My sincerest appreciation to the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture for their concern and timely action in dealing with a situation which could have ended in tragic circumstances.

On Wednesday, May 18, I discovered the presence of bees on my premises through the unpleasant experience of being pursued and stung multiple times on the head. I am allergic to bee stings. 

On observing the size of the swarm in an overturned plant pot barely 10 metres from the house, I called Mrs Anthea Watson of the Ministry late that afternoon, appealing for help. She assured that I would hear from personnel early the following morning.

True enough, I was contacted by a Ms Victoria early on the Thursday morning and via a Mr George of the Ministry’s regional office referred to a beekeeper, Mr Henry Awong. On Friday 20, Mr Awong and his team very efficiently removed the bees and sprayed the area. My neighbours were all alerted and the exercise passed off smoothly.

What was equally impressive was the number of follow-up calls from ministry personnel and Mr Awong to ascertain the success of the operation. These calls were caring and reassuring. The beekeeper himself wanted to ensure that the premises were rid of bees.

That very Thursday, there was an article in one of the dailies of a man being killed by a swarm of bees in Rio Claro while using a wacker in his front yard; his wife and neighbour, both severely stung, could not save him. I could not help but reflect on myself, the ministry and God’s providence.
I commend all mentioned and anyone else who would have contributed to the success of this exercise.

Trevor Ifill,
Orange Grove, Tacarigua

It was not by accident that Sat Maharaj, the Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, made reference to a business. While worshippers of differing faiths see only houses of worship, deliverance from sin and its consequences, relief and a place to differentiate themselves, religious leaders run competing organisations, are in the business of corralling and subjugating human minds predicated on sound financial decisions and a reasonable return on investment.

In order to save a child’s life, the life of the caregiver must first be canvassed and protected. In this society of meaningless checks and balances, would any adjustment to the legal age of marriage bring about much needed transformational relief to abused children as a whole? 
Is the adjustment upwards harmonising legislation in regard to children, the correct place to begin to prevent abuse and to protect children? Just asking.

Bonded child marriages, like marriages under undue influence, like a host of freely entered contractual adult marriages among rich and connected men, are matters of economic convenience. The morally reprehensible dichotomous relationship between economic convenience and unequal partnerships is the mainstay of abusive relationships, generating child, spousal and gender–related abuses all of which equally need our closest scrutiny.

A messenger ought not to be condemned for crudity in his delivery of a message but he should be condemned for any intended mischief hidden away deep in the bowels of the message.

Was it appropriate and morally sound or opportunistic for Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris to lead the charge of statutory rape when all the while his church has been perpetrator and protector of some of the most heinous crimes against children and humanity, and pointedly on matters of colour and social class injustices still unresolved?

Kathleen Pinder

Dear Mr Maharaj,

I always consider myself to be a respectful person, mindful of people holding high leadership positions. So too, I have always respected other religious views although I may not believe such. 

Now here’s my point, sir...

Your recent agitated scorn poured on all those who oppose child marriages is way out of line, even as ancestral beliefs have practised such for centuries before.

Now, that may be allowed by certain sections in the far east, including in the “mother land” India, but here is where we draw the line. We Indo-Trinidadians, whilst acknowledge our ancestral cultures with utmost respect and pride, cannot be like the proverbial ostrich and bury our heads in the sand when it concerns the future lives those who we love dearly—our children!

Sir, you have got to wake quickly and open your eyes to reality. We are in the 21st century; people of Indian origins have evolved in many phases and have achieved many accolades and contributed significantly to the development of Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean (too numerous to mention here) since coming from the “motherland.”

You have got to realise that all who you say “oppose” these under-age marriages are other civil leaders who are real to societal changes. And who, because of these behavioural changes in lifestyles and the upsurge in criminal activities in early marriages, are in fact voicing their concerns for these relationships and hopefully will want legislation to be put in place to curb and control these patterns. 

Recent statistics will support the fact that under-aged marriages have led to dysfunctional families. Now, you may know and argue that many couples have been married at early ages and I too do know of some cases. But many supporting factors including the sober and overwhelming belief that to raise the age to 20 will ensure that “mature minds will make mature decisions” have to be taken into account.

Mr Maharaj, please engage in constructive discussions with the other civil authorities for benefit of all peoples of different races in cosmopolitan T&T. 

Colin Ghouralal,
Chaguanas

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sat Maharaj was the driving force behind the establishment of Maha Saba schools, some of which today produce students which even compete for the President’s medal; this I saw as Sat’s determination to rescue 12-year-old girls from the cultural slavery of another era by providing the enlightenment for young girls to attain their full potential. 

According to IRO president Harrypersad Maharaj, there has been no Hindu under-18 marriage for the last two years, which prompts the question, are we witnessing a storm in a teacup?

While not necessarily sharing his views, I have often regarded comments by my friend Sat Maharaj as reasoned and logical, but his most recent “go to hell” exhortation to the many citizens who oppose child marriages has neither “reason nor logic.”

Prior to 1946 when marriages under Hindu or Muslim rites were not recognised by the state, a widow or widower had no entitlement in law to the estate of the deceased spouse; no one interfered then with “bamboo “marriages of Hindus or Muslims. But marriage has a civil component in which the rights are enshrined, not only of the man and woman, but of any children, whether born in or out of wedlock. Society and the state are thus entitled to pronounce on the “conditionalities” of marriage via a marriage act.

It is under the laws of T&T that the benefits or the rights of a civil marriage contract are enjoyed by T&T citizens and others. Most Trinis regard child marriage as a cultural, and not a religious issue, and my own support for raising the age for marriage of girls is for their own protection. 

Pregnancy has been the only reason advanced for permitting the marriage of a child, which to me is no justification; yet one cannot discount the situation where a parent in need is willing to encourage a courtship if the suitor is an adult, rich and well to do. 

I regard child marriage as an issue for all society and “mind your own business” is not applicable. 

Michael J Williams,
Maracas Valley

Quite apart from living in a healthy democracy, the head of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha fell into the popular belief that if you are of a certain age, you could say anything. This usually happens when one can feel power slipping away through the proverbial fingers. 

Mr Satnarayan Maharaj’s quarrel is not really with Archbishop Harris and the Catholic church but with the fact that the Hindu Women’s Organisation (HWO) had the gall to question his control over their lives. He also has to swallow the fact that Mother India has changed the marriage laws to be in sync with the rest of the world. Imagine such a thing being done without his permission!

There will be no fear of religious wars in T&T. The vast majority of our Hindu brothers and sisters, as is the rest of multi religious citizens of T&T, are educated enough to accept reasonable and inevitable changes existing in a modern society. Being belligerent went out of style. 

Lynette Joseph

We live in a world where politicians and religious leaders pontificate patriotism. Individuals within the leadership hierarchy highlight what the model citizen is. Intelligent, successful, committed and worthy are words aligned with the people we choose as leaders. 

Sadly these characteristics are not always manifested in our daily existence. It’s astonishing that our leaders are condemned and criticised on a hourly basis. In some cases this is warranted. 

We have a “leader” telling citizens to go to hell and mind their own business. Sir, please note that country trumps religion; you are a member of the citizenry of T&T before you join any religious organisation, so it’s everybody’s business since it reflects the State. 

Furthermore, I think you should step down simply because you have displayed no respect for your followers and other people of faith in our republic. With age should come wisdom. 

Alvin K Daniel

I would like to point out that Catholic means “universal.” Therefore, anything that concerns the dignity of the human person is the business of the Catholic Church. Thank you, Archbishop Harris, for minding our business.

Proud to be Catholic,

Nikita

After being slapped with a $7,000 fine for  drunk driving, machine shop operator Christopher Downey sobered up and apologised to the court, vowing never to drink and drive in his life ever again. 

That was the promise Downey made to San Fernando magistrate Natalie Diop when he appeared before her on Tuesday on a drunk driving charge of which he pleaded guilty.

Downey, 28, was caught by PC Singh around 2 am on Saturday at Bay Road, Marabella. Court prosecutor Sgt Roger Richardson said Singh and other officers were on patrol and observed a white Mitsubishi Lancer parked in the car park of a business place.

When the officer approached, Downey said in a slurred speech: “Officer I am waiting for my girlfriend to pick me up.”

The officer found Downey’s breath was giving off a strong alcoholic odor and encouraged him to sit and wait for his girlfriend. However, Downey ignored the advice and entered his car and drove off as soon as the officer turned his back. 

PC Singh then intercepted the car and took Downey to the San Fernando Police Station where he was subjected to the breathalyser tests administered by PC Ramcharan. The field sobriety test recorded a reading of 123 microgrammes while two other tests recorded readings of 107 microgrammes. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Apologising for his actions, Downey said he had learnt his lesson and promised the magistrate she would never see him in her court again. 

“This is my first time (being arrested) and it was not a nice experience,” he said.  Underscoring the seriousness of the offence, the magistrate told him the offence carried the maximum penalties of  $12,000 for the first offence, $22,000 for the second and a term of imprisonment and the third conviction carried a permanent driving ban.

 She told Downey the officer treated him in a professional manner and gave him good advice which he ignored.  

“The court has a duty to send a clear message that this conduct will not be tolerated,” she said as she gave him 30 days to pay the fine or serve 12 months in prison.

The field sobriety test recorded a reading of 123 microgrammes while two other tests recorded readings of 107 microgrammes. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Chairman of the Joint Select Committee (JSC), Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, on Wednesday waded into the acting Police Commissioner, Stephen Williams, for washing his hands of the probe into the controversial day of “total policing.” A day which, many would recall, brought the country to a virtual standstill with gridlock traffic in various parts of the country.

Williams led a team of senior police officials at the meeting at the J Hamilton-Maurice Room of the Parliament, Tower D, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

He informed Minister Hinds that he had “not gone into the (police) investigation.” 

Hinds, in turn, informed him that the decision to not go into the investigation “was more than interesting.”

The minister said he was troubled by that position and added Williams was before the JSC “because of the public that we represent as a Parliament and who you serve. There is a sense of disaffection, a sense of dissatisfaction with this matter.”

Hinds continued: “(You) the commissioner is called to appear thinking you would have grasped the opportunity to solve this disaffection from the public because they want to know what happened.”

Responding, Williams said the regulations require that commissioners stay away from investigations relating to disciplinary action as “he has the authority to impose disciplinary sanctions.”

On the day of “total policing,”—March 23, 2015—motorists across the nation were unable to move for hours, in some instances, as simultaneous roadblocks were conducted without the knowledge of those in authority. Williams was out of the country that day.

The commissioner said investigations were now the responsibility of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).

Committee member, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, asked Williams if the JSC made a request for him to complete investigations into possible police misconduct for the day of total policing. 

According to Williams: “The TTPS had not continued the investigation into that total policing day issue—all built around roadblocks—and we have not continued,” adding that the relevant documents had been given to the PCA for its attention.

Al-Rawi said the JSC had specifically requested that the T&T Police Service complete its investigation into the roadblock exercises and asked Williams if he did not comply with that recommendation. 

In response, Williams said: “Having passed on to the PCA the contents of the investigation and the PCA undertaking to do a full investigation into serious police conduct, the Police Service was now awaiting the PCA’s outcome and was co-operating fully with the PCA for the completion of that investigation.”

Asked by Al-Rawi if he (Williams) was indicating that he did not complete the police investigation, Williams said: “The answer is that I have not pursued any further investigation in light of the PCA undertaking an investigation under which they have sole responsibility to do.”

A joint select committee, chaired by former Independent Senator Dr Rolph Balgobin, was held in Parliament last year on the day of “total policing” and a report was submitted to the Senate.

In its report, the committee had expressed the view that the Police Service Social and Welfare Association appeared to have a role to play in the events of March 23 and that role was masked by staged activities—such as walkouts at formal meetings—designed to give the impression that whatever was done subsequently did not have the association’s sanction.

​
The committee had also noted that acting commissioner Stephen Williams had said further action on the matter would be pursued after the PCA had completed its investigation and presented a report.

The Emperor Valley Zoo is safe. Gupte Lutchmedial, president of the Zoological Society which manages the zoo, said while one cannot rule out human error, the safety measures in place make it difficult for a human to fall into the enclosure of a dangerous animal.

Lutchmedial was interviewed about the safety mechanisms at the Port-of-Spain zoo and whether there is any fallout from visitors. 

This after a three-year-old boy was dragged across a moat by the 450-pound gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, United States, when he fell into that animal’s enclosure last weekend.

The 17-year-old endangered western lowland silverback, named Harambe, was later shot and killed by zoo officials in a bid to preserve the life of the boy.

“We don’t have any cages that children could fall into,” said Lutchmedial who blamed human error for the Cincinnati mishap.

He said he has visited that zoo, where some of their past and present curators and workers have trained. 

Saddened by the death of the animal, Lutchmedial said it was unfortunate, but based on established zoo protocol, they had no choice but to kill it.

“I am sad because of my love for animals, knowing how rare and how elegant a silverback could be. How he walks around like he owns the place. I would love to have a pair of them,” Lutchmedial said. 

He said the Emperor Valley Zoo adheres to international standards, which had moved away from the stigma of having animals live in cages and from putting a barrier between the animals and visitors.

“In order to do that they have built deep moats to keep the animals contained in a natural-like habitat but visible from a distance. We in Trinidad, because of our culture, we have chosen a different way. We have built dangerous animal cages (for lions, tigers) that you cannot climb into.”

Viewing is done through a glass wall or vanishing mesh.

He said there are three strong iron doors leading to the cages for the chimpanzees, which has been built with bars because they are the most dangerous and violent of the monkey family. 

He recalled a few years ago before those safety aspects were implemented, one of the oldest chimpanzees walked out of its cage after a handler failed to secure a lock properly. However, they were able to tranquillise the animal and lead it back to the cage without anyone being hurt. 

He also recalled that in the 1980s someone walked into the lion cage and was killed.

He said concerns have been expressed, being in a hurricane zone, and surrounded by huge trees, that those trees could fall and damage the building and electricity supply facilitating the escape of animals.

Lutchmedial said they have built night shelters inside the buildings for the dangerous animals which were locked up there nightly and let out in the mornings.

In the event an animal gets out of its enclosure, Lutchmedial said zoo officials were prepared.

“We have firearms on the job. We have people trained to shoot. We have tranquillisers, we have trained people to use the tranquilliser. But if it does happen, God forbid, we would have no other choice. Human life comes first. It is the protocol, what you have been trained to do and believe.”

There is co-operation by Canada with T&T on intelligence information, says Canadian High Commissioner in T&T, Gerard Latulippe, who says Canada supports the Government’s quest for better security for citizens.

He spoke on Wednesday after inspecting the Canadian Navy vessel, HMCS Shawinigan, which docked at the Port-of-Spain Port that day.  

The vessel will be in T&T until tomorrow before departing for Grenada to participate in Operation Trade Winds military exercise, which is held annually in the region involving T&T and other Caribbean corps, the US and Canadian forces.

Commander of the vessel, Lt Commander John Forbes, said the 55-metre Shawinigan, based at Halifax, Canada, is a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel crewed by 45.

It is geared for coastal defence and patrol and provides support to other agencies. Features include small arms and heavy machine gun weaponry.

On recent T&T crime waves, Latulippe said he had noted efforts made by Government on the matter and, like the US Ambassador, also felt the expansion of the SSA and intelligence forces was a step forward.

On recent bombing threats, he said there was intelligence co-operation between Canada and T&T and that co-operation would also be pursued regionally.

Among areas Canada was assisting in improving, Latulippe said, was with funding criminal justice reform. 

He also praised T&T’s leadership in organising a conference later this year of regional Defence Ministers, in which, he added, Canada would be providing assistance, including pre-conference matters.

“We are pleased with the strong relations with T&T.  Co-operation in defence between both territories is a long-standing arrangement since the 1970s and is a very important relationship for us. We pay tribute to T&T’s defence forces which are very skillful and competent,” he added. 

On Wednesday, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon also detailed enhanced co-operation on intelligence information T&T is receiving from the US and maritime security help from Venezuela.

There’s that Sunday afternoon spent folding still-warm children’s clothes when the next piece you lift and shake out is so small in your hands that you know it is now outgrown. It’s a moment hard to even mention to others, it seems so insignificant, so inevitable and so ordinary. 

This isn’t the first time you’ve changed the sizes that fill the drawers.  The just-born sleepers were soon replaced, the onesies were eventually considered too tight, the two year old’s T-shirts became too short. 

All began to look like they had shrunk when really a small, warm body had lengthened and filled. Maybe you stopped and looked deep into your memory then, just as now. 

Maybe you crushed those clothes to your nose, closing your eyes and breathing in their smell, just as now. Maybe you suddenly heard a clock chime the passing of weeks or months or years, but it’s hard to remember if those moments held your breath as much as this one. Now, you are standing by yourself, surrounded by bright yellow humidity, your hands holding the crumpled clothes as if you could stop the reverberations of that chime from disappearing.

All you can think about is how we measure time by seconds and minutes, by light and dark, by rotations of the earth and the moon. These are discussions easy to have with others, for they are established through scientific, public and impersonal measures. 

What you mention to only a few are the little marks on the inside of the wooden cupboard door that record changes in height with whatever marker was available, sometimes red, blue or purple. 

There was such excitement about those recordings. Big efforts to stand tall with heels against the frame, wide eyes looking up as if to see if the mark had to move places before its even made.  Pride and display at the smallest of changes and everyone agreeing on the relationship between those calculations and pure joy.

What you’ve probably not shared with anyone at all are the moments when the clothes in the basket, just bigger than the size of your hand or the length of your forearm, signal the dusk of one age and the dawn of another. 

One pink and black, long-sleeved pajama feeling like sweetest sorrow materialised, for all the times it was worn were precious, but not so much as when you experience them as fleeting, as you do now.

Right then, all you can think about is how you quietly measure time by centimeters, socks that migrated to the dolls’ dress up box, vocabulary changes, capacities like braiding hair or tying shoelaces, and clothes grown too small. 

What a curious clock, with these strange indicators, whose chime brings you back to the present only to cause you to slip away to the past precisely because you are aware you have reached a once only-imagined future.

Caught between the magical and mundane, you are even a little self-conscious that someone might come in and look at you sideways, for standing mid-way in the room, bizarrely cupping a tiny cotton outfit to your face, like an oxygen mask. 

Even if you explained, they might not understand, agree with or honour your symbols for changing seasons and for shifts that don’t affect anything as important as commodity prices, though they still you in your step, renewing your sense of priorities.

This is every day, every week parenting. Nothing extraordinary or special. 

Yet, I know I’m not alone. I know children whose mothers saved a lock of their baby hair, who 40 years later can unfold their first baby clothes.

There must be others like me, who have stood amidst clean laundry, wondering where the years went, with something in hand more beloved than expected because of how fast those years have flown.

I know there are others, caught up with jobs, deadlines, extra-curricular activities, chores, meetings and concerns about the state and economy, who also realise that it’s the meanings we hardly quantify or discuss in newspaper Op-eds that can appear in fading shafts of afternoon light as what really matters. Those warm clothes, warmly and lovingly held, no longer found where they used to be.

How is our society affected by drugs and drug trafficking? Drug trafficking in the Caribbean is not an isolated issue but is linked to and fuels other forms of crime such as human trafficking, murder and gang violence. 

Consequently, it has a major impact on health care and serious implications for the economy and public safety. Drug trafficking in the Caribbean has taken on a world of its own!

The Organization of the American States (OAS) described drug trafficking as a hemispheric issue in 2014, requiring a collective approach. 

This is due to the fact that the Caribbean, South America, Central America, North America and Europe all being active participants in the drug trade and all requiring equal but country/territory-specific approaches to policy and intervention in confronting the situation.

Chief Justice Ivor Archie’s contribution to a recent OAS conference addressed the need for T&T to seek alternatives to incarceration for drug use and a restorative justice policy shift but was weary of limited resources for effecting policy reformation and implementation. 

A noteworthy attempt at this is the current use of drug courts seeking to channel drug abusers toward rehabilitation in order to deal with the underlying causal factors.

The extent of the problem

According to the Crime and Problem Analysis branch of the TTPS, major drug offences from 2000 to 2013 decreased from 1,225 to 143 while minor offences increased from 2,857 in 2000, to 6,142 in 2004 and steadily decreased to 1,480 in 2013. 

As such, this means that possession for small quantities is a major issue. It is therefore expected that drug use and addiction ought to be addressed.

Additionally, this is a major point in debates which argues for the decriminalisation of small quantities of marijuana. Some agree that decriminalisation can be positive in creating economic benefits, medicinal remedies for illnesses such as cancer and even impacting the black markets and crimes that occur within that sphere if the decriminalisation is controlled and well managed.

There are nine police divisions in T&T. The Southern Division consistently recorded the most minor offences accounting for up to 23.2 per cent of offences by 2013. 

The Northern Division accounted for most major offences with 21.8 per cent of offences by 2013. The most seized drug is marijuana, accounting for 94.1 per cent of drugs seized from 2000 to 2013. For the same period, drug-related murders accounted for an average of 9.9 per cent and gang-related murders, 29.5 per cent of all reported murders.

Regionally, Jamaica is now the largest Caribbean producer of marijuana which led to an increase in trafficking of firearms into the country with 70 per cent of their murders committed using guns.

Societal impact

Drug use is much more common especially among youths today, with various negative effects including addiction, spread of HIV/AIDS, school dropout, crime, etc.

According to the United Nations World Drug Report 2014, the transnational drug trade generates over US$400 billion per year. However, it has severe consequences to the economies of developing nations. Due to the Caribbean being the major transshipment point for trafficking from South America to the United States and Europe, there will be several social and political implications for Caribbean countries.

The impact on our health sector is one of the foremost areas of concern. Worldwide, the number of regular drug users and addicts is between 16 to 39 million. 

Governments will now be strained to deal with treating addictions, rehabilitation, birth defects caused by mothers using drugs and HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases among drug users.

Furthermore, drug use has been found to be related to increases in prostitution, rape, murder and gangs. The amount of resources required to deal will all these problems in T&T will be a huge strain on the economy. 

These resources, however, can be used to create programmes geared toward anti-drug and anti-gang campaigns as a more proactive effort in reducing drug use. 

As a result of the tremendous impact that drug trafficking has had on the Caribbean, the major areas concerned ought to be considered in combatting drug trafficking. The OAS identified general trends emanating from various Caribbean islands (and related countries such as USA) with regards to addressing drug trafficking. These included:

a) The drug problem needs to be addressed from a public health perspective;

b) Judicial reforms must be enacted to provide alternatives for incarceration;

c) Transnational organised crime is a major player in the drug problem;

d) It is essential to strengthen judicial and law-and-order institutions.

Since the drug issue has amassed to its current stage through illegal international corporation and relationships, it must be addressed at an international level with specific countries targeting their unique needs. 

The operations of the Organization of the American States, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime etc, have been facilitating research and policy implementation at an international level with positive progress and the prospect of continued advancement in combatting the drug issue. It is expected, however, that the road to achieving the overall goals is a long one.

—The Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety conducts a range of training programmes for organisations and individuals in the fields of law enforcement, security, corrections, OSH, supervision and management, security technology etc. Conduct us at 223-6999, 361-1024, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com, or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com. 

Jinnalee Mahabir

Almost to the end of his life, Holly B continued to promote T&T’s diverse cultural expressions, via a weekly radio programme, Toute Bagai. He has left behind an impressive body of work and accomplishments that will live on.

In a remarkable life that spanned just over nine decades, Holly Betaudier excelled in so many areas it would be impossible to define him in just a few short words. Television and radio personality, producer and impresario were just a small part of who he was and what he did to influence and inspire so many across this country.

Call him Holly B, or the Arima Kid if you prefer, but there is no denying that he was a true T&T icon, a national treasure and any celebration of his life and legacy will extend well beyond his funeral service to be held in his birthplace, Arima, at the Santa Rosa RC Church.

From all accounts, Holly B’s love for local culture began in his childhood days in Arima and began to bear fruit in the 1940s when he started his media career with the US Armed Forces radio service network, WVDI, in Fort Reid, Trinidad. There, in 1946, he launched a popular programme, Holly’s Happy Moments.

From there, he moved to Radio Trinidad—the frequency that eventually became the flagship station of the Trinidad Broadcasting Company (TBC) Radio Network now part of Guardian Media Limited (GML)—leaving an indelible mark.

However, Holly B’s most pioneering, groundbreaking work began in 1962 when TTT, this country’s first television station, went on air. As an on-screen personality, as well as behind the scenes as a sales representative, he introduced several innovations in programming, advertising and sponsorship that contributed significantly to the station’s early successes.

As continues to be the case now, there was then a public outcry for more local programming. Holly B responded with a programme called Variety which, during a successful one-year run, featured local artistes such as the Choy Aming Orchestra, Calypso King of the World the Mighty Sparrow and the Julia Edwards Dancers and many others.

Then there was Scouting for Talent. Long before X Factor, America’s Got Talent and other talent shows that now draw audiences in the millions around the world, Holly B had a vision for a talent show, influenced by his Boy Scout days when he won various badges for his musical performances. Aired live once a week on TTT with Holly as host, Scouting for Talent quickly became a launching pad for the careers of many talented and aspiring singers, dancers, musicians and other performers.

In addition to more conventional acts, the programme featured many unique performers, including a man who played a saw, another who husked dry coconuts with his teeth and many a melodic whistler. Several who have gone on to become successful entertainers, including Sugar Aloes, the United Sisters, Chalkdust, dancer Debra Bernard, the late actor Sullivan Walker, got their start on Scouting for Talent.

Other local talent shows, all of which enjoyed extended runs over many years on TTT, were spawned from that pioneering programme, including Indian Variety with the late Pat Mathura, Mastana Bahar with the late Sham Mohammad and popular children’s talent shows Twelve and Under and Teen Talent, hosted by the late Hazel Ward-Redman.

Holly B also promoted T&T’s national instrument with his weekly Steelband Concert programme and his Parang with Holly B during the Christmas season was another long standing fixture on local television.

Almost to the end of his life, Holly B continued to promote T&T’s diverse cultural expressions, via a weekly radio programme, Toute Bagai. He has left behind an impressive body of work and accomplishments that will live on.

Former Finance Minister Larry Howai is one of two new directors elected to the board of Ansa McAL The other is recently retired president of Republic Financial Holdings Limited David-Dulal-Whiteway.

They were elected by a unanimous show of hands at the group’s annual general meeting yesterday at Tatil Building, Port-of-Spain.

In an interview after the meeting, Howai said it was an honour to serve on a board was prestigious as Ansa McAL’s and he was impressed by the brand strength. He said that was the factor that influenced his decision to accept the invitation by Group Chairman and Chief Executive to join the board.

“The group has some big plans for the future. I am glad to be able to contribute to the plans that they have and to contribute to the continuing growth of the group,” he said.

Howai, who was also a director of Beacon Insurancem, said he had stepped down from that position because “there is a financial subsidiary in the group.”

In his report to shareholders, Sabga said the group is meeting its foreign exchange demands and has not defaulted on any of its payments to suppliers. He added that the shortage of US currency has not “retarded” the group in any way.

Sabga disagreed with a shareholder who said that Barbadians do not like Trinidad companies. He said the group feels very welcome in Barbados and has been invested there for 65 years. He added that lower oil prices and a pickup in tourism arrivals have contributed to higher revenues for the group in Barbados.

Asked whether the group would be laying off employees, Sabga said Ansa McAL has been introducing new technology, which has meant excess jobs in some areas.

“We’ve been investing very heavily in plant and equipment and when you do that you improve efficiencies and when you do that you take people out of the operations. You end up with better paying jobs but less jobs,” he said.

The executive said the group had decided not to fill the role of chief operations officer (COO) which was vacated last year by Gerry Brooks. Sabga said at this stage, there was no need for a COO because the group is being managed by sector heads.

He also announced that the group is expected to have two acquisitions completed within 45 days but did not give details, saying only that one company is located in the US and the other company in T&T, earning US currency.

The Ansa McAL Group of Companies reported profit before tax of $1.163 billion for the period ended December 31, 2015. Group finance director Aneal Maharaj said revenues increased by two per cent, while operating profit increased by 10 per cent from $1,080 million in 2014 to $1,184 million in 2015. Dividend per share increased by eight per cent from $1.30 in 2014 to $1.40 in 2015.

The company also improved its liquidity position, reporting $1.4 million in 2015 compared to $1.6 million the previous year. 

For the first quarter of 2016, Maharaj said trends are showing a sharp contraction in consumer spending but he is confident the group is resilient enough to withstand challenges in the external environment.

Despite the downturn in the economy, more and more local companies are breaking into foreign export markets, Adrian Theodore, CEO of exporTT, said yesterday.

“One of the deliverables we at exporTT look at is the number of new companies that have begun exporting. Our target this year was supposed to have been eight companies that have got into the export market. We are already at 13 confirmed new exporters for 2016. We believe that it is already more than that as there are people who export through brokers and it is difficult to track them down,” he told the T&T Guardian.

Theodore said companies that have an export thrust usually do better than those with just local market share.

“A lot of companies were interested in exports before but it was an option. Now it has become a priority. The statistics show how well export-oriented companies do. They generally employ more people. Export related companies tend to be more successful because they earn foreign exchange,” he said.

Theodore spoke with the T&T Guardian during a tour of Grand Bay Paper Products , O’Meara Industrial Estate Arima, by Lleana Núñez Mordoche, Cuban Vice Minister of Trade and a delegation from that country. He complimented Grand Bay and its sister company Trinidad Tissues for their entry into the Cuban market.

“The success that Trinidad Tissues has had in Cuba . . . they have been working very hard. I do not think some companies are aware of what it takes to achieve success internationally,” he said.

Núñez said she was astonished at how well Grand Bay Paper Products knows the Cuban market and urged them to look for more opportunities there.

“They are already selling to the Cuban company, Prosa, which makes sanitary products. But they are now working to invest in Cuba and to continue doing direct trade with Cuba. Right now Trinidad Tissues is using brokers but they prefer direct links with the Cuban market,” she said.

Yesterday was Núñez’s final day in T&T after a week long stay and she described her trip as a “success.”

“We had the chance to meet with government ministers, business leaders, Exim Bank and others. There is a lot of interest to work with Cuba. Our aim is to enhance bilateral trade between the two countries,” she said.

In the end, the face of freedom on Tuesday was former murder accused Devon Peters, his head enfolded in a red and white ghutra, departing the Hall of Justice into the arms of hijab-clad relatives.

There were no words that day for Dana Seetahal SC, slain prosecutor of the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman case. Though absent from the helm of the trial, she was still remembered by her colleagues in the wind-up of the case. Those sitting closer to attorneys would have seen defence attorney Wayne Sturge—her opponent—tear up as he paid tribute to her in his closing statements.

When the trial began in March 2014 Seetahal was lead prosecutor of the 12 on trial for the December 2006 kidnap/murder of Naipaul-Coolman. Two months later, Seetahal was dead—assassinated.

Sturge said onlookers might have thought they were at war “when in reality we were all friends,” He recalled her sense of humour, love of pranks, her protectiveness of him as a freshman attorney against “the elite” and how she “legitimised” the Sturge brand in his self-confessed hell-raising days. Mario Merrit, lead defence, also paid tribute to her.

The story of death which began with Vindra Naipaul-Coolman (reportedly butchered by power saw after being shot in the chest) and continued with Dana Seetahal (cut down by bullets) continued in July 2015 concerning one of the murder accused, Allan “Scanny” Martin who also died by the gun (police guns, after a failed jailbreak).

The two-year trial will cost taxpayers over $15 million so far estimated in Legal Aid funding for attorneys ($30,000 monthly per advocate, $20,000, per instructing attorney), officials confirmed. Prosecutors’ fees are to be calculated. At least one defence attorney had three clients.

Apart from jubilation of those freed and silence of the victim’s family, what are the lessons of the case? For attorneys? The system? The state? Trial prosecutor Israel Khan SC, for one, says the outcome has reinforced the case for retaining jury trials in T&T’s multi-racial, multi-religious society. 

Whatever the other observations, they’ll stand alongside the lessons of last week’s dismissal of gang-related charges against the accused in the Seetahal murder case. Hopefully, all will be in synch with the outlook of Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard who on Thursday (on the Naipaul Coolman case) said...“We tend to learn from every case we do.”

None of this should be lost on state agencies at the other end of the justice spectrum—away from the courts—grappling with crime, heightened by recent developments of terror “threats.” Last week’s bomb threats coincided on the holiday weekend at the same time, the US—observing Memorial Day weekend also—sustained two similar matters. Hazardous material crews converged on the White House after a woman was arrested for throwing a package over the fence. A New York guard was injured when a suspicious package left near his mailbox exploded.

Correspondingly, recent developments have confirmed T&T’s issues are attracting reinforced support from the US (following the National Security Minister’s recent US military meeting), Canada (the visit by a military vessel) and Venezuela (next week’s visit from its Maritime commander).

However, the magnitude of the challenge facing local authorities was emphasised with Tuesday’s discovery of another grenade, abandoned by a man fleeing police near Carli Bay. It was the third grenade unearthed since one was found outside the Port-of-Spain prison following the July 2015 jailbreak—and was part of the escapees’ armoury—and a second detonated in March 2016 during Rasta City and Muslims turf war in Barataria.

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon on Wednesday acknowledged grenades normally come in batches and not singly—and that grenades don’t normally form part of the local criminal arsenal. Coupled with recent bomb threats, the implications of those facts call for reinforced intel-gathering, tracking the grenades and comparing all three to get an origin”... which will give us a sense of where to place our emphasis,” he added.

With almost 100 possible entry points around T&T and a simmering underground, Dillon’s forces outside of the courts have their work cut out to prevent any costly lessons being required from within.

This year’s observance of World Environment Day (June 5) shines a much-needed spotlight on the illegal trade in wildlife. There is grave cause for alarm. Elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory, rhinos for their horns, and pangolins for their scales. 

From sea turtles to tigers to rosewood, thousands of species of wild animals and plants are being driven ever closer to extinction. The businesses and individuals involved are motivated solely by short-term gain at the expense of long-term benefit to communities and habitats. In many instances, they act in collusion with transnational organised crime networks and groups actively involved in destabilising nations.

The United Nations and its many partners have resolved to tackle this illicit trade, including by setting clear targets to put an end to poaching in the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted last year by all 193 Member States. 

Last month, at the second United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, we launched a UN “Wild For Life” global campaign, led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Convention on the International Trade in Wild Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). The campaign asks everyone to pledge to end the illegal trade in wildlife, from ordinary citizens, who can ensure they do not buy prohibited products, to governments, who can pursue change though implementing effective policies to protect species and ecosystems.

Angola, which is this year’s World Environment Day global host, has served notice that it will no longer tolerate the sale of illegal wildlife products, and is strengthening legislation and increasing border controls as part of efforts to restore elephant populations that were devastated by the country’s civil war. 

Such action sends a strong message that wild species of plants and animals are a precious commodity that must be sustainably managed and protected from illegal trade.

On this World Environment Day, I urge people and governments everywhere to overcome indifference, combat greed and act to preserve our natural heritage for the benefit of this and future generations.

The Secretary General,

United Nations