It seems that, unfortunately, I must reverse the “kudos” which I had happily offered to the Port Authority and The Inter-Island Ferry Transportation Company a few months ago, for having, at last, gotten the Scarborough/Port-of Spain ferry service “right” .

Thus, first, it was the episode, to the chagrin of the Tobago business community in particular, of a ferry having been forced to return to Port-of- Spain with its full cargo after being unable to berth on its arrival at Scarborough. This was said to have been due to a “mix-up” in communication which had caused much inconvenience and monetary loss.

This was followed, not long after, by another event—one of the two fast ferries having had to be taken out of service for a relatively long period, due to officially acknowledged engine failure—yet another case of great inconvenience to the public.

I have been made to understand that this latter inconvenience was experienced especially by passengers who had been wishing to travel, accompanied by their motor cars. However, I have also been made to understand that, at this time (and, no doubt, a situation which is a permanent feature), the two cargo ferries would be travelling with far less than half loads.

In this regard, therefore, I am wondering whether the authorities, as a means of providing greater leeway for motor cars, have considered shifting vans and small trucks, in particular, from the fast passenger ferries to the faster of the two cargo ferries?

Errol OC Cupid,

Trincity, Tacarigua

Tomorrow in the United States in the 50 state capitals and Washington, DC, the Electoral College will meet to choose the next President of the United States.

Writing in Federalist Paper Number 68 on March 12, 1788, one of the founding fathers of the American Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, had this to say:

“All these advantages will be happily combined in the plan devised by the convention; which is, that the people of each state shall choose a number of persons as electors, equal to the number of senators and representatives of such state in the national government, who shall assemble within the state and vote for some fit person as president. Their votes, thus given, are to be transmitted to the seat of the national government; and the person who may happen to have a majority of the whole number of votes will be the president. But as a majority of the votes might not always happen to centre on one man and as it might be unsafe to permit less than a majority to be conclusive, it is provided, that in such a contingency, the house of representatives shall select out of the candidates, who shall have the five highest numbers of votes, the man who in their opinion may be best qualified for the office.”

Tomorrow, the 535 electors from the 50 states together with the three electors from Washington, DC, will enter upon a solemn duty which will complete the most important phase of the election that was held on November 8 instant. That is, those lists of electors who are pledged to either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, from each state, who earned the right to cast their ballots tomorrow based on the certified results of their respective states’ election day outcomes will determine who will become the next President.

It is expected that Donald Trump will earn 306 Electoral College votes and Hillary Clinton will earn 232 Electoral College votes (a majority of 270 is required). The national popular vote (which Hillary Clinton won) is not the deciding factor, but rather the outcome in each state individually which is translated into Electoral College votes. This is one of the flaws of the first-past-the-post system that has emerged for the whole world to see.

On November 9, Hillary Clinton made a concession speech in New York in which she said:

“Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. We don’t just respect that. We cherish it.”

However, since that time, there was a recount request made by the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Interestingly, the Clinton campaign aligned itself with this effort. Many have questioned why those three states were chosen. They account for 46 Electoral College votes collectively and constituted what the Clinton campaign had called the “blue firewall” that could not have been penetrated by the Trump campaign. Unfortunately for them, Trump broke that “blue firewall”.

The recount strategy failed as Trump increased his margin by 131 in Wisconsin and the courts rejected the request for a recount in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Now comes another twist in the saga of the Electoral College with Christine Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi, leading a movement to have electors receive a national security briefing on whether or not Russia influenced voters to vote for Donald Trump in the election.

Once again, the Clinton campaign has aligned itself with this move. Former Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, issued a statement last Monday in which he said:

“Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed.”

This curious twist again seems to undermine the concession speech made by Hillary Clinton on November 9 and now seeks to raise an issue of national security over which unnamed operatives in the CIA are reported to have told the Washington Post that Russia tried to help elect Trump. Both the FBI and the National Intelligence Agency intially did not share that view from these “unnamed sources” in the CIA quoted by the Washington Post.

Tomorrow, the electors will cast their ballots. If they deviate from the results of the election in their respective states to such an extent that when those votes are counted on January 6 in the Senate there is no majority for anyone, the final verdict will have to be delivered by the House of Representatives in which each state will be assigned one vote. As it stands now, the Republicans control 30 states and the Democrats control 20 states.

The greatest democracy in the world can still ensure that there will be a peaceful transfer of power, if there is any disruption tomorrow, so that its processes can continue to be held up as a prime example of how to transfer power even if the machinations of mankind and the media may try to disrupt it regardless of who one may have supported on election day.

In 2002 Cemex made a hostile bid to take over the TCL Group offering $7.15 or US$1.17 per share for 100 per cent of TCL. As noted in earlier publications, the TCL board engaged the services of JP Morgan to carry out an independent valuation of the company’s shares while Cemex engaged Salomon Smith Barney Inc, (SSB) to do their valuation report on TCL. The SSB report was released to TCL shareholders in July 2002 in an effort to convince them to accept Cemex’s offer. It is interesting to note the differences 14 years apart:

• In 2002, Cemex’s offer of $7.15 represented a firm value to EBITDA Multiple of 8.2x, whereas their 2016 offer is 5.6x.

• Cemex’s 2002 offer represented a 90 per cent premium over what Cemex referred to as TCL’s “unaffected stock price pre-Cemex offer”. Assessing TCL’s unaffected stock price is virtually impossible in the current scenario, but TCL’s average share price from January 1, 2016, to the day before the announcement is $3.44 suggesting that Cemex’s current offer represents only a 31 per cent premium.

• In 2002 SSB’s “public companies” methodology gave a valuation range of $4.50 to $5.50 while their “precedent transactions” methodology gave a valuation range of $5.50 to $6.50 and Cemex offered $7.15 per share. In 2016, Deloitte’s “public companies” methodology gave a valuation of $3.80 to $4.10 while their “precedent transactions” methodology gave a valuation range of $4.30 to $4.50 and Cemex offered $4.50 per share.

It is clear that in 2002, Cemex had to pull out all the stops to take over TCL for several reasons:

• Cemex had failed to impress the TCL board and management since becoming a 20 per cent shareholder in 1993.

• The OWTU did not support the loss of one of the “commanding heights” of the T&T economy to a foreign owner, especially when the company was profitable with tremendous potential for growth.

• TCL’s by-laws contained a special provision of a 20 per cent cap on shareholding designed to ensure that TCL shares were widely held and for any takeover bid to be successful, more that 75 per cent of shareholders must agree to the offer price.

It is no secret that one of the Espinet-led board’s top priorities was the removal of the 20 per cent cap on shareholding, which happened in February 2015. This left TCL shareholders as “price takers” in any takeover bid rather than “price makers”. The Espinet-led board failed to see the strategic importance of holding on to the 20 per cent cap as it demanded a premium in any takeover attempt, either by Cemex or any other company. The board squandered the company’s leverage in an ill-conceived rights issue, which appeared to be designed simply to give Cemex effective control of the company for $2.90 per share. Once Cemex takes over 75 per cent of TCL (plus eight per cent of Baleno), they can recover their entire investment in the rights issue by declaring a special dividend and recouping most of TCL’s US$47 million in cash currently held on the balance sheet. The board has virtually no leverage to force Cemex to improve its offer price short of inviting a competitor to make a bid and putting the company “into play”.

Rollin Bertrand PhD, DBA

TCL shareholder

Who represented me last Tuesday?

Our Prime Minister thinks he got a mandate from local government elections to bring government closer to the people. That memo hasn’t reached staff in his own office. Charged with assembling representation from affected communities for a reconstituted National Aids Co-ordinating Committee (NACC), they received strident criticism from some community advocates. I was one.

Instead of listening, they dug in their heels, responding to the “jook” by using the power of the Office in which they serve to have two advocates raising those concerns dragged out of Tuesday’s NACC launch. Just before everyone stood up, in ties and smart red dresses and red-ribbon pins, and sang “Here every creed and race find an equal place.”

They didn’t bother to tell the Minister of State.

“Government wants us eating hors d’œuvres, not making policy” said the leaflet we politely handed out before the event, asking attendees to help us strengthen communities’ voices on the 31-member Cabinet-appointed body.

I’d just laughed and greeted UN Special Envoy Eddie Greene and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, handing each the paper. Next thing, I was being hauled from the room. It wasn’t a trigger response. Hotel workers made clear they had prior directives from event organisers to do so. One snatched the leaflets out my colleague’s hand. Men shoved her and me through the building’s corridors and lobby and out the entrance, threatening to call police.

Did I say I’d received an invitation to the event? Coat-of-arms and all. And a reminder call.

Government got very close to me.

Who knows what banning and blacklisting will now follow?

I’m unwounded. But what has been the damage to the National Aids Co-ordinating Committee?

Along with their instruments of appointment, NACC members were delivered a powerful visual lesson by the Prime Minister’s office—that it has the power to throw out people who speak up. That’s the reason slaves are whipped in public.

Most painful was my NACC colleagues’ silence. Everyone stood by as I was being thrown out.

Not one called to see how I was.

Was that the representation I was assured I and others in vulnerable communities already have on the body? Some members have spoken out for us in the past. But can we rely they’ll have our backs and stand up to Government when it matters. On Tuesday, they either didn’t have the will, or the power, to protect me.

Pastor Niemöller’s terse poem recalls people’s repeated silence in Nazi Germany, until their group was the one they came for—and there was no one left to speak out. Though they came for me last week, it wasn’t for the gas ovens.

But the incident illustrates a huge problem in this tiny, barely postcolonial country: our insecure obsession with authority. It drives communities away from government.

We forget it is what authorised colonialism’s violations. And authority exists nowhere where it matters. Alongside breathtaking violence and corruption, so much of our lives is spent navigating pointless rules, following archaic protocols, and showing deference.

We need sharper tools for governance than authority.

One person did reach out. The Minister of State assured me she hadn’t had me ejected.

I’m encouraged I could still get close to government. People get HIV in the first place because we’ve been thrown out and disregarded. Often with authority. Government workers’ authoritarian response to activism Tuesday has profoundly undone what they were charged to do in constituting a NACC.

I want to fix the mess they’ve created.

Four simple steps: First, assurances that expression of opinion and advocacy are encouraged from civil society NACC members.

I’m not trying to jeopardise anybody’s Cabinet-committee stipend. But we have to expand the NACC. Modestly. Five advocacy seats for specific key populations. Not their service providers.

Folks I’ve asked suggest eight: Trans women. Men who have sex with men. Young people born or living with HIV. Sex workers. People who’ve used drugs. People with disabilities. And two Minister Deyalsingh acknowledged: young women and heterosexual men over 50.

Finally, the NACC staff director has to be a technical expert, not a lifelong government bureaucrat. And government and civil society must co-chair it.

HIV is not a ribbon thing for me. Half my generation is dead; I live with an anger and loneliness. And 35 years into this epidemic, I’m simply exhausted that authorities’ thinking is so far behind the curve, and so many other Caribbean nations.

The day before the NACC, PEPFAR (the US’s $5.2b global HIV programme) launched its local Linkages initiative. They’re enrolling and training sex workers, trans women and gay men as service providers to ourselves. So much of what the red-dresses-and-ribbons folks are doing just isn’t making a dent. We test mainly HIV-negative people. Those with HIV aren’t getting into treatment. They remain infectious—why new people can get HIV.

The day following the launch, PAHO’s new director—from Dominica—highlighted stigma’s role in preventing LGBT healthcare access.

You simply can’t end Aids without jamettes. If Government can’t trust noisy people to be part of nation-building, and can only invite respectability to the table, the NACC will produce minutes, draft plans, collect stipends and never put itself out of business.

At the close of yesterday’s rain-hit penultimate day at the National Stadium here where only 48 overs were possible, Red Force were perched on 96 for two but still requiring a further 120 runs to make the hosts bat again.

The left-handed Rajah, who made his first class debut last month, stroked an enterprising 63 off 116 balls in 141 minutes, with eight fours and one six.

He combined with opener Kyle Hope (20 not out) in a second wicket stand of 93 which pulled Red Force around from three for one when Imran Khan was lbw to fast bowler Keon Joseph for three in the third over of the innings.

Rajah, who made 69 on debut against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Queen’s Park Oval, reached his second half-century of the season by driving left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie to the cover boundary.

The partnership appeared set to take Red Force strongly to the close when Rajah was caught at the wicket off left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul off the first delivery of the day’s final over.

Earlier, Jaguars lost their last four wickets for 21 runs to be dismissed for 378 in their first innings.

Veteran left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul, unbeaten on 141 overnight, added two runs while wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble converted his 18 not out at the start into 33.

Leg-spinner Imran Khan picked up four for 78 while left-arm spinner Khary Pierre claimed three for 50.

Persistent rain forced play to be abandoned of play at Windsor Park

ROSEAU, Dominica – Play on the third day was abandoned without a ball being bowled between Windward Islands Volcanoes and Barbados Pride in the Digicel Regional 4-Day Tournament today, due to wet conditions caused by rain.

Pride were set to resume from their overnight total of 137 for six, but persistent showers throughout the morning prompted umpires Joel Wilson and Jonathan Blades to abandon play for the day at Windsor Park, shortly following a scheduled 11 a.m. inspection.

Only 48.2 overs of play were possible over the first two days of the match in the Dominica capital, as the weather has dealt a blow to the two teams, aiming to either keep up or catch up with the front-runners.

Pride entered the match in third place in the standings on 43.2 points and are yet to earn a point in the match. Volcanoes were fifth on 35.2 points and have so far earned three from two bowling points and one full pace-bowling point.

Jacobs, Miller spin Scorpions to big victory over Hurricanes

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Spin twins Damion Jacobs and Nikita Miller shared eight wickets to follow up powerful batting that concluded with a third first-class hundred for Devon Thomas and spur Jamaica Scorpions to an innings and 73-run victory over Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the WICB Regional 4-Day Tournament on Saturday. (CMC)

Jacobs grabbed 5-64 from 18 overs to end with match figures of 10 for 167 and Miller collected 3-44, as the Hurricanes, trailing by 307 on first innings, were bowled out for 234 in their second innings about an hour past the scheduled close on the rain-marred third day of the day/night, fifth-round match at Warner Park.

Competition in the Tennis Patrons Association 40th Annual Royal Bank Junior Tennis Tournament continued at a pace despite a few showers at the Trinidad Country Club, Maraval, yesterday.

There were wins for Ethan Jeary, who stopped Zarek Joefield 6-2, 6-2, Kyle Lee Young who got the better of Vashist Kelly 6-1, 6-2 and Rhyse Houllier over Kadiy ‘A Robert 6-1, 6-1. Play resumes this morning with a full round of matches from 9 am as 160 players are vying for top honours in nine age categories.

Players will compete in the Under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and newly introduced Under 21 Category for the first time. There will be play for both boys and girls. There are also Novice Events for Under 14 and 10. There will be Singles, Doubles and also Mixed Doubles in various age groups.

BOYS

Ezekiel George bt Adrian Jacobs 6-4

Kale Dalla Costa bt Yeshowah Smith 6-1

James Hadden bt Leeum ChanPak 6-1

Jace Quashie bt Alexander Merry 6-3

Jordell Chapman bt Jason Brathwaite 6-5

Logan Hamel-Smith bt Aariz Celestine 6-3

Tyler Hart bt Zachery Byng 4-1, 4-0

Sebasten Byng bt Lorcan Chan Pak 4-1, 4-1

Eliias Ali bt Jamal Alexis 4-1, 4-0

Christopher Roberts bt Ethan-Jude Trestrail 3-5, 5-4, 10-8

Ryan Conyers bt Emmanuel Porther 4-1, 4-1

Shae Millington bt Nicholas Ready 4-2, 5-4

Tamir Youssef bt Kadeem Charles 6-3

Andre Augustine bt Sebastian Ali 4-1, 5-3

Daniel Jeary bt Zachery BYNG 4-0, 4-0

Beckham Sylvester bt Nathen Martin 4-0, 4-0

Tim Pasea bt Declan Sheppard 4-1, 4-0

Cameron Wong bt Sanjili Seenath 4-1, 4-1

David Rodriguez bt Sebastian Sylvester 5-4, 4-1

Ethan Wong bt Ebolum Nwokolo 5-3, 4-1

Liam Sheppard bt Tyrell George 4-2, 5-4

Alijah Leslie bt Luca Shamsi 4-0, 5-5

Mark Lessey bt Joel Augustine 5-4, 5-4

Kyle Kerry bt Levi Hinkson 4-0, 3-5, 10-6

Nathan Valdez bt Magnus Antoine 4-2, 5-3

Zachery Byng bt Thomas Chung 4-1, 4-2

Sebastian Byng bt Dominic D’Arcy 4-0, 4-0

Ethan Jeary bt Zarek Joefield 6-2, 6-2

Kyle Lee Young bt Vashist Kelly 6-1, 6-2

Joel Alexander Seon bt Josh Kyle Garcia 6-0, 6-3

Caleb Bachew bt Jordan Mukerji 6-0, 6-0

Kyle Hart bt Daniel Jeary 4-2, 4-0

GIRLS

Zara Ghuran bt Jaeda-Lee Daniel- Joseph 6-2

Eva Pasea bt Ailene Mohess 6-0

Inara Chin Lee bt Joy Augustine 6-1

Abigail Chin Lee bt Nya Ashby 6-0

Jade Ali bt Ella Carrington 5-4, 4-2

Charlotte Ready bt Gabrielle Mac Kenzie 5-3, 4-0

Kelsey Leitch bt Nicolette Orr 4-1, 4-0

Maria Honore bt Aralia Blackman 4-0, 4-0

Emily Lawrence bt Charlotte Merry 4-2, 4-1

Kaela Frank bt Chelsea Riley-Moodoo 4-0, 4-0

Aalisha Alexis bt Isabel Abraham 0-4, 4-1, 10-7

Shauna Valentine bt Jade Law 4-0, 4-0

Abigail Jones bt Raeann Villaroel 6-0, 6-0

Rhyse Houllier bt Kadiy’A Robert 6-1, 6-1

As the Soca Warriors gears up to head into its first residential camp under new head coach Tom Saintfiet from tomorrow at a Hotel in South where the players will be based until their departure for Nicaragua, the players have given positive feedbacks about the organisation of the preparations over the last four days. A squad of 21 out of the 28 players called commenced training last Thursday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, as T&T looks to two upcoming friendlies against Nicaragua on December 27 and 30.

Saintfiet, 43, has conducted four sessions so far and will oversee double sessions daily from Tuesday as he gets his squad ready for the two matches in Managua to be followed by the CFU Gold Cup playoff matches at the Ato Boldon Stadium against Suriname and Haiti on January 4 and 8th. The team departs Port of Spain on Christmas evening.

Goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams who has spent the last two sessions also working with goalkeeper coach Lukas Wojciak, said Saintfiet has made a strong impression so far.

“It’s been really good so far. I think the coach obviously has the right ideas, he has all the qualifications for the job and he has come in and imposed himself really well on the group.

He has made his intentions clear which is to firstly qualify for the Gold Cup and then the World Cup. I think he was well received by the players and it augers well for the future of the football in Trinidad and Tobago.

He knows his stuff and he has really gotten off to a very good start,” Williams said yesterday after training at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella.

Williams noted the importance of the team achieving positive results and regaining confidence as it prepares to enter a busy 2017 calendar.

“Now is crunch time for us. We have to buckle down as a team and we have to get back to winning ways. I think the coach knows his stuff and with that extra drive and motivation we should do well. Although we may not have our full compliment of players for Nicaragua, I think a lot of the local based players are getting a chance to show that they deserve a spot,” the Central FC custodian pointed out.

Mexican-based forward Shahdon Winchester said it was important that the squad members focus on playing their parts in helping the team achieve positive results in the matches to come.

“So far things have been going good with the addition of the new players and technical staff. I am pleased with the sessions so far and I think we can only go up from here. I think he (Saintfiet) strongly believes in his philosophy which is a good thing. The four games are important. The two games against Nicaragua are warm ups for us heading into the Suriname and Haiti games. As coach said, he came here to do a job, and we as players have to help him do that job,” Winchester said.

Her Terms enters last chance saloon at Chelmsford today but is again selected because this William Haggas-trained Pivotal filly will be ridden by stable apprentice, Georgia Cox, claiming a 5lbs allowance, in the nursery handicap over five furlongs.

Unlucky losers cost a fortune to follow, Her Terms has twice been a tad unfortunately placed in the closing stages. We just have to give her another chance, even though this is a first time in a handicap which, of course, represents a huge step and is somewhat daunting.

Drawn one Her Terms could hit the gate and dominate, a tardy start and, waste of time!

On my actual time-figures Her Terms comes out marginally best-in and with Georgia offsetting her allotted weight this is an obvious chance but, realistically, isn’t cut ‘n dried and so we’re recommending an each-way bet.

Pointless napping for the sake of it and, in any case, Kingofmerrows has a gilt-edged opportunity of making it sixth time lucky in the following Maiden Stakes over six furlongs. Jamie Osborne’s charge is also a LCS proposition.

We napped King last month after he’d moved from David Evans’ yard. In-form Ozzie sent him to Newcastle for a maiden over seven furlongs of tapeta and new jockey Willie Carson was really fed up when this Kodiac colt disappointed, finishing tenth, beaten seven lengths. I’ll bet the new owners were unhappier!

Twelve days later Kingofmerrows lined up on Kempton poly and proved the previous form all wrong with a useful effort, third to highly-regarded Medahim, over this distance.

A replication of that effort should suffice and Kingofmerrows is napped because he can do better, back in October on a fast-ish York surface Kingofmerrows was beaten a short-head, his career-best!

Carson has developed into a superb jockey, very shrewd and tactically aware, not to mention a student of form; expect him to deliver, just in time for Xmas!

Rest of this seven-race programme is difficult, five handicaps but Candesta should be worth chancing in an aged dash over a mile with Shelley Birkett claiming 3lbs allowance, riding for her mother, Julia Fielden!

Chelmsford, 10.45 Her Terms (e.w)

11.15 Kingofmerrows (nap)

1.20 Candesta (e.w).

Josiah Changar of Sea Hawks Swim Club stole the show with two national records on the penultimate evening of the 2016 ASATT Invitational Swim Meet at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva.

Changar’s couple of records started with his 100m butterfly exhibition swim where he stopped the clock at 1:09.84, to smash the old 9-10 boys record of Zarek Wilson of 1:11.71. Wilson, who also swam exhibition also went under the record (1:11.22), but all spoils belong to Changar. This swim was also an 11-12 Carifta (CQT) and CCCAN (CCAQT) for Changar.

The Sea Hawks athlete then went on to erase Scott Sealy’s 1992 9-10 boys 50m breaststroke of 38.24 to win gold in 38.09, ahead of Wilson in 38.19 seconds. This swim also qualified the two athletes for CCCAN.

Tidal Wave Aquatics earned five relay golds in the 4 x 50 medley relays. Sea Hawks, Marlins, Flying Fish, UTT and Blue Dolphins all earned one relay win a piece.

Unattached Regan Allen emerged the lone individual double gold medallist of the evening with victories in the 11-12 female 100m butterfly (1:08.39) and 200m backstroke (2:41.76). The 100m fly swim earned her a CQT and CCAQT.

Jenabi Benoit of Grenfins Grenada won another gold, winning the 11-12 boys 100m butterfly in 1:03.64. Malik Nelson of Atlantis won silver (1:05.73), with Riquelio Joseph winning bronze in a CQT and CCAQT of 1:09.54.

Jada Chai of Atlantis (1:07.60) and Vrisnelit Faure of Areios (1:08.81) both qualified for both meets for the 15-17 age group with their gold and silver finishes in the 13-14 female 100 fly,

Y Speedos Jamaica athlete Jordane Payne won gold in the 100m butterfly for 13 -14 boys in 1:00.57, just ahead of Aqeel Joseph of Sea Hawks (1:00.83). Joseph again qualified for both regional meets with this swim.

Melina Marcano of Sea Hawks won gold in the 15 & over girls 100m fly (1:13.74), with Tidal Wave’s Kael Yorke winning the male equivalent in 56.89 seconds in a CQT and CCAQT. Christian Awah of Blue Dolphins won silver in an 18 & over CCAQT (57.58).

In the eight & under 50m breaststroke Abrisse Trim of YMCA Tobago (49.22) and Karic Charles of Lightning Aquatics St Lucia (44.89) were the girls and boys victors, respectively.

The 9-10 girls race was won by Naima Hazell (37.88) of Lightning Aquatics, who also went faster than the T&T national record.

Record breaker in the 50m fly, Zoe Anthony of Marlins had a silver medal finish in the breaststroke in 38.76, and made her bid to be a member of the 2017 CARIFTA and CCCAN teams.

One hundredths of a second separated gold and silver 11-12 male 50m breaststroke, as Kyle West of Marlins (35.57) edged Riquelio Joseph (35.58) of Sea Hawks. Both athletes achieved 11-12 CQT and CCAQT.

Naomi Patterson of Tidal Wave (38.41) won the 11-12 girls 50m breast ahead of Sierra Reis of Atlantis and Arielle Dickson of Flying Fish who jointly won silver in 38.66. Dickson, who remains in 11-12 next year, qualified for Carifta and CCCAN.

Deshor Edwards of Atlantis (38.90) and Luke Gillette of Marlins (32.36) won the 13-14 female and boys 50m breaststroke, respectively. Aliyah Noel of Atlantis (35.85) and Amira Pilgrim of UTT (36.13) qualified for both meets with their gold and silver finish in the 15 & over girls 50m breast.

Abraham Mc Leod of Atlantis won the 50m breaststroke with and 18 & over CCAQT of 29.62 to win the 15 & over event. His team-mate Jeron Thompson won silver and qualified for both meets in a time of 29.62.

In addition to Allen, Tidal Wave’s Jahmia Harley (2:29.37) and Tobago YMCA’s Ornella Walker (2:34.35) made CQT and CCAQT in their 200m backstroke gold medal swims in the 13-14 and 15-17 categories respectively. Eric Lashley of Pirates Barbados (2:38.21) and Delroy Tyrell of Tidal Wave (2:37.55) won the 11-12 and 13-14 boys event respectively.

This meet serves as the first qualifier for long course national teams next year, inclusive of the Bahamas-hosted Carifta Swim Championships, and Confederación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Natación (CCCAN) Championships.

The 30th edition of the latter championships will be held in T&T at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva during June/July 2017. The games will feature swimming, waterpolo, diving and synchronised swimming which will all be hosted at the Aquatic Centre, and open water races.

The 2016 ASATT Invitational was schedule to conclude yesterday.

President of Abilene Athletics Club, Shedley Branche is praising the parents of the athletes for the club’s accomplishments. “Many of you have parents who have supported you all throughout your development and I am sure I have and will continue to sacrifice tremendously to see you reach your goal”, said Branche, who addressed the membership at the club’s annual award ceremony at the Arima West Government Primary School, Arima Old Road, Arima, on December 10.

Branche called on the athletes to be disciplined towards their training in order to achieve success. He told the gathering which was fill with past, present and future athletes, “Discipline is the bridge between talent and ultimate success. Discipline is what is going to bring you out at 5 o’clock in the morning to run the hills and practice your starts and baton exchanges over and over until you get it right. Discipline also is what is going to make you attractive to your future employers after your track days are long behind you.”

He also commended the coaching staff and administration for their contributions to the club’s accomplishment in the past year.

Abilene Wildcats heroes

The Abilene Wildcats Athletic Club is celebrating a successful year in track and field in 2016. The 53-year-old club fielded five members on T&T’s team to the Rio Olympics Games, the most by a club. Janiel Bellille, Reyare Thomas, Kyle Greaux, Deon Lendore and Jereem Richards now brings the number of club athletes who have compete at the Olympic Games to 15.

Coach Charles Joseph, who was also in Rio on the T&T coaching staff, was a member of the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympic teams. The club’s first Olympian was its founder Dr Cliff Bertrand.

T&T’s first woman Olympic competitor, Laura Pierre, was also a Abilene Wildcats member.

The full list of Abilene Wildcats Olympians over the years were: Dr Cliff Bertrand (Tokyo-1964), Winston Short (Mexico City, 1968), Dr Lennox Yearwood (Mexico City, 1968), Charles Joseph (Munich-1972, Montreal-1976, Moscow-1980), Laura Pierre (Munich-1972), Ainsley Armstrong (Munich-1972, Montreal-1976), Anthony Husbands (Montreal-1976), Andrew Bruce (Moscow-1980), Michael Paul (Moscow-1980), Caryle Bernard (Los Angeles-1984), Deon Lendore (London-2012, Rio de Janeiro-2016), Janiel Bellille (London-2012, Rio de Janeiro-2016), Reyare Thomas (Rio de Janeiro-2016), Kyle Greaux (Rio de Janeiro-2016), and Jereem Richards (Rio de Janeiro-2016).

Bellille competed at the 2012 Olympic Games while a member of the Neon Tracks Athletic club. Lendore has won the club’s lone Olympic medal, bronze, when he anchored T&T’s men’s 4x400m team to third place at the London Olympics four years ago. The club is also the largest in the country at the moment with a membership of 164.

In Rio, Bellille was a semifinalist in the women’s 400m hurdles while Greaux (men’s 200m), Thomas (women’s 200m) and Lendore (men’s 400m/4x400m) competed in the heats. Richards (mens 4x400m), Thomas (women’s 4x100m) and Greaux (men’s 4x100m) were also part of relay pools.

Four Abilene athletes, Adel Colthrust, Avindale Smith, Che Lara, Josiah Edwards, competed at the Carifta Games in Grenada. Colthrust (boys under 18 100m) and Lara (boys under 18 4x400m) returned home with bronze.

Sports reporter urges athletes to have a dream

The feature speaker of the ceremony was sports reporter Kwame Laurence, who encouraged the athletes to have a vision for success.

He said: “Do you have a dream? If the answer is no that needs to change today. Everyday you go out to train you must move one stride closer to realising your dreams. Coaches, parents and administrators you have a responsibility to help the athletes catch a vision. God expects us to have big dreams for ourselves and for others. Hold on to your dreams and achieve greatness.”

Laurence, further cited examples of great athletes who kept focussed on their goals despite initial disappointments.

He made mention of a few and said, “Michael Jordan is (considered) the greatest basketballer of all time and did not make his high school A team in his sophomore year. He was considered too short but he held on to his dream. He could have given up at that stage. Thankfully, he held on to his dream, had a great season with his high school B team and make the A team the following year. He then developed into a sporting legend.”

Laurence also shared that former top T&T sprinter Ato Boldon overcame a poor showing at his first Olympics Games and went on to win four Olympic medals.

He said: “Ato Boldon would tell you that he did not have a great performance at his first Olympics in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. He will also tell you that the newspaper headlines that followed that performance ‘Boldon flatters to deceive’ inspired him. It is now history that Boldon went on to become T&T’s most prolific Olympian with four medals.”

Meanwhile, Ephraim Serrette, who was recently re-elected to head the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA), also congratulated the club on its success both on and off the field, he said, “I want to congratulate Abilene Wildcats. Fifty-three years are lots of years. I want to say to the athletes congratulations on the season and I look forward to seeing you in 2017. Continue to represent your club to best of your ability.”

He added, that track and field has had a big impact in his life. “As a former athlete I want to say to the younger athletes that track and field has done a lot for me. If not for track and field I am not too sure where I would have been today.”

The internet hashtag #LifeinLeggings started in late November in Barbados, and since then it has released a torrent of (largely younger) women’s stories and brief Twitter anecdotes, all based on uncensored personal experiences of womens’ demeaning experiences at the hands of men. (Older women, it seems, don’t use Facebook or Twitter so much, or are more reticent about public sharing of private experiences.)

The stories or brief statements being shared are disturbing.

From insulting heckling on the road, to harassment at work, to sexual abuse of girls and reprehensible behaviour of victim-shaming and protecting male abusers through a conspiracy of silence, some of the shared experiences are graphic, and they paint a dirty, violent picture of T&T and Caribbean society.

The anecdotes reveal that even though many T&T/Caribbean women may live independently, and may have a good education and a job, in the transactions of daily living they must still deal with pervasive sexism, gender prejudice entrenched deep within the culture, and active ill treatment from many men.

Such men may routinely demean women, see women as inferior, and feel they have the right to control them, use them or abuse them.

The heartfelt nature of the negative experiences being shared on #LifeinLeggings has triggered some heated public discussions in reaction to issues raised.

Issues include verbal and physical harassment of females by men; violence to women by men; sexual exploitation of females by men; a perceived rape culture in T&T and the Caribbean; and the culture of shame and silence within families and communities, a culture that often protects male abusers while shaming or further traumatising female victims of abuse.

‘Not enough being done’

The T&T Guardian spoke by phone last week with Ronelle King in Barbados, the co-founder of the social media hashtag #LifeinLeggings, to ask her why she started it.

“I started the movement based on my personal experiences with sexual harassment and sexual abuse,” she said.

“It became a breaking point...most movements come from a breaking point of injustice, with not enough being done about it.”

So she contacted her best friend, Allyson Benn, with the suggestion to start a movement to create a safe space for women who have been sexually harassed or abused, to share their experiences.

The hashtag idea was born, with Life in Leggings chosen as a catchy name.

King commented that “urban women are constantly thrown under the bus” when people say their mode of dress invites abuse.

“That’s not true. Sexual harassment has nothing to do with your clothing... To perpetuate that myth is very, very harmful: it victim-blames the actual victims of sexual harassment and abuse”, instead of holding the actual abusers accountable for their actions, said King.

King feels the social media hashtag is expanding into a grassroots movement.

“It literally took off the next day,” said King, with women posting from Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Antigua, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, Belize, and other places.

Dominica soon started its own hashtag—#LévéDomnik—which translated from Créole, means “Stand up/Wake up Dominica” (see http://embracedominica.com/blog/levedomnik/ for abuse stories shared there).

And participants are also coming from the US, Canada and the UK, said King. “We’ve got pings as far as Japan and China,” she commented.

The popularity of the hashtag has led other groups to weigh in, including the Barbados group Gays, Lesbians and All-sexuals against Discrimination (B-GLAD), whose co-founder, Ro-Ann Mohammed, recently told reporter Kerri Gooding:

“The #LifeinLeggings hashtag is more than just another social media trend.

“What it is doing is exposing the insidiousness of misogyny within our culture and its effects on women and girls from all walks of life, sexual orientations and all socio-economic backgrounds.” (Loop News, posted December 15).

King, in her interview with the Guardian, noted that ill-treatment of women happens all over the world, but our own history plays a unique role:

“It’s a global problem. But I believe our experience within the Caribbean differs a little from the international, because of our colonial past and how women were more seen as property than as people,” she said.

“Our culture really allows grown men to sexually abuse young girls. Especially minivan (or maxi taxi) culture... And when those things come to light, you hear: ‘She too faas. She force-ripe.’ They don’t ever look at the fact that these underage girls are raped because they are too young to give consent.”

(Concludes tomorrow)

Do we have a rape culture in T&T?

Emilie Buchwald, author of Transforming a Rape Culture, defines it as: “...a complex set of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm. In a rape culture, both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, inevitable. However, much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change.” 

At least one Wikipedia entry supports the idea of a rape culture in Trinidad:

“According to the US Secretary of State, the (T&T) government and nongovernmental organisations reported that many incidents of rape and other sexual crimes were unreported, partly due to perceived insensitivity of police, exacerbated by a wide cultural acceptance of gender-based violence. There is a lack of reliable statistics, but women’s groups stated in 2013 that over 50 per cent of the country’s women suffered abuse. Many community leaders asserted that abuse of women, particularly in the form of domestic violence, continued to be a significant problem.”

Amilcar Sanatan, a man who works at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at UWI, told the Guardian he believes T&T definitely has a rape culture. He explained the term in his own words:

“Rape culture does not refer to the prevalence of rape in society alone. It refers to the pervasiveness of images, everyday experiences of harassment, and narratives about sexual violence against women.

“Rape culture creates an environment of risk to violence for women, and often puts the blame on women for the violence that they may experience in such a society, and ultimately imposes male desires and control over women’s bodies. Rape culture is prevalent because it is rooted in intersecting forms and articulations of misogyny, sexism and violence against women—in music lyrics, popular advertisments, street harassment, intimate partner violence, online bullying, revenge pornography.” 

Lennox Toussaint, a deacon, is very concerned about how women are treated, but has a different view. In a telephone interview with the Guardian, he said he was not familiar with the #LifeinLeggings campaign. However, when asked if he thinks T&T has a rape culture, he said no. Our problem, he feels, is much broader and deeper than this:

“I think we have a lawless society,” he said, alluding to lawlessness in practically every aspect of living here, from institutions to relationships.

“The entire society is lawless. Look at how people drive on the road—they don’t care about each other. And that is just an indication. You take that same behaviour into the workplace, you take that same behaviour into the home. People are so lawless that people feel they could do to other people whatever they want, however they want. It is a frightening thing.

“So we have no respect for our women. We forget that our women are somebody’s sisters, daughters, mothers. We feel that we can tell them all kinds of foolish things, and if they don’t respond, then we could do what we want. Therein lies the danger.

“We can’t look at the fruit. We have to look at the root. We definitely need to pull up our society together. It is everybody’s responsibility.

“This society has gone down a road. If you look at T&T two or three decades ago, we were a society to be admired. When I went to New York and people asked me where I was from, I’d say I lived in the closest place to heaven—T&T. I can’t say that now. The society has lost its way. Priests, politicians, everybody needs to get together in a serious way and pull this society back together. We are in a mess. I mean, another killing is no big thing for people now — and that is a frightening thing. People just don’t care. So there is a lot of work to be done.

“We need to start in the home—develop family life in the home, help children to have respect for themselves and other people. From that respect, we’ll get love. From that love, we will start to care for one another again.”

Space for healing

Speaking on issues raised by the #LifeinLeggings social media campaign of womens’ shared stories about sexual violence, Amilcar Sanatan reminds us that rape is a male problem, and men need to check their own behaviour:

“Many men who subscribe to ideas of male dominance, violence and control over women—and also the men who are complicit and sit idly by while ‘other men’ carry on in that way—are part of the problem, because rape and violence against women are men’s issues,” he said.

“Men need to challenge other men. Men enjoy spaces in the public that few women have access too. So men must listen to women’s stories and work with men to end the great social problem of sexual and gender-based violence.

“Male sexual entitlement in a patriarchy can only be transformed when toxic masculinity is transformed, and ideals of masculinity are reconfigured for collective security and harmony,” believes Sanatan.

Where does the #LifeinLeggings campaign go from here? It’s still unfolding, but its co-founder Ronelle King shared:

“Some really big organisations have reached out to us to assist, and we are looking forward to working with them... We want to not only to bring awareness, but we want to dismantle the rape culture in the Caribbean.”

In the meanwhile, she said that through the sharing of experiences online, some people are finally breaking their silence, and enabling themselves to heal as adults from experiences that in some cases happened in childhood.

“I’m glad that the hashtag was able to let people finally speak out. One of the things that people started doing, within the hashtag movement, was to reach out to people who shared their stories and tell them: ‘Thank you.’ They gave them the courage to share their own stories, and they appreciate their bravery and honesty. Some actually found healing buddies with each other.”

DE FREITAS: Lawrence(Larry) passed away peace-fully on Saturday 17th De-cember, 2016. Husband ofBarbara. Father of Beverley,Gillian, Colin, Deborah, Gary,Michele, Ian, Melanie andSharon. Grandfather of 20. Brother of Ivy and Joseph(both deceased), Theresaand Manuel.

Funeral Massfor the late Lawrence (Larry)De Freitas takes place at10:00 a.m. on Wednesday21st December, 2016 at St.Anthony’s R.C. Church,Morne Coco Road, Petit Val-ley. Interment at LapeyrouseCemetery. For enquiries callR. M. de Souza MemorialChapel Limited 223-2007/637-2009.

DAYE SEETAHAL age 76years of Cedar Hill RoadClaxton Bay died peacefullyon 19th December, 2016 aher residence. Daughter othe late Rookmin MaharaWife of the late Basdeo Seetahal Daughter in law of the lateKadar and Dolly SeetahaMother of Chris (dec.), SintraSastri, Nyla, Vedo (Dec.), and Rena Mother in law of Visantee, Ramesh, Anand, Videshand Lynette Sister of Harry Rajdaye and Seeta Sister inlaw of Capil, Vishnu, Chan, Rimatee, Sushilla, DrucillaPamela, Devika and Sandra Grandmother of ShakaileShalini, Shanta, ShivaniAruna, Shiva, Shakti, Vasishand Rajiv Great Grandmotheof 7

Funeral takes place onWednesday 21st December2016 at the House of mourning at 9:30 am and then to theShore of Peace according tohindu rites at 12:00 pm

SKAM, ENA (Mrs. Johnson) passed away peacefully ahome on Sunday 18th December, 2016. Wife of the late Kam Yuen Chong. Mother of David(Bianca), Patrick (Patricia), Winston, Robert and the late Ronald(Yvonne). Grandmother of 11. Great grandmother of 7. Great great grandmother of 2. Sister of 4(all deceased).
 

Funeral massfor the late Ena Kam takesplace at 9:00am on Friday23rd December, 2016 at StAnn's R.C. Church, St. Ann'sfollowed by private cremation. Funeral entrusted toC&B. For enquiries, pleasecontact Chancellor Walks Funeral Services, ?287-0403/04.

Police have rearrested Dale Seecharan as part of their ongoing investigation into the murder of 20-year-old Shannon Banfield.

Banfield was found beneath boxes in the storeroom at IAM and Company on Charlotte Street on December 8, three days after she went missing.

Hours after citizens participated in a march from Independence Square to Charlotte Street, calling for justice on Banfield's behalf, officers detained Seecharan, who the police had initially described as a "person of interest."

Police are also awaiting the results of DNA testing which will indicate whether or not Banfield was sexually assaulted before she was murdered.

This latest arrest will be the third for Seecharan in relation to Banfield's case.

Seecharan was released by police at 10.10 pm last Monday, but was rearrested around 1 am last Tuesday at his St Helena home.
.

Banfield, of Mc Carthy Street, Cantaro Village, Santa Cruz, was last seen leaving her workplace—RBL’s Independence Square branch—around 4 pm on December 5.

In a telephone conversation with her mother Sherry-Ann Lopez around that time, Banfield said she was going to purchase items at the same store (IAM) she was eventually found in.

Banfield’s body was discovered hidden under some boxes in the company’s third floor storeroom around 1.30 pm on December 8 by employees who were searching for the source of a strong decomposing scent which they believe was a dead rat.

Her autopsy stated she had been smothered and police recovered what they believed to be a murder weapon, a bloodied towel, near where she was found. 

​“We must sleep with eyes open, we must dream with our hands…till the dream engenders in the sleeper’s flank the red wheat-ear of resurrection…we must dream backwards, toward the source, we must row back up the centuries…we must break down the walls between man and man, reunite what has been sundered…we must…dream inwardly and also outwardly.”

Lines from the poem The Broken Waterjar by Mexican writer Octavio Paz become a pivot point for Jasmine Thomas-Girvan’s recent exhibition Dreaming Backwards: The Magic of Breaking the Spell. In an equally exquisite and unnerving amalgamation of various materials: feathers, silver, wood, bronze, glass, ceramics, palm fronds and calabash, along with an array of sources of information—from the writings of Derek Walcott and Nancy Morejon, to the Princess and the Pea fairy tale, Roman Catholic and Haitian Vodoun iconography and jazz/blues music-the artist elicits a deep, visceral response as she traverses the waters of time in a reverse flow toward a traumatic history.

Thomas-Girvan first invites audiences inside themselves with a fitting piece in glass titled Open Your Eyes and Look Within. The figure stands with head bent, eyes set on the chest and arms open as if cradling a swell of years and an egg shape of possibilities. In order to “row back up the centuries,” Thomas-Girvan presents Sleeping Beauty, an elongated figure fixed to the gallery wall like the oar of a boat. With toes pointed and frame pulled, the figure stretches across weeks, months, ages.

If audiences continue in a chronological ordering of the artworks, they move from Sleeping Beauty on the wall out to the piece Medicine for All Things, which stands on a plinth, and back to the gallery wall for the sailing vessel and its navigator titled Tributary Gaze. The exhibition layout again dictates another move outward to the piece Rooted and a return to the wall for another watercraft work called A Refuge: Weapons From Far Off Lands. This thoughtful arrangement of art carries audiences in an undulating fashion like the movement of waves. Visitors find themselves on a liquid journey to the past, travelling and dreaming inward and outward like a running stitch in time.

Thomas-Girvan offers a candid voyage. In her dreamscape palm fronds, lined with brilliant feathers, curl in a serpentine manner. At the tip a curious figure of bulbous bits is found dangling. The piece references the song Strange Fruit (performed by such singers as Billie Holiday and Nina Simone), which tells of the heinous practice of lynching and the sight of black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, like strange fruit hanging from trees. To heighten the sonic reference point Thomas-Girvan includes tuning pegs, which extend from the body of the fronds. Nature can now be read as a guitar. Yet, those pegs resonate on other levels. They also hint at the form of human cargo seen in illustrations of the hull of slave ships and, if regarded as a series of oars, they maintain that idea of rowing, of propelling self along passages before now.

If viewers stay in the dream they encounter the monstrous mask of civility and the deceptive cloak of fine dining. Thomas-Girvan presents a cross as a table. It is at once a symbol of atonement and a crossroads at which audiences must stop and think about the present and future as part of their meditation on the past. The table is set with a lace-fringed tablecloth, china cups and saucers, and silverware.

Yet on closer inspection, cups hold blood instead of tea, an image that calls to mind Barbadian artist Annalee Davis’ drawing Blood Sweetened Beverage currently on display at the University of Texas—Austin, as part of her own investigation of a plantation heritage. Other disquieting elements can be found among the tableware. A spoonful of sugar carries a head with an open mouth—a silent cry amid the sweetness—while scores of arms reach out desperately from a slit in a covered dish, in the piece Wasn’t That a Vanity Dish To Set Before the King. From the spout of a teapot comes a cow horn or abeng (as it is known by the maroons of Jamaica). It is a symbol of a call for emancipation. If viewers bypass these details, Thomas-Girvan makes sure her subversion of a setting of seeming opulence and comfort is evident. She adds a bird to this grand sculpture in a strategic move. Its beak tugs on the tablecloth, toppling crockery and leaving shattered pieces on the floor.

Of note too is the position of the final piece in the show titled Sinking or Swimming. It is a serving platter with a partially submerged figure. Speaking about this specific work Thomas-Girvan said: “Many times complacency makes us think we are floating when in fact we are sinking, even being pulled under by a system that at a glance appears beautifully benign. We must be vigilant.” To view the piece, audiences come full circle in the gallery, passing the aforementioned glass figure, as a reminder that time can be cyclical and subject to repeated events. Be careful. What exists in the past does not always stay there.

This exhibition exposes layers of anxiety and addresses lingering tastes, vanity, anguish and unconsciousness. To break the hex of colonialism and quash the spell of stupefaction and division, Jasmine Thomas-Girvan delivers a potion through a hybrid vocabulary that splices together words and images. This is not a nostalgic offering. The work is handsomely difficult and audiences ultimately bear witness to an artist dreaming with her hands. Her pieces capture in myriad, vivid ways the thinking of Martinican intellectual Aimé Césaire who recognises that “the shortest way to the future is always one that involves a deep understanding of the past.”

Dale Seecharan has been charged with the murder of 20-year-old Shannon Banfield and is en route to the Port-of-Spain Magistrate's Court.

The 38-year-old IAM and co employee was arrested for the third time last night by officers of the homicide bureau at his St Helena home.

Banfield was found beneath boxes in the storeroom at IAM and Company on Charlotte Street on December 8, three days after she went missing.

Yesterday, Banfield's mother led a march through the streets of the capital city calling for justice for her daughter.