Last Wednesday, all celebrations (observed during the month of May) climaxed as our country celebrated Indian Arrival Day. However, 173 years after the East Indians arrived in Trinidad, we still have a situation where one of the mainstream media houses carried no print coverage of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha’s Indian Arrival Day celebrations held in Debe.

One would have thought that having regard to the events which occurred over the past couple of weeks and the fact that there were calls for boycott of Maha Sabha’s celebrations, that the media house would have been interested in properly reporting that over 5,000 persons attended and celebrated at Parvati Girls Hindu College and Debe recreation ground in Debe.

The SDMS is an organisation which subscribes to the tenets of Sanatan Dharma, an eternal truth of how mankind attains oneness with the Supreme Lord. Dharma can be simply described as everything which is aimed at assisting man to get back to God. It is also the ultimate truth about all of the Lord’s creation and the Lord Himself/Herself (Purush & Prakriti). The way of Dharma is the way of God!

As Sanatanist Hindus, we subscribe to the teachings of our Hindu Scriptures, the traditions (parampara) and culture of our ancestors. These are all part of Sanatan Dharma. We are all guided by our Dharma but we respect the right of others to be different.

When our forefathers came from India, they did not bring Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi CDs or 8-track cassettes or records or turn-tables to listen to music. Gathering in large numbers to sing film songs was never a part of East Indian culture. I am happy for those who chose to mimic Bollywood in their celebratory activity, but that does not connect with the way our ancestors performed in their ‘kootiahs,’ (mud temples).

We must also understand the difference between standing up for a cause and merely politicking for a cause! In Sanatan Dharma, standing for a just cause is considered to be the ultimate act of practicing the highest Yoga. I was heartened when I recently saw a young pundit post on social media, “Words of an ancient ‘parampara,’ ‘Dharma Rakshiti Rakshitaha’ that guides us today and will continue to guide future generations.” Essentially this means ‘Dharma protects those who protect Dharma’.

A certain class of mind shrinks from fighting for one’s people as they believe themselves to be refined in their own nature, sipping various spirits in the confines of their homes. The temperament of these forward thinking persons forbid them to identify with the struggle from whence they came and they look on, all the while commenting at great length on social media upon what they cannot understand.

These same persons have no issue about singing, dancing and drinking into a state of stupor at Skinner Park whilst listening to tunes of drinking rum till they die. Some of these persons have no issue about blindly following politicians in the absence of truth and at great risk of damaging their own countrymen.

You see, for those who would easily cast aside the SDMS as governed by archaic methods and staffed by dinosaurs, the Bhagwad Gita is my best answer for them. We will not shrink from battle and we should not refuse to speak out and fight (if necessary) for a just cause as though it is a sign of lowering morality or out of fear for perceived backward thinking by a few social media freaks. Love, peace and refraining from open speech on an individual level has a place in the local politics. But the love of country and for countrymen, in the face of injustice, trumps that individual love and peace.

To simply view the SDMS’ actions as that of archaic is to say to a man who is being slowly murdered, that he is not justified in striking at his murderer. I am confident that the SDMS’ actions would not be seen by right thinking members of our society as an act of aggression, hate or racism. Far from, it will be seen as acts of self-defence for the sake of respect and self-preservation of the way of life which our forefathers left behind for us.

Lord Krishna says to Arjuna in the Bhagwad Gita (Hindu holy text) that he must not hesitate to fight injustice. To maintain justice and prevent the politically strong from despoiling and the weak from being oppressed is exactly what the SDMS intends to do. We will fight as civilised as we can but fight we will! We make no apologies for this.

The tiny community of Cedros came alive for Indian Arrival Day Celebrations on Wednesday. Scores of people, including Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, gathered at the venue of the old collapsed jetty to patiently await the arrival of villagers re-enacting the landing of the Jahajis (indentured labourers) to T&T.

It was after midday that three pirogues were spotted in the distance and the excitement brewed. The small fishing craft brought in both the young and the elderly dressed in ethnic Indian wear. They landed barefoot on the beach and were greeted by Persad-Bissessar and an entourage of villagers and visitors alike who threw coloured rice on them and garlanded the Jahajis with flowers. They then received the blessings of a pundit before being led off the beach.

The procession followed with the Jahajis boarding a decorated pirogue that was pulled by a tractor to the nearby Manmohansingh Park for a cultural programme.

Siparia Regional Corporation chairman Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh said it was important to remember the immense contribution of the indentured Indians to the cultural and economic landscape of T&T. He added that one of the most important values that the Indentured immigrants had was a sense of family. He said the entire community was engaged in the upbringing of children. However, Ramadharsingh said this had changed over the decades as more single parent families have been emerging across T&T in all sectors of the society.

The regional corporation chairman said because of a lack of community support many youngsters have fallen prey to negative influences and may go down the wrong path unless timely intervention takes place.

Ramadharsingh said the festivals of Arrival Day and Hosay have the potential to boost domestic tourism content of the community and bring in much needed cash. He added that the Siparia Regional Corporation has done tremendous work in upgrading the public facilities at Manmohansingh Park and throughout the community. Ramadharsingh said social media would be used to market Cedros as a destination for local tourism.

When East Indians arrived in T&T as indentured labourers they brought with them many of their customs, foods, fashion and cultural expressions, which have through the years become integral elements of Trinbago life.

Randy Glasgow Productions (RGP) joins the rest of T&T to celebrate the initial arrival of East Indians to our shores and the sterling contributions they have made to our nation. Many of us will not go through one week without having a doubles, or five, and there must be some form of curry on the menu as well.

Another element of Indo-Trinbagonian culture we all have come to enjoy and appreciate is their brand of comedy.

They blend irony and drama with sharp-tongued acidic wit that sends audiences wild. The Indo-Trinbagonians have also developed chutney music into which they inject humour, singing about everything from love gone sour to the escapades of politicians.

In continued celebration of Indian Arrival Day and Indian Heritage Month, RGP is presenting the second annual Indo Comedy Festival opening tonight (June 2) at the South Haven Shopping Centre, Debe from 8.30 pm.

This show will bring together the nation’s top Indo-Trinbagonian stand-up comedians and humourists who will all deliver brand new material based on the present political landscape, local current affairs, the misadventures of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and other international happenings.

One of the new elements of this run of the Indo Comedy Festival will be the most popular chutney music artistes taking the stage as actors in the several skits to be presented.

You will see the king of comedy-driven chutney music Kenneth Supersad being more crazy than ever, while chutney queen Sally Sagram will portray a young executive who is fed-up of her boss, Jairam Singh an Indian expo owner, ogling at her.

There will also be comedic and musical performances by former National Chutney Soca Monarch Omardath Maraj, Darrion “Prince of Theatre” Narine portraying Shahrukh Khan, the Ramsingh Family, the Bacchanal Sisters, Cecilia Salazar, Penelope Spencer, Paul Beharry and several other comedic favourites.

And, an Indo Comedy Festival must include East Indian cuisine, so patrons can expect a nice selection of tasty dishes on sale along with the most in demand beverages.

Following tonight’s opening the festival goes to Rienzi Complex, Couva on June 9. For more information contact the festival hotline—774 5555.

Tickets are very reasonable, priced at $100 for general admission and $150 for open reserved, available at all NLCB Lotto Booths Nationwide; Anand Low Price Supermarkets; and, JTA Supermarket, Couva.

Tonight and tomorrow, the Carib Dance Theatre Company will be having a fund-raising concert, entitled Carib Dance: Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of The Little Carib Theatre. The event aims to offset the costs of the company attending the 51st World Congress of Dance Research in Greece in July.

The Company’s Artistic Director and choreographer Andre Largen said the Carib Dance Company began in 2013 and was formerly known as the Little Carib Dance Theatre Company.

He said the Company previously put on a concert in 2016 celebrating the birthday of Beryl McBurnie, the founder of the Little Carib Theatre.

The company has also toured in London where they performed two shows at the Tabernacle, and taught workshops in folk dance and modern dance. They also taught classes in four types of folk dances.

In Greece, the Company will be presenting a paper at the World Congress of Dance Research, as well as performing two dance pieces which will be featured in this weekend’s show and teaching a series of workshops on folk dancing.

Largen said: “We are showing two different styles because we are using the music of Andre Tanker and Pamberi Steel Orchestra, so we’ll be using their music and we’ll be performing Sancoche, a mixture of folk dances. We leave on July 3.”

Prior to going to Greece, the Company, along with dancers from Tobago, will be part of a contingent who will represent T&T at the Bele Festival in Martinique from June 7 to 12.

Travel for this trip is being paid for by the French Government. While there, they will perform the Bele Reel and Jig, the Congo Bele and the Trinidad Bele, as well as participate in workshops.

The show comprises a variety of solos, duets and group pieces, with a total of nine dancers. Most of the dancers are alumni of the Caribbean School of Dance, with two dancers from UWI St Augustine, where Largen is an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts.

Largen said while they had received some help from various institutions to pave their way to Greece, they are hoping to have full houses and be sold out on both nights of the show in order to make their quota.

T-shirts will also be on sale with the Carib Dance logo in green, black and red. Tickets are on sale during the holidays and from noon up to show time on both days.

Tickets cost $150 and showtime tonight is 7 pm and 6 pm tomorrow. For more information, call 625-0978 and 721-3809.

T&T will have two boxers at AIBA World Youth Championships scheduled for Budapest, Hungary August 19 to September 1.

Boxers Tyrone St Clair who competes in the 81kg category and Tyron Thomas (69kg) earned qualifying berths from the recent 2018 AMBC Youth Continental Championship in Colorado Springs USA. Thomas earned bronze after being beaten in the semifinal rounds by Francisco Romas of Mexico, while St Clair lost to Anthony Reasco of Ecuador, but his performance still earned him a qualifying berth.

A release from the T&T Boxing Association on Monday states the duo will be the only two boxers from the Caribbean to have qualified for the Youth ‘Worlds’

Their qualification comes amidst initial doubts about their participation due to funding. It was because of the late intervention of the Sports Company of T&T that Thomas, St Clair and coach Rawlson Dopwell were able to travel on May 20. In addition to the securing spots at the Youth Worlds, the T&T team has also earned themselves the opportunity to qualify for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as the Youth Worlds will be a qualifier.

Meanwhile, the country’s Schoolboys and Girls, Juniors and Youth team will participate at the 4th edition of the Caribbean Schoolboys/Girls, Junior and Youth Championship in Guyana, August 16- 20. Today, the country’s young boxers will be stepping up preparation by competing at a box-off at the Cosmic Boxing Gym in Marabella.

Action begins at 7 pm and an entrance fee of $30 will be charged for fans. In 2017 Team TTO returned home with 11 medals in total from the championships, comprising six golds, four silver and a bronze medal.

T&T will also be represented at 2018 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barranquilla Colombia. The four-member team will be Super Heavyweight Olympic boxer Nigel Paul, who won silver at the qualifiers, as well as Aaron Prince and Michael Alexander, both of whom earned bronze at the same qualifiers, and Tianna Guy, the country’s rising boxing talent.

Also making the trip will be Junior Referee/Judge Joshua Joefield.

WALTER ALIBEY
 

Kalique Robinson-Forrester emerged the leading scorer in the final of the Boys’ 20 and Under Division in the Secondary Schools Basketball League East Zone competition, to earn Holy Cross College the title after a narrow 53-50 win over Tunapuna Secondary. This was at the Maloney Indoor Sports Arena last Friday.

Robinson-Forrester top-scored with 24 points for the Kenyatta Alfred-coached Holy Cross team.

For Tunapuna, which was coached by Stefon Dillon, Jaheim Evelyn was best on offence with 18 but it was not enough as his team had to settle for the silver medals. Bagging the bronze was Trinity College East, which was led by 11 from Israel Sylvester, to defeat North Eastern College, 55-41, in the third-place play-off, earlier. Also last week, the U-15 winner was crowned and taking top honours was Trinity East, which beat Holy Cross 57-54. Third was El Dorado East with a close 44-41 victory over Tunpuna Secondary.

Yesterday, the U-17 winner was to be decided as Trinity East and Tunapuna Secondary was to meet in the final. The third place play-offs was scheduled between Mt Hope Secondary and Holy Cross at the same venue.

Results

FINAL
Holy Cross Coll 53 (Kalique Robinson-Forrester 24) vs Tunapuna Sec 50 (Jaheim Evelyn 18).
THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF
Trinity Coll East 55 (Israel Sylvester 11) vs North Eastern Coll 41 (Christopher Nottingham 14).

As part of its commitment to drive global football development and further strengthen and enhance ties with confederations and member associations, FIFA has announced the official opening of a new Regional Development Office on Tuesday in the Caribbean to help support football development activities across the region.

Located in Christ Church, Barbados, the new FIFA Regional Development Office for the Caribbean will play a central role in the implementation and coordination of a range of football development projects to be delivered through the FIFA Forward Programme as well as ensuring a permanent FIFA presence in the Caribbean to support member association’s across the region.

Officially opened today during a special ceremony attended by Rt. Hon. John King, Minister of the Creative Economy, Culture and Sports, FIFA Secretary General, Fatma Samoura, CONCACAF President, Victor Montagliani, and Randolph Harris, President of Barbados Football Association, the regional office will be staffed by a dedicated team of full-time development officers to help support, assist and monitor FIFA development activities in the region.

Caribbean football legends, Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy, also attended the ceremony and took part in a special football match involving players and representatives from across the Caribbean.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Fatma Samoura, FIFA Secretary General, said: “In line with FIFA 2.0 and FIFA’s overall vision to promote and grow the game, the opening of a new regional office for FIFA in the Caribbean is an important and exciting milestone that not only further connects FIFA with member associations but will also provide hands-on local support and assistance to benefit grassroots football.

“Through our flagship development programme, FIFA Forward, FIFA is continuing to provide tailored support to confederations and member associations and making a real impact in driving football development around the world.

“The opening of a new office in the Caribbean is another important milestone for FIFA and will ensure that FIFA’s development work continues to make a real and lasting impact in developing football and inspiring a new generation of players throughout the region.”

The report in the May 27 Sunday Business by Marla Dukharan entitled, “T&T Mid-Year Fiscal Budget Review: Fact Check” in taking such a narrow view of the government’s impact on the performance of the economy, did the country and herself a disservice.

In general, there was nit-picking in the report as to the accuracy of information presented in the mid-year review and an accent on the apparent deterioration of the economy as the available statistics seem to suggest a kind of blame game.

For example, under the report topic of Oil Prices the mid-term review stated that oil prices fell “from US$108 in 2014 to US$26/bbl in 2016.” The MD report sought to correct this by saying oil prices reached US$105.20 in June 2014 and averaged US$43.20 in 2016, a decline of 59 per cent and not 76 per cent as the review suggested.

The review was making the general point of the large variation in oil prices while the report was addressing the drop in revenue as it related directly to prices.

Again, under the document’s heading, Foreign Reserves, the MD report appears to decry the fact that our reserves have been declining since December 2014 from a peak of US$11.5billion and in three years we have lost over US$3billion—the reserves in April 2018 fell by US$942 million or by 10 per cent to US$8.1billion and in March had dipped below US$8billion, the lowest since May 2008.

The question one has to ask is: what are our reserves for given that we have a highly volatile export economy and the normal reserves held by Central Banks are of the order of three months to support their import regimes, and we have today some eight to nine months cover.

Further, the reserves are a measure of the TT$ liquidity in the market that directly affects the demand for foreign exchange. The MD report claims that the decline in reserves at an ever accelerating pace tends to happen as people lose confidence in the exchange rate—an amazing conclusion!

The MD report was also concerned about our increasing debt and the fall in GDP. Further, it says that we have had near zero growth on average for the past ten years, hence it is hard to see any departure from the trend/average which indicates that we are in long-term stagnation.

The conclusion of the report is that to combat this stagnation we should have diversified the economy into exports over the past ten years and so reduce debt, create jobs and balance the budget.

Dynamic economic model

The crowning comment of the report is that we have an overvalued currency which subsidises imports at the expense of local producers. Note that generally the energy sector generates some 80-90 per cent of our foreign exchange income (local export production on-shore is minimal).

A devaluation of the currency would decrease the expenses of the foreign investor in the energy sector, so reducing further the foreign exchange which stays in the country. I recall in my undergraduate economics course asking my esteemed lecturer if, according to him, we should devalue in a foreign exchange based recession does that imply that when the economy is booming and foreign exchange is expanding our reserves, we should revalue the currency? His response was that he had not considered that.

Another trite comment of the MD report was that the government should not take the credit for the good performance of the HSF since it is managed by foreign fund managers, not the government.

My concern really with the MD report is that it does not consider the dynamic model of our economy, the external disturbances on it (which we cannot control) and the controls we can impose locally so as to mitigate the damage that these disturbances can impose on the population at large. These disturbances cannot be made to go away but our local controls can soften their impact.

Let us re-look at the performance of the economy so controlled in the current recession.

The T&T’s economy can be described as a small open (plantation) economy in which we cannot produce locally most of what we need to support a comfortable life.

Hence we must import and to do so we must export to earn the foreign exchange to pay for the imports.

The energy sector is the major exporter and earns in general some 80 to 90 per cent of our foreign exchange. Hence the foreign exchange from that sector is the lifeblood of the economy.

When, for whatever reason, this income from the energy sector drops and stays so for some time, the economy falls into recession since we cannot afford to import all that is required to support the on-shore activity.

The objective of the government in this period is to control the economy, take it to a soft landing in the hope that in the short term the foreign exchange income rebounds and the economy recovers.

The options at the government’s disposal include decreasing the economic activity, decreasing the GDP, at a rate that is tolerable to the population.

The available tools are; the foreign exchange reserves and the stabilisation part of the HSF can be used to support the purchase of necessary imports; taxation/tariffs to control general demand for imports and hence foreign exchange; debt to support the necessary spending of government since the drop in its income was some $20billion—this can also be supplemented by the sale of assets.

Diversification in recession

Since some of these measures can cause unemployment the government can initiate some on-shore capital projects but care must be taken to ensure that they do not increase foreign exchange demand.

If these controls work then we can expect to see; decreases in GDP; decrease in the foreign reserves (now still way above the norm); spending from the HSF, which has been recouped by earnings of the fund itself; increase in unemployment which is today 3-4 per cent compared with 13-15 per cent in the 1986 recession; shutting down of marginal firms whose activities were based in imports; increase in government central debt and debt/GDP (debt/GDP exceeded by Barbados, Jamaica, Japan, UK); inflation which is still some 2-3 per cent (10-11 per cent in 1986 recession) compared with the overall inflation a devaluation would have caused; reduction in subsidies.

The MD report has indeed looked at the above results of the controls imposed on the economy and appears to be concerned about the departure of the economic indicators from those associated with a flourishing economy, the good times, which were indeed the intent of the controls. Since we cannot prevent the external shocks on the economy the best we can do is manage their impact- in this respect the government has done well.

However, the report and I can fault all of our governments (and the private sector) over the years for not diversifying the economy, providing other sources of foreign exchange income besides the energy sector, even considering the failed negative listing attempt.

But this aside we have to rate this government’s performance in the current recession based on our plantation model and what it, the government, has done under the current circumstances to contract the economy and the impact of this on the population.

Diversification of the economy is a longer-term process than managing a recession. However, successive governments have misunderstood what has to be done. So much so that this government, in ignoring the lessons of history is still betting on foreign investment, foreign concessionary loans, to provide jobs, to develop our economy.

May I remind all that according to Lloyd Best, foreign investment in the hinterland, in the plantation, was about economic development of the metropole, not us.

MARY K KING
St Augustine
 

Staff of Republic Bank exercised the spirit of volunteerism, through the refurbishment of three buildings in celebration of United Way Day of Caring on May 19.

St Roses Girls’ RC School, St Finbar’s Girls’ RC School and the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities all benefited from a much-needed infrastructural facelift, which included painting and the replacement of fans.

The project, which aimed to enhance the learning and working environment of these three institutions, was organised by the bank’s corporate and commercial units and resulted from the Republic Bank’s relationship with United Way T&T.

Stakeholders representing 20 companies in the yachting industry were beneficiaries of specialised customer service training recently. The one-day session on Mastering Customer Service, co-ordinated by exporTT at Crews Inn Hotel, sought to address one of the deficiencies identified during a review of the leisure marine or yachting sector.

At this capacity building session, participants were introduced to strategies for attaining customer service excellence, the value of customer service in retaining clients and the importance of adding value to their business through loyalty programmes and a solid customer management system.

The customer service training, facilitated by the Customer Service Academy of T&T, is one of many initiatives included in the Government’s plans to expand the local yachting industry.

Development of yachting in T&T is now guided by a Cabinet approved National Yachting Policy which outlines strategies for the sustainable development of the leisure marine industry. A sector specific marketing and promotional plan is guiding stakeholder efforts.

Canadian SportFitz Wearable Brain Impact Technology recently supported Mike’s Bikes, Keeping Moving Sundays on Sierra Leone Road, Diego Martin.

SportFitz entered the $150 billion wearables market to deliver a solution to the biggest undiagnosed health challenge in the world, concussion. More than 85 per cent of cyclist fatalities are due to brain impact.

The company designed a one-inch wearable technology to stream brain impact and biometric data in real-time to notify the user of impacts to the brain and physical metrics before, during and after an impact. It uses artificial intelligence, real-time measurements of the location, direction and force of impact, big data analytics and embedded organisational protocols to predict the probability of a concussion and recommend immediate action.

Generating the largest data base on brain impact by comparing demographics like sex, age, sport, performance level, geography and climate, allows the technology to impact athletic performance, healthcare and insurance.

SportFitz are currently field testing with international sports organizations and securing licensing agreements in Canada, USA, UK, South Africa, the Caribbean and India.

Well-known local cartoonist Keith “Keithos” Anderson AKA “Culture Man” has been drawing cartoons professionally for almost half a century.

Since his retirement from the Guardian in 2011 as a cartoonist, illustrator and columnist, the prolific caricaturist has been busy with several projects, one of which was the launch of his third exhibition Keithos Returns to Town at the National Library, Port-of-Spain, on April 3.

Anderson, 67, is still fast on the draw from his lips with his quips and humour, and also his pen and markers. When the Sunday Guardian sat down with the man of many talents at Nalis, Port-of-Spain, he drew one of his favourite comic book characters, Sad Sack and also this reporter.

Anderson said: “Since I retired it’s like I got a second burst of life. Right now, I’m drawing like a madman. Every day I’m drawing, writing poetry, and songs. I’m very busy. Right now

I’m working on ‘something’ on pan, but I want to keep it under wraps for now.

“I’m also working on an anthology of poems and assisting other people with their projects and want to start doing caricatures ‘live and direct’ of people on Frederick Street.

“Then there’s a book I have coming out called ‘The Journalist’s Survival Journey’ which traces my career with the Bomb to the Guardian.”

When asked about the perception that there were few young cartoonists entering the field, he said on the contrary there was a great future for young artists in illustration—he spoke about graphic artist and cartoonist Jason Hendrickson, the son of calypsonian All Rounder Anthony Hendrickson, who took part in his exhibitions at Nalis.

Anderson said youths did not have to pick up a gun, there was so much opportunities opening up for them and they just had to embrace them just like Tobagoborn animator Sekani Solomon who worked on the main end titles for the blockbuster Black Panther movie.

He said T&T’s stories, it’s rich local folklore, and steelpan can be told in different formats such as movies and animation.

Anderson cited Trinidadian author Michael Anthony’s novel Green Days By The River which was made into a movie, Crick Crack, Monkey by Merle Hodge, Sam Selvon’s The lonely Londoners, The Games Were Coming by Michael Anthony.

He said he hoped to rally and motivate youths as they had a great future not only in editorial cartoons but in animation, hence the reason for him holding workshops and motivational talks in schools such as Belmont Boys and South East Secondary School.

Anderson said he also did charity work and also wanted to go to the prisons and YTC and conduct workshops to motivate inmates.

The Camsel/Matt Lumen Media Awards 2009 winner for editorial cartooning said that God blessed him and he had to pass on the knowledge to other people such as Hendrickson, UWI students, and students doing their School Based Assessment (SBA).

Anderson also thanked the local artists who inspired him, Alfred Codallo, the forerunner to the legendary Dunstan Eugene Williams (DEW).

He said he had so many wonderful memories and experiences. One of them was visiting the Baltimore Comicon in 2011 where the legendary Stan Lee, American comic-book writer, editor, film executive producer, and publisher met with fans.

He was also proud to meet Korean-American comic strip and comic book writer and illustrator Frank Cho and other artists.

The avid Sad Sack comic book collector said anyone with copies under their bed or old cupboard, can contact him to either donate them or to sell.

Anderson said he was available for seminars and talks and can be contacted at 775-6068 or email: keithos_6@hotmail.com

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

A woman police constable was referred to the San Fernando General Hospital for tests after being floored and beaten while trying to arrest a suspect on Saturday night.

Her male colleague also received injuries from another suspect during the attack but was treated by doctors and discharged.

According to police, the Ste Madeleine officers were injured after they responded to a report of threats being made to a resident of Church Street, Golconda.

When the officers arrived around 7.15 pm, they met a 22-year-old man who began to hurl expletives loudly at the officers. As they warned the suspect and tried to calm him down, he continued and the female officer attempted to arrest him. But as she placed the handcuff around one of his hands, he allegedly pushed her to the ground and began to kick and cuff her. Another man then came up to the male officer and also attacked him.

The men then ran off and the officers reported the incident to their seniors and were taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility where they both received treatment. The male officer was allowed to leave, but the female cop, who is a Special Reserve Officer, was referred for further checks to see if her hand was fractured.

The Rapid Response Unit and the Southern Division Task Force launched a search for the suspects and within half an hour, the 22-year-old man was held along Cipero Road. Police said he has a criminal record which includes robbery and possession of narcotics. Up until yesterday, police were still on the hunt for the second suspect.

Within recent times there have been several assaults against officers. Just last week, San Fernando Magistrate Alicia Chankar heard that robbery suspects Josiah, 25, Rutendo Duttin, 33 and David Lewis, 33, threw faeces at police officers from their cell while awaiting a matter.

A 29-year-old man is warded at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Fernando General Hospital after being shot by an elderly neighbour on Saturday morning.

South Western Division police said around 3.40 am, Andrew James was walking along Silver Stream Road, Aripero, near his home. While he was passing in front of the neighbour’s home, the 60-year-old suspect allegedly ran out with the gun and shot him in the abdomen.

Officers from the South Oropouche Police Station responded and James was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he underwent emergency treatment.

Investigators said up to late yesterday James was in a stable condition and is expected to give a further statement soon.

The suspect was arrested shortly after and up to yesterday remained in custody as police attempted to learn what led to the shooting.

In another incident in the South Western Division, police destroyed over $150,000 worth of marijuana trees during an eradication exercise on Saturday. Acting on information, a team from the South Western Division Task Force went to a forested area approximately 100 feet off Beach Road, Palo Seco, where they discovered 50 fully grown marijuana trees. The officers uprooted and destroyed the trees. Up to yesterday, no one was arrested in connection with the find.

—Kevon Felmine

A combative Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat has dismissed the possibility of further state involvement in the beleaguered buffalypso industry and dared the private sector to take up the challenge. He said a “differently-shaped ministry” can make the current state farms available to the private sector, but the Government should not be involved in the buffalypso business.

Rambharat took half an hour of a scheduled 10-minute speaking engagement at a University of the West Indies (UWI) conference on the future of the specially-bred animal in T&T, to explain that further financial support for the industry “will not happen under my watch.”

Rambharat, who confessed to having been initially surprised by news of the conference, said it was his impression from the proposed programme of the two-day conference that “they are planning to ride the taxpayers’ back with whatever you want to do.”

The conference on Revitalising the Buffalypso—Our National Treasure, was jointly organised on the St Augustine campus by the UWI School of Veterinary Medicine and the Faculty of Food and Agriculture.

Local buffalypso herds have been seriously affected by the crippling Brucellosis bacterial disease for over 20 years.

US immunology professor, Dr Gerhardt Schurig, was due to speak on management of the disease at the conference. His paper focuses on the use of vaccines which “have been found to give some protection in American bisons and water buffaloes.”

But Rambharat cited a Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) report which called for a wholesale culling of the affected herds. He said his predecessor, Vasant Bharath, had used the word “slaughter” to describe what should be done. The closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd saw the transfer of responsibility for its herd of buffalypsoes to the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries.

“The fact is the ministry did not then, nor does it now have that capacity,” the minister said.

“Since then…we have just carried on doing it exactly as it was done in Caroni (1975) Ltd…just keeping things going. Today, not one of you in this room can tell me the production cost per kilogramme of buffalypso in Trinidad and Tobago. I can tell you, whatever is the cost, the taxpayer has been carrying it for decades.”

He said even if Brucellosis was eventually contained or eradicated, “I would love to hear what private sector investor in Trinidad and Tobago wants to buy in.” He noted the absence of “a finance person” on the conference programme and said it was clear that state financing was envisaged.

He dared his audience to explain why the private sector has not rushed to invest in the industry “with all the acreage that we have…with all the mega-farms and large farms the Government has made available.”

Rambharat’s address contrasted sharply with the optimistic soundings of previous speakers.

Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, Dr Wayne Ganpat, said, “there is absolutely no doubt that we need to preserve, moreso expand, the buffalypso herd in Trinidad.”

He nevertheless advised that decisions on the future of the herd must be “based on science.”

Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Dr Kenneth Charles, said preservation of the breed developed in T&T in the 1960s by veterinarian Dr Stephen Bennett deserved “the weight of the medical fraternity.”

Feature speaker on the evening was Prof Antonio Borghese, president of the International Buffalo Federation, who provided statistics on the economics of buffalo husbandry internationally. His paper looks at the role of the buffalypso as a provider of meat but, more significantly, as a source of milk.

Earlier, Rambharat said he did not know what happened to the milk produced by buffalypsoes in the care of his ministry.

“We buy feed for the herd, we milk but I do not know what we do with the milk. Why should we be in the business of minding livestock? Why should we be in the business of selling milk? No modern government should be in that business…especially in Trinidad and Tobago, given our bad history,” he said.

“Maybe a differently-shaped ministry in particular livestock will make those farms available to the private sector for participation. Because the private sector will not tolerate people who are simply on the payroll.”

In an article published in the main conference programme, historian and former agriculture minister Prof Brinsley Samaroo argues that “it is the aim of the buffalypso conference to begin the process of transformation of this most valuable resource at a time when diversification and employment-creation are our priorities.”