A loaded homemade gun was found behind the prison wall.

The weapon, with six rounds of .38 ammunition, was found hidden in the wall of cell ten at the Remand Section of the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, last Wednesday.

Prison officials also found two footballs filled with marijuana, cellphones, chargers, cigarettes and knives yesterday at another prison facility.

The footballs, according to prison sources, were thrown over the wall of the Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre, Santa Rosa.

The T&T Guardian has been informed that prison authorities are reviewing CCTV footage which captured people involved in throwing the contraband items over the prison walls.

Shocked by news that their MP Nicole Olivierre got sacked as Energy Minister, several residents of La Brea hoped their MP would now devote more time to constituency duties.

Several people went to Olivierre’s constituency office after midday but it was closed up shortly after 1.30 pm less than two hours after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced his Cabinet reshuffle via a statement from his office.

The MP in an interview yesterday thanked Rowley for giving her the opportunity to serve.

“The experience was a valuable one and my life will forever be changed as a result. I have a greater awareness of what is involved in running a government and I have a greater appreciation for the sacrifices Cabinet Ministers are required to make for the sake of their country. 

“Having been relieved of my ministerial portfolio, I now have more time to spend in my constituency and focus on the needs of my constituents and for this opportunity I am equally grateful,” Olivierre said

Asked what were her priorities, Olivierre said: “There is a lot of infrastructure work that has to be done. Unemployment is high. We have to bring back jobs and agriculture in the constituency. Now I have full time to devote to the advancement of the constituency,” she said.

At La Brea, Sharon Paul, of Third Avenue, Point D’Or, who was seen mixing concrete outside her home said she felt sad for Olivierre as she was one of the few hardworking MPs that the constituency had ever seen.

Pointing to the newly-paved Southern Main Road, Paul said: “She did what she could do as an MP. Remember election was only last year and I honestly believe that her heart is in the right place. She wanted to do what was best for her constituents.”

Marcelyn Lewis said she was totally shocked by the Cabinet reshuffle.

Ann Marie Diaz, also said she hoped Olivierre could spend more than one day a week in the constituency office.

However, other residents said Olivierre deserved to be sacked as she was incompetent. 

Keiwin Lewis said: “People may not like what I am saying but that MP did not know how to deal with people. Like all the other MPs who pass through here, she was no good.”

Renaldo Moore said Olivierre had put herself up on a pedestal and her “change in roles will now bring her back to earth. 

“Maybe this will help to tone down her arrogance and she will have more time for the people who put her in Government,” Moore added.

Olivierre’s blunders

Olivierre won public favour when she first took office after she was spotted using the water taxi to get to work. However, shortly after assuming office in September 2015, questions were raised about her ability to work with National Gas Company (NGC) as she has been engaged in a wrongful dismissal suit with the company’s management.

She was one of six first-time ministers in Cabinet.

In December 2015, Olivierre made news again when she made her first major blunder by writing to energy companies in her constituency seeking contributions to support a week-long event which included a beauty pageant, under her patronage. Among the companies she wrote, under her MP's letterhead, were Trinidad Offshore Fabricators (TOFCO), Lake Asphalt, La Brea Industrial Development Company Ltd (Labidco), Caribbean Gas Chemicals Ltd, Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) and infrastructure company Namalco, which falls under her ministerial portfolio.

She later apologised saying she made a mistake. Her downward spiral continued when she had a meltdown with her constituents who protested for jobs last month. Olivierre later said she spoke in a language her constituents would understand. 

Former San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein reacted in shock yesterday to the announcement of his appointment as a senator and Minister of Rural Development and Local Government.

He replaces Franklin Khan who has been appointed Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, a portfolio formerly held by Nicole Olivierre who was given the axe in the second Cabinet reshuffle of the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government yesterday.

He is also the second Mayor of San Fernando to hold the Local Government portfolio. One of his predecessors, Marlene Coudray, who served as both CEO and mayor was elevated to that Cabinet position under the Kamla Persad-Bissessar People’s Partnership administration. 

Ten minutes before an email announcing the changes to the composition of the Cabinet, Hosein said he received a telephone call informing him that he was scheduled to be sworn in as both a senator and Cabinet Minister later that afternoon. 

“Is about ten minutes now I got that call,” he said shortly after 11 am yesterday.

“I was going about my normal business... hear nah, I shocked yes. To tell you the truth, I was so shocked when the caller said they will contact me later because today is the swearing in ceremony. I wanted to know if it was me the person was really talking to,” he added. 

Hosein said up until Sunday evening, after the PNM’s convention and launch of Local Government elections, he accepted a nomination from the constituency to be an alderman and hopefully to be elected as mayor for a second term.

“I had no idea this was in the works,” Hosein said. However, Hosein, a former councillor and mayor on the San Fernando City Corporation, said he was humbled by the gesture of the Prime Minister to repose that kind of confidence in him. 

“I am humbled. I am glad the Honourable Prime Minister has the confidence in me to do the job.”

“I am going to do the best job I can, just as I hope I did as the first citizen of San Fernando, I assure you,” he said.

A deeply religious practitioner of the Muslim faith, Hosein added: “I will not let down God, I am not going to let down myself, I am not going to let down the public and I will not let down my Prime Minister.”

The second generation mayor, his father, the late Rakeeb Hosein being the first Mayor of San Fernando in the family, said he would do his best in his new dispensation.

“Local government is a direct link with the people and people want simple things done. They want their drains cleaned, proper roads, street lights, public health issues addressed. I intend to connect with all of the mayors and chairmen and meet with them at least once a month,” he said.

For Hosein, there will not be any honeymoon, as the Local Government elections are scheduled for November 28.

She was one of T&T’s iconic actresses with an infectious laugh, these were the words used to describe Shirley “Beulah” King, 73, who died yesterday just four days after her husband was laid to rest.

“This is so surreal. I remember her husband in his white car always waiting to pick her up after drama practice or plays. They were always meant to be together, so surreal,” actress Penelope Spencer said during a phone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday.

King, the mother of three— two adopted children and one, biological son—was at a nursing home in Cunupia where she took in ill during the pre-dawn hours of yesterday. She was taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility where she died shortly before 8 am.

For years King battled a series of medical issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure, osteo-arthritis, bronchitis and asthma. Three months ago she suffered a stroke and was hospitalised for over two months before being discharged and placed in a nursing home.

According to her only brother of six siblings, Francis Noy Francois, because of her bed-ridden state she was unable to attend her husband’s funeral last Friday. 

King’s husband, Richard, died on October 21, after ailing for years.

Francois said he last spoke to his sister last Thursday while at the nursing home. “She was in very good spirits. She spoke a few confidential things with me which should have given me the sign that it was her last few days. I did go back to see her the next day but she was sleeping,” he added.

He described his sister as a leader. “She was very generous and made people laugh. She had it so natural because that type of humour and acting runs in the family but she was the only one that became popular from it when she was introduced to the late Freddie Kissoon. We were all so proud of her and her amazing acting skills,” he said.

Francois spoke of his sister right in front the very house that she grew up in at the corner of Francois and Freedom Streets, Enterprise, Chaguanas. Although she was born in Point Fortin in 1942 King grew up in Enterprise.

King’s colleague in theatre and friend, Spencer recalled that when she (Spencer) was a little girl growing up, she wanted to be just like King.

“I wanted to emulate that kind of comedy. Beulah and Freddie Kissoon were my inspiration to get in this business at one level.

“I remember the first time we had a scene together at a comedy show I was expecting to see that character that I saw on stage backstage but backstage Beulah was so humble and quiet and within herself. You wouldn’t even have known that she was backstage. When she was on stage she made her presence known,” she said.

In September 2015, King’s health took a turn for the worst when she suffered an asthma attack that caused her to lose consciousness. She was taken to the hospital where she was treated and warded in the Intensive Care Unit. While there, on November 20, King lost her three-bedroom house to a fire.

When she was discharged from the hospital King took to social media in a bid to get financial help to rebuild her home.

Her funeral will take place on Thursday from 2 pm at the Chaguanas Roman Catholic Church.

T&T has recorded its first confirmed case of a microcephaly birth due to the Zika virus, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced yesterday and urged the public to respect the family's need for privacy.

The infant girl, who was born on September 20, is reported to be “doing fine” and is at home with her parents. 

The news came some eight months after the Zika virus was first diagnosed in T&T.

She was discharged one week ago from the San Fernando General Hospital where several tests and scans were done to determine if the birth defect could be as a result of the Zika virus.

The confirmation, which was made via a blood sample referred to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), was received last Friday.

Deyalsingh said he then informed both the Prime Minister and the baby's parents.

Speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Health, Port-of-Spain, Deyalsingh said the delay in making the public announcement was due to a desire to preserve the family's dignity and afford them the privacy to "digest" the news.

The baby was born at the Gulf View Medical Centre and was diagnosed with microcephaly.

The infant was later transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for treatment before being discharged into the care of her parents.

Microcephaly is a birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected when compared to babies of the same sex and age.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these babies often have smaller brains that might not have developed properly. Last month, the ministry confirmed four other cases in unborn babies with brain abnormalities which are being reviewed to determine if they were also linked to the Zika virus.

Deyalsingh yesterday reiterated that there were proper protocols in place to assist pregnant patients who may deliver babies born with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus.

Both Deyalsingh and specialist developmental behavioural paediatrician, Dr Natalie Dick, said it would vary depending on a case-by-case basis.

"We must tailor the treatment to suit the case," he said, adding there was no-one-size-fits-all treatment method.

Dick said babies born with microcephaly due to Zika would require a thorough physical examination along with a brain scan, x-rays and other special tests related to hearing and sight as those senses could also be impaired

He said that the Ministry would be ramping up eradication exercises to eliminate breeding sites for the aedes aegypti mosquito, which tranmitted the Zika virus and other diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya and Yellow Fever. 

Deyalsingh said of the 289 public health notices that have been handed out in the past several months, 263 households had complied with the warnings to clean up their premises. Medical officials says thousands of people have contracted the virus even though the official tests list close to 500 cases.

An 18-year-old construction worker was shot in the head and killed yesterday when a gunman opened fire on the house where the teenager went to purchase marijuana. 

According to police reports, Salim Gonzales, was working on his grandmother’s home and left to buy the illegal drugs from a man at a nearby house when he was killed.

Police believe the intended target was the drug dealer who was shot in the shoulder. Police said Gonzales was at Irving Mc Williams Street, Phase Six, La Horquetta, around 10.20 am when he was killed. 

The other man, whose identity is withheld as he is yet to be charged with any criminal offence, was shot in the right shoulder and is warded in a stable condition at the Arima Health Facility. 

Gonzales, originally from Ramkhelawan Trace, St Joseph, would have celebrated his 19th birthday on December 26, his father, Gregory Gonzales, told the T&T Guardian in a telephone interview yesterday. 

He said his son, who was shot in the right temple, frequented the area as he visited his grandmother and became acquainted with people from the area. He said his son was arrested for criminal activities in the past but nothing that would warrant him to be murdered. 

In an unrelated incident homicide detectives are also investigating the shooting death of a D’Abadie man on Sunday. According to police reports, around 3 pm on Sunday, police were called after reports of gunshots were heard at Sunbeam Street, Red Hill, D’Abadie. Police said two men ambushed Maurice Clifford and another man who were doing renovation work on a house near Clifford’s home. 

Police said the 42-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre. No motive was given for his killing

The two murders as well as that of 64-year-old Jankey Persad who was shot dead at his home at Enterprise, Chaguanas, on Sunday, three days after Keron “Panther” James was murdered in the said house, took the murder toll to 382 for the year. 

For the same period last year, 362 people had been murdered. 

A Rio Claro grandmother accused of tricking five people into giving her $150,000 in exchange for Government houses was yesterday remanded to the Women’s Prison, Arouca.

Soomaria Mahabal, 59, who was arrested at her home Deep Ravine Road on Friday appeared in the San Fernando First Magistrates’ Court on five charges of larceny by trick.

It is alleged that she took sums of money, totalling $153,270, from five people in Rio Claro between June and August 2015. 

The charges arose from an allegation that she took the money claiming she was in a position to secure housing units for them from the Housing Development Corporation. 

The mother of four was charged on Saturday by PCs David Cummings and Aaron Ramdial of the Fraud Squad following investigations headed by Snr Supt Totaram Dookie and supervised by ASP Kent Ghiysawan.

Mahabal’s attorney, Deedra-Lee Murray, request for bail before Deputy Chief Magistrate Nanette Forde John was turned down.

Instead, Forde-John transferred the matter to the Rio Claro Magistrates’ Court for today and remanded Mahabal into custody.

From today Stephen Williams is back on the job as acting Commissioner of Police (COP) to serve yet another six month stint.

And by next year T&T will have a substantive CoP in office.

Confirmation came yesterday from chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr Maria Therese Gomes.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the PNM’s 46th annual convention said as head of the National Security Council he had no knowledge who would be acting as COP from today.

Gomes said Williams who took vacation for three months would return as acting COP for six months which ends on April 30, 2017. In his absence, Deputy Commissioner of Police Harold Phillip was appointed to act as commissioner.

“He (Williams) is coming back out on November 1 as acting Commissioner of Police,” Gomes said in a telephone interview. Williams has been acting since 2012.

In putting back Williams to act, Gomes said the PSC had notified him via a letter. Correspondence was also sent to the Ministry of National Security.

Currently, Gomes said, the PSC, an independent body, was undertaking the recruitment and selection of a permanent and substantive CoP.

She said the PSC had invited proposals from local consulting firms to provide consulting services to assist with the recruitment of a CoP and deputy CoPs. The deadline for this proposal is November 18.

“Essentially when that comes in the proposals will be evaluated. Then we would select the firm. The firm would do several things in terms of the recruitment for the commission and its behalf,” she added.

Questioned how long this process will take, Gomes said if things were to go smoothly it could take between four to six months.

“Depending on how many people apply then it can take longer or shorter to go through various screenings and assessment,” she added.

Asked if between March and April in 2017, T&T should have a new CoP on board, Gomes refused to give a deadline.

“I don’t know how long the process will take. It should not go beyond six months. If you are looking at six months from the time the firm is selected,” she added.

Police have been called in to investigate the source of a photo of a gun which was allegedly found in the Golden Grove Remand Prison recently.

Prison officials insist there was no gun but prisons officers are telling a different story, insisting the gun was found during a search of the Remand Prison by officers of the Maximum Security Prison.

Prisons commissioner Cecil Duke, through the communications department, issued a statement describing the report as “false, irresponsible, misleading, mischievous and unsubstantiated.” 

The statement said the report was “designed to create fear and instability among members of the public and undermine the work that is being done by prisons authorities to maintain a high level of safety and security at our nation’s penal institutions.”

But prisons officers yesterday maintained the weapon was found during a search of the Remand Prison last Wednesday. They say MSP officers were asked to conduct the search since the “authorities did not want the remand prisons officers conducting the search.” 

The gun was found in cell ten in the north wing in the “deep.” A cellphone with the numbers of senior prisons officers in its log was also found. The officer who found the gun “is now being accused of lying and is now scared,” prison guards said. 

But Assistant Commissioner of Prisons in charge of operations, Dennis Pulchan, is insisting no gun was found. He told the T&T Guardian that “it is some unscrupulous prisons officer who is working in sync with an inmate who is doing this. Whoever the officer is creating that mischief does not belong in the system. The matter is now being investigated by the police to identify the perpetrator.”

Pulchan confirmed there was a search of the prison last Wednesday but he said: “I am the assistant commissioner of Prisons responsible for operations, all such information will come to me. Nothing of the sort came to my desk so there is nothing to investigate.”

Asked why there was a search of the prison, Pulchan insisted: “Such searches are a regular occurrence. They are done every week so it is basically routine. Other items were found, including cellphones, weapons and cigarettes, nothing that aren’t normally found.”

The very same prison sources who told the T&T Guardian about the gun also gave details about two footballs which were thrown over the walls of the Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) at Santa Rosa and which contained a number of contraband items, including marijuana.

The same release from the Prisons Service which denied a gun was found, confirmed that two footballs were thrown over the walls of the ECRC by “unknown persons” and that the “police had been called in to investigate the find.”

Newly sworn in Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan, who officially took up duty yesterday, says he has no intention of taking over the jobs of the technocrats. Instead, he will be ensuring that there is accountability, transparency and no wastage of taxpayers’ money.

“I am guided by the technocrats. The Government has its policy in place with regards to infrastructure and new developments and new projects and completing the existing projects,” Sinanan said yesterday.

Sinanan, who met with several officials at the ministry’s head office at Richmond Street, Port-of Spain, said he was looking forward to his new portfolio, but added that former minister Fitzgerald Hinds, now the new Public Utilities Minister, had paved the way for him, making his job “much easier.”

“The first year sitting in this ministry would have been a very big challenge for Minister Hinds...trying to put the structures back in line to get proper accountability back in line.

“I think I’m just going to take the mantle from him and press on with what is required,” Sinanan said.

Saying the ministry could not be run from “just inside the office,” Sinanan said he intended to go out on the field and talk to members of the public, especially, regarding their needs.

“Actually, I want to have a hands-on approach as to what is going on but I want to reiterate that I am not going to take over any job that is the responsibility of the technocrats,” he said.

“My job is to make sure that the Government policy is adhered to in the shortest and quickest possible time. My job is also to make sure we complete the old projects, start the new projects, and everything must be properly accounted for where citizens would get value for money.”

Hinds, who was also on hand, officially congratulated Sinanan. Hinds admitted he had faced some challenges when he took the ministry last year, including that of human resources, logistics and finances, which he described as the “most significant of them all.”

“I managed this very giant ministry and now I go to the new challenges in Public Utilities and I will approach it with the same blueprint, but I anticipate no unusual challenges,” Hinds said.

On whether the proposed controversial Curepe overpass project would begin, Sinanan said he will meet with members of the Highways Division to determine the best way forward.

The proposed project had been singled out by former minister in the ministry of works, Stacy Roopnarine, who had sent an e-mail to then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on September 4, 2014, alleging that there had been interference by former works minister Suruj Rambachan in the National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco) board’s business.

It was alleged Rambachan was peddling his influence to have the first-ranked bidder, Vinci Construction, struck off in favour of Lutchmeesingh’s Transport Contractors Ltd. But Persad-Bissessar has since said in Parliament that she had enquired and found nothing awry in the bidding process.

Rosemarie Sant

Local contractors are optimistic that the appointment of Rohan Sinanan as the new Minister of Works and Transport will result in “kickstarting the construction sector,” which they say has been in a “comatose” state for more than a year. They are also hoping the hundreds of millions still owed to contractors will be paid.

President of the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) Dr James Armstrong told the T&T Guardian yesterday that while he does not know “what significance the change in minister means,” he is hoping “projects that can at least generate employment and stimulate the economy via the construction sector will start soon.”

President of the Contractors Association Mikey Joseph, meanwhile, said while he does not know much about “Minister Sinanan’s background,” he is optimistic because he felt that “Minister Hinds was more or less handicapped in the ministry, he did not have what it took to get the ministry going.”

Joseph said Sinanan had come in and “he appears to be saying all the right things in terms of looking at contracts, contract oversight, procurement, so we hope he will get a handle on the ministry and take it forward.” He said they will be seeking a meeting with him soon because “we need to sit and meet with him and see how open he is to our ideas.”

In the past year, very little has happened in the industry and only small parts of a $2 billion bill owed to local contractors has been paid, leaving many contractors “reeling.” He said former minister Fitzgerald Hinds indicated that payments were not being made because of contract issues, but he was highly critical of that position. 

Of Hinds’ tenure, he said, “You spent a year-plus and you still have not completed audits to be able to say what percentage of people are owed legitimately, how much of the contracts are valid so that payments can be made. By now Hinds should have had a clear idea instead of making rhetorical statements that some of the contracts are not valid,” he said.

Government has spoken of plans for a number of construction projects, including the port in Galeota, the Valencia to Toco Highway and new airport in Tobago among others. Both Joseph and Armstrong are hoping these projects, which were listed in the PNM manifesto, will get going, but Joseph admitted, “We are not sure how those projects would play out.” 

In addition, Armstrong said contractors have “ideas” on how to get the industry going and they hope the minister will become involved in the initiatives. He said the JCC plans to meet next week “to flesh out some of the ideas” before requesting a meeting with the minister.

On Monday, Sinanan said under his watch there would be closer scrutiny of how money is spent to ensure that “money is not stolen.” 

Armstrong said the JCC is “looking forward to procurement legislation to ensure there is transparency and that local contractors will be given a fair share.” He said the JCC is also “looking forward to partnership agreements, because we are sure that if opportunities are presented the business and private sector will rise to the occasion because there is a lot of money floating around in the economy.”

Like Joseph, Armstrong was concerned about the outstanding debt to many in the industry. He said earlier this year many contractors were “on the brink of going out of business” but some money was paid. Armstrong said contractors were promised that any money that could be properly verified would be paid and they are hoping more payments will be made soon. He said the JCC will “meet next week to do an assessment to get a better picture of what was paid and what is still outstanding.”

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy is calling on parents and teachers to create safe spaces for children to speak about their feelings.

Webster-Roy made the call in a press release yesterday in response to two recent reports of teenagers committing suicide. 

Last Friday, a 14-year-old boy was found hanging at his Arima home. He was said to be suffering from depression. On Sunday, a 13-year-old girl was found hanging at her Princes Town home. 

Yesterday, Webster-Roy urged parents not to allow children to suffer in silence, saying childhood should not be a burden to them.

“Instead, childhood should be filled with love, happiness and a sure and certain hope for a bright future for all our nation’s children,” she said. Noting that even adults struggle to cope with the challenges of life, Webster-Roy said, “We can therefore only imagine how much more amplified challenges are to children. As such, we must ensure that our children have access to school counsellors, psychologists and social workers in order to prevent future incidents.”

She advised youngsters who may be feeling overwhelmed and depressed to talk to someone they trust about how they feel, call for help if they feel helpless or hopeless, surround themselves with positive and caring people or visit their school counsellor for support and assistance. 

She also encouraged them to call 800-SAVE, 131 or 800-4321 or visit www.childlinett.org for information on how to access support services.

News anchor’s story

The minister’s statement came even as CNC3 news weather anchor Seigonie Mohammed yesterday opened up to a group of students about contemplating suicide after being bullied in high school. 

Her touching story brought students to tears at the Caribbean Colour Splash’s Secondary School Anti-Bullying Conference at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando.

Mohammed hosted the event and before introducing the keynote speaker, she related her experience with bullying.

“I was bullied for a long time in high school. I literally had my hair pulled out sometimes and it became so bad that mentally, emotionally, physically, I was drained and I turned to pills for comfort...I even considered suicide,” Mohammed said. 

Luckily, she said, her mother, Madge Mohammed, was able to recognise that young Seigonie was struggling through her teenaged years.

“But then, that one person came and saved me and that person was my mother—she is sitting right here with us today,” she said as the students applauded.

However, Seigonie admitted she was afraid and ashamed to confide in her mother initially.

“I didn’t know how to tell my mother what I was going through...when you are bullied sometimes you don’t want to speak to your parents, you don’t want to tell them what’s going on. It took a long time for me to gain that trust in her to confide in her.”

She urged the students to confide in a trusted adult if they ever fall victim to bullies.

“You too have that support, whether it be your parents, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, find someone you trust and let them know what is going on in your life.”

Although Henry Elliot “Hal” Greaves did not live to the biblical appointed age of three scores and ten, it was the quality of his shortened life that has residents of East Port-of-Spain feeling free to walk their communities once again.

So when scores of his Project REASON participants from Beetham Gardens, Sea Lots and Laventille congregated at the First Church of the Open Bible, San Fernando, yesterday, there were few tears but an abundance of praise in a concert-like send-off.

It was a funeral as vibrant as Greaves’ personality that saw acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Glenda Jennings-Smith and former commissioner of police James Philbert, singing loudly and swaying to hymns.

Greaves, popularly known as “Roy”, was a community activist and actor who died of a heart attack at the age of 55. His final breath came last Saturday at his home at Rushworth Street, San Fernando, the place of his birth. 

Despite his many ailments of the heart, kidney and high blood pressure, he never retired from working to disarm the young men and women of the crime-riddled communities of East Port-of-Spain.

For Upper Laventille teenager Tariq Muhammed, 19, Greaves’ work in his community has left a positive impact, especially on the lives of young people. With him gone, Muhammed, like many others wants to see Greaves’ work and legacy continue.

“He helped us to cool down the crime in the community and so far it is going good. Right now the place is normal, about nine months going there has been no shooting. We just want some more sports in the community. We have football and basketball, that is about it.

“Before things were bad. There were all kinds of shooting, children could not come out and play. Now it has cooled down and people can come out and play and we are having sports days. We want to have it more often but we just need a little help getting stuff for the children,” Muhammed said.

It is said ignorance is bliss and for Greaves’ son, Dane, his father was an ignorant man. 

“Not ignorant as in actual ignorance where you don’t know what you’re talking about but ignorant in the way a Trini would call another,” Dane told mourners.

He described Greaves as stubborn and own-way, traits that meant whenever he put his mind to accomplish, nothing could stop him. Like ordinary men, Greaves had marital issues that ended in divorce. He quit a sustainable career in advertising to pursue theatre that landed him in financial difficulties. 

But while many would question his life choices, Dane believed his father followed his dream of service to God, a dream that saved the lives of many youths who would have ended up in jail or in a grave.

Recalling an occasion when gunmen opened fire on a class Greaves taught in Laventille, Dane said it was that ignorance that saw his father returning the following day.

“His passing will not be another failure because he has touched so many of you. It is time for all of us to pick up where he left us, to use what he has taught us and to become ignorant ourselves and never stop trying,” Dane said. Greaves body was then taken for a private cremation.

Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams has confirmed officers had been equipped with body cameras even before the Police Social Welfare Association (PSWA) and Police Complaints Authority (PCA) made the recommendations.

In an interview after the funeral service of community activist and actor Hal Greaves at the First Church of the Open Bible, San Fernando, yesterday, Williams said around 50 officers in Chaguanas have been working with the body-worn cameras. Last month PSWA president, Insp Michael Seales, and PCA director David West made the calls following the social media outrage at the police killing of Adalle Gilbert in San Fernando.

Gilbert, 37, was working on a construction site near his Carlton Lane home when he was shot dead during a chase. The recommendation for body cameras was previously made by former PCA director Gillian Lucky in 2012 and 2014. 

Yesterday, Williams said: “I’ve gone beyond supporting that. Just to share with you publicly, the Police Service has already started work using body-worn video cameras. 

“We have started work in Chaguanas and we are piloting the use of that with officers in Chaguanas. In 2017 we should be expanding that. We have started work so that call has been answered even before the call was made.” 

He said Chaguanas was chosen for the pilot project as it fell within the Central Division which was one of the top four divisions with a high rate of violent crimes.

He said in 2016 there had been an increase of murders and shootings in the Central Division. In contrast, there has been a significant reduction in the Port-of-Spain Division, with 90 less shootings and woundings and 40 less murders than the previous year.

Police are investigating the shooting death of a security guard in Maturita, Arima this morning.

Initial reports indicate that the killers came to rob a delivery truck of cigarettes.

According to reports, the guard was on security duty on the delivery truck when it stopped at a shop on Kingdom Drive, Maturita.

It was then that the assailants shot him and escaped with the vehicle, which was later found abandoned in the Heights of Guanapo, minus the cigarettes

A La Horquetta man was murdered on Tuesday night after blocking off an open area in his backyard to prevent criminals from entering.

Marvin Bridgeman, 41, had gone to the police after being informed that criminal elements were stashing illicit items on his property. Bridgeman, a caterer for the Police Service, who was well known in the area, returned and started blocking off his yard.

On Tuesday night, a man came to Bridgeman's home and the two had an argument. Bridgeman left home and returned  around 7 pm, when he was shot multiple times.

Police are still investigating.​

Public servants and employees of state enterprises will receive offers of zero,zero, zero for the 2017 to 2020 negotiation period.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert today indicated  his intention for there to be no wage increases for public servants for that period.

The announcement was made at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forum at the Hyatt Regency this morning.

The minister was part of a panel of global and regional leaders discussing the economic challenges facing the region.

In the audience was Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Dr Warren Smith, President of the Caribbean Development Bank.

The announcement by the government is expected to have a ripple effect across the private sector.

The Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP)  has withdrawn its application for an injunction against former housing minister and Oroupouche East MP Roodal Moonilal.

At 9.30 am at the High Court in Port-of-SPain, Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh was scheduled to give judgment on the injunction preventing Moonilal from making allegations about CEPEP management.

Before Boodoodingh could give the judgement, CEPEP's attorney Elton Prescott said the State-run body no longer wished to pursue the matter.

As a result Jagdeo Singh, Moonilal's attorney said CEPEP should pay the legal costs of his client in defending the application as the case was "frivolous" and a waste of time.

Prescott attempted to challenge this but Justice Boodoosingh ordered that CEPEP pay Moonilal's legal costs.

Moonilal had initially filed a defamation lawsuit following a statement CEPEP had placed in the daily newspapers in August, on the misappropriation of $39.6 million in funds on construction projects in Moonilal’s constituency of Oropouche East.

The Member of Parliament had denied that the projects were undertaken in his constituency and later resorted to making certain statements against the operations of CEPEP, which it claimed was also defamatory.

Things can become very messy if the Government does not utilise the tripartite approach to a proposed wage restraint plan for public servants for the negotiation period 2017 to 2020, leading economist Dr Ralph Henry said yesterday.

Henry made the comment in response to questions on the issue after Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced the plan during an International Monetary Fund forum yesterday.

Referring to the consequences of the wage freeze of the late 1980s, when then National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government, in its first budget in 1987, froze public servants’ wages and suspended Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) after a drastic fall in oil prices, Henry said, “Without the tripartite approach, it can become very messy. It’s absolutely important to have that platform.”

Imbert’s proposal is coming at a time when energy sector revenue has dropped from $21 billion to $5 billion for the 2014/2015 period due to low oil prices, forcing Government to cut state expenditure across the board.

In the 1980s, Henry, a very active member of the Public Services Association, was chief negotiator for six public sector unions.

He was also chairman of the Minimum Wages Board and Industrial Development Board and was a “kind of advisor” to the NAR government, he said. He is now chairman and a founder/shareholder of Kairi Consultants, a group of former University of the West Indies academics who do work in the Caribbean and Southern Africa.

Asked if he felt a wage freeze in the public sector can have consequences like it did in the 1980s, when prolonged protests by public servants over the wage freeze and COLA cut culminated in a bloody attempted overthrow of the NAR government by Jamaat-al-Muslimeen insurrectionists in 1990, Henry said, “I don’t think workers would not react negatively. And that’s not in the best interest of the country.”

Asked how bad reactions to the current proposal could be, he said, “It will depend on how angry the labour movement gets. People would be upset if things are not in place, suggesting everybody is involved in feeling the pain and sharing the sacrifices and any benefits that may come in the good times.

“It should not be a case of workers making cuts and managers getting fat and expanding. Other players in the private sector have to show that they are also making cuts.”

Henry said Barbados was experiencing a similar situation to T&T in the 1980s, but when they saw what happened here in July 1990, they adopted the tripartite approach in which government, labour and the trade unions got together to manage the situation. Comparing the wage freeze period of the 1980s with the present one, he said the situations were similar but it was worse in the past.

“The difference between then and now is there was a fiscal crisis in the 1980s. Reserves were quite low and the government could not service its international debts. Now, we have reserves, but we have to be careful about frittering it away.”

The Government has already dipped into the HSF, withdrawing $2.5 billion. But according to Henry, they did this in accordance with the rules which allow them to withdraw funds from the HSF if oil and gas prices fall below a certain level.

Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke is urging all public servants to send a clear message to the People's National Movement (PNM) by not voting for the party in the upcoming Local Government election later this month. The call was issued in response to a plan announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert to start wage negotiations for public servants at 0-0-0.

Imbert later explained that the measure was a wage restraint which would allow for possible increases less than 14 per cent. During the last round of salary negotiations for the period 2010 to 2013, public servants received a 14 per cent increase.

Referring to statements circulating on social media yesterday, Duke sought to assure public servants that the PSA would not “retreat” in the face of Government’s stated intention.

Speaking during a hastily arranged press conference at the PSA head office in Port-of-Spain, Duke admitted the news had caught them “off guard,” given the upcoming holiday season. He described the announcement as a “bitter pill to swallow” and accused Government of putting obstacles in the path of public servants’ financial progress.

However, he urged workers to demonstrate their power by voting out the PNM.

“Vote the PNM out in the Local Government election. Do not vote for them, vote them out. Vote for anybody, vote for the MSJ but do not vote for the PNM,” he urged.

Surrounded by an all-female panel of senior PSA officers, Duke said Imbert’s decree for workers to go for 2017 to 2020 without a salary increase was akin to “pulling something over our eyes and saying do not look into the future, it does not look good.”

Throwing out some questions of his own, Duke asked when and where the decision was taken.

“Was it made at Cabinet, discussed at Parliament or in some room elsewhere?” he asked.

Also seeking to find out if there would be a freeze on all prices, including groceries, rent, taxi fare and pharmaceuticals, Duke accused Imbert of making “political mischief” and climbing into bed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and what he labelled a local “special interest group.”

He said the cost of human life was “growing less and less important to Government daily” and instead of making strides in the areas of health and security, they were sadly lacking in terms of resources and infrastructure.

He claimed Imbert had been given a mandate to “widen the gap between the upper and middle class” in a move intended to destroy the hopes and aspirations of the average man on the street to enjoy a comfortable life.

“When you can cut off hope for four years and say to them, ‘You have to do that,’ it means you have lost your mandate,” Duke said. He said the action could lead to possible fallout.

“We can see people acting out of fear and frustration and violence will grow ten times more on the street because they are not governing this country as if they had concerns for the social fabric of this country,” he said.

To the Government, he advised: “You have brought this upon the country and I pray to God you will find a way to treat with it. They did not vote for all this pain and suffering, harsh and oppressive treatment they are getting at the hands of the PNM. This is a poor man’s fight.”