A La Horquetta man was murdered on Tuesday night after blocking off an open area in his backyard to prevent criminals from entering.

Marvin Bridgeman, 41, had gone to the police after being informed that criminal elements were stashing illicit items on his property. Bridgeman, a caterer for the Police Service, who was well known in the area, returned and started blocking off his yard.

On Tuesday night, a man came to Bridgeman's home and the two had an argument. Bridgeman left home and returned  around 7 pm, when he was shot multiple times.

Police are still investigating.​

Public servants and employees of state enterprises will receive offers of zero,zero, zero for the 2017 to 2020 negotiation period.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert today indicated  his intention for there to be no wage increases for public servants for that period.

The announcement was made at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forum at the Hyatt Regency this morning.

The minister was part of a panel of global and regional leaders discussing the economic challenges facing the region.

In the audience was Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Dr Warren Smith, President of the Caribbean Development Bank.

The announcement by the government is expected to have a ripple effect across the private sector.

The Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP)  has withdrawn its application for an injunction against former housing minister and Oroupouche East MP Roodal Moonilal.

At 9.30 am at the High Court in Port-of-SPain, Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh was scheduled to give judgment on the injunction preventing Moonilal from making allegations about CEPEP management.

Before Boodoodingh could give the judgement, CEPEP's attorney Elton Prescott said the State-run body no longer wished to pursue the matter.

As a result Jagdeo Singh, Moonilal's attorney said CEPEP should pay the legal costs of his client in defending the application as the case was "frivolous" and a waste of time.

Prescott attempted to challenge this but Justice Boodoosingh ordered that CEPEP pay Moonilal's legal costs.

Moonilal had initially filed a defamation lawsuit following a statement CEPEP had placed in the daily newspapers in August, on the misappropriation of $39.6 million in funds on construction projects in Moonilal’s constituency of Oropouche East.

The Member of Parliament had denied that the projects were undertaken in his constituency and later resorted to making certain statements against the operations of CEPEP, which it claimed was also defamatory.

As part of its employee engagement and volunteerism programme, Angostura staff and families recently embarked on a month of volunteerism. 

“We really appreciate that our employees have grasped and embraced the concept of ‘Paying it Forward’ through the various volunteer activities,” said Shane Ram, executive manager–human resources and administration at the House of Angostura.

Several employees and their families, together with students of the Barataria North Secondary School, trekked to “3 Pools” Blanchisseuse, to participate in the annual International Coastal Clean-up on September 17. 

They collected several bags of garbage, and the data recorded formed part of a report that was submitted to the local organising body for the campaign. 

The involvement of the students assisted them in a better understanding of caring for the environment and teamwork. 

Also in September, the company distributed books, shelving units and other items to primary schools in the Laventille/Morvant area. 

Employees donated many of the books as part of an ongoing library enhancement programme. Some employees made presentations at several of the schools. The children were happy to interact with staff, who read for them. 

Social media activities were part of the engagement, with staff sharing tips on their social media outlets about responsible drinking and facts concerning alcohol consumption, educating their friends and families. 

Employees also discussed the topic online with a nurse.

In other activities, a team of over 40 women took part in Scotiabank’s annual Women Against Breast Cancer 5k around the Queen’s Park Savannah. 

The team comprised female staff, who were also encouraged to bring a young person to participate in the event. 

On the day before the event, the T&T Cancer Society held a sale of some of their promotional items in Angostura’s staff canteen. 

This raised over $2,200 in support of the cause.

The company also held a cake sale at its courtyard on October 14. Each department nominated a charity or organisation for the donations. 

One was selected in a “draw”—the Cyril Ross Home for children afflicted with HIV/Aids, in Tunapuna. 

Staff later visited the home and presented them with a cheque for over $6,900.

​In delivering the 2009 budget, on September 22, 2008, then Finance Minister Karen Tesheira unveiled plans to establish a T&T Revenue Authority (TTRA) and a new property tax regime.

Mrs Tesheira told Parliament that the enabling legislation to give effect to the TTRA would be laid in Parliament early in 2009 and “the new organisation will be in operation by the third quarter of 2009.”

Of the proposed property tax, she said enabling legislation would have been introduced in the 2009 fiscal year with the property tax regime taking effect from January 1, 2010.

It is part of our recent economic history that neither the revenue authority nor the property tax regime was implemented in accordance with the schedules outlined by the minister by the administration led by the late Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

Both measures faced strong opposition from the then Opposition, United National Congress and the revenue authority faced strong push-back from the trade union representing public sector workers.

In delivering the 2017 budget, the current Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert told the Parliament that the Government was “moving full speed ahead” with the introduction of the TTRA and “we expect to introduce legislation for the establishment of a Revenue Authority in Parliament in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.”

Mr Imbert said that “an urgent priority in 2017” will be the introduction of an integrated revenue authority as well as other measures, as needed, to improve tax administration.

Improving tax administration was “an urgent priority,” according to the minister because “the weakening of energy tax collections and the need to boost domestic tax collections have exposed the weakness of our tax administration system.

“There is no avoiding the fact that there is considerable tax leakage in T&T and the Board of Inland Revenue could be collecting far more tax than it does at present.”

Of the property tax regime, Mr Imbert said that this would be implemented in fiscal 2017, at a flat rate of three per cent for individuals, based on the Property Tax Act 2009, with minor amendments to the Valuation of Lands Act.

“We have done much of the preparatory work needed to introduce a comprehensive property tax in 2017,” said the minister.

Will Colm succeed where Karen failed to implement the property tax and the revenue authority?

Firstly, it is quite likely that in 2017, Mr Imbert will face opposition from the same revanchist forces that were dead set against the introduction to both measures in 2009.

The TTRA legislation requires a special majority to be enacted and therefore requires the support of the Opposition, which will mean prior and meaningful consultation and a willingness to adopt some of the measures that are proposed by the “other side.”

The introduction of the authority also requires the agreement of the Public Services Association, which represents public servants, in terms of assurances of minimal job losses, enhanced separation packages and the retention of the PSA as the recognised bargaining unit. There will need to be prior and meaningful consultation between the Government and the PSA if the TTRA is to get off the ground.

But, more fundamentally, the economic circumstances in which T&T finds itself today are substantially different than the circumstances that Mrs Tesheira faced in the 2009 fiscal year.

In 2009, based on the assumption of US$70 a barrel oil price, natural gas at US$4 and projected GDP growth of 5.6 per cent, the finance minister projected that the country would receive $49.465 billion, comprising energy revenue of $19.924 billion and non-energy revenue of $29.54 billion.

As a result of the onset of the global financial crisis, which led to a sharp fall in oil and gas prices, as well as the collapse of the Clico/CL Financial empire, the government was only able to collect $38.993 billion, according to the 2010 Review of the Economy, some $10.47 billion less than originally projected.

In 2017, while total revenue is projected at $47.44 billion, only $37.7 billion is coming from what Mr Imbert refers to as core revenue—from taxation, royalties and customs duties—which means that over $16 billion will need to be sourced from borrowings, drawdowns of the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund and one-off sources of capital revenue such as the sale of assets, dividends from state enterprises and repayment of past lending.

As Mr Imbert said in his 2017 budget speech: 

“In 2014, the revenues from petroleum alone, as measured using the formula in the Heritage and Stabilisation Act, were $19.3 billion. However, in 2016, as a result of the double whammy of depressed oil and gas prices and changes in the fiscal regime for the energy sector, which came into effect in 2014, and allowed for the write off of 100 per cent of capital expenditure on exploration in the first year, among other concessions and declining predictions, the revenues from petroleum dropped to just $1.7 billion. This represents a decrease between 2014 and 2016 in annual revenues from petroleum of $17.6 billion, or 92 per cent.” 

What that means, quite simply, is that Mr Imbert faces the most challenging fiscal environment of any finance minister since ANR Robinson in 1987, close to 30 years ago. Mr Robinson, now deceased, served as both prime minister and minister of finance during the 1986 to 1991 period.

In fact, it is doubtful that any finance minister in the history of the Caribbean has faced a 92 per cent decline in the main revenue-earning sector of their country in a two-year period.

That fact alone provides the economic context of the 2017 fiscal environment and provides the current administration with significant incentive to ensure no legitimate dollar of taxation is left uncollected.

The government’s need to maximise tax revenue in the current 2017 fiscal year answers the argument put forward by Amcham TT’s CEO Nirad Tewarie and Chamber president Robert Trestrail on last Sunday’s edition of Money Matters that the Government should reform tax administration before implementing new taxes. 

That’s because, according to a 2010 study by the International Monetary Fund, entitled Revenue administration: A toolkit for implementing a revenue authority: “Experience has shown that successful implementation of a revenue authority can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months. It requires a dedicated project team, competent officials assigned on a full-time basis to the effort, liaison with many areas of government as well as professional advice that may not be available in-country.”

In that document, the IMF also asked this question, which is extremely relevant to T&T: is the Government prepared to deal with possible labour relations upheaval in a move to a revenue authority?

The answer, according to the IMF toolkit:

“Unless a government decides to move all existing staff over to the new RA, there is usually a multitude of issues arising from the treatment of existing staff that will garner great interest from the union or staff association. From what happens to staff to the status of the union as bargaining agent, there are many issues where the government’s desired outcomes will likely not generate union support. This can often be mitigated by early engagement with the union. Nevertheless, there is a political, policy and tactical decision to be made by government on the extent to which they want to engage the union on this particular issue.”

The key words in that paragraph are early engagement.

Is this administration capable of early engagement? 

Is this administration capable of speedy decision making followed by rapid implementation of decisions taken?

When Exxon Mobil announced that it had made a significant oil discovery offshore in the Suriname-Guyana basin in May 2015, it was the proverbial “shot heard around the world” for what appears to be the right catalyst for advancing Guyana’s economic development. 

In the face of this exuberance, one man is calling for a sober, levelled-headed perspective on managing the inflows of hydrocarbon rents likely to hit the Guyanese economy in the future. 

Roger Hosein, senior lecturer in economics at UWI, is suggesting that the powers that be in Guyana learn from the Trinidad experience and ensure the right systems and procedures are put in place to support what could be a massive reshaping of the Guyanese economy.

It is estimated that Exxon Mobil’s oil discovery off the Guyanese coast could hold as much as 1.4 billion barrels of oil. At current market prices the value of the oil—found in the Liza field—is potentially worth US$70 billion. Exxon Mobil has described the discovery as “world-class” and has a 45 per cent stake in the Liza field. The Liza discovery, though large, may not add to global oil supplies for years as deepwater finds can take half a decade or more to bring into production. 

Questioned about the vast amount of oil reserves discovered, its potentially transformative effect and, as such, how the Guyanese government should go about managing its economic future, Hosein said legislation should be the order of the day.

Hosein said: “I think the government of Guyana should consider forming a stabilisation fund with well defined rules for withdrawal and injections because the amount of oil discovered, whilst being large, is not enormous. 

“In this regard, the government of Guyana—in order to maintain an increase in expenditure across a very long period of time—will need to consider an approach that uses resources from the fund based mainly on the interest that the fund generates.”  

Hosein added that with the interest from the fund alone, and not even touching the principal, the Guyanese government should be able to achieve significant economic development in a measured, controlled manner.

“This interest, once spent, should preferably take the form of expenditure on health, education, and physical infrastructure. In this way, as the natural resource is extracted and depleted, it is replaced by other forms of capital in the economy and, in so doing, helps to smooth out consumption in the long run.”

No doubt there is much the Guyanese government can learn from other hydrocarbon-based economies. Regionally, T&T would provide the best object lesson in what should—and shouldn’t—be done in managing hydrocarbon income. 

Having experienced two “oil booms” and the associated “busts,” T&T stands in a unique position in the Caribbean as a petroleum-based economy.

Inflecting a cautionary tone, Hosein identified a few areas where Guyana would want to exercise great care in managing future petrodollars.

“In managing its economy in the context of a pending hydrocarbon boom, the Guyanese economy will want to avoid making some of the mistakes made in the T&T economy. 

“Firstly, it should avoid building up transfers and subsidies at too fast a pace and in a procyclical manner that accelerates the growth of total government expenditure at a pace it cannot sustain. 

“Additionally, it would want to ensure it does not implement make-work programmes that promote underemployment in the economy that compromise work ethic and that stifles worker productivity.”

Hosein noted that should the government decide to finance higher education it would want to do it on a qualifying needs basis.

“If the government chooses to fund tertiary education, it should not be done on a universal basis that is not linked to the growth trajectory of the economy nor should it be supplemented by an on-the-job programme in which mass produced tertiary graduates, not naturally in demand by the economy, are housed.”

On a positive note, the UWI lecturer advised that the Guyanese government should ensure support for institutions that play a critical role in keeping the non-energy sector thriving.

“The government should support the creation of an export-import bank which is properly capitalised so exporters of non-petroleum goods would be able to access credit at reasonable costs to penetrate extra-regional markets.” 

Hosein added that in terms of contingent effects, the government would want to be prudent in subsidising the cost of fuel for Guyanese citizens

“It (the government) would want to avoid an excessively large fuel subsidy which may seem consumer friendly in the short-run, but which may, ultimately, result in unproductive traffic gridlock costs and increased levels of carbon dioxide emissions.”

T&T has been involved in the petroleum industry for over 100 years. Based on this wealth of experience, Hosein believes that an important role exists for this country to provide assistance to Guyana in developing its petroleum sector.

Questioned about the nature of this role, Hosein said: “T&T can play an important role in the energy sector in Guyana and, indeed, some of our energy services firms have already been in consultation in various forms with the Guyanese officials. 

“The recent memorandum of understanding in the energy sector between T&T and Guyana has to be exercised and the T&T Energy Chamber must push continuously and persistently to remove obstacles for the operation of our energy service firms in Guyana.”

For the people of Guyana, to whom the natural resources belong and for whom the benefits should ultimately accrue, how the government, through fiscal policy manages the petro-dollars earned will have a direct impact on the well-being of the Guyanese citizenry. 

Probed about how fiscal policy should function in light of the oil discovery, Hosein said: “I think that the Guyanese government would, from a fiscal perspective, need to be careful about decreasing taxes too quickly as the T&T case illustrates. Taxes are what people pay to participate in a civilised society.”

What is the Dutch disease?

Dutch disease is an economics term that refers to the negative consequences arising from large increases in the value of a country’s currency. It is primarily associated with a natural resource discovery but can result from any large influx of foreign currency into a country, including foreign direct investment, foreign aid or a substantial increase in natural resource prices.

The Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) and the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC) are expected to sign off on a collective agreement today.

While OWTU officials were tight-lipped about the settlement, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced on Wednesday that Government would settle the T&TEC wage negotiations at 10 per cent —cost to the state of TT$500 million.

The negotiations had been ongoing since 2011.

The negotiations are expected to come to a close today at a meeting scheduled for 2 pm at T&TEC's Mt. Hope offices. 

President General of the OWTU, Ancel Roget is expected to make an official statement following the meeting.

Roget also intends give an official response to the Minister of Finance's plan to offer 0/0/0 for public servants for the 2017/2020 negotiating period.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley sought to do some damage control today hours after the Finance Minister created a furore with his talk of wage restraint.

At a forum at the Hyatt on Wednesday Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the government had spoken to the trade union movement and alerted them that in the period 2017- 2020 government’s starting offer in negotiations would be 0-0-0.

Today, at post-Cabinet press briefing, Rowley said “when the Minister of Finance speaks about restraint it is exactly that we can’t get more from less,” but he reaffirmed Government’s commitment to the “collective bargaining process,” saying “we have no intention of throwing collective bargaining out the window.”

The Prime Minister made it clear that no 0-0-0 offer had been made saying the minister “spoke in a vacuum” and it was a speculative position.

Minister Imbert had also hinted about another 15% increase in the price of fuel next year, but in doing so he laughed that three increases in the last year “and they have not rioted yet,” asked whether he felt that it was not what Minister Imbert said but how he said it the Prime Minister likened it to a doctor lacking in bed-side manners.

He also said Government had not declared war on the working class but on corruption and on those who made a career of stealing the country's money.

Fusion jazz pianist Adan Hagley will be making his first appearance with his own band, the Adan Hagley Quintet, with a concert titled Break Out. The concert will take place tomorrow at Fiesta Plaza, MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain.

Hagley began learning music at the age of eight at the Stafford Duncan School of Music in Point Fortin, and formed a jazz band with some friends at Presentation College, while also playing in church. He commented:

“I wanted to be a performer. For my first gig, the band played at a Petrotrin dinner at the Hilton and I just really enjoyed it, and from there on, I was like—yes, I want to do music. So we formed our own band and started to do little dinners here and there, and that was my first introduction to performing and playing music for people.”

He continued to perform throughout secondary school, but began studying engineering at the behest of his parents. 

Hagley heard about the Berklee College of Music through two friends who were applying there. He convinced his parents to let him apply. He remembered:
“I went to Boston, auditioned and got in. I was accepted before I did my final Cape exams, which was really tough, because the exams didn’t matter for me getting into the school, which is based totally on audition, so they don’t really care about Cape. It was tough knowing that this exam really did not matter (for my music career), and my mom was like—you have to pass these exams or we’re not sending you anywhere.” 

Hagley went to Berklee in 2009 and graduated in 2013 with a Bachelors of Music in Contemporary Writing and Production.

Since his return to Trinidad, he’s been freelancing with different bands and singers, including Vaughnette Bigford, the Dean Williams quartet, the Dayo Bejide Jazz Project, violinist Inge Schlüer and Richarde Bereaux and the Lutionaires. He has also composed the score for two local films: Flying the Coup by Ryan Lee, and Concerning Junaid by Maryam Safiyyah Mohammed.

Hagley said it’s hard to survive only making music in T&T, and so in addition to performing, he has also been teaching music to children of all ages and doing private lessons. He has also been doing arrangements and producing music. His most popular piece to date is a live arrangement of Voice’s Cheers to Life, which can be found on YouTube. 

“I try to keep my music as dynamic and exciting as possible,” he said, “because jazz is already something that not everybody is into. The song is fusion, mostly Latin with some other funk elements in it, and then I put a horn section in the back of it, so it’s interesting. 

“People are intrigued by it, because they know the song and they say they never thought about it like that, because they just know it as the original version, and then now they listen to this and it’s pretty and you can move to it. My goal is to have something that people can sing and relate to.”

This Saturday’s concert is Hagley’s first with his band, which is composed of Hagley on keyboards, Rodney Alexander on bass, Dareem Chandler on drums, Daniel Ryan on tenor sax and Aviel Scanterbury on tenor pan.

The concert begins at 8.30 pm and admission is free. 

MORE INFO
Go to Adan Hagley Music on Facebook and YouTube.

The Art Society of T&T will present its annual November members’ exhibition, Seeds For A Sustainable Future. The opening night reception takes place tonight at 7 o’clock at the Society’s headquarters, cor Jamaica Boulevard and St Vincent Ave, Federation Park, Port-of-Spain.

In the 1960’s, when the Art Society was newly formed, many of the artists were commissioned to help plant the seeds of nationhood. T&T was a new independent country and the Art Society worked hand in hand with the government and with game changers to foster national pride. Their artwork captured the best of our beautiful land, our traditions, our religions, our habits and celebrated our potential as a new nation.

Today, seven decades later, the tools used to capture the world, have changed. With smart phones, digital cameras, video and social media accessible to many, as opposed to a few, fine art as a platform for creating awareness and driving social change, is channelled less often now, than in times past, a release said.

With this is mind, for this year’s annual exhibition, we challenged our artistes to become a creative part of the UN’s International Year of Pulses. In many countries (including T&T) consumer, food industry members, and governments have little knowledge of pulses, their attributes, or their ability to contribute to the solution of many food related issues facing the world today. Seeds For a Sustainable Future is a way to highlight the nutritional benefits of the little beans we can produce here in T&T, and act for a healthy, hunger-free and sustainable world. 

MORE INFO
Seeds For A Sustainable Future will run until November 18 and a special invitation is extended to students attending primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.  
Admission is free. For more information, call 622-9827 or visit the Web site: www.artsocietytt.org

Police have blocked off parts of Picadilly Street, Port-of-Spain as they investigate the murder of a woman, who was killed in her car while headed to church this morning.

The woman, Felicia Dyer-Francis was killed near Angie's Roti Shop on Picadilly Street this morning.

The shooter escaped by running up Bart Street East Dry River.

Early reports say Dyer-Francis is the mother of a police officer attached to Besson Street police station.

The shooting took place at 11 am and Dyer-Francis died at hospital.

Police believe the woman's murder is linked to her son's jobs.

In a desperate act to save her granddaughter’s life, a Talparo woman snatched a lighted scratch bomb from next to the child and tried to hurl out of a car window on Divali night.

While Sally-Ann Cuffie heroic act saved the child, the exploding device blew both of her thumbs off and split her right palm open.

 Her left index finger was also mangled in the explosion.

 From her bedside at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex on Friday, Cuffie, 48, recounted the horrifying ordeal. 

Read the full story in tomorrow’s  T&T Guardian

Although Sally-Ann Cuffie risked her life to save her six-month-old granddaughter Christa, she may never be able to cradle the baby again.

Cuffy, 48, put her life on the line when she snatched up a scratch bomb which was thrown into her son’s car while the family was out for a drive on Divali night. 

The bomb landed near the baby but before Cuffie could dispose of it, it exploded in her hand, severing both thumbs and severely damaging her other fingers.

What makes this injury especially threatening for Cuffy is that she suffers from diabetes which inhibits injuries from healing properly.

Now, doctors at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre (EWMSC) have to monitor Cuffie to ensure her wounds will heal. If her hands are not healing or become infected, both of them may have to be amputated.

From her bedside at the hospital yesterday, Cuffie recounted the horrifying ordeal. Her family had left their Talparo home shortly after 7 pm on Saturday, the Divali holiday, to drop Cuffie and one of her daughters to church.

“I was supposed to go to church with my daughter but my son Christon asked me to go with him, his wife and his children for a drive to my other daughter’s house. 

“We said we would drive around a little and look at the deyas and lighting up for Divali,” Cuffie said.

But on reaching the end of Boy Cato Road, Las Lomas, around 8 pm, Cuffie said she suddenly saw a scratch bomb fall through the open car window next to little Christa.

“I can’t remember if it was on top of her or next to her in the car seat but I remember snatching it up and trying to throw it out the window,” she said.

When the bomb exploded, Cuffie said she thought her face had gotten the most damage.

“My ears were ringing and I thought ‘Oh God, this thing blow up my face,’ but when I raised my hands I realised the two were spraying blood.”

With her mangled hands outstretched, Cuffie told Christon to drive to the nearby Las Lomas Police Post.

“I told him to put on his hazard lights and drive to the police station, ‘cause I thought they would take me to the hospital,” she said.

However, she said officers there were less than receptive to her pleas.

“They were looking at me, asking a set of questions and when I told them I was in pain and wanted to go to the hospital, they said they had no vehicle and we should go to the health centre instead.”

Leaving the police station, Christon instead drove onto the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and headed towards the EWMSC.

“We saw a police vehicle somewhere by Macoya and we flagged them down, they put me in their vehicle and brought me to the hospital,” she said.

She has been warded there since then.

“I cannot even drink water on my own. My son bought a cup with a bendy straw for when I can’t get up. I have to wear pampers because I can’t even go to the toilet alone. Either the nurses or my family member has to feed me,” she said.

Crackdown needed

Now Cuffie is facing a bleak future. She is employed as an estate constable and said without the use of her hands, she may not have a job to return to. She also crotchets and cooks to earn extra money.

“The doctors say I will have to wait and see if my hands heal properly and if they don’t, they will have to amputate it. I don’t know how I will make out without my hands,” she said.

She is now appealing to those in authority to crack down on people who sell and use scratch bombs.

“I myself didn’t know the dangers of these things... imagine if it had blown up on my granddaughter, she might not have survived that.

“The authorities need to do something about this...if I have to be the example, I don’t mind but this cannot continue,” Cuffie said.

Anthony Eccles, 23, suffered a similar fate on Divali night. He was going to a relative’s home in St Augustine for dinner that night when a gang of boys threw a lighted scratch bomb into his cousin’s car. 

Eccles, seated in the front passenger seat, tried to throw the bomb out the window when it exploded.

“I didn’t see who the guys were. I just remember the blood spraying from my hands. I opened the car door and kind of collapsed and then my cousin brought me to the hospital,” he said yesterday. 

His left thumb and index finger were both mutilated and he has lost hearing in his left ear. He was discharged from hospital yesterday. 

Presenter and radio broadcaster Wendell Constantine has been appointed chief executive officer of State-owned CNMG on an acting basis, according to a release from the station.

The release yesterday stated that the appointment comes after an “exhaustive search, including public advertisements, the use of a local headhunting firm and selective interviews.”

He replaces Julian Rogers, who stepped down last month.

CNMG stated that Constantine joined the station after 30 years of experience in the industry, having started his career at the now defunct Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) where he served as programme manager, producer/presenter and radio broadcaster. He was also the head of programming at the inception of the CNMG network for three years before assuming the position of communications and brand manager at BG Trinidad and Tobago from 2008 to 2016.

Constantine is a graduate of UWI (Mona, Jamaica) in mass communication and media studies. His LinkedIn profile states he was also a Ministry of Planning and Development communication specialist from 2002-2005. Attempts to contact Constantine, who was at CNMG for some time yesterday, were unsuccessful. (GA)

Trade unions and business groups who met with Minister of Finance Colm Imbert yesterday have described the meeting as a positive one. 

They welcomed the tripartisan method of dealing with labour issues and are now leaving room for Imbert to retract his statements made at an International Monetary Fund (IMF) event this week.

This was the word from Gabriel Faria, chief executive of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce, who said the general tone of the meeting was that “everyone is looking toward dealing with the current situation and looking at solving this and moving forward.”

AMCHAM CEO Nirad Tewarie said the process of tripartism was “useful” and the groups which were present at the meeting recommitted to that.

The meeting was called to address the concerns of trade unions and the business community following Imbert’s statement that there would be wage constraint for collective bargaining period between 2017 and 2020 and the offer on the table would start at 0-0-0. 

This sparked debate among the trade unions and the business community although Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had to clarify that there was no 0-0-0 policy. 

Energy Chamber president, Thackwray Driver, who also attended, did not want to comment and preferred to wait until a joint statement was released.

Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) president, Joseph Remy, described the meeting as interesting. 

He said the CWU raised its concern about Imbert’s statement and “we await the minister to do what is the right thing, which is exercise some level of humility and accept the fact that he mis-spoke and he made a mess out of what the situation is.”

A regular day for Constable Shawn Dyer yesterday went horrendously wrong after he responded to a report of a shooting and found his mother to be the victim. 

According to police sources, Dyer was just reporting for duty at the Firearm Interdiction Unit based at the Besson Street Police Station when he responded to the report, since his mother, Felecia Dyer-Francis, attends the nearby South East Port-of-Spain Seventh Day Adventist Church located at Piccadilly Street. 

Dyer, police sources said, and a female constable walked to the location, only for him to see his mother’s body in the driver’s seat of her white Nissan Tiida. Dyer collapsed at the sight, police said. His colleague called for backup and his mother was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. 

Dyer-Francis, 73, was a mother of three, two daughters in the US and her son. She lived in Pine Ridge Heights, Lopinot, Arouca, but was originally from Laventille, where Dyer still lives. Members of her church said they plan to hold a special prayer meeting today to pray for the man who killed her.

Like a predator, the killer camouflaged himself in Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme overalls. He sat on a concrete bench beneath the shade of a tree opposite the church Dyer-Francis attended yesterday morning. When the opportunity arose he pounced on the elderly woman, shooting her through the windshield of her car at least four times around 10.30 am before running off and disappearing along Bath Street.

Speaking with the media at the scene yesterday, fellow church member Kathleen Julien said the killer will be brought to justice, either by man or by God, but she and others will be praying that he repents. She said she too could have been shot as she was supposed to go out with Dyer-Francis, but ran home to eat something quickly. 

“We have to come together to pray for the individual (killer). We want him to repent and baptize, we want justice either from God or man. Killing him won't bring her back so is better he repent. Right now wickedness overtake the country, people have no mercy for man, woman or child,” Julien said.

Julien said Dyer-Francis was looking forward to meeting her youngest grandchild, who was born recently in Texas. She described the pensioner as a jovial and charitable woman who attended Friday morning prayers religiously from 6 to 7 am at the church, where the group prayed for the community and the country. Today they plan a special prayer for her killer. 

Asked whether the church or the members will cease attending given the violence that came to its front door, Julien said, “This is my Father’s world, I am not afraid. If we as Christians start to cringe then is trouble for this world. We used to walk the length and breadth of Laventille praying and that is the reason there was a reduction in crime in the area.” 

Pastor of the church, Mervyn Cato, said Dyer-Francis was a faithful member who participated heavily in the women’s and children’s ministries as well as the prayer groups. He said the killing had left the church in pain, but being a church leader in the area he and others were not unaccustomed to the violence. He recalled visiting members in the neighbouring communities and having to dodge bullets. In spite of that, Cato said, neither he nor the church is planning to leave Laventille.

“People will feel a way, but I will not end the mission of the church. We will begin our healing and counselling tomorrow (today). We hope things turn around,” Cato said.

“This is the end of times, things will get worse. Look at the economic crisis, people will lose jobs and some will use that as an excuse to hurt people. This is a tremendous loss to the church.” 

Death threats after raid

Investigators were weighing the possibility yesterday that Dyer-Francis’ murder was linked to death threats her son received. Police said on Tuesday PC Dyer was on a police exercise with his colleagues and searched the home of a Chaguanas man, where they reportedly found a Smith and Wesson .40mm pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition. Following the discovery, police said Dyer received several death threats not only to himself but to his family. 

Head of the Port-of-Spain Division, Floris Hodge-Griffith, yesterday expressed condolences to Dyer’s family, adding that the murder was a direct attack on the police service and a clear message. 

Up to late yesterday, Dyer was assisting his colleagues at the Homicide Bureau of Investigations which placed his mother’s murder as bringing the toll to 389 for the year, 25 more than for the same period last year.

On the eve of his court appearance for gun possession, Fyzabad father Paul Fenton was shot dead on Thursday night.

Police said Fenton, 33, a construction worker of New City Avenue, had several pending court matters and was recently released from prison earlier this year after serving a two-year sentence for firearm possession. About two months ago, he was again charged by Sgt Gokool of the Fyzabad CID for gun possession. He was expected to reappear at the Siparia Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

But according to reports, Fenton had just left home around 10 pm on Thursday and was walking along John Jules Trace when two gunmen ran up behind him and opened fire. Fenton attempted to outrun his attackers, but was shot several times and collapsed at the adjacent Evelyn Avenue where he died.

Fyzabad police responded and searched the area for the suspects but were unsuccessful. Up to yesterday no one had been arrested and investigators were yet to determine a motive.

Fenton’s cousin Melisa Maitland said she believed he was going to his mother’s home to sleep last night when he was attacked. 

“Normally he would sleep by his mother and pass right by me in the morning to go to work. On Thursday he came home here, then went down the hill by his wife. When he was coming back, people said two gunmen began firing shots at him and he ran onto Evelyn Avenue and he died there on the spot. We honestly don’t know why he was killed. We’re hearing all kinds of things, but I can’t really say,” Maitland said.

For the second time in less than a year, media conglomerate One Caribbean Media (OCM) is retrenching workers. 

The T&T Guardian understands that the company yesterday issued letters to 33 workers from its newspaper, Trinidad Express, and television station, TV6, informing them to attend meetings on Monday with their union representatives. Sources said the letters were merely a formality, as all those who were served are expected to receive their dismissal letters on Monday. 

The 33 employees include 25 workers from the Express and eight employees from TV6. Sources within the company said the move left several of the workers, who were deemed to be redundant, in tears, as many who have decades of years of service were not expecting to be placed on the breadline during the company’s second wave of retrenchment. Some 49 workers from the company’s production department were sent home in December last year. While the workers were aware of the pending retrenchment, many were not informed of the effect on their positions until they received their letters yesterday. 

Contacted yesterday, branch president for the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) Jamie Phillip said the company’s decision came as a shock, as union officials were of the belief they were still in negotiations with the company over the positions which were selected to be made redundant and the quantity of staff earmarked for dismissal.

As he stressed the need for consultation on the issue, Phillip pointed out that the company was forced to rehire 17 workers initially fired in the first tranche, as it had refused to address issues raised by the union over the ability of remaining staff to adequately handle the increased workload caused by retrenchment. 

“This time we told them we would not go through any exercise which is not substantive and fair. They promised us that we would be properly consulted and this time they did not,” he said. 

Phillip said he and union officials will be meeting members of staff after the meetings on Monday and will discuss how the union will proceed on the issue. 

In a brief telephone interview, Editor-in-Chief of the Express newspapers, Omatie Lyder, refused to comment on the issue. 

“It is a sensitive matter and I do not wish to make a comment at this time,” she said.