinds said the Chamber recognised there are complex difficult choices to be made, but noted the current culture is inimical to transformation. While acknowledging business was one of the sectors that needs to change, Hinds said it was inaccurate to call on others to change “if you don’t change yourself.”

On another of the PM’s statements, Hinds said the Forex rate is one of the key drivers of the import/export behaviours. He said proper management of currency depreciation rates could contribute to import reduction and lowering consumption patterns.

Citing the “ferry fiasco, he said value for money could also be obtained by changing systems rather than exhortations only.

Economist Hosein said the labour force participation rate was 59.8 per cent when it should be 75 per cent.

“We’re losing potential productivity,” he added.

Hosein said it was time to consider increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 to retain institutional memory and increase productivity.

South Chamber president Dr Thackeray Driver said issues to be addressed to move T&T forward included T&T’s ageing population and increasing the retirement age was one option to deal with that, along with migration of people.

Driver said while gas projects were increasing, Government’s revenue wouldn’t increase significantly.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is insisting his Government has no intention of devaluing the T&T dollar.

However, Finance Minister Colm Imbert says if T&T imports continue to exceed its export we could find ourselves in problems.

Rowley made the comment at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency, following Government’s consultation on the state of the economy, in response to questions on whether devaluation was ahead given the high consumption by citizens coupled with low foreign exchange reserves for Government.

But Rowley said that was not a matter for him at “this point in time” but for Imbert.

“But I am not treating with any devaluation. What I was speaking to was the whole question of how we manage our foreign exchange…it’s availability and utilisation, given the fact that the stream of foreign exchange has considerably been reduced and the short to medium term would be in that situation, so how we treat with it, so whoever is minister of finance in Trinidad and Tobago, that is part of his job. So let us see what he does,” Rowley said.

Rowley said T&T had already borrowed $7 billion.

“And that is…most of it is in foreign exchange. A significant portion of that has to be paid in US dollars. So if you keep on borrowing externally without an eye on how you are going to repay, and you get yourself to a point when that foreign debt is due you don’t have the foreign currency to pay, that is calamity you must avoid at all cost,” Rowley said.

Imbert then interjected, saying he learnt at the discussion that imports had exceeded exports in terms of dollar value.

“That is an untenable situation. The point the Prime Minister is making, we cannot continue like this. If we cannot suppress demand so that the value of import falls below the value of exports, then there would be so much pressure on the exchange rate that inevitably there would have to be some movement. But the Prime Minister was not saying remotely, even indirectly, that there was a devaluation that is going to take place,” Imbert said.

Imbert said we are now spending more US dollars than we are earning and reserves are depleting, while there was so much they can do in going to the international market to borrow.

“We have almost maxed out there as far as I am concerned,” Imbert said.

He also gave an update into the winding up of CL Financial, saying the liquidators were now in place.

“They would now go through the process of an orderly liquidation of CL Financial, primarily to repay the $15 billion of taxpayers money that was put into this private company.”

The total figure injected into Cl Financial was $23 billion, he said.

“We have recovered about $8 billion so we are looking at $15 billion of the people’s money that was put into a private company. We in the Government are looking at what we should do with the assets held by CL Financial group as the liquidation takes place.”

He said more information on CL Financial will be announced in Monday’s budget presentation.

Investigators have identified the suspected ringleader of a robbery gang who was killed after a high-speed chase and gunfight with police in Barrackpore on Wednesday.

Police said Krishendath Ramcharan, 34, of Teelucksingh Trace, Barrackpore, was suspected to be involved in several robberies in the Penal and Barrackpore districts.

Ramcharan's 22-year-old accomplice is warded under police guard and is expected to be charged after his release from the hospital.

Police reports stated around 12.05 am on Wednesday, the suspects held up a family in Barrackpore at their Khanhai Road North home and drove off with the family's black Royal Saloon car. The family's car was then used by Ramcharan and his partner to commit several other robberies in the area, police said.

The stolen vehicle was spotted travelling along Manohar Trace, Rochard Road, by two officers of the South Western Division who were on patrol. The officers gave chase and called for backup. The suspects eventually crashed the car and one was held.

Ramcharan escaped and robbed a woman of her Nissan Almera at gunpoint. PC Ali and Tambie of the Barrackpore CID pursued the suspect who turned into Sukhan Trace. His escape, however, was short-lived after he crashed the car again.

With a mask over his face, Ramcharan exited and ran into a swampy. The police officers chased after Ramcharan who fired at them. The officers returned fire, hitting Ramcharan who fell into the river, not far from his home.

Police officers subsequently recovered a .38 revolver and a quantity of ammunition from the river, as well, as a gun, ski masks and gloves from one of the stolen cars.

Parents of pupils attending the Elswick Presbyterian Primary School who have been forced to keep their children home because of recurring sewer problem yesterday staged a placard demonstration in front of the Moruga/Tableland Constituency Office of Dr Lovell Francis in Princes Town.

They said they are fed-up with empty promises from the Ministry of Education to fix the four-year-old problem and vowed to keep their children away from school until the sewer system is replaced.

Shelly Harripersad, the secretary of the Parent Teachers Association, said: "It has not been working since 2013. Every year we are in this category where we go down (school closes) sometimes for a whole term. Our children are home because of the fact that it smells. The children get upset, they complain of headaches, their uniforms smell of sewage. So we have decided to keep our children at home until the minister does something."

Refusing to accept anything other than a new system, she said: "What we want this time is not repairs again, we want a new system."

Harripersad said last Thursday they had a "very nice meeting" with Francis, who is also the minister in the Education Ministry, and he promised that the sewer will be pumped every week until December when the ministry will change the system.

She said on Wednesday the sewer was pumped but yesterday she was informed that the tanks were already filling back up. She said since the new school term opened the 110 students have only had one full week of school.

"The children education is suffering and if you send them to school their health is suffering," she said. Harripersad said they intend to continue their protest, which they may take to various ministry offices until the problem is resolved.

Contacted Francis admitted the ministry through the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) has made numerous attempts over the years to fix the problem without success.

He said the Presbyterian board has offered land for another sewer system to be built and last Friday officials from the ministry and EFCL visited the school and a report has been compiled.

He said the existing system was a complicated modern system which appears to be venting gases. Francis said it is either the system is fixed properly or replaced with a traditional sewer system.

In relation to the malfunctioning heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system at the Princes Town East Secondary School where parents had protested in front his office about two weeks ago, he said a meeting with officials from a specialist company, EFCL and ministry officials were supposed to have been held yesterday to discuss the problem. However, Francis said he could not make it to the meeting because it was his constituency day.

A High Court judge has ruled that a fee charged by the Fire Service to provide reports to owners of burnt properties is only applicable to insurance companies.

Justice Ricky Rahim gave the ruling last week in a judicial review filed by businesswoman Kalawatie Godek, who had been asked to pay a surcharge of 0.05 per cent of the insured value of her business to obtain the report.

Godek, the owner of a store at Grand Bazaar which was damaged by fire emanating from a restaurant upstairs in October 2014, requested the document in order to file a lawsuit against the restaurant's owner.

In his 12-page judgment, Rahim ruled that the fee prescribed in the Fire Service Act (FSA) applied only to insurance companies.

"In essence, it is a profit-making venture for an insurance company. In such circumstances, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the FSA recognised that in principle the insurer ought to pay a fee for a report which they wish to obtain for use in the course of their business," Rahim said.

Rahim ruled in favour of Godek's claim that the documents should have been provided under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He suggested that the Fire Service should have released it to her as a matter of courtesy.

"The position of a private citizen who wishes to obtain information via the report in an effort to approach the courts to obtain redress for a wrong allegedly committed against her carries with it different considerations," Rahim said.

Rahim ruled that the Fire Service's decision to impose the fee and ignore Godek's FOIA request was wrong.

As part of his judgment, Rahim ordered that the Fire Service disclose the report, free of charge, within seven days. He also ordered the Fire Service to pay Godek's legal costs for bringing the lawsuit.

Godek was represented by Jayanti Lutchmedial and Douglas Bayley.