The political arena is heating up as Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) clash over the legality of the new reduction to the qualifying salary for accessing government-subsidised housing.

Rowley, speaking at the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) key handover at Chaconia Crescent, Diego Martin, yesterday, said the UNC internal election was the reason behind the recent attack on the government changes to the qualifying combined salary for HDC homes from $45,000 to $25,000.

“What is the problem? What is the story? Except that someone has a campaign coming in December and looking for something to talk about. I wish them well,” Rowley said. “Let them sue me, I have court clothes,” Rowley said.

Rowley is challenging Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to take him to court if she can find any proof of illegality in the policy changes at the HDC.

Rowley was referring to media reports that Persad-Bissessar had reportedly described the government’s move to reduce the qualifying income for accessing state-subsidised homes from $45,000 to $25,000 as illegal. The media reported Persad-Bissessar’s argument was that the move discriminated against the thousands of citizens who had already submitted applications for state housing.

Rowley said that every HDC house carried a subsidy and it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that the subsidy was utilised by those most in need.

“If persons had applied expecting that they will qualify and their income is $35,000, $40,000, that application is no longer applying for something that exists,” he said.

However, Rowley said, if a person had already been allocated a house and was above that new income level, there would be no move to undo that. “Once you are at the applicant stage and the policy changes, you have to adapt to that,” he said.

Moonilal—30,000 will be affected, plans protest march
While Rowley did not say how many of the almost 200,000 HDC applicants no longer qualify for state homes, another UNC leader hopeful, former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said the number of affected was as many as 30,000.

“As a result of this brutal decision, some 30,000 potential owners have been taken off the HDC, so that the friends, family and supporters of the PNM can benefit. These are the same friends, family and supporters of the PNM who refused to pay rent to the HDC for years, leading to millions of outstanding monies (owed) to the HDC,” Moonilal said.

Moonilal held a hasty media conference yesterday to address the changes to the HDC qualifying income policy. “I have already been contacted by many persons who were assigned houses based on the legitimate expectation of a $45,000 ceiling income. I have assembled a team of lawyers who will meet with these affected persons and decide the way forward. But it does not end there. As a mark of protest, I plan to lead a march to the head office of the HDC and Parliament to raise the issue which is dictatorial in every sense of the word,” he said.

Moonilal said, the PNM was victimising middle-income earners.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says it is financially impossible to continue to provide state-subsidised houses for high-income earners. 

Rowley, speaking at the key handover ceremony at Chaconia Crescent, Diego Martin, yesterday, said high-income earners would have to access homes from the private sector. 

The financial constraints at the treasury level will lead to more policy changes at the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and affect a percentage of the 200,000 applicants already seeking homes at the HDC. 

Rowley blasted the old policy that made government-assisted housing available to applicants with a $45,000 combined monthly salary instead of the lower income of $25,000. The higher income earners, he said, should access private housing and leave government-assisted housing for those with less earning potential.

“The treasury is not able to fund a housing programme like we did five or seven years ago,” Rowley said.

Another change to the policy would see no more million-dollar housing units being offered by the HDC.

“If the HDC sets out and ends up building the finest housing units in T&T, you have to ask the question: can the State afford to give to middle and lower income people prime housing units built in T&T? If the answer is no, then who are you catering for?” Rowley asked.

“Nothing is free, someone has to pay for it,” he added. “Even if we want to do it, to provide a house for everybody, we can’t do it. The money is just not there,” he said. He said some HDC units cost as much as $4 million and if a buyer couldn’t afford to access that high-end property, then it should not be subsidised by the State and the taxpayer.

“Question taxpayers: should the Government of T&T give million-dollar units like that? The taxpayers of T&T cannot afford to provide to people looking for affordable housing in the multi-million dollar range,” he said.

He said the Government was now focused on how much money it had and what could be done with it to satisfy the needs of the citizenry. Rowley said that government-subsidised housing was not a constitutional right, it was a government policy. The PM said he would now seek to encourage the private sector to get more involved in the housing development.

“There is no shortage of money in the private sector,” Rowley said.

“As long as the HDC is seen as the only house building effort in the country, we will be waiting on too little money to fix the problem and leaving an underutilised large pool of money in the private sector that’s available,” he said.

Rowley said encouraging the private sector into housing development would “shift” the onus for providing houses from the public sector to the private sector.

“In the public sector taxpayers are paying, whereas in the private sector it’s a straight case of paying by affordability,” Rowley said. He said most people applied for HDC houses to access the government subsidy that went along with it.

The houses at Chaconia Crescent, which were given out yesterday, cost almost $1 million to build and were sold to buyers at $650,000.

“We cannot do that as a sustainable policy,” Rowley said.

“The nation is being asked to do the best that we can under difficult circumstances,” he said. —RS

‘Lower-tiered properties at Victoria Keys for government use’

Rowley said he instructed Housing Minister Marlene McDonald to bring a cabinet note which would allow the Government to access the lower-tiered properties at the HDC Victoria Keys in Diego Martin, to help offset the high cost of government rent.

That cabinet note will allow the Government to access lower-tiered properties for their own use, thereby removing some rental costs paid by the Government. “So the Government will take a few of them so the Government would not pay rent to other people. 

We would sell the most expensive ones in the open market, we will put some on a rent to own...we will create an integrated community,” he said. Rowley did not say whether the properties would be used as private housing for government officials or to house state agencies.

Do not seek revenge, leave it in the hands of God. That was the advice given to the parents and, in particular, the father of Keyra Singh who was gunned down as she slept in the family’s Good Session, Patna Village, Diego Martin, home last Tuesday.

During the sermon delivered by Gerard Toby at the New Vision Ministries, Western Main Road, Diego Martin, Toby repeatedly called on the congregation not to seek street justice as that would lead to further killing and more revenge killings. 

“It could have been worse, we could have had four bodies here, but the mercy of God saved the family. Young men, I beg you don’t take up the gun and seek revenge, change that attitude. Let God deal with it,” Toby said. Little Keyra was asleep on a bed in the family’s wooden home at Good Session, Patna Village, when gunmen opened fire on the structure. The child was on the bed with her mother, father Kerron Paul and ten-day-old sister, who has been named Keyara.

After the shooting ceased the child lay bleeding from a bullet wound to the abdomen. She died while on the way to the St James Medical Complex. Police said yesterday the gunmen’s target was the child’s father who they said was owing the shooters for drugs he took on consignment. Relatives of Paul have denied that he is involved in drugs. 

Before Toby spoke, a great-great aunt of little Keyra, Marilyn Raphael-George, seemingly offended the child’s mother Neilya Singh when she said that blame for the child’s death should be placed on parents. 

“I am blaming parents for what happened to this child. That child was my great-great niece but I never saw her. Parents you are to blame. Let what happened here be an example for parents. My son is 29 and when he was 24 I pull a piece of wood for him. The Bible say do not spare the rod and spoil the child and to chain (train) up a child in the way they should grow,” Raphael-George said to a single reply of amen from the congregation.

Shortly after she spoke, Singh took the microphone and told the congregation that she did all she could to raise her daughter who died at exactly two years and one month. 

“I just wanted to say something because the lady before said she blame parents but we wouldn’t call this on ourselves. We was home sleeping. I had to run down the hill, she died in my arms. Nobody knows what I does go through for my children. The police and ambulance take two hours to come and help. My child always liked to look nice. Oh God, Keyra, mummy love you!” Singh said to the response of loud sniffles and muffled sobs.

During the eulogy, little Keyra’s aunt Jeamela Paul had to be comforted by Raphael-George as she spoke of how Keyra’s death brought the village of Patna together. Paul said prior to the child’s killing she found the village to be divided but after the death her community came together in a way she had never seen before and she believed that was the purpose of Keyra’s short life. She added that her hope was that the unity remained long after the funeral and pain ended.

Ria Karim, the daughter of former minister of tertiary education and skills training Fazal Karim, was fired by phone on Friday as CEO of the T&T Creative Industries Company Ltd (Creative TT).

Sunday Guardian has learnt that Karim, who was appointed to the post on January 5, 2015, received a telephone call from Creative TT’s chairman Neysha Soodeen informing her of the dismissal.

It was also learnt that hours after Karim’s removal, a legal letter was sent to Creative TT with regards to the sacking.

“It’s now a matter of litigation. This will go straight to the court,” a close friend of Karim confided to this newspaper yesterday.

Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon, under which Creative TT falls, said she was aware that Karim had been dismissed, but insisted it was “not politically motivated” and that “no victimisation was attached to it. I am making that absolutely clear to you.”

When told that Karim had been fired by phone on Friday, Gopee-Scoon said she knew nothing about that.

“However, I will investigate,” she promised.

Gopee-Scoon said the Creative TT board “ought to run on its own.”

Having met Karim personally, Gopee-Scoon said she could not say anything negative about the young woman, whom she described as a lovely professional.

“I could never say anything of disrepute. I would never do that. Sometimes there are circumstances. She has a whole life ahead of her. I quite like her personality. I like young professional people who like to take a way forward. She has a future. I don’t want to see anything negative about that girl in the newspapers. I don’t really speak like that to reporters. It would give the wrong impression.”

Gopee-Scoon said she got along well with Karim (Fazal), the Chaguanas East MP.

“I want you to know that.”

In June of 2013, Creative TT was created under then minister of trade and industry Vasant Bharath to oversee the increased commercialisation and development of the creative industry sector.

Contacted on her cellphone, Karim refused to comment about her sacking.

“I prefer not to say anything,” Karim said.

Yesterday, Soodeen’s phone was answered by a woman who identified herself as her mother and promised to relay the message.

“She (Soodeen) is in a meeting. She is not available right now. I am sorry.” Up to late yesterday, Soodeen, who is CEO of MACO Investment Group and the founder, owner and managing director of Toute Bagai Publishing Company, did not return our call.

Baby Asia-Marie Small who died on November 9 is in heaven and will not have to account for any sins. These were the words of comfort offered to her parents, 19-year-old Chelsea Robinson and Brian Small, family members and friends who attended the funeral service yesterday.

Officiating minister Cleave Bascombe told the young couple at Faith Assembly International, Five Rivers Junction, in Arouca, that even though they went through a period of adversity and God took their baby, he preserved their lives.

Pointing at the couple, Bascombe said, “Go forth and multiply.”

Asia-Marie died in her mother’s womb before an emergency delivery at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex after medical staff discovered faeces had entered her mouth. Robinson spent three days in labour. Reports said she was turned away by hospital staff who told her she was not ready to give birth. The family intends to take legal action.

In spite of the tears and hurt, Bascombe said, he had good news.

“That good news is that Asia-Marie is in heaven right now. Parents and family members, be comforted that Asia-Marie is having a good time with the angels in heaven.”

As she entered the church and saw her baby in the little white casket, Robinson started to cry. Small, however, remained composed throughout the service. 

Poems were read by Asia-Marie’s maternal grandmother, Mary, and her aunt, Elisha. The eulogy took the form of a poem and was read by Dixie-Ann Gabriel. 

Bascombe told the young couple not to allow the baby’s death to adversely affect their lives. Despite Universal Children’s Day being observed on Friday, the minister said there was a cycle of abuse against infants.

He referred to the shooting death of two-year-old Keyra Singh and the stabbing incident which left three-year-old Arti Ramkhalawan in a critical condition last week. Singh’s funeral was also yesterday.

“If we trace back at the other weeks gone by, we see a process where infants are the targets of unscrupulous adults,” Bascombe said. 

Thirteen years after Umar Abdullah, leader of Waajihatul Islaamiyyah, also known as The Islamic Front, was sought by US and British Intelligence for supporting al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and jihad (holy war), he has admitted that he almost joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) as a frontline fighter.

Abdullah, 48, confessed that he was almost tempted last year by several of the 89 local men, some of whom with their wives and children journeyed to far-flung war-torn Syria to fight for Isis, but good sense prevailed.

In analysing the men with whom he interacted, Abdullah said the recruits had common characteristics—they lacked patience, were arrogant, could not live among non-Muslims, and had marital problems. He said many of them were marginalised because of their religion.

What prevented him from going to Syria, he said, was his past experience of being hounded by US and British Intelligence and chairing the Bon Accord Action Council, which falls under the Citizens Security Programme of the Ministry of National Security. The programme is aimed at reducing crime and violence.

Though he has now turned over a new leaf in life, Abdullah is still monitored by a Special Branch officer.

On Wednesday, Abdullah, who shifted from his Princes Town home and took up residence in Tobago, to avoid constant harassment by local and international police, said he has learned from his mistakes.

He said the crime he committed 13 years ago was that of publishing a newsletter in support of Osama Bin Laden (now dead), al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and jihad (holy war), for which he has paid dearly.

“Yes, I did make statements towards America at that time. But like everything else, change is constant. I have been through a lot, and I have learned a lot and educated myself.”

Abdullah said he was not in support of Isis’s actions, where innocent lives were being taken.

For years, he said, there has been a perception that Muslims are linked to terrorism.

On Monday, Trinidad Guardian reported that 89 men from T&T had joined Isis.

The news came days after the deadly terrorist attacks on Paris which claimed 129 victims, left 352 wounded and the world reeling in shock and anger, for which Isis claimed responsibility.

In responding to the bombings in Paris, Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon had stated that T&T was not under threat and there were no laws to stop these men from returning.

Within recent times, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for downing a Russian aircraft, in which more than 200 people were killed, and for bombings in Beruit which killed 43 people.

Abdullah: I know all of the brothers who went to Syria.

Abdullah said, “It was much bigger than quoting a figure with regards to T&T’s men going to fight for Isis. I know of all the brothers who went to Syria. I used to deal with them. They were part of my organisation. I used to live with some of them. I know them personally,” he admitted.

“A lot of them were very arrogant in their ways. They have no patience in doing anything. They were not able to live amongst people, neighbours and the spaces they were in. They also had marital problems.”

Abdullah said although he shared a close relationship with some of the men, they never revealed their plans to him.

He said several of them had lost all sense of direction, reasoning, patience and understanding because they focused primarily on radicalism and fighting than on the true meaning of Islam.

Three weeks ago, a recruitment video entitled “Those who believe and made Hijra,” which featured four Trinidadians in the Ar-Raqqah province of the Islamic State, was circulated on social media.

In the video, the men spoke about what prompted them to leave Trinidad to fight. One man identified as Abu Zayd claimed that in T&T the practice of Islam was limited, while Abu Khalid said although he lived comfortably in T&T, he felt he did not belong.

Last month, Trinidadian Shane Crawford, also known as “Asadullah,” was identified in an Isis video posted on YouTube.

Crawford was seen bathing in the Euphrates River, which starts in eastern Turkey and flows through Iraq and Syria.

In October 2011, Crawford was detained during the State of Emergency for being part of a plot to kill then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and three cabinet ministers, and conspiring to cause panic in the country.

Abdullah said it was always the men’s intention to be part of a jihad.

He spoke about the activities of the men, many of whom had converted to Islam before 2013 and joined Isis after being discriminated against.

The men, he said, came from all walks of life, but many were university graduates who wore Muslim garb.

He spoke about one fighter who graduated in Islamic studies at a Medieval University as being fully educated.

“They had no jobs, they were always feeling left out and pushed aside by communities. They fought tooth and nail to get their children in public schools because of society’s perception of Muslims being terrorists. It’s difficult to bridge that gap. They are left in positions where their lives are challenging. All these are contributing factors that pushed them to Isis.They always complained about this,” Abdullah said.

From his discussions with some of the men, Abdullah said, they would link up with point men in Isis through social media before they left.

Taking away 

your freedom

“They leave with nothing. To say there is one person or a group of persons in the country recruiting people to go Isis, that is not true. Those who go keep it a big secret. Those who want to go just have to make up enough money to buy their airline ticket. Some would pass through Venezuela. From there they travel to Paris then Turkey and cross the border to Syria.”

They all go through a screening and interrogation process, at which point some would face rejection.

“Others may end up in another radical group.”

Abdullah said once the applicant passed the test, his passport was seized.

“From the time they take your passport they take away the freedom.”

Abdullah said some were trained to fight, while others made weapons for battle for a small stipend.

“They train in areas of fighting and warfare. They train in a particular type of warfare called attack and retreat. It’s a rigid process because of the state of affairs. They have little means of coming back home. A couple of them have died. It was always their intent to fight jihad...fight for the establishment of Islam. But they failed to understand that Islam is a religion of peace.”

Abdullah dismissed the rumour that the men were paid US$1,000 a day to fight.

“They don’t get US$1,000 daily. They get far less than that. I am in connection with a couple of them there. As a matter of fact, I sent money to some of the Muslim sisters whose husbands have passed away. These sisters would tell me that life is hard where they are. They have accepted that fact that this is their fate. They are comfortable with the fact they can live and practise Islam fully.”

He said the fighters make close to US$30 a day.

Abdullah admitted that many times he tried to dissuade the men from speaking about radicalism.

“We knew this was their leaning. If things were different with me in the early stages I would have been there as well. A lot of them were waiting on me and other leaders to act. But it never happened.”

Abdullah is encouraging the Government to bring back the men to find out what triggered them to go to Syria.

“Give them an opportunity to come back and let them know there would be no prosecution on their path. They are thinking now that if they come back to Trinidad they would be prosecuted or targeted by the State.”

He said the men would also have to be embraced by the Muslim community.

Abu Bakr: They think death is better, Govt must answer

Leader of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen Yasin Abu Bakr said he wanted the Government to answer why young men were leaving our beautiful shores to go to Syria to fight.

“At least 90 per cent of them who leave know they are going to get kill in the battle zone...they will be wiped out. They think that death is better. When the Government can answer this, then we can talk. Everything is wrong in this country.”

Bakr expressed sentiments similar to Abdullah’s, stating that the main cause of the migration was that Muslims were being marginalised.

Bakr said Isis was offering the fighters shelter, money and paradise, while our country offered nothing even though in the last five years $400 billion was spent by the last government.

“There’s a lot of inequality and discrimination. There is no upward mobility for these young men.”

Asked if any of the men who joined Isis were members of the Jamaat, Bakr said no.

“Even if someone came to the mosque and wanted to do that they wouldn’t tell me because my narrative is different to that.”

He said Muslims were just asking for “partial distribution. I can’t even promise them a latrine. If this is not addressed it would get progressively worse. Since 1990 I warning them to change the way we live. We have not learned anything from 1990. We have regressed rather than progressed.”

See Page A 16—Rehabilitating T&T nationals returning from Isis will fail

About Isis

Isis was formed in April 2013, growing out of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

It has since been disavowed by al-Qaeda, but has become one of the main jihadist groups fighting government forces in Syria and Iraq.

Its precise size is unclear but it is thought to include thousands of fighters, including many foreign jihadists.

The organisation is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group has gained a reputation for brutal rule in the areas that it controls which includes large swaths of Syria and Iraq, leading to the refugee crisis in Europe.

Government’s silence on crime and rising food prices in T&T is a cause for concern among the population says Vasant Bharath, former opposition senator and minister of food production under the PP government. Bharath, who is contesting the position for the leadership of the Opposition UNC in the party’s upcoming internal election, was speaking with the media yesterday morning when members of his Team Reconnect walked along the Chaguanas Main Road and through the Chaguanas Market meeting supporters.

Bharath said during the walkabout he received tremendous support from people calling for a change not only in leadership of the UNC, but for a change in Government. Bharath said many supporters who met him along the streets complained that they or their relatives were on the breadline because of PNM policies towards contract workers. 

He said, “The people are very unhappy with the PNM Government. In fact, wherever I go, people are stating that they are very unhappy with how issues of crime and food prices are being handled. The issue with HDC housing, people are very angry, there is a pent- up anger, and the Government is not saying anything. People are trying to be tolerant. But as time goes, that is likely to explode at some point in time with a lot of anger.”

Bharath said he was very much concerned about the cost of local goods when he toured the market. He said, “Prices are a little too high for the average consumer, and we need to do more as far as the agriculture sector is concerned. We need to implement more of the agricultural plan 2012-2015 in a more accelerated manner to bring prices down.

“I am aware that the president of the Agricultural Society of T&T is very distanced from the Minister of Agriculture. When I was minister of agriculture, we had a very close working relationship. I think it is important that the stakeholders, which would be the farmers in T&T, have a close working relationship with the minister that seems to have broken down, I not sure if it’s irretrievable or not.”

Bharath said it appears that a gag order might have been placed on all government ministers. He said ministers responsible for national security and housing were quiet on what he called “troubling issues.” Bharath said, “They don’t want the public to know much of what is going on.”

Candidate for the UNC political leadership post Dr Roodal Moonilal is calling on his opponents in the party’s internal election to stop bullying hopeful candidates and their supporters.

Moonilal was addressing a cottage meeting at the Cumuto Recreation Ground in Barrackpore, on Friday night. He was joined on the platform by members of his Loyalist slate. Former MP for the area Nizam Baksh also attended the meeting.

Moonilal said: “We worked too hard for people to stand up now and call us hypocrites. We are proud of the democracy in our party, we are 27 years as a party, we are an adult party now.

“You cannot be the leader of a party and be insulting the members of the party. What manner of madness is that?”

He was referring to statements made by candidates of the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Team UNC slate that he and members of his slate were hypocrites.

He said since announcing his candidacy, he has had numerous encounters with UNC members who say they were afraid to show whom they support in the internal election.

“I am making a final appeal, we cannot build a party where you harass and bully people for practising their democratic right. Do you know how many people I meet who say ‘I support you doc, but don’t tell anyone’?”

Moonilal said if elected as leader, he was prepared to stand up against the PNM Government and its attack against citizens.

“Every time we go to Parliament it is me, Roody Moonilal, who stands up against the PNM, so I must stand up now.They are attacking the citizens.”

He reiterated that his opponent for leadership, Vasant Bharath, cannot be a political leader of the UNC since he was not an MP.

“With great respect Bharath, I want to tell you, if yuh cyar bat, yuh cyar captain the team. Where will you debate with Rowley? By the Breakfast Shed?”

However, like Bharath, he also spoke of irregularities with the list of registered voters for the election.

He said despite being told by the UNC’s elections committee that the list of eligible voters would be made available to the various slates by Tuesday, there were candidates already in possession of the list.

Director of the Children’s Authority of T&T, Dr Shariffa Ali-Abdullah, says more than 2,500 cases have been received, inclusive of more than 150 emergency cases.

She said the recent placement of the authority under the Office of the Prime Minister signalled that the Government was serious about child protection and had accorded it very high priority.

This, she said, was a move the authority welcomed.

The authority came into force in May this year. 

In an interview with the Sunday Guardian last week, Ali-Abdullah said, “Demand for services remain high as measured by the record number of cases received—over 2,500 inclusive of over 150 emergency cases.”

She said the child protection system has been broken for a long time and was not easy to fix. 

Ali-Abdullah said, “The major issue remains the inadequate infrastructure required to support the Children’s Authority and new child protection system—accommodation for children in conflict with the law, transition homes, facilities for children with special needs, therapeutic homes for children with mental illness, just to name a few. 

“Referral services also need to be expanded to cater to the increased demand in child protection cases.” 

Former Housing Development Corporation (HDC) chairman Rabindra Moonan yesterday said there were never any multi-million dollar government-sudsidised houses built under his watch at the state company.

Moonan is contradicting Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who yesterday said that one HDC spot was being offered to applicants at $4 million.

“HDC did not construct any homes in that range during my time, indeed during the 2010 to 2015 timeframe,” Moonan said.

When asked if the Victoria Keys development offered houses with a multi-million dollar price tag, Moonan distanced himself from that project.

“Victoria Keys started under the PNM (People’s National Movement) but it was so badly done. We realised it would be cheaper to renovate it and offer it to middle-class applicants. But up until the time I demitted office, we had not finalised a price on those units,” Moonan said.

It was Moonan, as HDC chairman, who raised the qualifying applicant salary from $25,000 to $45,000.

“The HDC Act provides for low and middle income earners, so the joint salary of some applicants would have been at the upper limit. In this day and age, it is not unheard of to have a joint salary of $45,000,” Moonan said. Moonan said when HDC increased the qualifying limit, it widened the catchment of people able to access public housing.

“But that did not mean that people on the lower income level stopped being able to access state housing,” he said.

Moonan said this move by the PNM showed that they were “living in the past.”

“The Government has left out and are victimising the middle class and those young married professionals who dream of owning a home,” he said.

Moonan served as chairman under former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal.

Shortly before he departed yesterday for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference (CHOGM) which begins in Malta on Friday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley called on T&T’s security forces to redouble their efforts to protect citizens in the wake of possible terror threats by ISIS.

Speaking during a news media briefing at Piarco International Airport before flying out on the 12-day trip, his first official visit out of the country  since becoming prime minister last September, Dr Rowley urged citizens to be vigilant in the face of global security concerns.

“The simplest advice I can give is to be vigilant and we call on our security services, whose job it is to secure us, to redouble their efforts to make sure that we don’t fall prey to those who set out to harm us,” he said. He added that the current security concern “is a very unusual development in the history of mankind but these are the times in which we live.” 

Finance Minister Colm Imbert will act as prime minister during Dr Rowley’s absence. The Prime Minister is being accompanied to Malta by Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dennis Moses. PNM deputy political leader Rohan Sinanan will replace Moses in the Senate during the period.

Dr Rowley said he is attending the CHOGM meeting in Malta “while there is some trepidation in that area that we hold ourselves out in the hands of the security services and the people of  Malta and Britain.”

Commenting on the recent attacks in Paris which claimed 129 lives, Dr Rowley said that incident “shows that notwithstanding our best efforts, persons can get at us in a variety of ways.” 

He said there  are challenging times ahead for the security services but added: “We cannot cave in to those who would have us respond in that kind of way. Across the world today, national security and the safety of citizens appear to be the number one priority for governments, while this phenomenon continues to flourish.”

The Prime Minister said security must be “very challenging for the organisers” of CHOGM which will be attended by the leaders of 53 of the 54 Commonwealth members states, as well as head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II. The conference takes place November 27 to 29.

“We trust that all is in place to secure us,” he added.

Dr Rowley said he is not aware of any communications from the US or UK regarding recent posting on social media about T&T nationals in ISIS videos and both nations continue to communicate with T&T about international security matters. 

On Imbert’s acting appointment, Dr Rowley said he is most experienced in minister in Government and parliament and he is confident he will do a good job.

During his visit, which is expected to cost just over $1 million, the Prime Minister is expected to attend a dinner hosted by the Queen. He is also due to address a business forum prior to CHOGM, where he will speak on T&T’s energy initiatives and will participate in several meeting relating to climate change while in Malta.

Dr Rowley will meet with T&T nationals in London on November 30 and is due to hold talks with top BP officials about some “meaty issues” while in the UK city. NGC chairman Gerry Brooks will join Dr Rowley for that meeting in London on December 3. 

The Prime Minister said he agrees with the decision by the new National Gas Company board to suspend salary increases and bonuses for employees for 2015/16. 

“The board is proceeding in a very sensible way to confront the issues at NGC and what we are seeing there is a responsible way to deal with changes in our environment.” Dr Rowley said NGC is a major contributor to the national treasury  and a major national effort in the hydro carbon sector which Government relies  on heavily. 

“If things are not going well at NGC it behoves us to take the required rectification,” he said, adding that while nobody likes be denied increases in bonuses, “the most important thing before us as a people is trying to maintain the gains that we have made.”

“Given where were are, in terms of our ability to spend in the face of reduced revenues, I think that the actions of the board were quite reasonable and I trust that the employees and the union will understand and see it as not anything punitive but as a sensible way to preserve out population as we go forward,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat is visiting farmers across the country to decide how his ministry’s $831 million budgetary allocation will be spent. The minister, who met with farmers in South Trinidad over the weekend, said he has visited Icacos, Erin, Otaheite and Mon Diablo, so far. 

“The outreach is really to get a sense of what are the priority areas for the farmers and the fishermen,” he said. 

“Going out means I am able to see the existing infrastructure and see some of the major issues and listen to the farmers, so that I could assist the Permanent Secretary in term of funding what we going to do in this first year.”

Rambharat said the main problems identified so far are land tenure, access roads and depletion of fish stocks.

“Farmers who cultivate but don't have leases and those who had leases that have expired, that is possibly the number one issue. The second issue relates to access roads that are in disrepair and the third issue is on the fisheries side, reducing fish stock and the state of the fishing facilities,” he said.

“In terms of land tenure I have said we are going to focus on Nariva, Mayaro and county Caroni this year in terms of regularization because based on my research and understanding that is where the problem is chronic.”

He said farmers have also complained about the extension services department of the ministry.

“They are the ones who interact with the farmers on a day-to-day basis when they have problems dealing with pests and other issues. I have heard complaints about the quality of those services and the fact that they don't see the officers,” the minister said.

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has spent close half-a-billion dollars over the past 13 years to stimulate and nurture business development on the island, says Chief Secretary Orville London.

He said enterprise fostering initiatives such as the Business Development Loan Programme established in 2003, the Department of Advance Training and Advisory Services (DATAS) and its venture capital company, ensure that Tobagonians were not bereft of opportunities to create wealth and stimulate the economy. 

Speaking at the Tobago Economic and Business Outlook Conference hosted by the Division for Finance and Enterprise Development at the Magdalena Grand and Beach Resort, London said: “We provide loans, and grants, as well as business advisory services to Tobagonians wishing to start new businesses and to expand existing enterprises. 

“Since the inception of the Business Development Loan Programme in 2003, loans totaling $27.1 million have been disbursed to 262 Tobagonians to facilitate entrepreneurial activities. In respect to the grant programme, since its introduction in 2011, grants totaling $11.8 million have been disbursed to 688 Tobagonians. Interestingly, quite a significant amount of the recipients of the grants have been women and young people.”

London said a critical advantage of the programmes is that, areas like agriculture and fishing which traditionally have been viewed by commercial banks as too risky, also get financial support.

He said two multi-purpose units (MPUs)  are being constructed the Cove Eco-Industrial and Business Park to provide space for small and micro agro-processing enterprises. In addition, through the Venture Capital Company the THA provided support to non-traditional enterprise ventures.

“Only recently, through the Venture Capital Company, the executive council approved $1.9 million to assist the Pork International Group (PIG), a local company in the food processing industry, to expand their business operations,” he said.

London said: “The next critical pillar in our overall economic diversification thrust relates to our continuing efforts to encourage more persons in Tobago to become entrepreneurial and get involved in business. 

“As an Assembly, we will continue to provide the enabling environment for much more persons in Tobago to get involved in entrepreneurial activities.”

Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris says the shortage of priests in T&T has been compounded by the local church’s inability to recruit young men for the seminary. 

“I look at our Catholic schools and it’s a long time since our Catholic schools have produced vocations for the priesthood. Quite a while! We are getting dribbles, one every ten years.

“I am in the position of having to look after the Catholic church here in T&T and I’ve had to go overseas—India, Africa—looking for priest and it always seems to me unjust that I must go and ask parents in India and Africa to send us their sons when our parents here don’t want to give us their sons,” he said.

“Everybody wants to have a priest when they getting married. When there is a funeral, when there is a baptism, everybody wants a priest. As I told somebody recently, give me some plasticine and I would make one for them. If our schools do not produce priests for our archdiocese, I don’t know if we are fulfilling our mandate and if we are truly a Catholic school.”

The archbishop, who spoke about the problem at the Fatima College Annual Distribution of Prizes and Certificates in St James, expressed frustration at the situation but said he did not expect every single boy to become a priest because nature needed fathers to create sons for other things. 

However, he called on Catholic schools to give the seminary at least two seminarians annually. “I have a seminary to fill. I don’t have people to fill it. We closed it because there weren’t enough students.”   

He also appealed on parents and guardians to change their attitude towards the priesthood. Harris recalled a recent conversation with a young man who said his family was shocked when he told them he was interested in becoming a priest. Family members asked the young man why someone as intelligent as he was wanted to waste his life pursuing the priesthood, when he could have a thriving career in law, medicine or another attractive fields of endeavour.

“Parents, you want to have a school with priests in it. People ask me where are the priests and nuns. They are not in the school anymore! After Father Gregory goes, I don’t think we are getting another priest as a principal here. Where we getting them from? It s a problem! It is a serious problem and I think that we have to take very seriously,” Archbishop Harris said.

Former government minister Conrad Enill says the decision by the new PNM administration to reduce the qualifying income for nationals seeking Housing Development Corporation (HDC) homes is appropriate in the prevailing economic conditions.

The decision has been criticised, with Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar claiming it is illegal and former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal threatening to lead a demonstration outside Parliament against the move.

However Enill, who served as Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Minister of Energy in a former PNM government, said the decision is good one in the prevailing economic conditions. He said Government does have access to the amount of money it had previously, so the new policy will be “only to serve those individuals who are in need.” He said the Rowley administration “has taken a view that it will only support as part of its public policy programme, individuals of low income.”

Enill said  if the monthly salary of an individual or his family is more than $25,000, “that individual has the wherewithal to go to the private sector and purchase a property using the private sector mechanisms that are currently available.” He said Government is seeking to provide housing support for citizens “who actually need it rather those who don’t. I think that is the fundamental difference between the former and new position.”

Asked whether the decision was illegal, Enill, quickly replied: “No it is not. It cannot be illegal because it is Government policy.” He said a similar position is being considered in the Government Assistance for Tertiary Education (Gate) programme.

“The state will intervene only in circumstances where the citizens cannot get benefits elsewhere and in circumstances where you have less dollars available to you, that is one of the policy choices we have to make,” he said.

Enill said the state did not have much choice in the matter “because there is a $23 billion gap that it has to close.” He added: “On the basis of  available information, I think the policy position is appropriate.”

Heads of strategic security agencies are appointed by governments and if an administration changes, those appointments can be revoked. Those posts can include the National Operations Centre (NOC), the National Security Council, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and Counter Trafficking Unit (CTU), former national security minister Gary Griffith told the T&T Guardian. 

Griffith was responding to former prime minister Basdeo Panday, who said recently fired executive director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Bisnath Maharaj has a good case for wrongful dismissal. Maharaj was appointed to the position in 2012 under the former People’s Partnership administration. Mathew Andrews, a seconded police officer, is currently acting as director of the agency.

Griffith said such dismissals are common practice worldwide.

“It is not a political position, but it is the right of any administration to appoint someone new in critical posts who they feel may be more capable to adhere to and implement their policies, inclusive of security,” he said. 

“This was even done in the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), when it was noticed that the present CDS (Kenrick Maharaj) received an extraordinary one year extension, as the previous administration believed he was the person best suited to adhere to their policies.

“At times, some may remain in their appointments, simply because the new administration is comfortable that the incumbent is capable of adhering to their policies in that unit.”

Griffith said these procedures are seen internationally with the appointment of the FBI and CIA directors and Head of Homeland Security, which are done by the US president. The head of the M15, the UK’s security intelligence agency, is appointed by that country’s prime minister. 

“Strategies and initiatives in security changes as the environment and the government changes, so there would be instances of reshuffling positions. The important factor here is that the security  operation is not affected and any decision made does not affect the security or intelligence apparatus of the country.

“So the change in leadership in such units is done primarily to ensure that the productivity is improved,” he said.

Graduation day was bittersweet for staff and students of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of T&T (Costaatt), who paid a moving tribute to missing lecturer, Glenda Charles-Harris, by singing, for the very first time, a school song which she composed.

Charles-Harris, a senior lecturer and head of the Environmental Studies Department, has been missing for almost four months. She was last seen leaving her home at Blue Range, Diego Martin, on July 27.  

Since then, staff and students at the school have handed out flyers hoping for information on her whereabouts. The missing lecturer’s car was found abandoned in Princes Town a day after she disappeared.

Valedictorian Arnold Ramkaran spoke about how much he and his classmates missed Charles-Harris and continued hoping for her safe return. Costaatt president Dr Gillian Paul said more than 1,400 students graduated this year—the largest in the school’s 15-year history.

“Excellence does not come from where you start, excellence comes from inside. Anyone can be excellent. You are all examples of excellence,” she said.

Dr Paul said when Costaatt was established in 2000, the University of the West Indies was the only public university in T&T. Costaatt, modelled after community colleges in the US, became a school of second chances for students to pursue higher education.

While the school admits students who do not have A’s, she added the calibre of its graduates is excellent and it is the duty of every Costaatt student to go out in the world and show their excellence.

“Today, when you graduate, you have an important responsibility. You are a Costaatt graduate and there may be a person in the society who tend to have assumptions about what Costaat graduates can do but I tell you with utter confidence that this is an institution that defies expectations every day because you all do extraordinary things every day. 

“Our faculty believes it, you know you can do it and when you leave here with your degree and go back to work, it is actually your responsibility to help Trinidad and Tobago understand where excellence comes from,” Dr Paul said. 

Keynote speaker Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Community, Culture and the Arts, a former lecturer in the Natural Science faculty, spoke about the transformative power of education.

Among the graduates was CNC3’s weather anchor Seigonie Mohammed who gained an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Journalism and Public Relations with honours.

My name is Gerry Anthony Williams and I am a West Indian philosopher and Renaissance man.

Does one need to be a PhD to be able to formulate philosophy? I don’t think so. I attended the University of Life. I believe it’s all about developing your responsibility to your space and interpreting the world and expounding upon it in a certain way. And my philosophy is of the West Indies.

My mom came to Trinidad from Guyana illegally in the early Eighties. She got residency in the ANR Robinson administration amnesty. I came across, with papers, by plane, not by the fig boat. My five siblings from that father also came with me. I have a brother from another father who is Trinidadian.

I attended Holy Cross College in Arima—the REAL “school on the hill” in Trinidad, with the REAL view! The perfect setting for a young person learning! Not that I learned much. I didn’t do too well in school at all. I used to daydream looking out the window a lot. 

Few can match me in understanding concepts but I’m just not able to put on blinders and go down one path. With so many other interesting things to do, why would I sit down and do homework? 

I don’t believe there is a God but I’ll find out, if there is. In the meantime, I’m going to study what we have to do right now. 

To ask me to put my West Indian philosophy in a nutshell… Well, how big is that nut? Is it a Brazil nutshell? A peanut? A coconut? I looked at the world and realised certain cultures dominate—not culture as your artistic aesthetic or your song-and-dance or visual art. I mean that collective or comprehensive approach to your space, to this space, the Earth, and living. We are under a hegemony that seeks the interest of a few Western elites with economic and political power and really doesn’t have our West Indian interests at heart. 

The most sinister legacy of colonialism is that we West Indian territories can’t seem to overcome the invalid antagonisms and suspicions of each other. What trickles down to us is a very subordinate [role] that causes us to lose a sense of who we are and how we can actually determine a life for ourselves.

You can bet I will get flak for appearing in a feature called “Trini to the Bone”—and being a Guyanese! But the thing that validates you as a Trinidadian or Barbadian is how you live in relation to your space and your responsibility to it. You go to the Maracas Waterfalls and leave a KFC box. I go to the Maracas Falls and bring out a garbage bag full of rubbish. But you are a Trini because you were born in San Juan but I am not because I was born in Venezuela? Who is the real Trini there?

My haircut is partly aesthetic and partly functional. The aesthetic is it has the look of some of the indigenous people in these parts. The function is that my hair is getting really thin at the top and it creates the optical illusion of there being more.

If you say you love children, why would you add another child when you could (adopt) and help fulfill a child already here? It’s a functional and practical way to approach it but it’s a bit of sense that doesn’t sit well with many people.

It’s still a miracle to me that I manage to pay bills. I have tradeable skills and I have a very supportive partner. When there’s a month that I haven’t been able to trade my skills, she absorbs that economic strain. 

All the elements are there to bring about real West Indian connection but I don’t see the generation of leaders we have (achieving it). My generation (has) to take it forward; because their thinking is no longer able to fit with where we have to go. 

Trinbagonians can work their work their way around situations very well. The general ability is to work skulls but they can use it for good. 

Trinidad & Tobago is really incredible potential; and, because of that potential, Trinidad & Tobago should take up leadership. But leadership with responsibility, not the leadership we’re accustomed to, that (simply) dominates. 

Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com

Jean-Marc Morris 
Student, Hugh Wooding Law School

With the proclamation of the Children’s Act No 12 of 2012 (“the Act”) on 18th May 2015, several changes followed. A “child” is now defined as “a person under the age of 18 years.” Before the proclamation of the Act, a child was defined as a person under the age of 16 years and the Sexual Offences Act Chap 11:28 listed various offences for engaging in activities with persons under 16 years of age. 

However, under the new legislation, certain sections of the Sexual Offences Act have been repealed, widening the parameters under which persons can be charged.

The Act puts into effect certain obligations which are listed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which T&T is a party. In other words, the Act is putting into effect what the country agreed to in this Convention to bring the country up to international standards. 

Not only did the Act repeal offences but it created new ones: 

• Female Genital Mutilation—According to section 9, female genital mutilation, the practice of partially or totally removing the external genitalia of girls, is now an offence and any person found guilty on summary conviction is liable to a fine of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and to imprisonment for 10 years.
• Sexual Penetration of a Child—Additionally an offence known as sexual penetration of a child has been created. The Act states that penetration of a child includes: 
(a) the insertion of any body part or any object into a child’s bodily orifice; or 
(b) the insertion of a part of a child’s body into a person’s bodily orifice. 
The Act defines bodily orifice as anus, vagina, urethra, mouth, ear or nostril, and this applies to children of both sexes. According to section 18, a person who sexually penetrates a child commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.
• Sexual touching—Further, the Act states that it is an offence to sexually touch any child under the age of 16. Touching or any other activity is defined in section 3 of the Act. Anyone who sexually touches a child under 16 is liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) and to imprisonment for 10 years or (b) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for 20 years. 

Exceptions
As with all laws, there are exceptions. Under section 20 of the Act there is provision for the decriminalisation of sexual activity between children. In other words, the Act makes provision for the inevitable experimentation that occurs between children. 

The scope of these exceptions is very limited. The exceptions only apply to certain age groups and are dependent upon certain other conditions. 

Moreover, the Act, under sections 26, 27 and 28, makes provision for children who are lawfully married. Under the Hindu Marriage Act Chap 45:03 and the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act Chapter 45:02, children as young as 14 and 12 years respectively, may be lawfully married under religious rights. 

The sections of the Act provide that conduct by a person in relation to a child that would otherwise constitute an offence against a child would not be considered an offence once they are lawfully married to each other, in addition to other considerations. 

• This column is not legal advice. If you have a legal problem, you should consult a legal adviser. Co-ordinator: Roshan Ramcharitar

The quiet, rural village of New Grant reacted with shock yesterday after a horrific accident in Princes Town which claimed the lives of a father and his son and left two other members of the same family injured, one of them in a serious condition.

The mid-morning head-on accident involved a car and loaded ten-tonne truck in rainy weather. The accident caused traffic to back up for miles.

Fire officers who were among the first responders were so traumatised by the scene, their senior officer said they would have to seek counselling.

Police said Namdeo Harriram, 41, driving a black Toyota Altis veered head-on into a truck on its way to make a delivery to a supermarket around 10.20 am along the M1 Ring Road. His son, Lalchan, 25, who was seated behind his father, along with his father died instantly. 

Namdeo’s seven-year old daughter, Tricia, who was also seated in the back seat, suffered broken bones. 

His wife, Havanti, 40, who was in the front passenger seat, miraculously escaped with minor injuries. 

Mother and daughter, along with truck passenger Nizam Mohammed, were taken to San Fernando General Hospital, where Tricia was admitted. 

The driver of the truck, Dave Ramkissoon, was unhurt.

Namdeo’s younger son, Keshan, who arrived on the scene was too traumatised to speak to the media as he held his head in disbelief.

Police officer ASP Rohan Pardasie said preliminary reports indicate that the car was heading east “when he (the driver) encountered a skid on the wet road and collided with this motor lorry which was proceeding in the opposite direction.”

Pardasie said a relative, who was on the scene, told them Namdeo was taking his son, who recently suffered the chikungunya virus, to a doctor.

Neighbours at Daily Road, New Grant, where the family lived, remembered the father and son, “as nice people.” They said Namdeo was a safe driver.

One of Ramkissoon’s co-workers, who did not want to be identified, said he was transporting dry goods from Unilever, Champs Fleurs, to a supermarket in Princes Town when tragedy struck.

Fire officers had to use hydraulic cutting tools to remove the bodies of the two men from the mangled wreck of their vehicle.

Acting Fire Station Officer Lalchan Arjoon said while fire officers were trained to deal with those kinds of situations, they were not unaffected by the carnage.

"We are humans too,” Arjoon said, as he appealed to drivers to exercise due care and attention on the nation’s road.

“Especially when it is raining you have to adjust your driving conditions. Drivers have a personal responsibility to act safely on the roads. One life lost is too many.”

He said some of the officers who responded to that tragedy may be traumatised by what they would have seen but assured they will receive help from the Employees Assistance Programme.

ASP Pardasie is continuing investigations.