One letter writer has recommended that the Police Commissioner transfer to the crime fighting unit those police officers who are so diligently engaged in charging motorists for breaching the traffic laws. They are clearly contributing to no significant increase in road deaths.

If that diligence were employed in the fight against crime there would certainly be a reduction in the number of murders in our little island. The number may even be reduced to something approximating the number of road deaths.

The police have a responsibility to ensure that all lawbreaking is reduced but road accidents are caused by errors of judgment of basically law-abiding citizens. Murders are committed by criminals. Even where it is not the intention to kill the act which leads to murder is a criminal act.

This cannot be easily disregarded and must attract some sanction. Not every case of speeding is done with malicious intent.

The police, however, take great pleasure in picking the low-hanging fruit, aided and abetted by people who just want to be in the news. It is so much harder to go after the criminals who shoot back. And, of course, they can always blame the public for not risking their lives by becoming police informers.

Karan Mahabirsingh, 
Chase Village, Carapichaima

It’s music festival time again. For me at least. And about 350 children with some form of disability. It’s the third year that the CODO has teamed up with the UTT Academy of Performing Arts and with Music Therapy, a final year course taught at UWI to serve students at Special Education Schools in T&T.

CODO Arts and Music Programme was started in 2010, to serve students of special education schools in T&T. With each subsequent year, it has grown in both size and reach, such that the 2016 programme has been able to serve 18 schools with 25 student teaching artists (STAs) from UTT and UWI. Schools are provided with weekly music classes by STAs for four months, with the final product being a gathering of all schools at a single performance venue. The combination of special education students and tertiary performing arts students has produced an annual music festival that has given immeasurable empowerment and joy to all involved.

CODO, for those who are not into disability topics, despite most of us having some form of disability, whether it’s vision (2 per cent) or hearing (2 per cent) or old age (10 per cent) or a gimpy knee (0.3 per cent) or a bad back (half the population) or inability to read or write (same thing, half the population) or vote properly (aha!) or addicted to drugs or alcoholic (same thing) or ignorance (nah!) or just plain stupidity (shhhh), is the acronym for the Consortium of Disability Organisations, the umbrella organisation for 40 Trinidadian & Tobagonian disability organisations. 

CODO is at present headed by Mr Bhawani Persad with the indefatigable Jacqui Leotaud as Secretary. CODO is trying to do an almost impossible job and is essentially ignored by media and government though not the private sector. It advocates on a national level to “change the views of both government and the wider society to move from a charity-based approach to the human rights of people with disabilities.”

Human rights for people with disabilities? What a strange idea! In a place where most people have some form of disability, no one cares about disability? Well, it’s easier to see the mote in the other person’s eye rather than in your own. Look! I could see well oui, I doh need to put on meh lights to drive at 5.30 in the morning around the Savannah (3 per cent of 200 cars counted last Tuesday morning).

The UTT part is headed by Caitlyn Kamminga, Assistant Professor Double Bass. Together with Jean Raabe, she is in overall charge of the programme. Ms Kamminga was born in New Orleans and graduated from the University of Southern California, 20 years ago. She’s been teaching double bass at UTT since 2009 as well as a fourth year course entitled Residency in Community Arts. 

This course basically tries to teach student artists to use their artistic skills within a community that they have chosen. They learn to match their art and abilities to the community needs in a creative way, not pandering to the needs of the community but through dialogue, creating plans that integrate an art form with the community need or interest whilst exploring the role of a performing artist and teaching their skills. 

These students have chosen 18 Special Needs Schools for their project and it is a really something to see them interact with their charges at the Music Festival after a year of hard work.

If you are one of those who constantly criticise young people for all the wrongs in T&T, you owe it to yourself and your children to go to this festival.

Music Therapy is a final year course at UWI-DCFA. It’s taught by Jean Raabe who apart from being a Board Certified Music Therapist has Masters degrees in Education and Business Administration and beat tenor pan with Phase Two Pan Groove from 1995 to 2015. Jean is another of these wonderful foreign women who come to T&T in one guise or the other and either remain here forever or go away and return annually. She has a special interest in the value of steel pan in music therapy interventions, not only here in T&T but in foreign. 

Music therapy, it should be said, is not about listening to music to feel good when you get a tabanca, but the use of music as therapy to enhance health. Among other things, it is of particular use in people with a disability or memory loss or Alzheimher’s.

For the past three years Kamminga and Raabe have collaborated with CODO in order to offer UTT and UWI students a mentored residency in the special schools of T&T. Through this programme CODO, Kamminga and Raabe work to create future advocates and leaders, identify career choices for UTT and UWI students, whilst fulfilling a need in the community. Last year several STAs went on to accept positions as music teachers in special schools in both T&T.

This year the programme is being run by grants from First Citizens Bank and the US Embassy which has always showed interest in the programme. This continues with the arrival of the new US Ambassador who has already visited the Servol Special School in Laventille and demonstrated an interest in children with disabilities. UTT is hosting the event at their O’Meara campus in Arima, in the Graduation Pavilion this Friday, June 3, at 11 am. 

If you feeling positive or even if you feeling negative and want to see young Trinis and Tobagonians working to improve our life in T&T, this is the place to be this Friday.

KEVIN RAMNARINE

Last week Guyana celebrated its 50th anniversary of Independence. In the post-colonial narrative of the Caribbean, Guyana has always been an enigma.

In primary school I learnt that Guyana was a large country with many natural resources. We were told that it was larger than England and much larger than Trinidad. In high school I read Jan Carew’s Black Midas which follows the life of its protagonist “Shark” who makes his fortune in the gold mines of Guyana’s interior.

While Guyana is in many obvious ways similar to T&T its political history has been more turbulent. Its road to independence in 1966 was different from the road taken by T&T. In 1953, Cheddi Jagan’s “Marxist illumination,” to quote Naipaul, led to his removal from office by the British authorities.

The politics of race would become a prominent feature from 1955 onward following a split between Dr Jagan and Forbes Burnham. The latter though left leaning would be more palatable to the British and Americans as Jagan, to again quote Naipaul, was “the possessor of the purer form of Marxism.” 

As a result of the split, the country’s pre independence politics was marked by racial tension which at times manifested itself in violence and murder. Interestingly, since independence in 1966 Guyana has changed its governing party on only two occasions (1992 and 2015) while here in T&T we have done that on six occasions (1986, 1991, 1995, 2001, 2010 and 2015).

To understand the forces that shaped Guyana one must appreciate its history, its culture and the fact that its struggle for independence, like ours, took place at the height of the Cold War when the alignment of its young leaders with communist ideology would have caused discomfort in Washington and London.

During that period communism had come to America’s backyard in Cuba (1959). This culminated with the “Bay of Pigs” in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. On the other side of the world, America was engaged in checking the advance of communism in Indochina (Vietnam). This was the world in which Guyana transitioned from the colony of a fading empire to an independent nation in the backyard of a superpower.

Guyana’s experiment with Marxism/communism was one of the main reasons for its political and economic decay after independence. During the years of decay the country racked up debt, its currency became worthless and investment dried up. The period between Independence in 1966 and the 1990s also saw thousands of Guyanese migrate mainly to the United States and Canada.

The question that Guyanese, and indeed the Caribbean, must ask is, if Guyana is so endowed with many natural resources, then why is Guyana still poor? Why after 50 years of freedom is Guyana consistently ranked as one of the poorest nations in the Americas? Why has Guyana not unlocked its economic potential?

Guyana will do well to acknowledge its past but not be imprisoned by it as is the case with many of its neighbours. In marking 50 years of Independence it’s important to be resolute and think point forward.

Guyana seems to be maturing, at least politically. Last year the country changed Governments after 23 years of unbroken PPP/ Civic rule. While there were some incidents of violence it was nowhere on the scale of what used to happen in the 1960s.

On the eve of that 2015 general election Exxon announced that it had discovered hydrocarbons in what is Guyana’s deep water acreage. Almost immediately Venezuela turned hostile and resuscitated its claim for two thirds of Guyana including maritime space. That matter is being arbitrated by the United Nations and President Granger has stood his ground.

The discovery means that Guyana has a bright future providing it builds the capacity to manage oil wealth. Last October, on the invitation of the UNDP, I spoke at a forum in Guyana on building capacity for managing the new Guyanese hydrocarbon sector. My advice to the Guyanese was to establish a Heritage and Stabilisation fund with defined targets and to use a component of any oil windfall to develop national infrastructure. A major obstacle to Guyana’s progress is the inadequacy of infrastructure which makes it inefficient or impossible to develop its natural resource base. High on the list of priorities must be deep water port infrastructure.

In the book “Why Nations Fail” authors Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue for the importance of “inclusive institutions”. Inclusive institutions provide incentives for innovation and create a level playing field. On the other hand “extractive institutions” concentrate power in the hands of a few and ultimately leads to corruption.

Guyana must develop the independent “inclusive institutions” that form the platform for sustainable economic growth. It must empower its private sector. It must continue to attract foreign investment. In developing its oil industry Guyana need look no further than T&T with its well-developed energy services and academic institutions. If the right political decisions are taken, Guyana’s future is bound to be brighter than it’s past.

MITSUHIKO OKADA

​Ambassador of Japan to T&T

On May 26 and 27, Japan hosted the G7 Ise-Shima Summit. I would like to highlight the salient features of the outcome of the summit, which are most relevant to T&T and the Caribbean region. Details of the outcome are available at the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: http://www.mofa.go.jp/ecm/ec/page24e_000148.html. 

The following are excerpts of relevance to major global economic challenges from G7 Ise-Shima Leaders’ Declaration issued at the conclusion of the Summit on May 27:

G7 Ise-Shima Economic Initiative

We pledge to collectively tackle current economic challenges, while laying out foundations for stronger long-term global growth. Therefore, we have developed our commitment in the following areas as our response to contribute to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

n World Economy: Global growth is our urgent priority. Taking into account country-specific circumstances, we commit to strengthening our economic policy responses in a co-operative manner and to employing a more forceful and balanced policy mix, in order to swiftly achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern.

n Trade: We are committed to using trade to create economic opportunities for workers, consumers and firms. We reaffirm our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight all forms of protectionism. In order to further boost free trade, we commit to strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system and promote WTO negotiations. We also encourage trade liberalisation efforts through regional trade agreements including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). 

n Health: We commit to take concrete actions for advancing global health as elaborated in the G7 Ise-Shima Vision for Global Health, highlighting that health is the foundation of economic prosperity and security. 

n Women: We commit to create a society where all women and girls are empowered and actively engaged for sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth. We commit to empowering women and girls, including through capacity-building such as education and training as well as promoting active role of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. 

n Anti-corruption: Our collective and individual action to fight corruption is critical for economic growth, sustainable development and maintaining peace and security. We resolve to take measures to improve public procurement transparency, enhance fiscal transparency, and improve anti-corruption capacity building as well as strengthen law enforcement co-operation. We will also promote global effort to fight corruption. 

n Climate: The G7, continuing to take a leadership role, commits to taking the necessary steps to secure ratification, acceptance or approval of the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, and calls on all Parties to do so striving for a goal of entry into force in 2016. We commit to formulate and communicate ambitions mid-century long-term low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission development strategies well ahead of the 2020 deadline.

n Energy: Recognising the important role that the energy system has to play in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, we are determined to accelerate our work towards the transition to an energy system that enables a decarbonisation of the global economy, and commit to further invest in supporting innovation in energy technologies and encouraging clean energy and energy efficiency, so as to ensure economic growth with reduced GHG emissions. 

G7 Ise-Shima Leaders’ Declaration has also addressed major global political challenges including the following:

n Countering terrorism and violent extremism

We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and manifestations. We reiterate that it is essential for the international community to make further collective and coordinated efforts to fight this urgent global security threat. We stress the importance of continued cooperation with the private sector, civil society and communities and the “whole-of-society” approach.

We commend the intensive counterterrorism efforts that have already been made globally, regionally, bilaterally and domestically. 

We continue to work together to prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters and terrorism-related materials and equipment. We reassert our commitment to countering terrorist financing as declared in the G7 Action Plan on Combatting the Financing of Terrorism at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting in Sendai.

We commit to promote peaceful co-existence wherever differences of opinion, culture and faith exist, respect for diversity, tolerance, and inclusive dialogue in order to break the vicious cycle of violence and hatred and to prevent the emergence and spread of violent extremism. In this regard, we welcome the UNSG’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, call for its implementation and support a strong model of UN leadership which will deliver a genuinely whole-of-UN approach. We also stress the importance of the role of local communities, especially women and youth, as well as empowerment of alternative voices including through education and dialogue.

We also commit to enhance our coordination to support countries in need of building their capacity on countering terrorism and violent extremism.

n Venezuela

We call on the Venezuelan government to fully respect fundamental rights, democratic processes, freedoms and the rule of law to provide access to fair trials and due process, and to establish conditions that would allow for dialogue between the government and its citizens, in order for them to find a peaceful means of resolving Venezuela’s increasingly acute economic and political crisis, while respecting the will of the people. We call on the Venezuelan executive branch and the National Assembly to work urgently together to this end.

n Maritime security

We reiterate our commitment to maintaining a rules-based maritime order in accordance with the principles of international law as reflected in UNCLOS. We reaffirm the importance of states’ making and clarifying their claims based on international law, refraining from unilateral actions which could increase tensions and not using force or coercion in trying to drive their claims, and seeking to settle disputes by peaceful means including through juridical procedures including arbitration.

n Non-proliferation and disarmament

We reaffirm that non-proliferation and disarmament issues are among our top priorities. We reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes international stability. 

n UN Reform and UN Peace Operations Review

We reaffirm the importance and necessity of realising a strengthened, more effective and efficient United Nations and, to this end, note the importance of continued engagement on reforms of the United Nations, such as of the Security Council.

n Climate Change

Welcoming the historic achievement in Paris, we reaffirm not only our continuous commitment in our global efforts against climate change, but also our determination to maintain the momentum of COP21 and ensure swift and successful implementation of the Paris Agreement including the long-term aims on mitigation, adaptation, and finance. In this context, we welcome the fact that nearly every party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has signed the Paris Agreement, including all G7 members. The G7, continuing to take a leadership role, commits to taking the necessary steps to secure ratification, acceptance or approval of the agreement as soon as possible and calls on all Parties to do so striving for a goal of entry into force in 2016.

We also commit to formulating and communicating mid-century long-term low GHG emission development strategies well ahead of the 2020 deadline, mindful of the significance of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and of pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as well as of achieving a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of GHGs in the second half of the century.

n Energy

Energy plays a crucial role in sustaining global economic growth. With this in mind, we commit to play a leading role in facilitating energy investments, and encourage relevant stakeholders, despite the increased uncertainty posed by the current energy price levels, to sustain their investments in energy sector, in particular in quality energy infrastructure and in upstream development, so that we can mitigate risks to future growth of global economy. We recognise the important role that the energy system has to play in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In this regard, we are determined to accelerate our work towards the transition to an energy system that enables a decarbonisation of the global economy. 

We support the enhanced efforts on energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, including hydro, as well as other domestic resources.

n The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Reflecting the international community’s unwavering resolve to end poverty and transform the world into a sustainable one by 2030, leaving no one behind, the 2030 Agenda lays the foundation for a more peaceful, stable, inclusive and prosperous international community. To this end, we emphasise the integrated and indivisible nature of the 17 SDGs, being well aware that peace and security, development and respect for human rights are inter-linked and mutually reinforcing, and commit to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, domestically and internationally, in a people-centered and planet-sensitive manner. We urge all countries and stakeholders to engage in this joint endeavor under a revitalised and enhanced global partnership to ensure a multi-stakeholder approach.

As we reflect on the struggles and opportunities associated with Indian Arrival in T&T, farmers and stakeholders in the food production sector wish to remind the national community that in addition to traditions and customs, music, dance and fashion, food production and a better standard of living were the reasons.

Through the period of indentureship, many born agriculturalists saved and invested relatively small sums in parcels of land. 

Overcoming the barriers of race, religion and language. History records that the labourers became the largest group of peasant proprietors on the island. As was evident then, and glaring now, commercialisation and westernisation of lifestyles seriously undermined and eroded the stability of agriculture generally.

Agriculture and rural life yesteryear engaged a cross section of men, women, boys and girls. A time when fast food and pre-packaged meals were distant from the diet, meal substitutes and pills were not regarded as food and nutrition sources for the family and a dependency on imported food was unthinkable. 

These were the early days of extension services where neighbours and friends would share ideas and creative techniques to increase yield, maximise profits, sustain livelihoods, teach responsibility and more importantly, keep the community together.

During and beyond the indentureship period, the expanded workforce boosted the economy by invigorating the sugar, rice, cocoa and coffee estates. 

As we relinquished these traits over the years, the culture associated with agriculture dissipated. The social role (employment, the stability of settlement), cultural role (the preservation of traditions and the character of the country) and the landscape-creating function withered alongside massive rural to urban migration and that direction of opportunity.

In addition, T&T moved to being a net importer of rice (HS 1006) and sugar (HS 1701—cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose, in solid form), among many commodities, having spent an estimated TT$1.105 billion on these alone between 2013 and 2015 according to UN COMTRADE Statistics.

Today, there is a call to return to the basic tenets of production, processing and consumption of locally grown and harvested foods as the country is forced towards food sovereignty but would eventually demand it by way of public policy. 

The world economic climate and our circumstances as dictated by energy prices allow our people to be resilient if our food supply chain is locally-driven and the capacity of all citizens to do things for ourselves, especially the most vulnerable among us, is strengthened.

In 2016, every strata of the population must not only be encouraged to become innovative, inventive and customer-friendly but must be seen as a new labour force working together in the economic circumstances. 

There must be leadership of new people with a new culture.

In the book Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, Joel Salatin noted that “The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.”

Let us as a country use the occasion to commit to meekness, self-sufficiency and a return to the land.

Omardath Maharaj

Agricultural Economist

The recent visit to T&T by the President of Venezuela should be instructive to the government and people of T&T from the point of view of causation. One cannot dispute that it is imperative that we assist our closest neighbour in her hour of need. One cannot dispute that there are mutual benefits on both sides of the divide in terms of trade and energy in this sordid affair, but there are lessons to be learnt as well. 

With respect to economic systems, it should be common knowledge that there exists almost no pure free market or no pure command economies anymore, but permutations and combinations of both types. 

Even in the USA which is supposed to be the bastion of free enterprise, government intervenes in the marketplace to regulate free trading, there are many government regulated programmes, ethical issues in business are addressed through government intervention and monopolies are discouraged. 

In China, which is by and large a command economy, free enterprise is now being encouraged. In Cuba, we are witnessing some of the past vestiges of socialism being discouraged with a simultaneous movement towards a free market system and in 1989 we witnessed the fall of the Berlin wall which marked the end of the Soviet Union and saw the reunification of Germany.

There is ample evidence, however, that operating a command/socialist economy, where there is big government, leads to shortages of basic goods and services. 

When this is accompanied by price fixing, this leads to hoarding and arbitrage, where some unscrupulous individuals buy at a lower price and sell back at a higher price, previously-subsidised goods and services. 

A black market then develops, where although prices are higher people still choose to buy because it beats standing in line for hours to buy government subsidised goods, if it is at all available. This, coupled with a failure to diversify the economy away from petroleum, is a typical case of the repeat of the Dutch Disease, in spite of government’s good intentions. Any government worth its salt should have uppermost on its agenda 1) economic growth 2) full employment and 3) keeping inflation down to a manageable level. But, also very important is the need to close the gap between the rich and the poor. We in T&T try to achieve this via social assistance programmes, make-work programmes and subsidies. 

In fact subsidies account for some 50 per cent of the national budget in T&T. In Venezuela almost all goods and services are subsidised or sold below cost. Subsidies help to keep price down in the short-run but is not sustainable in the medium to long-run. Did you know that Venezuela has the cheapest subsidised gasoline price in the world? Most economists agree that big government interferes with the free enterprise system where the interplay of supply and demand determines price. 

The job of government in a mixed economy like ours is to enter the market whenever the price mechanism throws up a price which is too high for the rank and file to afford to restore some balance. It is also claimed that big government leads to bureaucracies with too much red tape, without the necessary metrics/means to measure efficiency. Small government, however, leads to a more efficient and flexible system with lower taxes where smaller businesses can grow and thrive.

Peter Narcis

Chaguanas

BOODRAM: KATHARINE of 1 Ramkissoon Street Penal Junction, Penal passed away on May 25th, 2016 at the age of 81. She will be lovingly remembered as the Wife of the late Edward Sonny Boodram. Mother of Sandra Maharaj of CNMG. Sister of Michael Narine of Canada & late Gertude Ramdeen, Gopaul Garib, Jaggie & Frank Narine. Sister in law of Joan, Gloria of Canada & Patsy of the USA. Aunt of Winston, Anthony Narine and Ann. Relative of the Boodram family of Penal. Friend of Many.

The funeral service of the late Katharine Boodram will take place on Wednesday 1st May, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Harris Promenade, San Fernando followed by cremation at J.E. Guide Funeral Home & Crematorium Limited, 120 Coffee Street, San Fernando. Enquires can be made to J. E. Guide Funeral

AUGUSTUS: PETER went to join his beloved Stella on Tuesday 24th May. He was the son of Peter and Cecilia (both deceased). Father of Paula, Trevor and David (Jeneil). Grandfather of Sophia. Brother of Thora, Ann, Cedric, Filmore and Gasper and Dennis Richardson ( all deceased). Uncle Sonny to the Augustus', Largen, Scanterbury and Richardson families. Dear friend of Alma Jordan. Beloved mentor to Nigel Augustus.

Funeral service will take place on Friday 3rd June, 2016 at 9:30 am at St. Theresa's R.C. Church, Woodbrook, following by a Cremation at Crematorium, long Circular Road, St. James at 11:00 am. For enquiries, call C&B 625-1170 or To send condolences please visit our website www.clarkandbattoo.com

BAIRD: EARL of #3 Westbury Lane, Belmont passed away on 25th May, 2016. Son of Emelda Baird and the late George Samuel Baird. Father of Edison Alexander. Grandfather of Kyle Alexander. Brother of Stella, Sherry, Lynette, Evelyn, Sharon, Keith, Russell, Trevor and Tony. Beloved uncle of many. Friend of Ann Marie Lambert and many others.

Funeral at 9.00 a.m. on Thursday 2nd June, 2016 at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church, Belmont thence to the Crematorium, Long Circular Road, St. James for 11.00 a.m. For enquiries, call C&B 625-1170 or visit clarkandbattoo.com

Kevin Baldeosingh

History shows that every nation which has tried socialism—from Russia where it started in 1917 to Cuba in 1959 to Jamaica in 1973—has suffered from a chronic shortage of toilet paper. 

Most economists assert that this is because socialist governments either nationalise toilet paper companies or impose price controls on toilet paper. Economic principles dictate that price controls lead to shortages, since people buy up the price-controlled item or because production drops below demand or both. Socialist principles, however, dictate that shortages are always caused by the CIA stealing toilet paper or causing diarrhoea or both. 

Socialist leaders have found various ways to address this problem. Chairman Mao between 1958 and 1961 saved toilet paper by starving 40 million peasants to death, but this solution was considered extreme everywhere except in China, where the famine is still called “Three Years of Difficulties.” 

Cuban leader Fidel Castro solved the problem personally, but it took him 84 years and a plastic anus while ordinary Cubans still do not have freedom of bowel movement. And in North Korea, there is no need for toilet paper since happy citizens get a daily supply of pamphlets telling them that Kim Jong-un is so supreme a leader that he does not need toilet paper.

So last week Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro came here to talk with Prime Minister Keith Rowley about trade, security and spying on citizens. His arrival was hailed by leading trade unionists, who in a show of solidarity refused to go to the restroom for the duration of Maduro’s visit and protested against poor people in capitalist societies being forced to use toilet paper which lacks safety standards. Yet no economist has given a cogent analysis of whether T&T can sell toilet paper to Venezuela and, if so, should it be absorbent?

This is the crux of the matter and, save for whether the influx of Venezuelan prostitutes will drive the price of sex down, everything else is trivial. Curiously, Trade Minister and Obama hugger Paula Gopee-Scoon omitted to mention toilet paper among the items for the US$50 million deal. Instead, she listed butter, chicken, pork, ketchup, rice and black beans: but, of course, this will only help ensure that toilet paper is used up even more quickly, especially the beans.

Thus, Venezuela’s woes may well be T&T’s salvation. Not only will selling toilet paper help stave off our recession, but this is a tissue issue where tripartite co-operation should be no problem at all. After all, the Rowley administration wants to help Venezuela; the trade unionists love Maduro’s socialist policies; and business people stand to make a profit.

For these reasons alone, Trinbagonians should be grateful to the late Hugo Chavez and, by extension, Karl Marx, who laid the foundation for Venezuela’s economic collapse with his theory of class conflict, which holds that toilets are a bourgeoisie device and the classless society will have nothing but latrines. “Toilet paper should be classified as an essential good, like food and shelter and lesbian porn,” he famously declared in Das Kapital.

In doing research for this column by taking a nap, I also discovered that celebrated UWI economist Norman Girvan spent a lot of time thinking about this problem, since he loved curry but had a weak stomach. In collaboration with even more celebrated UWI economist George Beckford, Girvan created a formula— T= t/p X s, where T is time, t is tissue, p is people and s is stool—that explains both toilet paper and Maha Sabha leader Sat Maharaj’s support of child marriage. 

However, the Nobel laureate development economist W Arthur Lewis noted that the Girvan/Beckford equation did not factor in the amount of bs that socialists spout, which may well be infinite. In more recent work, UWI economist Roger Hosein calculated toilet paper demand by applying a Laffer Curve to the rhetoric of MSJ leader David Abdulah, tulsi leaf eater Wayne Kublalsingh, and sundry gender feminists, after which he had to be hospitalised for dysentery. Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir, in turn, has pointed out that none of these models include money spent on Pepto Bismol. 

Thus, even if the US$50 million was spent only to buy toilet paper for Venezuela’s 28 million people, the supply wouldn’t last more than three months, and only a little longer if Venezuelans split two-ply into one. On the other hand, Minister Gopee-Scoon, presumably taking her lead from the PNM’s traditional approach to governance, said, “We have not looked at price at all.” 

Which is what makes toilet paper priceless, at least in Venezuela.

Email: kevin.baldeosingh@zoho.com

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

Here we go again. Well-placed citizens of this country, who do things to hurt, denigrate and create divisiveness, saying to all of us citizens: “I stand by everything I do” and “I stand by everything I say.” These two sentences shut down any attempts at working together for the good of us all. 

Then my mind went to the penal institutions filled with those of our citizens who “stood by everything they did” because they got so angry, frustrated and were driven to murder and banditry, that there was no room for mediation. 

The Mediation Board of T&T had better pack up shop. Those who became certified meditators will now have no mediation issues to mediate, because citizens who need mediators to help them work through the conflicts in families and communities will be cussin’ and damaging those with whom they are in conflict because they “stand by everything they say and do, and not even that dog had better bark.”

On the other hand, we have our Prime Minister calling for us to become a national family, in which we will begin to look out for each other. We have the police asking all of us to help and report anything unusual that we see. The Counter-Trafficking Unit is saying to us “See it. Report it. Stop it.” I shudder to think what the streets of this country would be with everyone telling everyone else, “Go to hell” and “mind your own business.” 

Some years ago, 800-TIPS did a copy book, with two eyes on the cover and the words: “If everyone is watching, criminals can’t hide.” With everyone minding their own business and going to hell, again I shudder and ask, “Who will be ruling the streets?” 

Obviously, with all these divisive statements flying around, our vulnerable citizens will be prone to taking up the call for us all to “Mind your own business.” and “Go to hell.” There is no room for dialogue, for agreeing to disagree. 

I am reminded of people who attend churches, mosques, temples and other houses of worship, who say, leave the prayers and piety for inside the church and when they exit the building, they do not speak to their neighbours, their neighbour is in trouble and they close their doors and windows. 

They pass in their cars and leave an elderly or blind person who just left the church with them to go and stand in the hot sun to wait for a maxi, and they are both going in the same direction and saying everybody could go to hell. Everybody will be minding their own business. 

What will we now be teaching our children in schools? Bullies can say “I stand by everything I do” and not be open to understanding the need for a behaviour change so that we can co-exist in peace and harmony. Yes, there is freedom of speech enshrined in our constitution, it is a right, but with this right comes responsibilities. 

All of this divisiveness begs for a redefinition of “family.” We need to widen the circle and begin to think out of that box in which our definition of “family” keeps us imprisoned. “Community as family” is by no means a new concept. It is one in which all our citizens, no matter our history, have been nurtured. It takes a village. 

I dare to say that “Mind your own business” and Go to hell” were not sentences that were uttered by our ancestors. As early as 1997, I attempted to redefine “family” because I saw the alienation, sadness and felt the anger of young people who attended our then Senior Comprehensive schools. Many were abandoned and had to bring themselves up, depending on the neighbours and “community leaders” for their survival. 

It was here that I observed those young people who were brought into this world merely because their parents had the biology and the opportunity. Here I met children who could not have a relationship with their fathers because he also had children with many other mothers and had to hide to even acknowledge his children. At that time, and even now, we are still “barking up the tree” of getting men back into the home. I ask the question: “Into which home do we want that man, with many children of many mothers, to go?” I am sure that many such mothers have heard “Go to hell.” 

I redefined “family” as “a group of people working together, to build positive and self-confident individuals, who exhibit care for each other, and who contribute in their turn to the building of healthy relationships. The environment of “the family” must be non-judgmental, empathic and genuine with unconditional positive regard as an essential ingredient for a successful family life.” This is our “community as family.” 

It is my opinion that this is what we all want. We want the communities in which we live to look after us, to treat us with dignity and respect, because we all walking this sacred space that is T&T and continue to be nurtured by its fruitful soil and diversity. Could this become the foundation of our “health and family life” curriculum in our schools? I am the eternal optimist.

Anna Maria Mora 

Why do we blame the Minister of National Security for the escalating crime problem? Do you think if Dr Keith Rowley removes Minister Edmund Dillon tomorrow the crime situation would immediately be reduced? Whenever a minister is replaced just after nine months in office it demonstrates more of the incompetence of the leader than the line minister. 

The genesis of crime is multifaceted. Everybody must get on board to rid own country of this scourge. Perhaps the main reason for the runaway crime in this country is rampant corruption. There is corruption in procurement of contracts; there is corruption in the execution of contracts; there is corruption in government procedural systems. Everybody wants “to eat ah food” at the expense of taxpayers. Nobody cares about national development only their self-aggrandisement.

A failed education system is another contributing factor to the crime escalation. There is a serious disconnect between the curriculum and the needs of the country. Minister Garcia needs to take some hard decisions on any child who makes less than 30 per cent in the SEA. That child should go on to an apprenticeship system in plumbing, masonry, carpentry or any such course. 

Why is it most people in authority are willing to take a bribe to look the other way? Those employed at the airport, licensing office and other ports of entry are the gate keepers. The influx of illegal immigrants is caused by the incompetence of our personnel of authority at the ports of entry. 

Failed parenting skills is another factor contributing to the crime problem. When a line at Point Fortin Borough Day is more important than the safety of our children, heaven help us. 

Finally, crime would forever be a problem when the police cannot solve the simplest of crime. Police knowledge of victimology, or lack thereof, is the main cause. Police should know who the victim was, who were her/his friends/enemies, where did he live, who was the last person to see him alive. It does not take a rocket scientist to solve a murder. 

Let’s stop playing the blame game. Dr Rowley, do not make the same mistakes Kamla Persad-Bissessar made by firing ministers left, right and centre as if that made any difference. It only helped to destabilise your government. It sends a crystal clear message that you do not know what you are doing. We all must get on board to fight crime.

John Jessamy, 

Fyzabad 

WASA intends to apply to the Regulated Industries Commission for an increase in water rates because of a shortfall in revenue, or so it says. It can lay claim to be one of the most efficient utilities in the country.

However, greater focus must be placed on its collection processes before any justification can be made for any increase rates. In its case for the increase it cites domestic and commercial customers but makes no reference to industrial users, which must be easily the heaviest consumers in the nation. Not to mention that they also have preferential rates.

WASA would be better able to convince the public of the need for an increase in rates if it improved its collection efforts and augmented its income by that means. It would almost certainly not be necessary to have any increase in rates.

Karan Mahabirsingh,

Chase Village, Carapichaima

In 2016, the subject of the age of marriage has now become a heated debate. In our early history it was a common practice for marriages to be conducted at a young age.

At 15, Henry IV was the youngest King to father a child. The youngest queen regent to give birth was Mary II, who gave birth to a stillborn child in 1678, prior to her accession, when she was just 16. 

The youngest mother to give birth to a monarch was Lady Margaret Beaufort, wife of Edmund Tudor, who was 13 when she gave birth to Henry VII. There are many more instances which can be quoted to substantiate that teenage marriage was the norm in early civilised societies.

The Holy Qur’an is the only Holy Scripture, of which I am aware, that specifically speaks about the age of marriage. In Chapter 4 Verses 5 and 6, it is stated: “And make not over your property, which Allah has made a means of support for you, to the weak of understanding and maintain them out of it, and clothe them and give them a good education. And test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage. Then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property…” 

Maulaana Muhammad Ali in his commentary further explains: “These words show further that the guardian is not only responsible for the education of the wards as pointed out at the end of last verse, but he is also required to examine them and see what progress they have made. According to Abu Hanifah, majority is obtained at 18 years, but if maturity of intellect is not attained at 18, the limit may be extended.”

At the time of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act in 1935, Muslim girls were not encouraged to be sent to school, since the state did not recognise Muslim schools until 1942. Muslim girls were educated at home in the upbringing of their siblings, doing household chores, including cooking and washing, while their indentured parents were in the fields. As a result they were mature enough at the age of 12 to take on the responsibilities associated with the home hence the legitimacy of the age for marriage.

Today, the majority of girls in our society at the age of 18, having just left school, are far removed from the responsibilities associated with cooking, washing, household chores and the upbringing of children. In this respect, they are less matured that the 12 year old of the 1920s or 1930s. It is for this reason that I strongly advocate that the age of marriage and sexual consent be lifted to 21 years.

Imaam Iqbal Hydal,

Muslim Marriage Officer,

Felicity

I don’t think we should be wasting time debating whether the age for marriage should be revised. Underage marriage is not a general act, but is only one of religious practice. 

We spend weeks upon weeks arguing about underage marriage and have derailed ourselves from the main issue of this whole problem. Underage marriage has been in existence for hundreds, probably thousands of years and since then rape has been existing as part of human nature. 

If we should revise underage marriage, then we should also revise and put restrictions on the clothes which these minors under the age of 18 are allowed wear. 

Or we should revise and make it illegal for male teachers to teach female students under the age of 18 in a class room alone. 

Am I now being ridiculous? Because if this is how you feel, this is how I feel when I listen to how we have left out “other” major factors which can in every way contribute statutory rape. To a point where we have prominent religious leaders now making it a religious battle even though it is not. 

The cons that surround statutory rape or any type of crimes along this line is a problem that must be attended to as soon as possible. It is as though we ourselves contribute to issues not being dealt with in the manner it should because we always stray away from the problem and contribute the situation.

Akiel Blackwell

The issue of Muslim and Hindu marital rights, with regard to the ages of people being able to join in matrimony, is as contentious as it is trivial. That people under the age of 18 could enter into marriage would only make sense if those people were treated as adults in every other aspect of their lives as well. But the fact that the law still regards them as minors should preempt any other argument on the subject. 

That being said, the statements of Sat Maharaj at the Indian Arrival Day celebrations in Debe, as controversial as they were, raised an interesting point, even if it isn’t the one he was attempting to make. 

Unfortunately, child molestation occurs in our country, despite being condemned by every major religious organisation, except the Hindus and Muslims who excuse it with their marital laws. 

How can Sat then attack the Christians and more so Catholics for their rogue priests, when the Hindu laws only add confusion to the entire issue? Or is he saying that child molestation can be sanctioned if consummated with the blessings of God? 

To make this all a little more muddled, is that there is another scenario where someone under the age of 18 is allowed to live with strangers, albeit under more tragic circumstances. In cases where children become orphaned or are victims of abuse, the state can legally intervene and transfer them to a foster family for care and supervision. This is done so that the child can grow up in a nurturing environment and develop into a well-rounded and fine adult. 

I bring this up to point out the difference between this arrangement and child marriage, because often times, if someone became married under the age of 18, their childhood ends abruptly and they are thrust into an adult relationship prematurely. Unless of course we expect that their spouse will nurture, guide and raise them as a parent, in which case the relationship becomes even more perverted. 

No one can expect that people will stop viewing children as sexual objects if religious leaders keep confusing the situation. If we decide that a boy or girl are required to be at least 18 before getting married then that age should be the universal benchmark for any and all intimate relations, including copulation. But when there are exceptions to the rules, we are inviting perverse and wicked activity to take place, and we all become responsible for results.

Ravi Maharaj

ST JOHN’S—Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said yesterday that he “categorically reject” the call for the dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), to pave the way for the emergence of a new governance structure.

Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Caricom Committee governing West Indies cricket, Prime Minister Browne predicted that the regional game would be plunged into “further chaos and confusion” if the WICB were to be dissolved.

The Prime Minister was addressing an audience which included WICB President Dave Cameron during a function in St John’s observing 90 years since the WICB became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“Today, I categorically reject the call for the dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board and I do so in my capacity as chairman of the Caricom Cricket Committee governing West Indies cricket,” prime Minister Browne said.

“I believe firmly that to dissolve the West Indies Cricket Board would be to plunged West Indies cricket into further chaos and confusion”.

The Antiguan leader’s public revelation puts him at odds with Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, the current chairman of CARICOM’s Sub-committee on cricket governance.

Dr Mitchell has been at the forefront of spearheading efforts to effect the restructuring of the WICB and fully endorsed the recent Barriteau Report which last year recommended “the immediate dissolution” of the embattled WICB.

The Barriteau Report was commissioned by CARICOM with agreement from the WICB and authored by UWI Cave Hill Principal, Professor Eudine Barriteau but the WICB rejected the findings.

“In fact I reject the notion that the problems facing West Indies cricket could be exclusively as a result of governance,” Prime Minister Browne pointed out.

“It does not matter the scholars who may have written the various reports, but any conclusions that the problems facing West Indies cricket is exclusive to governance is flawed”.

Prime Minister Browne’s comments are also likely to undermine Prime Minister Mitchell’s efforts to foster unity among Caribbean leaders in bringing about changes to the WICB governance structure.

Only last week in Barbados, Prime Minister Mitchell repeated calls for the WICB to reform itself while delivering the 19th Sir Frank Worrell Memorial lecture.

But his Antiguan counterpart has argued that revamping the WICB governance structure is not necessary, although he accepts that they are weaknesses.

Prime Minister Browne is recommending that the board and stakeholders strengthen the WICB governance structure by ensuring “greater transparency and accountability” and “a better dispute resolution process”.

“Whenever these disputes end up in the public domain they are literally damaging the image of West Indies cricket,” he said.

“So I, therefore, call on the board to take responsibility to ensure there is a better dispute resolution mechanism in resolving differences between the board and players going forward”. (CMC)