Once again the girls outshone the boys at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) examinations, as the schools securing the most scholarships were St Joseph’s Convent (Port-of-Spain) and Naparima Girls’ High School, who were awarded 38 scholarships each from the 382 overall awarded by the Government.

“I must say that the boys need to step up to the plate. However, it is not as daunting as it would seem because in the case of boys we have had very good performances by some of our schools where we have our male students, like Hillview College who achieved 29 scholarships...14 open and 15 additional,” Education Minister Anthony Garcia said yesterday.

He said Naparima Boys’ College got 21 with 12 open and nine additional, Presentation College (Chaguanas) 29 with 15 open and 14 additional and Presentation College (San Fernando) secured 15 scholarships with five open and ten additional. (See pages A17, A18 & A19)

“They (boys) are not too far behind, but we would like to see that day that they are also among those who will be awarded the President’s Medal. In the past we had the boys coping that distinction, but for the past few years we have had girls coping those awards. We would like to see both boys and girls doing exceptionally well,” Garcia said.

He said he was pleased government schools also received several schols, including El Dorado East Secondary School, which was plagued by violence in the past, Couva East Secondary, Rio Claro West Secondary, San Fernando Central Secondary School and Signal Hill Secondary.

He said out of the 382 scholarships, 153 were open and 229 were additional, adding there was also a “much wider spread” of scholarships than in previous years.

On complaints of a delay in scholarship payments, Garcia assured this would be done in a timely manner. He described the overall performance of the students as “excellent,” saying it was difficult to maintain the cap on the 400 scholarships usually awarded.

He said while it was necessary to celebrate the students who excelled, the ministry was implementing measures to ensure those who were not up to par also received the necessary assistance, including adjusting the curriculum to cater to special needs students.

Faith in God, dedication to studies and a supportive family have resulted in Veshala Goon scoring a hat-trick for her alma mater, Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College, after she was announced as one of the two President’s Medal winners yesterday.

In an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Goon said when she received the news around 1 pm she immediately burst into tears.

“I was in a store at the time and I start to cry. People were looking at me. I am so overjoyed. I did not expect to win. I didn’t think I could have won a President’s Medal...I still can’t believe it actually. I need a while for it to sink in,” Goon said.

She said she wrote the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) exams in Accounting, Management of Business, Economics, Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies. Saying her goal is to become a chartered accountant, Goon said she wants to further her studies at the University of Toronto.

“That’s my passion. I enjoy studying this. I don’t get bored and I find it really exciting. My dream school is the University of Toronto and I want to do finance there,” Goon said.

She said she also signed up for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) programme and was expected to begin in January next year.

On her formula for success, she said prayer and continuous studies, adding that everyday she would commit an additional four consecutive hours to her school work.

The Tunapuna resident also hailed her mother Parbatee and father Naarad as her pillars of strength, saying their support was unwavering.

“They supported me everyday. My mom would cook for me to fuel my brain. My parents are very hard working. They never made me feel that I was lacking in any way,” Goon said.

On advice to students who found it difficult to cope with studies, she reiterated the key was prayer and having a strong support group such as parents.

“I would tell the parents to talk to their children and encourage them,” Goon said.

St Augustine Girls’ High School Saanjali Maharaj, who was also awarded a President’s Medal, echoed similar sentiments, saying her main focus was putting God first. Already a first-year engineering student at the University of Toronto, Maharaj said she was pleasantly surprised during her school’s graduation yesterday when Education Minister Anthony Garcia announced her achievement.

“I was really stunned and excited,” Maharaj said.

She said she has not yet chosen a particular field to specialise in as currently she is enjoying all aspects of engineering. But Maharaj said her focus was not only on academics, as she urged other students have a balance.

“The key is time management. I play the piano and guitar and also do classical Indian dance. That was really a great balance for me,” Maharaj said.

Her mother Sandra said she was humbled by her daughter’s achievement, as apart from the teachers at SAGHS she also thanked her pre-school and lessons teachers who laid a solid foundation for her daughter.

Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College principal Sonia Mahase-Persad says the school’s success includes a high degree of pastoral care.

“We are not just driven by scholarships. We are driven to getting to know our children. Our teachers go out of their way to provide additional support...be it academic, social...any type of support our children need in order to help them reach their fullest potential. We genuinely care about our children. We do have a very close knit family-type atmosphere in this college and we are investing in the success of the children,” Mahase-Persad said.

She added there was also a strong link with the parents of the school.

A man who killed his brother during an argument over eight years ago has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in prison with hard labour for the crime.

Joel Demas, of Upper Bournes Road, St James, admitted to beating his brother Yohan to death in 2009 when he went on trial before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Wednesday.
Demas is expected to be released in two years and four months as the time he spent in prison awaiting trial for murder was deducted from his sentence.

In deciding on the sentence St Clair-Douglas applied a mandatory one-third discount given to prisoners, who plead guilty and avoid a trial. St Clair-Douglas also took into consideration the prisoner’s remorse and the circumstances of the incident.

According to the evidence in the case, on February 27, 2009, Demas and his brother got into an argument which turned violent.

Demas’ brother sustained serious injuries and died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital the following day.

Demas had initially been charged with his brother’s murder but the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had agreed to accept his guilty plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter.

Independent Senator Ian Roach has challenged Sport Minister Darryl Smith to deal with the “disaster” that is the Hasely Crawford Stadium and Jean Pierre Complex.

“It’s woefully dilapidated and an unkempt disaster—shameful to see!” Roach added in Thursday’s debate of the 2018 budget in the Senate.

Roach said many youths use the facilities, but the locations are lacking, “One cannot talk about laying down infrastructure in T&T and have this situation.”

He said the elite athletes’ gym particularly is in bad shape. “Full of mould, exposing children and coaches to illness. People might come from the US and see these facilities like this,” he added.

Roach said he tried to speak to the Sport Minister several times and although he sees him “posing” for pictures in the media, he wasn’t able to reach Smith.

“I’d like him to present himself at the stadium and take some cement and fix it in the way you like to pose (for pictures). I hope in the next budget debate I’ll be able to praise the minister for getting it done.”

Calling on the Government to ensure funds are allocated to rectify the issues, Roach said T&T’s sports men and women were the people whom many overseas knew more about than the Prime Minister or Government Ministers of T&T.

“I get away from a ticket in the US after a policeman who stopped me was happy to know that the country I came from was the same country as (Brian) Lara’s and Dwight Yorke’s—these are the personalities whom people overseas know T&T for,” he related.

Roach, who said his daughter used the stadium facilities, added that he didn’t want to embarrass the minister, but budding sports talent was being disadvantaged by the situation.

Wheelchair-bound Roach added that proper facilities for the disabled like himself were also absent at the stadium. He said he couldn’t access the stadium for the President’s appointment four years ago as the elevator wasn’t working. He said it still hasn’t been repaired.

“We need to take this seriously in raising policies and making legislation and deal with it to ensure a more inclusive landscape for the differently-abled.”

Roach also called for improved rapport between utility and road repair crews, “I counted 21 potholes between the stadium and my (Maraval) home.”

As truckloads of relief items rolled into Moruga following last week’s floods, it was clear that more than mattresses and food items would be needed to get some families back to living in humane conditions.

As the floods as high were six-feet high subsided, Rural Development and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein and Moruga/Tableland MP Dr Lovell Francis distributed hampers, cleaning supplies, books and other items.

The watermarks on homes in Basseterre and Bois Jean Jean served as evidence of the distress residents suffered for days when the heavy showers began on Divali.

But for some of the impoverished people of La Ruffin and L’Anse Mitan, the floods only made their lives worse.

As the relief team passed through La Ruffin Road, Hosein spotted Devika Lochan and her son sleeping on the porch of her sister’s leaning plywood house. Lochan, 24 and her three children, ages six, five and four, have been forced to cram into the house along with her sister and her three children.

She had to jump out of the porch, as their concrete step leading to the gallery, was broken in half. Even as the relief team tried to give the family as much as possible, the floorboards could be seen sinking.

After breaking up with the children’s father three months ago, Lochan and her family have been sleeping in a one-room shack behind the house, surrounded by bush. She was alone on Divali night when the flood reached into her home, soaking mattresses, clothes and the books.

“I got frightened so I got up and left. The way the water was coming up so fast, I thought the whole house would wash away. I went out the road by my mom. The water was so high and it stayed for a while so I came back home last Friday.

“My sister’s house is still building and how the rain came, it damaged her wardrobe, washing machine and stove that she bought with money she saved,” Lochan said.

Along L’Anse Mitan Road waterlogged foundations caused some homes to lean.

Francis said this was the reality in Moruga which he is trying to address. He said it was the second time in months that they suffered floods, following the damage left by Tropical Storm Bret in June. Given that floods occurred in usual areas, he said more work is being done to increase the flow in watercourses.

In many of the areas that flooded over the past week, affected residents were found living on river banks, near lagoons and ponds. Hosein said many of those people lived there for years and it would be difficult to move them.

“What we are advising the corporations in particular to do is to go out there and if anyone is building on river banks now, talk to them and let them know it is not the right thing to do...The corporations have their engineering and building departments and they will have to get out there on the field;” Hosein said.

Members Clubs and Lottery Workers Union spokesperson Maxine Gonzales who disrupted Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West’s presentation in the Senate has washed her hands from the People’s National Movement (PNM) who she voted for in 2015.

Gonzales said she became enraged when she heard West saying that she had no idea why casino workers were up in arms against the tax imposed which casino owners would have to pay.

Gonzales, who was in the public gallery with other casino workers and fishermen, said she became furious and began shouting across the floor telling the Government senators that they were not hearing their plight.

As she was forcibly removed from the chamber by a police officer, Gonzales said she grabbed a flower from her hair, threw it on the ground and screamed “Rest in peace PNM. You would never prevail.”

Yesterday, former UNC minister Devant Maharaj denied he orchestrated the casino workers plan to disrupt West’s winding up of the Budget.

Maharaj who marched with the casino workers from the Ministry of Works to outside Parliament two weeks ago also dismissed talk that he alerted the media earlier in the day to expect something to happen when West was on her feet.

“That is ole talk. I was at home when I saw the disruption on television. The PNM trying to undermine the credibility of these people. Let them go ahead,” Maharaj said.

Many who viewed the video footage of Gonzales’s reaction on Facebook described her behaviour as “wajang,” while others felt her voice needed to be heard.

Gonzales, 42, said she was not thinking when she flared up.

“People like me doh think...they does just act. I would do it again. And this time my boss would have to look for bail money for me.”

Gonzales admitted she campaigned with the PNM in the last general election and voted in Diego Martin West for Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

“I have regrets campaigning and voting for them. That is it for me with the PNM. The majority of casino workers voted for the PNM. At least now they seeing they cannot vote for them again because they not doing anything for poor people.”

Gonzales said she has been a PNM supporter all her life and never thought it would have come to this.

“This Government has just been playing games with us.”

Asked if she would now pledge her allegiance with the UNC, Gonzales said she would rally behind anyone who will help them.

Working in the gaming industry for the past 11 years, Gonzales, a mother of four, said she found it strange that Finance Minister Colm Imbert has agreed to meet with casino owners.

West in a telephone interview described the incident as “unfortunate,”

Asked if she became scared of the uproar, West said, “I was concerned.”

If the police officers had not responded swiftly, West said things might have tuned out differently.

She said while she understood the workers’ concerns “I think they are being misdirected in terms of who they think is causing the problem for various reasons. I don’t think the person who reacted understands what I was trying to explain.”

West said she tried to explain to the workers that all employers in T&T have tax obligations.

“The casino owners have fewer tax obligations than most employers...and so that their position that they can’t pay their workers because they have a tax obligation, to me, does not ring true because from all indication is that they are earning income.”

While the Government has imposed additional taxes on banks and oil companies, West said, “we don’t see their employees being threatened with termination. We don’t see their employees protesting.”

A group of businessmen, former government ministers and officials facing corruption charges over the construction of the $1.6 billion Piarco International Airport will begin presenting their defences to the allegations, next Friday.

Senior Magistrate Ejenny Espinet set the date after deciding on a new timetable for evidential hearings when the case came up for hearing in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

She decided the preliminary inquiry, which has been before her for over a decade, should be held on Wednesdays and Fridays to ensure that it is completed before she retires in May, next year. However, the move for additional hearings had been strongly opposed by the accused men.

At the next hearing, the accused men are expected to begin calling their witnesses or take the witness stand themselves.

After the defence presents its case, Espinet is expected to rule whether they should be committed to stand trial in the High Court.

The accused men currently have a judicial review lawsuit before Justice Jacqueline Wilson challenging Espinet’s ruling on their no-case submission, made after the State closed its case earlier this year.

The men claim that Espinet was only empowered to determine whether there was a prima facie case made out against them in the inquiry, she made numerous statements on their alleged guilt in her ruling.

Last week, Wilson refused an application for a stay of the inquiry pending her decision.

About the case

The men were implicated between 2004 and 2005 for alleged corruption and bid-rigging in the airport project between 1995 and 2001.

The members of the group are businessmen Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson, former government ministers Sadiq Baksh and Brian Kuei Tung, former Airport Authority chairman Tyrone Gopee, Galbarasingh’s former employee Amrith Maharaj.

Galbarasingh and Ferguson’s companies Northern Construction Limited and Maritime General Insurance are also implicated as parties in the inquiry.

In 2011, High Court Judge Ronnie Boodoosingh quashed proposed extradition of Galbaransingh and Ferguson to the United States to face similar charges.

Boodoosingh ruled that the inquiry before Espinet was the best forum for the prosecution as the substantive crimes were alleged to have occurred in this country.

The following year, the men charged with corruption in the project applied under the controversial Section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Offences) Act.

The legislation gave people charged with specific offences who had waited over ten years to be tried to apply for their matters to be dismissed.

The group challenged the State after the legislation was repealed with their applications still pending.

However, their claim was rejected by the High Court, Court of Appeal and eventually the Privy Council in January, last year.

Students are being urged to make full use of technology in the education process. This advice came from Chairman of the Siparia Regional Corporation, Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, when he delivered the featureShastri address at the Siparia Road KPA (Kabir Panth Association) Primary School on Friday night.

The school held a special celebration to honour Dhana Soodoosingh who placed 26th in the 2017 SEA exams. This was a hallmark achievement for the KPA since the association has only two schools in T&T. Ramadharsingh said students should use technology to empower themselves rather than play games. He urged them to use YouTube to learn about history and culture. "Use the books that you can read on the Internet to educate and empower yourself.”

Ramdharsingh spoke about his own experience of earning his Law degree online. He urged young people to ensure they have a holistic education. "The education is not a true education if its not a holistic education, you are educating yourself to empower yourself.” He said if a person was not well rounded and in good health they would not enjoy the benefits of their schooling. He said the human body was designed to work. He urged students to network and get involved in community groups and projects. He said social interaction was also necessary for happiness and strongly advised youths against following a reclusive lifestyle.

Prof Ramesh Deosaran, former chairman of the Police Service Commission and a member of the Teaching Service Commission, says given public fears and police management challenges now facing T&T, if the right person is not selected for the job of commissioner of police, the country will likely be back to square one.

Deosaran, who is now in San Francisco, USA and agreed to do be interviewed on the priority qualities required of a commissioner and deputy commissioner of police, said the selection for such high-level posts was quite challenging.

Deosaran is the author of several books and articles on crime and police governance.

Prof, from your experience, what are the major qualities a commissioner and even a deputy commissioner should have at this time?

You used the magic word, “at this time”. A candidate's knowledge and experience are basic requirements, depending of course on the depth and relevance of each. But given the country's experience with police leadership and public safety, a candidate for commissioner will do well to bring some added value to the basic requirements, and even beyond that, appear as a visionary to help mobilize and inspire his officers from top to bottom. He or she cannot operate as an office CEO, but at this time, as a field marshal visibly out in the field, at least until public safety and public confidence are better assured. We know about such added value and visionaries—a few are the late permanent secretary and economic adviser William Demas, former UWI vice chancellor Sir Alistair McIntyre, and the late Ansa McAL chairman, Anthony Sabga. These people brought not only added value to basic skills, but passion to the job, a quality that is obviously missing in many important places in this country now.

Don't you think, based on the interviews, that the current crop of candidates can provide such qualities?

I really cannot comment, one way or another, on the current candidates. That is the job for the firm, the PSC and Parliament—the constitutional three-step procedures for hiring the commissioner and deputy. I know the PSC is well-suited to the task, especially with attorney Mr Martin George and his two-term PSC experience and the other attorney who was also a senior police officer. PSC chairman, Ms Maria Gomes, also has an appropriate human resource background to handle what comes to the PSC from the private firm. It will take some skill to separate the tangible from the intangible qualities since both are necessary for these positions.

But again, wouldn't the interview and psychometric tests bring out these qualities?

Look, all human resource consultants, even professors know the value as well as the limitations of such instruments. For example, experience sounds good, but sometimes past experience gives a person some bad habits and attitudes which become difficult to change. Many an interview expert has been fooled. Asking the candidates to respond to “real-life” scenarios may also help, but in the end, the question is really this: Will the hired person really end up doing the job in the way and at the level expected? That is why, if circumstances were different, a probation period of one year with a five-year tenure would be of great help in finding or keeping the right person for this very critical position.

Any other special quality you think a police leader like a commissioner should have?

Well, I again refer to your initial words, "at this time". Given the brazen, violent manner in which criminals are attacking citizens, business owners, old, young, rich or poor and with such impunity today, the country needs a commissioner who is courageous, fearless but not reckless, and one who shows his officers how not to be afraid of criminals but how to take them on by sharpened detection and prosecution.

What about the Police Manpower Audit that you and your committee recently handed to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley? How can that help the process?

As I said previously, I cannot really at this time comment on anything specific in that report. However, I am almost sure that given what the PM publicly pledged and what is in the report, the PM, Cabinet and National Security minister will insist that the new commissioner and deputy not only read but study the report.

The applicants

The T&T Guardian understands that acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams and several serving senior officers have applied for the top post, as well as former national security minister Gary Griffith.

The short-listed candidates have already undergone psychometric tests, which include tests of cognitive ability and personality tests. They will now be interviewed by a panel and undergo other evaluations before a merit list is compiled. The commission is hoping to complete the process by the end of the year.

The last time the commission appointed a police commissioner was in 2010 when Canadians Dwayne Gibbs and Jack Ewatski were given the posts. They resigned in July 2012 with one year left on their contracts. Gibbs was replaced by Williams, who has since received seven six-month extensions.

Senior Counsel Israel Rajah-Khan has written the head of the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB) calling for the Police Service not to allow itself to be "used and manipulated as a pawn" by those with "sinister political objectives and ends in mind".

Rajah-Khan wrote the letter on behalf of his client former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal to acting Superintendent of the ACIB Yussef Alexander on Thursday.

"I write to raise a grave complaint about the manner in which alleged police work has recently been featuring in the public domain through the lips and actions of certain key political figures," Rajah-Khan wrote.

He had twice previously written to acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams to formally lodge a complaint against what he said "is believed to be a political conspiracy" meant to undermine Moonilal's "integrity and reputation".

According to Rajah-Khan's letter on September 1, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley stated that he knew that complaints of criminal wrong doing were made to the police about Moonilal.

And on October 12, during her contribution to the Budget debate, Minister of Planning and Development Camille Robinson-Regis read out what she said was a search warrant which bore Moonilal's name.

Moonilal has since filed a "strenuous complaint" with the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) about this.

Moonilal claimed he was the victim of "utterly fake, fabricated and erroneous" messages included in a court document.

"The said messages appear to be a cut and paste job which attempts to link unconnected bits of exchanges to mischievously present a conspiracy".

In addition to that, he claimed that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi had "deliberately and wilfully supplied incorrect and erroneous information to the police upon which to maliciously procure a search warrant" against him.

Former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal will be served with his warrant soon, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young has said.

Young made the statement as he addressed a People's National Movement (PNM) political meeting held at the San Fernando City Hall on Friday night.

Young again outlined what he claimed was the "cartel behaviour" undertaken by Moonilal, former Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD) CEO Gary Parmassar and five contractors.

As part of the legal action being taken there are text message conversations allegedly involving Moonilal, Parmassar and others.

"It was no interception, it was forensic work that was done on the phones owned by you the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago," Young said.

"The then CEO had a company issued phone which when we suspended him we took and we forensically examined and we found the text messages and the SMS messages and the other messages between him Moonilal and the contractors," he said.

The contractors named by Young were TN Ramnauth and Company Ltd (TN Ramnauth), Mootilal Ramhit and Sons Contracting Ltd (Ramhit), Namalco Construction Services Ltd (Namalco), Fides Ltd (Fides) and Kall Company Ltd (Kallco).

Young said when he raised the situation earlier, Moonilal claimed in Parliament that he had not been served as yet.

This will change soon, Young said.

Young said citizens have to look at the people who are making the most noise now.

"Going forward from this point on, listen very carefully to who makes the most noise in and out of Parliament, the people who make the most noise and who oppose things like the Revenue Authority, oppose the Attorney General's follow the money, oppose the Attorney General's new legislation coming to explain your wealth ask yourselves citizens of Trinidad and Tobago why," Young said.

"Ask yourselves why there are opposition members of the Parliament who are protesting loudest and making the most noise when we come very quietly, very efficiently and very effectively to protect you the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago."

Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh is now accusing the national executive (Natex) of the United National Congress (UNC) of acting illegally by using the National Congress as a rubber stamp as it moves to hold internal elections on November 26.

Singh, in a letter dated October 27 to the general secretary Dave Tancoo, responded to Natex lawyers who dismissed his concern about the legality of the elections before it is constitutionally due as baseless, frivolous and vexatious.

Singh was also put on notice that Natex was prepare to respond to any legal challenge in relation to this matter.

In response, Singh said for Natex to make a final decision, publish it in the press, then go to the National Congress for approval it was procedurally incorrect, improper, discourteous and, most importantly, in breach of the wording and spirit of the party's constitution.

Singh said the release about the National Congress meeting on October 31 was only sent out after his letter on October 23 questioning the constitutionality of snap election for post of political leader.

Singh added, "I would also suggest that it is illegal and in breach of our constitution for the National Congress to be used as a rubber stamp for a final decision already and long before made by the Natex and informed to the membership and the national community.

"At the end of the day, I am certain that the political leader would not want to give the impression that she holds on to power in the party by way of an illegitimately called and hosted party election.

"In the circumstances, Mr General Secretary, I would, in the interest of the party and by extension, the nation, humbly and respectfully ask that good sense prevails and that the Natex and the political leader abort this ill-conceived attempt to have the leadership election called in this manner."

He said they must ensure that election for that important post was conducted with all propriety and in accordance with the constitution.

For the past few years residents of Clifton Towers have been living in an environment of extreme discomfort and fear at their Housing Development Corporation (HDC) apartments.

It isn't the regular complaints of faulty plumbing, deteriorating buildings or electrical problems that bother residents of St Paul Street, Port-of-Spain.

The discomfort stemmed from shootings and other criminal activity, not just in the surrounding community of East Port-of-Spain but in the halls and steps and elevators of their apartment buildings, where illegal tenants, gangs from the neighbourhood, have moved in and staked their claim.

When the HDC attempted to evict these tenants on September 22, they were met with resistance.

Employees of the corporation were later "evicted" by the very same gang members and told not to return.

Graffiti containing obscenities was sprayed on walls and the HDC's offices were ransacked and emptied to make further room for illegal occupants.

While Managing Director of the HDC Brent Lyons subsequently visited the site with police, residents are afraid a situation already fraught with danger will get much worse.

"They told us if the HDC doesn't give them what they want, every one of us will be forced at gun point to leave the building," said one of several residents who reached out to the Sunday Guardian last week.

"We saw people from the HDC came on Monday and spoke to the gang members but no one spoke to the actual residents. It seems like they are bargaining with these criminals and not with us."

Another resident said gang members broke into rooms and apartments and had, in the past, threw people out of their own homes.

"They blast music whole day and whole night. We don't feel safe. Our children do not feel safe. We are under a lot of stress right now. I did not sign a contract with HDC to come live under this condition," one resident said.

"We the legal tenants who are paying rent are at risk. We do not feel the HDC is taking it seriously. We do not feel they are sensitive to our situation. They took over the apartment building. We are surrounded with an influx of gangsters. People cannot sleep in the night. Our children cannot come outside. They have it as a drug trading and gambling spot. People are terrified," added another resident.

Residents: We need help

Residents are calling on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Housing Minister Randall Mitchell to make some sort of intervention on their behalf.

They recalled that it was Rowley who piloted a programme, as a former housing minister, to rebuild East Port-of-Spain.

Rowley did not respond to a question sent via text message to his mobile phone, however during a PNM political meeting in 2013, he was quoted by media as saying as a PNM leader "we have a particular responsibility to the people of East Port-of-Spain for they have a particular problem".

At the time, he said, "This problem is not new, the festering of East Port-of-Spain, the inhumane conditions they live in, the hopelessness that ran down the drains, it was there before and the head of the HDC (Housing Development Corporation) and I, as Minister of Housing, we embarked on a programme to rebuild East Port-of-Spain."

In the past, Rowley has laid the responsibility for dealing with crime squarely on the shoulders of the T&T Police Service.

Senior Superintendent at the Port-of-Spain Division Floris Hodge-Griffith said the situation at Clifton Towers had not been brought to her attention as of Friday evening, but she said she will make queries about the matter.

Hodge-Griffith did not answer multiple calls to her mobile phone yesterday.

Lyons: We will not yield to threats, extortion

The illegal occupants are attempting to negotiate with the HDC.

They are saying: "Give us contracts or else..."

The first act was to evict workers.

Last week, the HDC managing director said the corporation faced similar threats at its East Port-of-Spain offices on St Joseph Road by gang members demanding contracts.

At Clifton Towers, gang members removed property from the HDC office and warned workers of their takeover.

At St Joseph Road, HDC workers were chased off the corporation's property, as gang members forcibly took keys to the HDC's office on the premises.

Lyons, during interviews with the Guardian said the HDC will not bend to thuggery, banditry or what he considered "threats of terrorism".

Lyons said he had been informed that the gangs were demanding contracts for work in their areas but the HDC would not tolerate the abuse of its employees or any sort of thuggery.

"If they are serious about wanting work then they are free to apply for work if they are law-abiding citizens."

He said the HDC had a pre-qualification exercise ongoing for petty contractors.

"Anybody interested should go through the well established procedures because we are saying we will not stand for that and we will not give into that kind of behaviour."

Told of the concerns raised by residents, Lyons said he did have a conversation with the men who evicted the HDC tenants, along with police, but that he had no intention of negotiating with gangsters.

"We are working closely with TTPS on that matter of criminals and criminal activity. I make direct contact with the police and they respond immediately. We will not yield to thuggery, gangsterism and extortion."

He said while the HDC did not provide security to the communities as HDC communities were public spaces, the corporation relied on the residents "looking out" and the TTPS providing as much support as possible.

"It is a challenge. We went in and dealt with that (Clifton Towers illegal tenants) and as soon as we left they moved back and vandalised the space."

Lyons said the HDC was still working with the police to deal with the matter.

Mitchell: HDC working with police to end criminality

In response to questions from the Guardian, Housing Minister Randall Mitchell said the HDC was treating these incidents with the "seriousness and urgency" that was required and were working with the State’s security agencies to bring an end to the criminality and ensure public order and security prevailed at its housing estates.

Asked about the government's policy regarding gangs requesting contracts, Mitchell said the laws of T&T and the HR policies continued to prevail.

"While it may have been happened under the past administration, the HDC will now not respond to any thuggery in a way to reward the protagonists with employment or contract work so as to appease the criminal element."

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan is being asked to expedite repairs to two landslides in south Trinidad which is likely to get worse with more rainfall.

One of the landslides has already forced the closure of Murray Trace, Siparia.

The Ministry of Works on Friday published a notice in the newspapers notifying the public

that the road between LP 8 and A8 has been closed until further notice. "The alternative routes in and out of Siparia shall be via Timital Trace, Saltmine Trace and via Grell Street and Gambal Street respectively," the notice stated.

However, along the Siparia Old Road, which is also an alternate route that connects Fyzabad to Siparia, there is another major landslide.

Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe said he visited Old Siparia Road, near Robert Hill, on Friday. "There is a considerable amount of slippage of the land. The area has been cordoned off for the safety of the public. It has been

brought to the attention of the Ministry of Works." He said the slippage occurred about three days ago. "I call upon the Minister of Works and Transport to expedite the repair work on the landslides because any further rainfall could threaten the integrity of the roadway."

Development Economist and activist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh says there is no doubt in his mind that flooding in south Trinidad will worsen.

Following massive flooding in areas of south and east Trinidad last week and questions raised on digital media regarding the effect of construction projects in those areas, the Guardian met up with Dr Kublalsingh, who spent years of his life warning about the dire consequences of constructing the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension project without a hydrology report.

Hydrology is the science that encompasses the occurrence, distribution, movement and properties of the waters of the earth and their relationship with the environment within each phase of the hydrologic cycle. It is all about water.

Kublalsingh, who along with the Highway Re-route Movement (HRM) group is still part of a court matter regarding a specific section of the highway, said it was obvious that this level of flooding would have happened.

He met recently with Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan and got from him a commitment to facilitate consultation with the HRM in moving forward on the Debe to Mon Desir section of the highway.

"There is no doubt in my mind that it will get worse, I wouldn't have gone on a hunger strike or taken those extreme measures unless I understood the magnitude. The people on the ground were telling me about it.

"I knew for a fact it would get to this point and it is worse because the people have been left stranded because the government agencies and local government are not working properly. They don't have the technology or capacity to deal with this, that is very clear. So the community is left on its own and they have to help each other," Kublalsingh said.

Kublalsingh's protests for more than five years focused on lobbying the then People's Partnership government to re-route the highway extension to Point Fortin, avoiding the route from Debe to Mon Desir.

'They did not do a hydrology report, flooding will get worst'

That highway route passes through the Oropouche Lagoon, also called the South Oropouche Basin.

This basin extends from the Gulf of Paria for nine miles and stretches in all directions but it extends more towards the east, from the Gulf of Paria to Barrackpore, going all the way to Mohase Road, Rochard Road, Moruga, and coming back to the east going to Barrackpore Number Two.

Rivers come through Fyzabad, Siparia and Penal, areas which have rivers that flow and come towards the heart of the Oropouche Lagoon and find its way to the sea.

He started the interview last week by pointing out that part of increased flooding had to do with changing weather patterns but said another serious part of it was the contentious highway.

"It is different, extreme weather and a lot of the glacier ice in the Andes have melted. There is a lot of water in the system and it has to go somewhere so it is causing extreme flooding.

"From now you will find more flooding, more landslides, more inundation of coastal areas and that is something we will have to brace for, scientifically."

His concern though is the highway extension.

"They were relying on the contractors to do a hydraulics without the benefit of a hydrology report so basically they were putting the cart before the horse."

He said while the previous government had facilitated the Armstrong report they had not done a hydrology report. "We asked the Government to discontinue work until that is done but they went ahead despite that. To me, it meant a small group of technocrats, key ministers they all acted negligently and mislead the people.

"That is what has been happening to the people of Barrackpore, Woodland, Penal, Debe, and Siparia."

He said it was now evident that the flow of water in the basin had altered.

"When the tide is high the water has nowhere to go. The tide is pushing up the rivers, the water has nowhere to go so it spreads laterally bursting its banks. If they had looked at the science, things could have been done to avoid some of this.

"I'm not saying not to build, but you have to mitigate it by proper hydraulics. We have been sacrificed to the ambitions of a few politicians and a few contractors and the people were left to suffer."

Our aim is to take precautions to mitigate flooding—Sinanan

In an interview last week, Works Minister Rohan Sinanan said he would not doubt Kublalsingh's observation that work on the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension could have been a contributing factor to excessive flooding.

Noting that if nothing was done, the flooding could worsen in time, Sinanan said it was a "serious change in weather patterns" and a lot of infrastructural work that would have gone on by developers, whether residential or otherwise, which would have resulted in the worsened floods.

He said the ministry was looking at all factors with an aim to take precautions to mitigate flooding.

The review of studies, which is being conducted by Nidco and consultant engineers, would look at whether the highway is passing through any water channels and look at ways to decrease or remove adverse effects.

He also said in the last few years at Mosquito Creek, there was a breach and a lot of water came in from the mangrove.

"You had a significant amount of water coming in from the mangrove and at high tide. The pumps in the area were not able to pump that volume of water."

He said the reason the water was able to decrease at that location was that Nidco repaired the breach and brought in more pumps to get the water out.

"Yes there is a problem on the creek, and once that section of the highway is completed we believe there will be fewer problems."

Consumers are raising concerns about a new trend by retailers and restaurants to round off prices to the nearest dollar, overcharging them for goods.

The trend has been reported to the Consumer Affairs Division and the division said it was not aware of any legal guidelines allowing businesses to charge consumers more than the stated cost of items.

Last week, Guardian reader Samantha* sent in a copy of her receipt for a $111.25 purchase she made at a popular food store.

Choosing to pay with her credit card, Samantha noticed that the outlet had charged her $112. When she queried the charge, she was told that the establishment was following the rules set out by the Central Bank, following the announcement of the discontinuation of one-cent pieces.

To Samantha, it did not't make sense. She felt that if she was paying with a card, it should not apply, and even if it did, why not round it off to the nearest five-cent piece as opposed to the next dollar.

Communications Manager at the Ministry of Trade Cassie Ann James looked at Samantha's receipt and in an emailed response to questions from the Guardian said the receipt submitted reflects that payment was made by VISA card.

"Paragraph 7(b) of the Central Bank Rounding Guidelines states that “Rounding will not apply…to payments made using non-cash methods such as cheques or electronic payments including, but not limited to, debit, credit or prepaid cards. Therefore it appears that rounding was not required for the particular transaction," James said.

James said the division had received a few complaints regarding the issue and those consumers were advised of the “Rounding Guidelines.”

"The concerns were raised primarily due to the absence of awareness that the procedure had been affected. The division subsequently sensitized those consumers and also made the information available on its Facebook page. This information is also included in its public lectures where possible," James said.

She said knowledge was power and consumers can protect themselves through education or seeking guidance from the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago or the Consumer Affairs Division at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Central Bank guidelines

Since July 1, the Central Bank ceased issuance of one-cent coins and announced that it intended to withdraw the one-cent coin from circulation and, in due course, the one-cent coin will no longer be legal tender.

Nicole Crooks, communications manager at Central Bank, responding to questions from the Guardian, said as a consequence of the Central Bank's decision, over time, there will be fewer coins in the system and price rounding on cash transactions would be required.

"When the one-cent coin is demonetized, regulations will be introduced to mandate and enforce rules on rounding. Until such time, these voluntary guidelines are intended to assist the public with the transition.

According to the Central Bank — "A vendor/consumer who wishes to round must obtain the agreement of the consumer/vendor before proceeding with the transaction or before applying the rounding guidelines.' This is to be adhered to during what the Central Bank states as the transition period defined as “…the period prior to the introduction of Regulations on rounding".

The rounding guideline provided by the Central Bank also advocates a system of rounding which makes the necessary adjustment on total cash payments both upwards and downwards in the absence of the one-cent coins.

In such circumstances, payments ending in 1 and 2 cents are to be rounded down to 0 cents; 3 and 4 cents rounded up to 5 cents; 6 and 7 cents down to 5 cents, and 8 and 9 cents rounded up to 10 cents.

The Central Bank has encouraged vendors and consumers to accept the rounding of the final amount of any cash payment or change owed in a consistent and transparent manner.

The Central Bank circular said the vendor must come to an agreement with the consumer prior to proceeding with any transaction.

In situations where a vendor wishes to round but the consumer does not agree, the vendor should provide exact change to the consumer.

The Central Bank also said that rounding should only apply to cash payments and to the total amount of the bill.

SITUATIONS WHERE ROUNDING WILL NOT APPLY

According to the Central Bank circular, rounding will not apply where a consumer has one-cent coins available and can tender the exact amount payable to the vendor in cash as the one-cent coin remains legal tender.

- To payments made using non-cash methods such as cheques or electronic payments including, but not limited to, debit, credit or prepaid cards.

-To individual prices of a good or service and, as such, prices on individual items need not to be changed; and

-To duties, taxes or charges, which are to be calculated in their exact amount prior to rounding.

He took some time after the surprise announcement of early UNC leadership polls, but former PP minister Vasant Bharath will challenge UNC Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar—yet again—for the party leadership.

He said he has the support of some UNC MPs—though he is not calling names.

“I have every intention of contesting in a legal, legitimate contest, whenever held,” he said yesterday responding to questions.

It will be Bharath’s second bid after badly losing a leadership fight to Persad-Bissessar in 2015. She obtained over 18,000 votes; UNC MP Roodal Moonilal got approximately 1,800 votes; and Bharath, 1,500.

“People may say why try again—and I do have other options—but a result like that wouldn’t daunt you once national interest is truly at heart.”

Bharath said earlier this year that he would contest the leadership in next year’s expected poll. After last week’s surprise announcement to push it earlier together with the November 26 National Executive elections, he has weighed the situation.

Yesterday, ahead of Tuesday’s UNC congress to ratify the dates, he said he was watching that outcome.

“But when I contest, it will be with a slate contesting the executive. I’m assembling a team with the required experience to take the party out of the mess it’s found itself in.

“We need to rebuild from UNC’s questionself-inflicted wounds to present a genuine alternative to the current Government. The UNC lost six elections—five in government, one out of office.

It’s highly unlikely the same leadership can win again. Nor has the current executive done anything to rebuild the party’s institution or representation.

“There are also serious allegations levelled against some former government ministers which place the party under further negative scrutiny.”

Bharath said, “My team has quality and expertise, a group of competent people, of like mind, with country and party at heart.

“If I lose, my intention is always to stay with UNC and build the party—I’m a lifetime member.”

Bharath said he has been traversing T&T and has built support in the last nine months. He met constituencies up to last Friday.

“I’ve been to most hardcore heartland UNC areas—with eligible voters—Naparima, Barrackpore, Oropouche, Chaguanas West, Princes Town, Sangre Grande.

“There are many angry, frustrated activists plus MPs who are silently disenchanted. The current leader might seem popular, but it’s uncertain the East-West corridor agrees.”

Bharath said “the party and executive haven’t done enough to convince people they’re a credible alternative at this point. This isn’t to say they might be in two years—but not at this time.

UNC’s policy can’t be to sit and wait until the PNM collapses and be forced down people’s throats as the only alternative.

“The 20 to 40 year olds are very concerned about their future. I’m at UWI a lot. Many who talk to me see the PNM and UNC being as bad as each other.

“They keep asking for something to hope for, they don’t want to vote for either party. My team will be presenting a plan to run T&T—from the economy to other areas.

“The business community is also very disenchanted with Government ‘s unsuccessful efforts grappling with new forms of income generation, business expansion and job creation. I have a good relationship with the community and have met many groups over the last year.”

On UNC MP Ganga Singh challenging the process of expediting the leadership poll, he said, “If you don’t respect your own constitution, how will you respect that of the State’s? The change of date will be viewed as an instrument of political expediency and self-preservation and serve to enforce a negative view of politicians as self-serving.

“The situation gives credence to Dr Moonilal’s concerns in the last election that the executive might go to any lengths.”

Reinforcing his concern, he said while touring constituencies, he met people with multiple party cards.

Ganga’s not alone— Tuesday’s meeting in question

While majority MP support emerged for Persad-Bissessar following Singh’s concerns, the Chaguanas West MP was not alone in that.

Cumuto-Manzanilla MP Christine Newallo-Hosein shared certain concerns.

She said, “The question of supporting the political leader doesn’t arise here. This issue is about the PROCESS and adhering to UNC’s constitution. It’s not about who you’re supporting but WHAT are we supporting and how we go about the matter.

“So I’m perturbed that MPs and by extension the membership are being asked to choose a side and a personality.

“The constitution shouldn’t serve the convenience of any member. As such, one ought not to arbitrarily amend any aspect unless having the process of meeting with congress member on a recommendation.

“I don’t know if Tuesday’s congress is being called to amend the constitution. However, UNC’s constitution states there will be one congress annually—which was held recently—and at that congress, no recommendation on the current issue was raised.

“So do we breach the constitution by convening another congress to ratify an unlawful action? “I’ve always made my voice heard. Those on the inside know. We must NEVER allow fear to cloud our judgment as this may cause hasty decisions that could affect the lives of generations to come.

“I wouldn’t want the outpouring of goodwill received due to the Government’s incompetence to be eroded because we as a party didn’t follow our party’s constitution.

Volney: Foolish for Bharath to contest

Former UNC St Joseph MP Herbert Volney, who left UNC and is now with “We the People” lobby group, claimed via social media, UNC moved (Tuesday’s) congress to Persad-Bissessar’s constituency so her members “would outvote opposition to amend UNC Constitution.

“That doesn’t necessarily legalise the flawed decision on the leadership election—a decision that’s void ‘ab initio’.”

He said it was foolish for Bharath to contest as this would “legitimise an incurable abrogation of UNC’s constitution”.

“The term of the political leader ends in 2018 and if litigated a court is unlikely to support any ex post facto attempt to legitimise an act that is void ab initio.”

A political analyst has rated former minister Vasant Bharath’s chances of contesting and winning the leadership of the United National Congress (UNC) as not very good.

“I think his chances of winning are not very good though I commend his determination to offer the electorate an alternative. It’s what democracy is about. So two steps forward in that regard,” said political analyst Indera Sagewan-Alli.

She said not much has changed in the dynamic of who makes up the core voters since the last internal elections to give him a fighting chance this time.
“Mr Bharath has corridor appeal but not sufficient belt appeal and unfortunately for him, it is the belt that casts the vote around,” she said.

She also views the decision by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to call an early election as a strategic one.

“It ensures that she is the leader going into the next general election and saves her sweat over untoward issues between now and the constitutionally due election. Let’s say for example there is another by-election between now and then and her party loses, she would come in for harsh criticism. This way she has secured her position until after the election.”

Sagewan-Alli believes Persad-Bissessar also senses dissension amongst not-so-long-ago loyalists and she is protecting her throne against possible uprising.

She said: “Already we have heard voices against the early election from those perceived to be her faithfuls.” However, whether this is in the best interest of party politics is another issue for discussion.

Persad-Bissessar is trying to validate her position

Meanwhile, political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath believes Persad-Bissessar is trying to validate her position by calling early election.

“She is ensuring that should she win this election this would silence all her opposition within the party since she would have claimed her mandate comes not from a few members of the executive rather it would have come from the mass membership of the party. She wants to validate herself and stave off any challenges to her leadership,” Ragoonath said.

A total of $63.9 million has already been spent at the Aviation Campus of the University of T&T (UTT) in Camden, Couva. However, the future of the agency seems to be hanging in the balance since there has been no allocation this fiscal year for its operations.

According to the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) 2018, the entire $10 million allocation has been expended towards outstanding commitments for works completed under the project UTT Camden which started over four years ago.

Even with the existence of this million-dollar facility, classes for the BSc in Aviation Technology and Management and a certificate programme in Aviation Management and Maintenance are being held at the UTT’s Point Lisas campus.

Students, however, go to the hangar at Camden, Couva (which houses a Boeing 727, a Sikorsky helicopter and a Cessna 310), to do practicals. The students are unable to stay for more than two hours per session because there are no toilet facilities, water, classrooms or furniture in the hangar. A UTT source said furniture and equipment had been purchased and delivered for the outfitting of the building but there was none in the hangar. Instructors have been forced in some instances to purchase tools to train students.

Practicals, according to Education Minister Anthony Garcia, were being conducted at Caribbean Airlines Limited and the National Helicopter Services Limited in Couva.

Garcia said that “barring unforeseen circumstances, the students are scheduled to be relocated to the Aviation Campus in the second term of the academic year, 2018”.

‘It has potential to be flagship of UTT’

The UTT source said concerns were growing over the institute’s future as it had the potential “to be the flagship of UTT, attracting foreign students for aviation approved engineering training and to earn forex. The hangar can become an approved maintenance facility for the regions ATR fleet, the 3,000-foot runway can become a revenue earner for landing fees…we can have a daily Tobago flight from that runway…there is a weather station down there that can back up Piarco...think about the possibilities”.

Former minister of tertiary education Fazal Karim questioned why monies were not allocated towards the campus in this year’s budget since its main objective was to provide a holistic approach for enhancing the supply of training and education in aviation geared towards bolstering the industry.

“It is strategically positioned to provide the requisite skills and training necessary for the development of Trinidad’s second international airport that will create jobs, increase the much needed inflows of foreign exchange, diversify the economy and improve our competitiveness globally. I truly believe the Aviation Campus can contribute significantly to our country’s economic development,” Karim said.

Karim has called upon UTT to move expeditiously to connect electrical power, water and sewer systems to allow for the immediate use of the facility for training and revenue generation. He is also calling on the university to seek international accreditation for the aviation campus to allow it to attract foreign students and investments.

He said the 20-plus students who graduated in 2016 were now employed at Caribbean Airlines, National Helicopter Services, Briko Air Services, Bristow Air Services and the T&T Air Guard.

Karim said the aviation programme turned out to be one of the most popular programmes offered by the UTT. The decision to offer that programme, he said, was supported by a labour market study done by the National Training Agency on the needs of the aviation industry.

Questions sent to both UTT’s Chairman of the Board of Governors and Deputy Chairman, Prof Kenneth Julien and Prof Clement Imbert, respectively, on the current status and future plans of the campus were not answered.

Students are being urged to make full use of technology in the education process.

This advice came from Chairman of the Siparia Regional Corporation, Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, when he delivered the feature address at the Siparia Road KPA (Kabir Panth Association) Primary School on Friday night.

The school held a special celebration to honour Dhana Soodoosingh who placed 26th in the 2017 SEA exams.

This was a hallmark achievement for the KPA since the association has only two schools in T&T.

Ramadharsingh said students should use technology to empower themselves rather than play games.

He urged them to use YouTube to learn about history and culture.

“Use the books that you can read on the Internet to educate and empower yourself.”

Ramdharsingh spoke about his own experience of earning his Law degree online. He urged young people to ensure they have a holistic education.

“The education is not a true education if its not a holistic education, you are educating yourself to empower yourself.”

He said if a person was not well rounded and in good health they would not enjoy the benefits of their schooling.

He said the human body was designed to work.

He urged students to network and get involved in community groups and projects.

He said social interaction was also necessary for happiness and strongly advised youths against following a reclusive lifestyle.