Consider teaching as a profession to contribute value to society.

This was the advice given by principal of Presentation College, Chaguanas, Gary Ribeiro as he spoke to students who recently sat Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (Cape) and the Secondary Entrance Assessment examination.

Ribeiro was speaking on Wednesday night at the Excellence in Education award ceremony hosted by the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.

The ceremony took place at the borough’s offices on the Chaguanas Main Road.

While addressing the students, among who were 21 primary school graduands and 47 Cape graduands, Ribeiro said students needed to find a way to give back.

“We are in need of good teachers and if you are the brightest please come back to your schools and teach. Consider teaching as an option,” Ribeiro asked.

Ribeiro’s call to give back was echoed by the mayor’s office who called on awardees to volunteer in their communities by assisting in painting a children’s home during the holidays.

In his address, Minister of Education Anthony Garcia said Government policies were key to the quality of education of T&T’s citizens.

He said parents, religious organisations and the business communities were key stakeholders in ensuring successful students.

He encouraged students to continue to succeed in their pursuit of educational goals.

“You will be assets to your communities and your country but also to the Caribbean and the wider world,” he said.

The minister also reiterated plans to hold a national consultation on education next year.

Lisa Martinez, the programme associate of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations country office in T&T and Suriname, says the world is facing a major challenge to feed its expanding population.

 Martinez said the world population stands at 7.2 billion and to nourish the additional two billion people in 2050, food production must rise by 60 per cent.  She said, however, the way food is produced must not be done at the expense of the planet. She was speaking at Tuesday’s opening ceremony of US$30 million to Improve Forest and Protected Area Management in T&T Inception Workshop at Petrotrin. The project is a venture of the Ministry of Planning and Development.

Martinez said the FAO’s mission is to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition while promoting sustainable development.

“Yet, at the same time, just four—rice, wheat, maize and potato—of the 30,000 edible plants provide 60 per cent of the world dietary energy intake.”

However, she sounded an alarm that, “these are farmed in a manner that takes a heavy toll on the environment. Products of these crops represent a significant value in the Caricom food import bill of over US$4 billion. The crucial message is the way we produce more food cannot be at the expense of the planet.”

She said the FAO has five strategic objectives of which objective two is to make agriculture, which encompasses forestry and fisheries, livestock crops and natural resources, more productive and more sustainable. 

“FAO promotes evidence-based policies and practices to support the agricultural sectors (crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries) while ensuring that the natural resource base does not suffer in the process.

“Its vision is one of a world in which food is nutritious and accessible for everyone and natural resources are managed in a way that maintains ecosystem functions to support current as well as future human needs.

“In this vision, she said, the resource users, including farmers, fisherfolk, foresters and others, are empowered to actively participate in resource decision that results in equitable benefits, decent employment conditions and jobs in a fair-price environment.”

Concerns are being raised by president of Arrive Alive Sharon Inglefield that neither the speed guns nor the new Motor Vehicle Authority have been put into use, especially as the carnage on the nation’s roads continues.

However, Inglefield said the speed gun was absolutely necessary as it was a preventative measure to save lives.

“This, coupled with a complete revamp of the Motor Vehicle Authority to include the speed detection not only by the guns but  also by the cameras, point system in the revoking of driver’s licence... all of these elements are vitally important as preventative measures to save lives.

"We are extremely disappointed these measures have not come into effect," Inglefield said in a telephone interview yesterday.

She said Arrive Alive, a road safety lobby group, had gotten no feedback from Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds regarding the organisation's concerns but was hoping to hear from him soon.

"Each one of us is responsible for our own safety and we need to ensure we are obeying the speed limit and adjusting the speed to adapt to the road conditions," Inglefield said.

Calls to Hinds' cellphone went unanswered yesterday.

But John Victor, corporate communications manager at the Ministry of Transport, said he was told by the ministry's legal department that the procurement process for the speed guns was ongoing.

He said a company was working with the Police Service regarding the finalisation of the matter but no time frame could be given as to when the issue would be completed.

Victor added that there was a possibility that the 400 speed guns as previously proposed by the former administration might be reduced as there might not be the need to have so many.

Legislation governing the Motor Vehicle Authority lapsed in the last Parliament and has not yet been re-introduced.

The road death toll currently stands at 135 as compared to 146 for the same period last year.

Speed guns coming

Public Information Officer of the Police Service, ASP Michael Pierre, assured that the speed guns would in fact be put into use.

"I know that process is ongoing but it is not in the back-burner. The Police Service is working on it," Pierre added.

However, he could not give a definite date or the number of guns which would be used.

Co-ordinator of the Police Service's Strategic Road Safety Project, Brent Batson, was also unaware of when the guns would come into effect.

When contacted ACP in charge of Mobile, Deodat Dulalchan, said he did not wish to comment on the matter.

Five road deaths

On Tuesday three people — Anthony Marcano, 54, of Pierreville, Saliesha Ali, 41, of Foodcrop Road, Bristol, and Sherwin Constantine, 54, of Pierreville — died in a crash at Bristol Village, on the Naparima/Mayaro Road, at around 11.30 am.

The crash was similar to an incident on the M1 Ring Road, Princes Town, on Monday in which a father and son died when their car crashed into a truck.

In 2013, former Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz had promised that the speed guns would come into effect by February of 2014 in a bid to curb reckless driving.

Cadiz had made the announcement at a post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, in which he said  police  would be trained to use some 400 speed detection devices, which were expected to be made available in all divisions.

But in July this year Cadiz had said an administrative flaw in the procurement process had forced the Vehicle Maintenance Company of T&T (VMCOTT) to terminate its previous tender for the guns and reopen a new tender. 

Cadiz had also said he was “upset” and “disappointed” that the long-awaited speed guns had been further delayed. 

There are rumblings in the trade union movement, with a warning coming from the National Trade Union Centre (Natuc) of an impending fallout if decisions concerning workers continue to be made without social dialogue and consultation.

“Natuc is being left out of conversations on how the economy is carried forward. You are going to have a fallout with the general population,” Michael Annisette, general secretary of Natuc, the umbrella body of 13 trade unions, said.

“This (lack of consultation) would contradict statements about the Government being all-inclusive.”

Annisette further noted: “To date, there is no labour representative on any of the state boards. I am advised they are now looking at it.”

He was responding to questions from the T&T Guardian on a decision by the board of the National Gas Company (NGC), a state entity, to freeze its workers’ salaries.

The NGC’s decision was made in light of the company’s position because of low gas prices and was described by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as a sensible move.

Annisette said several union colleagues have expressed to him concerns about the lack of consultation and social dialogue concerning decisions affecting workers.

Unions under Natuc include Bank & General Workers Trade Union, Seamen & Waterfront Workers Trade Union, National Union of Government & Federated Workers and Transport and Industrial Workers Union.

Some of these unions are part of the Joint Trade Union Movement which signed a memorandum of understanding with the PNM before it won the September 7 general election. The details of that MOU have not been made public.

Annisette also completely rejected suggestions by economist Dr Roger Hosein that, as a necessary economic adjustment, wage freezes be implemented across the board in the public and private sectors.

Charging that Hosein does not understand the real world of work, and challenging him to a public debate, Annisette said an economy’s survival is based on a thriving, working middle class. 

“If the working class does not purchase goods and services, the economy cannot strive. The economy is not about magic. It is not about inanimate figures. It is about people. If you leave people out of the equation you will end up with a serious crisis.”

He asked, “Why don’t they freeze prices too? When you freeze a worker’s wages but prices keep going up, what position are you putting him in? Wage freezes will have to be decided upon on a case-by-case basis.” 

Annisette said the NGC issue is not about freezing wages but about benchmarking its operations according to the international benchmark.

Public complaints about the slow response times from ambulances are not new and the heart-wrenching account of the incident by Mr Sitahal’s widow should evoke an immediate response from Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh and all other stakeholders—not just those directly linked to the ambulance services but every level of the country’s emergency response system.

On Tuesday, a pedestrian collapsed on a city street. People walked by, police officers looked on, no one responded to the frantic cries for help from the man’s wife and 45 minutes elapsed before the man was taken to a nearby hospital where he died.

The circumstances which led to the death of 63-year-old amputee Keith Sitahal were not only tragic but highlight yet another of the failings in T&T’s public health system. 

That an ailing citizen could collapse on a street in the centre of San Fernando and remain there for the better part of an hour is an indictment of the country’s medical emergency services which have been operating well below par for a considerable length of time.

Public complaints about the slow response times from ambulances are not new and the heart-wrenching account of the incident by Mr Sitahal’s widow should evoke an immediate response from Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh and all other stakeholders—not just those directly linked to the ambulance services but every level of the country’s emergency response system. 

An autopsy done on Wednesday showed that Mr Sitahal died of a heart attack. 

According to the American Heart Association, brain death and permanent death start to occur in 4–6 minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest but conditions can be reversible if the patient is treated within a few minutes. 

Mr Sitahal was left unattended on the pavement for 45 minutes and his chances of survival were reduced by seven per cent to 10 per cent every minute that he was left there without any type of life support intervention. Medical data shows that few attempts at resuscitation succeed after 10 minutes. 

Best practice in the US for medical emergencies is a turnout time of one minute, and four minutes or less for the arrival of a first responder—an objective that has to be met 90 per cent of the time. 

In Tuesday’s case, it is not known if or when an ambulance was ever dispatched since it was a vehicle from San Fernando’s Disaster Management Unit (DMU), summoned by Mayor Kazim Hosein, that eventually transported Mr Sitahal to hospital for medical treatment, that was administered much too late to save his life.

Following a recent public hue and cry over the slow response time by an ambulance, there were disturbing revelations about an inefficient system of dispatch and response, with ambulances and their crews often parked up at hospitals waiting to properly hand over patients at Accident and Emergency departments. 

There are also reports of not enough vehicles or trained paramedics to respond in a timely fashion to emergency calls.

That this should be the state of affairs in T&T, a country which boasts of a certain level of development, is unacceptable.

The health authorities must act urgently to accelerate dispatch and response times. 

A matter of minutes can be the difference in life or death, particularly in the most urgent of medical emergencies, such as heart attacks and profuse bleeding.

Nothing can be said or done now to ease the pain and despair of Mr Sitahal’s widow and his loved ones. 

However, every effort must be made to ensure that this type of avoidable medical tragedy never happens again.

Periodically one reads about thieves who forced their way into a home through one of the doors. Indeed, at one time in Guyana such thieves were described as “Kick down the door bandits.” 

External doors are one of the first entryways considered by thieves and should be a priority security area for homeowners. 

While many homeowners consider security when selecting an external door, a lack of understanding sometimes leads to poor selection or sometimes good selection but poor installation. 

Here, we will address both the physical door and the security of the doorway.

Exterior doors should either be made of solid wood or metal. This construction is difficult to break through. However, there is difficulty in obtaining solid wood doors as most commercially-manufactured doors in the Caribbean are actually wood panel doors. On these doors, the sections that hold the panels in place are very thin and short and glued in place. 

These can easily be kicked apart. Similarly, many wood flush doors are plywood sides with a hollow interior and can be easily kicked apart. They should only be used as interior doors. 

Doors called steel doors come in several designs—hollow steel doors, wooden steel-backed doors and ribbed steel doors. 

The minimum acceptable security specification for a hollow steel door would be two sheets of 18-gauge steel (1/20 of an inch each). 

However, this minimum specification can be penetrated by a determined intruder who pre-planned his attack. A thicker steel (eg, 1/10 of an inch) is better.

A wooden steel-fronted door can also be used as a security door with the wood thickness being three-quarter inch and then the 12-gauge steel (1/10 of an inch) placed in front of the wood. 

The steel should be bolted to the door with the nut end of the bolt on the inside of the door and not accessible to an intruder. 

When cladding steel to a wooden door, it must wrap around the top, bottom and sides so that the steel cannot be pried away from the wood.

A ribbed steel door would be one where the steel on the door would be 1/8 of an inch and then reinforced with steel ribs on the inside. 

Another option in the Caribbean now is to purchase doors that have a decorative facing but with a steel sheet inserted inside it. Many come with three, four or six deadbolts built into the door so that when the door is locked all the bolts engage simultaneously. 

Exterior doors should be made to swing outward. When an intruder attempts to force his way into a building he will apply force to the door to push it inward. 

The intruder will be applying force in the opposite direction to which the door is made to swing. It becomes harder to force the door.

Exterior doors should be constructed in a metal frame of steel, aluminum alloy or solid hardwood core. The door frame can sometimes be the weak point in the security of a door and can allow an intruder to enter notwithstanding how good the door and locks are. 

Hinges are generally screwed into the door frame and if the frame can be jimmied away from the wall, the frame can be removed. 

In moving the door frame, the entire hinge assembly and the door will be moved out and access gained. If the door frame is moved on the lock side then access is gained to the lock bolt and depending upon the type of lock used the bolt can be manipulated to open the door. 

Frames should therefore be made of solid construction to prevent being forced apart.

The tolerance between the door and the jamb should never be more than 1/8 of an inch. A wider tolerance means that the door can be forced open or that the bolt for the lock is exposed allowing an intruder to saw through it.

If incorrectly installed, hinges may contribute to a door’s weakness. 

If hinges are surface mounted so the mounting screws or hinge pins are exposed on the exterior of the door, intruders can quickly remove the screws or pins and gain entrance by opening the door from the hinged side. 

Ideally, hinges should be mounted on the interior of the door. If the hinge is mounted on the exterior and cannot be relocated to the interior then the hinge pins can be welded or flanged to prevent removal. An additional protective measure would be the use of hinge protectors.

Another alternative regarding hinges is to install ball bearing type butt hinges. This has a cap-like standard hinges but does not have a pin. If you remove the top of the hinge there is no pin to come out, instead there are ball bearings inside which cannot be removed. It is therefore suitable for external use. 

External doors are an important component of the security of a home. Care must be taken in selecting the door type and must extend beyond just the door. It includes all components of the doorway.

Brian Ramsey

• Contact the Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety for its range of courses on security, law enforcement, corrections, supervision and management, OSH/HSE, etc. Tel: 223-6999, 223-6968, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com

In response to an article written by Ryan Hadeed on November 25, I am most happy that he was cognisant of the fact that there are two sides to the violence that takes place in the Middle East and he tried to shed light on the fact that the US has its own foreign policy within the region that has failed miserably and innocent civilians within the Middle East were left to suffer because of it. 

However, foreign policy I believe, is soft language for what really is blatant crimes against humanity. 

The US, Britain and France have directly and covertly displaced democratically elected governments within Muslim countries as well as supported tyrants. 

These actions have caused thousands of lives to be lost from riots and uprisings from dissatisfied citizens within the affected countries.   

I must make mention of one of the greatest atrocities: the invasion of Iraq. 

To date, over 500,000 Iraqis have lost their lives due to the invasion; hundreds of thousands are seriously maimed and injured, millions more are displaced from their homes, and don’t forget, the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Iraq resulted in 500,000 children losing their lives according to a UNICEF report. The infrastructure of that country is now completely destroyed. All thanks to Uncle Sam. 

Iraq, a country that possesses the fifth largest oil reserves in the world is now reduced to rubble. A well-to-do, potential superpower within the region is now destroyed. 

This is not failed foreign policy, Mr Hadeed, this is genocide and modern-day economic slavery. 

Now all the oil Iraq produces will go towards rebuilding infrastructure that was already there. How can the cycle of violence end when these crimes go unaccounted?

The US, France and Britain should to be brought before a court and be tried for crimes against humanity. This is only fair and just for the people of the middle east. But as we both know, it will never happen. 

These so-called terrorist groups that we perceive them to be will continue the cycle of violence for they are a creation of the West. 

“IS is the fully grown-up manic, adolescent creature belonging to the US, Britain and France,” says John Pilger in an interview with RT news. 

Fareez Mohammed

Four years ago God the Uncle—my imaginary Uncle Godfrey—called me to sum up the Bible in the voice of Kenrick, the kind of tess who leaves Port-of-Spain and goes to Syria to fight jihad for the Shaitanic State but demands poncha crema and ham at Christmas. 

I return to (Uncle) God’s work today because he wants me to finish Genesis fast and move on to the perhaps more-relevant Book of Revelation; and to avoid thinking about the Turkey voting for World War III by shooting down Russian jets.

Last day, in the earliest manifestation of Steven Spielberg’s company’s name—Dream Works—Joseph interpreted Pharoh’s dreams of seven skinny cows eating seven ears of corn and got out of the Egyptian jail Potiphar had put him in.

The Twenty-Second Bit of the First Book of BC, called Corn Breds The Book of Skulls, called Bluff (A Summation of Genesis Chapters 42-)

And, Jacob (aka Israel), which was Joseph’ father, did see it had corn in Egypt, whereby Joseph had interpret Pharoh dream and store up the excess corn before the famine, nuh, and Jacob tell them same brothers of Joseph who had sell him out to Potiphar to left Canaan and go and buy some Egyptian corn, so them wouldn’ta starve. 

And all ten brothers went for corn, excepting Ben Jammin, the musician one, becaw Jacob did well have he favourites, just like all them Syrian in Town and Indian in the country, who does cause strife in the family by liking one son more better than the next one, but it doesn’t cause too much trouble, once it ent the dotish son they like the most.

And was Joseph-self who did selling the corn, don’t mind he was the CEO of Egyptian Corn, and to see him selling would come like you go in a Apple store and is Steve Jobs cleaning hard drive behind the counter, but don’t mind that, God does move in mysterious ways His chirren to mamaguy.

And Joseph recongise all his brothers but he make himself strange to them, so them ent make he out, and them did well begging for corn becaw mankind did starving in the Canaan. 

But Joseph well rough them up and tell them, All you is spy, come to scope out the nakedness of the land—like it did always have inter-Semite tension in the Holy Land, and like it did always have porn, everywhere—but Joseph brothers say, Nah, Boss, we is all brothers, one man’s sons, and is corn we come to buy! 

We is 12 brothers, Boss, but the little one stop home with Daddy and it have one what gone through.

And Joseph say, Firetruck that, all you is spy, and I locking one of all you up until you all brings the youngest brother to prove you all isn’t spy (although it never had no spy, in the whole history of espionage, who coulda prove he wasn’t a spy because he had a younger sibling; or even a older one; gyul or boy). Otherwise, I will kill all of all-you mother-sew-and-sew-until-she-make-a-dress!

And Reuben tell he brothers, You see, I did telling you all not to sell Joseph. Mankind did spoke unto you like a bicycle wheel but you all didn’t listen; now Pharaoh Corn CEO going and jostle we.

And, all this while, Joseph well following the talk, becaw he did speak Hebrew, but he did pretend to be talking to them through a interpreter. 

And Joseph did well weeping and thing, but he make as eef and turn and snatch up his brother Simeon and tie his ass up like a ’guana in Central Market.

And they laded up their asses with corn, which sound painful, and departed thence. 

But Joseph did sneak and put back een they cash in they bags, so it come like he give them the corn, which them find out when they went to provender the ass and them, and the brethren get well beh-beh, wondering what it is God do them, not realising was Joseph and he tricks of many colours, nuh.

And when them reach back home by Jacob, and they find all the cash Joseph put back in the sacks, them get real FRY-KEN! And you know the Bible is a holy book in true, becaw them was the onliest Middle-Easterners in any book and any time who did ever worry ’bout collecting wares and not paying for it. 

And Jacob say he not sending Ben Jammin to Pharoah, becaw Joseph gone, and Simeon tie up, and to send Ben Jammin would be to throw living son after dead one.

But all man belly was griping, becaw them eat out the corn real fast, as it didn’t have in much corn in them sack, what with Joseph putting back in the money and thing, so Jacob (aka Israel) tell them to take Ben Jammin, and some balm and double-the-money and some spice and honey and the omnipresent myrhh and maybe the Pharaoh Corn CEO mightn’t lash them.

And Joseph did ease them up becaw them did bring Ben Jammin. 

And Joseph bowels did yearn for his brother, which really don’t sound good, like the laded asses, but God knows the Bible mean it in a good way, nothing to do with neither evacuation nor ejaculation. 

And Joseph went and hide in chamber, not for the bowels, but to dry he eyes, and he bring out Simeon, and it had party in the place, and all man had a time, but Ben Jammin time, and Ben Jammin messes was five times everybody else one.

Which mighta be good, or bad, for Ben Jammin.

•  BC Pires is waiting, with only seven more verses left in Genesis, for a good season finale.

Just under 100,000 citizens are registered to vote on December 5 in the UNC internal elections. This contest raises some interesting issues which will undoubtedly go ignored. 

Many view this as a referendum on the leadership of former PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, full stop. 

That, however, is a decidedly myopic approach to this process. Oropouche East Member of Parliament Roodal Moonilal has assembled what, to UNC supporters, looks like a strong slate of candidates. 

Entering the fray, somewhat belatedly, Vasant Bharath is blaming the “No Rowley” campaign, among other strategic missteps, for their loss at the polls. 

All those calling for change, argue that leading the PP coalition to five successive election defeats is ample grounds for the former PM’s political exile. 

However, the UNC and its supporters would do well to accept that on the matter of the 2015 elections defeat, it was very much a team effort. Their campaign was certainly weak, but the PP government didn’t crash out of office because of a technicolour wheel emblazoned with Dr Keith Rowley’s face. 

Their tally of scandals, allegations of corruption, nepotism and misbehaviour in public office began to grow shortly after the coalition’s ascension to government and maintained a steady pace until September 7. 

Not to downplay the breath-taking mistakes in the PP’s campaign, those vying for leadership of the UNC are eager to finger mere woeful planning as the principle cause for the PP’s failure. 

Critics of the previous administration would also have the public believe that the PP was the first government voted out because of corruption. But Patrick Manning’s PNM was escorted out of office just five years before, as public enmity swirled around their variety of impropriety. As is always the case in this country, we labour over symptoms and neglect the disease. Defining corruption as a UNC problem is a convenient narrative. 

The population won’t commit to deeper analysis of our generic proclivity towards graft.

So we believe Kamla Persad-Bissessar helmed the party to staggering elections defeats. Similarly, it is said that Kamla’s injudicious appointments and poor vetting skills created a free-for-all environment in which long-sleeved bandits romped through the Treasury. 

As such, her detractors believe one person must shoulder the blame, and that person must go. 

There can be no doubt that the party has some serious introspection in its future. 

Distilling all its failures in one personality though, is grossly misguided. 

Finding one donkey to pin the tail on neatly dodges the reality that state agencies and boards are all part of the apparatus of governance. 

Whether through a lack of competence or integrity (or more devastatingly, both) ordinary citizens, ensconced in positions across the spectrum of government service, either failed to perform or betrayed the public trust by prioritising their own interests. The notion that corruption experienced over the past five years was entirely owed to the UNC’s rewarding of partisan hacks is to suggest that malfeasance in public life didn’t exist prior to 2010. 

The inescapable fact remains that, contrary to popular belief, this is no galaxy of intellectuals, nor are we bursting at the borders with conscientious citizens defending virtue and decency. 

What we have in spades are average folks in ministries, state agencies, boards and regional corporations happy to do nothing or do only for themselves. More than PNM or UNC, those people are you and me, (well more you than me really).

Corruption exists in all strata of society; blaming it entirely on a sitting government is like cleaning a mirror with Vaseline. 

Additionally, a great many contractors and purveyors of goods and services who bilked the state for all they could, or delivered subpar work for above par invoices have no allegiance to anyone but themselves. 

These creatures are all around us and wash all their political jerseys in “Sorflan,” wearing which ever one is in season. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world he doesn’t exist. Similarly, our belief that corruption is the sole preserve of political parties, not ourselves, allows this scourge to thrive. 

Bickering about who is the bigger tief also serves this purpose quite nicely. 

The UNC internal elections should be viewed as an introspective exercise, one which can begin the cultivation of the sort of inspired and educated class of citizen to fill what is an obvious vacuum. 

Somehow, hanging our corrupt ways and the decline of the PP government around the neck of one person just doesn’t make any sense, but it is certainly the easier thing to do. 

UNC voters will also need to consider that choosing a political leader is a considerable responsibility as this individual must be acceptable on a national level, not just in the UNC hinterlands. In short, can he/she find favour with all citizens, regardless of their politics? 

The choice isn’t merely good leadership for your party but effective leadership in opposition, a critical element of good governance. 

Voters, in demanding change, must demonstrate that they can change, acknowledging their responsibility for our quality of governance. 

It was true on September 7 and will remain so on December 5. 

There were two “new” leaders in Parliament yesterday.

Opposition UNC MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie was sitting at Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissesar’s right hand, acting as Opposition whip (in the absence of whip Ganga Singh). PNM Finance Minister Colm Imbert was sitting in the Prime Minister’s seat acting as PM (in the absence of his boss, Keith Rowley.)

Imbert’s countenance has been particularly benign since his additional duties. Addressing Thursday’s weekly Government media briefing, Imbert’s features had softened to a beatific expression as he related how humbled he felt for being given the opportunity to act as prime minister.

Yesterday, Imbert continued in same mode, laughing with PNM frontline colleagues. Former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar among several PP MPs congratulating his ascension, noted, “He seems very happy...”

“He’s smiling,” added PP’s Tim Gopeesingh.

Following which pleasantries, the Opposition bombarded Imbert and other Government Ministers with a barrage of questions in the Parliamentary agenda segment regarding queries. And the Government didn’t shirk in slapping the PP with mismanagement accusations, in providing the answers.

At Thursday’s briefing, Imbert did all-round duty including attempting to defuse emotions on the death of Carenage fisherman Brian Smith. News from his own finance portfolio—that low oil prices may delay Government’s Development programme—has however, sparked some concerns.

The ripple effect from this via the construction and contractors’ industry could see the economy marking time, if not further contracting depending on length of the delay. This, at a time when the diversification thrust requires turbo boost to meet challenges of the hiccuping energy sector. 

Hopefully Rowley will return bearing encouragement on that front following meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday with BP, BG and Shell jefes in London, and whatever arises from that will be factored into Government’s mid-year review.

Redirection may also extend in other areas. PNM senator Franklin Khan on Tuesday noted growing underemployment (and necessary action on that). What changes and resultant cost cutting arising from the work of the team examining the health sector to rationalise it (including examining issues of doctors in the public sector working in the private sector) remains to unfold with its January report.

Another team is examining contract work in the public sector where there are 7,000 such jobs. And a government committee is being formed to formulate policy on government buildings and state agency accommodation issues including use of the Government campus. The Customs Division has already moved into one new location and the Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, location it occupied for years, is empty.

On another front, Government is likely awaiting Rowley’s return to decide how to deal with returning T&T-born Isis fighters amid global terrorist attacks and local concerns.

Apart from 89 T&T people known to have gone to the Middle East, six T&T nationals remain detained in two countries. Five are in Venezuela on alleged terrorism charges. Also, T&T-born, Saudi Arabia-based, Islamic studies student Tariq S Mohammed, has been detained in Saudi Arabia since August. 

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said yesterday he’s being held for questioning and not been charged with anything. His aunt Nafeesa Mohammed said he and his family returned home in May and he was interviewed by Special Branch. On returning to SA, he was detained.

The Opposition in Parliament yesterday contended with its own issues, not the least of which was Minister Stuart Young’s expose on the NGC/SIS matter. UNC leadership hopeful Roodal Moonilal, who showed up in House for the first time since giving up the Opposition whip position, arrived late and after a minute found his new seat, three away from the end of the front row. 

While leadership incumbent Persad-Bissessar appeared relaxed, the usually loquacious Moonilal was uncharacteristically pensive despite being “muched up” by colleagues David Lee and Vidya Guyadeen-Gopeesingh.

The UNC’s campaign has managed to date to produce a less inflammatory profile than expected which some members feel would aid post-election rebranding. The coming final week of campaigning before next Saturday’s election will determine if postures and pronouncements, will aid or assassinate participants’ political future and in what shape the UNC emerges to handle national duties and Government’s challenges.

This is not the first time that we have had drastic and conflicting differences in the findings of pathologists’ works in T&T. Are these becoming pathological now? The recent findings of pathologists on the drowned Brian Smith are quite disturbing. Which one do we believe?

One pathologist said that the victim died by drowning. The other said that the victim was probably murdered before, severely beaten, suffered blunt force trauma, skull was damaged, probably strangled, etc. 

Just look at these very significant differences between the two findings. It is not a small matter that can be overlooked. Was one examination more thorough than the other? If so, why? 

Now, the Defence Force is calling for a third one. Are there not international standards to follow? Which report will the police, courts and if applicable, a jury comprised of “ordinary men and women” eventually believe? 

What the Brian Smith’s incident has again called for is for another high level investigation to be done into the operations of the forensic science centre. And, for serious action to be taken where required. We are totally fed up with issues of credibility and competence of our forensic scientists being raised. 

We are now left wondering aloud if collusion took place between the defence force and one pathologist or between family members of the victim and another pathologist? How will we know? If yes, what disciplinary action will be taken against the colluding parties? 

This critical criminal justice debacle should not be swept under the proverbial carpet. The death of Brian Smith should at least assist in getting a fairer system of justice. This should now cause us to challenge the findings of all of their other works. It must stand up to scrutiny. 

I am sure that people will be now be further scared if they have matters being dealt with by the forensic science centre. Will they get justice? Can they be successfully framed by someone?

I will certainly like to hear the minister of national security, attorney general, chief justice, law association, criminal bar association, civil society and human rights groups on this issue! They can’t be silent on such a fundamental issue. The acting Prime Minister’s words are welcomed but we need public actions. Tell us what you as leader will do to ensure there is no cover up. 

Many may not know that the forensic science centre does work in other areas such as identification of arms, ammunitions, counterfeit money, drugs, etc. Did or can collusion take place here as well? What are the implications for evidence tendered in court by the police? Can they be trusted? What about convictions that were given based on past forensic evidence? Can there be appeals and retrials? 

Are there innocent people in prison based on the past findings of the forensic science centre? Are there criminals walking free because the forensic scientist failed to identify them? To the authorities that be, give us the confidence that we need in our independent institutions.

Deepak Dhanny

KEVIN BALDEOSINGH

Consider the headline of this column. If it had been “Why Mothers Matter,” you would probably not be reading this sentence since you would have figured, rightly or wrongly, that you already knew why mothers are important to a child. But fathers? Hmm. Do they matter at all?

I myself had this same bias. In preparing to write this series, I read the best general books on parenting I could find. Yet it never occurred to me to seek out a book specifically about fathers. And it probably wouldn’t have occurred to me, except that two weeks ago I spoke to social anthropologist Professor Jaipaul L Roopnarine, co-author along with UWI child education expert Dr Carol Logie, at the launch of their study Child-Rearing Practices in the Caribbean at the Family Development Centre in St Augustine.

This is the most important survey of the Caribbean family in over 40 years, and the first about children in T&T. Professor Roopnarine specialises in studying fathers across different societies, and only then did it occur to me that I had not sought out father-specific information. And, when I did go searching, I found that my perception was justified: I found only one general book on fatherhood—indeed, all the other general books had the usual female bias, being about fathers relating to their daughters (presumably, the publishers figured women would buy this for their partners). There wasn’t even one similar book on fathers relating to their sons.

At any rate, the book I did eventually get is called Do Fathers Matter? and it’s written by Paul Raeburn who is a “blogger, media critic, writer,” according to his bio note. So he’s not even a traditional journalist. Nonetheless, the book comprehensively covered the latest research on fathers and Raeburn seems to understand his science, since he was cautious to note the limits of observational data and extrapolating from animal studies to human beings. 

But nearly all the existing studies on parenting have an even more fundamental flaw: Raeburn interviewed American psychiatrist Kyle D Pruett who has studied fathers for over 30 years and who says: “Not looking at the impact of fathers and children on one another has given the entire field (and the best-selling parenting books it produces) a myopic and worrisomely distorted view of child development, a view with staggering blind spots.”

I’ll be referring to Raeburn’s book often in future columns but, for now, here are a few titbits:

The children of fathers who are obese are more likely to be obese. You might think, well duh. But the researchers also found that children of fathers who eat high-fat diets are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes—which suggests that such a diet actually changes the father’s sperm.

And the obverse side is even weirder: the grandchildren of men who had not had much to eat in their lifetime were less likely to die from heart disease or diabetes. This would make an interesting basis to survey the generational health of the descendants of indentured labourers.

The bottom line? Fathers’ influence on their children, biologically and psychologically and socially, is more extensive than popularly believed. 

What a difference a month or two or even a week makes.

On either side of a general election and “regime change,” the perspectives on issues change; or so we are supposed to believe.

Last weekend, on his way out of the country, Prime Minister Rowley commended his new Board of the National Gas Company (NGC) for its decision to decree a wage freeze and bonus cut on the workers in the company and all its subsidiaries.

He hailed this unilateral interference in the workers’ terms and conditions of employment of which they were “informed” by company email, as “sensible.”

A few days later he was joined in his support of this action by the recent-former energy minister.

Why the wage freeze/pay cut imposition?

According to the Board of the NGC, this pre-emptive strike against the workers’ incomes was necessary because this cash cow for the state was faced with “low energy prices.”

The company claimed its profits were in decline from $6 billion in 2010 to $3 billion this year.

This begs the question: Is the decline in the NGC profits as a result of the workers’ pay? This is an argument that is as old as the history of booms and busts that are a constant feature of the economic system which is driven by the profit motive.

The NGC board and the PM need to clarify what really is the reason for this decree on pay for the workers. Is it because of “low energy prices” or because of “smaller profits?”

In either case, the workers’ pay determines neither of these outcomes.

A university professor has advanced this false argument further by calling for a national wage freeze in light of economic and fiscal decline brought about by the massive drop in oil and gas prices in the last year.

NGC’s management by decree is draconian

In the world of modern labour relations, it is neither sensible nor good industrial relations practice for an employer to interfere with its workers’ pay or pay determination by unilateral action.

In T&T’s industrial relations system, this would be an Industrial Relations Offence if these workers were represented by a recognised majority union. The company would be fined and its managers open to criminal charges if the NGC was unionised.

The last time a Government acted by unilateral edict to cut state employees pay, it was found guilty of IROs in several bargaining units and of breach of the constitutional rights of its 

public servants. That was in the 1986-89 period.

The excuse was the same—declining economic fortunes o the workers had to pay with their wages and jobs.

This is a situation with which the current Labour Minister would be very familiar with since it was her union which got the Hood-Caesar decision in the High Court and several IRO decisions in the Industrial Court.

In this case, the present Government has chosen to launch its “austerity” programme against the NGC workers, who cannot file IRO claims.

They have deliberately chosen the line of least resistance to introduce this round of offloading the burden of chronic crisis onto the workers’ backs.

In the 80s, the private sector (out of which the NGC chairman comes) took the lead with the six or nine per cent wage increase limit. Then the wage and COLA cuts followed.

The professor’s call for general wage freeze is the clarion call for the NGC “initiative” to be expanded nationally.

Cynical moves by Government

The NGC edict was issued on the 16th. The PM met with a section of the trade union movement, promising a “new” tripartite body on the 20th. On the 21st, the PM hailed the “sensible” unilateralism of the NGC. The Labour Minister then excused the unilateral action as “oversight” in a meeting with the same union body on the 23rd.

In light of these developments one union expressed “worry” that the NGC action will be the template for other similar moves by this government.

They can expect that this worry will turn to certainty.

More so as their faction of the trade union movement continues to rely on an MOU signed with a political party, mistaking it for an enforceable agreement with Government. Their misunderstanding is matched only by the cynical manoeuvrings of the PM and his Cabinet.

It was only a few weeks ago that the same PM and his “team” on the hustings were blaming the (mis)fortunes of the NGC on the then government. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, “Government” can no longer be blamed.

So, the tune has changed so that “energy price pressures” and “workers’ incomes” are the new culprits.

In this way, the austerity programme is to be justified as “sensible” “required rectification.”

All this rectitude is only to cloud the real causes of the frequent crises of the economic system and the predictable anti-social responses similarly dispensed regardless of who is in Government.

Those who speak of following the “Butlerite tradition” of trade unionism will do well to understand this.

Clyde Weatherhead

A series of events, starting with excessive bleeding that led to shock and cardiac arrest, may have led to the death of mother Candace Santo and her baby at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, on Thursday.

Her husband Stephen Goberban was still trying to make sense of the words which were written on the autopsy results when the T&T Guardian contacted him yesterday, noting he had read them and re-read them.

Goberban still wants to know what they mean and how they could explain the fact that his 29-year-old wife and baby son would never return to their Aranguez, San Juan, home. He said he spent hours sitting outside the hospital mortuary waiting for an explanation of his wife’s death, but instead received a paper and words on an autopsy report. He called on the hospital to answer his questions.

“They have to explain and tell me. Was a doctor there during birth? Why didn’t they do what they had to do to stop the bleeding to save my wife?”

Goberban said Candace had experienced a wonderful pregnancy.

“She never got sick and was happy,” he said, adding they were both excited over the birth of their first child, whose name was to be Nevin.

The excitement lasted the entire nine months of the pregnancy and even past the predicted due date of November 24. Excitement was replaced by another darker feeling on Wednesday.

“Everything started Tuesday evening. Candace went to the Aranguez Health Centre. They gave her a letter and sent her to the hospital.

“She went to the hospital. They did blood tests and said they were keeping her and said they would most likely induce labour on Tuesday night.”

Goberban said he left and went home.

“Wednesday morning she called and said they didn’t induce labour and she was still on the ward. She told me when they came and burst the water bag to speed up the process.”

Goberban went to the hospital during visiting hours on Wednesday, from 4 pm to 6 pm.

“At 6.10 pm they took her to the labour ward. I had already left. I came back and waited outside the ward.”

At 7 pm Goberban checked with nurses. He was told the baby had not yet come. He checked again at 8 pm and was given the same response.

“After 9 pm, they said sit down and wait and that someone would come talk to me. I saw a lot of frantic running around,” Goberban said.

“I was seeing the staff running around. With all of that I started crying because I knew it was my wife. I saw them carry my wife on a stretcher. She looked like she was getting fits. 

“They called me and said she was bleeding heavily. They said they would have to take out her womb. Blood was coming out of my wife like if you open a pipe.”

Goberban’s last view of his wife was of her lying on a hospital bed with needles all over her body and blood gushing out of her.

“She had no complications before. No sickness. No diabetes. She was normal all nine months.”

This is the fourth maternal death in the past two weeks.

In a statement on the incident, medical chief of staff Dr Karen Sohan said the hospital staff felt grief over the death of the baby and young mother.

OTTO CARRINGTON 

and MICHAEL RAMSINGH

A mother is now pleading for the public’s help to get her family out of the abject poverty in which they now live. 

With Christmas approaching and a new baby on the way, 30-year-old Nadia Walkins told the GML Enterprise Desk that she is engaged in a daily struggle to make ends meet and things are getting harder.

Walkins and her five children, Isiah Walkins, 13; Emmanuel Walkins, 10; Shamelia Bailey, three; Nakista Bailey, four; and Brandon Bailey, 22 months, are in desperate need of help. Walkins is also eight months pregnant and with Christmas season approaching her situation is anything but joyous. In fact, she is concerned that it will be bleak without some help.

Walkins works with the Unemployment Relief Programme and her live-in companion is a security officer at a nearby chicken company. They live at Shade Lane, Ackbarali Street East, Malabar, Arima. 

Their home is off the beaten path in a track. The path to the house is filthy, getting home is even more difficult when it rains and the stench is unbearable. The old wooden structure is falling apart and the roof leaks. The outside of the house is surrounded by garbage and rodents roam freely inside and outside. Rats run in the living-room, spiders hang low and cockroaches are a part of daily life. The garbage and water receptacles make this a breeding ground for mosquitoes and Walkins said only recently her younger children fell ill. “The children get fever because of the mosquitoes. They better now, thank God, but I really want to come out of this,” she said as she lamented the squalor in which they lived.

She explained that although they tried to make ends meet it was a task trying to get the bare basics, as sometimes the children had nothing to drink but sugar water.

In a soft-spoken apologetic voice, she said, “Sometimes we have milk, sometimes they get food to eat, sometimes they eat even better than me, but most times we just don’t have enough.”

She admitted she needed help urgently but said what she did not want was for the State to step in and take away her children. She said she loved her children and was trying hard to meet their needs, although their living conditions were less than acceptable.

“I trying so the Government will not take my children from me,” she admitted.

“Their father died and I want us to stay together. I know the law and I am scared the Government will step in. I don’t want them to take my children, I am trying to see if I could get better.” 

Walkins has been given a parcel of land from the Land Settlements Agency (LSA), but that has brought some problems of its own. Why? 

She said the land was in the name of Nadia Williams, not Walkins. But there is another problem. She put in a request for lot 62 but was instead given lot 54. Somebody else applied for lot 54. 

“I don’t want the owner to say we apply for that land. I want it settled so that I can build. I need a home for my children, a place for them to call their own.” 

Building any house will be difficult, as she just does not have the money to develop the land and cannot afford the material to build. But whatever it took she said she would get it done.

To compound her problems, none of her children are in school. Her eldest son Isiah attended the Baptist school in Maloney, but got into trouble because of his behaviour. She tried to get him into the Malabar Government School but said they also refused to take him. Emmanuel, who is 10, is now paying the price for his brother’s behaviour, she said. “They do not want the little one because of his brother. I find they should not deprive a child of education. He wants an education, he begging for it every day.”

She said her elder son simply needed some help.

“He needs counselling, he needs attention, but they did not give him that in school. Instead he was abused,” she told the GML Enterprise Desk, noting that with the right help she was certain her son could do well in school and make something of himself.

Like every good mother, Walkins wants the best for her children and that includes an education, which she acknowledged was essential to taking them out of the poverty which they were now forced to grow up in. 

She told us she tried to see the MP for Arima, Education Minister Anthony Garcia, to get some assistance but to no avail.

With no one else to turn to, Walkins said, she was now forced to appeal to the public. “I am begging and pleading, I don’t know what else to do,” she said.

Already the NGO Help is On the Way is assisting Walkins and her family. The group has been collecting donations and assisting with food and clothing. Anyone wishing to help can contact NGO team leader Miguel Pierre at 385-5616.

Delay in Government’s Development Programme will compound negative effects on local contractors who are already owed over $1 billion by the state, according to T&T Contractors’ Association (TTCA) chairman Mikey Joseph. 

Joseph spoke to the T&T Guardian yesterday after Finance Minister and acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert said on Thursday that falling oil prices could delay “one or two things” including Government’s Development Programme. The latter includes schools, roads, bridges and similar plans. Imbert said the oil price situation was cause for serious concern and was being monitored “all the time” by Government.

In expressing concern yesterday, Joseph, however also said the situation presents an opportunity for innovative solutions. 

“It would be good if the minister opens his doors to us to meet quickly on the situation and work something out so we don’t have to reach to a crisis or breaking point on the matter,”

Joseph said the economy is already under pressure as the principal income generator—the energy sector—is “ stuttering”.

He said while the contracting industry hopes the development programme delay won’t occur , he acknowledged that the first to suffer in an economic depression is construction. Joseph said in such situations governments usually sought to maintain wage bills, and prioritise essentials like health and education.

He said it is recognised that any delays would mean fewer projects and quite a few contractors would have “further hardship,”

“Already there are concerns by members about nonpayment by state agencies and we’re seeing the mounting failure of agencies—from projects managed by Nidpdec, EFCL, Udecott, etc—other agencies which are not making payments. Sums owed to contractors are crossing the $1 billion mark, so the situation (on development programmes) presents some complications,”

“But there could be great opportunity for the local private sector and government through adjustment of laws governing financial institutions act to keep local contractors employed in the housing sector, where perhaps government could provide the land and houses could be built through a programme where monies will be recovered when tenants repay. One can look at schools in this context also and there’s other infrastructure that can be handled like this,”

Joseph said of primary concern was the need for Government to use local resources so that foreign exchange can be preserved and locals maintain employment. 

Arising from the challenge ahead, he said some companies may now also have the opportunity to use the resources they have acquired from state contracts to go and seek work outside T&T and outside of Caricom “and it’s a time when those sectors could use what they’ve gleaned from the past to continue to sustain in the future and for national sustenance also.”

The directors of Banks Holdings Limited (BHL) have recommended that shareholders accept the latest offer from ANSA McAL of Bds$7 to takeover the Barbados beverage manufacturer.

In a circular this week, the directors said the offer from the T&T conglomerate, made through its subsidiary, AM Caribbean Development Ventures Limited (AMC), is “notably higher” than the offer from SLU Beverages, a subsidiary of Brazilian beverages giant Ambev, which is also trying to get control of BHL. SLU’s current offer is Bds$6.20 per share.

The directors said AMC’s amended offer is 25 per cent above the top of the range of the fair market value for BHL’s shares. They said “notwithstanding the competitive bidding environment that may facilitate higher offers”, the AMC offer is beneficial to shareholders from a financial perspective.

The closing date for AMC’s amended offer is December 28, while the close of the SLU offer is set for December 3.

The BHL directors said SLU could increase its offer in response to the AMC amended offer—the earliest date on which an increased offer from SLI could close would be December 17, 11 days earlier than the amended AMC offer.

In mid-October ANSA McAL 8,446,546 common shares in BWPL Holdings Limited, the second largest shareholder in BHL. The group also owns nearly 15,000 shares through its wholly-owned subsidiary ANSA McAL (Barbados) Limited. 

Ambev, through its subsidiary SLU Beverages, owns just over 40 per cent of BHL. 

BHL owns Banks (Barbados) Breweries Limited, Barbados Bottling Company Limited and Barbados Dairy Industries Limited. Its range of beverages includes leading international brands produced under licence such as Coca-Cola, Sprite and Guinness and originals like Frutee, Tiger Malt, Pinehill juices and milks and Banks Beer.

Acquisition of the company will give ANSA McAL control of every major beer brand produced in the English-speaking Caribbean, adding to a portfolio that includes Carib, Stag, Mackeson and Red Stripe.

On November 23, 2010, North Korea (DPRK) fired dozens of artillery shells and rockets at the South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, about 12km away from its coast. This attack resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries. Casualties were both civilian and military. South Korea (ROK) fired back, and the Korean Peninsula was placed in a precarious war-like situation. In August this year, North Korean soldiers sneaked across the heavily guarded border, the Demilitarized Zone, and planted landmines. Two soldiers from South Korea were maimed after stepping on them. These are just a few examples of North Korea’s military provocations against South Korea throughout the years.

North Korea has also carried out nuclear tests three times since 2006, a great concern for the international community. North Korea has also launched long-range missiles including underwater test-fire of a submarine ballistic missile, which has been escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula. In this strategy of brinkmanship, the North has outmaneuvered Western powers for the last 25 years by increasing tensions through violent acts. This is aimed at protecting its vulnerable regime. The United Nations has condemned North Korea’s actions by passing UN Security Council resolutions, yet the North has continued.

We hope that the people of T&T pay special attention and provide support to the endeavour made by the Korean people and government to fix the tensions through dialogue and co-operation with the north.

The talking has continued despite the provocations. After the landmine blasts in August, North and South Korea reached an inter-Korean accord. In October the countries facilitated the reunification of families who were forced to separate during the Korean War of 1950-1953.That was one outcome of the accords. In addition, the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint venture of two Koreas established in 2004, is a perfect combination of the South’s capital and technology and the North’s labour. More than 50,000 North Koreans work in the Complex. 

Besides this, the two Koreas have been discussing building a railroad across the Korean Peninsula, regularising reunion of separated families, resuming tourism ventures, and creating an eco-peace park in the DMZ. It’s not been free of trouble but at least we continue to talk. At the recent G-20 Summit held in November, President Park Geun-Hye announced that “if North Korea decides to denuclearize and move towards the open market system and is willing to cooperate, South Korea plans to gather assistance from international society and provide $63 billion in investment for North Korea’s infrastructure development plan.” Meanwhile, details of a visit to the North by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, are under negotiation between the UN and Pyongyang. One of the aims would be to address the North Korea’s nuclear problem.

The Korean Peninsula is still divided, a legacy of the Cold War. Reunification would bring an opportunity for peace and prosperity not only to the two Koreas, but to the neighbouring countries and the world. To realise this dream, the Korean Government maintains two policies. One, tighten the security set-up against any military provocation from North Korea. Two, lay foundations for reunifications through regular dialogue and co-operative exchanges with North Korea.

Open Forum is a new space in the Sunday Guardian for contributors besides our regular columnists. Another Op-Ed writer will sound off next week.

The recent firing of Creative TT’s CEO, has undeniably prompted public scrutiny regarding this company’s operations.

Creative TT is a state entity under the Ministry of Trade and Investment entrusted with the mandate for the overall advancement of the Creative sector.

The creative industries are those industries which create and manufacture cultural goods. In T&T, they consist of the music, film, fashion and Carnival industries, dance, theatre, visual arts; all of which can significantly contribute to T&T’s revenue earnings, foreign exchange, job creation and employment growth.

These sub sectors have been identified as alternatives to the country’s dependency on the energy sector, and are worthy of being part of the Government’s diversification thrust. 

The hopes and expectations of stakeholders are for Creative TT to genuinely position itself to assist creative individuals in realising their dreams, aspirations and to develop their true potential, however, the role of this entity can only be achieved if adjustments are made to its present internal operations.

Concerned stakeholders are asking for a thorough evaluation of Creative TT’s purpose and functions. The following are among a list of urgent recommendations:

• Review of its financial allocations

• Implementation of strategic plans

• Assessment of its current board structure

• Public profile (Web page)

These issues have been brought to the attention of the Minister of Trade Industry and Investment, Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, the permanent secretary and the director of Trade respectfully.

Fabien Alfonso

Creative Industries professional