The skeletal remains found by a dog in Valencia last Saturday were those of 18-year-old Brandon Thomas.

Thomas was identified through his dental records by relatives who visited the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday. His autopsy revealed he was chopped and stabbed in the head and chest before his body was buried in a shallow grave.

Thomas, of Oropouche Road, Valencia, was reported missing in January.

According to police reports, a woman was fishing near a bamboo patch in a trace off Valencia Road last Saturday, when her dog brought a bone believed to be that of a human. The woman and other relatives later traced where the dog came from and found the skeletal remains. She then called police.

In two unrelated incidents, homicide officers are investigating the murder of a Morvant man found on the kitchen floor of his home on Saturday.

According to reports, around 2 am residents of Calvary Hill, Morvant, heard gunshots coming from the home Justin Eustace Phillip. Around 11 am, after not seeing him for the day, residents went to his home and found Phillip, 31, dead in his kitchen with gunshot wounds.

In another killing, Hughie Lopez, of Upper Pashley Street, Laventille, died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital around 10.45 pm Saturday, after being shot several times about the body. 

Police said they found Lopez in a track off the side of the road after they were called to the ares by residents who had heard gunshots.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses has cleared Immigration officials of any wrongdoing in the recent deportation of 12 Jamaican nationals after reviewing a report sent to him on the cases.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Moses said he also found the Immigration officials took the appropriate action as the visiting Jamaicans had failed to show their ability to sustain themselves in T&T.

“I have no reason to doubt that they would have been provided with meals, water and other provisions to make them comfortable and also allowed to leave the following morning,” Moses said.

Asked if diplomatic relations between T&T and Jamaica were nevertheless hurt by the incident, Moses replied: “The close bond relationship continues. We have been having ongoing conversations and it will continue favourably.”

Moses was expected to meet with Jamaican officials late yesterday afternoon.

The report, sent to Moses on Tuesday by the Immigration Division, had cleared all Immigration officers who were on duty at the Piarco International Airport on March 21, the day the Jamaicans arrived via two separate flights.

On their return to their country, however, the Jamaicans turned to social media claiming they were ill-treated and made to lie on the cold ground to sleep and also were refused food and water.

They called on their compatriots to boycott visiting T&T and using any of its products as a result of their treatment. 

However, a senior official at the Immigration Division had told the T&T Guardian that after an internal probe no officer was found to have acted irresponsibly or in a discriminatory manner towards the Jamaicans.

Rather it was found that the Jamaicans were not admissible based on their declarations and on interviews conducted by Immigration officers.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, communications specialist for Caribbean Airlines, Dionne Ligoure, also assured that once the people were refused entry to the country and placed in the care of the airline, “Caribbean Airlines does all possible to ensure they are treated just as they treat all our valued customers.”

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Bill will result in an onslaught on the constitutional rights of not only citizens but visitors to T&T as well.

She said so during a news conference following a parliamentary caucus at her office at Charles Street, Port-of-Spain. 

The legislation, which was presented for debate by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi recently, seeks to give the SSA more powers and will allow for phone tapping without a warrant. Debate on the legislation is expected to resume in the House of Representatives this afternoon.

Yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said while the Opposition understood the need to support crime- fighting legislation, the measure must have the required checks and balances. 

The former prime minister said there was little national commentary on the legislation and that situation should change as the provisions in the Bill would breach privacy rights of “every citizen and even non-citizens who may be visiting Trinidad and Tobago.”

According to Persad-Bissessar, the SSA bill will impact on every citizen “whether you are a businessman, a husband or wife, media personnel, politicians, trade unionist... it will impact on every citizen in terms of violations of rights to privacy which are enshrined in our Constitution.”

She said the legislation, if approved in its present form, would be like a molotov cocktail on the population and the matter should be put before a Joint Select Committee for special consideration.

“What is missing is the checks and balances that were necessary for proper protection of rights to privacy,” she said.

Persad-Bissessar said her concerns must not be seen as being against crime-fighting measures but rather one for ensuring safeguards were put in place to protect citizens’ rights.

She said when the SSA Act was first approved several years ago, its mandate was limited to drug-related offences, adding that what the new amendment “seeks to do is to include every offence you can think about with a penalty of five years or more.”

The Opposition says there is need for oversight regarding the selection of the head of the SSA, executive, legislative and independent oversight.

Responding to a question on the repayment of money owed by Opposition MPs for employing relatives in their constituency offices contrary to the law, Persad-Bissessar said she was still awaiting word from the Clerk of the House on that matter.

President of the Fire Services Association Leo Ramkissoon says penalties for setting bush fires need to be reviewed.

“The law has not been reviewed since its inception and it sends a message about the attitude from Parliament downward to the lighting of bush fires and the way we treat with safety on a whole,” he said in an interview on SKY 99.5 FM yesterday as he addressed the issue of how the problem of setting illegal bush fires in the dry season could be addressed.

Ramkissoon said it was unlawful to light fires during this season but no one paid attention until someone lost his life or was injured during a fire, in reference to the recent death of Senior Forester II Keith Campbell, who died from injuries while fighting a forest fire at Lady Chancellor Hill, St Ann’s.

“The laws need to be reviewed and the penalties need to be made commensurate with the repercussions of those actions and the enforcement bodies need to be strengthened. You can have many laws and if you can’t enforce the laws then you are of no use,” he said.

He also lamented the lack of resources at the department to deal with fighting bush fires. 

He said there were great advances to firefighting but there were basic issues and policies that the organisation was struggling to maintain. 

For example, Ramkissoon said there was a shortage of breathing apparatus units which were used to enter into smoke filled atmospheres. He said there were only 40 in Northern Division when the requirement was 90.

He said there were also 135 high-rise building in Port-of-Spain and environs and the organisation needed to upgrade its equipment to cater to that.

“There is always a likelihood of that (major fire) occurring. However, the Fire Services need to be upgraded in terms of being prepared for high-rise firefighting. If something like that happens the Fire Services would not be prepared,” he said.

On another issue, he said provisions for an insurance plan for firefighters were not satisfactory and there was a $1 million compensation which was mentioned by the previous government but it was not implemented.

He said firefighters have to seek their own insurance and were three times likely to die earlier in life due to constant exposure to toxic materials.

Contacted on the issues raised yesterday, Chief Fire Officer Kenny Gopaul said: “We’ve been handling all the fires. We have every station with an appliance now. We have trained personal, equipment and modern technology and even music in the vehicles.”

Mother of Shaliner Theodore-Hospedales was on the ground crawling through the unfriendly flames of a bush fire on Wednesday as she attempted to find her nine-year-old son, Hezekiah. As she desperately sought out her eldest of two children she herself caught fire. 

As the fire caught hold of her clothing and began to spread about her entire body, her screams brought help from villager Phillip Steven Jones, 27, who risked his own life by jumping through a ring of fire to extinguish the flames on her.

“I ran back down the hill, throw three buckets of water on me and went back up, ran through the fire and I went to a house, pull down a curtain and used that to out her. She was on fire on the ground,” Jones recalled as he spoke to the T&T Guardian yesterday.

Jones and his younger brother, Jeremiah, 24, are now being hailed by the Lahore Road, San Juan, community as heroes for their selfless act of saving the lives of Theodore-Hospedales, her husband and one-year-old baby Rukeia Bruce. 

Theodore-Hospedales' son, Hezekiah, unfortunately did not make it out alive.

But even as his efforts were being applauded by the people in his village, Jones, who is fondly called Jerry by friends, said yesterday he would do it all again if he had to but the next time he would place Hezekiah on his back while he held Rukeia in his arms.

“I kept screaming at them to follow me, follow me. When I saw that the fire, which had come from over the hill, spread to beneath us and was coming up on us, I said to mysel like we trap because the fire was all around us like a big circle. I ran and grabbed the baby from the woman and kept screaming at them to follow me,” Jones recalled yesterday. 

“But like when they running, the boy may have tripped and fall because I heard the mother screaming out for him. I kept running but screaming and looking back at them but the smoke was too thick and the fire was coming closer and closer,” he added.

Jones, who operates a small parlor, said shortly before noon on Wednesday, he was approached by Theodore-Hospedales, who requested a cutlass to cut a track for a bush fire to run along. He said he eventually decided to trek up the steep hill to assist the young mother.

“When I went up I didn’t see any fire, so we both were cutting the track and clearing the land but then suddenly the fire came from over the hill and spread to a house below us and the high breeze was blowing the fire upwards to us, trapping us,” he recalled.

“Everything happened very quickly but me and my brother still tried we best to save everybody.”

Firefighters from the San Juan Fire Station who responded to the call later found Hezekiah's burnt body lying in a hole in the ground in a foetal position.

Jones said he strongly believed the vehicles which were parked along the roadway delayed firefighters trying to reach the actual bush fire and extinguished it on time.

Hezekiah's death was the second in the past week as a result of a bush fire. 

On Good Friday, senior forestry officer, Keith Campbell, 54, died after being severely burnt in a bush fire off Lady Chancellor Road, St Ann’s. His colleagues — Kernarine Carrington and Jamal Bain — were also burnt but survived.

Bush fire causes fatal crash

A 92-year-old man died in a road traffic accident last Sunday after his son reportedly crashed due to poor visibility caused by a bush fire in Rio Claro.

According to police reports, Sowdgan Rajnauth, 92, of Ecclesville, Rio Claro, was being driven by his 31-year-old grandson, Israel Khan, along the Tabaquite Road when the accident occurred. 

Police said Khan crashed into an oncoming car heading in the opposite direction around 5.15 pm after he was blinded by thick smoke from a nearby bushfire. 

Speaking at yesterday’s police press briefing, head of the Highway Patrol Unit, Supt Mathura Singh, confirmed the incident. He emphasised, however, that the accident was not as a result of excessive speed.

Bush fire causes fatal crash

A 92-year-old man died in a road traffic accident last Sunday after his son reportedly crashed due to poor visibility caused by a bush fire in Rio Claro.

According to police reports, Sowdgan Rajnauth, 92, of Ecclesville, Rio Claro, was being driven by his 31-year-old grandson, Israel Khan, along the Tabaquite Road when the accident occurred. 

Police said Khan crashed into an oncoming car heading in the opposite direction around 5.15 pm after he was blinded by thick smoke from a nearby bushfire. 

Speaking at yesterday’s police press briefing, head of the Highway Patrol Unit, Supt Mathura Singh, confirmed the incident. He emphasised, however, that the accident was not as a result of excessive speed.

Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus said yesterday she suspected that over 5,000 people have lost their jobs in the last seven months as T&T continues to go through economic challenges.

“I will give you what my suspicions are in terms of the unemployed from September to now. I suspect they may be in the vicinity of 5,000 or a little beyond that,” Baptiste-Primus told reporters at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

Although the Central Statistical Office should be the agency to provide data of the unemployment rate, Baptiste-Primus gave an approximation of those terminated and assured that a new mechanism was being put in place to capture precise figures on the number of people who were retrenched recently.

Asked if Government would look at legislation to protect all workers, including contract employees, Baptiste-Primus said there was need for amendments to the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and the Companies Act “in terms of providing workers with the required protection.”

She said Government would engage soon in consultation with the private sector and labour movement “on the amendments on these two pieces of legislation.”

Once the Government got a response from those two groups, Baptiste-Primus said they would approach Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi “in that regard.”

Baptiste-Primus described as “distressing” the closure of ArcelorMittal and the retrenchment of its 644 workers who were sent home without any benefits. 

“Many of them had given upwards of 20 years of service to ArcelorMittal and they go home with one months’ salary,” she added. While Baptiste-Primus has been appealing to employers not to send home workers, she said Government intended to help those who lost their jobs.

Insisting that being put out of work affect people and families socially, physically, economically, psychologically and mentally, Baptiste-Primus said Cabinet had agreed to roll out a ten-point plan, focusing on treating with people who were no longer employed.

She said the objective of the plan was to provide immediate, short and medium term assistance to those who were terminated. So far, Baptiste-Primus said the Ministry of Labour has held collaborative meetings with several ministries and also the T&T Mortgage Finance (TTMF), Bankers Association of T&T, the International Labour Organisations, T&T Manufacturers’ Association and National Energy Skills Centre.

Government was also exploring job opportunities for locals in Caricom countries. She said the plan, which would cost Government over $600,000 would look at the development of soliciting new jobs, matching skills, training and retraining, formation of small businesses and psychological and financial counselling to the unemployed and their families.

In addition, a hotline would be established to connect the retrenched individual to a web of services, she added.

Baptiste-Primus said Government held discussions with the financial sector in adopting a humane approach with those who were sent home but still had outstanding loans and mortgages.

Recently, Baptiste-Primus said the TTMF came up with creative ways to lessen the financial burdens for 50 of its clients who had lost their jobs by extending the time frame to pay their mortgage. “What we suspect is that there is a large volume of unemployed persons out there who may have experience but are uncertified,” she added.

Baptiste-Primus said Government was not in a position to provide jobs for all the unemployed people in T&T and on April 5 a job expo would be in Couva to provide counselling and advice to unemployed people who were going through difficult and trying situations.

Baptiste-Primus said in this time of economic depression people needed to survive. “Surviving may mean looking at jobs that you may not have previously considered. It may also mean a reduction in the income and type of benefits that you have earned,” she added.

She said people who were jobless may have to think differently by seeking certification for a skill that they possessed but never utilised because of the economic situation the world and T&T have been facing.

“People would adapt,” she added.

Former prime minister of T&T Patrick Manning believes that politicians who are guilty of hiring relatives at their respective constituency offices are not worthy of public office.

Manning made a statement via his Facebook page on Wednesday night.

He disclosed that in all his 44 years as a Parliamentarian, he has never employed a family member or relative in his constituency office.

“Nor have I ever had my mother, father or spouse (common-law or legally married) working in my parliamentary office, whether they were paid or unpaid,” Manning stated in the post.

But he failed to mention that he had employed his wife, Hazel Manning, as the minister of education (2001 -2007) and later as minister of local government (2007-2010) during his administration. 

Under Manning’s leadership, the PNM suffered a defeat in 2010, and Keith Rowley succeeded him as leader of the People’s National Movement. 

In 2012, he suffered a debilitation stroke and has since made significant recovery after bowing out of the political limelight.

In his social media post Manning said that he always sought to engage the people of the PNM constituency structure who worked tirelessly to ensure that he was elected to office. People, he stated, who had a good working knowledge of the needs of the “grassroots” to work with him in his parliamentary office.

“Those who are guilty of these transgressions are unworthy of public office. And as the youth would say it, “nuff said!,” Manning’s post read.

On March 20, amid moves by Fixin’ T&T to get the Integrity Commission and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to examine several Opposition MPs’ hiring of relatives at constituency offices, Opposition MP Suruj Rambachan called on the Clerk of the House to clarify Parliament’s guidelines on the hiring issue.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and UNC MPs—Barry Padarath, Dr Bhoe Tewarie and Rushton Paray indicated earlier this month, relatives were working, and had worked at their constituency offices.

On March 17, PNM housing minister Marlene McDonald was dismissed by Prime Minister Rowley after a third set of allegations against her surfaced, this one involving alleged breach of Parliament rules concerning alleged hiring of her spouse, Micheal Carew and his brother, Lennox Carew, at her Port-of-Spain constituency office during 2010-2015.

Persad-Bissessar, on March 12, said two relatives had been employed at her constituency office for several years and after this term’s new guidelines, was seeking advice from the Parliament on the situation. Persad-Bissessar’s relatives have been employed for 20 years and 14 years.

Padarath disclosed that he terminated the constituency office employment of a relative in February after receiving the Parliament’s constituency manual for the 2015-2020 term then. This outlaws hiring of various types of relatives.

Padarath made it clear that it wasn’t an “immediate” relative, who had worked in his constituency office. He said he had contacted the Parliament and subsequently repaid salaries paid to the person.

Paray said he had informed the Parliament, when he became MP and found a distant relative (daughter of his grandfather’s second wife) employed from the tenure of previous MP Winston Peters. He said he was told by Parliament that due to the distance of the relationship, it was alright. The person is a part-time employee.

Fixin’ T&T, however, argued that the UNC MPs breached the Integrity in Public Life Act as it relates to, among others, Sections 24 (2), and 29 (1).

Fixin’ T&T was supported by the Independent Liberal Party—which said Persad-Bissessar and Padarath’s explanations were “weak” and demanded they resign—and the ruling PNM which repeated PNM chairman Franklin Khan’s call for Persad-Bissessar to resign. However, Rambachan, who called on the Clerk of the House to shed light on the matter, said facts on the hiring issue were being distorted. 

Noting the difference between guidelines for the past 2010-2015 parliamentary term and the current 2015-2020 term, questions were raised as to who changed the guidelines and if the changed guidelines were formally communicated to MPs or was the manual simply distributed to Parliamentarians without specific communications on the changes.

Questions were also raised as to whether or not the responsibility was of the Clerk of the House and if the guidelines were supposed to be agreed upon by the House Committee.

Other questions challenged if the guidelines were changed by the Clerk of the House or the new Speaker, or were they changed by the Clerk of the House without reference either to the former or new Speaker in the interregnum between the time the tenth Parliament was prorogued and the Eleventh Parliament began?

A 25-year-old San Juan man appeared in court yesterday charged with murdering a neighbour. 

Jamal Mohammed Khan, 25, of Bagatelle Road, Sunshine Avenue, San Juan, was represented by Keith Scotland.

Khan is accused of murdering Andre McLeod near McLeod’s Sunshine Avenue home on November 21 last year. 

Khan appeared before magistrate Cheron Raphael in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court.

He stood calmly before the magistrate and responded boisterously whenever he was asked a question. 

Scotland asked for all disclosure in the matter, including the criminal record of the State’s main witness as well as his mental health record. 

He also stated that there were identification parades done with his client without his knowledge or permission. Khan was charged by Cpl Jason Dejean of the San Juan Police Station.

As he left the courtroom, Khan told his relatives seated in the courtroom to stay strong. One woman responded wishing Khan the same.

The matter is adjourned to April 28.

Faced with two drownings over the Easter weekend, the T&T Life Saving Society has renewed its call for Government to hire more lifeguards to patrol T&T’s beaches.

In an interview yesterday, president Ann Singh said more than 100 people were certified annually by the society with the hope they could be employed by the Ministry of National Security.

“There are many certified lifesavers who want to be employed as a lifeguard. 

We work in collaboration with the Canadian Life Saving Society and we are trying to minimise drownings so it is really sad that so many people drowned over the long weekend,” Singh said. 

Among those who drowned were 61-year-old Beville Simonette, of Tacarigua, who drowned in Maracas and Trevin Lalla, 31, of Balmain, Couva, who drowned at Guayaguayare on Monday.

Singh said during long weekends when more people were likely to go to the beaches the Government should consider hiring more lifeguards to patrol.

She also called on members of the public always to obey the instruction and advice of lifeguards, particularly when they imposed restrictions on specific bathing areas.

“People disobey the lifeguards and take too many risks. You should always speak to lifeguards first if you are uncertain about the sea conditions before you go into the water,” Singh said.

She added that guards work from 10 am to 6 pm, yet people go into unsafe areas before guards take up official duty.

“We have an ongoing public education drive in several schools along with the Ministry of National Security. 

Our aim is to take preventative measures to minimise drownings,” Singh said. Asked to confirm reports that lifeguard equipment used at Maracas Bay was dysfunctional, Singh said she had no information on that.

However, a lifeguard, who requested anonymity, claimed the inflatable rafts and jet skis used to patrol the beaches were in need of maintenance. 

Contacted yesterday for comment, a senior official at the Life Guard Department of the National Security Ministry said that was not so. 

He also denied there was a shortage of lifeguards. 

Saying that recruitment takes place regularly, the official said each guard had to undergo two years of training before he could officially take up duty. 

The source also said that in some areas, lifeguards took up work before 10 am. 

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and permanent secretary Simeon Yearwood were engaged in meetings and did not respond to questions. 

A list of questions was sent to the ministry’s Corporate Communications Department but up to press time, there was no response to them.

A 13-week pregnant Belmont woman has been diagnosed with the Zika virus, even as new international research seems to be tightening the connection between the virus and the potentially devastating birth defect of microcephaly — a medical condition where babies’ heads are abnormally small.

The woman, one of nine cases confirmed locally by the Ministry of Health, will now be under the care of a specially appointed team of medical doctors who had been asked to deal with potential cases of pregnant women contracting the Zika virus in T&T.

Speaking at his weekly press briefing yesterday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced the latest development, which has caused hysteria among pregnant women and those trying to become pregnant. He said the infected pregnant woman will be examined next week by members of the specially appointed team to determine if the baby was at risk of developing microcephaly.

Providing an update about the Zika cases nationwide, Deyalsingh said there were now nine confirmed cases in the country.

The latest two cases to be recorded were the pregnant Belmont victim and a 52-year-old Laventille woman.

In a release on Tuesday, the ministry confirmed the new cases after consulting with officials of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), noting the latest victims showed symptoms of rash, fever, generalised pains and conjunctivitis. 

Addressing reporters during his ministry’s weekly media briefing yesterday, Deyalsingh said of the nine cases, four had been recorded in the Gulf View community in San Fernando. Expressing concern over this “cluster”, the minister said they had been working with the respective regional corporations to ensure spraying operations and home inspections aimed at reducing the mosquito population were conducted.

The Zika virus is spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits the dengue fever and chikungunya viruses.

Zika cases have so far been recorded in Gulf View, Belmont, Laventille, Diego Martin, Tunapuna, La Resource, D’abadie and St Ann’s.

Appealing to members of the public to protect their loved ones from contracting the virus, Deyalsingh said he was saddened, as citizens were normally slow to react to situations. However, he urged people to educate themselves about the virus and its symptoms, as well as the need to ensure a mosquito free environment. The ministry is urging people to dispose of all unwanted containers/items in their yards or environs which can collect water and become mosquito breeding grounds; cover water containers such as barrels, drums or buckets with a mosquito proof covering; ensure drains and guttering allow the free flow of water; empty and scrub the sides of water vases or use dirt or sand instead to support flowers; cover extremities when out in the evenings; use bed nets that are tightly tucked under the mattress for protection at night; and use insect repellent that contains DEET as an active ingredient. 

Providing statistics, ministry officials revealed that for the months January to March, inspections and spraying operations had been carried out at approximately 187,108 homes; 303 educational institutions and 614 government buildings.

On the issue of H1N1 (swine flu), Deyalsingh said there were 89 confirmed cases in the country. Only two deaths have so far been recorded as a result of H1N1.

52 countries with cases

The World Health Organisation reported yesterday that the Zika virus had spread to 52 countries to date.

So far, only Brazil and French Polynesia have experienced sustained outbreaks of microcephaly, but health researchers say that could change quickly. In Brazil, 641 cases of microcephaly have been confirmed since the Zika virus arrived in the country last year, according to that country’s Ministry of Health.

Zika has so far reached the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and the Pacific, according to the WHO. Yesterday, researchers in Colombia reported that they had found infants with microcephaly. The WHO has meanwhile said that just two pregnancies exhibiting the defect have been confirmed in women who were infected while pregnant and travelling in the Zika zone: one in Slovenia and one in Hawaii.

As the epidemic advances, investigations are moving in two directions: attempting to pin down just what is causing microcephaly, and whether countries have the detection and financial resources they will need to prevent or assist affected pregnancies.

Screams filled the air at a Princes Town home shortly after 6 pm yesterday, as a man doused his male relative with gasoline and set him ablaze.

However, the flame ignited so quickly that the perpetrator also suffered severe burns to his body. Both men were rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) where they were undergoing emergency treatment late yesterday.

Reports were sketchy up to last night, but police said a dispute over a family-owned property between the two men led to the incident.

Police said one of the men was in the process of demolishing the family-owned building when another approached with a cutlass. However, the men grabbed a can of gasoline and doused the would be cutlass attacker before setting him on fire. But the flames quickly ignited, injuring both men, who were said to be in serious condition at hospital.

Princes Town police are continuing investigations. (YW)

Former health minister Dr Fuad Khan says the time has come for the Government to determine its policy on the termination of pregnancies because of the Zika virus.

He made the comment yesterday, hours after Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh confirmed that a 23-year-old pregnant Belmont woman had been diagnosed with Zika.

“Now we have to brace the topic of abortions and the legality of abortions, the necessity of abortions,” Khan said.

There have been reports of the babies of women who had contracted Zika being affected by microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with a very small head and a damaged brain.

Speaking in his capacity as a medical doctor following yesterday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, Khan said he had seen “quite a lot of women who did not have abortions ... and came out with abnormal babies because of the illegality of such a procedure.”

Khan said as a result of the serious threat to the pregnancy through contracting Zika, both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Attorney General must make a policy on the issue of the termination of pregnancies in T&T.

“They have to come up with a policy and they can’t run from it anymore, because in the past we did not have Zika and microcephaly in pregnant women,” he added.

Khan said the new People’s National Movement Cabinet must address the issue of abortion, since the situation could force some women to seek back door abortions to terminate their pregnancies because of the threat of microcephaly. 

Asked to respond to Deyalsingh’s announcement of protocols to be implemented next week in the wake of the latest Zika case involving a pregnant woman, Khan joked: “The only protocol I can see is to ask the mosquitoes not to bite people. Maybe that’s the protocol he is thinking about.”

He later said Zika protocols for pregnant women should have been implemented a long time ago.

Khan insisted that the PNM Government has to address the fact that Zika is a real problem, adding that the issue of the termination of pregnancies must not be swept under the carpet.

In response to another question, Khan said is need to provide more financial resources to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to do its work.

Retrenchment is not a cheap and simple process and it is not currently being discussed at Guardian Media Limited (GML), newly appointed managing director Lucio Mesquita said yesterday.

Speaking at the signing of as new collective agreement between GML and the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) at Kam Po Restaurant, Chaguanas, Mesquita said: “I am happy that we have an agreement that was settled in the interest of everyone. We have a lot of work to do in terms of what we offer to audiences in T&T. 

“No company lays people off without thinking hard about it. It is not a simple and cheap process. If it happens it is because of conditions that a company cannot avoid but we are not talking about that at the moment.”

The new agreement, which covers the period January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016, includes a base increase of 11 per cent, a six per cent increase in allowances and a new Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) of $140. 

Mesquita, who has been in the position for a month, said the media group has to look beyond the T&T market in the future.

“There is also a potential for us to tap into the digital world—operations that do not need boundaries, or how far you go with the paper. There is a huge diaspora of Trinbagonians everywhere in the world, particularly in Britain, Canada and the United States,” he said.

BIGWU labour relations officer Wesley Francis praised GML chairman Grenfell Kissoon, who acted as managing director until Mesquita’s appointment last month, for his astute leadership in intervening and settling with the union when the matter was before the Industrial Court.

“There were concessions on both sides but we arrived at signing of the collective agreement. Kudos go out to Mr Kissoon,” he said.

Francis said it was commendable, given the economic downturn in the country, that GML had not embarked on retrenchment.

“I hope that it remains so and that we can engage in discussion to avert that likelihood,” he said.

Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, yesterday called on the Integrity Commission to investigate the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin project, which he described as a “travesty.”

Young said the Government was also exploring all legal options regarding the highway’s main contractor Construtora OAS, since the project was now estimated to cost taxpayers in excess of $8 billion.

The disclosure was made by Young in the House of Representatives as he outlined the status of the four-year project.

Young said on March 4, 2011, the former People’s Partnership government, through the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO), awarded a design-build contract to OAS for $5.2 billion, which was $1.6 billion more than the engineer’s estimate.

He said although the contract was governed by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) yellow book, the PP changed the standard and accepted advanced payment terms from 10 to 20 per cent.

“This upward amendment resulted in OAS receiving approximately TT$856 million, as opposed to $428 million as an advance,” he said.

“Another major issue at inception was that all payments made to OAS for activities under the Letter of Intent, which totalled TT$236 million, should have been deducted from the advance payment. However, these sums were not deducted. So even before construction began, the former government provided OAS with over TT$1 billion of taxpayers’ funds.” 

The project should have been completed in March 2015 with a four-lane highway and full grade separated interchanges.

Young also said rather than utilising low interest rate funding for this project from a multilateral lending agency, such as the International Development Bank (IDB), the PP paid OAS, and others, via cash transfers from the Ministry of Finance up to 2014.

“Five years later, over $5 billion have been spent with only 49 per cent of the construction being completed by OAS. This despite the UNC government telling the population, over and over, that it was on budget and on time.”

Young said from the onset the project was faced with problems, as OAS defaulted in paying subcontractors and were late in paying workers. 

In December 2015, Young said the situation worsened after they demobilised, with the site being almost completely abandoned.

Against this backdrop, Young said OAS filed for Judicial Reorganisation in Brazil on March 31, 2015, where they sought bankruptcy protection, which left the project in dire difficulties.

Young said the former government did not pursue ways and means to terminate OAS’ contract to protect the public interest.

On September 4, Young said the UNC “entered into a written agreement with OAS called Contract Addendum No. 2, whereby they expressly recognised that OAS was bankrupt, and stated that they could invoke Clause 15.2 (e) of the FIDIC contract immediately terminating the contract. However, despite this, they proceeded secretly to give up this right of termination and waived all claims against OAS, thus releasing and discharging OAS from any liability. This action by the UNC government the day before a general election requires immediate investigation.” 

Young said they must now account to the population why they threw away the cleanest, easiest, most cost effective and simplest opportunity to have terminated OAS.

In addition to this, Young said they also removed from OAS’ responsibility, substantial sections of the highway, with an intention to award the construction of parts of the highway to other contractors, at an additional cost to the taxpayer. “They removed 26 per cent of the highway works worth $1.5 billion from OAS’ contract, but surprisingly, still agreed to pay OAS $5 billion for the reduced scope of works that remained with OAS.”

Young said while OAS was having difficulty meeting its obligations to local suppliers, sub contractors and employees, the contract was allowed to continue for the same sum they were originally contracted at $5 billion.

“The UNC government went further and burdened taxpayers with the additional expenses of over $2 billion to pay new contractors to complete the portion of the highway excised from OAS’ contract.”

To compound matters, Young said OAS changed the scope of works.

“So whilst the value of the product was being significantly reduced by the removal of interchanges and lanes, the costs were escalating.”

He said the contract Addendum No 2 had the distinguished features of a conspiracy, which “may require attention of law enforcement agencies.”

RAMBACHAN’S RESPONSE

In response to the allegations raised, former minister of works Dr Suruj Rambachan said the People’s National Movement Government has the right to do whatever they think was in the best interest of the country.

“We welcome any kind of investigations they wish to have. What I can say is that everything that was done by the ministry was done above board. There is no corruption on the highway. I am willing to stand up to any scrutiny.” Rambachan denied that OAS was paid $5.2 billion.

“They were only to be paid for work completed.” He said he was unaware the project was now estimated to cost $8 billion, since it was kept within budget.

The Continuous Assessment Component (CAC) of the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) has been scrapped, Education Minister Anthony Garcia announced yesterday.

“Cabinet decided that students who are writing in May 2016 will write the exam for the CAC for the last time. This year is the last year for the students writing the SEA who will be saddled or burdened with CAC,” Garcia told the media at a press conference at the ministry’s St Clair head office.

Garcia said the Cabinet came to the decision after the ministry’s consultations on the education in February revealed CAC was being done to the detriment of the students.

“During these sessions there were discussions on major subjects, one of which was with the CAC component of SEA. Feedback that was held all told us that the CAC was something we had to disable,” Garcia said.

Garcia said the CAC put a number of students under stress and hindered teachers from thoroughly covering the academic syllabus. The removal of CAC means that Standard Five students who write SEA in 2017 will not be placed in a secondary school through results from the CAC. Only Creative Writing will be continued from the programme. Now, Mathematics will count for 50 per cent, Language Arts for 30 per cent and Creative Writing for 20 per cent of the SEA exam.

Chief Education Officer (CEO) Harrilal Seecharan said the results from CAC also showed that students struggled to learn the full syllabus or teachers were unable to teach them.

“We found that there were too many things to teach in the short time period. Last year a report was done that flagged these issues. …Continuous assessment in itself is not a bad thing,” Seecharan said.

He emphasised that while CAC marks would no longer be used to place students in secondary schools, the subjects taught would not be removed and the students would still be assessed without the pressure of secondary school placement.

Since the inception of CAC, the T&T Unified Teacher’s Association (TTUTA) has been advocating for stronger consultation regarding the implementation of the assessment.

“TTUTA, since the inception of CAC in 2012, would have would have called for multiple consultations on the matter...There was a lack of resources, a lack of proper thinking for our teachers and it created undue stress for our teachers and students,” TTUTA’s first vice president Antonia De Freitas said following the announcement.

Primary School Principal’s Association president Cogland Griffith also welcomed its removal, saying it will allow students to be students instead of children who are forced to learn through rote methods. He emphasised that while the students may not be tested in the eight subjects, they will now be able to learn and appreciate them without pressure.

Griffith noted that students were no longer able to do subjects like physical education because they were being restricted to activities that were tested in CAC. Now he hopes students would be able to enjoy these subjects again.

National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) first vice-president Maureen Taylor-Ryan agreed the move was best for the students, but noted that the courses taught in CAC had merit, particularly the creative writing component.

CAC was introduced in 2012 as a way to add diversification into the SEA syllabus. From the academic year 2013-2014, 20 per cent of the marks originated from Standard Four performance and another 20 per cent from Standard Five. Areas in which pupils were continuously assessed included dance, drama, agricultural science, citizenship education, visual arts education, music, physical education and character education.

Yesterday, Candice Assee, whose ten-year-old daughter attends Arima Presbyterian Primary School, expressed her relief that CAC would no longer influence student placement. She said she knows a large number of students who excelled in the Mathematics and Language Arts papers, achieving marks in the 90th percentile, but who were not placed in the school of their choice because their CAC marks were in the 40th percentile.

“I have written to Anthony Garcia countless times,” she said. “I monitor everything...The teachers were not teaching writing. They were sending it home to the parent,” Assee said.

Efforts to contact former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh, who implemented CAC, were unsuccessful yesterday as he did not answer calls to his cellphone.

Shaliser Theodore, the San Juan mother of two who fought unsuccessfully to save her nine-year-old son Hezekiah from a raging bush fire, has succumbed to burn injuries at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Theodore had clawed her way through burning bush trying to find Hezekiah on Wednesday, after he disappeared amidst the thick clouds of smoke which billowed on the hilltop at Febeau Village, San Juan, threatening homes and lives. 

Her one-year-old daughter Rukeia Bruce was rescued from the flames by villager Phillip Jones and his brother Jeremiah.

On Wednesday night, Theodore died from the burn injuries she sustained in her desperate attempt to save her eldest child.

In an interview yesterday, Theodore’s aunt Nicolette said the woman was trying to rebuild her life and had made a commitment to take better care of her children. 

“She wanted to be a better mother. Her daughter Rukeia used to live with my sister Ann Marie and for some time, her son Hezekiah used to stay at a boys’ home in Diego Martin. Shaliser wanted to have her children with her and she decided to reconstruct her life,” Nicolette told the T&T Guardian.

She added that a relative who lives in the United States gave Theodore permission to stay at his home in San Juan so she could be with her children. 

“This Easter she moved in and she was happy to be with them,” Nicolette revealed.

She also said Theodore and her sister Jiselle Bruce had a hard life after their father Norris Theodore died more than a decade ago. Their mother had abandoned them and on his death bed Norris asked his sisters, Ann Marie and Nicolette, to take care of his daughters. Bruce died last November from cancer.

“We like to think that Norris called them both back home. We are grateful that we have Rukeia and we will try our best to raise her properly,” Nicolette said. She added that she felt comforted knowing that Theodore had the opportunity to be with her children before she and Hezekiah died. 

“The Lord knows best. All we can do now is make sure that we care for Shaliser’s daughter,” Nicolette said. She explained that Theodore and her son will be cremated at the Long Circular crematorium next Thursday once autopsies on the remains are completed.

Four people have died because of bush fires over the past week. Forestry worker Keith Campbell 56, succumbed to injuries he sustained during a forest fire on March 25 at Lady Chancellor Hill, St Ann’s. Two days later, Sowdgan Rajnauth, 92, of Rio Claro, also died after his son Israel Khan crashed his car. Khan said he was blinded by smoke caused by a raging bush fire.

Director at the Forestry Division Carlton Roberts says the new mantra of the employees is to be safe when performing their duties.

Roberts made the comment as he paid tribute during the funeral service of fallen Forestry colleague Keith Campbell at the St Charles’ RC Church in Tunapuna.

“A good soldier was snatched from the elements of nature,” Roberts told the congregation as he noted that Campbell, who succumbed to burn injuries he sustained while fighting a bush fire on Good Friday, had spent three decades of his life with the division.

Roberts noted that Campbell always ended a sentence with “please God” and everything was “no scene” or “no problem” to him. He said no matter what task was given to Campbell there was always the same response.

He said his colleagues missed him and the mantra now was “don’t let another soldier fall, now is be safe.”

Kevon Campbell, the deceased’s son, gave the eulogy. He described his father as a man who was “patient, a good listener”, noting his friends said he was “reserved but different.”

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat, who was one of the mourners, said he had visited Campbell at the hospital.

“He had his apparatus and firefighting gear. It is flame retardant. From what I learnt the fire was too strong and they were on a slope,” he said.

Rambharat said the fire was very bad and Campbell became overwhelmed.

When asked if Fire Service could have assisted he said no.

The church was packed with mourners who even stood outside faring the rainy conditions.

Police are searching for a motive in the killing of a 22-year-old small businessman in Enterprise, Chaguanas, yesterday.

According to police reports, around 2.15 pm Aamil Joseph, 22, of Rainbow Crescent, Circular Drive, Enterprise, was riding a bicycle north along Phyllis Lane Extension, Enterprise Street, Enterprise, when gunshots were heard. Joseph, who had just attended Islamic prayers, Juma’h, was later found dead on the roadway, still clutching his bicycle. 

His killing took the murder toll to 122 for the year. 

Meanwhile in an unrelated incident, a 58-year-old man was found murdered not to far from his Cascade home on Thursday morning.

According to police reports, residents of Upper Hislop Trace, Cascade, made a report of a stench in the area. When officers arrived they followed the scent to a bushy area where they Donaldson Mottley dead. Police said he had stab wounds about the body, his throat was cut and the right side of his head was bashed in. Police believe a cutlass was used in the attack but have no motive for the killing. 

Police said Mottley was a former murder accused who faced three trials before being released. 

Investigations into both murders are continuing and police are urging anyone with information or any other crime to pass the information on to them.

Hundreds of acres of land are being bulldozed and burnt in the Las Cuevas area causing serious concerns for the livelihood of scores of villagers in the Las Cuevas fishing community who depend on the bay to survive.

They want the land development and burning at the Las Cuevas Estate to halt immediately and are calling for a proper investigation to be carried out by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA). 

It is estimated that the loss of foodbasket for the Las Cuevas community could fall in excess of $10 million per year.

These were the major concerns of secretary of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS), Gary Aboud, who spoke on behalf of the fishing community. 

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Aboud, an environmental activist, said with the removal of the forest cover the freshwater/salt water balance will be affected by the run off from the developed land.

T&T Guardian understands that of the 1,500 acres of land at Las Cuevas, approximately 468 acres owned by businessman George Aboud is being developed. On that area of land, bulldozing and grading works have already begun.

The owner when contacted yesterday said he visited the site just yesterday along with EMA officials who are currently looking into the claims made by FFOS.

“We went there and the EMA officials looked at the area including the beach,” Aboud said.

He assured that he got the necessary approval from EMA.

George Aboud said the development work currently taking place was not deemed harmful in any way.

“We found that certain protocols and requirements of the law have not been followed and it’s on those grounds that we have started legal action, in the form of direct private party action,” Gary Aboud said.

He added that the EMA has 60 days to investigate and report to the FFOS on their findings. 

“We wait on the EMA and if their investigation is not satisfactory or thorough enough, we will proceed to litigate against the EMA for improperly investigating and prosecuting,” Aboud said.

He however, made it clear that he has no grouse with the developer, who is his first cousin. “We are depending on the EMA to ensure that the law does not favour some and penalize others,” Gary Aboud said.

From an ecological view, he said, if all the forest and the fresh water goes into the sea it will prevent the fish from spawning and these fishes are used for live bait in the catching of other fishes by fishermen. 

“This will affect the fisheries negatively,” Aboud said.

T&T Guardian was told that the Las Cuevas fishing community depends on the live bait to support approximately 70 per cent of its Carite and King Fish catch in volume and value. 

They fear that when the rainy season begins in July, this massive clearing of natural vegetation and coastal buffer zones may cause irreversible damage to the fisheries due to fresh water imbalances and siltation.

The impact of this may cripple the livelihoods of many for generations to come. 

An official at the EMA, who wished not to be identified, when contacted yesterday said that an investigation into the matter has already been initiated.

Female prisoner Natasha De Leon, who has been behind bars for the last 23 years, yesterday advised the inmates at the Youth Training Centre (YTC) to capitalise on all opportunities afforded them while still incarcerated.

“Make yourself marketable and productive, not just because the courses are being offered, but because you want to make amends to society and be able to be accepted again when you regain your freedom. So that society can see that change in you. And you see that little voice in your head telling you not to do it...Don’t do it!” she admonished.

De Leon, along with Darren Roger Thomas, were tried and convicted on November 9, 1995, for the brutal murder of Princes Town taxi driver Chandranath Maharaj in 1993. The couple, who were sentenced to death, had their convictions commuted to life in prison in 2008.

A composed sounding De Leon and fellow inmate, Shelly-Ann Anganoo, are members of the YTC’s mentoring programme.

The pair spoke yesterday during an event, marking T&T’s participation and inclusion in a global tour by the US-based Youth for Human Rights International organisation.

The event was a collaborative effort of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ) and the National Alliance of Faith and Justice’s POP Programme (Pen, as in penitentiary or Pencil representing education), both out of the US.  The tour was co-ordinated by Krishna Bedassie, the officer in charge of training, treatment and programmes at YTC.

In addressing the audience, De Leon also recalled the disregard for basic rights to even water and being treated as a criminal even before being sentenced.

However, she also cautioned the inmates who entered the prisons system with “bad attitudes” and then complained about officers who infringed on their rights.

Adding a little humour to the sombre event, Anganoo stated that indulging in criminal activities means one has given up his or her fundamental rights and replaced it with these:

“You have the right to be silent, you have the right to an attorney...”

Anganoo, who has been in prison for over 13 years, also noted that individuals had the responsibility to ensure they themselves did not infringe on the rights of others. She and three others were convicted of the murder of retired school teacher Ralphy Ramcharan in 2003.

After first being sentenced to 20 years hard labour, in 2011 the Court of Appeal granted Anganoo a five-year reduction in her sentence. De Leon was a minor when she committed the crime.

Don’t give up on country’s youths

Mary Shuttleworth, president of the human rights organisation, presented a video on the history of the inception and evolution of human rights. The audience was encouraged in an interactive and informative session on the 30 rights of a human being handed down through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created in 1948 by the United Nations. Today, 192 countries are members of the UN.

Trinidad-born Carlyle Holder, who headed one of the largest prisons in the US, spoke on behalf of the NABJ and called on the public not to “give up on the country’s youths”. Vernice Robertson represented the NAFJ.

Elvin Scantlebury, YTC superintendent and incumbent president of the Prisons Youth Club, called on the inmates to take heed of all they had learnt, as well as the many opportunities available to them both in and outside of the prison system.

Entertainment was provided by Santa Rosa inmate/vocalist, Dillion Warwick, as well as flautists, YTC inmate Akeil Mitchell and Dean Joseph of Miracle Ministries International, Chaguanas.

Vernon Trotman offered an original calypso piece, cautioning youths to stay away from a life of crime and the misguided notion that it offered a sense of fame.

The event ended with a performance by the US-based marching band Knowledge Is Power Programme (KIPP) and an invitation for attendees to visit the booths of over 18 youth groups in the country. 

Valdeen Shears-Neptune