FRANK JAIRAM of 43 Pierre Road, Charlieville, Chaguanas departed this life on 30th July 2015 at age 55. Son of the late Maurice and TaramattieJairam Ex-Husband of Susan Father of Adiel and Yoshabelle Brother of Suzan, Anne, Linda, Carol and Lydia Uncle of Jared, Gabriella, Zachary, Zara, Zekiel, Levi, Adriel and Azalea Brother in law of George Ramdulara and Oral Bedassie Relative of the Sahadeo's, Ganpat.s (Chase Village) and Mahadeo Funeral service takes place on Monday 03rd August 2015 @1.30pm from the house of mourning the to the Charlieville Cemetery for burial according to Christian Rites

Gloria Anthony, the woman at the helm of Republic Bank’s newly opened six-branch network in Suriname, has pledged to build on the bank’s legacy of excellence in customer satisfaction, employee engagement and social responsibility.

“We’re essentially driven by a philosophy of expansion through organic growth and by ensuring strong local participation in all our investments for the long term,” she said as Republic Bank (Suriname) NV began operations yesterday at locations in Paramaribo and Nickerie. This followed the bank’s acquisition of RBC Royal Bank (Suriname) NV from RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited through the purcahse of Royal Overseas Holdings (St Lucia) Limited.

Anthony is the former general manager of Commercial and Retail Banking at Republic Bank Limited in T&T. A release from the bank yesterday said she has extensive experience in corporate and retail banking and brings to the new position senior managerial experience from her previous postings as regional sales manager, corporate manager and area credit manager.

Anthony has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University, UK, and an Associate Degree in Banking from the IFS School of Finance, UK.

She heads a team that includes deputy managing director Peter Ng A Tham, director of Corporate Banking Montague McLeod and a staff of more than 180 employees.

Republic Bank said it will be offering a wide array of products and services in the Surinamese market, as well as access to its wealth of banking expertise, including commercial and retail and merchant and corporate banking.

As troubling as any violent killing is and even with the realisation that she could be scarred for life, the Director of Public Prosecutions nonetheless exercised commonsense legal judgment and a touch of humanity in freeing a young lady and her mother from a charge of murder of prison officer Robert Seecharan. 

The mother and daughter, reportedly the victims of five years of continuous abuse by Seecharan, reached breaking point on the drive from the beach. 

Mrs Seecharan was said to have been in danger of losing her life as her husband slammed her head onto the rim of the wheel of the car and threatened to shoot her. 

Mrs Seecharan’s daughter used the weapon at hand, the prison officer’s own gun, to save her mother, and probably herself. 

The bigger issue that the tragedy highlights is the culture of men beating women. Psychologists have long explored the triggers for men taking out their troubles on women.

Young and not so young men in the society of today have inherited a tradition of spousal abuse from their elders. In the context of the very violent general culture of the era, that inherited pattern of violence on women has escalated through the use of the weapons of the day, including guns.

The male perpetrators of the violence against women are often said to feel threatened by the success of women—women who have been diligent and achievement-oriented. Whatever the truth of the sociological theories, society has to find practical ways to turn men away from violence against women.

One way of stemming it, especially in domestic situations, is for police to begin taking very seriously complaints from abused women. Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams has led a dialogue about education programmes for officers. 

The Acting Commissioner has gone as far as assuring women that no officer at any station would dare ignore complaints from them about abuse by their partners.

However, many reports still reach the media of police officers making light of complaints of violence by women and in fact doing little to assist the women. But attention must first be placed on short and long term measures to counsel men against violence towards women. 

Women’s organisations have been doing great service to empower women to minimise, if not eliminate, violence being perpetrated against them. 

Years ago, Singing Francine urged women in abusive relationships to “put some wheel on yuh heels” at the first sign of a violent man. 

While it is commendable that the young woman was quick thinking and brave enough to come to the assistance of her mother, that cannot be a general solution.

One need often articulated by women’s groups is that of having sufficient and effective half-way houses for women to give temporary accommodation to women fleeing violence. The question is whether the state or NGOs would lead the way in setting up these facilities.

Many police and prison officers provide great and exemplary public service, but the incident does illustrate the danger of arming all officers. 

It is inconceivable that an already violent Trinidad and Tobago society would benefit from having 2,000 extra firearms, even if they were issued to officers of the law. 

Violence is becoming commonplace at many levels of the society, and measures to counter that spread are vitally needed. One way to start is by protecting our women from it.

In his masterpiece, Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, the Israelite historian, Yuval Noah Harari, writes about myths or “imagined realities.” Imagined realities are all those things that we cannot be sure are real but which we have come to accept as real and indispensable to our lifestyle and which, when considered soberly and thoroughly turn out to be artificial constructs.

Maternal employment is like that. The imagined reality is that women must work outside the home to bring in money so that a certain pre-determined level of life-style can be entertained. Pre-determined by society. 

The same society that says that women must cook and clean and wash inside the house but yet work outside the home for her to be considered productive (economists never consider work in the home in their economic equations). 

She must accept snide remarks at the office, and work. Must work and get paid less than the man at the desk next to her. Work and smile and smell nice and look good.

And if you have to have children and want to breastfeed your children, who the hell send you? Well our government sent you! A caring government which says babies should be exclusively breastfed for six months. A caring government which also says breastfeeding mothers can only have four months of maternity leave. And puts nothing in place for mothers to breastfeed while working. With care like that, who needs enemies?

We not dealing with maternal leave here except to point out that Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is binding on all governments in the world with the exception of the USA and Somalia, (!) says that “women have the right to breastfeed their children” and that in the UK they now have 52 weeks maternity leave during which employees are paid 80 per cent of salary and that in the USA, from which most of our ideas now come, the Government allows 12 weeks leave, but unpaid. 

Although women have been working at home and breastfeeding for centuries, the imagined reality is that women cannot work and breastfeed outside the home. Imagined reality is that expressing breastmilk at the office is too difficult. Stressful, on the person expressing and those around. No place to do it. No time to do it. Too much time lost. People will gross out. It’ll take away from economic productivity. 

What is the reality? Look at some of the economic benefits of breastfeeding. See the figures from the USA. Even there, if formula feeding mothers breastfed their babies for a full year, they would save: 25 million pounds of steel from 550 million formula cans; 6 million gallons of oil used in production, transportation and refrigeration; 135 million pounds of carbon dioxide (produced by the use of those 6 million gallons of oil) requiring 35,000 acres of forest to absorb; 2.5 million pounds of paper; 27 million gallons of milk (and the 465 million pounds of dairy feed needed to produce it) and 100 million tons of methane gas a year, an estimated 20 per cent of total annual methane production produced by cattle and affecting climate change!

We know the benefits of breastfeeding to mothers, babies and the rest of us—healthier mothers, healthier babies, healthier population and healthy environment. The key question is what are the benefits to employers, the “what’s in it for me?” The immediate answers are: 

A) Fewer sick days; decreased health claims; fewer days missed from work to care for sick children. 

B) Increased employee loyalty, satisfaction and reduced turnover. This means an improved ability to attract and retain valuable employees and a family friendly image.

C) This translates into increased productivity. According to one programme being run by the insurance company AETNA, for every $1 they invested in breastfeeding support for their workers, they saved $3. 

So what’s the problem? First there is this business of imagined reality. Mother-friendly workplace? What’s that? Yuh mad or what?

Second, there undoubtedly is a lack of understanding in society of the importance of breastfeeding. Because there hasn’t been an open dialogue about breastfeeding, many employers aren’t even aware that worksite lactation is important to their employees or that there’s a need for support. Employers may also feel uncomfortable in discussing requirements for lactating employees, so the topic is never brought up. Women tell me they feel unsupported and stressed out trying to make arrangements by themselves. 

Yet it is easy to create a worksite lactation programme. It’s easy for employers to take the small steps, such as providing a private space and flexible break schedule that allows time for pumping. Women have always worked and breastfed. Combining working and breastfeeding is not a new concept and women are nothing if not amazingly good at adapting. That is a statement of respect and admiration. 

What will it cost a business to provide a space for a mother who wants to express? 

It’s easy to start with a pilot programme to provide the basics: a small, private space and reasonable break time for employees to express breastmilk. Expansion, if decided, can continue by adding components such as education, flexible time and leave policies, and other amenities, as more information about employee needs is discovered.

In T&T the total cost to the employer to supply the basics in the workplace is around $1,000. Contact the Breastfeeding Association of T&T (breastfeedingtt.com) for more information. It’s all been worked out. 

It is great in T&T that we can remember 9/11 as 11 Trinidadians perished in that event. It is a special day for the Prime Minister, President, Minister and other citizens of this land. However, I have a serious problem when the Government, including the Prime Minister, did not make a public announcement to remember those who died and suffered on July 27, 1990. 

I believe the Government should have and should in the future pay some respects to those who suffered and died on July 27, 1990, much like the American government and the United States of America do to both those who died and those who suffered in the 9/11 attacks. 

I appeal to the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government and citizens of this nation to not become complacent and forget of our historical ordeal of July 27, 1990, but instead pay respects to those who died and suffered on that fateful day. 

Rawle Raphael

The Nigel Henry poll, forecasting a 21 to 20 victory by the PP over the PNM party, is wrong. This is because the poll miscalculates, or misrepresents, the number of “safe” seats which each of the dominant parties would win. 

The PNM is likely to win the following safe seats: Arima, Arouca/Maloney, D’Abadie/O’Meara, Diego Martin Central, Diego Martin North East, Diego Martin West, La Brea, La Horquetta/Talparo, Laventille East/Morvant, Laventille West, Lopinot/Bon Air West, Pt Fortin, Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West, Port-of-Spain South, San Fernando East, San Fernando West, St Ann’s East, Tobago East and Tobago West. This is 19. The Nigel Henry poll calculated 16 safe seats for the PNM. 

If the above likelihood proves correct, then the PNM needs to win two of the following seven seats to win the next general elections: Cumuto/Manzanilla, Mayaro, Moruga/Tableland, Pointe-a-Pierre, St Joseph, Tunapuna, Toco/Sangre Grande. 

The poll also has no instrument for measuring trends, or more significantly, swings. The trend of voting over the past 25 years, shows cosmopolitan T&T, that is the non-hardcore PNM and UNC voter, rejecting governments which practise malfeasance, misbehaviour in public office or violent corruption.

If the stomach of this cosmopolitan republic within the Republic has turned against the PP government, then there will be a swing sufficient to enable the PNM to win more than two of the above seven seats. Swings, their existence, extent or countermanding forces, cannot be simulated. 

Critically, the parties likely to assume political office after September 7 must let the public know what their approach to development will be. Would it be scientific, logical, equitable and sustainable, or would it be based on nepotism, kickback, genuflecting before the contractocracy and twisting the arms of state agencies and their agents to make them punitive, scheming, lawless, wasteful, conniving, lying, thieving, dangerous to the public good, subject to line ministers and rotten? 

A good place to start would be for all the political parties, the Movement for Social Justice, the ILP, the PNM, the COP and the UNC to tell us their position on the much disputed Debe to Mon Desir highway. The PP’s plan to advance work on this segment has collapsed. And who amongst us, except the most hardcore fanatic partisan supporter, cannot see the flagrant violation of science, logic, law, accountability and ethics in this wasteful and destructive enterprise? 

To ask the question is not playing politics. Leaders of all political parties, when contending for political office in democratic nations, state their positions on key issues, significant cases, in the run-up to elections. The best forecast lies in getting the right answers. Our cosmopolitan republic would align with any of the dominant parties which would run a clean ship of state. 

Wayne Kublalsingh

In 2010 the issue of crime was the greatest dilemma and concern for the vast majority of the population. With this knowledge Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar, leader of the People’s Partnership, vowed to attack the problem by introducing and embarking upon several initiatives which would severely impact upon this crime scourge within the first 100 days, should they form the next government.

Amongst the proposed initiatives within their crime plan was to introduce a ministry of justice, closely mimicking a UK ministry by the same name. Under the purview of this new ministry, to which billions of tax dollars are committed annually, fall the courts and prisons, where the clear mandate was to secure reform of the fast-failing criminal justice system. 

This was not limited to the outdated and unproductive existing operation of the prisons nationwide, which continues to provide fertile ground for an explosion of magnetic proportions, a snippet of which was witnessed at the Royal Gaol in the middle of a busy downtown Port-of-Spain.

Five years and two months later, what can the fourth Minister of Justice claim to have achieved in his new ministry? Why has the overcrowding and inhumane existing conditions within the prisons remained unaddressed, even after a facility was purchased at a Santa Rosa, Arima, location for almost $300 million? Why are prisons officers and support staff still subjected to work within the confines of a dehumanising and dangerous environment on a daily basis? 

Is real reform of our justice system impossible, an effort in futility? Perhaps it simply is that the powers that be are less interested in securing the necessary changes that would promote a better functioning system. 

Prof Ramesh Deosaran recently revealed that under his tenure as Chairman of the Police Service Commission, several recommendations, after intensive studies and investigations were completed, were presented to the Government, which should have resulted in positive and meaningful changes improving the existing system. 

Such recommendations however failed to prompt the Government to act with urgency and today we see the result of such inaction—the near collapse of our criminal justice system. 

The Ministry of Justice failed in it’s charge. A new Ministry of Defence under the same administration is doomed to suffer the same fate.

Luana Lezama

Arima

It must be a source of concern to any thinking person that the Prisons Service was unable to respond to the recent jailbreak at the Frederick Street prison. 

It is even more amazing that they allow a videotape to be made public which demonstrates their incompetence. There is no apparent embarrassment at their failure to foil a simple plan. They do not even appear to recognise their blunder.

It cannot be possible that in a high-security environment like a prison there was no one manning the camera to bring into action a rapid response unit of prison officers. What then was the purpose of the camera? To review what happened after the fact? Was the camera system not a preventative measure or crisis intervention mechanism?

It is no wonder that the prisons are in the mess that they are. They cannot even set up a simple system of someone manning the monitors to pick up situations which may require urgent action. They cannot blame this on the lack of equipment. Another example of management incompetence. 

The resignation of the Commissioner of Prisons should have been on the Minister’s desk the day after the fiasco.

Karan Mahabirsingh

I find it both bewildering and amusing at the same time that contract workers, the State contract attorneys in this instance, want to take action against their employer for not making them public service attorneys.

It is in my opinion that the contract workers freely choose to take up contracts at a particular salary. I want to believe that they were not forced into taking up such contracts. Further, they can terminate their contracts according to the conditions when they feel like.

It is also my opinion that it is up to the State or Judicial and Legal Services Commission to decide if and when they want to hire additional public service attorneys, at what salaries, despite the existence of vacancies, etc.

Who do the contract workers feel they are to be entitled to fill these public service attorneys vacancies? It might be good that they may fill such vacancies especially if they have the necessary qualifications and experience, but this should not be an entitlement that they would want to sue. Did their contracts give them this expectation to this public service attorney position? 

Put yourselves in the employer’s position. I employed contract workers, I also have permanent workers. I have vacancies for other permanent workers. I pay permanent workers a higher salary than the contract workers who agreed to the lower salary. The contract workers are now threatening to sue me for not making them permanent workers. 

Well, I am not too sure how long the contract workers will last in my place or if their contract would be renewed.

I am quite eager to see how the court rules on this matter. It seems a real bold-faced move!

S Williams

The news of the handing over of the Debe Law Campus to the UWI Principal is a great day for Trinidad & Tobago. It was even more heart-warming to learn that the first intake of 450 law students will take place in September 2015.

Immediately my mind went back to the 1990s when I made up my mind to study law. At that time I was residing in San Fernando. Armed with my new found desire I applied to UWI St Augustine and was told by that I can only do first year law in St Augustine and would have to go to Mona Jamaica to complete the other two years. This news broke my heart. Where was I going to get the money to go to Jamaica to study law? And even if I did, how was I going to pay rent and buy food for my wife and new born son? Even money to travel from San Fernando to UWI St Augustine would have been tough for me at the time.

And today the Debe Law Campus will have its first intake of 450 law students in September 2015! How fortunate for those students and many more to follow, to have a modern well-built law campus in the south land.

Marvin McDonald

Arima

Comrade Maharaj, the current President General of the ATSEFU is either a stranger to the History of the Sugar Industry, a stranger to the truth or both. I hope after the following information he will be honest enough to identify the unforgivable sins committed to sugar workers by successive PNM governments (Sunday Guardian, July 19). 

All citizens across the racial ethnic or religious divide south of the Caroni River and beyond are beneficiaries of successive PNM Governments’ national development programmes since September 1956. 

Please tell your members and supporters what was the state of the industry before the arrival of the PNM? And finally, who provided them with the following benefits and services? 

One, it was the first PNM government under its first Minister of Health, Dr Winston Mahabir, 1956 to 1961, that eliminated the dreaded hookworm disease in the Sugar Belt.

Two, it was the PNM Government that extended the North South Highway from Chaguanas to Golconda, approximately 26 miles.

Three, it was the PNM Government that gave Sugar Workers under President General, Basdeo Panday, a 100 per cent wage Increase, guaranteed 40 hour work week and a pension plan after almost 300 years of slavery and Indenture ship. 

Four, it was a PNM Government that gave retrenched workers the best retrenchment package in the history of the region, if not the world—a non-taxable financial package, opportunities for training, retraining, retooling in preparation for alternative employment and made lands available to employees for both construction of homes and agricultural development, re food production.

Five, two billion dollars in bad debt was written off under a PNM Minister of Agriculture Dr Keith Rowley.

Six, it was the PNM Government that purchased 77,000 acres of land from Tate & Lyle, returning one of the most valuable pieces of real estate to the people of T&T protecting the jobs of Sugar Workers, the rights and privileges of cane farmers and enhancing their standard of living.

Seven, it was a PNM Government that facilitated by an Act of Parliament the Cane Farmers Association and released them from the oppressive Colonial (SMA) Sugar Manufactures Association.

Eight, it was the vision and foresight of Dr Eric Williams and a PNM Government that invested over 50 per cent of the benefits from the first oil boom in the Pt Lisas Industrial Estate converting a swamp in Central Trinidad into the Industrial Capital of the Region in the process making Central Trinidad the most economically progressive geographical area in Trinidad and Tobago creating some of the wealthiest citizens in Trinidad and Tobago possessing some of the most valuable real estate in T&T.

Nine, the two largest poultry producers in T&T today, Nutrimix, Mr Saheed Mohammed and the late Jai Ramkissoon, founder of Arawak Poultry Farm, were both beneficiaries of generous subsides under successive PNM governments, making T&T almost self-sufficient in the poultry industry. Not forgetting the pork industry, Erin Farms, Albrosco, Mc Foods etc saving T&T millions of dollars in foreign exchange. 

The Wallerfield, Cumuto and Carlsen field farmers made us almost self-sufficient in the dairy industry with generous subsidies from successive PNM Governments and guaranteed prices for their products.

Ten, the purchase of Petrotrin formerly Texaco, Shell, BP Palo Seco, BP Fyzabad, the National Petroleum Company all south of the Caroni River to protect the jobs of employees in the energy sector, who were being retrenched left, right and centre by the expatriate energy barons who were capping the wells and purchasing cheap energy from the Middle East until the OPEC revolution in 1973 sent them scampering back to our shores. Ask Mr Errol Mc Leod, himself a beneficiary. If this is true or false, let him tell you about his own generous pension courtesy PNM Government enjoying promotion off his job at Petrotrin.

Eleven, education South of the Caroni River now the academic capital of our Nation between 1970 and 1984, and 23 Secondary Schools and two teacher training colleges were constructed under the late Dr Eric Williams and the Mr. George Michael Chambers.

Twelve, purchased bagasse plant

Thirteen, construction of LABIDCO

Fourteen, purchased Trinidad Lake Asphalt

Fifteen, monetising of our national gas

Sixteen, established the National Gas Company

Seventeen, National Cash Cow Energy Corporation

Eighteen, constructed several primary schools

Nineteen, Sapa.

Twenty, several Government housing development estates from Chaguanas, Pt Lisas Garden, Edinburgh 500 to Huberts Town in Guapo providing thousands of our citizens south of the Caroni River with comfortable Housing accommodation, heavily subsidised by successive PNM Governments. 

This is the history of the industry of PNM governments record south of the Caroni River, a legacy that we in the PNM are extremely proud of. 

Ferdie Ferreira

Founder member of the Peoples 

National Movement

Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB0, headed by president Dave Cameron, will host a teleconference today to discuss several issues relative to the governing body for the sport in India (BCCI).

Among the discussions will be the possibility of an ODI series in the sub continent in September that essentially seeks to give the West Indies a chance to qualify for the Champions Trophy in England in 2017.

The West Indies are currently out of the tournament which will see the top eight ranked ICC teams qualifying for the prestigious event. 

The West Indies are currently ninth in the standings, and in danger of missing a tournament which they won in 2004. They will stay in that position unless they can take part in a series of matches and earn points to leapfrog current eighth place Pakistan.

If the West Indies can play India and win the series 2-1, they will take eighth spot and qualify. They have until September 30, 2015.

A planned tri-series with Pakistan and Bangladesh was called off.

Also up for discussion is the contentious aborted tour ten months ago when members of West Indies, led by Dwayne Bravo, aborted a limited overs tour of India after a payment structure dispute between themselves and the WICB.

When the players decided to come home, four of the five matches scheduled in the series were played. The Indians were leading the series 2-1, with one match called off due to  cyclone Hudhud. The players had threatened to come home after three matches but was convinced to play the fourth match at Dharamshala in the Northern Mountains by now general secretary of the BCCI, Anurag Thakur Singh. 

The West Indies team could not field a strong Test team to send for the Test series that  followed and this further angered the Indians, as they sent a bill to the WICB calling losses in the range of US$41.97 million. They also decided to cut all bi-lateral relations between the two countries.

A WICB director told T&T Guardian yesterday that the hierarchy of the board  decided to call a teleconference to inform and get the opinion of all the directors on the way forward. “Some progress has been made between the two boards and all will be aware of what has been achieved and how best to move forward.”

India is due to tour the West Indies next year and if the ban continues, the WICB will lose tremendous revenue.  

National Women’s Cricket captain Merissa Aguilleira believes T&T can wrestle the West Indies Women’s Super50 Championship title away from Jamaica this year.

T&T will be among the favourites in the tournament, which bowls off in Trinidad tomorrow. Aguilleira is confident of the team’s chances in the tournament saying this can be T&T’s year. Aguilleira said: “Everyone truly believes this is the time. We really have been training hard and I believe once you put in the work you suppose to get results. I am hoping and praying that God shines on us and give us the result we really want.”

Defending champions Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Windward Islands North Zone and the Windward Islands South Zone will try to prevent T&T from winning the title at home. Players from Dominica and St Lucia will represent the Windward Islands North Zone, while Windward Islands South Zone is made up of players from St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.   

Aguilleira said preparations have been solid. “I am excited. I am looking forward to see what happens because we are well prepared. We had a trip to Barbados and did a lot of skill work. We must also credit the coach, the manager and the cricket board (T&T Cricket Board). They made sure our preparations were in place.”

The national skipper said T&T was on a high following the T&T Red Steel’s victory in the Caribbean Premier League. “If you really look around in the sporting arena, you could see a lot of things happening in T&T. You have Keshorn Walcott winning gold and Cleopatra Borel. It is up to us to continue that trend.”

Speaking about the T&T squad, Aguilleira said, “We have players that have been around a while, but I am really impressed with Karishma (Ramharack). She is a spinner that I am interested in, she is someone who is focused, but always willing to learn.” The captain said Ramharack can learn from experienced West Indies Women’s spinner Anisa Mohammed. Aguilliera also believes batter Felicia Walters is another player to look out for.

The Pakistan Women will tour the Caribbean later this year and Aguilleira said it’s an opportunity for the T&T players to impress the selectors. “Nobody's position is secure on the (West Indies) team. It is always good to showcase your talent, because selectors will be around looking to see new talent.” The T&T leader knows there are talented  cricketers around the Caribbean, but she would like to see a lot of T&T players on the West Indies team.   

​The West Indies will miss the  International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Champions Trophy 2017. What a pity. 

Who is to blame? That is the US$2 million question.

How can anyone explain why the West Indies Cricket Board (WIBC) did not plan a one-day series since the aborted Indian tour in 2014? Surely someone should have been monitoring the team’s position as it relates to qualification. 

Over 12 months have elapsed and there is a strong feeling that the Board’s administrators, particularly those responsible for planning, were caught sleeping on the job. 

We should not be surprised at this new blunder since there has been a series of mishaps at the WICB that would confuse the most flourishing mind. You would think that people in such a prestigious office would  understand the systems and provisions of the ICC. But this is the West Indies Cricket Board!

The WICB, whose members are mostly myopic in their thinking, obviously felt that the tournament was so far away, that there was no need to think about it. So no one read the rules of the competition as it related to the eligibility of the teams participating. 

Therefore, by the time the WICB realised that it was only the top eight ranked teams who were allowed to take part by a cut off date of September 30, West Indies cricket faced the humiliation of not playing in a major ICC tournament for the first time.

The vexing question remains. Who is to blame for this? It certainly is not the players since they do not schedule matches.

The fact is that it was only in June/July 2015 that the West Indies was overtaken by both Bangladesh and then Pakistan and pushed down to 9th place in the rankings. I understand even the organisers in England are annoyed with the WICB. 

They know that given the high marketability of the West Indies team in the shorter versions of the game, with players such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Keiron Pollard and Andre Russell, the WICB has blundered badly.

Who is to blame?

It must start and stop with Dave Cameron, a man who should not be president of the WICB. How lucky can one be? This is a man who was in charge during the Indian fiasco but was  re-elected by his peers. 

Cameron should fire his technocrats like Richard Pybus, the overall director of coaching, who ought to have kept him abreast of the possibilities and permutations with regards the tournament.

How could such experienced people like Pybus and Clive Lloyd, lose sight of something so important? 

This is a tournament which the West Indies won in 2004 under the leadership of Brian Lara and Augustine Logie (coach).

I am sure fans will recall the heroics of Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne (now one of the selectors) who shared a ninth wicket unbeaten 71-run partnership, that took the West Indies to an unlikely victory by two wickets.

No one is putting their hands up and admitting it was their fault. Instead, we are upset with Pakistan for pulling out of a series that can only do them more harm than good. Pybus and Lloyd, if indeed they are the culpable pair, need to be held accountable for this blatant lack of care.

If I was a West Indian player, I would seek damages against the  Board for loss of earnings. It would be an interesting case, which might help to ensure this does not happen again. In most organisations, heads would have rolled. 

Sadly no one expects that to happen at the WICB, which is probably why sponsors from Trinidad and Tobago flocked to the Caribbean Premier League rather than the West Indies Cricket Board events.

Some have told me that the Cricket Committee must shoulder the blame. If that is true, then so be it. But we must not allow the WICB to slip this under the door and move on. 

We need accountability and we need to find out what went wrong and why. More importantly, we need to find a way to ensure it never happens again.   

I have been told the WICB is working on getting the organisers to adjust the rules to allow the West Indies into the tournament. 

That is another matter and would appear to be rather far-fetched, although in cricket’s current environment anything may be possible.

Vascular surgeon, Dr Julius Garvey, is no clone of his late, great father, Marcus, but he comes pretty close.

Born in 1933, seven years before the death of the Pan-Africanist leader, journalist and pioneering entrepreneur, Dr Garvey is as much committed to reparations for descendants of African slaves as his iconic father but has upgraded the notion of a monolithic African homeland, offered a nuanced version of the African repatriation project and conceded that political leadership in the Caribbean has often fallen prey to shortcomings of its own making.

Dr Garvey remains convinced that “the colonial and globalisation forces have co-opted the nationalistic forces” in order to sabotage the achievement of true independence and West Indian federation, but he also acknowledges that in large measure “we are still inflicting that self-damage.”

Unlike his father’s famous yet low-profile visit to Port-of-Spain in 1937—facilitated by what was left of a Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) chapter and led by Trinidad Workingmen’s Association (TWA) leader, Arthur Andrew Cipriani—Dr Garvey’s attendance at Emancipation Day activities was promoted by the Emancipation Support Committee as an unprecedented opportunity to hear the thoughts of a great Caribbean man through the voice of a devoted son.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey had been banned by colonial authorities in several Caribbean territories, including Trinidad and Guyana, which he visited during the same 1937 journey through the region. He was no friend of the Marxists and Socialists and the late CLR James is quoted in Farrukh Dhondy’s biographical commentary as once saying that while he had read Garvey’s Negro World periodical he “wouldn’t die” if he never saw another.

Yet, the UNIA and socialist-oriented TWA forged a lasting collaboration including a controversial strategy that had excerpts from the officially banned periodical published in the Labour Leader, the TWA paper.

But, surely, things have changed. No?

“If we look back over the past 100 years or so, we will see things haven’t changed that much,” Dr Garvey said in an interview with the T&T Guardian. “We’ve had more of the same. We have gone from colonialism to globalisation … it’s just another plantation…a universal plantation where we as non-European people are marginalised.”

“This is being maintained by international organisations such as the IMF and World Bank and World Trade Organisation that create laws that prevent us from developing,” he added.

“They have allowed freed trade into our areas where they have destroyed our manufacturing, our agriculture, our fishing in order to force us to import products from abroad which we don’t have the foreign exchange to buy…so we have moved from chattel slavery to debt slavery.”

This, Dr Garvey contends, has rendered “the ideals of my father still relevant because they are all about self-reliance.”

“Unfortunately,” he added, “our governments have not gone down the path that they should have since we gained independence in the 60s.” In this regard, Dr Garvey argues that the region is missing out on the opportunities once offered by the West Indian Federation and the current efforts of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

“We are in a very favoured part of the world,” he said. “We are tropical countries and we can grow anything (but) we are not taking advantage of that because of the import/export restrictions laid down by the World Trade Organisation and the Europeans who control trade to their advantage…so we have to import things that we don’t grow.”

Dr Garvey insists that the region’s “rich resources…land, people and climate” are being underutilised in the development process and that opportunities for joint regional exploitation of these resources are being missed.

“It means unity,” he said. “It means trade and proper policies to make us self-reliant. In short, we still need the ideas of Marcus Garvey.”

Sovereignty, Dr Garvey argues, has not always brought about critical shifts in development orientation and he questions whether a large degree of political self-determination has actually made a difference.

“It should make a vital difference, but unfortunately the ideas of the people who have become rulers and leaders in our independent countries have not really absorbed the ideas that we need to be truly self-reliant,” he responded.

The diagnosis, in Dr Garvey’s view, has grown in sophistication. The treatment, though, remains timeless. As his father exhorted in his famous 1937 speech: “we have to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.”

Following in his father’s footsteps, Julius Garvey, has not often veered too far off the course set more than 100 years ago when one of the greatest West Indians of all time helped change the social and political landscape of countries near and far from his native Jamaica and adopted home in America.

Little Voice will be heard in the local Welsh valley if Charles Hills’ charge is able to make it fifth time lucky in the Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over five furlongs of ‘good’ ground Chepstow today; it represents a leap of faith to nap this Scat Daddy filly given the ‘hit ‘n miss’ form of the so-called ‘in form’ Lambourn yard.

Over a period of eight months Hills has sent out less than fifty winners for a strike rate of 13 per cent; apart from a clutch of high-profile three-year-olds there have been a tremendous number of failures and for a while during Spring-time Charles was firmly entrenched on the dreaded ‘cold list!’  

Then came Muhaarah!

As expected (by myself!) Muhaarah aspired in tremendous style, winning the seven furlongs ‘Greenham’ at Newbury, and followed up with two group one successes at Royal Ascot and Newmarket; Charles eventually got off the ‘cold list’, supplemented Berkshire gains with Dutch Connection in the ‘Commonwealth’ and last Saturday landed the ‘Stewards’ Cup’ with Magical Memory.

Talk about ‘papering over the cracks’ the genial smiling Hills is now ‘pin-up boy’ of the 2015 turf-flat season but with 150 horses his total and strike rate indicate what a lamentable campaign this is proving for those who follow his fortunes, through thick and thin. 

There wouldn’t be enough room in this paper to detail the continual disappointments supplied by Hills whose ignorance towards myself is totally incomprehensible given the service I’ve given to Faringdon stables these last sixteen years; dropped like a stone but I’m made of sterner stuff than most as the current Racing Post Naps Table proves. 

Punters do have ‘favourites’ due partly to so many newspaper racing correspondents who can’t see any further than their hands and indeed are biased when discussing the daily horse-racing scene; it’s a reason why those of us who have an edge continually thrive, and profit! 

Two other juvenile bets (all about two-year-olds my racing life!) are Sunnua for Richard Fahey in the Maiden Stakes over six furlongs at ‘good’ Pontefract, despite an outside draw, and Jeremy Noseda-trained Nemoralia, one of eight ‘decs’ for the Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over seven furlongs of recently-refurbished Chelmsford polytrack.

France-based five-time Caribbean champion Dexter St Louis remained one on course to capture the Solo National Table Tennis men’s championship crown after advancing to the quarterfinals with relative ease at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Chaguanas on Monday night.

Playing in a round-robin pool of three players, the 47-year-old St Louis of Solo Crusaders who has already captured the mixed doubles title with his step-daughter Rheann Chung registered a comfortable win over his lone group opponent Petrotrin’s Hozare Gopaul 11-7,11-4, 11-6 as Tobago Slammers Benoni Daniel defaulted.

The third ranked St Louis returned to the same venue on Monday night and defeated Arima Hawks’ Mark Modeste 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 and then scolded WASA’s Franklyn Seechan 11-2, 11-8, 11-6 to set up a quarterfinal with teenage sensation Aaron Wilson, who played once on the weekend as well, defeating Kwame Lawrence, 13-11, 11-8, 11-5 with Derron Douglas absent before outclassing Crusaders’ Andrew Alexander 11-7, 11-7, 11-2 and PowerGen’s Sarvesh Mungal 11-4, 11-2, 12-10 in his matches on Monday.

Joining St Louis and Wilson, the reigning Caribbean Junior champion and senior bronze medal winner were defending champions Yuvraaj Dookram, top ranked Curtis Humphreys, Canada-based David Mahabir, five-time national champion Reeza Burke, Arun Roopnarine and Lionel Darceuil.

Dookram who along with Humphreys combined to lead WASA to the men’s team title on Saturday had an easy stroll into the knockout phase as he swept past Carenage Blasters’ Nigel Morgan 11-1, 11-4, 11-2 while on Monday he booted University of T&T’s (UTT) Kyle Borneo 11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8 before coming from behind to oust Alaric Humphreys 10-12, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 and faced off with Darceuil last night.

Darceuil also of Hawks schooled Sanga Quamina of Blasters 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 and rallied past Gladiators’ Aaron Edwards 6-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5 in the group qualifiers after which he stopped another Edwards (Andrew), 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 and then Everton Sorzano of D’Abadie Youths’ 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5.

The older Humphreys, Curtis, also coasted, beating Petrotrin’s David Gopaul 11-8, 11-8, 11-2 and Blasters’ Michael Noel 11-6, 11-4, 11-1 in the group stage and then brushed aside Blasters’ Morgan 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 and PowerGen’s Anson Lowkie 11-3, 11-3, 12-10.

In last night’s quarterfinals, Curtis came up against UTT’s Roopnarine who outplayed Daniel Henriques 11-3, 11-4, 7-11, 11-4 and Arima Hawks' Anthony Modeste 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 on the weekend and followed up with impressive knockout victories over Petrotrin’s Hazare Gopaul 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 and Blasters’ Kenwin Small 11-4, 11-3, 

11-3. 

Mahabir, a former Caribbean veteran champion, brushed aside Crusaders’ Andrew Alexander 11-1, 11-7, 11-5 in his lone pool match while he blasted Quamina 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 and Kenneth Parmanand 11-2, 11-6, 11-1. 

As Alta prepares for annual student registration on September 8 and 9 at libraries across Trinidad, we revisit the message of our anti-stigma campaign: No shame. Go brave. You can read by sharing writing from students who benefited from the Alta programme this past year. 

This week, three students write about the impact Alta volunteers and sponsors had on their experience in Alta.

Pamela, Alta Level 3 graduate 

International School, Westmoorings

Just to know someone else is interested in my education makes me feel appreciated and to excel in my progress of becoming a better person. As I progressed in active studying, organising and receiving the lesson helped me to understand better because I followed the rule of learning strategy and applied it, my vocabulary did increase tremendously. 

Alta is not only about developing skills in reading but your personality is very important. Sponsors, you need to continue sponsoring Alta classes, give others the opportunity I was given, you are our stepping stone from “I don’t think I can” to “I will pursue with confidence and determination.” I am happy that I can improve my ability of securing a positive attitude in society by building a foundation of self-worth. 

Going beyond the call, the teachers are more than teachers to me, they are my friends. In going through the different topics, everyone is given the opportunity to voice his or her opinion and contribute in some way. 

Alta also helped me to reveal my true potential and hidden talents. Your sponsorship is not in vain. 

Sponsors, you have opened an account into the bank of education for me, so that I can deposit into it all my learning that in the future, I will be able to achieve higher returns, in investing in my studies. 

Sponsors, be informed that your contributions to Alta has done tremendous change in the lives of my family. 

Derick, Alta Level 1

Belmont 

Alta creates real opportunities for us to learn. For me, Alta helps improve my reading and helps further my knowledge. 

Just knowing that someone else is interested in my education makes me feel proud and good about me in school.

More info

Have you considered becoming a volunteer or are you interested in joining an Alta class? New student registration starts September 8 & 9. 

Call 624-2582/653-4656 for more info. Volunteer, Donate, Sponsor a student. Like us on Facebook or check out to our YouTube Channel: Adult Literacy Tutors Association