A pocket of demonstrators from the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and a group of Venezuelan nationals had differing views on the leadership of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.

Both parties began gathering outside Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s residence shortly after 9.30 am yesterday in anticipation of Maduro’s arrival.

The MSJ convened in support of the Maduro regime.

MSJ public relation’s officer Gregory Fernandez  said they did not show up to oppose those protesting against Maduro’s regime but were in support of the people of Venezuela and their government. 

“They are trying to adjust social inequities in Venezuela. We are the MSJ and we support that general principle,” Fernandez said. 

The MSJ shares a common ground with Maduro’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (USPV), as well as other political parties from several regional neighbours in Cuba’s communist party, via its alignment with the São Paulo Forum. 

The forum, a convention of leftist political parties, met in T&T last month where members of the USPV also were present.

Turning his attention to those in opposition to Maduro, Fernandez said there was an improvement in the overall standard of living for Venezuelan citizens. 

He said: “It’s not like Trinidad. In Trinidad, we have a lot more equity in terms of the distribution of resources of the country.

“In Venezuela it was the complete opposite. It was a small elite controlling all the land, you know, and what the government is trying to do is to address that. Now, I am not saying that in terms of economic planning they haven’t made mistakes. I can’t judge that.

“In terms of their intent, in terms of their respect for the democratic process, they cannot be faulted and that is why we are in support. If they were a dictatorship, we definitely would not be in support.”

Opposing beliefs

In a media release, MSJ leader David Abdulah also praised Maduro, saying there had been efforts by North American imperialists and the opposition to undermine and attack the Venezuelan government since the election of Maduro, with the most recent attack being yet another coup attempt. 

“We strongly condemn these actions. These actions are not only attacks against the Maduro government but also against the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” it added.

But one Venezuelan national, who has resided in T&T for over ten years, said she could not understand why Persad-Bissessar would want to meet with Maduro.

Heidi Hernandez, 40, of Caracas, said she was present to remind T&T citizens and the Government that Persad-Bissessar was meeting with someone guilty of numerous human rights violations.

 “We think no government should be speaking right now with our government that is corrupt and criminal. Where is the human rights for everybody?” she asked, with her face hidden behind a Venezuelan flag.

She added: “We are suffering for those in Venezuela. We have two mayors in jail. Two opposition leaders in jail. 

“One has been there for a year and the other was jailed last week and you know why? 

“You know what Maduro’s excuse was for taking him to jail? ...because he is against the peace of Venezuela. So imagine (Keith) Rowley in this country going to jail for saying what he thinks he should say to avoid and to stop corruption in the country.” 

In today’s global and highly competitive world, we have to be organised. How can we be productive when our desks, our cars, our homes and our lives are disorganised, even chaotic? We will function but not to the best of our ability and we will certainly not enjoy our lives as much as if we live full, organised and productive lives. 

A preacher once said, “God is a God of Order” and for many reasons that statement has stayed with me. I guess because it just made sense. 

Each person has his or her own value system and I respect that we have differences but I have trouble understanding how one can really function at optimum level without being organised.

I am not suggesting that we need to be compulsive about it but we need to live our lives so that if another person has to find something on our desk, or in our car, or in our closet, they can do so.

I have done coaching and time management with attorneys who had piles and piles of paper and they were the only ones who could find anything in their offices. The poor secretaries complained because this made their lives miserable and unproductive. When those attorneys were out of the office, it took a tremendous amount of time to find a particular file. Clients also were not impressed by the waste of time knowing full well that they were probably picking up the tab. Now, attorneys aren’t the only guilty ones, we know that, but this example reminds us of the way our behaviour can impact those around us.

I have worked with families whose children will not and cannot bring their friends home because their homes are totally cluttered and very disorganised, causing them to feel embarrassed. It’s a serious situation when children cannot bring their friends to their home.

So, where do you start if you would like to manage your time and your life more effectively? 

My answer is, one step at a time, while remembering that Rome was not built in a day. 

It took you some time to get there was and it will take you some time to make a change. Change is tough and this is why there is often so much resistance in organisations. Change is tough because adults have to first unlearn the old habits before new learning or new habits can be formed—but change can happen once there is awareness of the change to be made and once there is a desire to change.

In today’s world, it is imperative for us to be efficient and effective. We must find the time to return each phone call and respond to each important e-mail; we must find the time to accomplish our work tasks and our personal tasks; we must take care of our homes, our children, our partners, our elderly parents; we must find time to give back to our community and we should and must fund time for one other person—ourselves. 

I am here to tell you that all this can be done—if you mean business. 

• First prioritise

• Find the timewasters in your life

• Make and keep a few strict personal guidelines

• Be open to growth and change

• If at first you don’t succeed, try again

• Reward yourself

• Live to your fullest potential. 

​In today’s world, it is imperative for us to be efficient and effective. We must find the time to return each phone call and respond to each important e-mail; we must find the time to accomplish our work tasks and our personal tasks; we must take care of our homes, our children, our partners, our elderly parents; we must find time to give back to our community and we should and must fund time for one other person—ourselves. 

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 14 securities of which four advanced, five declined and five traded firm.

Trading activity on the First Tier Market registered a volume of 504,458 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $1,531,951.75. 

Trinidad Cement Limited was the volume leader with 193,689 shares changing hands for a value of $449,830.90, followed by National Flour Mills Limited with a volume of 147,850 shares being traded for $221,775. 

National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited contributed 66,650 shares with a value of $80,646.50, while Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited added 44,015 shares valued at $63,821.75.

ANSA McAL Limited enjoyed the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.05 to end the day at $66.82. 

Conversely, Trinidad Cement Limited suffered the day's greatest loss, falling $0.18 to close at $2.32.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 21,297 shares valued at $479,193.87. 

It remained at $22.50.

​KINGSTOWN, St Vincent—Irish-owned telecommunications provider, Digicel, said the proposed merger of Columbus Communications and Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC), will lead to a monopoly in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVC) and other regional markets.

Digicel is urging regional regulators to prevent or impose conditions before approving the merger. David Geary, general counsel for Digicel, told a panel discussion and public consultation here Monday night that the merger “is without doubt the most important thing that’s happened in the telecoms industry since the industry was liberalised all those years ago.

“…It is about Cable and Wireless and Columbus creating what will be a monopoly over fixed telephone, fixed Internet, and subscription TV services,” he said, an allegation that the CWC and Columbus representatives at the event denied. CWC, which operates in the Caribbean under the brand Lime, is offering US$3.1 billion to acquire Columbus International, operator of Flow in the region. 

“It’s been 140 years and, as I said, good, bad and ugly. The reality is that that company that we all knew and love to hate, no longer exists. That company, which is this massive company called Cable and Wireless…has been demerged over the years…” said head of government relations at CWC, Chris Dehring.

He told the national consultation organised by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Commerce and Information Technology, that what is left of Cable and Wireless is a small company called Cable and Wireless Communications that operates in the Caribbean, “which probably the biggest mistake they made was to keep a piece of the name…”

Dehring, a Jamaican, said the fact that he is the longest serving and the oldest member of the senior executive team of CWC is evidence of how much Cable and Wireless has changed.

“So, when you try to give us all the lashes, we understand, but the reality is it is hard for us to, I guess, to be bogged down by that we try to move forward. It is a tough past to get by,” he said.

John Reid of Columbus Communications said his company has invested US$32 million in St Vincent and the Grenadines and will create 500 jobs over the next five years. He said regulators should hold the companies’ feet to the fire and ensure that consumer protection is put into what the companies plan to do.

“So for us, it is all about investing the money, building the network, providing standard products across the region—not just TV, the broadband as well—and we’ve done that. And I can tell you, when I look at who is going to compete against us in these markets, I know if we don’t get it right, they will eat our lunch. They will get the customer. They will earn the right to take the customer from us, if they do it better than us. And that’s the last thing I want to do—not exactly a part of that legacy I want to create… (CMC)

A one-legged man and two teenagers were freed of robbery charges on Monday after their victim decided not to give evidence against them. 

The victim’s surprising change of heart came minutes after Jabari St Rose, Dave Douglas, 19, and their 16-year-old friend, whose name cannot be published as he is a minor, pleaded not guilty in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court to robbery with violence. 

As he addressed magistrate Cheron Raphael, the 45-year-old victim, Allan Clarke, explained that he was a father and he did not wish to see the three young men go to jail for the crime. 

Clarke said all his stolen items had been returned to him and as such he saw no point in continuing to prosecute them. 

Clarke’s statement left prosecutors and those present in court in shock as it forced Raphael to automatically dismiss the charge. 

However, before doing so, Raphael scolded them for their actions. 

“You are lucky to have gotten this opportunity. I expect you to learn from this experience and change your ways,” Raphael said.

Despite Clarke’s kind gesture, the trio did not appear to be impressed as they did not ask for an opportunity to thank him before he left the court. 

According to the evidence in the case, around 1 pm last week Thursday Clarke was standing in his yard at Simeon Road, Petit Valley, when he was approached by the three men. 

Armed with a knife, St Rose robbed Clarke of his cellphone, a pair of speakers, a fan and hair clipper all together valued at over $3,400.

As St Rose, who does not use crutches, hopped away from the scene with his two accomplices close behind him, Clarke attempted to chase after them. He stopped after the two teens began hurling glass bottles at him. 

The three were arrested hours later. Attorney Fareed Ali appeared for the three accused.

A safe home for her family was all 35-year-old Carolyn Gilbert wanted. 
Thanks to Habitat for Humanity T&T, her family of ten from Gasparillo now has a three-bedroom home in which they all feel safe and secure.
“A week before we got the house, a man was shot near by us. Honestly, before, we used to be looking outside the widow all hours of the night hoping that we remain safe. Now all we have to do is lock our doors and relax comfortably in our new home,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert spoke the T&T Guardian on Monday after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Habitat and the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre at the hotel in Port-of-Spain.
Gilbert, her husband Omesh Seepersad and their eight children are among the 240 families across T&T Habitat for Humanity has helped over the past 15 years.
Gilbert said her former home was a two-bedroom wooden structure that had a leaking roof and out door bathroom facilities. Now her children, ranging in ages 19 years to four-months-old are all comfortable in their new home. Her eldest child, Lauralee is now doing culinary classes in her community. 
Gilbert’s husband, who is a mechanic, said he was so grateful for the new home. 
“We no longer have to worry about a leaking roof or getting buckets to collect water. When the rain fell, we could not even cook. That is to show how bad the roof was. I used to go to work without food. Now everything is plenty better,” Seepersad said. 
Gilbert’s family pays $500 a month over a period of 30-years in order to pay back for their three-bedroom home. 

A Rio Claro pensioner and her two mentally disabled sons were left homeless after a fire gutted their home last week. 

According to reports, Shiroon Dookie, 75, was at her Rajpaul Trace, Ecclesville home, last Friday around 1 pm when one of her son’s alerted her to fire coming from a room in the lower section of the house. 

By the time the Fire Service arrived the wooden, two-storey house was completely destroyed. No one was hurt but Dookie said she lost all of her belongings. The family has been staying with relatives  since the incident. 

They were visited by project officer in the National Commission for Self Help, Esau Mohammed, and MP for the area, Winston Peters, on Saturday. 

Mohammed promised the family they would receive a grant for the reconstruction of their home. The construction is set to begin as soon as the Fire Service gives the family permission to  clear the ruins. 

Peters also promised assistance for the family from the Ministry of the People and Social Development.

The state’s main witness in the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial is expected to begin his testimony next week.

Lead prosecutor Israel Khan, SC, made the announcement in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday as the state’s 52nd witness, Cpl Ronald Penny, completed his evidence.

Keon Gloster’s testimony is expected to attract intense scrutiny from defence attorneys, who over the past year have spent a considerable amount of time cross-examining less vital witnesses in the case.

Several police officers who testified since the trial began, in March last year, have been accused of intimidating Gloster into giving a series of statements over a two-month period in 2007 which led to the accused men being charged. 

In December last year, homicide detective Insp Suzette Martin admitted that while in police custody Gloster, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was taken to the St Ann's Psychiatric Hospital for a mental health evaluation—adding to speculation over the quality of his highly anticipated evidence.

Gloster, who is related to several of the 12 accused men on trial and lived near to them in Upper La Puerta, Diego Martin, has claimed he was present when Naipaul-Coolman was allegedly killed at a house in the community in late December 2006.

When Gloster completes his evidence, prosecutors are expected to call a handful of senior investigators to give evidence before they close their case against the 12 men. 

Naipaul-Coolman was abducted from her home at Radix Road, Lange Park, Chaguanas, on December 19, 2006. A $122,000 ransom was paid by her family but she was not released and her body has never been found.

The trial resumes this morning when a police officer who was part of a raid of the accused men’s homes, in which several pieces of circumstantial evidence including shovels and other digging implements were seized, is expected to testify. 

Who’s in court

The 12 men before the jury and Justice Malcolm Holdip are Allan “Scanny” Martin, twin brothers Shervon and Devon Peters, siblings Keida and Jamille Garcia and their older brother Anthony Dwayne Gloster, brothers Marlon and Earl Trimmingham, Ronald Armstrong, Antonio Charles, Joel Fraser and Lyndon James. A 13th man, Raphael Williams, was charged with the crime but died in prison in 2011 of complications arising from sickle cell anaemia.

Q: Passion is said to be key to launching a successful business. But what if you have a good idea for a product or service in a field that you aren’t necessarily passionate about? Could I build a business on an “ah-ha” idea I have that fills a gap in an existing market? Would that ultimately lead to failure?

—Mike Aquan-Assee

Starting a business is one of life’s biggest challenges, and only truly determined people are able to find a path to success. Since passion is one of the effective motivators, it’s also one of the strongest predictors of whether an idea will lead to the launch of a thriving business.

When you have an “aha” idea, pay attention: Perhaps that idea will help you to identify a market gap, or even to disrupt an industry. But launching a startup simply to make money is likely to result in failure - if you don’t care deeply about your idea, how can you motivate others to work with you or to buy your product or service?

Great ideas are often transferable. If you have an idea that might work in an area that you’re not passionate about, instead think about ways that you could apply it to a sector that does excite you. Look at your idea from a different perspective, and you might be surprised by the results.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Personally, I’ve never had a great mind for finance. In Virgin’s early days, we had some truly turbulent relationships with banks. Some of the most testing times of my life were spent sitting barefoot in boring boardrooms (this was during my hippie days)discussing Virgin’s future with bank managers.

Understandably, it surprised people when I decided to enter the world of finance with the launch of Virgin Money in 1995, but our team saw a great opportunity for revamping customer service in banking. While I wasn’t passionate about banking, customer service is something that interests me. In fact, it drives the entire Virgin ethos.

Our team wanted to make a real difference in a field that was ripe for disruption, so we leapt. Since then we have worked tirelessly to build the company into one of the UK’s leading challenger banks, striving to make everyone better off.

Our goal was never simply to make a profit: We wanted to instill our passion for customer service into an industry that was known for a lack of it. We were also intent on reinventing banking with our straightforward approach and the inimitable Virgin touch. One of our innovations was the Virgin Money Lounge—based on our airport Clubhouses concept—which was the first of its kind in the banking business.

Following the 2008-2009 financial crisis, people started to think that banks had the responsibility to help their customers thrive, and to educate them better about financial matters. This new awareness changed the industry: banks now need to deliver positive financial and social outcomes, and to abide by a firm set of values.

This is the fundamental reason why we got into banking in the first place. We didn’t just have a passion for finance; we were passionate about making it accessible and understandable. Our efforts paid off late last year when Virgin Money became a publicly listed company.

Passion is also important because you need to inspire your staff when you launch a company, and you need to help them believe in your vision for the future. In other words, you have to be a passionate leader with a purpose. Such leaders have been central to Virgin’s success.

Take Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money’s CEO. She’s been with Virgin Money from the very beginning, holding steadfast to her motto: Never give up. And she hasn’t. Though we’ve experienced a number of setbacks along the way, her passion for the business has kept her head clear and her spirits high.

While I don’t believe that passion can be taught, I do think it is infectious; Jayne-Anne’s certainly is. When you believe in something, the force of your convictions will spark other people’s interest and motivate them to help you achieve your goals. This is essential to success.

Mike, my advice would be for you to go back to that “aha” moment and try to understand what motivated you to think in that direction in the first place; the passion behind your idea might lead you to the business or industry that you truly care about. And remember, passion is more than an attitude. It’s a requirement for any entrepreneur or business leader.

(Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group and companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Active. He maintains a blog at www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/richardbranson. To learn more about the Virgin Group: www.virgin.com.)

(Questions from readers will be answered in future columns. Please send them to RichardBranson@nytimes.com. Please include your name, country, e-mail address and the name of the Web site or publication where you read the column.)

Limited in capacity. That’s how Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz described the ANR Robinson International Airport, stating that modification of the airport was long overdue and the Government was justified in spending $44m to refurbish. Cadiz spoke to Business Guardian last Monday in a telephone interview to outline government’s vision for the airport.

“It is a complete refurbishment of the existing terminal building. We are re-doing the roof, the building itself needs a lot of refurbishment work. While we are doing that we are looking at getting additional space in the international arrival hall.”

In a published notice in the print media, the Airports Authority stated: “Enhancement works to the ANR Robinson International Airport Terminal building have begun. The planned works include modifications to the check-in area, international arrival and departure halls and the addition of a VIP lounge.”

Cadiz confirmed that a VIP lounge is also going to be included in the international side of the airport. He also said the seating in the international departure would be re-done. The local and international check-in desks are also being re-modelled in order to create more space. 

“This would be the single project that was planned some time ago. The airport has always been recognised as an international airport, what we are doing here (the modification) is making life a little more comfortable, not only for the passengers using the facility, but for the employees whether it is airline employees or customs.”

He admitted that the airport is “limited” in its capacity and with the modification it is hoped that the capacity of the airport is increased. Refurbishment of the air-conditioning, modernising the information technology also form part of the modification project.

Tobago Division of the                          Trinidad Chamber responds…

Even though Cadiz outlined the details of the $44m modification on the airport, Diane Hadad, chairman of the Tobago Division of the Trinidad Chamber, raised certain objections. She said consideration has not been given to expanding the airport to accommodate more flights.

On Monday, in a telephone interview, Hadad said the airport does not need upgrading, it needs expansion to accommodate more visitor arrivals to the destination. 

She added: “What was shown to us was disappointing, it is a $44m project. We indicated a couple years ago when the first presentation was done at Coco Reef that was not what Tobago needed. We really needed to have more space to accommodate more people and therefore to accommodate more flights. You still have the movement of people if you are going to encourage more flights, you need more space.”

Describing the second meeting as a “repeat” or “dusting off” of the first presentation made to the group last year, Hadad said: “We asked at that meeting whether it was possible to spend the money on the first phase of the new airport and the answer was ‘no’. We (the Chamber) don’t see the value of just dressing up of what’s there.”

Hadad added in the group’s discussions with Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), the issue of additional seating to cater for delayed flights was talked about. 

“In us asking for CAL to do more flights, or going out there to lobby for more people to visit Tobago, it is the movement of people in a specific sized space. You cannot move more than a certain amount of people in a certain amount of space, you are going to cause problems.”

Administration after administration, discussions have taken place about increasing the size of Tobago’s airport, Hadad said. Asked whether politics is being played with the people’s business in Tobago, she said: “None of our politicians have really taken Tobago seriously, in terms of actual development of the island. I think we continue to suffer for it.”

The island is lobbying to retain its international global credit rating. 

Last week Friday, a team led by Joel Jack, secretary for the division of finance and enterprise development at the Tobago House of Assembly, met with representatives of Moody’s Investor Services. Those discussions, which started in 2014, are expected to conclude in a few weeks. If the sister isle retains its international global credit rating it would mean that it could be one of the highest ranked in the Caribbean region.

In a statement last week, the THA stated: “The island’s balanced fiscal results (operating surplus), very low debt levels and solid liquidity position were noted in the report and should impact positively on the overall grade assigned. If given a Baa1 rating the island will be one of the highest ranked in the Caribbean scoring higher than Barbados, Jamaica and St Vincent among others.”

In order to qualify for an international global credit rating, the island had to subject itself to intense scrutiny of its financial operations including the following, according to the THA’s statement:

• Examination of its institutional framework

• Sources of income

• Performance of revenues of the assembly

• Expenditure trends including the evolution of its recurrent expenditure 

• Contingencies account expenses 

• THA deposits 

• Cash management and liquidity and its debt financing and management

T&T, according to THA’s statement, now enjoys a Baa1 rating and the outlook for the assembly’s rating may be on par. The THA is expected to meet with Hadad tomorrow, to discuss further development of the island, including the modification of the airport.

International rating

Commenting on the rating, according to THA’s statement, Joel Jack, secretary for the division of finance and enterprise development, said: “This rating will go a long way, boosting investor confidence and advancing the THA’s development plans for the island as set out in the Comprehensive Economic Development Plan (CEDP). It will provide the assembly with greater access to the capital market where it can independently source funds for priority projects to sustain growth on the island. This has become even more critical given the situation with the energy sector. 

“Decreasing oil prices and the continuous challenges with central government allocations will soon be appropriately addressed through the utilisation of alternate models for funding for Assembly projects including Public Private Partnerships other similar mechanisms. ”

ISO certified

In February 2014, the ANR Robinson International airport was awarded the ISO 14001 Certification For Environmental Management Systems. This means that the airport is the only airport in the region that has taken steps to ensure that its operations are environmentally friendly.

The airport, in order to qualify for this certification, had to develop a programme to enhance the environmental performance of Tobago. The airport implemented an eco-management audit scheme which managed the impact on the environment of the visitor from their arrival to their departure. This included having sorting bins for recycable waste as well as training for staff on how to be environmentally friendly.

Concern was rightly raised over the failure of the supervisor of elections in St Kitts-Nevis, Wingrove George, to declare the results of the February 16 general elections until two days afterwards.

There were only 30,000 voters in the elections. 

Even if George had the votes counted twice for accuracy, as he claimed, that procedure should have produced a final count by midnight on the Election Day. What remains suspicious in the minds of many is why he stopped counting and refused to publish a result.

 Perry Christie, Keith Mitchell and Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Ministers of the Bahamas, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines respectively, were early in their public remarks of criticism. So, too, was T&T’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar whose public statement summed-up what was at risk for the region. She said: “I am also concerned that the region's reputation for democracy and for free and fair elections will be under threat as long as this issue in St Kitts and Nevis remains unresolved.” This was a notable example of regional leadership asserting its collective adherence to the democratic values of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). 

But, it would be wrong to focus attention only on Wingrove George and what may amount to a serious dereliction of his duty and obligations as supervisor of elections. To do so would be to miss the wood for the trees. The failure was symptomatic of a much larger problem related to the electoral process and adherence to democratic values beyond St Kitts-Nevis. The problem also exists in varying degrees in a few other countries. 

 The decision of the government of Dr Denzil Douglas not to face a vote of “no confidence” from the opposition in parliament, and the various measures he adopted to avoid it, gravely undermined democracy in St Kitts-Nevis. In the process, respect for the rule of law was weakened and government loyalists in public institutions were encouraged to believe that they could ignore their duty to the public in favour of their links to the ruling political party. In the words of Antiguan commentator, Colin Sampson, “the episode cast a very bad light on democratic values in the region and it underscores the archaic, decrepit and corrupted state of the St Kitts & Nevis electoral system.”

 The latter point became obvious when in January—just one month before the general elections—the Electoral (Constituency) Boundaries Commission changed the elections boundaries without consulting the opposition political parties and in a manner that would have disadvantaged them. It took an appeal to the judicial committee of the Privy Council in London just days before to cause the February 16 elections to be conducted on the existing boundaries. While that decision was later decried by Dr Douglas who said: “We in Labour feel there is a real...gulf of misunderstanding between what has gone on in a court room in London and the mood of the ordinary man and woman on the streets here in St Kitts and Nevis”, it is arguable that the Caribbean Court of Justice may not have come to any different decision were it the final appellate court for the country.

In the event, what is revealed by these recent events in St Kitts-Nevis (as previously in Antigua and Barbuda when the former government illegally dismissed the chairman and members of the Electoral Commission and attempted to change the election boundaries) is that the organisation and administration of electoral processes in a few Caribbean countries require review. It is a review that might be best carried out by all Caricom countries collectively so as to avoid finger-pointing at any one country and the party political advantage that might be sought from it. What is at stake is the credibility and legitimacy of the electoral process throughout the Region and therefore the standing of the Caribbean itself in the eyes of foreign investors, international financial institutions, capital markets and the global community. 

 The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)—of which Barbados is a founding member—drawing on its long and wide experience of elections in almost every part of the world, identifies seven guiding principles for the legitimacy and credibility of electoral processes. These are: independence, impartiality, integrity, transparency, efficiency, professionalism and service-mindedness. Few would quarrel with those principles as they are stated. The problem arises not from the form but the substance. As an example, almost all of the elections management bodies in the 15-nation Caricom group are declared to be “independent.” Indeed, many are statutory bodies and their independence is prescribed in law. 

 However, there are two kinds of independence. 

The formal kind is structural independence from the government as set-out by law. 

The second is fearless independence: the capacity of the managers of the electoral process to resist pressure from political parties so that they do not bend to partisan influences. As was obvious in the recent St Kitts-Nevis example, fearless independence was sacrificed for partisan loyalty. Strong leadership is required for the persons who head electoral bodies, but this is a notion to which all political parties have to be committed and must subscribe. 

 Like independence, impartiality also cannot be legislated; it is a state of mind much more than a statement in law. Nonetheless, both independence and impartiality can be encouraged and enhanced by a constitutional and legal framework that is respected by all political parties, including adequate funding that permits the institutions to function properly.

 Arising from all this is the clear lesson that it is time that Caricom countries collectively consider strengthening their institutions for electoral management. 

 This is not a consideration for Caribbean countries only. Other regions of the world have a similar need. That is why in 2011 the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group recommended in its report: A Commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform that an Academy for Electoral Training be established by the 53-nation Commonwealth group “to which governments, election commissions, civil society and other relevant organisations could send people to be trained in best practices.” Given its history and traditions of good governance, I had proposed Barbados for the location of the Academy. It is a proposal that could usefully be revisited for the benefit of the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.

The writer is a consultant, senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at London University and former Caribbean diplomat.

Recently there has been some focus on the inadequacy of our present exchange rate and, in particular, with respect to the drop in petroleum prices and its impact on our foreign exchange income. 

Dr Anthony Birchwood of UWI at a recent UWI seminar recommended a devaluation of the TT dollar in response to the apparent mismatch between the supply of US dollars in the local market and the demand therein. 

The Central Bank Governor, Jwala Rambarran, in reply to a question from the Business Guardian, took the discussion deeper and indicated that the faster domestic inflation, when compared with those of our major import and export markets, contributed to an appreciation of the real effective exchange rate (REER) as distinct from the nominal exchange rate; where the latter is the amount we pay for a US dollar in the market. 

What this appears to mean is that with an appreciation of the REER the country is losing competitiveness so much so that our REER appreciated by 4.1 per cent in 2014; ie our national trading sector apparently was 4.1 per cent less competitive last year than before compared with our trading partners.

Ewart Williams, a past governor of the Central Bank, also argued at the same UWI seminar that the REER in our country has appreciated by some 40 per cent since 2007, which was reported exclusively in the Business Guardian. Surely this apparent decay in competitiveness is of concern. 

But what really is this REER? 

Consider the ideal case of a product being sold (even built) in the US for US$100 and (ignoring transport, taxes etc) is being sold (even built) in T&T for TT$630 and the nominal exchange rate is 6.30. If for some reason (inflation, drop in productivity, whatever) this product price in T&T jumps to TT$650 and the nominal exchange rate remains the same at 6.30, then a suitcase trader could in T&T take TT$630 and purchase US$100, buy the product in the US for US$100 and resell it in T&T for T$650, making a profit of TT$20. 

Inflation in T&T has caused this anomaly, indicating the lower T&T competitive environment due to this inflation. 

If, however, the TT dollar were devalued so that a US dollar now costs TT$6.50 (ie the exchange rate were 6.5) then the cost of the product in the US (US$100) becomes equivalent to the cost in T&T, TT$650; so rebalancing the competitive environments. What this suggests is that the real exchange rate of the TT$, ie the REER had appreciated because of this inflation if the nominal exchange rate were left at 6.3.

This argument can be expanded from a single product to the sizes of trade with each of our partners, including even what we produce for ourselves so as to evaluate our REER: known in the business as the trade weighted real effective exchange rate (TWREER). 

Consider now our present situation in which the amount of our major foreign income (from the sale of petroleum products) dropped as opposed, say, to the price of our imports. If the nominal exchange rate is not varied then somehow (increase in interest rates?) we have in this consumption economy to make the US$ more difficult to get in the local market, i.e. by putting up the price of the US$—other than by a devaluation—and in doing so the local cost of imports and other products derived from imports increases. 

We cannot afford to run down our reserves to meet foreign exchange demand. In other words the drop in foreign exchange earnings could engender local inflation and so cause an appreciation of the REER if our other trading partners are not so affected.

A more pertinent question was posed by Anthony Wilson in his article in the Business Guardian of February 15, 2015: “Does T&T exchange rate promote competitiveness?” 

He asked: if the TWREER measures the disparity between rates of inflation in different countries (it does not define the dynamics of the economy) and does not go to the issue of labour productivity, which increases the cost of everything, the question needs to be asked whether it is prudent for the REER to appreciate by 40 per cent in the period 2007-2014 with no adjustment in the nominal rate of exchange? 

Further, does this mean that the TT/US exchange rate needs to be depreciated by 40 per cent for T&T to get back to its 2007 international competitiveness? 

Mr Wilson has indeed put the fundamental parameter into the debate; the country’s productivity and its impact on competitiveness.

Prof Michael Porter in his book “On Competition”, reminds us that competitiveness at the national level is about productivity—ie the productivity with which a nation’s labour and capital are employed. 

Though some may argue that it could be about cheap labour, depend on availability of natural resources, exchange rates, interest rates, government policy or even management practices, none of these explanations is satisfactory—a bit of truth in all—“a broader set of forces seems to be at work.” 

Yet a nation’s companies must relentlessly improve their productivity if at the national level the country is to produce high and rising standard of living for its citizens. Hence these companies must continuously raise product quality, adding desirable features, improving their technology and boosting production efficiency. Hence explaining competitiveness at the national level is to answer the wrong question. 

“To find the right answers we must focus not on the macro economy as a whole- the REER- but on specific industries and industry segments.”

Companies achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation including both new technologies and new ways of doing things and must anticipate both domestic and foreign needs. Yet we are being told by Jai Leladharsingh in the Sunday Business Guardian that, “(like T&T) developing economies should not be directed at reaching world science and technology frontier. 

Rather the central concern should be with absorption and adaptation of established practices to suit local resources and possible future market prospects.”  

This view is ill advised since with our small and open economy diversification must be about becoming globally competitive in our new on-shore exports and these will have to compete companies at the level of the technology frontier. 

According to Prof Calestous Juma all it takes is one MSc graduate to get to the top of a technology.

With few exceptions, innovation is the result of deliberate/different effort. Almost any such advantage can be imitated by others and competitive advantage can only be maintained, sustained, via relentless and continued improvement. 

Hence, the measure of the movement of the REER as compared to the nominal exchange rate as an indicator of a nation’s competitiveness may be easy to compute as a derived output,but it is at best superficial since it tells little if anything about the productivity, the innovation drivers, of the national industries. 

For example, if we are to really examine the competitiveness of T&T we need to look at its major export industries (energy sector), its small manufacturing sector and its onshore service sectors; the subject of another article.

Mary K King

The phenomenon of white-collar crime exists in all countries in varying degrees, and is of particular concern to developing countries since it undermines economic growth, discourages foreign investments and attacks the very moral fabric of society. 

It places a heavy burden on the resources available to both the public and the private sectors of the economy and contributes to the existing atmosphere of lawlessness. T&T is no less susceptible to this type of behaviour. However, the focus in this country has been on the traditional blue-collar crimes against individuals—murder, assault, larceny and robbery—since it is visible and involves the loss of personal property or injury, or even the death of its victims. 

Research in this area concentrated on the lower class of society and various theories have been developed to explain the behaviour of such perpetrators. This type of offending has usually been associated with deprivation, the breakdown of family values and acculturation. 

The turn of the 20th century saw an emergence of deviant behaviour that could not be explained by traditional criminal theories. The eminent criminologist EH Sutherland introduced the concept of white-collar crime in 1939 as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”

The difficulty with this concept was that what is considered morally wrong in one segment of society is quite acceptable in another. For instance, in the past, some people may have considered it unethical to pay a “kick-back” in order to secure a contract, whilst others viewed it as a way of doing business. Thankfully, this way of thinking is changing with the introduction of legal codes in societies that expressly forbid certain types of behaviour. However, legislation is only as effective as its enforcement. 

White-collar crime includes four crucial elements: it is clandestine, it violates the offender’s fiduciary duties to the victim organisation, it is committed for the purpose of direct or indirect financial benefit to the offender and costs the victim organisation asset, revenue or reserves (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners 2004). 

This makes the crime virtually invisible and detection low. Official statistics are unreliable and generally inaccurate, painting an untrue picture of the phenomenon as a whole. Classic white-collar crimes are crimes which involve personal gain, at the expense of some other party. 

The National White Collar Crime Centre’s Research and Training Institute (1996) defines white collar crimes as “illegal or unethical acts that violates fiduciary responsibilities or public trust, committed by an individual or organisation, usually during the course of legitimate occupational activity by persons of high or respectable social status for personal or organisational gains.” 

Most white-collar crimes involve individuals with no previous criminal record and who consider themselves as decent, law abiding citizens.

It has been argued that white-collar crimes are encouraged in societies: 

• Where there is a culture of competition in relation to personal wealth and status, with certain occupations within organisations, which by their very nature present  special opportunities 

• Where a particular culture or subculture exists in the organisation and with financially driven organisations. 

Geis and Meir (1977) added another twist when they said: “White collar crime provides and an indication of the degree of hypocrisy present in a society. 

Such hypocrisy may be seen as leverage by means of which the society may be forced towards congruence between its verbal commitments and its actual conduct. In regard to white-collar crimes, hypocrisy exists when fraud among the lower classes are viewed with distaste and severely punished, while upper class deception is countenanced and defined as nothing more than shrewd business practice.”

So what drives a man to commit this type of crime? 

There is no single theory that can explain all types of white-collar crimes. However, it can be attributed to three factors, more commonly known as “the fraud triangle” of motivation, opportunity and rationalisation. 

1. Motivation to commit white-collar crime boils down to one thing: greed. 

The offender is motivated to commit the act for some form of tangible benefit that can be derived consequently, either to himself, an associate or an organisation he is associated with. These benefits can be in the form of money, property or even an IOU which can be cashed in at a later date. Before the offender commits the offence, he/she weighs the cost compared to the benefit to be derived from the crime. 

2. Opportunities to commit white collar crimes are varied and depend on the position the individual holds within the organisation. Research into convicted offenders in the US has shown that white collar criminals are generally older and better educated than the average blue-collar criminal. The position held is usually one of trust where the individual in the organisation has a certain amount of power and influence over others or controls information that is vital to the operation of the organisation. Clearly, some profession/occupation presents more opportunities than others. 

3. Rationalisation occurs when the offender attempts to justify his act by neutralising in his/her mind the illegality of it. 

The offender does this through several means and makes excuses such as “no one was harmed,” “everyone got a little something,” “the government would have wasted the money anyway” and more. 

Reporting of white-collar criminal activity in T&T is low, but not un-noticed. It exists at various levels of society both in the public and private sector. However, the any allegation of wrongdoings made almost never comes before a criminal court. It is instead ascribed to poor corporate governance rather than deliberate criminal acts. 

The main form of white-collar crime that is reported to the police in this country is confined to fraud activities committed by employees against employers. However, there are many other forms of unreported white-collar crime and the cost to the State and businesses can run into billions. 

Four areas are easily identifiable and needs more attention with respect to white-collar crimes. 

They are: revenue collection, customs and excise, procurement contracts and corporate malfeasance. 

Crimes that can take place in these areas are underreporting income, overstating expenses, under invoicing imports, submission of fraudulent documents, and corruption/breach of duty of care, amongst others.

Unfortunately however, white-collar crimes can flourish in this country due to dynamics such as the lack of political will, diffusion of responsibilities, lack of proper controls and guidelines, inadequate oversight, lack of investigative expertise and resources available to investigative bodies, inadequate legislation and the legal system lack of treatment of white-collar offenders with the same abhorrence as it does with blue-collar criminals.  

To deal with effectively with white-collar crime, positive signals must be sent about the abhorrence of this type of activity. This begins at the legislative stratum, followed by the employees/management of entities and trickles down to the investigative arms of the law in this regard and finally to the legal system. 

Failure to act forcefully and decisively in dealing with this type of criminal behaviour would result in squandered economic and social opportunities for this and future generations.

Change, the saying goes, is the only constant in today’s world. Many of the routine things we do are different compared to just a few years ago. Technology is driving force behind much of that change, and it is radically transforming higher education as well.

Technology’s impact on tertiary-level education is not simply through more online classes. Adaptive learning technologies, makerspaces and even wearable technologies are amongst technologies predicted to have a significant impact on higher education within the next five years. 

The recently released NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition highlights major developments in education technology and technological trends expected to accelerate the adoption of technology in higher education in the coming years. The annual report is produced by a panel of higher education experts from the New Media Consortium, a not-for-profit group of more than 250 higher education institutions, museums and companies that conducts research into emerging technologies. 

The NMC has grouped the trends in three sections: long term, mid term and short term. 

Here are the six major trends to watch out for. 

1. Advancing cultures of             change and innovation

Long-term trend: driving technology adoption in higher education for five or more years

The report states, “Research universities are generally perceived as incubators for new discoveries and innovations that directly impact their local communities and even the global landscape.”

If they are to “breed innovation”, higher education institutions need to be structured to “spur creativity and entrepreneurial thinking”, the report says. It cites a growing consensus that leadership and curricula could benefit from what it calls “agile startup models”.

“In the business realm, the Lean Startup movement uses technology as a catalyst for promoting a culture of innovation in a more widespread, cost-effective manner, and provides compelling models for higher education leaders to consider,” it says.

2. Increasing cross-institution collaboration

Long-term trend: driving technology adoption in higher education for five or more years

“Collective action among universities is growing in importance for the future of higher education,” the Horizon report says.

“More and more” institutions are joining consortia to combine resources, or forming national and international strategic allegiances to “work toward common goals concerning technology, research, or shared values”, and support for technology-enabled learning in higher education is a key part of this.

The prevalence of such consortia “underscores a vision of institutions as belonging to part of a larger ecosystem in which long-term survival and relevance in higher education relies on the mutually beneficial partnerships,” the report concludes.

This point is of particular importance to regional tertiary education institutions. The Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network has the potential to become such a nexus point for cross-institutional collaboration in the region.

3. Growing focus on                measuring learning

Mid-term trend: driving technology adoption in higher education for three to five years

Use of learning analytics and the intelligent interpretation of big data is seen as key to building better pedagogies as well as to empowering students to take a more active role in their learning.

Gathering and analysing large amounts of detail about individual student interactions in online learning activities, with a view to personalising their “learning experience” or measuring performance, is a relatively new field, the Horizon report says.

Capturing and analysing the right data allows tertiary education institutions to better target at-risk student populations, and assess factors that affect completion and student success. 

4. Proliferation of open          educational resources

Mid-term trend: driving technology adoption in higher education for three to five years

Open educational resources is defined as “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others”. 

The trend is gaining momentum, the report states. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative in 2001, it explains, “making MIT instruction materials for over 2,200 of its courses available online, free of charge”. Other globally recognised universities, including Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard University, have since developed their own open learning initiatives. 

5. Increasing use of blended learning

Short-term trend: driving technology adoption in higher education for the next one to two years

Blended learning, is the term used to describe a mixture of online and in-person methods. The concept has been around for some time, but recent developments are “upping the ante”, the Horizon report states.

Digital environments are now “widely considered to be ripe for new ideas, services, and products”, it says, adding, “However, progress in learning analytics; adaptive learning; and a combination of cutting-edge asynchronous and synchronous tools will continue to advance the state of online learning and keep it compelling.”

6. Redesigning learning spaces

Short-term trend: driving technology adoption in higher education for the next one to two year.

The report shares that more universities are helping to facilitate “emerging models of education” such as the flipped classroom, whereby content is delivered online and lecturers use contact time to discuss and explain rather than to disseminate knowledge.

In some institutions, wireless bandwidth is being upgraded to allow web conferencing and other methods of remote communication, while “large displays and screens are being installed to enable collaboration on digital projects”.

The expected end result is that university classrooms will “start to resemble real-world work and social environments that facilitate organic interactions and cross-disciplinary problem solving”.

Examples for the Caribbean

The report contains numerous examples of how technology is already impacting higher education institutions around the world. There were, however, no examples cited from the Caribbean. Hopefully, this will soon change, as our universities and other tertiary-level institutions make the investments required to meet the demands of 21st century education.

Read the full NMC Horizon Report 2015 report at: http://go.nmc.org/2015-hied

Bevil Wooding is the Chief Knowledge Office at Congress WBN (C-WBN) an international non-profit organisation and executive director at BrightPath Foundation, responsible for C-WBN’s technology education and outreach initiatives. Follow on Twitter: @bevilwooding 

The creation of a new energy fund, with the help of the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), could help save the sluggish Caribbean economies from collapse, says Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie.

“It is about finding a home-grown solution to which the countries of the world can offer their resources to the Caribbean. If these Caribbean economies were to collapse, then it will not be Caribbean problem it will be a hemispheric and world problem. All countries have an interest in resolving this. We have insisted in discussions with the IDB that to assist the OECS countries, a key player must be the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). This bank will play a key role in partnership with the IDB and T&T to ensure that the needs of every country customise solutions,” he told the Business Guardian on Monday.

President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno, and Tewarie last Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the establishment of the Multi-Donor Energy Facility for Caribbean Sustainability. This facility has been under discussion between the Government and the IDB for the last 18 months, led by Tewarie. The signing took place at a meeting of Caribbean representatives of the IDB in the Bahamas.

Some of the main objectives of the MOU include the promotion of energy diversification, energy efficiency and a reliable supply of alternative fuels at a reduced cost in the Caribbean, designing the governance, operational and administrative structure of the proposed facility, including fiduciary and financial mechanisms and instruments, co-ordinating resource mobilisation activities with donors, partners, bilateral donor agencies, multilateral institutions and other public and private investors and developing an adequate fund raising strategy.

The Multi-Donor Energy Facility for Caribbean Sustainability was first announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at a meeting in Washington hosted by the United States Vice President Joe Biden. 

“There needs to be an energy solution for the transformation of the Caribbean economies. The Prime Minister of T&T made a commitment when she went to the meeting hosted by the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden that T&T would initiate a process in collaboration with the IDB to build  fund of about US$1 billion,” Tewarie said.

This fund, he said, would depend on the donation of international donors and the mobilisation for donors would be carried out by T&T and the IDB.

“When Biden spoke about energy security in the region, he spoke about the World Bank becoming involved. The United States could be a donor too as they are a natural gas producer. China has expressed interest and so too has Japan, the EU and the Canada. There is world interest in ensuring the Caribbean transforms economically in a meaningful manner,” he said.

Tewarie said the Caribbean countries are in serious economic problems and the international community feels obliged to assist.

“Part of the reason the Caribbean is stuck is because of the debt they are carrying. Part of the problem is that the state in these small countries cannot finance development. So it is necessary for the private sector to invest. Fossil fuel driving their economies apart from being not sustainable is too costly. The energy matrix of the Caribbean needs to be transformed,” he said.

He also said many of the Caribbean countries are now focusing on renewable energy solutions.

“St Lucia and Dominica are looking at geo-thermal, Barbados is early advanced on solar power and Jamaica is looking at wind farms. Alternative energy including natural gas and CNG is a real option in which T&T has an interest in supplying the region,” he said.

At the end of March, the annual meeting of the IDB will take place in March in South Korea, where Tewarie will attend.

“We will explain to all the major donors and countries that are interested, what we intend to do. We will try to mobilise as many interested countries as possible,” he said.

Tewarie spoke to the Business Guardian on Monday at his office, Ministry of Planning and Development, Eric Williams Complex, Port-of-Spain.

PetroCaribe:

Tewarie said the Venezuela-sponsored PetroCaribe is not sustainable and smaller Caribbean islands need to look at a sustainable alternative.

“PetroCaribe provided a solution that was needed for many of the Caribbean countries at a time when they needed to have it. We are anticipating what could go wrong with PetroCaribe which could put these countries in a bad position. We want a solution. I do not think that Venezuela is capable of carrying that burden for an indefinite period. I do not think the countries can be funded by fossil fuel for an extended period of time given the change of the energy matrix,” he said.

He said this T&T-led energy fund would give “hard pressed” Caribbean countries an opportunity to develop their economies.

“This fund would improve their competitiveness, reduce the cost of energy and make their economies capable of higher growth than they are now capable off. If they could cut the energy cost of most of the tourism plants, hotels and other tourist areas in the Caribbean by 50 per cent, imagine what it would do to tourism competitiveness in the region,” he said.

He said part of Tuesday’s discussions between T&T and Venezuela would have dealt with the cross-border natural gas fields that both countries share.

“The question is how will we optimise that with T&T’s technology and the Venezuelans getting revenue out of it as well in keeping with their larger proportion of ownership. All of these factors are tied into the energy matrix of the region,” he said.

Tewarie said within the US$1 billion dollar Energy Fund, T&T’s contribution would be a financial one but T&T would not be “giving away the money.”

“The proportion of T&T’s funding will depend on how much other donors put in. That financial contribution would have a return on investment and we have made that clear to the IDB. The money would be secure as it is in the custody of the IDB. Our job is to work with the IDB to mobilise other funders,” he said.

Private-sector investment:

Tewarie said this is more than a government-to-government initiative and the private sector has an important role to play in this energy fund.

“We are working with the IDB to set up special funding for private sector development in the Caribbean. It may include initiatives in the area of energy but may include projects in other areas like tourism and finance. There will be foreign and local entrepreneurs. There will be 100 private sector investors who will be interested in selling gas to the region. T&T sees itself as being an important supplier of alternative energy to the region in the future,” he said.

He added that public private partnerships would also be a possibility for these investments.

“This will create a new pool of private sector funds for development. These entrepreneurial activities will create new opportunities for small businesses  and create jobs.”

Caricom economies continue to remain strategic to T&T, he said.

“I do not want to speculate on the doom and gloom theories. I do not think that helps. I want solutions for Caribbean prosperity. T&T has not been selfish in looking at regional development. Our development depends to a large degree on the prosperity of the other islands. We have investments in those islands by T&T companies and we have markets there,” he said.

Mettamorphosis Leaders, an organisation that is hoping to bridge the gap between leadership in business and Christian beliefs, is hosting the Global Leadership Summit at the Central Bank Auditorium Friday 27 and Saturday 28 February 2015.

The Global Leadership Summit, now in its 20th year, is being broadcast via videoconference in 108 countries from the Willow Creek Church campus in Illinois.

One of the four persons selected to facilitate the sessions locally this year, Moonilal Lalchan, Atlantic LNG VP, Finance and Administration and President of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce explained why he chose to become involved with the event.

“What I've found over the years, listening to a number of persons, including the president of the country, President Carmona, indicated that there seems to be really a big gap in terms of good leadership in the country and leadership in all aspects of life.” 

“When I was approached by Mettamorphosis to look at participating as a facilitator for this event, I thought it was a very good idea to get involved from the point of view of having some of the world renowned leaders and writers share their experiences with the Trinidadian leaders in different areas.”

Some of these 'world renowned' speakers include Jeffrey Immelt, the President and CEO of General Electric, Erica Ariel Fox, New York Times Best-selling author and President, Mobius Executive Leadership and Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Parkard.

Lalchan said he was particularly interested in hearing from Allen Catherine Kagina, the Commissioner General of Uganda's Revenue Authority, who he said was able to make several instrumental changes transforming the authority from a corrupt organisation into an award winning institution. Kagina herself has attributed her success to her 'faith in God'.

The programme material boasts that the summit is a “world-class experience for leaders who want to get better...When cultivated in a culture of Christ centred leadership, your influence can change lives and the organisations that you lead.”

The summit features six other leaders across the spectrum of academia, business, the Church, government and non-profit organisations.

The sessions are broken up into four separate sessions, one of which will be facilitated by Lalchan. The other three local facilitators are Curtis Machoon, leadership consultant and chairman of the University of Trinidad and Tobago, Maureen Bartholomew, HR Consultant and executive coach and Norman Christie, regional president of bpTT.

The cost of attendance ranges from TT$750.00 for individuals and between $600.00 to $675.00 for groups and sessions will run from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on each day.

More information about the summit can be found at Mettamorphosis Leaders' website, http://www.mettamorphosisleaders.org/.

In a letter to the editor of the Business Guardian, which is published today on page A10, former People’s Partnership senator and minister, Mary King, in countering a contribution made in the Sunday BG, argues: “...with our small and open economy, diversification must be about becoming globally competitive in our new on-shore exports and these will have to compete with companies at the level of the technology frontier.”

At a more general and theoretical level, Mrs King, who is an economist, also stated: “Yet a nation’s companies must relentlessly improve their productivity if at the national level the country is to produce high and rising standard of living for its citizens.”

The letter suggests to me that Mrs King believes that there are elements within T&Ts non-energy, productive sector that are interested in, or capable of, becoming world class...by which one presumes  she means the ability to produce a product or service in T&T that has a worldwide market, global appeal and universal brand recognition.

One also assumes that in order to achieve a worldwide market, global appeal or universal brand recognition, mostly with products, there must be interest by companies to "relentlessly improve their productivity.”

As a theoretical construct, it is accurate to argue that all companies—local, regional and international—should be interested in "relentlessly” improving their productivity, but from a practical point of view, is there the impetus for T&T companies to do so?"

Let us use as an example from one of our local food or beverage manufacturers and let us repeat the question: what is the impetus for any one of them to "relentlessly improve their productivity" if the following is true?

• As former Central Bank governor, Ewart Williams argued in a paper at UWI last month, the TT dollar appreciated in real terms by about 40 per cent between 2007 and 2014 and the “real appreciation is likely to  be  much larger if measured on the basis of unit labour costs.” This means that anything produced in T&T was at least 40 per cent less competitive in 2014 than it was in 2007, without regard being placed on the declining productivity

• Increasing productivity is of so little concern to the Government, people and manufacturers of T&T that measurements of productivity are not readily available or, when they are, reflective of current realities

• To a large extent, local manufacturers produce for well-defined and familiar local and regional markets

• Those markets, to a large extent, allow them to generate double-digit margins

• With the exception of Angostura, most of T&T’s food and beverage companies operate private companies (little accountability to anyone) in which the workers are well paid, in comparison to the national minimum wage, but to a large extent are non-unionised

• Because of the prevailing labour environment—especially the easy availability of Government make-work employment and the “crackdown” on “illegal” Caribbean workers—some workers can adopt the attitude that their manufacturing employer needs their labour more than they need the salary

• Manufacturers are domiciled in a country that offers them subsidised water, electricity and natural gas and very competitive telecom rates

• They are domiciled in a country that has a flat 25 per cent corporate tax, extremely lax tax enforcement AND a tendency to allow tax amnesties, which must create a tendency to moral hazard in some manufacturers. Further, they operate in an environment in which there is no property tax, no capital gains tax and quite generous tax incentives for the purchase of plant and equipment

• Their owners are among T&T's business elites, which allows them privileged access to the political elite and, more importantly, corporate information

• Access to foreign exchange is not a problem for them, partly because they generate it and also because of the point above

• The private owners of T&T’s manufacturing companies live very comfortably with their mansions in posh neighbourhoods, their homes “down the islands,” yachts, Miami/Toronto condos etc. Also these owners probably have "green-card" access to foreign boltholes in case T&T goes rogue on them (as it has done twice in the recent past, lest we forget)

The point is that in practice there are very few local companies that are interested in becoming globally competitive because they are doing just fine being locally and regionally "competitive."

This may be a very short-sighted view as the experience of the local garment industry, which has been wiped out by imports from China, (including for the production of mas) can be replicated in other parts of the manufacturing sector.

The obvious counter to that possibility is that garment manufacturing depends on scale and low labour costs, while other manufacturing (especially the food and beverage sector) depends on a combination of brand loyalty and just-in-time distribution to win customers.

But it would be an interesting graduate research thesis for some scholar to probe how the access to high-speed Internet, cable television, sky boxes and credit cards with high US dollar limits has transformed the shopping habits of T&T citizens.

I would argue that the exchange rate is important because, not only is it contributing to a lack of competitiveness of local production (Ewart Williams' point) but it is allowing anyone with a credit card to import anything from the world in a foreign currency and pay for it in TT dollars.

This would be an especially interesting exercise given the Central Bank's stout defence of the TT dollar, which along with T&T's higher inflation rate, is having a negative impact on the manufacturing sector's competitiveness.

This combination of factors—the Central Bank’s interventionist policy to keep the TT dollar stable plus the easy access to foreign goods—along with the Government’s fiscal policy decision to not impose substantive adjustment on T&T citizens will have the expected impact on T&T’s foreign reserves.

In other words, T&T’s manufacturing production is becoming less competitive, in real terms, over time, and the policy matrix chosen by the authorities contributes to making foreign products more accessible and more affordable.

For what one can only deduce are political reasons, the Central Bank is selling more US dollars to the market than it should, thereby running down the country's reserves, when it should be allowing the TT dollar to depreciate by determining what is an appropriate amount of US dollars to sell to the market, given the reduction in the supply of US dollars as a consequence of the collapse of T&T’s energy export prices.

What's the use of having an exchange rate that is supposed to be floating if it does not respond to changes in the supply and demand for the country's products and the supply of US dollars?

I ask again given the 2015 realities of T&T, what is the likelihood of some company in the productive sector "relentlessly improve their productivity" and seeking to become globally competitive?

Disclosure: I own shares in one of the few companies in T&T that can truthfully boast of having a worldwide market, global appeal and universal brand recognition. That company, of course, is Angostura Holdings Ltd and the product is Angostura Bitters.

The T&T Guardian checked outside the compound of a company which residents claimed was the source of the WASA contamination.

There was a black substance smelling like diesel that turned the dirt outside the compound black. This substance was found outside the wall that was in front of a large storage tank on the compound.

It was also observed that concrete, which looked like it was laid recently, had been placed on top of an area where there was more black-stained soil. 

Some of the black-stained soil was seen inside the drain in front of the tank but the dirt was not seen along the drain course where the water flowed into the river. 

Asked why the drains were not stained with diesel, the residents said the company had cleaned the drain. However, moss and other silt was visible in the drain. However, the residents claimed that people from the company placed silt and moss in the drain to make it look as though the area had not been cleaned recently.

T&T Guardian spoke to a supervisor from the company and he claimed that the tank in question was no longer in use and there was no spill. He further added that there would be no life like tadpoles or frogs in the drain had there been a diesel spill.

In 2012, the EMA was called in to investigate the same company after oil was discarded into a drain and ended up near the water treatment.

On Wednesday, the EMA identified two areas, Carapo and Manuel Congo, San Raphael, as possible sources of where the leaks began but farmers yesterday told the T&T Guardian if such a contamination had started further upstream plant and fish life would have been affected.

Contacted last night, WASA’s head of communications Daniel Plenty said they were not aware that any WASA vehicle had been dispatched in that area to investigate any leak.

EMA communications officer Nicole Bachan also said she was unaware of any complaint of contamination in the area but said the EMA would look into the matter.

Minister of the Environment and Water Resources Ganga Singh is scheduled to tour the treatment plant today and two of the 61 schools which were forced to send students home early on Wednesday due to the problem. Some of those schools yesterday again dismissed early as a precaution. 

A neighbourly dispute over property damage caused by a dog has been identified as the catalyst of an arson attack in Freeport which claimed the lives of two young sisters in 2009. 

This was revealed yesterday as Ashook Ramdial, the father of the two children—ages six and three—began his testimony against six of his neighbours, who are alleged to have been behind the attack. 

Siblings—Shiva, Ryan and Vishan Bajnauth, their half-brother Solomon Rampersad and their friends Kenny Mohammed and former Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer Junior John—are before Justice Maria Wilson charged with the attack, which claimed the lives of Sangeeta and Sarah Ramdial and left two of their relatives injured.

The incident took place at Playground Avenue, Uquire Road, Freeport, on April 14, 2009. 

As he recounted the details of the attack, which he was forced to watch while hiding in a bushy area at the side of his house, Ramdial explained that a day before the incident one of the accused men threatened to set his house on fire because his (Ramdial) dog had stolen meat from his property. 

“They say my dog and hogs damaging their land,” Ramdial said before being stopped by State prosecutor Renuka Rambhajan. 

He explained that around midnight the following day, his wife woke him when she heard the dog barking in the yard. 

Fearing the neighbours had come to attack him, Ramdial said he jumped through his window and scampered into a bushy area to hide. 

Using a hand-drawn diagram of the property and the small two bedroom wooden house, Ramdial claimed from his vantage point, he heard gunshots and saw two of the accused, who were carrying guns walking into his yard. 

He said shortly after he crept to the back of the house where he saw three of the accused guarding the back exits. He said he saw Vishan climb through a window with a keg of liquid in his hand before he returned minutes later without it. 

“It just happen in a flash. I just look and see the whole house on fire,” Ramdial said.  

While the 41-year-old admitted the house did not have electricity, he said he was able to see clearly as the property was illuminated by lights from a nearby factory.

He also claimed he was able to identify the attackers as he had known them all his life. Ramdial was unable to complete his testimony by the end of yesterday’s hearing and is yet to give details about his wife Geeta Singh and his nephew Richard Ramdial who were also at home at the time. 

In her opening address to the jury, Rambhajan explained that the two adults managed to run out of the house before it was engulfed in flames. Both Singh and Richard were shot several times but survived. 

The six men are being represented by Vernon de Lima, Ravi Rajcoomar, John Heath, Kern Saney and Chase Pegus. 

Ramdial’s will continue his testimony when the trial resumes on Monday.

The two survivors of the Brasso Seco horror — sisters Jennelle, 19, and Felicia Gonzales, 17 — were forced to mourn their mother, daughter and friend yesterday inside a white Kia Sorento as they were not allowed to exit the vehicle for the funeral service.

The sisters along with their mother Irma Rampersad, Jennelle’s daughter Shania Amoroso and their neighbour Felix Martinez were abducted from Rampersad’s Bleu Road, Brasso Seco, home last October 26. 

Martinez and baby Shania’s body were found in a duffle bag in the Brasso Seco forest on November 8.

 Three days later Rampersad’s body was found. All three were in an advance stage of decomposition. 

On November 14 the girls were rescued from a shack in the forest after a shootout with police. The relatives of the deceased had to wait three months until DNA testing proved their identity which was done last week before they could pay their final respects.

Two men — Azmon Alexander and his 17-year-old cousin — are before Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno charged with the abduction of the five, murder of the trio and other offences, including robbery and shooting at police. 

The two will re-appear before the magistrate on March 11. 

While their siblings and other relatives were inside the Santa Rosa RC Church, along with other mourners, some were forced to peer through the heavily-tinted SUV windows at the three caskets with their loved ones picture atop them.

 At the door close to where the vehicle was parked, heavily armed officers stood guard. The sisters and their siblings were never seen interacting. Since the teens were rescued they have been in police custody.

Earlier in the day baby Shania’s father, Steven Amoroso, was taken from Remand Yard, Arouca, where he is awaiting trial for housebreaking, to Allen’s Funeral Home, Arima, to pay his final respects to his daughter.

 Baby Shania was placed in her own coffin instead of with her grandmother as was initially requested by the family. The trio were cremated at the Allens crematorium.

During the homily Fr Lesley Tankai described the victims as martyrs as they were killed for truth and justice.

He said the last time he saw the surviving sisters there were at church singing the hymn “Walk with me Lord”.

He told the congregation, which included MP for the area Rodger Samuel, he believed the girls sang that as they went through their ordeal. 

“We live in a world bombarded with violence and have become normal to violence. We need to learn to forgive and let go of the circumstances that has been plaguing us since October 2014. We have to come together to rebuild the community. 

“Parents, speak to children in the right manner and don’t encourage them in evil. When we bring them up in right way we will eradicate evil” Tankai said.

Ramperad’s brother-in-law and his daughter, Davinand Dass, and Anisa Rampersad in their eulogy written by Rampersad’s children, described the mother of seven as a strong woman who believed in honesty and hard work. 

The duo said Rampersad was a wonderful person who did not deserve such a death. Baby Shania, they recalled, was her maternal grandmother’s joy. 

Martinez was remembered by his sister, Maria, who said her brother was a helpful man who grew from a mischievous child.