David Brash, managing director of Trinity Offshore Supply and Tow Ltd, which was recently awarded a contract to transport building materials and heavy equipment to Tobago on the Trinity Transporter barge, yesterday promised to deliver to the business community on time.

“I don’t think Tobago has enough cargo to fill the barge. It’s more than adequate. This barge carries a lot of big bulk cargo. We will see what will happen from this week,” Brash said.

Brash, whose company is based in South Oropouche, pleaded with Tobagonians to “keep an open mind. You will see that all the cargoes will be delivered exactly on time.”

His comments came in response to Tobago Chamber of Commerce chairman Demi John Cruikshank claim that stakeholders are still against the idea of a barge operating on the sea bridge.

Cruikshank’s comment came after the Port Authority of T&T (PATT) awarded Brash’s company the contract to transport cargo to on the sea bridge using its 70.2 metre long barge. The PATT also secured the MV Provider to replace the Super Fast Galicia, which will make is final voyage today.

The MV Provider will be used to transport container cargo and perishable goods.

From Sunday, both vessels, which have a longer sailing time than the Galicia, will service the inter-island ferry route.

PATT chairman Alison Lewis said the daily rent of the MV Provider will be US$14,500 while the Transporter will cost between US$8,000 to $10,000.

Asked yesterday if his company offered PATT a reduced price for use of its barge, Brash said yes.

“I gave them (PATT) a longer term price over 30 days. We don’t know if it is going to be there for more than two weeks. I still give it them.”

He said the barge will service Tobago at one third of the cost. Brash said three prices were offered to PATT in the tendering process. For a week or less, Brash said the cost was US$12,000 a day.

“We charge US$10,000 a day for 30 days or less. A daily fee of US$8,000 is charged for over 42 days. We agreed to give them (PATT) the barge for US$8,000 a day,” Brash disclosed.

Built in 1983, the Transporter was re-engineered in 2012, he said. Two years ago it was upgraded with bin walls.

“The barge can carry up to 5,000 metric tonnes,” Brash boasted.

On how many trucks it can accommodate, Brash said this would depend on their size.

“It can accommodate cars, trucks...whatever. The only thing you cannot put on it is passengers,” Brash said.

More efficient than Galicia

Also weighing in on the issue was vice president of the Shipping Association of T&T Garry Dalla Costa, who said the Transporter can accommodate three times more cargo than the Galicia.

Giving details about the Transporter, Dalla Costa said the Galicia can carry a capacity of 1,500 tonnes.

“So we are talking about three times the capacity. So on every one sailing of the Transporter you could have three times the capacity going to Tobago. I can give you that assurance she is in good shape,” Dalla Costa said.

“The Transporter will provide much more efficiency than the Galicia. The reason why I can tell you that, we used that vessel to transport cargo for several companies. The Tobago Chamber of Commerce has nothing to worry about.”

He said the Transporter was also heavily insured.

“The maritime authority has fully approved the Transporter.”

Dalla Costa said while the sailing time of the Transporter was ten hour while the Galicia takes five, “If I sail from Trinidad with a barge this afternoon it can arrive in Tobago early the next morning. It can work.”

Brash also insisted that his barge has a proven track record. It has transported aggregate, freight containers, drilling rigs, lowboys, trucks and trailers, he said.

He said the Transporter has been providing services to ports in Trinidad and Texas and Louisiana in the United States. It has also worked in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

Brash also said the Tobago Chamber of Commerce was jumping the gun by making utterances without seeing the barge’s specifics or in operations.

“As a matter of fact, if the Chamber use their head well, they would get the quarry business in Tobago kicked off. They can use this barge to bring all the materials from Tobago to build the highways in Trinidad. There are a lot of benefits for their businessmen for this barge working in Tobago.”

The track and field team, led by double sprint queen Khalifa St Fort, and the swim team, led by Gabriela Donahue, who had a five gold medal haul, made their parents and compatriots proud with their performances. For this they must be congratulated, since their achievements represent the culmination of months of hard work and commitment towards the goal of reaching the medal rostrum and making T&T proud.

Overall, T&T’s track and field team secured 22 medals—seven gold, five silver and ten bronze—while the swim team finished fourth in the team standings, their best performance in years.

Even as the medal-winning athletes are still revelling in their successes, however, their respective associations and the public should consider whether the proper foundations are in place to ensure these athletes—the Carifta level being the stage for junior athletes—achieve their fullest potential going forward.

A comparison with Jamaica’s Carifta medal haul may provide a better perspective on how to assess this country’s performances and the way forward. In track and field, T&T was second behind the Jamaicans, who bagged 87 medals—39 gold medals, 28 silver and 20 bronze. Jamaica came out on top at the Carifta Games for a 41st time in its 46-year history and it was their 33rd consecutive year as overall team champions.

That is a dominant run which the Jamaicans fully expect to continue in the future. Their swimmers finished fourth overall despite multiple medal efforts from swimmers like Donahue.

Former Olympic champion now coach and television presenter Ato Boldon often notes that T&T’s returns in track and field are not reflective of what should be produced given the resources available to us and the potential out there.

Indeed, a casual visit to some of the country’s stadia on any given day will reveal that hundreds of young athletes are in training for a chance to represent their country. The same can be said of the swimmers, who flock to pools across the country to develop their skills with the same dream. No doubt the same applies to those in other sporting disciplines not undertaken at the Carifta Games.

Unfortunately, many of these athletes never get the chance to be on a national team and those not fortunate enough to secure a scholarship abroad fall by the wayside. This apparent predestined fate for our athletes is perhaps an indicator that athletic bodies do not have proper development plans, do not conduct good talent searches or who just have poor foresight. Of course, it could also be a combination of all these things.

This country does not lack infrastructure to develop the talent we have, although it could be said the swimmers, even with last year’s commissioning of the National Aquatic Centre, have less facilities than other athletes.

What is lacking, is the administrative drive to find creative ways to maximise the talent and opportunities we have.

On the other hand there is the matter of government and corporate engagement in the process. Both must do their part to give the athletes as much support as possible.

The Soca Warriors’ qualification for the 2006 World Cup was one of the few instances when both government and corporate T&T worked in unison to support a drive which eventually brought success. Since then, however, such co-operation has been lacking and the country’s overall performances have suffered.

In addition, Sport Minister Daryl Smith needs to open discussion with the relevant bodies to develop a sporting master plan to be implemented across all disciplines.

The power of sport to unite a country is well known. The Soca Warriors’ Germany experience, javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott’s 2012 Olympic gold medal effort and now St Fort’s and Donahue’s multiple Carifta medal hauls are but examples of what our athletes can achieve.

It is time to rally around T&T young athletes with a plan to develop their potential.

Ziya’s teachers have started suggesting that I invest more in her focus on school work and a routine of revision. She’ll need this in order to not experience Junior 1, next year, as an overwhelming leap in demands, pressure and material to be covered.

The girl is dreamy, drifting away from whatever she is assigned to doodle on her notebook pages, wanting to fall asleep on afternoons, more interested in chatting, drawing and play, and sometimes outright inattentive. So, I’m appreciative of her teachers’ insights and advice.

I’m also committed to developing her motivation and concentration, and guiding her to write more quickly and neatly, and take more initiative to complete homework.

I’d like her to feel confident and capable of tackling learning and responsibility challenges, and to begin to develop the habits and skills to do so.

Another part of me is protective of her dreaminess and distraction. I think dreaminess and imagination are wonders and rights of childhood.

I think her brain transitions to doodling when she gets bored, and that school shouldn’t consist of years of mostly boredom, which it was for the majority of us. Children get bored because of how they are taught so the challenge to adapt is for us, not them.

Does homework systematically nurture children’s creativity, courage, caring or love for learning, especially when it often consists of tired and frustrated parents buffing up tired and frustrated children?

I’m unconvinced that “alternative” assignments that require parents to search the Internet or spend nights helping to put together projects really present displays of independent effort.

I’d rather Zi spend her evenings drumming or dancing than doing more writing at this stage.

I think we should go to the river or waterfalls every weekend rather than sacrifice them for revision. And, I think these sentiments are appropriate for the mother of a child just six years old.

I have many reasons for these priorities. First, I’d like Zi to learn to love learning more than I’m concerned with how much content she learns.

I spent 28 years in school and did my best learning when I loved my subjects, and that didn’t start to happen until university.

Second, I think that children grow into school practices at different rates and our homogenising system misses this fact of childhood development.

Maybe at six she doesn’t care about school for more than half of the allotted time for a subject, maybe some teaching styles are sheer tedium, maybe she won’t begin to reach her peak or potential for another couple of years.

None of that speaks to her capacity for self-determination in adult life, but it could compromise that defining moment of childhood, SEA, which unfortunately establishes the overarching rationale for parents’ schooling decisions.

Third, I teach university students.

Many come afraid of experimenting or getting things wrong, asking for example essays rather than trying to find their own voice, wanting instructions for every step of assignments rather than to be able to figure it out, terrified or passive about communicating confusions or critiques with lecturers, pessimistic rather than utopian, disengaged from social transformation rather than demanding it, expecting good grades for mediocre work, and unclear about their responsibility to improve not only their lives, but the world.

Marley called it “head-decay-shun.” Our courses have to pull out passion, political will, purpose, creativity, empowerment and a sense of care and humanity.

It’s in the students already, just hardly still prioritised. When rewarded, I’ve seen so many of them spark. I’m also most likely to hire young women and men who bring unusual ideas and angles, who aim beyond the status quo, can devise solutions and strategies, and are ethical, fearless and self-motivated.

Passed tests matter, but not really. I’d rather a hunger for new experiences, lessons and opportunities to contribute.

As a mother, I see Ziya starting a schooling path that many have gone through, and survived just fine, some better than others.

As an educator and employer, I also see the end results and its myriad costs.

Come Monday, when school starts, I’ll still be wondering how to negotiate my own learning philosophy with that of the system of which we are also a part.

Our data reveal that over seventy per cent of the murders that took place in T&T in February and March 2017 involved guns. Then, there are other crimes where the gun is used like wounding, robber, larceny, and importantly, in the colossal drug trade.

Everyone acknowledges that the illegal possession and use of guns is a massive problem that hasn’t been treated in any notable way.

If they were, we wouldn’t be in this unforgiving situation today. The problem didn’t start recently; it germinated many years ago and is now systemic.

Overall, there are two sides to look at this gun-crime epidemic: the demand and supply sides. The demand side involves criminals who need guns to execute their activities.

The supply side deals with those who make money from importing, selling, renting, leasing, etc, the guns. With guns, the illegal trade of ammunition, bullet-proof vests and other gadgets go hand in hand.

It’s argued that quicker results are achieved by addressing the supply side, that is, by cutting-off the supply as much as possible.

By making it more difficult to get the guns, there’ll be less available for use. It’ll make it more expensive to obtain and not every Dick and Harrylal can access a gun if they wanted.

What are some of the ways to cut off supply? As T&T is not a manufacturer of guns, we have to stem its flow into the country.

And, we all know the various entry points along the coastline, in the open seas, through the various ports (sea and air), etc.

We also have to get the guns when they are on the islands.

There must be adequate and effective searches, raids and intelligence-gathering for example. Acting on intelligence is the most effective strategy to get those bloody guns.

Even periodic gun amnesties will get some off the streets. Financial rewards for information on the whereabouts of guns will go a long way but it must be enticing enough.

However, we’re not too sure how effective asking average people in the community to provide information on persons with guns may be in light of mistrust of law enforcement generally.

It’s argued that dealing with the demand for guns will take a longer time to get any reasonable result but relevant strategies must be pursued. We’ll have to get into the various reasons why people want guns and tackle them there.

People need guns to commit crime so we’ll have to deal with the larger societal, psychological, economical and criminological reasons for crime.

These interventions can bring long term results. Interventions can be made in at-risk schools, at-risk communities, with at-risk families, in the prisons etc. But, results will not be fast-coming!

Laws and penalties can be used to address both the demand and supply sides.

Where there are stringent laws with stiff penalties for gun, ammunition and other gadgets’ possession and use, and an effective criminal justice system (that is, police, courts and prison) to go with it, both sides will certainly be addressed.

This is critical otherwise we will be wasting much time and resources.

Our gun crimes penalties need to be made more severe. They don’t serve as a deterrent at this time. Gun criminals have no fear of or respect for these laws! The likelihood of these crimes being detected is low and the gun criminals are willing and able to take the chance in an emboldened way.

The magistracy and judiciary need to send clear messages to guns criminals who are coming in all ages now.

Even the apparent easy granting of bail for such gun crimes need to be looked at seriously. There should be a policy direction that bail for gun crimes be higher than for other crimes. Possibly, bail should be denied for those who have more than two gun-related crimes before the courts.

On the supply side, we need better and more tactical checks on the various sea and air ports in terms of cargo containers, luggage etc. In fact, it should be mandatory that all containers be scanned; the technology is there!

Law enforcement needs to conduct random checks on the packages that pass through the various international courier services in T&T.

TTPost also needs to check more on their mails and other packages to ensure that guns are not being trafficked therein.

We need appropriate whistle blower legislation to protect people who have information on others who facilitate the importation of illegal guns. Why is it taking so long? We need police officers, prison officers, custom officers, other sea and air port personnel to be required to declare their assets and financial status with an organisation similar to the Integrity Commission (IC) but which will have the resources to investigate such declarations and persons’ spending patterns.

There should be a strengthening of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to go after suspected persons and organisations. As the saying goes, bring the “big fish” laws and systems now!

By thoughtfully dealing with the importation, possession and use of guns, the overall crime situation will be improved. This is what all right-thinking citizens want and deserve. Those in charge must get their acts together otherwise things will continue to get worse.

n The CISPS is a registered institution with the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT). Tel: 223-6999, 299-8635, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 12 securities of which three advanced, two declined and seven traded firm.

Trading activity on the first tier market registered a volume of 70,937 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $1,807,694.84. GraceKennedy Ltd was the volume leader with 25,667 shares changing hands for a value of $69,300.90, followed by Republic Financial Holdings Ltd with a volume of 13,356 shares being traded for $1,360,981.72. Scotia Investments Jamaica Ltd contributed 13,045 shares with a value of $35,221.50, while Agostini’s Ltd added 5,995 shares valued at $110,907.50.

TTNGL registered the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.60 to end the day at $22. Conversely, Guardian Holdings Ltd registered the day’s largest decline, falling $0.25 to close at $15.

The mutual fund market did not record any activity. Bourse Brazil Latin Fund remained at $8.10. Calypso Macro Index Fund remained at $21.88. Clico Investment Fund remained at $22.50. Fortress Caribbean Property Fund - Development Fund remained at $0.67. Fortress Caribbean Property Fund - Value Fund remained at $1.70. Praetorian Property Mutual Fund remained at $3.01.

The second tier market did not witness any activity. Mora Ven Holdings remained at $14.49.

Despite T&T’s history in the oil and gas sectors, the country has the goal to diversify some of its power generation towards renewable sources, said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy Selwyn Lashley.

He said T&T has been an oil-producing country for over 100 years, and despite its economy’s reliance on fossil fuels, T&T is making the effort to begin diversifying into alternative sources of energy.

“T&T has a strong energy sector and we have a true commitment moving forward and transitioning our energy mix and aspects of our economy to what we describe as the new energy future with a lower carbon footprint. We signed on to the Paris Accord and last week the Cabinet has approved ratification. Our national objective is to ensure that by 2021 we have 10 per cent of our power generation coming from renewable energy. As we speak it is still 100 per cent fossil-fuel based,” he said.

Lashley spoke yesterday at the second preparatory meeting for the Third Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Ministerial held at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, St Ann’s.

He said the forum is to hold constructive dialogue among all regional countries.

Energy ministers from around the region will gather in Chile in September for the Third Ministerial Meeting of the ECPA where issues like renewable energy will be discussed.

“An important issue is the whole business of creating an elevated level of awareness and participation by our respective populations,” he said.

He said the role of private businesses is important in any discussion on climate change and new technologies in this area.

“We are not only talking about collaboration at a country level but collaboration involving the private sector because certainly the private sector has an important role in moving forward the initiatives which begin with the Government in terms of providing the framework, incentives and policies. As we go forward the expectation is that the private sector will be intimately involved.”

The objective of the second preparatory meeting leading up to the third ministerial, is to further discussions on national and regional sustainable energy priorities, and to promote public-private partnerships for the advancement of sustainable energy. Potential areas of action will be identified ahead of the Third ECPA ministerial in Chile.

The second preparatory meeting is being jointly hosted by the Ministry of Energy, and the Organization of American States (OAS), which acts as the Technical Coordinating Unit (TCU) for the ECPA.

The ECPA was announced in April 2009 by then US President Barack Obama at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which was held in Port-of-Spain. The ECPA was designed as a mechanism for governments of the Western Hemisphere and private-sector leaders, to address the shared challenge of energy and climate change, in the hope of creating a sustainable future.

West Indian Tobacco Company (Witco) has recorded an after tax profit of $67.4 million for the first three months of its 2017 financial year.

This figure represents an almost 40 per cent decline in after-tax profit from the comparable period in 2016 when the company registered first quarter profits of $102 million.

The company’s revenue also fell year on year, moving from $271.2 million for the first three months of 2016 to $213.8 million in 2017 - a 21 per cent decline.

Commenting on the company’s performance, chairman Anthony Phillip said: “Given the prevailing economic conditions, the ongoing recession and increased taxation, the business environment continues to be challenging. This has resulted in significant changes in Consumer behaviour and consumption patterns.”

Noting the company’s response to the challenging business environment, Philip added that the company was focused on growth as well as cost containment

He said: “The company continues to respond to the new business environment with revision of its brand portfolio and trade marketing and distribution strategies, as well as prudent cost management.”

Eighty-nine per cent of Witco’s revenues in 2016 came from domestic sales, with 11 per cent coming from sales to the Caricom region.

The company declared a first interim dividend of $0.76 per ordinary share payable on May 26, 2017 to shareholders of record at close of business on May 2, 2017.

International credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings (S&P) has downgraded T&T’s sovereign credit rating, citing the sharp increase in the country’s debt burden since 2014.

The ratings agency lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating for T&T to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-’, while at the same time stating that the outlook for the country was “stable”.

The report stated: “Low oil and gas prices in global markets, disruptions in domestic production (due to plant shutdowns for maintenance and infrastructure upgrades), and ongoing US dollar shortages from the banking system” have been the primary causes of the economic contraction in T&T and although the government has taken austerity measures to reduce fiscal imbalances, the agency expected that fiscal consolidation would be slower than anticipated and interest costs higher.

Commenting on the rationale for the downgrade, the report says: “The downgrade reflects further deterioration in T&T’s debt burden, including a higher-than-expected rise in net general government debt to GDP and the interest burden over 2017-2020.”

S&P pointed out that the net general government debt rose to 35 per cent of GDP in 2016, from 17.5 per cent of GDP in 2014, which reflects, “to a large extent, a significant downward revision of both nominal and real GDP in 2014 and 2015, increased open-market operations, and a weaker fiscal stance.”

According to S&P: “The interest burden has also risen, further constraining the government’s fiscal flexibility to adjust to adverse shocks. We now project the government’s interest payments will account for more than 5 per cent of revenue in 2017-2020 as a result of the increased debt stock and tightening in global monetary conditions.

“Although the government has less fiscal room to manoeuvre than before, T&T’s debt burden remains moderate and is narrowly exposed to exchange-rate and rollover risk as foreign currency-denominated external debt was only around 18 per cent of total debt at year-end 2016.

S&P said that it expected an uptick in energy sector activity and associated revenue in 2017.

“We expect domestic natural gas production to rise in 2017-2018 amid fewer planned plant shutdowns and as new gas fields come on stream, particularly from the start-up of the Juniper field facility in third-quarter 2017. We expect global oil and gas prices to slightly increase following the agreement between OPEC members to restrain oil supply. We expect the economic recovery to be tepid in 2017 and to gradually accelerate in 2018-2020,” the report said.

The report added that T&T faced two major challenges in creating long-term economic sustainability.

It said: “Obstacles to sustained long-term growth will persist without further structural reforms to increase productivity in the labour market and reduce bureaucracy in the public service.”

Discussing its assignment of a “stable” outlook, S&P said: “The stable outlook reflects our expectation that T&T’s economy will recover modestly in 2017-2020, on higher natural gas prices and increased gas production. We expect continuity in economic policies in the coming two years, including the government’s commitment to fiscal consolidation. We expect the rise in the debt burden to stabilize.”

In a blog post in advance of meetings in Washington DC this week, the director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Western Hemisphere department, Alejandro Werner, said: “Amid increasingly volatile external conditions, exchange rate flexibility has served the region well and should remain the first line of defense against shocks. Well-established monetary policy frameworks in the region are suited to limit the exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices.”

Werner made the point in the context of regional countries like Jamaica and Suriname adopting flexible exchange rate regimes, while others like Barbados and the island nations of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States have adopted inflexible exchange rates. T&T’s exchange rate has been allowed to depreciate by 6.4 per cent between October 2015 and April 2017.

Werner’s blog post was entitled: “Navigating through global cross currents: Latest outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Responding to a question from a T&T journalist during a webcast of a news conference at the IMF’s headquarters in Washington yesterday, deputy director, IMF Western Hemisphere department,Krishna Srinivasan, said: “The analysis we had done in the blog was largely for Latin America, but if the analysis is extended to the Caribbean, you would find similar results.

“That said, we do not prescribe any particular exchange rate regime for any country. It is a choice that countries make.

“But it goes without saying that if you choose an exchange rate that is not flexible, you have to have other policies that go with that decision. For example, strong fiscal policies that would support the trade system.

“So that’s why if a country chooses an exchange rate system that is not flexible, it has to ensure that the other parameters are consistent with that choice and that will make the adjustment smooth or not.”

In the blog post, Werner wrote: “Prospects for the Caribbean region are improving, with moderate growth projected for 2017.

“Growth in tourism-dependent economies will be supported by the expected higher growth in the United States, while commodity exporters will benefit from somewhat higher (though still low) commodity prices, notably of oil.

“The region continues to face several risks, including the withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships and a high degree of policy uncertainty in the United States.”

The IMF also advised countries in the hemisphere that they “should continue to use available space to calibrate fiscal adjustment, as commodity prices are expected to remain low relative to their historical levels, notwithstanding the recent uptick.”

According to the IMF’s West Hemispeher department: “The needed pace of adjustment will depend on debt levels and market pressures. “Beyond macroeconomic policy adjustment, structural reforms—such as decreasing informality and red tape, boosting infrastructure quality, and improving education and rule of law—are essential to support medium-term growth.”

NASSAU – Starting on Monday, Clico policyholders in the Bahamas are set to receive long overdue payments.

After failing to deliver monies as promised back in January, the Government issued a statement on Tuesday assuring that qualified policyholders will receive three tranches of payments this year in April, July and November.

The Perry Christie administration had initially planned to finance the second phase of CLICO (Bahamas) payouts through a $45 million bond issue, with the monies raised designed to compensate former Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA) holders and those who had surrendered their pension policies.

The payments will total $5,000 per policyholder and be enough to payout 70 per cent or 1,595 claims from surrendered policyholders.

The 30 per cent not fully paid out will receive promissory notes (bonds) carrying a 4.25 per cent interest rate, equivalent to Bahamian Prime, which will distribute the balance owed over a four-year period.

In March 2016, the Government made the first payout totaling just over $11 million.

The Bahamas Tribune reported that the second phase payout to former Clico (Bahamas) clients was initially supposed to be triggered by the creation of a new insurance entity, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to be called Coral Insurance Company. This will hold CLICO (Bahamas) insurance policies that remain in effect.

The SPV, which will be licensed and regulated by the Insurance Commission of the Bahamas (ICB), was supposed to be created by the second week of November 2016, and hold the remaining insurance portfolio until it is purchased by another insurer.

A prominent CLICO (Bahamas) policyholder yesterday said he was “willing to take crumbs from the table”, after the Government restructured planned payouts to fully compensate 70 per cent of ‘surrender’ victims by November 2017.

Bishop Simeon Hall said he was unsure whether all victims of the insolvent insurer would accept the revised resolution, which now involves a mixture of cash and bonds.

Acknowledging the Government’s fiscal limitations, Bishop Hall yesterday praised the Christie administration for fulfilling the promise to compensate CLICO (Bahamas) policyholders that was made by its predecessor.

“To be honest, at this late stage in the game, a little something is better than nothing at all,” Bishop Hall told Tribune Business.

“I live at a middle class economic standard, so I can imagine how those in the lower class must feel. But I’m happy that some resolution has been reached.”

Recalling that it was former prime minister, Hubert Ingraham, who urged CLICO (Bahamas) policyholders to continue paying following the insurer’s 2009 collapse into court-supervised liquidation, Bishop Hall praised his successor for finally delivering on pledges to make victims whole.

“It is to Mr Christie’s credit that he has led it towards some resolution,” he added. “I’m not sure the resolution will be accepted by everyone, but I’m 70 years old this week and willing to take crumbs off the table.

“It must be appreciated that this government doesn’t have the money it would like to have, and the only way to do that is through taxing the people. The other perspective is that this was a private business, which we were victims of, and it’s to government’s credit that it took it on, both the Ingraham and Christie administrations.”

Bishop Hall acknowledged that there were no laws or other mandates requiring the Government to compensate CLICO (Bahamas) victims, although some may say it had a moral obligation to do so given the regulatory failings that led to the insurer’s insolvency.

(Bahamas Tribune, Caribbean 360)

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 17 securities of which seven advanced, three declined and seven traded firm.

Trading activity on the first tier market registered a volume of 228,684 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $1,589,727.57. GraceKennedy Ltd was the volume leader with 135,978 shares changing hands for a value of $367,140.60, followed by JMMB Group with a volume of 31,617 shares being traded for $41,168.27. Guardian Holdings Ltd contributed 20,186 shares with a value of $311,597.10, while FirstCaribbean International Bank added 11,851 shares valued at $102,003.70.

National Enterprises Ltd registered the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.49 to end the day at $10.50. Conversely, FirstCaribbean International Bank registered the day’s largest decline, falling $0.14 to close at $8.61.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 1,000 shares valued at $22,510. Clico Investment Fund advanced by $0.01 to end at $22.51.

The second tier market did not witness any activity.

A raging debate has now developed over the National Primary School Principals’ Association’s (NAPSPA) recommendation of a change in primary school hours. In particular, the suggestion that the lunch hour be cut in half has drawn criticism from many education stakeholders.

The recommendation was made by NAPSPA during a meeting with Education Minister Anthony Garcia earlier this week. It was apparently among several recommendations the body forwarded as suggestions to help curb the indiscipline and violence plaguing the school system.

In explaining the reasoning behind the plan, NAPSPA president Cogland Griffith said that while “the lunch period was the teachers’ time” and they wanted to respect that, the body believes if there is a shortened lunch period incidents of indiscipline and violence in schools could be reduced.

Mr Griffith noted that information they had compiled from some private schools where a 30-minute lunch hour was in effect, as well as from some primary schools that had started this as a pilot projects showed those institutions achieved a reduction in violence and indiscipline among students.

Minister Garcia seems keen on at least discussing the proposal at a meeting with school principals when the new term starts next week. He has also asked other stakeholders to keep an open mind, saying any recommendation which allows them to deal with the problem is worthy of consideration.

But herein lies the problem. The NAPSPA recommendation, and Garcia’s willingness to consider it, came mere hours after the minister himself announced that there had been a reduction in the level of school violence - a claim that was immediately challenged by T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA). It is in this context that we ask why the minister would want to undertake another plan of action if, by his own reckoning, initiatives implemented by the ministry have apparently worked.

Also, it has now become clear that NAPSPA undertook its fact-finding mission on the initiative without consulting other stakeholders. None of TTUTA president Lynsley Doodhai, National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) president Zena Ramatali, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) secretary general Sat Maharaj nor Presbyterian School board head Lennox Sirjusingh, all contacted by this paper, knew anything about the initiative or signalled their intention to support it.

Furthermore, they all opposed it, saying not only that both the teachers and students needed the current time allotted, but that they felt it was a knee-jerk reaction to the issue of indiscipline in schools.

All of these stakeholders were also in unison in noting that the one-hour period was critical to enabling the socialisation process of students, noting the play time in the lunch hour was a key element of that process. They also pointed out that the adjustment parents would have to make to pick up their children a half hour earlier posed a major issue. Mr Maharaj also wondered where the data was to support the argument that a shorter lunch period and earlier dismissal would alleviate the indiscipline problem.

In all of this it would appear that NAPSPA has forgotten another major element. Students on a school compound must always be supervised and that responsibility falls on either the teachers or the principal. Dismissing school early does not therefore absolve them of this responsibility, since if anything happens to a student on the compound the principal, or the teachers, if they have been given that duty, are ultimately liable. In other words, no other individual or entity can assume the role of supervision of school children once they are on the compound.

In this scenario, then, we hope Minister Garcia threads lightly with this current NAPSPA plan and continues the ministry-implemented initiatives that he recently announced have brought success.

The Easter four-day weekend celebrated many traditions among both the pious, and their polar opposites, the damned. Some hapless donkeys, otherwise minding their own business, were drafted into Palm Sunday commemorations. As a child, I used to enjoy fashioning desiccated palm leaves into crucifixes. Not that I would marvel at my craftsmanship, it was just a great way to endure the typically interminable mass and the hymns of a hopelessly out-of-tune choir strummed out on catgut quatros.

Another fixture of the Easter season is the Good Friday bobolee, the embodiment of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus. These effigies are usually commonly displayed across rural communities; handmade vessels for the enmity of malcontents frustrated with betrayals of the political class.

Even though I didn’t travel as widely this Easter as is normally my custom, I did come across some bobolees seated in front of parlours, and even the front yards of some homes. The care and attention poured into the construction of some of these bobolees was impressive. Indeed, some of them were far better dressed than community residents hovering over them with two by fours.

This makes perfect sense, because to truly derive satisfaction from pummelling a bobolee bearing the name of your least favourite politician, it can’t begin its short life already looking beat down. A swig of puncheon and a swing of sturdy piece of wood and the bobolee’s stuffing begins to fly, spilling its innards of old linens and tattered clothing.

People on Facebook shared photographs of hot cross buns, some angled for suggestions on which bakery does best the rendition of this Easter staple. I’ve never really seen the point of hot cross buns. They’ve always had the look of hops with jaundice. The addition of incongruous raisins and sparse application of coarse icing just isn’t enough to differentiate this species of baked goods from run-of-the-mill bread. I’ve heard people actually eat them with cheese.

The police were everywhere over the Easter weekend distributing tickets and breathalysing over-the-limit motorists, all of whom had legitimate excuses for being tight behind the wheel. Yet still, I haven’t read a single report of anyone being arrested for the culinary offence of looking a sugar-dusted hot cross bun in the face and putting cheese in it. Somehow that makes the practice of smothering Chinese food with ketchup seem like a misdemeanour. Our national affection for hot cross buns, though, seems alive and well.

So too is one tradition which I’d forgotten. I was reminded of it when my sister asked me to come around and pick up some steamed fish and ground provisions. My de facto mother-in-law also sent me some expertly prepared fish accompanied by servings of dasheen, sweet potato and other such coma-inducing starches. It was a welcome treat, and when I awoke from my meal two days later I imagined Trinis across the country momentarily setting aside their disgust for extortionate fish prices.

I recall being told as a reporter for years on end by fishermen that fish become “more harder to catch” during the Lenten period and Easter. Without access to scientific data to challenge that long running assertion, I have no choice but to accept that fish are instinctively aware that demand for their flesh peaks at Easter time so they retreat to deeper waters until the fuss dissipates.

Thanks to the power and immediacy of social media, holiday makers were able to keep a public waiting with bated breath updated on the minutiae of their long weekend escapades. Now, social media pyongs could see the exact moment when selfie-obsessed Trinis moved from the langour of the beach chair the full five metres to the water’s edge.

Even though I am not one for sentimentality, it was heart-warming to see a proliferation of family photos. There were snapshots of children posing in those uncomfortable water wings with their mothers and fathers, beaming ear to ear. Others captured kids in the sand fussing with buckets, shovels and breathtaking examples of their incompetence in sand castle construction.

These images triggered a surge of memories of my own childhood vacations when my father would take me and the kinfolk to Manzanilla. Children at the beach have more energy than the sun. We would spend countless hours chasing ghost crabs as they scurried away on their stilettoed feet across the searing sand. Shovels were for digging up chip chip, tiny shellfish with beautifully patterned shells. I still remember the horror on my father’s face as I ran towards him with a Portuguese man-o-war on a flimsy stick. I thought it was bubble gum. He managed to stop me before my next move, which was to taste it.

Religiosity aside, what stood out for me this Easter was the continued practice of time-honoured traditions which, in a society increasingly defined by cultural appropriation, is very encouraging. Kite flying in savannahs and parks, sunny days by the seaside, cookouts sharing treasured Easter fare; all of this offers hope that society, through the strength of familial bonds and the preservation of our inimitable character, may yet still prevail against the numerous challenges which confront us.

One of the noticeably absent voices from the usual Opposition chorus in Parliament yesterday was Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s

At the last sitting of Parliament two weeks ago, Government had agreed to meet yesterday since Persad-Bissessar was to have been out of T&T earlier. She was due back by last night—just before her 65th birthday, today.

While Persad-Bissessar wasn’t around for the early segment, her team carried on full steam. Immediate howled protests when OPM Minister Stuart Young sought to whop an Opposition query on Venezuelan gas matters into the spin that it was an “unpatriotic” move to scuttle the plan.

Big backup for UNC MP Dr Lackram Bodoe as he pressed on pressing Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh beyond Deyalsingh’s own howled protests concerning Bodoe’s queries.

Impassive looks when Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis proposed having a committee examine making PNM’s Vision 2030 policy that every Government will have to carry out.

The lack of (audible) guffaw when National Security Minister Edmund Dillon announced plans for a “service provider” to handle prison rat infestation (though UNC’s Fuad Khan really did want to know if an audit of it would be done.)

And verbal stick for Education Minister Anthony Garcia after he conceded on the issue of procedure concerning UWI’s Chancellorship (though he’d already announced it Thursday).

While Government grapples with public fall out from immediate issues—the property tax, May 1 higher food prices, GATE limitations and the mid year review—Persad-Bissessar also has her own matters in-house ahead.

One person who won’t be calling her with birthday greetings today is her unsuccessful rival of UNC’s 2015 leadership elections—her former PP Trade Minister, Vasant Bharath, whose 1,500 votes in the election was crushed by her 18,000 (which also scotched a similarly low tally by UNC’s Roodal Moonilal).

Persad-Bissessar retained the leadership in a contest three months after her PP lost the September 2015 general polls—early enough for the strength of her stocks to sustain. Leadership elections are next year.

Persad-Bissessar also controls UNC’s National Executive whose elections are expected by this year-end; and the outcome of which is expected to indicate if she’ll face leadership challenges later.

His thoughts on the UNC, the future and party leadership? Bharath said, “I’m interested in T&T’s well being and the only route to make that happen is through political leadership.”

“The party needs to reform and reorganise if it has to successfully reposition itself to become the next government—we can’t continue sweeping UNC’s structural problems under the carpet. Its institutions aren’t functioning. It’s become a single celled ‘organism’ centred mostly around the leadership.”

“The plan cannot be sitting and waiting for the PNM to implode/explode due to internal/external pressures. We must become proactive to present a credible alternative despite whatever problems Government is perceived to be challenged by. Members, particularly ground level, must be involved. There’s a sense of disenchantment among some.”

The party’s situation was also a talking point among some at the recent funeral of UNC stalwart Carol Cuffy-Dowlat. UNC hierarchy officials who say Persad-Bissessar has made effort to work with Moonilal for example, don’t dispute that he continues profile reinforcing and “working the ground.”

Some UNC members—including officials—are concerned about perceived lack of “strategic direction” and leadership including that the Opposition hasn’t presented itself as clear alternative as opposed to default choice. There’s also concern that Persad-Bissessar should rearrange UNC’s front lines—dominated by former PP players—including expanding multiracial lines.

Observation of both Government and Opposition reveals that weaknesses in the external profile of both has created a new dynamic—space on the national playing field for entities like gangs and some independent Muslim entities to become forces. How much of a role that factor plays, remains to unfold.

UNC MP Barry Padarath, who’s risen in this Opposition incarnation, says the perception of animosity post-2015 leadership polls is a myth.

“The party healed quickly; there’s a level of camaraderie and cohesion we didn’t see after previous party elections. I think most members understand that going forward we can only win with Kamla.”

UNC’s Khan said he’ll be giving his boss what she deserves today, “a happy birthday.”

“It’s easy to look good in Opposition—you create nothing, you say everything without fear or favour and in a recession you have fertile ground. But in Government you have to be more stoic since you’ll be held to everything. It’s only when you enter Government, you see how things are.

“I’ve seen Opposition leaders and Prime Ministers come and go. In each role they’re completely different people. The (next) three and a half years is a long time (before general elections)—a lot can happen.”

Once, when I was waiting in the mall for my wife to finish shopping, I went with my son Kyle, who was then about 20 months old, to the games arcade so he wouldn’t be bored. There was one of those race car games that wasn’t working so I sat him down there.

While he was enjoying himself turning the steering wheel, a woman came and put her daughter, who looked about three years old, on a functioning driving game next to him and put in a coin. But, as the car on the video screen began moving and the girl started to turn the steering wheel, the car crashed.

“Do it like this,” the mother told her, turning the wheel and pressing the accelerator pedal. “You have to stay on the road.”

Meanwhile, in front of a blank screen, Kyle was enthusiastically hauling around his steering wheel and pulling the gear lever. And, by the time they had finished, he had learned to manipulate the controls, albeit to no result. But the little girl hadn’t even been allowed to steer freely, so she didn’t acquire any dexterity nor, as far as I could tell, did she even have any fun.

This is why it’s not good for children to be too closely supervised when playing. In his book Brain Rules for Baby, biologist John Medina notes that the research shows that open-ended play makes children more creative, better at language, better at problem solving, less stressed, better at remembering, and more socially skilled. To be sure, most Trini parents are not helicopter parents, the kind who structure and supervise every moment of their children’s time. But neither is the other extreme of always leaving children to their own devices helpful for a child’s development.

“The secret sauce is not unstructured, do-anything-you-want play...the type of play that gives all the cognitive benefits is a type that focuses on impulse control,” Medina writes. So, in preschool, the teachers should lay down the general rules of the game, provide the children with the basic toys needed, and stand back, intervening only to ensure that the general rules are followed, and maybe not even that if the children are making up their own variations.

Just a few weeks shy of her fourth birthday, my daughter Jinaki has only now become interested in dolls. So she plays doll games with her mommy, because daddy told her he doesn’t do that. In the games, Jinaki puts on an affected accent, which is her doll voice, and makes plans and resolves arguments. “You have to take off your shoes, because my mommy has a rule about wearing shoes inside the house,” she has one doll tell the other. Basically, this game is her way of learning how to socialise.

The games she used to play with me were more about learning to use her body and to confront more primal emotions, like fear. This is the role fathers typically play in their children’s development since, as journalist Paul Raeburn writes in Do Fathers Matter? “Playing, wrestling, and otherwise challenging children is a hallmark of the involvement of fathers with their children at all ages...fathers tend to be more physical and idiosyncratic with their games.”

This is how children learn. And, when adults interfere too much in their play, they only retard them.

The government has given homeowners one month to file a valuation return for the first time.

The process is onerous and will be a source of great grief and stress for many. There is a requirement for homeowners to attach copies of 13 documents to their returns.

Even though the valuation form states to append “copies of as many supporting documents as possible,” telephone calls revealed that homeowners must eventually submit ALL documents.

Of course, they do not tell you how soon is “eventually.’” It could be one month after the May 22 deadline.

Why the fuss? It is easy to submit T&TEC and WASA bills, previous land and building taxes receipts, a photograph of the exterior of the property, certificate of title, and even a rent/lease agreement.

How on earth, however, can a homeowner get a land survey plan, site plan, building plan, sketch of building, a completion certificate, town and country planning approval (status of land) and town and country planning approved use (change of use), for a property they did not build?

I do not envy people who own property built by the HDC, but purchased from previous owners. They will be up a creek in trying to get a building plan, town and country planning approvals, land survey plans and so on.

The government does not care what kind of stress we must go through to get these documents in one month’s time.

There is one line on the form (item #4(c)) that asks “if occupied by owner or relatives, rental value thereof $...”.

The homeowner is supposed to put a rental value on their own property!

Isn’t that supposed to be the job of the Commissioner of Valuations? How is a citizen supposed to know the rental value of their property?

That is real back-to-front thinking by the government and mamaguism at its best! That one line goes contrary to everything the government had told us previously.

I strongly urge all citizens to download the Valuation of Land Act - Chapter 58:03; the Valuation of Land (Amendment) Act - No. 17 of 2009; and the Property Tax Act - Chapter 76:04 and read them.

In time to come, there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Economically, things are about to get worse in T&T.

Linus F Didier

Mt Hope

Now that the invocations of peace for the Easter season are behind us, there is something I’d like to say. To put it plainly, and in true Trini fashion, I vex, I real vex.

In a way, I’m disappointed with myself for feeling this way, especially since I stuck to my Lenten obligations: I had given up soft drinks, I said the Rosary every day, and I routinely attended mass.

Going into the final week—the home stretch as it were—I was looking forward to breaking my abstinence with a well-deserved ice-cold Coca-Cola. So what was it that stoked my ire? Just as the Paschal Triduum was about to begin there were two media releases from the government, one from Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie and the other from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Along with their greetings and well wishes were fumbling comparisons of the country’s current situation with the lesson of hope that Christ’s resurrection teaches.

While I don’t presume to speak for the entirety of T&T’s Christian community, I for one felt this was in extremely poor taste.

First, let me be clear. I firmly believe in a separation of church and state, that religion should not be the basis of civil law, nor should it be used as an exemption from following it. That being said, I don’t necessarily have an issue with its expression or recognition at the state level.

One of the wonderful things about living in a cosmopolitan society is the openness with our differences, religion included. We are also very fortunate to have had individuals of diverse faiths occupy the highest positions in every branch of government. Therefore, as a nation whose population has deep religious convictions, it’s only reasonable that our political leaders should pay homage to that fact ever so often; around important days of observance for example.

But in this case, the before-mentioned attempts to appropriate Easter as a form of propaganda was itself inappropriate, if not disrespectful.

The events encompassed in the Easter celebration is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. The memorial acclamation, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,” is not to be taken lightly or spun for political purposes. But there was Minister Cuffie, equating the country’s “empty treasury” with the “empty tomb”, saying neither should be “... a source of panic and despair.”

This might have just been a poor choice of words, the result of taking poetic license a little too far. However, Dr Rowley’s message, though lacking the colourful analogies, also tried to inspire the population by evoking the suffering endured by Jesus.

“I encourage you to be mindful of the sacrifice Christ made for us and ponder upon the reality that during these challenging times, we too may be called upon to make sacrifices for the greater good of our nation,” he wrote.

In other words, fellow citizens, place not your faith in the government. Instead, we are being called upon to hope with all sincerity that things will get better by the grace of God, because the problems that plague us are obviously beyond the dominion of mortal men, lest of all the prime minister and his cabinet.

Earlier on last week, Dr Rowley gave an interview on CNC3’s Morning Brew. Putting his defensive tone aside, his comments on the state of the country were no different to those made in previous public announcements. He bemoaned the economic mess his administration inherited, blamed the parliamentary inaction on the opposition, and proceeded to paint a depressing picture of what’s ahead.

At no time did he present a plan or allude to any ideas that would help us weather the storm. I don’t presume to know the challenges he faces, but Dr Rowley appears as though he just holds the office of prime minister as opposed to being a true leader. That is why his Easter themed message faltered—he is asking everyone to hope but offers little for us to hope for. It’s insulting, not only from a religious perspective, but a civic one as well.

If there’s any relevance that T&T has with the Passion narrative, perhaps it lies in the role Pontius Pilate played. The synoptic gospels portray this Roman bureaucrat in a favourable light for his reluctance to sentence Jesus to death. But it is from Matthew’s account that we have the idiom “to wash (one’s) hands”—to renounce or refuse to accept responsibility for someone or something.

This aptly describes the crisis of leadership facing us. The problems we have are not necessarily new ones, but they remain unsolved because politicians on both sides of the parliamentary divide have seemingly washed their hands of the responsibility to deal with them. And that should vex us all.

These florid appeals for hope are nothing but empty words that prey on the citizenry’s faith and their desperation for action. So in the future, when addressing the national community on religious events, our elected officials should take heed of the third commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Ryan Hadeed

ARTHUR THEODORA nee Lewis of Pelican Extension Road Morvant died on Wednesday 19th April, 2017. Wife of Ernest Arthur (deceased). Mother of Gem, Kyron (deceased), Knolly, Kent, Steve, Judith (deceased), Grace and Bunny (deceased). Grandmother of Gail, Nicole, Michelle, Carla, Candice, Damien, Brent, Claude, Wyman, Creston, Tanisha, Nyasha, Cara, Celeste, Justin ,Gemel, Luke, Marka, Zola, Nyako, Tecora, Adama and others. Great Grandmother oftwenty. Great Great Grandmother of five. Aunt of Daphne (deceased) Great Aunt of Eileen and Glen. Cousin of the James, the Yorkes and the Bests. Friend of Joyce Arthur and others. Member of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Mothers' Union.

Funeral on Wednesday 26th April, 2017 at 9:30am at the HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL Port of Spain and thence to the Woodbrook Cemetery, Mucurapo Road, Woodbrook Inquires 6244636