Although over 60 different private companies offered jobs at the Ministry of Labour’s Job Fair on Tuesday, retrenched workers are finding it difficult to find vacancies in their own fields. The Fair took place at the National Energy Skills Centre, Point Lisas and was a part of the ministry’s ten-point-plan to combat layoffs during tough economic times.

Mark Latchman, a former ArcelorMittal employee, told the T&T Guardian he could find no vacancy that fits his skill set as there was only one company present who operates in the same industry from which he came.

“Honestly there was only one company that would have jobs for people with my skills and that was Nu-Iron,” he said. “But they had no vacancies for plant operations though, they were looking for an accountant.”

However, Latchman, the father of three young children, says the job expo opened his eyes to many more possibilities. 

“I think it was a very good initiative. It opened my eyes to so many other jobs that I could try to apply for, right now my wife has had to put our one-year-old baby in daycare and find a job to help pay the mortgages, so I’m trying my best to get something quickly.”

He filled out dozens of applications and registered with the ministry’s retrenched workers registry and several employment agencies who offered free registration at the seminar.

“There were so many booths I wanted to go the Central Bank one and I didn’t even get a chance. I am hoping now that something pulls through and I could get a few callbacks.”

Latchman said since losing his job last month, he has been working on and off with small contractors.

“I have been getting small jobs with a few small contractors, but those are only one or two weeks at best...there is nothing permanent or stable being offered right now.”

A former employee of OAS Construtora, who was employed on the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension project to Pt Fortin, also spoke to the T&T Guardian about the fair. The former employee, who did not want to be named, said she was confident about getting calls for interviews coming out of the fair.

“I was kinda hesitant about coming but like everyone I have bills to pay and it’s a good thing I came,” she said. 

“The jobs may not be exactly what I want but if I get something, it will pay my bills and keep food on the table.”

“Those are my main concerns right now and the people were so helpful, I really feel like I would be able to get a job out of this, she said.”

Overwhelming response
Over 1,000 people showed up in the Ministry of Labour’s Job Fair at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC), which saw 67 private companies offering hundreds of job vacancies. According to the ministry’s communications manager, Bobbi Jeffrey, while the fair was initially arranged to facilitate retrenched workers, it was expanded to cater for those are unemployed as well.

“This was a first of its kind expo and it was conceptualised as one element of the ten-point plan, the catalyst of which is the recent retrenchment of so many workers,” Jeffrey said. 

“The scope was broadened to include unemployment as we realised this was an opportunity to have everyone participate. we had private companies offering jobs in every field, from administrative to security, the fast food industry.

“We also had booths from T&T Mortgage Finance Company (TTMF), from YTEPP, ROYTEC, the Ministry of Health offering screening and counselling, so it was really a collaborative effort as well.” She said conglomerates like ANSA McAL and the Massy Group also offered jobs for every skill set. 

Jeffrey said the face-to-face approach with recruiters went down well with many hopeful applicants.

“The overwhelming response we got was that we should have another job fair. people were able to sit down and not feel pressured about asking questions and filling out their applications.”

Citizens can expect more hardship when Finance Minister Colm Imbert makes his mid-term presentation tomorrow. This from University of the West Indies economist and former government senator, Prof Patrick Watson, who says citizens should not expect Imbert to bring glad tidings in his eagerly awaited package.

Watson predicts that Trinidad and Tobago is in a dire situation and no matter what Imbert produces it is not something that would make us jump for joy.

Q: Dr Watson, what’s your wish, hope, expectation or the people’s expectation of the proposed mid-year report by the Minister of Finance?
I am not very hopeful about any good tidings and that has nothing to do with the competence of the minister, the ministry or anything like that. We are in a situation that is dire and it has largely to do with the price of oil and gas (energy sector) over which we have absolutely no control.
So I am anticipating certain adjustments and I understand it could be called a new budget…

Q: Technically, isn’t that what the man in the street would describe this presentation as?
Yes. And there may be a revision on the price of oil and gas, as we all know in recent times the price has been trending downwards and is now fluctuating somewhere within the thirties ($30s), but there is talk that we should not ignore that, it could go to the level of the twenties ($20s). So I am not…

Whatever the minister comes with, it is not going to be something that we are going to rejoice about... it is not something that is going to get us lower prices on food, lower prices on anything and it will not give us reassurance about the safety of the foreign exchange situation or anything like that. In my last discussion with you I hoped they would not touch the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund… I genuinely hope that remains intact.
 
Q: Dr, given your wide experience can you visualise the time when they would dip into that nest egg?
(Taking a deep inward breath) I never know what politicians can do… I am looking at what is happening and I am trying to make something of a prediction based on being pessimistic rather than optimistic because I think it is better in the circumstance…

Q: In other words you prefer to lower the expectation…?
Yes, on prices you are likely to get.. .that is only commonsense, right? 
That is not rocket science so it is better in the context of where nothing is telling you that prices seem to rise in a spectacular way.

Q: Given that very little has been done by successive governments over the years with respect to diversifying the economy because of the over dependence on the energy sector, why couldn’t at least one of them realise the mistake they were making?
They all gave lip service to it eh? (Sardonic smile) but it is somewhat obvious and it is part of what the economists call the “resource curse”.
You have a source of revenue that brings in easy money to you, it is an effort to make something that would bring foreign exchange otherwise.
I’ll tell you what makes it worse; when you have this money coming in so easily there is always the tendency where that country’s own currency becomes over-valued.

Q: Break that down for us non-economists, please?
Okay. What do I mean by that? 

I could purchase something in the US that is cheaper than it would be if my money were truly properly valued and as an example; the amount of money we take to buy one US dollar. 

We are able to buy goods in the United States worth $1.60, or thereabout; when you are in a situation like that, diversification becomes a problem because if you diversify, the success of diversification is going to depend on you being able to export what you are selling.

Q: So if you have an overvalued dollar you are going to have grave difficulty going into a market under that condition?
Yes. Because if you are going to export and somebody could buy your goods for one US dollar but must pay the equivalent of $1.60 they are not going to buy it from you. It is also easier in that context for a retailer to simply buy a product in the US, bring it into Trinidad and Tobago and sell because there is no great effort and very commonsensical.

And to a very large extent, remember the figures released by our last governor of the Central Bank (a broad chuckle) and even quite recently a lot of millions were poured into the foreign exchange market. 

Last night on the television you may have heard the Prime Minister saying he doesn’t know where it gone. And if I heard him well he said he is going to find out what has happened to this thing.

It seems to me he is suggesting that people are burying it… hoarding it and putting it elsewhere, which they are not entitled to. But mind you I am not saying that is the case I want to make that clear.

Q: So Dr Watson what is the end result of all of this if I may say, misdirected forward planning in the context of diversification which as you know is not something that materialises over night?
The end result is that all sectors of the economy, as we have seen happening here, do not earn foreign exchange except that one sector.
Now that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is largely true to say what I have just said; the only true earner of foreign exchange in this country remains the oil sector, so anything you want to do, for example, you buy a television and sell it, and if that dollar is overvalued relative to what it can buy it is going to be a shoo-in for you.

Q: Dr I know that most of you scientists do not like to refer to spiritual connotations in your professional work, but isn’t it correct that oil has been a curse on this society based on where we are at today?
It is a curse, in fact the literature refers to it as the natural resource curse (chuckling again) and we are not the only country to suffer from it. Very few countries have avoided it; the one major exception has been Norway.

Now successive governments have a five-year term during which they must do well enough and seek re-election. Many if not all of these governments have fought to seek reelection by buying the votes and they do so based on the usage of the foreign exchange which contributes to a very large extent to hinder the diversification effort.

Q: Example?
Let’s look at CEPEP. No matter how they try to spin it, it remains an unproductive enterprise. Many of these people could be employed elsewhere, employers are not able to compete with CEPEP and the source of these people’s salary is (ultimately) the energy sector.

Q: Dr. Watson, would you recommend the removal of CEPEP as part of coming to grips with the diversification effort?
(Scratching the left side of his head and briefly staring at the ceiling) Well, I have to be very careful how I say that, eh? The only thing I could say is that I would have wished they never started it, or that it would have been implemented the way it was designed to be.

Unfortunately, CEPEP has become a profession. People who go there do it as a job but that was never meant to be so. The idea was that you would go in there learn a trade and leave for others to join and learn a lifetime skill. Not so today. So CEPEP in that sense has become a burden and it accounts now for roughly ten per cent of the employed population.

Under the new local government reform proposals, regional corporations will be in charge of collecting property taxes.

So said Rural and Local Government Minister Franklin Khan during a local government reform consultation at the Princes Town West Secondary School on Wednesday afternoon.

He said political affiliation has affected rural development so it was imperative under the new system that politics be set aside. 

“Unless there is direct policy intervention, rural development will not occur in T&T,” Khan added.

He said chairmen and mayors would be elected and not selected by political parties under the new system. 

Salaries of councillors would increase and additional people would be employed where needed, Khan added. However, he warned against corruption.

“You are spending public money so you have to be held accountable. You will be accountable to the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor General.

“You will be authorised to decide how to spend it and the Auditor General will be looking at you with a hawk’s eye,” Khan said.

Saying people will be encouraged to pay taxes if they see the monies being spent in their own communities, Khan unveiled a modern management system, styled after the one being used by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

He admitted the PNM had been accused of being an urban-centric party and that was why Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley set up a ministry solely towards the development of rural areas. 

Lamenting the unproductiveness of local government, Khan said there was no agency in T&T that was as inefficient and unproductive as local government.

“Go to regional corporation and at 10 am, you can’t find anybody. The gangs disappear by 10 am. They are not working for their money. 

“You cannot say you go to a government agency and find nobody at 10 am,” Khan said.

He added that was why regional corporations needed to be remodelled to govern their own affairs, regardless of political affiliation.

“If we give you the authority and the skills, you will have productivity,” Khan said. He added that regional corporations would get additional staffing if they needed to manage their own affairs. 

“The regional corporations are understaffed and under-resourced and they don’t have the right skill set to undertake responsibility. 

“There are no engineers, no auditors or supply chain managers, no quality surveyors, no project managers. All these are skills needed to execute work,” Khan said.

He added that once the transformation process was complete, the Local Government ministry would be shelved.

Three recent murders in the usually peaceful community of Sangre Grande have sparked serious concern to the police in the district and the Member of Parliament.

Speaking at a Police Service town meeting at Festival Park, Valencia, the MP, Glenda Jennings-Smith, who was earlier this year appointed a Minister in the Ministry of National Security, said she was very concerned about the spiralling rate of shootings and killings in the Eastern Division over the last few days.

In the last five days, there have been three murders in the Sangre Grande district: Wendell Thomas, 43, shot dead on April 3; Sheldon Sutton, 43, shot dead on April 4, and Sheldon Raymond, 36, shot dead on April 6. 

There were also two murders at Copper’s Bar, in Valencia, on February 26 and March 5, where Seon Edwards and Steven Villaroel were shot dead, respectively. No charges have been made in any of the cases.

She said she was particularly disturbed by the fact that two of the victims were shot dead in the presence of their wives and children within a day apart. 

One resident complained about the increasing number of illegal immigrants, especially from Jamaica, who are living in the Valencia district, and despite making several reports to the police, nothing was being done to address this problem.

Another resident complained about the inability to contact officers at the Valencia Police Post because the lines were always busy. He said when he did make contact, it took police officers about 50 minutes to respond.

Other residents praised the police for their swift response to reports of gunshots being fired in the district.

Deputy Commissioner Glen Hackett, who responded to some of the complaints, said the lines at the station were usually busy because police officers were taking reports. 

He said he would see how feasible it would be to have special lines for emergency calls for the residents of Valencia.

Hackett issued a public plea to Jennings-Smith to ensure that Valencia got a police station to enhance the delivery of service as the population of the community had rapidly grown.

“Give us the resources to go forward so as to give the level of security and safety for which the community wants and our children deserve,” Hackett said.

ASP Mario Robain, of Eastern Division, who gave the closing remarks, told residents they should not be afraid about the escalating crime as police officers from the division would ensure a safe and protective environment for all.

RALPH BANWARIE 

Five months after his pirogue was damaged by a pontoon floating off the San Fernando Water Taxi Terminal, La Romaine fisherman Alloy Chapman says he has been unable to provide for his family.

Chapman, 61, who has been fishing for the last nine years, said while he was out of a job, the National Infrastructural Development Company (Nidco) was giving him the runaround in terms of settling his claims so he could repair his vessel.

Currently the 30-foot pirogue, Blue Bone, is out of the water at the San Fernando Fishing Facility, Kings Wharf, with cracks and holes in the hull. 

Chapman said it was moored at the fishing facility last October 18, when the pontoon burst its chains and slammed into it, squeezing it against the seawall.

Fishermen who witnessed the incident helped to remove the pontoon and when Chapman went to the wharf the following morning he discovered the pirogue had been damaged. “Since then, my boat has remained there. 

The only thing I did was to remove the engine,” Chapman said.

He said after meeting with port captain Allister Khan, he was advised to visit Nidco’s Port-of-Spain office, the organisation which operates the water taxi service.

After meeting with officials there, he said two weeks later, a “Mr Ramkissoon” told him his claims were too high. Since then, there has been no more communication.

Chapman is claiming $34,945 in compensation to repair the vessel and a daily compensation of $500 a day from October 19 last year for loss of potential earnings.

In a response, Nidco said Chapman’s claims were engaging the attention of its legal department while arrangements were being made to retrieve the wrecked pontoon and secure it out of the water.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says his Cabinet made a decision yesterday that none of its members will access any loan to buy a luxury vehicle which falls in the new increased tax bracket.

He said, “Especially because we can’t afford it (fuel), we must now be concerned about how we use fuel and become more fuel conscious. What is wrong with that?”

Rowley’s announcement came immediately following Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s 50 per cent increase in taxes on luxury vehicles with engines over 1999cc in a series of sweeping tax measures.

He said if it was the policy of the country, then it applied to all. 

“So anybody who wants to buy a bigger car...to buy a high-end car, buy it with your own money. That is a decision made on this side. 

“All members of Government agreed. It is not law but a commitment we have made. The same way we are encouraging the rest of the country to do that, we hold ourselves to the same thing.”

The PM’s revelation came as he responded to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s presentation on the mid-year budget review in the Parliament. 

He said Government will also make decisions in the best interest of all as it pertains to workers who’ve lost their jobs. He noted that while his Government had intervened to assist the 400 workers of Grand Bay, there were those outside and inside of the Parliament who were calling for intervention in the ArcelorMittal situation where 600-plus workers were terminated. 

But Rowley said, “That is a $3 billion exposure in an environment where the product, steel, is facing tremendous challenges from the world leading steel exporter. But we are getting advice—What is the government doing? What about the workers?”

He said they were the same people who were exhorting his Government to intervene in some way, although they had not said how to intervene.

“But the Government must intervene in ArcelorMittal...so on one hand, do something without getting what the something is about 600 jobs, but on the other hand when you do something about 400 jobs you get castigated.”

The PM said his People’s National Movement (PNM) Government will make the decisions on a case-by-case basis and will make decisions in the best interest of the people of the country. 

He slammed Persad-Bissessar’s response, saying she struggled for 90 minutes but ended up advising his Government “that you are in charge; take charge.”

Rowley said, “In April of 2016, this is the advice we are getting, but in September of 2015 that position was very offensive to them. Clearly, it appears as though some epiphany has taken place on the other side of the House and the Member for Siparia, having struggled for an hour and a half and having not engaged a single item of content of the Minister of Finance, ended up by saying...I tried to take notes because I knew I was speaking after my colleague from Siparia, but I didn’t have much to write down because the member made a case that this proceeding today was somehow unusual.”

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the country has been taken for a ride over the last six months by the Government.

She made the comment yesterday as she noted the mid-term budget review presented by Finance Minister Colm Imbert was painted like the Samuel Beckett play, Waiting for Godot.

In her 90-minute response to Imbert’s presentation, Persad-Bissessar criticised government’s new fiscal measures and plans. 

She said, “I think in the last six months and continuing today, this country has been taken for a ride. That ride was not on a donkey cart, it was not in an Audi...it was not in a Benz. The country was hyped up. It’s like we were waiting for Godot.”

On Imbert’s presentation, she said he “was speeding” and “rapid railing.”

Persad-Bissessar disagreed with Imbert’s levy on Internet shopping, saying he had served the population with full notice and that the plan would not stem the foreign exchange problem. 

“It is interesting the minister would announce today that he had put a measure of putting a seven per cent levy on online Internet shopping for items non-taxable in Trinidad,” she said.

She said between now and when he decided to speak with the banks, which was towards the end of the fiscal year, people would spend every cent on their online shopping. 

“You’re not going to get assistance from that,” she said.

On the issue of the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses programme (GATE), she said government’s position was “very deceptive.”

Government will review the programme and a report is expected in July, Imbert told the House. 

The mid-year review were only statements of intent, she said, adding nothing had been achieved except to ensure that the lives of citizens would now become harder because of the price of super gasoline and diesel.

“We have had enough of the Anansi stories that we will do this and we will do that. Six to seven months is more than enough and the Government has made it very clear that they are in charge, but it is very clear to the population that their measures are only such measures as to wreak hardships upon the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”

On the Panama Papers scandal, she said she was not worried for herself but for T&T. 

“I have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

Government will, in the second half of this year, launch an aggressive tax arrears collection drive and enforce compliance—especially regarding VAT and gaming taxes—since collections of domestic taxes are lagging behind Budget projections, Finance Minister Colm Imbert says.

Delivering his mid-year review in Parliament yesterday, Imbert said the lag was due in large part to the economic slowdown, the depressed energy sector and compliance issues. 

“It will take some time before the full impact of the Value Added Tax reform and the enhanced tax administration efforts are fully realised. For this reason, we will continue to have recourse to one-off capital revenues in the form of extraordinary dividends from some state enterprises and divestment proceeds,” he said.

He had opened his review statement saying, “It is no secret that the economic environment has turned out to be significantly worse than envisaged at the time of the 2016 Budget presentation.”

Imbert said it wasn’t feasible to have the review later in the year and allow for widespread public discussion on the most appropriate fiscal measures. 

“We don’t have the luxury of time. We therefore ask the various interest groups to bear with us, as the economic situation is very serious and corrective action must be taken immediately, lest we find ourselves in such dire straits that we would have no choice but to request the IMF for balance of payments support, with all of the attendant adverse conditionalities that come with that scenario. 

“We must avoid an IMF programme at all costs and must therefore be proactive...the reality is that the current severely depressed oil and gas prices have had a significant adverse impact on the public finances, notwithstanding government’s considerable efforts at fiscal consolidation, careful debt management and prudent expenditure restraint.”

He said the recent International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) visiting team’s report indicated that although T&T isn’t in a crisis, “if we are to survive the present economic difficulties, we need to recognise and quickly adapt to the new reality and avoid the mistakes of the last five years—underinvesting and undersaving.”

Imbert said in the first five months of the fiscal year, revenue collection was $2.96 billion lower than expected, but government expenditure was also $7.75 billion lower than programmed in the Budget.

He added Government had had no choice but to drastically cut programmed expenditure, “otherwise we would be faced with a situation where the Central Bank would have to cease honouring government cheques.” For fiscal 2016, Government is now looking at revised expenditure of $59 billion.

Also, fiscal operations in the second half of the fiscal year will now be based on an oil price of US$35 per barrel and a gas price of $2.00 per mmbtu. 

“This would imply another sizable shortfall in energy tax receipts, compared with the budget projections.”

A marathon debate on the review was projected, lasting into this morning, since a number of ministers—Housing, Communication, Works and others—were expected to speak, along with responses from Opposition MPs.

Citizens are now paying more to travel after a 15 per cent increase in the price per litre of super gasoline and diesel went into immediate effect yesterday. Alcohol and cigarettes are also going up, a 50 per cent tax will be levied on luxury vehicles with an engine size exceeding 1999cc, and Internet shoppers will face a seven per cent tax by September.

These were some of the key measures Finance Minister Colm Imbert presented in the government’s first Finance Variation of Appropriation Bill 2016 in the House of Representatives, yesterday.

Imbert said the Government, in the future, intends to “introduce a new regime for fuel so that the price will go up and down based on the international prices of oil and petroleum products.

“Like (former businessman) Max Senhouse used to say, ‘we need the money,’” Imbert told legislators in his 88-minute presentation, adding that citizens cannot have “champagne taste with mauby pockets.”

“The price of super gasoline would be increased by 15 per cent to (retail at) $3.50 per litre. The price of diesel will be similarly increased by 15 per cent to $2.00 per litre,” he said of the fuel hike.

According to Imbert, “super gasoline will no longer be subsidised at the current oil price,” while diesel will remain subsided “at this time by approximately $1 per litre.” Premium gasoline is already not being subsidised, he noted.

He said the fuel subsidy had cost the country $31 billion in the past ten years, adding that studies show the subsidies “disproportionately benefit the rich rather than the poor.”

Imbert said the fuel subsidy was contributing to “traffic congestion, pollution, damage to roads, environmental damage and revenue leakage,” adding that even after the adjustment in domestic fuel prices in November 2015, “the current cost of the fuel subsidy, including arrears, remains at close to $600 million at current oil prices.”

Imbert said to cushion the effects of the price increase in diesel, there will be a reduction in taxes on maxi taxis and taxis. He told legislators the measure was intended to reduce the cost of public transport vehicles, and the tax reductions are to be implemented next month after the Finance Bill 2 is approved in Parliament. That bill is to be debated in Parliament next month.

On the other hand, Imbert said Government will remove all taxes on CNG, electric and hybrid cars with engine sizes up to 1999cc and will begin the process for conversion of all government vehicles, fast ferries and water taxis to CNG and or alternative power sources.

He said the mass transit system that was promised by the People’s National Movement during last September’s election campaign was determined to be “expensive and not feasible at this time” by the International Development Bank. 

“We simply cannot afford to proceed with this project at this time,” he added. 

The measure was intended to be the solution to the country’s traffic woes.

Imbert was also unable to say exactly when and how public officers will be paid the second half of their backpay and arrears, which were awarded before the September 2015 general elections under the then PP government.

He said the Government intends to pay 50 per cent of the outstanding arrears of salaries to public officers by the end of June 2016, and hopes to pay the remaining 50 per cent in either interest-bearing government bonds by the end of September 2016, or in further instalments in cash in 2017, at the option of the workers. 

Addressing the foreign exchange issue, Imbert said the dramatic fall in the country’s energy receipts had created a severe imbalance in the supply and demand for foreign exchange. He added, however, that the country’s foreign reserves have remained stable.

He said the foreign exchange issue was affected by other factors, including the sharp increase in bank credit, particularly for automobiles and undoubtedly some capital flight, which added to the pressures in the foreign exchange market.

He said the Central Bank had allowed the exchange rate to adjust, but the country still has 11 months of import cover.

“We do not intend to allow our currency to become unstable and the Government will intervene as and when necessary to defend and stabilise our exchange rate,” he insisted.

According to the minister, “Appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that our exchange rate does not move by more than a further 3.3 per cent from today’s rate.”

Imbert said the country must put its financial house in order by 2018 when the gap between current revenue and total expenditure, including capital expenditure, must not exceed $10 billion.

The debate was not without controversy, as the Opposition tried unsuccessfully to have the debate delayed on the grounds that it did not have the required time to prepare its response. 

But House Speaker Bridgid Anisette-George got the majority vote required to have the matter proceed. Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who was the first to respond, was given 88 minutes like Imbert.

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​Other measures to be introduced include the following:

• A levy of seven per cent to be imposed on purchases of goods and services through the Internet from retail companies resident overseas, that are not subject to taxation in T&T.

He said that move will affect companies such as Dell, Walmart, Staples and Amazon.

“This tax is intended to help manage the increase in foreign outflows from online purchases, reduce revenue leakage and assist local manufacturers and service companies to compete with overseas retailers.” It will take effect from September.

• Increase of 50 per cent customs duty and motor vehicle tax on luxury vehicles, starting with private motor vehicles with engine size exceeding 1999cc, which will take effect immediately.

• Better collection of taxes from the gaming and gambling industry 

• Increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, to take effect next month.

A small number of people who have been to areas where the Islamic State (Isis) is operating and who have returned to T&T are under surveillance, Prime Minister Keith Rowley has confirmed.

He gave the reply in response to an opposition query in Parliament yesterday. Opposition MP Vidia Gayadeen-Gopeesingh had asked what steps the Government has taken to treat with the possible and/or eventual return of T&T nationals fighting with Isis.

Rowley said legislative adjustments are needed to deal with the situation. But he said the Government was aware of people going abroad and taking part in hostile action. He said Government also knew who had gone to those areas and returned home and was dealing with this via surveillance. He said because they could not be denied access to their home country, Government had to treat them as security concerns.

On other opposition queries, Rowley also confirmed that Government will implement mechanisms to pay the $1 million compensation package—promised under the PP administration—to officers killed in the line of duty. He said when these situations occur, the population shouldn’t begrudge a family.

On steps Government is taking to deal with the murder rate, Rowley put the challenge to the police and security sector in whose hands he said the responsibility for handling crime lies. “It’s not in the hands of teachers, lawyers or priests.”

Adding that the Government has on its payroll a large body of people whose job it is to respond on crime, he said Government was trying to appoint good, strong leadership in the Police Service and was ensuring training and resources aided high morale to confront the criminal element. He said nothing dramatic has happened in the Police Service to result in the current decline in detection, but Government was aware crimes were being committed and “we’re not hearing about follow-ups,” he stressed.

“This is unacceptable and the Minister of National Security and all those in security have a duty to ensure this is turned around.”

He said Government had brought to Parliament legislation for security agencies to get into the conversations of those planning crime. He said the State would ensure agencies have what they need to fight crime and he expected this would lead to an increase in detection.

Rowley faced grilling from Opposition MPs on the Office of the Prime Minister’s (OPM) purchase of a new Mercedes Benz vehicle for his transport. Asked by Tabaquite MP Suruj Rambachan if it would not have been prudent to defer the purchase given the state of the economy, Rowley said it was prudent to have bought a vehicle for $900,000 and not $2 million as the Opposition claimed. 

He reiterated the vehicle purchase had been in the pipeline and it was needed to replace the previous one which was nine years old and required much costly maintenance, including having security issues.

The North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) has been ordered to pay almost $1 million in compensation to a doctor whom it unfairly dismissed five years ago. 

Three Industrial Court judges made the order yesterday as they ruled that the NWRHA’s management acted harshly, oppressively and against good industrial relations when it terminated Dr Jacqueline Shafe’s contract in 2011. 

Shafe was hired as a specialist medical officer on a two-year contract in September 2009. However, with six months left on the contract, the NWRHA informed her she should not have been hired for the post as she was not registered as a specialist with the Medical Board. It also claimed she was overpaid $234,918.57 during her period of employment as she was assigned the post of general manager of Health Policy Research and Planning—which earned a lower salary than a specialist medical officer. It requested that she repay it the difference in salaries. 

In a 22-page judgment, Industrial Court Judge Dinesh Rambally agreed with Shafe’s lawyers that her contract did not require her to be registered as a specialist, only as a medical practitioner.

Rambally also stated that the NWRHA acted unfairly as it did not speak to Shafe before it made its decision. 

“The authority did not have any good reasons for acting in the manner in which it did and had it afforded the worker an opportunity to be heard, it is very likely that it would have been guided differently and acted appropriately in all the circumstances,” Rambally said, as he criticised the authority for failing to seek legal advice before taking its decision. 

He also noted that the authority’s case failed as it “attempted to shift the goal posts in terms of its reasons for Shafe’s dismissal” during the trial of the case. 

While the authority’s human resources manager Josephine Hernandez claimed that Shafe did not fulfil her responsibilities under her contract, she admitted that she never worked or interacted with Shafe to monitor the duties she actually performed. Hernandez also admitted that Shafe was an exceptional worker who had won an Individual of the Year Award from the Ministry of Health in 2009.

“Clearly, she possessed the competence to get the job done but more importantly, she had a dedication to her work which is what is so much needed nowadays in the public health sector. The termination of her job not only affected her but also deprived the wider community of excellent health care services,” Rambally said. 

In assessing Shafe’s compensation, Rambally awarded her $30,000 for her mental and emotional distress; $40,000 for damage to her reputation from being dismissed and $100,000 in general damages for the NWRHA’s poor handling of her termination. 

In addition she was given $159,000 which represented her salary for the remainder of her contract and $594,570.80 in unpaid overtime, unused vacation leave and gratuity payments. 

He said because of the length of time between her dismissal and the judgment, reinstatement would not be practical and compensation would suffice. 

In a brief interview after the judgment, Shafe thanked God for the court’s decision. 

“I feel vindicated. What I went through is nothing that a professional should go through,” she said. 

Shafe was represented by the Banking Insurance and General Workers’ Union (BIGWU) and through its attorneys Keith Scotland, Kashif Forbes and Adaphia Trancoso.

Two years after he began consultations with high-level church officials and gathered information from thousands of churches around the world, Pope Francis has released a 265-page apostolic exhortation titled The Joy of Love in which he addresses issues such as family life, abortion, contraception, gay marriages, single parenting and divorcees within the church.

Speaking during a mid-morning press conference to present the “landmark” document at Archbishop’s House, St Ann’s, yesterday, Archbishop Joseph Harris said it was evident that in compiling the document the head of the Vatican had “recognised that not everybody is at the same spot in life and that people make different journeys.”

Archbishop Harris was accompanied by Fr Clyde Harvey and Executive Co-ordinator of the Archdiocesan Family Life Commission, Tricia Syms, as the trio elaborated about issues affecting family life in today’s society.

Confirming that it has been more than 20 years since the Church released any such document, Harvey said the Pope had advised each country to seek solutions better suited to its culture and were sensitive to the traditions and needs of the local population.

On the issue of family life, he said more work needed to be done to educate the next generation as he outlined the role of the church in helping persons to achieve this.

In the long-awaited document, Pope Francis said gays and lesbians deserve protection from “unjust discrimination” but he upheld the church’s teaching that marriage should be between a man and a woman only.

Asked about how the local archdiocese felt about the LGBT community, Harvey said, “We cannot hide our heads in the sand when it comes to the LGBT community. It is part of the society in which we live.”

Repeating the pope’s statements, Harvey added that while marriage could be defined as the union between a heterosexual couple, “Any human relationship based on mutual love and respect must be honoured.”

Quoting excerpts from throughout the document pertaining to family life, sexual desire, procreation, abortion, parenting and marriage, Harvey anticipated that the work ahead for local churches would not be without its challenges.

However, he is confident that it can be done and has promised that a more detailed synopsis of the document would be forthcoming within the next week.

The Archdiocesan Family Life Commission, which is tasked with the responsibility of educating persons about family life and the values that need to be incorporated into daily living, is also expected to increase and promote such programmes.

On the issue of teenage pregnancy, Harvey said for many persons today, it was simply a physical act.

Asked how this could be changed, he said, “The whole society has an obligation to raise the bar about what sexual intercourse is all about. We have to raise the bar about sexual intercourse and human relationships and if we can do that, we may have to worry less about teenage pregnancy.”

Archbishop Harris added, “It is important to understand that until we get back to critical thinking, in which we teach our young people not just to respond to stimuli but to think through things, we have a little problem.”

It’s time that nationals grow up and take some responsibility for T&T, says Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh. 

Deyalsingh was at the time fielding questions from the media when he attended a health and fitness fair hosted by the Couva Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce, on Saturday, at the Chamber’s building at Camden Road.

When asked by reporters if the budget review was necessary, he said the lifestyle of government-subsidised freeness may soon be over.

“The budget review is necessary if one is perfectly objective, the price of our main income earners which is oil and gas have declined by about 75 per cent in six months so an adjustment is necessary. We have grown up in T&T believing that everything is free but at the end of the day somebody has to pay for the subsidised water rates, subsidised healthcare.”

“Healthcare is free, you can go over there at that Couva health facility and be treated for free but somebody has to pay for it. We cannot go on looking to oil and gas, and looking towards the State to be this paternalistic entity that it once was.”

“It is time for the children of the State, which is you and I to grow up and take some responsibility and this is what this adjustment is about, having us as citizens take responsibility for the state of our country and everyone do a little bit to alleviate the hardships that we are going through.” 

However, Deyalsingh said there are no plans in the pipeline to make citizens pay for healthcare.

He avoided answering a question of what measures would be taken to deal with the thousands of illegal aliens in T&T who put a strain on the local healthcare system.

Valdeen Shears-Neptune

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, meanwhile, is calling on the private sector to partner with the Government to make the $1.5 billion Couva Children’s Hospital accessible to the public.

Deyalsingh said, while he too wanted to see citizens benefit from use of the hospital, the Government had been “left with no budget and no staffing plan,” to have the institution operational.

He also said the Government had no plans to attach a cost to public healthcare.

In earlier reports, Deyalsingh stated that the facility, which was opened on August 14, by former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, weeks before the election, was never to be commissioned this year as this would necessitate having all its equipment and staff in place.

With this in mind, Deyalsingh yesterday called for corporate T&T to submit proposals and cited a similar system which was already in place and working.

The Government, he said, would provide a state-of-the-art building, while the interested companies would provide the staff, funding and additional necessary equipment to have the hospital up and running.

He also slammed the country’s high levels of so-called lifestyle diseases. There’s pressure on the system to provide bed space for amputees and people suffering from diseases brought on by bad lifestyle habits.

Part of the fair included consultation between amputees and Peter King, a US-based licensed orthotist.

Retired T&T Guardian employee, Bertrand Matthews, 60, was yesterday informed by King that he was an ideal candidate for the device. Matthews, 65, lost his right leg last year due to diabetes. Kamlla Rangoo, 57, of Rousillac, also lost her right leg a year ago to diabetes.

“The cost is US$5,000 and upwards, so if I can get one through Government it will ease up my family,” she said.

Senior economist Dr Roger Hosein says the reduction in the gas subsidy comes at a time when oil prices are low and may not be a significant saving measure for the State. 

However, he said it needed to be done.

“Overall, this is a welcome change as it brings the Trinidad and Tobago economy closer to the type of changes necessary to realign its expenditures with its revenue intake”, the economist said.

Hosein’s main concern with the mid-term review presented by Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Friday was the statements about devaluation.

He said while Imbert could not announce that an outright devaluation of 20-30 per cent was needed, he had to be aware that a seven per cent devaluation overall from September may not be sufficient to change the external competitiveness of the manufacturing and non-energy sector to bring the desired amount of foreign exchange. 

On the issue of the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses Programme (Gate), which Imbert said would be reviewed and reported on in July, Hosein said it seemed to him that the Government was prepared to make some cutbacks. 

“Nothing much was said except that a Standing Committee would provide a report by July. But it seems to be heading in the direction of a partial removal, especially for those who can afford to pay.”

Budget speech excerpts on pages A7, A14 & A16

The last thing 23-year-old Isiah Williams told his wife was that he was on his way home.

The father of two never made it as the car in which he was a back-seat passenger crashed into a lightpole along the Solomon Hochoy Highway near Tarouba, killing him on the spot yesterday morning. 

Three other occupants were rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where they are in a stable condition. According to a police report, the driver lost control of the car which flipped several times before crashing into a lightpole.

However, Williams’ mother-in-law Arlene Simon said she heard that the accident, which took place shortly after 6 am, was caused by a bad drive. “It was fast and furious driving,” she said.

Williams was thrown from the vehicle, landing 300 metres away. She appealed to young drivers to stop speeding and be more careful on the roads. Sunday Guardian was told that Williams, a fabricator, went out with three of his friends on Friday night and was coming home after liming in Gasparillo.

Simon described Williams who has two sons, ages four and one, with her daughter Keneal Simon-Williams as a family man. The couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary in November.

The People’s National Movement Government has spent seven months reviewing, auditing and consulting without doing any real work to manage the country’s affairs.

This was the view of Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal, as he contributed to a debate on the mid-term budget review presented by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in Parliament on Friday.

“After seven months they have not built a house, a townhouse, an apartment, an outhouse, but they giving out all the houses we built,” Moonilal said.

Moonilal was the former housing minister under the People’s Partnership government.

“They are taking too long to manage the affairs of the country. They are watching back and going forward. And two of them talking about threatening jail. After seven months, they have taken no employee to court or prosecute or fine. They are ghostbusters.

“Continue to threaten jail and audit, you will end up doing nothing. You have squandered the time.”

According to Moonilal, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley “came to house tonight to frighten T&T.”

He said according to the PNM, the country had two choices, either citizens accepted the Government’s proposed measures to increase revenue, including decreases to the fuel subsidy and more taxes, or the country would go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF.)

“He is telling people the IMF would be worse and there are no alternatives. When we were in government we were addressing the issues.

“There are five government ministers that already bought Mercedes Benz. They come today to tell us they suffering while they took their Mercedes Benz and they gone, five of them.”

He said, “Small minds were trying to run big government.

“The country collapse, 10,000 people lost their work but they are concerned with the little things and not the big things.

“While they telling us save money, $3 million gone to buy painting. What is the cost of consultations? Everybody knows there are several reports on prison reform already? How much spending on consultation?” Moonilal asked. (Kalifa Clyne)

Tabaquite MP Suruj Rambachan says the Government must establish a policy position on loans in this country as interest rates have risen at local banks.

Contributing to debate on the mid-year review of the 2016 Budget on Friday, Rambachan said it was impossible to stimulate the economy if banks were raising mortgage rates.

“The banks have no sympathy for you. What is the Central Bank doing about this?” Rambachan asked.

“Of course you can’t tell the banks what to do, but you can lay a policy position on loans in this country. Everything you have to do in a bank you have to pay for. You make a deposit and you have to pay for it.”

He said it was up to the Government to ensure that businesses and the manufacturing sector were taken care of.

He said businesses were now looking at a situation where they could not pay increased wages.

“We are looking for industrial strife down the road?”

He noted that Government had ignored a request from the Joint Trade Union Movement to meet before the budget statement.

“What is the agenda of the people? We didn’t hear the people’s agenda today. We heard the agenda of the Government. We are going to fail as a country if we continue as a top-down approach to governance.”

He said change required a consensus of the people.

“If we the people are expected to make sacrifices then we must be involved in the decision making.”

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has moved to quash allegations that it was the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government that signed off on the award of the controversial $5 billion construction project to Brazilian firm OAS Construtora on May 25, 2010.

“Nothing is further from the truth,” he said in the Parliament on Friday. 

This adds to the blame game over the issue. 

Rowley said he wanted to “rectify misinformation” from the Opposition about the Point Fortin Highway and the OAS contractor. 

He said everyone knew there was a new government on May 25, 2010. 

The PM said documents would show that the correspondence between National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) and OAS took place under the newly-elected government.

“As a matter of fact, it was because there was no contract given to OAS, why OAS travelled from Brazil...South Africa, to ensure that a contract was given to OAS. And I asked the prime minister of the day a number of times about that and she never answered about that.”

He said with the Panama Papers scandal, all of a sudden, the Opposition wanted to make the country believe that the OAS contract was a PNM creature. 

Rowley said, “The PNM has absolutely nothing to do with the award of the contract to OAS.”

The highway project has become politically toxic, with the firm pulling out of the half completed project, and laying off hundreds of workers.

It started in 2011. Construction had to be delayed on several occasions due to protest action at various sites taken by the Highway Reroute Movement (HRM), who opposed it based on environmental concerns and the displacement of residents, whose land had to be acquired by the Government for construction. 

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The Sunday Guardian had reported that in the last report of the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) for October 2015 and its former president Dr Carson Charles, on May 13, 2010, the Tenders Evaluation Committee recommended that Nidco enter into negotiations with OAS Construtora Ltd as a preferred respondent.

At the end of the tender evaluation process, the recommendation was sent to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

On May 25, 2010, one day after the general election, under then Nidco president Keisha Ince, Nidco informed OAS by letter that it was the preferred respondent. 

With four Gulf View residents now confirmed as having contracted the Zika virus in three months, residents are very worried about the risks to pregnant women in the community.

But while residents renewed their call for authorities to clean clogged drains yesterday, San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein said they themselves could do more. He said they were not taking proper precautionary measures with their properties.

The Ministry of Health on Friday evening confirmed two more cases of Zika, in Tunapuna and Gulf View, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 13. The latest victims are a 26-year-old man from Gulf View and a 71-year-old woman from Tunapuna. 

In a telephone interview yesterday, Hosein said the ministry’s Insect Vector Control Unit and regional corporation officials visited the area.

“We are doing our part. The problem really is to keep the place clean so that the mosquitoes cannot breed. We did pamphlets and we sent them out to each household. We went around with a mike, letting people know we are spraying, cutting open lots, cleaning drains and they have to do their part.

“They have containers in their yards which are breeding grounds, plant pots and dog bowls, they have to make sure their guttering clean. We told them we will assist. People just not heeding our advice. We must not let the mosquitoes win this war.”

Making another appeal to residents to do their part, Hosein said, “It is for their benefit. I make a special appeal to residents who have pregnant mothers living in the area to have the area cleaned. Whatever assistance the corporation could give, we will give it.”

However, community activist Viliana Ramoutarsingh countered that the measures being taken by the authorities were reactive rather than proactive. “We have been begging for assistance with regards to the drains and as yet nothing has been done to treat with the big overgrown lots and clogged drains.”

She said the area is being sprayed up to three times a week, but the mosquitoes return in a couple of days because the authorities are not focusing on the breeding grounds.

“If you know an area is affected there must be proper awareness and education drive. Send out flyers. I would not like to say that residents are totally at fault, I can tell you a lot of them are not aware where the mosquitoes are coming from.”

Noting that her main concern was the overgrown bushes and clogged drains, Ramoutarsingh said the parliamentary representative, councillor and mayor were quite aware of the situation but she was yet to see any kind of action. “We are very concerned, especially since we have a lot of young pregnant women, that is our main concern at the moment,” she added.