Thick smoke blanketed the western coast off San Fernando for several hours on Sunday night after fire broke out behind Roodal Cemetery, destroying mounds of waste from the Embacadere landfill, spewing potentially toxic fumes into nearby homes.

The fire, which lasted for several hours, prompted a visit from San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein, who called for an increase in fines for those setting outdoor fires without a permit.

Saying he was outraged at the frequent fires at the landfill, Hosein said a committee was set up to address the matter.

“We are looking into the closure of the dump. It is situated at the heart of the city and we have set up a committee to look at doing consultations for the closure of the dump,” Hosein said. He added that the residential communities on the outskirts of the city were affected by the smoke.

“People bring a lot of white waste and dump it at this site. We want this landfill to be closed because there is a big housing area around it,” Hosein said.

Saying it was difficult to catch the culprits who lit fires at the dump, Hosein said he hoped increased fines would act as a deterrent. 

Community Comfort Patrol officers visited the landfill during the fire yesterday. Firefighters also arrived and managed to keep the fire from spreading over the wall into the Roodal Cemetery. 

Earlier this week, senior fire officers called on citizens to obtain fire permits before they set any outdoor fires. Anyone found lighting indiscriminate fires could face a fine of $1,500 and six months imprisonment.

Over the past week, more than 20 bush fires were recorded throughout T&T. 

Shaliser Theodore-Hospedales and her seven-year-old son Hezekiah Hospedales died as a result of bush fires on April 1. On March 25, Forestry Division officer Keith Campbell also died while battling a forest fire at Lady Chancellor Hill, St Ann’s. Three of his colleagues were also hurt in that incident.

Under the Agricultural Fires Act (Ch63:02 Act 20 of 1965) a permit, obtainable from the nearest fire station, is required to light outdoor fires big or small, during the period December 1 to June 30.

Tobago police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a pensioner, after he fell to his death on Sunday. 

The man has been identified as Eric Warrick, 71, of Lucy Vale, Speyside. 

According to reports, the incident occurred around 7.30 pm in the village of Betsy’s Hope, during harvest celebrations. 

Eyewitnesses reported that Warrick was walking to a house located up a hill, when he leaned on a hand rail which broke and the man fell approximately 30 feet onto the roadway. 

T&T Guardian understands that Warrick suffered multiple fractures and injuries to his head. 

He was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital in a police vehicle but was pronounced dead on arrival. 

Roxborough Police are continuing investigations.

The T&T Coast Guard, while on routine patrol yesterday, detained three people who were found with drugs and ammunition on a pirogue.
 

According to a press release, the Coast Guard intercepted a white pirogue registered as TFS 2920 with three people on board. The vessel and it occupants were escorted to Staubles Bay.
 
Searches were conducted on the vessel and two bags were recovered. One bag had ten parcels of marijuana weighing approximately 5.4kg with an estimated street value of $72,900. The second bag contained 94 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
 

The men, illegal narcotics and ammunition were handed over to the Organised Crime Narcotics Firearm Bureau of the T&T Police Service for further processing. Both the Customs and Excise and the Immigration Division are assisting with the investigation.

The murder toll has once again risen as a man was shot dead over a gold chain yesterday afternoon. The murder toll now stands at 127.
 
A 26-year-old man, the brother of a WPC, was killed for his gold chain valued over $20,000 yesterday afternoon in Trincity.
 
According to a police report, at about 5.30 pm, Shervon Lewis, of Cane Farm, Trincity, was on the Eastern Main Road in the vicinity of LB's Supermarket near the doubles vendor when he was approached by two men who announced a robbery and demanded his gold chain.
 
Lewis reportedly refused and was shot several times. He died on the scene.
 
The suspects grabbed the gold chain from Lewis' neck and then ran off.
 
Investigations continue. 

A teenage girl was arrested early this morning as officers found a sub machine gun and a large quantity of ammunition during a raid of an Enterprise house.
 

According to the police around 2.20am Corporal Ramsarran, PC Gangaram, Mohammed and Hosein of the Cunupia Police Station executed a search warrant at a house at Railway Road, Enterprise.
 

There they found under a mattress in the living room, a firearm outfitted with a magazine containing 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition, together with 28 rounds of .45 ammunition, 30 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition and 93 rounds of 5.56.
 

A 17-year-old girl from Picton Road was questioned by police and taken into custody.
 
Investigations continue.

A Police Officer from the South Western Division is currently fighting for his life in the hospital after a being shot in the head when he stopped a robbery attempt.
 
Veteran police officer PC Anson  Benjamin is currently warded at the San Fernando General Hospital, after being shot in the head by bandits during a foiled robbery of a supermarket at Naparima Mayaro Road, St Clemens, Ste Madeline.
 
Benjamin, along with a female officer from the Ste Madeline Police Station had responded to a report at around 8.30pm, from the proprietor of Chao Young Supermarket of suspicious noises emanating from the rear of the building.
 
The officer was confronted by two men when he opened the back door to the building, one of whom fired a shot which struck Benjamin in the head. The officer was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where he remains warded.
 
The assailants escaped on foot into nearby bushes.
 
Members of the South Western Division were aided in the search for the suspects by helicopter and on the ground by members of the Canine Unit and the South Western and Central Division Task Forces.
 
Head of the South Western Division, Snr Supt Irwin Hackshaw, visited the scene along with acting Supt Yousuff Gaffar of the Southern Division, ASP Rawle Ramdeo  and Inspector Don Gajadhar.
 
Investigations continue.

Hit and run accident victim Javon Cox, who was knocked down Monday morning has died.

Police say 30-year-old Cox was in a three-tonne-truck heading south on the Grand Bazaar overpass, when he realised the container being transported was becoming loose.

The truck pulled over on the shoulder, and Cox came out to secure the load.

It was at this point, eye-witnesses say a white wagon over-took a truck by veering onto the shoulder, hitting Cox and speeding away. 

Cox laid unconscious on the roadway, motorists stopped to render assistance until emergency assistance arrived. 

Cox lived at Third Street, Barataria, a short distance from where the hit and run took place, he died shortly after the accident at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Researchers at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, Jamaica campus have discovered a marijuana plant gene that will increase fruit yield once inserted into plants.

Speaking to media last month at the UWI St Augustine Campus, pro-vice-chancellor and campus principal of UWI Mona, Prof Archibald McDonald acknowledged the findings at UWI’s Campus Council Meeting 2016.

“We have discovered a new gene which we intend to produce commercially because our plant geneticist has assured me that the value of this gene, if it’s inserted into productive plants like fruit trees, it increases the yield,” he said.

UWI Mona principal Professor Archibald McDonald and UWI St Augustine Principal Clement Sankat 

Given the decade-long debate about marijuana usage within Jamaican society in the past, researchers at UWI Mona have since teamed with both local and international partners such as the US-based Citiva Jamaica LLC to prove the many benefits of the cannabis (marijuana) plant.

McDonald said Mona’s current research includes the Charlotte’s Web strain of cannabis which was featured in the three-part CNN documentary, Weed.

The plant gained popularity after it was successfully used to treat a US girl, Charlotte Figi, with Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy.

While McDonald had not mentioned how soon this gene would be commercialised, he insisted that UWI’s biotechnology centres and natural product institutes have been researching herbs for a long time.

Jamaica was the first Caribbean country to decriminalise small amounts of marijuana in February 2015.

Flashback April 2015: Research fellow at UWI Mona, Louis Moyston and principal of UWI, Professor Archibald McDonald, plant Jamaica’s first legal cannabis plant in front of the Faculty of Medical Sciences’ Teaching and Research Complex. Photos courtesy Mark Bell from the Jamaican Observer.

In the past, Chief Justice Ivor Archie has called on the T&T government to decriminalise the use of marijuana to ease the backlog of cases burdening the judicial system.

​Chief Justice Ivor Archie delivers his address in the Convocation Hall, Hall of Justice, during the ceremonial opening of the 2013-2014 law term where he called for the decriminalisation of marijuana. On the pros of decriminalising marijuana, Archie said: “In an economy where the State is the major employer and a criminal conviction is a bar to employment, we may be pushing minor non-violent offenders into criminality when they can be saved.” He described the economic and social consequences of incarcerating people for possession and consumption of marijuana as immense and suggested drug treatment courts as a viable alternative. “Moreover, it is now appearing that the consensus about many of the assumptions about the effects of marijuana in particular is unraveling,” he said.   Photo: Shirley Bahadur
Read full here.

Former Attorney General, Garvin Nicholas, has also publicly expressed similar views in support of the decriminalisation of marijuana.

​

“There is now a considerable body of evidence that suggests that decriminalisation of drugs leads to safer societies! The time has come for mature and widespread discussion on this issue as one of the key tools in the fight against crime!” he posted on his Facebook page.

Speaking to the Guardian last Wednesday, Nicholas explained if marijuana was decriminalised, there would be a collapse of the gang industry in T&T.

He referred to the high crime rates in Portugal almost 14 years ago where statistics showed a significant reduction as a result of the decriminalisation of drugs.

Nicholas noted that with the decriminalisation of marijuana, the government could easily identify people who were addicts, control the quality and price of the drug, reducing the need for theft and get taxation from marijuana users.

As T&T law stands, any person found in possession of marijuana, either on their person or property, may be liable to a fine of $25,000 or imprisonment up to five years on summary conviction at the Magistrates’ Court.

WPC Danielle Ashe sorts through marijuan trees which were seized last yer. The value of the drug was estimated at $500,000. 

​
If convicted on indictment at the High Court, a person is liable to a fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for a period not exceeding ten years.

However there appears to be a shift in public opinion regarding marijuana. Caricom heads of government have commissioned a report to analyse the financial feasibility of medical marijuana for the region. The report is expected to be out sometime in 2016. 

Former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, during her term in office, said she was awaiting the results of the report to make a decision on the decriminalisation of marijuana. She also added that decriminalisation was a matter for the people to decide.

T&T Guardian made numerous efforts to contact Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi for the government’s position on marijuana decriminalisation, but calls to his phone went unanswered. ​

Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus says the appointment of a liquidator for ArcelorMittal’s assets in T&T means there is nothing more the Government can do for over 600 former workers of the company.

However, Baptiste-Primus promised there would never be another situation like ArcelorMittal’s in T&T again.

She made the comment at a Jobs Fair at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) in Point Lisas yesterday, following a meeting on Monday night between herself, ArcelorMittal’s managing director Robert Bellisle, the Steel Workers Union of T&T’s (SWUTT) executive and trustees of the workers’ pension plan, Republic Bank.

The meeting was held at the urging of SWUTT, as the union was concerned about the pension plan for the former workers.

“They (SWUTT) raised a number of issues with regards to their pension plan and the status of their pension plan. Following all discussions they were told the actuaries will have to purchase annuities from an insurance company,” Baptiste-Primus said.

“But the capital is so large they may have to take a consortium of insurance companies to purchase those annuities and that process will take a couple of months.”

Baptiste-Primus said the union also raised questions about their savings plan.

“In terms of the savings plan for the employees, that is with Unit Trust (Corporation). Bellisle agreed to contact Unit Trust and find out whether each employee has to submit an application for a refund of their savings or whether or not Unit Trust will just prepare cheques after the deduction of tax.”

She said she also learned that some former employees had housing plans via their pension plans. She said Bellisle promised to get back to her and also to pass on the information to SWUTT president Christopher Henry.

“I was informed last night there was a housing plan flowing out of the pension plans and there are a little under 50 workers who have house loans, house repair loans, mortgages; it does not look very good,” she said.

“I attempted to obtain a guarantee from the trustee of the pension plan to meet and treat with the workers in a humane way in terms of their loans and that guarantee could not be given.”

“In the final analysis what has happened to the workers of ArcelorMittal must never happen again in this country. Today, a liquidator was appointed and as such the years’ service that these workers have, they really have nothing for it except one month’s salary,” she said.

“The company has informed that they met the ruling of the Industrial Court that the workers won last month and they would have effected payment of that court award as well as the vacation leave of the workers on March 28. 

“But it’s a sad day and I undertake as a matter of urgency to fast track and put as a priority the review, the amendment to the Companies Act, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and the Industrial Act.”

Asked if Government could intervene at this point to assist workers, she said, “No, (not) outside of this expo. 

Shervon Lewis’ last few hours alive was spent arranging with his mechanic to sell an old car and discussing with relatives his intention of selling his $50,000 gold chain to purchase a new car.

Around 6.45 pm he left his Cane Farm, Trincity, home to buy doubles along the Eastern Main Road, in the carpark of LB’s Supermarket wearing the chain. 

One relative saw him and did not advise him to take it off saying his response would have been “Don’t jumbie me.”

Police said around 7 pm, two men accosted Lewis demanding the chain. He refused and attempted to fight them off, where upon he was shot repeatedly. 

The men snatched off the chain, as Lewis fell to the ground, fired two shots in the air and fled the scene, an eyewitness told police.

Speaking with the media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Lewis’ father, Erwin, said he had spoken to Lewis about selling the chain because of the escalating crime situation but his son did not take heed. He added that life in this country seemed so worthless now that you can be killed for anything.

“I used to say ‘Boy, what you going out with that chain for?’ You know how much that chain worth? About $50,000. You wearing a chain worth that much and them fellas know the value of them kinda things, in this time, they not coming to ask no questions.

“I hear the fellas just walk up to him while he was eating doubles and just ‘Bow’. About four shots they hit him. I’m sorry police didn’t hear them shots and deal with them the same way. I don’t know why they can’t stop killing people,” Erwin said, as he paced the parking lot.

“I don’t know what going on in this country. People have to get their act together. People saying that the youths desperate, but they don’t want to work, they don’t want to train. They just want to take people things. So you have something of value and you have to hide it away,” his father said.

A female relative of the murdered Agriculture Ministry employee interjected, saying she spoke with Lewis hours before his death and ironically they spoke of the crime situation and a recent murder in La Horquetta. 

Police said they intend to review footage from nearby cameras to assist them in solving this murder and pleaded with anyone with useful information to come forward. 

An argument at a fast food outlet in San Fernando ended in a bloody street brawl outside the Guardian South Bureau office, Chancery Lane, yesterday.

At the end of the fight, two men were arrested and a third was on the run. 

Witnesses said the three men were standing in line waiting to get served when they began arguing. One of the men cuffed the other in the face. In retaliation, the victim broke a bottle and stabbed his attacker in the face. 

Several people left their meals and ran out of the building as the fight escalated. The security guard on duty chased the men out of the restaurant and they began running towards Chancery Lane, cursing loudly.

Police officers, who were on patrol, arrested two of the men. Several people criticised the police officers who did not have a pair of handcuffs. One of the men appeared disoriented and kept falling to the ground. 

The officers managed to flag down a passing vehicle from a security firm and took the men to the San Fernando Police Station.

It costs the State almost $50 million a month to maintain 2,235 remand prisoners in T&T. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi revealed the figure as his office began its national consultation on prison reform at City Hall, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

Refering to statistics complied by his office over the past six months, Al-Rawi claimed that taking into consideration the annual budgets of the Prisons Service, Judiciary, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and other criminal justice stakeholders, remand prisoners, who account for a little over 60 per cent of the prison population, cost the State between $20,000 and $25,000 a month each.

“That is a real figure to grapple with because coming out of this discussion we must decide what are we going to do about it. Are we prepared to make some hard and unpopular choices?” Al-Rawi asked.

He claimed the situation was exacerbated by the fact that 11 per cent of remand prisoners have been awaiting trial for over ten years, 11 per cent for between five and ten years and the rest for under five years.

“Productivity and efficiency are two of the tools that we are going to dig ourselves out of in difficult circumstances. Every single dollar matters in our country. There must be value for money considerations,” Al-Rawi said, as he noted that Government would be using the consultation to inform the public of its initiatives and solicit their opinions.

“What we have done is prepare certain legislative and operational interventions but we can’t drive that in a vacuum. We wish to have a consultative approach in relation to these issues, because it is high time the population understands the rationale of these proposed amendments.”

Noting there were currently 47 per cent vacancies in the Prisons Service and that the DPP’s office needs 90 more prosecutors to operate at full capacity, Al-Rawi said Government was currently focused on addressing the staffing issues.

“Monies have to be committed, interviews have to be done and the positions need to be filled,” Al-Rawi said.

Al-Rawi also said 42 per cent of the remand population were there on murder charges, 11 per cent for drug possession, seven per cent for sexual offences and 12 per cent for lesser offences, including child maintenance and traffic offences. He suggested that discussions be held on whether the decriminalisation of marijuana and lesser offences may help reduce the remand population as well as improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system.

“There are things called drugs. There are serious versions and some which society perceives as not so serious. I take no view one way or the other but let’s have a discussion T&T,” he said.

“A remand cell has nine people in it, four of whom are in for charges of murder and the rest there for possession of two joints of marijuana. They share the cell for two and three years and then you have to ask yourself if you are encouraging recidivism or criminality by association.”

He also revealed that of the country’s eight prison facilities, half are severely overcrowded,  the Remand Yard facility at Golden Grove, Arouca, Tobago, Carrera Island and Port-of-Spain. 

The Port-of-Spain remand was the worst, he said, as it currently houses 725 prisoners although it was designed to accommodate only 250. While he said constructing a new remand facility was an idea suggested in the past, Government’s initiatives would seek to reduce the population in remand and work on redistributing prisoners to less occupied locations. 

He also said Government was in the process of constructing a remand court at the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, in an attempt to reduce the cost of transporting prisoners for simple adjournments in the cases.

While he did not give details of the legislation being contemplated by his office, he gave some of the issues Government would be moving to address, including the viability of jury-less trials, plea bargaining, specialised courts and making the process of obtaining bail less stringent.

“How is a poor man with no land able get bail? Does he stay in jail for a long period of time for obscene language or maintenance, or is it time we accept cash deposits? Let’s give them a fighting chance,” Al-Rawi said to a round of applause from the audience. 

In addition to new legislation, Al-Rawi said Government was moving to operationalise existing laws, including those for the electronic monitoring of prisoners and video recording of police interviews with suspects, which were partly the cause of trial delays due to legal objections.

“I am pleased to announce that we have operationalised the video recording systems and the National Security Council has put in orders for more. The Evidence Act just has to be amended for this to work,” he added.

The Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) is asking for tomorrow’s mid-term review of the Budget to be deferred until it is briefed on its contents and given a chance to contribute to the process.

Speaking after a two-hour meeting with Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus yesterday evening, OWTU president general Ancel Roget said they were not privy to measures in the mid-term budget and therefore it could not get their support.

“If there are measures that would bring hardship to the workers who are already reeling under pressure and it were not first discussed with us, although we have a Memorandum of Understanding that dictates to us that we would have meaningful, deep and wide consultation, and we did not have that, well certainly our position is clear.

“We should have meaningful consultation before major decisions that will impact workers in this country are taken. We cannot support any measure that will be adverse to workers,” he added. 

Roget and his team also carried out extensive discussions with Baptiste-Primus on amending the Retrenchment and Benefit clauses of the Companies Act in the workers’ interest. Roget made reference to the hundreds of workers sent home by ArcelorMittal.

“Companies like all the ArcelorMittals will not find it attractive to go into self-induced receivership which at the end of the day renders dissolvement and puts workers on the breadline.

“Those workers are facing the stark reality of not receiving the retrenchment benefit, of not even receiving their pensions that are due to them, that is their own property. Pension is deferred earnings they would have worked for,” he added.

He said workers under the hands of “merciless” multi-nationals were a soft target because there were no tough labour laws and legislation to protect the workers. 

He also called for more support for local farmers and farming in order to reduce dependency on foreign imports for food, adding Government should also pump more into agricultural produce and more local food so the country could benefit.

With photos of two suspects reportedly involved in the shooting of PC Anson Benjamin circulating on Facebook, head of Southern Division CID Insp Don Gajadhar is calling on police officers to be more sensitive with ongoing investigations. Gajadhar said in an interview yesterday the photos, which identified the men as suspects, are affecting the ongoing investigation.

Benjamin, who is attached to the Ste Madeline Police Station, was shot in the head while responding to a robbery report at Chao Yong Supermarket, St Clement’s, Ste Madeline, on Monday night. He remains warded in critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital with the bullet still lodged in the back of his head.

“I don’t understand how we are here trying to get intelligence and build a case or to see if these men are responsible or have any information about the shooting and how it (photos) could reach on Facebook?” Gajadhar asked.

He said ASP Rawle Ramdeo and himself are a team of five CID officers to partner with the investigator, Sgt Parasram, and Region III Homicide Bureau detectives to carry out their probe in a systematic way. 

“We are pursuing all leads at this time with respect to the shooting. The crime scene investigators visited the scene and took possession of some physicals things on the scene.

“We are looking at camera footage. We are on the ground collecting intelligence from people. Presently the inquiry is ongoing but we have not pinpointed any particular person of interest,” he added.

He criticised his fellow officers for posting the photos, which were shared on a page called “In support of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service,” saying: 

“It would have come from police officers because no one is going to just post up these photos. I saw one man standing up close to a police vehicle in one picture.

“I don’t know that a man will take a picture of himself standing in front of a police vehicle and then he now is the suspect in something.

“But I am sure that would have come from police but we are still doing a lot of work with regards to that but we haven’t been able to pinpoint anyone yet,” he added. He said the photos could only cause anxiety at this point in the investigation.

“Everything that we are doing, whether any investigation within the Government or any organisation, we always see these things happening, where people are not professional and confident enough to work within what we have and be sensitive about the investigation and how we treat with things.

“Because at the end of the day, there is still a police officer lying down in a hospital bed dying and he still has a family who will be asking the same question: ‘If these are the men responsible for my husband’s/father’s shooting, what are the police doing?’ And the public is seeing these two pictures and saying they are the men and it is creating a lot of anxiety.”

He called on officers to remember that procedures must be followed.

“The police don’t just go and lock up people and then try to find evidence. Look how it took with the Dana Seethahal case... wasn’t there a huge public outcry (for justice)? But obviously you have to do your investigation and talk to your people before you treat with things,” he said. Gajadhar is calling on members of the public who have any information about this incident or any shooting or murder in the Southern Division to contact the CID office at 652-2564 or the Homicide Division at 652-0495.

Just over $559 million is proposed to be moved collectively from five ministries and allocated elsewhere with the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development set to receive the largest chunk.

Monies are also expected to be decreased from several vulnerable areas, including children’s homes, the Children’s Authority and cuts are also expected to be made in the HIV/Aids area.

Proposed decreases in expenditure, which are set to take place in the Ministries of Education, Health, Housing, Sport and Social Development, were discussed at the Standing Finance Committee sitting in Parliament yesterday.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert faced several questions from Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who at one point said some of the monies were not adding up.

“The amounts coming out of Education are not adding up to the amounts now being transferred. What we are doing here is taking out of one ministry, placing it into another... we are not creating any new projects,” Persad-Bissessar said. 

The monies to be decreased from the various ministries were already allocated in the 2016 budget passed in October last year.

In the areas where monies were expected to be transferred from the Social Development Ministry, Minister of Social Development Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn said those included the St Mary’s Children’s Home, $12 million: St Dominic’s Children’s Home, $11 million: St Jude’s, $7 million and St Michael’s Home for Boys, $9 million.

Asked by Persad-Bissessar how much was being transferred from the Children’s Authority Crichlow-Cockburn said an expected $30 million. Recently there have been several cases of children being abused, either physically or sexually.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the $6 million decrease from his ministry was expected to come from the Government’s response to HIV/Aids, social infrastructure, social community services and social marketing. Regarding the $2 million allocated to the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) community HIV programme, Deyalsingh said that was expected to remain within the Health Ministry.

Asked by Persad-Bissessar on the amount already spent from the $6 million Deyalsingh said that was approximately $1.4 million and included projects relating to HIV/Aids, namely the purchase of HIV kits at a cost of $827,520, UWI workshops which cost $77,206, accommodation in Tobago for a meeting for the director amounting to $1,740, World Aids Day events at a cost of $177,653, seminars and workshops at $29,355, advertising costing $33,917, other UWI workshops $201,000 and the payment of stipends.

Persad-Bissessar said $40,000 being transferred from the Social Development Ministry to the National Security Ministry was expected to be placed in an “emergency cases fund.”

Oropouche East MP, Roodal Moonilal, asked why was there a need to now move the On The Job programme (OTJ) from the Education Ministry to the Labour Ministry and whether there was any contradiction in policy. Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus said the OTJ was previously under the Ministry of Labour and the Government felt it would be better implemented under that ministry.

Regarding whether the programme would lend support to the recently dismissed ArcelorMittal workers Baptiste-Primus said that would only come into play if they fell inside the age category of 35 years and under. Asked how many of the fired workers were under the age of 35 years, Baptiste-Primus said she was “not in a position to convey this information.”

To date there are 7,381 people already in the programme and there are proposals to increase the $2,500 stipend incrementally. Government is expected to deliver its mid-year review tomorrow while debate on the variations is also expected to take place tomorrow. 

Proposals for the variation of appropriation, decrease:
• Ministry of Education: $413,233,000.
• Ministry of Health: $6,000,000.
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Development: $16,000,000.
• Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs: $10,000,000.
• Ministry of Social Development and Family Services: $114,201,129.
Total: $559,434,129.

Proposals for the variation of appropriation, increase:
• Parliament: $16,000,000.
• Office of the Prime Minister: $122,661,129.
• Ministry of National Security: $40,000.
• Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development:   $374,000,000.
• Ministry of Community Development: $7,500,000.
• Ministry of Planning and Development: $39,233,000.
Total: $559,434,129.00.

Several calls were made yesterday for a public referendum that would give T&T citizens the power to express their opinion on proposed legislations before it becomes law. Making the call at a “Let’s Do This Together: Participatory Governance in T&T” forum were economist Indera Sagewan-Alli and former arts and multicultural minister Dr Lincoln Douglas.

The discussion came up after presenters — Reginald Dumas, former head of the Public Service, UWI lecturer Dr Gabrielle Hosein, political and social activist Ashaki Scott and head of Fixin’ T&T Kirk Waithe — addressed members of the public at the St Augustine Campus of the  University of the West Indies on issues affecting governance in T&T.

In addressing the attendees, Waithe said he believed the people were the biggest failed institution in T&T. 

“The problem is not our politicians it is us. We are prepared to sit down and talk and call that George. That don’t work. If all you serious come and join me and let us do it (march) on the streets,” he added.

Waithe said for 16 years citizens have been clamouring for proper procurement legislation which has fallen on deaf ears. He added what politicians responded to was people actively demonstrating with courage and determination.

Waithe said citizens were within their right to call on politicians to implement legislation on procurement, party and campaign financing and whistleblowing protection. With these legislations in place, Waithe said we could guard our Treasury and protect our patrimony. He said while T&T was a wealthy nation, citizens continued to suffer for health care services and justice.

Waithe, who was instrumental in bringing information forward on Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene McDonald which led to Prime Minister Patrick Manning firing her as Housing Minister last month, said he intended to start searching for answers involving Life Sport and the awarding of suspicious contracts.

“Corruption is the ultimate evil. Corruption destroys families, communities, economies and countries. We have to fix corruption,”he added. He said once the inefficiencies were fixed, corruption would be reduced. Waithe said one area that needed to be addressed was the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“At the office of the DPP strings are pulled by a political appointee in the form of the Attorney General. That is insane,” he said. Dumas agreed that people have the power to demand better governance. 

“We have to go beyond writing letters, calling radio stations to cuss and calling television stations to complain. You are emoting. 

“You are not changing things. That is not good enough. If you continue to do that the same frustration would arise, resulting in things we may not like. If you want to change things then you have to take an entirely different approach,” he added.

A crucial aspect of good governance, Dumas said was consultation which was often described as a public relations exercise.

“Have there been proper consultation between governments in this country and the people? The answer is no. But they have already decided what to do. They have these consultations to give the impression that they are speaking and listening to the people, which they are in fact not doing.”

Dumas said while former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s mantra was “Serve The People” and the PNM “Let Do This” tag line gave the impression of democracy and good governance, governments have a tendency to make decisions without consulting first with the people.

In a questions and answer segment, Sagewan-Alli said while the Constitution barely protected its citizens “I think if we could get the right to a referendum enshrined in the Constitution then we the people would have a constitutional mechanism in between the five years of voting.”

Agreeing with Sagewan-Alli was Douglas.

“I want to agree that the right to a referendum would be a good start because it gives the people an opportunity to organise and get their voices on the agenda,” he said. Since being defeated at the 2015 general election, Douglas said he had been reconstructing a formula for non-partisan democracy.

Douglas said politicals made decisions on how their party could win an election.

“The primary evil in government is ignorance. There have been stupid people running this country right from the beginning and some of them have been militant at it,” he added.

Ingrid Applewhite, 30, and her son, Joshua, 12, have been living in the female washroom at the recreation ground at Pinto Road, Arima. Applewhite began living in the washroom behind the stands at the savannah four months ago after she lost her job at a restaurant and could no longer pay her rent.  

“The restaurant closed for health reasons and they sent us home and never called us back. We were staying by relatives but that did not work out either,” she said. 

Joshua, who has been attending Arima Boys’ Government Primary School, has not been to school for almost two years. Applewhite and Joshua sleep in one of the bathing stalls in the stands at nights and during the day wander around the savannah.

“I spread half a sheet on the floor and me and Joshua cover with the other half,” she said. She says she cleans the stall daily but when there are sporting events it becomes dirty again.

“Sometimes it smells really bad of urine. I wash it with disinfectant,” she said. Two Wednesdays ago, Applewhite spent her 30th birthday in the savannah. “We sat under a mango tree in the savannah and watched people play cricket and fly kites.”

When she moved to the savannah she brought her stove and gas tank and some other belongings. 

“People stole everything. All I have is a plastic bag with four pants and three jerseys for my son and two skirts and two jerseys for me,” she explained. Applewhite says she asks people for food. “I would go to people I know from Pinto and explain the situation and ask them to help out with food. Sometimes they give us meat which I don’t eat so I give it to Joshua and remain hungry.”

She said after she took up residence at the savannah, she began working at a chicken place but she and other workers were terminated when business took a nosedive. She even tried making sugar cakes and coconut drops and selling them.

“An elderly man offered me his place to make them but he started to get fresh and I left. I told him if I have to go down that road I would rather remain hungry. After that, I started to beg for food,” she added. Applewhite said she went to the Arima constituency office and met MP Anthony Garcia face-to-face but did not get any help.

“He was more interested in my child’s father and I ended up breaking down and crying. He said I was wasting his time.” Contacted, Garcia said Applewhite did visit him and, in trying to assess her situation asked about the father of the child.

“But I felt she was not being forthright with me and I told her she was wasting my time. I did make an appointment with the Ministry of Social Services for her and gave her the date. I don’t know what happened after that.”

Applewhite said she told Garcia she had no money to go to the ministry in Port-of-Spain and she never went but called and wrote and did not get a response. She said she took Joshua out of Arima Government when she moved to Chaguanas to take up the restaurant job and stay with relatives.

“I tried to get him transferred to another school but did not get through. When we came back to Pinto I went to Santa Rosa Government and asked but they said Standards Four and Five were filled up.” 

Applewhite said Joshua missed the Secondary Entrance Assessment examination. She said a kind woman offered her a lot of land in Manzanilla and she needed some material to build a little house. The T&T Guardian contacted Sangre Grande social worker, Maureen St Louis, who has been in touch with Applewhite.

“She told me she will try to get Joshua in school and source some materials for me to build a house. “I am not asking for a million dollars. I just need some old galvanise and some old wood,” Applewhite said. As for those who may think she is on drugs, Applewhite said: “I am not on drugs. I have just fallen on really hard times and have no help.”
 

RALPH BANWARIE

A Sangre Grande father was killed in front his family yesterday evening. Sheldon Raymond, 36, a labourer of Sangre Chiquito, was shot dead as his three children — aged five, seven and eight — and wife Melissa, looked on in horror.

Police said around 4 pm Raymond was standing in front their home speaking with a friend when the gunman approached him and opened fire. His wife and three children, who were sitting on the porch, ran for cover while Raymond tried to escape the gunman by running inside. 

However, he stumbled, fell and died on the spot from gunshots wounds to the head and lower back. His traumatised wife told the T&T Guardian yesterday evening   on Saturday her husband had been robbed of $5,000 at their home. 

“Today they returned and shot and killed my husband who is the breadwinner of the house,” she said. Police received the trouble call around 4.10 pm and arrived to find Raymond in a pool of blood in his frontyard. 

District Medical Officer Dr Srinivas viewed the body and ordered its removal to Sangre Grande District Hospital mortuary. The body is to be taken to the Forensic Science Center, St James, for an autopsy today.

This was the second Sangre Grande father to be gunned down in the presence of their wife and children in two days. On Monday, market vendor Sheldon “Shabazz” Sutton of Coalmine, Sangre Grande, was killed in the presence of his wife and children.

Visiting the scene were Senior Supt John Trim, Supt Phillip, ASPs Robain, Joseph and Cpl Randy Castillo.

Ishmael Roger Mohammed often finds his way down to the Matura River and sits in the shade of the arching bamboo trees watching the crystal clear water gushing by. The wind whispering in the overhead  trees and birds’ song fill him with peace. 

In Matura many residents are involved in the protection of the leatherback turtle which swims millions of miles to nest on the shores of this quiet rural east coast village. Mohammed, 48, is also involved in conservation but of another fast becoming endangered species—the area’s youth. He heads the village’s Community Kids Foundation and also stands ready to help anyone in need.

A security officer, he spends most of his spare hours harnessing and guiding young people in every aspect of their lives. His passion to save them from a negative lifestyle was inspired by his own dark and troubled past. Mohammed grew up with an alcoholic and abusive father who eventually hanged himself. 

He was a victim of constant physical and verbal abuse and while yet in his teens ended up becoming involved in the drugs trade in El Socorro where he lived. He became a cocaine addict, eating out of garbage bins and sleeping in abandoned buildings with newspapers as his cover.

“I know what it is like to have rats nibbling your ears and roaches running over your face,” he says.

He said his father was involved in the occult and made an evil pact which he (Mohammed) was asked to continue but refused. He believes this had something to do with the terrible road he travelled.

Today, Mohammed lives contentedly in his own modest home in serene Matura where he settled after he spent six months at the Readi Centre Rehabilitation in the area and was cured of his drug addiction.

Recalling his terrible childhood, he said: “Many times as a little boy I had to run out into the streets to put clothes on my naked mother. My father would beat her for no reason and she would run out the house in terror.”

Mohammed said while he suffered verbal abuse from his father, his mother would vent her frustration on him and his little sister and beat them every day. It was soon after he passed the Common Entrance examination for St George’s College, his first choice, he found his father hanging in his bedroom.

“The night before, he came home drunk and threw a glass plate at my mother cutting her face. I grabbed a cutlass and told him if he touched my mother again I will kill him.

“The next morning we found him hanging from a rope in my bedroom. That was the defining moment for me. After that, I went totally haywire.”

To help out the family, Mohammed said he was sent to work at a notorious fruit stall in El Socorro owned by former drug dealer, Naim Naya.

“At 13, I was travelling to and from Venezuela in a pirogue bringing in goods.”

Mohammed said he began to smoke cocaine and got arrested numerous times, doing several stints on Remand Yard and three years as a convict at the Golden Grove Prison. He was arrested for various crimes, including robbery with violence, car stealing, wounding with intent and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

“At 13, 14, I could enter any nightclub in Trinidad because money talks. But I would come home my head full of rage. 

“No amount of liming, drugs, girls could satisfy me. I always knew I belonged in a different world.”

By the time he was a young man, Mohammed was a hopeless cocaine addict. “I was sleeping in an abandoned gas station in El Socorro one night and prayed. 

“The next day I met Pedro de Silva of the Readi Centre who I had met in prison. He told me he was reformed and had been looking for me all over. 

“In a couple months I moved from worst client to counsellor at the centre and was asked to be supervisor of the Raffa House for abused and abandoned boys.”

Mohammed says he gives motivational lectures in schools and on radio and television and works closely with the Matura Police Youth Club.

“Many of the young people come back and tell me thank you,” he said.

The miscarriage by the 23-year-old woman who became this country's first Zika case to be diagnosed in pregnancy has not been attributed to the virus. It is believed the woman developed complications and suffered the miscarriage between Sunday night and Monday morning.

According to officials, the 13-week pregnant woman of Belmont was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital after complaining of pains. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh declined to provide an update on the matter as he cited the doctor/patient confidentiality clause.

When contacted, officials of the North West Regional Health Authority also declined to comment. 

Professor Terrence Seemungal, a member of the specialist medical team assembled by the Ministry of Health to formulate the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pregnant persons suffering with the virus, said there was still no concrete evidence directly linking microcephaly and Zika. Microcephaly is a medical condition where babies’ heads are abnormally small.

Seemungal admitted there seemed to be a lot of research internationally to "support this hypothesis." He said a recent international study had found that a greater number of babies born with the condition had occurred in persons who had contracted the Zika virus during pregnancy.

Even though Seemungal explained traces of the virus had been found in the foetal fluid around the babies, he was reluctant to pronounce a direct cause and effect link. 

"The cause and effect jury is still open on that issue," he added. Anticipating an increase in the number of local cases which now stands at nine,  following the onset of the rainy season in June, Seemungal believes the Health Minister acted proactively by declaring a national health emergency in January. He said efforts to clean the physical environment and introduce other measures, such as spraying and inspections, "were done in the right time."

Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, Professor Bharat Bassaw, endorsed Seemungal's theory of the link between microcephaly and Zika. He said: "The evidence is getting stronger and stronger day-by-day."

Bassaw said while it was difficult to prove cause and effect, "the evidence is strong that there is a link between Zika and microcephaly but we do not have the concrete evidence needed to support that statement."

Revealing that regional experts were concerned about the virus and the potential threat to babies in the womb, Bassaw said all the UWI campuses across the region, along with many of the smaller islands, had assembled a high-powered team to address the issue as they too were expecting an increase in the number of cases in the Caribbean once the rainy season began and the mosquito population increased.

Asked to explain how the local procedure was done, Bassaw said once an expectant person presented had any of the symptoms, a blood test would be done to confirm the diagnosis. Once confirmed, he said the team would carefully monitor the foetus, via ultrasounds, which would be used to determine the growth of the baby's brain in relation to its abdomen.

He said scans would be done regularly in order to identify any other abnormalities, one of which was said to be calcium deposits in the brain, which was another sign of the infection.

Citizens have been urged to clean their homes and work spaces to eradicate mosquitoes as the virus is spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads the dengue fever and chikungunya viruses. The Zika symptoms include a rash, fever, generalised pains and conjunctivitis.

During last Friday's weekly media briefing at the Ministry of Health officials revealed that Zika cases have so far been recorded in Gulf View, Belmont, Laventille, Diego Martin, Tunapuna, La Resource and St Ann's. Spraying operations have so far been carried out at approximately 187,108 homes; 303 educational institutions and 614 government buildings.