I am a senior citizen and recently I attended the Maracas Valley Health Centre on a health-related issue. During my wait the senior nurse in charge used the opportunity to make an announcement advising that all patients with referrals will now be referred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital instead of Mt Hope Hospital. This she explained would not affect pregnant women and children.

This new arrangement caused much concern to all present as this new system will certainly affect patients especially the senior citizens. It was quite convenient for all to visit Mt Hope when necessary, however, with the new plan, citizens will now have to travel to Curepe then to Port-of-Spain and then on to upper Charlotte Street. 

This is certainly a burdensome task financially and otherwise, especially for the senior citizens who are generally very poor and most do not have access to a vehicle. 

While the geography may suggest Maracas Valley is a part of Port-of-Spain, Mt Hope is a stone’s throw away and quite convenient and practical. This move would not make things easier for the patients.  

If the new system is to stay, I humbly suggest that all senior citizen patients with a referral should be accepted at Mt Hope Hospital as a matter of importance.

I appeal to the relevant authorities, the Minister of Health, our Member of Parliament (St Ann’s east) to step in and bring a measure of relief and comfort to all those who would be affected. By so doing you would have turned a negative into a positive.

Joseph Maraj
La Seiva Village, Maracas Valley

Kevin Baldeosingh

“Daddy, tell me a story about a yellow spoon.”

So no more Little Red Riding Hood. In September, I wrote about my daughter Jinaki’s single-minded love for that one classic fairy-tale, which I had repeated every night at bed-time for several months. A few weeks after that column appeared, she started asking for different stories.

But, by “different,” I don’t mean tales that I had read to her from books. For example, she wanted me to tell her a story about a girl who cried when her friend didn’t come to school. After asking her to give me some background for that story, I figured out that the girl who cried was Jinaki’s friend and she was the one who didn’t come to school. 

Jinaki is nearly two-and-a-half years old and has been attending pre-school regularly since August. It took her more than three weeks to stop crying when I dropped her off, and only in the third week did she start referring to school when she was home.

Several of the post-Red Riding Hood tales involved children from her school. And, two weeks ago, she woke up one morning and started telling her Mommy that the Hulk had attacked the school but Aunty Michelle had beaten him up. So apparently she was having dreams about school, too.

Now human beings are story-obsessed animals. We like to tell stories, and we like to hear them even more. And you should note that we didn’t have to be so—we could in theory have had a brain that learned by hearing lists instead. But our neural architecture has so evolved that we have a strong preference to get information through narratives. And this is why children love stories.

But the kinds of stories children love can be puzzling to an adult. For example, I bought a book for Jinaki called The Tiger Who Came to Tea, because it was listed as an enduring classic. But all that happens in the story is that the tiger eats all the food in the house and the family has to go out to a restaurant. That’s it. I don’t see the appeal, but Jinaki asks for this book repeatedly, slightly more than she does The Cat in the Hat, which I bought at the same time.

At any rate, children get a good part of their social knowledge and moral values and academic foundation from stories. So it’s important to tell them stories. I don’t have any difficulty doing so, and I had been assuming most parents don’t, until Jinaki asked me to tell her the story about a yellow spoon. Then I remembered that, unlike nearly every other parent, I am a professional writer.

The story I made up was about a girl who was a spoonaholic who didn’t like yellow. But she encountered a monster who wanted to gobble her up, but she poked him in the eye with the yellow spoon and he ran away crying. So she decided to keep the spoon.

As a writer, I know that an interesting story must have relatable characters, a challenge, and a resolution. Everything else is detail. And, while I try not to be didactic, I usually make up stories that have some lesson for Jinaki. After all, these narratives will help shape how she thinks as she grows up.

West Indies cricket once ruled the world with raw talent and little or no support from an administration that wallowed in the fruits of victory after victory. In fact, from 1980 to 1995, the team did not lose a single Test series.

The taste of victory was so sweet then, that the signs of West Indies cricket’s domination of world cricket coming to an end were ignored. As such we came crashing down from the pinnacle of the sport. Although the signs were becoming evident at the time, nothing was done to avert this development, as we failed to put structures in place to build on our successes.

The taste of victory soon became the cries of defeat after defeat and exposed the deficiencies in the administration of West Indies Cricket. This has been so embarrassingly exposed recently by the fact that for the first time ever, the West Indies failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy, a one-day international (ODI) tournament played between the top eight ranked sides in the world.

Our beloved Caribbean team is filled with an abundance of talent and natural cricketing resources but efforts to transform that into a team reminiscent with that of the 1980s, is being stifled and destroyed by inept administrators at the level of the West Indies Cricket Board, who have appointed themselves owners of West Indies cricket. The question must be asked, who gave that power to the West Indies cricket board.

West Indies cricket belongs to the people of the Caribbean and as such it is time that we demand that the colonial structures that govern its operations be dismantled and allow for the creation of a sport-friendly administration in keeping with our social, cultural, economic and political landscape. 

This would facilitate the environment to put the proper structures in place to motivate players and build team spirit and camaraderie amongst regional players in an effort to make us once again the most feared team in the world of cricket. Additionally, this would prevent issues like these being raised by the present head coach Phil Simmons, who has since been suspended for expressing his disapproval with the team selected for the current ODI series in Sri Lanka. Further, issues surrounding compensation packages should not be allowed to rear their heads repeatedly.

We can no longer allow a few people to determine the future of a sport which has unified the Caribbean region. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), has systematically decimated the structures of our cricket and made us the laughing stock of the cricketing world.

We cannot continue this way. The West Indies Cricket Board must be dismantled and in that regard our regional leaders must take up the mantle and appoint a caretaker administration, whilst as a region, we do all the things necessary to create and build the framework to put West Indies cricket back at the pinnacle of world cricket.

There are those who would say that politics has no business in sport but at the level of the WICB a lot of political machinations are taking place to the detriment of the administration of the sport. So, for West Indies cricket to take its rightful place at the forefront of the sport once again, there must be a regional political intervention now otherwise West Indies cricket would be relegated to the dustbin of world cricket. 

Failure to act now in defence of West Indies cricket would mean that we would have little or no chance of once more becoming a top cricketing team anytime soon.

Bryan St Louis

West Indies cricket is in a mess. Indeed our cricket is in shambles. I say this even against the often too frequent and somewhat erroneous statements uttered by officers of the many island Boards across the Caribbean as to how good their programmes are.  

In my opinion these pronouncements are often tainted by bias and insularity. The management of West Indies cricket can be described as too autocratic, vindictive, lacking in imagination (I could say a lot more) and run by a bunch of “smart men” whose only motivation is the inflation of their already oversize egos. 

For instance, can we really accept that after almost two months, a definitive decision of some sort cannot be made as to the reinstatement or otherwise of the cricket coach? Is it the coach who is holding up the process, or is it that a decision to reinstate, whatever his wrongdoing, will be an embarrassment to this board after so unashamedly and hastily appointing one of theirs? 

And another one of my musings—why not a title change? Maybe a new branding, eg, The West Indies Cricket Association. 

But don’t we already have Caricom and ACS? Are they helpful? Think about it.

Tony Jackman

The Clico Policyholders Group (CPG), led by Peter Permell, is “deeply concerned” by the news the Central Bank is planning an update of the resolution plan with it.

In a statement released yesterday, the CPG said while it welcomed the news, its concern stemmed from the fact that the Central Bank had been “conspicuously silent on the balance owed by Clico.”

To date, the CPG said, there were over 15,000 “assenting” policyholders who accepted the former government’s offer of zero-interest bonds and Clico Investment Fund units.

“Our information suggests that whilst this first partial payment to the ‘non-assenting’ policyholders represents 85 per cent of the contractual cash value as at the end of the interest term specified on the policy certificate in the case of the Government as assignee and trustee of the rights of the ‘assenting’ policyholders this is not the case,” Permell said.

He said “sources” revealed that there has been some “clandestine agreement” between the previous government and the Central Bank/Clico “to only claim the actual payout value of the offer and not the full amount that is contractually due to the assenting policyholders.”

He said if this were true, it was “extremely troubling” as Clico was now solvent and its Statutory Fund was fully funded. 

“Moreover, the Government as assignee and trustee for these insurance contracts is standing in the shoes of the assenting policyholders and as such is the only entity legally empowered to claim, on our behalf, the full amount that is contractually due to us from Clico,” he said.

“The CPG is therefore calling on the Central Bank Governor to clear the air on this matter and for the new Finance Minister Colm Imbert to also make his own inquiries, if necessary have any such unfair and unjust agreement rescinded and issue a statement accordingly,” Permell said. 

The aircraft that allegedly caused damage to a home in Chaguaramas due to alleged low flying in the area on Thursday evening has been identified as one of the AugustaWestland AW139s belonging to the TT Air Guard (TTAG).

This was yesterday confirmed to the Sunday Guardian by officials of the T&T Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA).

Yesterday morning (Saturday), at about 9.48 am, a team of TTCAA officials were at the TTAG’s hangar at Piarco reviewing cockpit voice recordings onboard the helicopter 9Y-AG314, as part of its ongoing investigations.

It was reported that three homes in the area suffered some sort of damage, including the home of Marsha Maynard.

Parts of Maynard’s home came crumbling down when the helicopter hovered close to her home, ripping off galvanised and causing six rows of clay blocks to collapse. At surrounding homes, electric gates were ripped off their hinges.

An official at Air Traffic Control (ATC), who wished not to be identified, told the Sunday Guardian yesterday that the helicopter was in the area taking aerial photographs. The source said that officials onboard the helicopter had called into the ATC to confirm that they were operating in the Chaguaramas area flying at allegedly 500 feet.

Another aviation official, who also wished anonymity, explained that the downwash created by that big a helicopter at low level would cause extensive damage to loose objects.

“Plus, if you are hovering you need more power, hence the greater the downwash. An airplane has wings that create lift so the prop wash or engine thrust is behind the aircraft. The rotor blades create the lift in a helicopter so the associated downwash is below the helicopter,” the aviation source said.

An official from the TTCAA told the Sunday Guardian that once an aircraft was involved in an incident, an investigation was launched and the TTCAA would move to ground the aircraft so that the necessary evidence could be extracted.

When contacted for comment yesterday, T&T Defence Force (TTDF) Civil Military Affairs Officer, Major Al Alexander, confirmed that officials of the TTCAA were reviewing voice recordings.

“This is being done to determine what time they were there and how low our aircraft was. However, I will maintain that during that time window, we may not have been the only aircraft in the area, so I think that Civil Aviation is exploring all the possible aircrafts that would have been in the area,” Alexander said.

He, however, added that the TTAG’s helicopter was not grounded and would continue operations and carrying out exercises as normal.

Not wanting to admit fault with respect to the damage that occurred in the Chaguaramas area, Alexander said that he along with engineers of the TTDF visited Maynard and her husband.

“We have done an assessment there and we have been given the okay by the Chief of Defence Staff to assist where we can, based on what we finalise. We are not admitting fault and would not wait on the outcome to assist but there is a family in need and we will do what we can do to assist in the meantime. This is a family that live about a mile and a half from the defence headquarters,” Alexander said.

The closure of much of the production capacity of the ArcelorMittal iron and steel facility at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate presents the first major challenge and opportunity in the stewardship of the new Minister of Energy Nicole Olivierre.

The temporary stoppage on the company’s direct reduced iron plants and the operation of its meltshop and rolling mill at 50 per cent of their capacity will mean hardship and inconvenience for hundreds of workers and dozens of local suppliers of goods and services that have depended on the operation of the facility for their livelihoods.

It is also likely to mean that the state-owned suppliers of natural gas, electricity and water will face reduced markets for their products.

For the Government, there is likely to be a revenue and foreign exchange impact.

The fact is that the global iron and steel industry is going through a structural transformation as it attempts to adjust to a glut of products in the market, which has meant a collapse of prices. 

It’s a situation that is quite similar to other commodity markets that have suffered from the boom and bust cycle that will only end when enough of the higher-cost production is removed from the market and/or there is an increase in the demand for the products.

The point that must be of great concern to the minister is whether T&T has now become one of the higher-cost producers of iron and steel such that ArcelorMittal decided to stop production here before some other of its global locations.

But now is not a time for hand-wringing, brow-furrowing or unduly pessimistic lamentations. Now is the time to confront T&T’s challenges head on, safe in the knowledge that the country has the intellectual capacity to think through and solve most of its problems.

This period of low commodity prices presents an opportunity for the Government to decide, identify and rank the users of the country’s natural gas that it is interested in retaining and those that it is not interested in keeping. The rationale of this thinking is that T&T currently finds itself in a situation in which the demand for natural gas is likely to exceed the supply of it by a small margin for the next two years at least.

This has led to temporary gas curtailments to companies on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate and at the liquefaction facilities at Point Fortin.

If the country is in a position of not having enough natural gas to ensure that all users get 100 per cent of what they require, then surely it makes sense to stop selling natural gas to the industries that return the least benefit to the country.

In a real sense, it is very similar to the decision that the management of ArcelorMittal made to discontinue production here.

Surely, if it does not make economic or financial sense to continue producing a commodity in this country, then maybe it also does not make economic or financial sense for T&T to continue selling natural gas to certain industries. The logic of the capitalist and globalised world in which we live cuts on both sides.

This means the policymakers here have to be brutal and bloodyminded in ensuring that every molecule of gas that is produced in this country returns as much value as possible.

But it also means an honest review of the cost or productivity issues that may be making T&T a less attractive destination for industries that use natural gas. 

Both cost competitiveness and value enhancement are crucial for the sustainability of the gas-based industries.

On Saturday, February 28, 2015, eight months and nine days ago, Kirby Mohammed went missing shortly after two individuals, a male and female, called on him at his workplace at Chacon Street, San Fernando. Later that evening he was supposed to return home to attend a Comedy Festival show at Naparima Bowl, starting at 8 pm, with his mother and other family members, but never showed up. The last communication was a text message sent from his mobile phone at 5.58 that evening to his brother, saying, “Coming down the road… Will be home by 7.” After that, Kirby, the talented, strong, independent, hard-working, fun-loving, kind, generous, son, brother, cousin, nephew, friend, simply vanished into thin air. Eleven days later, on March 11, he turned 42. 

On Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 32-year-old Zalima “Ashma” Naimool of Biche went missing without a trace. On Monday, February 10, 2014, one year and nine months ago, teenager Nicole Jaggan of Suchit Trace, Penal, also seemed to vanish into thin air. According to newspaper reports, she was last seen waiting for a taxi that morning to attend classes in San Fernando. 

Eleven months ago, on Friday, December 26, 2014, Jade Peters, of Dow Village, California, also went missing. On March 15, 2015, she turned 13. More recently, on Friday, September 11, 2015, Carolyn Katwaroo of Palmiste, San Fernando, was last seen leaving her home around 8 pm. She has not been seen or heard from since. Her vehicle was found at Union Hall, San Fernando, shortly after. 

Similarly, Glenda Charles-Harris, a senior lecturer, was last seen leaving her home in Diego Martin on Monday, July 27, 2015, and has not been heard from, or seen since that date. Her vehicle was discovered abandoned in Princes Town. 

We can only try to imagine the never-ending mental and emotional suffering families continue to endure on a daily basis. I am pained to name only a few of our friends, classmates, colleagues, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, grandmothers and grandfathers that are currently missing in our country today. By no means is the omission of their names intended in any way to diminish the devastating effect the disappearance of a loved one has on a family. 

Statistics show the alarming increase in heinous crimes, such as murder and rape over the last ten years, have caused crimes involving missing people to be given less priority in terms of immediate response, thorough investigation and follow-up of evidential leads. 

Without casting blame one way or the other, in order to address these shortcomings, it is imperative we look at law enforcement agencies, the law itself, unwarranted bureaucracy, and where we as a nation are failing those who have disappeared without a trace. 

To begin with, people don’t just vanish into thin air. When a person goes missing, as time is of the essence, a missing person’s report should be immediately filed with the police. This is the first, time-consuming, frustrating hurdle that many families find themselves having to cross, as many times they are sent from one police station to the other, only to realise when they arrive at the correct station, they have been speaking to the wrong officer. And that’s just the beginning.

On many occasions the police themselves complain that they are understaffed and under resourced. How can you investigate a crime effectively and efficiently without a basic computerised system? Similarly, it takes days, sometimes weeks or months, to get through the protocol involved in accessing telephone, bank records and CCTV evidence.

And what about the collection and preservation evidence? In T&T, although we have implemented the Administration of Justice (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) Act, 2012, to date, we have not used DNA as an effective criminal justice tool to solve crimes, and we are yet to set up the national DNA database promised by successive governments, even though they are important mechanisms that can be used in the fight against crime. 

If politicians genuinely care about the people they take an oath to serve and protect, they need to do all that is necessary within their power to detect, prevent and solve crime; and we as citizens need to do our part by coming forward and sharing valuable information that will help win this fight. Only working together will we truly be our brother’s keeper and restore true social consciousness once again in our beloved T&T. Crime knows no colour, class, creed, race, age, gender or political affiliation. 

Shubh Divali to all.

Last week, I dealt with the issue of Tobago’s autonomy. This week, I am continuing in the same vein to demonstrate why the opportunity for placing Tobago and Trinidad on a “side-by-side-we-stand” basis must be completed this time around.

The political reality is the fact that Tobago has suffered an obvious political disadvantage by virtue of its union with Trinidad in the 19th century as a result of British imperial policy.

The long and short of that story is that Tobago had an assembly that was established in 1768 and that assembly and the concept of elected representation was removed in 1877, ten years before union with Trinidad. Later, during its union with Trinidad between 1887 and 1899 it was made a ward of T&T. Trinidad, on the other hand, was a relative backwater of the Spanish empire, and when it was ceded to Great Britain by virtue of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 after its capture in 1797 by a British expedition, it was made a Crown Colony without any elected representation.

It was not until 1925 that elected representation under the New Representative system was given to the twin-island colony. For Trinidad, it was attaining elected representation for the first time under British rule. For Tobago, it was resuming the elected representation that it once had until 1877 when it became a Crown Colony like Trinidad.

Many Trinidadians are totally oblivious to these historical facts and often regard the issue of Tobago’s autonomy with the ignorance that accompanies such oblivion. One can only hope that the ensuing political debate in the Joint Select Committee of the Parliament will yield a consensual political solution that can redress Tobago’s historical disadvantage.

Under the revised arrangements that will clearly redress this disadvantage will be the need to review the Archipelagic Baselines of Trinidad and Tobago Order 1988, Notice No 206 of 31 October 1988 that was made by the Minister of External Affairs under Section 6(3) of the Archipelagic Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1986. 

This will represent the modern-day rectification of the disadvantage because redefining the baselines around Tobago in relation to Trinidad will create the platform for honouring the words in our National Anthem that proudly proclaim “…..side by side we stand, islands of the blue Caribbean Sea…”

There can be no consideration of a new constitutional formula to grant what has been termed “full internal self-government” for Tobago without due consideration being given to the changes required to the Archipelagic Baselines of Trinidad and Tobago Order, 1988.

Based on the way in which Prime Minister Rowley spoke at the recent special meeting of the Tobago House of Assembly, one can deduce that the political will to make the changes is very present. The key variable that will have to be addressed will be the issue of political consensus that can put this matter to rest in a manner that will bring dignity to a new formulation of the State of T&T.

Last week, I alluded to the fact that only a federal formula would permit a realistic solution to the problem. Given all that has transpired over the 35 years since the re-establishment of the Tobago House of Assembly, one can only hope that a legal and political solution can be found that allows both islands to preserve their historical and cultural identities with dignity.

In addressing the federal question, one can only hope that the model of federation that was pursued in St Kitts-Nevis will not be copied. That model gave to Nevis an Island Administration, but did not offer the same to St Kitts. As a consequence, there is the federal government in Basseterre and an island administration in Charlestown.

Additionally, the constitution of St Kitts-Nevis gives to Nevis the right to secede after a referendum that requires a two-thirds majority of the voters in Nevis to approve it. There is no such arrangement for St Kitts.

There is a governor-general for the federation based in St Kitts and a governor general’s deputy based in Nevis. These arrangements are necessary in order to ensure that relevant legislative instruments receive the requisite approval from appropriate authorities who are empowered to act on behalf of the State. 

In the case of Tobago, there has often been some concern expressed in various quarters about what would happen to legislative instruments approved by the Tobago House of Assembly and refused by a president in Port-of-Spain who may disagree. This issue cannot be treated lightly as the level of distrust between the islands is quite high.

Whether or not modifications will be required to the presidency to ensure that there is political concurrence with the advice of the political directorate of Tobago will be a matter for the joint select committee to consider.

The recent comments on the issue of no independent senators from Tobago would only have served to reinforce those suspicions, whether unfounded or not. Political perceptions on the Tobago issue cannot be underestimated, and the time has come for an open and honest dialogue on the subject.

I was bemused by the ghoulish Halloween images that emerged out of Trinidad. Our mimic people putting on scary masks of the dead, a ritual of First World countries.

A growing trend by a mimic people unaware we are living in the land of ghoul?

Why not just go on a hunt to find the head of the body that was decapitated, or the wounds of the Englishman and his wife butchered in Tobago, or the murder of the Superintendent of Prisons Mr David Millette? Instead of teaching our children about our own folklore and the significance of remembering the dead, they put on masks of the dead in the tenth most murderous country in the world.

This lack of self-awareness is nothing to the utterance of the Opposition leader who issued a statement on crime.

“Dr Rowley has a direct duty and responsibility for issues of national security, as he is the chairman of the National Security Council.

“He must speak, he must act, and he must assure the nation that initiatives are being taken to bring this crisis to an end.”

Even the murder of Millette has not forced Dr Rowley into saying something to a population that is quickly retreating into a daily life of intense fear of crime.

Mrs Persad-Bissessar continued:

“The Prime Minister must end this routine silence on critical issues of importance to citizens. Every murder is intolerable, and the Government is acting as if it has no responsibility for the safety and security of the people of Trinidad & Tobago.

“The number of murders escalated immediately after the PNM Government took office, and now appears set to exceed last year’s murder rate, with the Government appearing clueless to address this alarming trend.”

I agree that Government must tackle crime as a matter of great urgency, but surely Bissessar doesn’t have this short a memory or the moral authority to release that statement?

The former prime minister got rid of the most sincere and competent police commissioner we’ve had—Canada-born T&T Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs—and put Jack Warner (awaiting extradition from T&T to the US to answer fraud and money laundering charges) in charge of National Security. Jack Warner mashed up whatever good Gibbs was trying to do. That’s why we are where we are.

Crime doesn’t happen in a day. It cooks slowly. Gibbs was lynched by the Persad-Bissessar government, used as a scapegoat, and vanquished because he had a plan. The plan meant straightening out other elements of the T&T Police Service which the Persad-Bisssessar government didn’t have the guts to tackle.

Like I said, Gibbs had a plan and it was working. He is a foreigner. He aimed for excellence. The Police Service felt threatened by the commissioner’s claim of a whopping 25 per cent decrease in serious crime. We not taking that.

After president of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association sent a pre-action protocol letter to former commissioner Gibbs, accusing him of “breaching the Police Service Regulations in relation to the 21st-century policing project,” in March, 2012, I interviewed Gibbs. He was holding on. He said, “Without doubt, the things that get thrown at me take away some of the energy I should be using to focus on the transformation of the service. Dealing with it doesn’t allow the complete concentration I need to do my job. But my focus hasn’t changed. I am here to build up the Police Service, to help the citizens in T&T feel safe, and I am not allowing it to distract from our ability to keep working on rolling out the 21st Century police model.

“Since we began rolling out the 21st Century Policing Initiative there has been a reduction of homicides by 20 per cent and serious crime including larceny in homes and motor vehicles by 25 per cent."

Surely that was good news?

“The Cabinet-approved 21st-Century Policing Initiative required an entire paradigm shift in the delivery of policing services to the nation to bring modern, contemporary, innovative policing to T&T. The TTPS designed a policing model which requires officers to police the streets instead of sitting in police stations; placing officers in neighbourhoods and communities, patrolling and working with residents to prevent crime. Visibility combats and prevents crime. 

“We work on the premise that committed, competent and caring officers combined with modern technology and state-of-the-art equipment is crucial to the success of the 21st-Century Policing Initiative. 

“My challenge was and remains to update an archaic, increasingly ineffective system, reduce crime and victimisation, improve road safety, and provide a citizen-centred Police Service.”

I asked Gibbs if his system was tough on police officers.

“The new deployment system and shift schedules no longer build in rest/sleeping period. Dormitories have been taken out and replaced with change room facility and a quiet room. This ensures that officers are not sleeping in the police stations, but are on the streets preventing, detecting and responding to criminal activities.

“We were able to reduce working hours of police officers by increasing our manpower with new police recruits going through the Police Academy’s Enhanced Induction Training Programme.

“In the past year, we have had more promotions than the entire history of the TTPS. Officers of various ranks have been promoted through a transparent and fair process. We created history when ten people were appointed to the rank of assistant Commissioner of Police, three of whom were women.”

That could have been a success story.

The Opposition is there for checks and balances. But first, I would like the Opposition leader to tell us why she got rid of Gibbs.

Secondly, I ask Prime Minister Dr Rowley, please bring Gibbs back in any capacity you think fit, but bring him back.

It looks like election time for Jamaica. Their last poll was on December 29, 2011—sandwiched between Christmas and the Old Year’s. Constitutionally, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has up to April 2017, that’s five years and three months after the current parliament’s first sitting.

But everyone expects her to go much sooner. Why? Jamaica is stuck in an IMF programme. Salary increases were agreed this year, but still have to be paid for. So the budget next March will be no fun at all. Better to get the election in first.

Portia’s party has promised there will be no Christmas poll—but that’s with a Christmas period quite narrowly defined—running from Santa’s big day up to twelfth night on January 6. My neighbours put up their Christmas wreath on October 25. 

Jamaica has held 16 elections since universal suffrage began in 1944. Six of them were held in December.

If Portia wants to play before the reindeer start flying, she will have to move soon. But these things can run fast in Jamaica. She needs to give only 21 days clear notice.

A mid-December election could be announced in late November. 

Meanwhile, Portia has been pulling in the mass rallies as only she knows how. Today, she’s to be in Brown’s Town. That’s her third road show in three weeks.

If she calls a big one in Kingston, get ready for the drum roll. And if that doesn’t happen this month, look for it early in the new year.

Meanwhile, her People’s National Party is tying up its candidate selections. Making those polling day picks is a painful process in Jamaica. There is more audience participation than in this country, and more bloodletting. 

This rounds, the selectorate has dumped a few back-stabbed bodies—some of them youngish MPs who made their debut turn in 2011.

Danville Walker—once Jamaica’s director of Elections, and now managing director at the Jamaica Observer—last month wrote a letter to his own newspaper. 

He wrote of candidate selection contests with “irregularities in almost all constituencies.” He said “the general secretaries of both political parties … clearly either condone corrupt practices or are incompetent.”

That’s not nice.

But he is not the only one to lose patience with the Jamaica’s politicians.

In December 2011, barely half the electorate turned out to vote. And next time? Almost half of the younger voters told a September opinion poll that they will not bother. 

That’s a pity, because they could count for something. More than 145, 000 have joined the voters’ list since the last election. And youth unemployment is at almost 32 per cent.

Of those younger than 35, more than half thought the election result would not make much difference. 

But party loyalty still plays strong. A PNP deputy general secretary, Wensworth Skeffery, talks of a “rich family tradition. He told the Gleaner: "When you canvass, people will say, 'Bwoy, it's just because mi a born PNP or my grandfather will turn inna him grave'” 

Though Wensworth says there’s another group which looks at “achievements, plans and objectives.”

Portia’s “favourable” rating is down to 36 per cent, from 50 per cent in the lead-up to the 2011 election—and 78 per cent in 2006, when she first swept to power as prime minister. The pollsters report comments such as “non-performer,” “useless” and “incompetent.” Up to 57 per cent do not want to see her re-elected.

But after five years with the IMF, perhaps that’s not such a bad score.

Unlike Kamla, she lets others do the talking, but she out-performs her party. Her PNP and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party are level-pegging in the polls, with support from just over a quarter of the electorate. Both, let’s say it, could be doing better.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness has also suffered from a slide in his “favourable” rating, which is down to 43 per cent, from 53 per cent a year ago. Adjectives? He gets “weak,” “useless” and “inexperienced.”

That last one is after four years as education minister, a month or so as prime minister, and more than five years as opposition leader. 

Last Thursday, he told Jamaica’s “articulate minority” to put down their smartphones and vote. To get their country back on track they will have to stay smart long after polling day, and stay connected.

Kevin Baldeosingh

Although most major religious traditions have had doubters, only Hinduism had sects based on disbelief in gods and an afterlife. 

I am using the term “Hinduism” here as the encompassing and often contradictory set of beliefs and practices that were so named by British scholars, not the fundamentalist form of Brahmanism promulgated by the majority Maha Sabha organisation here in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Indian economist and political philosopher Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Economics Prize, writes in his book The Argumentative Indian: “Sanskrit not only has a bigger body of religious literature than exists in any other classical language, it also has a larger volume of agnostic and or atheistic writings than in any other classical language…different forms of godlessness have had a strong following throughout Indian history, as they do today.”

This tradition is deeply embedded in Indian history and culture. In the 7th century BCE, the Lokâyata doctrine, and a body of adherents called the Cārvāka, became prominent. Their central text was the Brihaspati Sûtra, written 2,600 years ago but destroyed by the Brahman class whose version of Hinduism eventually came to be dominant. Ironically, the views and arguments of the Cārvāka pundits are known only because they were recorded by the Brahmans themselves in texts that reject them. “Comments and arguments against the Cārvāka appeared until the 16th century CE,” writes historian Jennifer Michael Hecht in her wide-ranging book Doubt, “and one gets the sense that even then they were arguing against a living doctrine with devotees among the current population.”

Part of one such text is contained in an ancient play called The Rise of the Moon Intellect, which describes adherents of Brahmanism as “Uncivilised ignorant fools, who imagine that spirit is something different from body, and reaps the rewards of actions in a future state; we might as well expect excellent fruit to drop from trees growing in the air.” Another Cārvāka text asserts that “it is only as a means of livelihood that Brahmins have established all these ceremonies for the dead.” Hence proving that the core motive of religious leaders hasn’t changed in over two millennia. 

In the same period when the Cārvākas arose, two other materialist philosophical schools were founded in India—Nyaya (Logic) and Vaisesika (Atomism). These philosophers were essentially sceptical, arguing that all human beings could know was what their senses told them, plus logical inferences. Yet even orthodox Hindu scripture contains sceptical and atheist arguments—in the Ramayan, for example, a pundit named Jāvāli tells Ram: “There exists no other world but this. That is certain.”

Sen notes that Indian history in religious matters was characterised by a “climate of heterodoxy”. He references the Emperor Ashoka who ruled in the third century BCE and convened councils to resolve differences in religious principles and practices. In the 16th century, the Muslim Emperor Akbar also arranged debates to champion reason over tradition in order to achieve social harmony. (On a not-so-side note, Akbar also opposed child marriage.) 

Two offshoots of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, also arose in India in the sixth century BCE. Both are atheistic in a limited sense, because their belief systems reject an omnipotent god who created the universe. However, most Buddhists and Jains do believe in other supernatural beings and a realm beyond this one.

In the 14th century book Sarvadarsanasamgraha (“Collection of All Philosophies”), which was written by an orthodox Hindu philosopher named Mādhava Ācārya, the very first chapter outlines the arguments of the atheist schools. Most of these groups denied Hinduism’s main tenets, such as samsara and karma and moksa, with Mādhava quoting them as saying “There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world.”

These ancient philosophical arguments sound very modern. For example, one Cārvāka text said: “Only the perceived exists; the unperceivable does not exist by reason of its never having been perceived.” This echoes the principle that any phenomenon which has no material effects must be treated as though it does not exist. To do otherwise is irrational. This argument is the scientific principle which allows the testing (and rejection) of supernatural phenomena ranging from ghosts to astrology to ESP, as well as revealing the contradiction of a God who exists outside time and space.

The Cārvāka also attacked the Vedas, describing them as corrupted by “untruth, self-contradiction and tautology.” But even the Vedas contain verses that give the sceptic’s perspective: the Song of Creation says, “Whence is this creation? The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. Who then knows how it has arisen? Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not. The one who looks down on it, in the highest heaven, only he knows. Or perhaps he does not know.” This may well be the only paean to agnosticism in a religious text.

Given this history, it is ironic that India is now perceived as so spiritual. But, as the progressive parts of the world become more secular and non-religious, Indians already have a long tradition to draw from.

—Kevin Baldeosingh is a professional writer, author of three novels, and co-author of a History textbook.

Speaking with some graduate sociology students last week the question was asked, why doesn’t the Caribbean region produce world-recognised thinkers and public intellectuals like it once did?

The students were discussing luminaries from Caribbean Marxism and the New World Group. They started with people like CLR James, Oliver Cox, George Padmore and Claudia Jones. And moved on to many others like Elsa Goveia, Lloyd Best, Walter Rodney, George Beckford, Sylvia Wynter and Frantz Fanon.

They also suggested there’s a relative dearth of indigenous social science theories emerging from the region. Where are the 21st century sociology ideas of and from the Caribbean, like those from the 20th century like Plantation Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Caribbean Dependency Theories? some asked. Instead of a new wave of such thinkers, one student suggested we are left with media opportunists and newspaper populists.

Yet populism is often more Donald Trump than Noam Chomsky. Populists are generalists, rarely experts, their job is to help sell newspapers and other media. They don’t worry about their constant repetition of anecdote as fact, taking statements out of context, or the implications of their requirement to play to the crowd. Populism never does. Its function is simplification not social improvement.

And it’s the simplification of populism and the disconnection of everyday life from the sociological imagination at the heart of the students’ concerns. One student remembered the words of Norman Girvan who suggested the period up to 1970 was such a fertile time for Caribbean thinkers because Caribbean people felt they were on the cusp of something new and wanted to break out of their colonial chains.

This situation of nascent nationalism and everyday Caribbean precariousness provided a sense of purpose, a catalyst for thinking, and gave birth to political movements. It united many around a common cause, and propelled ideas of political and social change. The individual was aware of the historical conjunction they were connected to.

As Girvan noted, the New World Group’s many intellectual viewpoints such as the need for independent thought, the Caribbean as a plantation system, and the structural violence of economic dependence to foreign multinational companies and governments came out of the intense local and regional pressures Caribbean people were feeling in this period.

For the sociology students, the West Indies Cricket team’s historical ups and current downs provided a loose metaphor for the dearth of radical Caribbean thought. Much like West Indies cricket from the 1940s to 1980s, Caribbean intellectual thought was once a “fire in Babylon,” to borrow the title of the documentary. But now it only receives deliveries of foreign theory rather than throwing down its own intellectual bodyline bombs, as it once could.

The students themselves echoed what many others have said too. Life is different today. It’s less volatile and precarious than it was. There are certain financial safety nets in place for the national population like GATE, pensions and a national health system. The institutional racism of white supremacy has been attacked and we’ve achieved national sovereignty. The old battlegrounds for critical thinking are no longer there.

To a point, this view sounds and feels correct. But perhaps the terrain of life is still precarious, but we no longer understand the world as we once did. In replacing the sociological imagination with populism, psychological theories of self-determination, and mind-numbing media entertainment, we disconnect the relationship between individual issues and public problems. We no longer understand our individual lives in conjunction with the larger social structure, history, and the biographies of other people.

Instead, everything is sold to us as the result of our individual efforts. That quaint lie so central to the unfolding of neoliberal capitalism, which implies that in the post-colonial era somehow the world playing field was suddenly made level for all. And as such, any failure to get ahead is always a personal failure and never connected to larger public issues and social contexts.

Post-colonial societies are an oxymoron. Independence did not bring freedom and justice from colonialism. It simply replaced it with neo-colonialism. Life is still precarious and dependent for most. Guns, violence, poverty, and all the rest are not simple individual problems, all are interrelated to each other and the wider history, sociology, political economy and culture of the region and its relationship to the rest of the world. As are all the recent problems of local prejudice and race talk.

To disconnect the utterances of racist individuals from their links to wider history, culture, social context, biography and political economy is the equivalent of trying to understand fish without water.

So the suggestion is here, that the political, social and economic conditions at this historical conjunction are still precarious. This makes them fertile for the emergence of world-recognised thinkers and public intellectuals from the Caribbean, and there are a few I could suggest. But perhaps it’s the public’s understanding of itself and its potential possibilities that’s changed. Without the sociological imagination the individual is no longer conscious of the international historical system they’re a part of.

—Dr Dylan Kerrigan is an anthropologist at the UWI, St Augustine Campus.

Six new directors have been appointed to the board of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), a statutory body under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Deputy chairman Davini Ramoutar, Deowatie Lalchan, Renee Mc Clashie-Mayers and William Benjamin, the representative from the Tobago House of Assembly, received their instruments of appointment from Clarence Rambharat, Minister of Agriculture, in a ceremony at the ministry’s head office in St Clair, Port-of-Spain, witnessed by Permanent Secretary, Joy Persad-Myers.
 
Chairman Winston Rudder and director Sekou Mark will receive their instruments of appointment at a later date.

Rambharat said Rudder brings extensive experience as a former Permanent Secretary of the ministry and past director of the ADB. He said Rudder will be returning to the country by mid-month, following which the new board’s first meeting will be convened. He said one additional director may be appointed following consultation with the board.   

Rambharat advised the new directors to focus on the legislation under which the ADB was created. He noted his comments in the Senate on the Auditor General’s report of the ADB’s 2012 accounts and said he expected the board to ensure that the audit findings were investigated.

The minister also impressed upon the directors the need to take personal responsibility for their individual declarations of interests, an issue which he said was critical to good governance.

There is a tendency, generations in the making, for citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to turn away from what has come to be known as “husband and wife business,” affording an uncommon leeway for couples to sort out their problems using the methods that work for their relationship.

For decades, and quite reluctantly, the Police Service has been moving incrementally toward an awareness that they are not bound by such restrictions and in an era of improving legislation that acknowledges the nuances of modern relationships, they may eventually be required by law to intervene in situations that have spiralled far beyond anything that might be described as a domestic disagreement.

In the situation which faced officers on Friday, they considered a 49-second video clip clearly showing a large man beating and kicking a petite woman. Eyewitnesses walk through the scene, recorded by a security camera at Nella’s Sports Bar on the Arima Old Road on Thursday. Among those witnesses was the owner of the bar, injured in a car accident and unable to intervene.

Not content with the vicious beating of the woman, he returned to the bar and threatened a female employee of the bar after she had called him a coward.

The couple being investigated in the matter went to the Arouca Police Station on Friday morning and were interviewed, but the alleged victim of the beating refused to assist with the investigation, leaving officers to review her statement on the matter to see if there is anything in it that might give them leverage to follow the case further.

The man is believed to have beaten the woman previously and when other women tried to stop the assault, he was said to have beaten them as well. In a surprising turn, the head of the police Victim and Support Unit, Margaret Sampson-Browne admitted that her unit was not involved in the investigation.

Offering to support the victim, Ms Sampson-Browne admitted that “she has made no contact with us, neither have we been able to contact her.” So the police service finds itself in a considerable dilemma here. A suspected abuser, possibly a serial abuser, is captured on video committing an act of assault in front of eyewitnesses, but, it seems, their hands are tied until the victim admits that she did not give permission for the beating. 

It’s unclear why the Victim and Support Unit has not become involved in the matter, but that may come down to the procedural legality that there is no formally declared victim in the case at this time. It is not uncommon, as NGOs and social workers keep reminding the general population, for victims, particularly those of serial abuse, to create a powerful rationale for suffering in silence. 

But those mental constructs are always wrong and far too often, deadly. The path from physical correction to angry violence to lethal assault can be a gentle slide down a slippery slope with mortal consequences in far too many cases. There is also a very real possibility that the police service may be allowing themselves to be constrained by what they cannot do instead of exploring with more enthusiasm, what might be possible.

What seems to be missing from this troubling scenario is a suite of planned options for intervention which acknowledge an all too common scenario for domestic violence and offers procedures that manage circumstances demonstrably on the edge of a lethal loss of control.

The real challenge for the United National Congress is the capacity of the membership to engineer a major transformation of the party into to one with institutional and infrastructural strength and vigorous participation by the membership. Nothing said by any of the candidates and those who have indicated some interest in contesting the internal election of the party has given the impression that they are about changing that attitude which has been informed by the experiences of the five years in office and the position of the party now in opposition. 

In fact, there remains, in the statements being made, the blaming of this one or that one. So too is there a strong element of denial that the party lost the election though losing 100,000 votes and 11 seats. 

Many are those who are dumping on political leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar (who no doubt has to accept the major responsibility for poor governance leading to the loss of the election) when they were all quietly acquiescent and or supported in full the real reasons why the party was booted out of government—poor governance and little attention paid to the strident calls of corruption in government. 

Rodney Charles and his obnoxious and irrelevant “No Rowley” campaign are being targeted for all of the troubles of the party’s campaign—were there those who stood up against such campaigning? 

Incidentally, many of the candidates are saying what a wonderful government the PP was, but yet, the electorate turned it out of office. If it were such a great government, reportedly the best T&T ever had, what were the reasons for such a turnaround in the electoral fortunes of the People’s Partnership, not on one occasion but in five elections? 

Maybe the spokespersons who make such a claim of great government in office do not consider quality of governance, allegations of mass corruption, poor and weak leadership displayed by the Prime Minister, nepotism and other such reasons articulated by electors and commentators as being important to quality governance. 

The UNC has not apologised to its supporters for throwing away yet another opportunity to fashion a truly representative party of the major ethnicities and polities in the country. In so doing the leadership of the party has denied its supporters of an opportunity to remain in government. 

No one has admitted for instance, that the UNC deliberately sabotaged the Congress of the People and left it like a wet rag at the end of five years. Instead they boast that Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the only leader to have held together a coalition over a five-year period. 

What was the state of the coalition at the end of five years? Was there a solidification and development of the party? Frankly what was left after five years was merely the UNC and as has been pointed out the Congress of the Person, leader Prakash Ramadhar, who was given a UNC handout seat in St Augustine. 

Staying together is not the criterion that the coalition should be judged by rather it is the quality of the coalition which survived and was built upon out of the Fyzabad Declaration. 

Even the reality of the party having to contest internal elections now is the fallout from the failure of the party to organise such elections when it was in power. The elections were reportedly delayed to allow the UNC’s constitution to be modified to accommodate a coalition—two years later there is no new constitution in place and the reality of a bruising internal campaign is up ahead, one which will surely leave many politically injured. 

What is more, without plans and programmes, yet to be released, for transformation, then inevitably the election campaign will fall back on mud-slinging and personal attacks. This has happed on several occasions in the past and there is yet an indication that that approach to internal elections will change. 

Transformation of the UNC is not about Kamla, Roodal, Gopeesingh, Bharath—it is about capturing a new vision for the party; transformation must leave behind the messianic worship of a leader; the contestants must find ways and means of moving the party and its supporters from being a party of the tribe. Those contesting for office must say how they are going to enter into serious political partnerships to cross-over into the non-Indo community. 

If the UNC does not indicate that it has the capacity to cross-over in a meaningful way into the Afro-community it risks the possibility of the other tribal party, the PNM, utilising its position in government to seek to make the cross-over and leave the UNC behind. 

I reiterate, the UNC leadership must conceive of a new vision of politics. That new vision must be grounded in the construction of a new party base and structure; it must end the over-reliance on the tribe to vote the party back into office, notwithstanding how poorly the party governs; so too are the demographics changing and there could emerge a generation not so caught up in the politics of their grandfathers and grandmothers. 

It is also a challenge being faced by the PNM; being in office with the spoils of office to hand out makes it easier for the party to change. Will it change, however, or is the culture of race so sewed solidly into the politics?

Does T&T suffer from the tragedy of the commons? The free-for-all in our forests certainly says so. Can private game reserves make a difference and provide a future for wildlife and for hunters? In Africa private game reserves have become the holdout for many games species. Profit-driven owners have the means and the drive to protect their land and manage game animals sustainably. 

The government-determined value of wildlife in T&T is hard to establish. The only instrument we have to value wildlife is the cost of the hunting permit that hunters must purchase to hunt game. That permit costs $20. Hunting season is five months or 150 days. This means that you can hunt one species of game animal for 13 cents per day. Hunters can buy three of these permits so they can hunt three species. The largest contribution a hunter can make to wildlife conservation is 33 cents per day. That is a bit more than the price of a peppermint. 

Compare this to the price of US$380 for one Steenbok in a South African private game reserve. A Warthog is US350. Killing an Impala is US$480. 

If the intent of the hunting permit was to allow hunters to contribute to wildlife management and enforcement of the Conservation of Wildlife Act, inflation has destroyed it. Wildlife is essentially a free commodity and we all know what happens to a free commodity. It is wasted. 

Would this have happened if the free market were combined with conservation goals? The free market for wild meat says that one agouti is worth $400. That is the price that an agouti can command on the market. That is equal to 3,077 times the daily hunting fee. 

There are different markets for wildlife. An agouti may be worth a one-time $400 on the wildmeat market. To tourism that same agouti can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. A tour guide can easily charge $300-$600 to show an agouti to a tourist. When you add the value of plane tickets, hotel rooms, meals and transport it becomes clear that wildlife is not just cute but it has a value too. Both for the ecosystem and the economy. 

We must price our wildlife right. What owner would allow his or her property to be sold at such a loss? 

State stewardship of T&T’s wildlife and forest resources has failed. It is market failure. Nobody has ownership, so “I better take what I can now before my neighbour does,” is the dominant theme. We cannot easily fix the civil service so is it time to introduce the free market?  

Private game reserves can offer a solution. T&T does not have the big game that Africa has. There are no rhinoceros here to slaughter for ivory that is worth more than gold but we do have a lot of seemingly hungry men who poach year-round, together with overhunting and an underfunded, understaffed Forestry and Wildlife Division. 

Rural hunters, wildlife, communities and landowners can benefit from private game reserves. Laws can be changed so that private game reserves can be stocked with farmed wildlife that can then be released for hunting purposes. There are many abandoned or faltering estates on both islands. The owners would be happy for the extra income. As good business people they will ensure that game numbers are well managed. 

This system has been successful in Africa. There is a big “but.” It has not stopped the poaching that takes place outside of the private reserves. That is where government enforcement is necessary. Maybe it is a good idea to ban all hunting outside of private game reserves and leave the forests for eco-tourism and other non-extractive use. 

While we give wildlife a value, let’s do so with forest trails as well. There is a community-based project to rehabilitate and create trails throughout Trinidad. The success of this will depend on funding. Why not let communities own these trails and let them maintain them, while charging a user fee. It is a model that is successfully practised in some parts of Peru. Trinidad is the land of the free-for-all and that is the root of many problems.

Introduce the free market in aid of conservation.

The Government should seriously consider establishing a ministry of state boards to oversee their overall functions. Cabinet is finding it very difficult to staff over 130 boards with about 1,000 directors. The task is somewhat insurmountable. If they continue as they are going, by this time next year some boards might not have their full complement of directors.

An entity as a ministry could be charged with the following functions: 
1. Appointing board directors after thorough checks of their background and business connections to prevent any form of perceived corruption. 
2. Having the power to recommend to Cabinet to remove a director and replace at a moment’s notice for some form of infraction after due process. 
3. To continually monitor the boards for accountability and transparency and freeze funds with immediate effect where there are breaches of protocol. 
4. Making unannounced visits to board meetings to ensure the correct protocol is being followed. 
5. Receiving fortnightly reports of the operations of the boards. 
6. Seeking the approval of the ministry of state boards whenever a project costs in the vicinity of scores of millions. 

All state boards that were constituted by the PP government and have not yet been replaced must not be given the 2015 to 2016 allocation from the Budget. They must just ensure that they hold on until a new board is appointed. 

In the past most boards operated like a law unto themselves. They were like runaway horses. EMBD is a perfect case in point. They spent hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars to develop land that could have been developed with a fraction of that cost. I hope by now the Minister of Housing has fired that old EMBD board. 

People just have not got it—taxpayers’ money does not fall from trees. The money is earned by the energy, manufacturing sector and taxpayers like you and me. It must not be business as usual with our great grandchildren’s money.

John Jessamy, 
Fyzabad

Health experts recently classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans. Further, it is assigned the highest of five possible rankings. Alcohol, asbestos, arsenic and cigarettes share the same ranking. Processed meat such as bacon, ham and sausages can cause bowel cancer. Red meat is also probably carcinogenic, associated mainly with cancers of the bowel, pancreas and prostate. 

Naturally, these reports have raised serious concern and consternation among the carnivorous populations. The advice emanating from respected quarters is that moderation is key. This has opened up/revitalised the ongoing vegetarian versus non-vegetarian debate. 

The issues are far from simple as a host of economic and other highly emotive factors, inclusive of culture and religion, are involved. Though vegetarian diets have long been associated with Hinduism, it is also practiced by Seventh-Day Adventists. In a study involving more than 73,000 people, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was concluded that a vegetarian diet appears to be superior to a non-vegetarian one when it comes to extending life.

Unhealthy life styles not only causes sickness and misery but can and do severely impact on the cost of personal and national healthcare. The issue of lifestyle management is thus of significant economic and hence political importance. In a world where greater demands for universal and affordable healthcare are being made, the health lifestyle of individuals as a totally private concern may have to be revisited. 

This is not a call for legislating what we eat but rather vigorous and sustained education programmes that promulgate healthy living. 

It goes without saying that a balanced diet is absolutely essential and further it would appear that a semi-vegetarian diet might be the way to go for those fully non-vegetarian. A semi-vegetarian diet may be loosely described as one in which meat is eaten once a week. Interestingly this was the type of diet practised by many peoples of the world, including many here in T&T. A worrying perception is that affluence means eating more meat, a senseless and dangerous imitation of western lifestyle, supported by the fast food and meat businesses and lobbies. 

The argument for the adoption of a vegetarian diet as the ideal but a semi-vegetarian diet as the practical compromise is rooted in health and sustainable economic concerns. The world population is now beyond seven billion and growing. The task of feeding this huge population is made more difficult by the acute water shortage faced by many countries and the aggravation of this by changing climatic conditions. 

To give some perspective and gravitas to the argument: consider that it takes nearly 660 gallons of water to produce a quarter-pound hamburger. That amounts to almost the recommended amount of water a person should drink for one year. It is estimated that one and one-half acres of land can produce some 375 pounds of meat but could produce 30,000 pounds of plant-based foods; almost a hundred times more! There can be no argument that a vegetarian diet facilitates a far more efficient and sustainable use of the world’s water and land resources. 

Divali may well provide the opportunity to not only repeat old clichés about the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness but to propagate the health and economic benefits of a vegetarian diet for it is often remarked that one’s health is one’s wealth. 

Too much processed meat by itself is bad. Combining it with alcohol is akin to double trouble. The emphasis on processed meat and alcohol, aka ham and grog, really ought to be revisited in light of the recent studies.