A few weeks ago someone reached out to me regarding their daughter sleeping in the same bed. I already have a blog in the works regarding the whole co-sleeping thing so I won’t get into this here, but the mom wanted the kid out and she wanted my help, so we will deal with that today.

Based on the age of the child I figured it was time to have a frank discussion. Mom and Dad need adult time and we need it at night. That means I cannot continue to fall asleep in your bed and stay there all night. I need to be able to give your daddy “good time.”

“Good time” means I am still awake and I am not halfway falling asleep on myself.

This right here is why sex must not be explained to children as a plague to be avoided. Sex was created by God and has the power to speak in ways that no other language can and while we try to avoid it, men need it. That’s science, so get over it.

The world has perverted sex. This is the reason that so many women are struggling to be intimate with their husbands or why husbands have a totally perverted concept of what it should look like.

At age 8, Jess is fully aware that sex is a glorious act created by God but it is very powerful and just like uncontained water, if sex is not kept within the confines of a committed relationship such as marriage then it can be very dangerous.

Sex is like water—useful but dangerous if not contained.

Now to be able to explain it this way, of course there also has to be an understanding that we believe in marriage only once and that the havoc caused by divorce is far worse than the discomfort felt when mommy leaves you at night to go sleep with daddy.

No child wants their parents to divorce. Every child wants their parents to be happy and every child is innately selfish (yes its science, they haven’t quite grasped the idea of others before themselves yet but they will once you consistently show them by example). If we parent with the notion that children are selfish then we will lead off the discussion with “what’s in it for them?”

Mommy and daddy having alone time helps keep the marriage healthy and that means our chances of divorce are lower. Us staying together ultimately benefits you (let them say why divorce would affect them).

When mommy and daddy have sex then we are in a better frame of mind and will be better able to patiently listen to your challenges.

Depending on the age of the child you can even crack a joke “after sex would be a wonderful time to ask for that iPhone.”

Sex needs to be discussed openly. Children must know that there are great benefits to it. Help them to understand the power it carries.

This way they can have a healthy respect for it and place it in its rightful place.

If children knew how the very same act that can be super beneficial in the right context can also be super harmful in the wrong one then their selfish nature will kick in.

They will choose success when they are older and they will hold out longer and they will allow mommy/daddy time when they are younger because they are smart enough to figure out that happy parents equal happy kids.

Marsha Riley

THE T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) has stated that former national cricket captain Daren Ganga is attempting to overturn the democratic process of the organisation by advocating for the wholesale and immediate adoption of the report of an Independent Review Committee on the governance structure of the national sports organisation.

President of the TTCB, Azim Bassarath, was responding to Sunday’s media release issued by Ganga in which he accused the TTCB, of which he is a member, of failing to hastily implement the recommendations of the IRC.

Incidentally the TTCB is to meet today to discuss the report and plan the way forward after concerns were raised at a recent board meeting that the IRC had breached their terms of reference in producing the contentious document.

The controversial review, conducted by Justice Vashiest Kokaram, newspaper columnist Dr Shiela Rampersad and former TTCB president Ellis Lewis, has caused consternation in local cricket.

Following its handing over to the TTCB president in late February, major stakeholders have expressed grave reservations about the recommendations with the Secondary Schools Cricket League openly stating that they are opposed to it.

Also the T&T Umpires and Scorers Union has also registered its serious concerns saying that if the IRC recommendations are implemented, it could mean the demise of local cricket, and decimate the stock of experienced officials.

Many have also privately expressed shock and surprise that the IRC recommendations closely resemble the language used by Ganga and Dinanath Ramnarine, another former cricketer, in their relentless but unsuccessful battle to unseat the present cricket administration.

On Monday, TTCB president Bassarath said that Ganga’s claims in his media release published in local newspapers on Monday, are palpably false, deviously calculated to mislead the unsuspecting public, and force TTCB stakeholders to withhold support of the national game.

Bassarath said that the TTCB executive cannot make any final decision on the adoption of the IRC Report, and that is is up to the entire 49-member board of which Ganga is part, as a National League representative.

“His toxic comments demonstrate a sad and disappointing lack of judgement. It is reflective of a craven desire to seize power at all costs with a reckless disregard for due process. Anyone aspiring to leadership should know better and should not hoodwink the population and circumvent established procedure,” said Bassarath.

He said the IRC Report cannot be adopted lock, stock and barrel without studied debate and discussion, at the board level when all views and considerations of the executive,affiliates and nominated members will be taken into consideration.

“Only then will a decision be taken. And Ganga will have an opportunity to contribute to this process if he is so inclined,” said Bassarath.

The TTCB president said it is worth noting that when the initial decision was made to set up the IRC, in response to concerns raised, both Ganga and Ramnarine strangely absented themselves from the meeting. Also,equally perplexing was the fact that the few National League Committee members who have formed an opposition to the present administration and were present, abstained from the vote.

Bassarath also said there was no agreement between the TTBC executive and the National League representatives on the setting up of the IRC. “So if there was an agreement, it is passing strange that they did not support the resolution to establish the IRC,” he said. “It is surprising that Ganga should now be championing the adoption of the IRC recommendations without any discussion or vote by the full membership of the board,” said Bassarath.

He also laid to rest the often repeated and false claim by Ganga that the current system of voting for the national executive ensures that the incumbents hold on to power. 

“Nothing could be further from the truth. In 2005, Deryck Murray won the presidency of the TTCB by ousting the venerable Dr Alloy Lequay in national elections using the same system that is now being criticised by Ganga as being one-sided. It is not surprising that the sustained attacks on the integrity of the TTCB comes after all of their efforts to gain power have failed miserably,” said Bassarath.

He reiterated that the TTCB is not averse to implementing measures that would contribute to better governance. However the organisation is wary of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

“Pelting mud over and over again in the hope that some of it sticks is not the way to present yourself as credible of assuming leadership of cricket. You must be able to exert responsible decision-making, convince stakeholders that you are trustworthy, and present a plan to the national community that is devoid of selfish and ulterior motives,” said Bassarath.

He said that Ganga has been placed in positions where he proved unwilling or reluctant to make a significant contribution to the growth and development of the local game, opting instead to lobby for private ventures unrelated to cricket, and for foreign entities, most recently when he was at the Tourism Development Corporation.

A proposal for interim payment of pensions to public servants who don’t have savings will be studied by the Finance Ministry this year.

The proposal was made by Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee chairman Brigid Annisette-George yesterday.

Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Michelle Durham-Kissoon, who said it was feasible, agreed to examine whether it could be done or not as officials of the Finance Ministry, Comptroller of Accounts and Personnel Departments, Auditor General’s Department, Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Public Administration and Communications appeared before the committee.

The committee began inquiry into processing of payment of pensions and gratuity to retired public servants and contracted employees.

Committee member Wade Mark noted delays on pension payments, including his own case.

Comptroller of Accounts Christine Laban said it could take four to six months to process pensions if all of a worker’s documents were in order and records are received by her division at least three months before employees leave. Three months was considered an urgent process, she said.

Laban confirmed there are currently 884 payments at varying stages of processing which will be paid. Another 934 payments which have complications require outstanding documents from ministries/departments.

With automation and software, processing can be expedited to one to four weeks. A request for benefit calculation software is being examined, she added.

Laban agreed with Annisette-George, who’d asked if some sort of interim payment would help public servants who have no savings. However, Laban said her division needed to engage stakeholders on the legal implications and pros and cons of such payments.

“It would have to be a policy decision from the Finance Ministry,” Laban added.

Finance’s Durham-Kissoon said the ministry has to follow up on this with legal advisers. If not, the ministry will have to develop a policy paper so all implications will be taken into consideration.

Saying the idea sounds feasible, Durham-Kissoon added, “Once interim payment doesn’t result in overpayment - but yes (such payments) will provide a lot of relief to public servants who’ve been waiting long for their pensions.”

Annisette-George asked Finance to try and explore, by the end of June for instance, if some sort of framework to do the initiative or not could be considered.

“Of course,” Durham-Kissoon replied.

Laban said ministries are told to give six months to a year’s notice on retirees, but there’s been dissatisfactory compliance by ministries.

Permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s office, Maurice Suite, said some improvements were made by some ministries in paying pensions, but all have to keep working at it.

Durham-Kissoon said the World Bank, over 2005-2010, worked on public service pension reform but it’s not current policy.

Public Administration Permanent Secretary Claudelle McKellar said KPMG trained 192 officers in 2015-2016, including on pension delivery improvements. While some of the 192 may have left the service or shifted around, he said it’s not hard to find remaining numbers.

“We have plans for roll-out but there’s no time-line,” he said.

Finance’s Durham-Kissoon said a proposal was being done for roll-out.

After spending almost a week in police custody for allegedly chopping off his mother’s hand, a 15-year-old student was released from police custody yesterday.

Police said the Director of Public Prosecutions gave instructions for the boy to be released as there was no evidence to prove he chopped his mother.

The boy’s father picked him up at the police station and took him home.

However, police sources said the teenager will be given professional counselling from the Ministry of Education Student Support Services.

His mother, who has not given a statement to police, is reportedly unwilling to press charges against her son.

Doctors yesterday said the woman is making slow progress and remained warded in a stable condition at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital. The teenager also has not responded to any of the questions posed to him by investigators. A source said he answered “no comment” each time officers asked him a question related to the incident. The boy’s father also has not given a statement to police implicating his son.

Police said based on the lack of evidence they will be unable to charge the boy, although he was picked up by police with his mother’s blood on his shirt.

On April 19, the boy and his mother were at their Waterloo home around 7 am when they got into an argument. Police said the boy was angry because his mother had confiscated his cellular phone the night before.

Following the attack, the boy’s father returned home from work and when he inquired why he had not gone to school, the boy left home. The man later found his wife bleeding on the floor. Freeport police and ambulance responded and the woman was taken to the Couva District Health Facility before she was transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital.

Instructions to release a teenager, who was in police custody after allegedly almost severing his mother’s hand off during an attack at last Thursday, may be setting a dangerous precedent for parents who are subject to abuse by their children.

This was the deep concern expressed yesterday by International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) president Adriana Sandrine-Rattan, after the announcement that the Director of Public Prosecutions had instructed that the 15-year-old boy be released into his father’s care.

Investigations, however, are said to be ongoing.

The boy’s 46-year-old mother, who had her hand reattached during a ten-hour surgery last week, was still said to be hospitalised in a critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday. She was also chopped in the neck, arms and chest.

However, noting that reports indicated both parents have maintained silence on the incident, Sandrine-Rattan said whilst it was understandable that parents would undoubtedly demonstrate unconditional love for their children, “the boundaries between love and discipline must be clear at all times.”

The IWRN said the decision may be setting a dangerous precedent, “as this incident has been lying strongly on the lips of other children as well as parents, who may or may not be experiencing challenges.”

Sandrine-Rattan warned parents that despite the levels of love which they possess for their children, parenting goes a step further in ensuring that children are socialised into becoming respectable adults who must co-exist within other social spaces.

The IWRN also sought to remind the national community that the well-being of children lies in the laps of every one in society and all have a duty of care to connect with parents, teachers and/or caregivers should they observe children exhibiting strange behaviours within their neighbourhood.

Sandrine-Rattan also urged parents to be continuously cognisant of their children’s activities, friends, social media engagement and their mood swings, which are influenced by both internal and external factors.

“Nurturing children based on love only can be damaging, as the true meaning of values and respect can be totally lost,” she said.When contacted yesterday for comment, a source at the boy’s secondary school said the staff remains concerned over the incident, but added that “certain measures will have to be taken before the child can return to the school.”Asked what those measures include the source preferred not to say, but said the school’s principal will meet Ministry of Education officials to discuss it further.When contacted for comment yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said officials will meet with the school principal on the issue. But Garcia also emphasised it is a legal issue involving a police investigation and no criminal charges had been laid against the teenager.

The Venezuelan Parliament, which has an opposition majority, will be sending an official request to the T&T Government for information regarding the circumstances surrounding Saturday’s repatriation of 82 Venezuelan nationals.

According to online news site NTN24 Venezuela, which has over 1.3 million viewers, the decision by the opposition National Assembly was prompted by the criticism put forward by the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) regarding the exercise.Deputy Carlos Valero, in his announcement, said, “We are going to meet with the largest number of people who have been affected, to request a formal meeting to the Embassy here in Caracas from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and if possible we will try to mobilise there to follow up.”

He was speaking during the ordinary session of the Legislative. According to T&T’s National Security Ministry, the deportation was a “voluntary” process in collaboration with Venezuela Ambassador in T&T Coromoto Godoy.But Valero publicly knocked Godoy’s decision “to coordinate and direct” an operation “against Venezuelans…instead of protecting their rights.”“A decision that cannot go unpunished,” Valero added.He reiterated that Venezuelans “are being expelled from their homeland, fleeing the crisis” and made a plea to the international community to extend “a lot of solidarity and consideration” with them. “We request of the international community to have a lot of solidarity and consideration with the Venezuelans who are being expelled from our country due to the terrible humanitarian crisis in which the ‘misrule’ of President Nicolás Maduro has submerged our compatriots,” Valero said.Speaking with the T&T Guardian under strict anonymity yesterday, a Venezuelan attorney said they received information that the 82 Venezuelan deportees, upon reaching Venezuela on Saturday night, had their travel and other respective documents allegedly taken from them by Venezuelan authorities. The attorney added that they were allowed to “go free” onto the streets of Caracas but without any money, food, water or clothes.“All they had was the clothes on their bodies and slippers on their feet…nada…no money,” the Venezuelan attorney said.A woman, who had her close male relative deported, said he had his asylum certificate.

“They still tell him he had to go and the certificate means nothing. He on the streets up to today, Wednesday, cannot go home because he lives 18 hours away from Caracas and he has no money to go home. He cannot even contact his family. He hungry…no food and water,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, said,The woman insisted that given past experiences and knowledge, persons who have been deported back to Venezuela would be “blacklisted.”

“They would have no identities and no passports, nothing to ever leave Venezuela again. Later on you would hear that is either they have died or been jailed for something because they blacklisted.”On Tuesday, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi met with the United Nations Resident Coordinator Richard Blewitt and Protection Officer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruben Barbado on the issue. In a release afterwards, the National Security Ministry said Dillon and Al-Rawi held the meeting to “correct the misinformation in the public domain” over Government’s handling of the voluntary repatriation of the Venezuelans. It also reiterated that the repatriation exercise was carried out on a voluntary basis in collaboration with Ambassador Godoy.

Former British High Commissioner to T&T Arthur Snell’s baby son was initially denied a United Kingdom (UK) passport because he was born in Trinidad and Tobago.

Snell made the revelation in a series of tweets and published in the UK’s The Independent yesterday, even as UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the Home Office continued to be criticised over threats to deport British residents and their descendants who arrived in England as the Windrush generation before 1973.

Snell tweeted he left felt “powerless and nervous” after the Home Office initially refused to grant a passport to his newborn in 2011, who was born in T&T. Snell, who served as High Commissioner to T&T from 2011 to 2014, said this resulted in his child being rendered “stateless” as he was also ineligible for Trinidadian citizenship.While Snell said he was able to “quickly resolve” the issue, he said it illustrated a “cultural priority within the Home Office to reject wherever possible.”

The UK Government recently apologised to children of the Windrush generation and is moving to regularise their status.

The National Self-Help Commission has spent half a billion dollars in the last 10 years and has emptied more than $14 million from the Abercrombie Fund at First Citizens.

Now officials are saying a lack of funding is impacting its work, and there are issues including poor management, lack of accountability, a poorly managed business which is severely impacted by acrimonious relationships among senior managers are all taking their toll on the work of the Commission.

Chairman and members of the Commission appeared before Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Public Accounts for the second time in under a month, where concerns were raised about the Commission— which was set up 31 years ago to assist the poor, needy and indigent— as it seemed to have lost its way.

Commission chairman Edgar Zephyrine said the Commission approves grants for home maintenance, minor repairs and reconstruction to citizens who apply individually and the Commission also gives emergency grants which arise after disasters or unforeseen circumstances.

Under the concept of self-help, the commission provides the material and the applicant provides the labour.

The Commission also approves grants for community projects — once five or more households are affected and may need bridges, drains or roads. In these instances, some level of expertise is required.

Figures supplied by the Commission to the JSC indicate that in 2016 the Commission issued only 865 grants, in 2017 408 and in the first three months of this year approximately 55 grants were issued.

As at the end of May last year, the Commission had a debt of $13.5 million, an increase of $2 million to the debt it met when the Board chaired by Zephyrine took office in December 2015. The bulk of that money is owed to suppliers and contractors. One contractor is owed $6.5 million. The administrative costs have also climbed from 25 per cent of its budget to 48 per cent.

Finance Manager Nicola Humphrey-Hamilton admitted because of the outstanding debt “our relationship with suppliers is not as we want it. Zephyrine said in the past “if there were a million hardware dealers we dealt with all of them and in a time like this we could not go to anyone because we owed everyone.”

Currently, some suppliers are refusing purchase orders from the Commission “based on mounting debts which we had not serviced to their satisfaction.” But he assured the debts are being repaid. “We paid off all the small debts, those owed $25,000 and below that we paid off, we have moved to another stage but essentially we are now constraining our relationships to a smaller, manageable number of suppliers.”

The JSC heard that the investment unit of the Finance Ministry has been conducting an audit at the Commission. The first draft of the audit is expected to be ready next week and should be available to the JSC within a month and a half.

QUERY ABOUT $20M INVESTMENT

Several Committee members including Mark, Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and David Small raised concerns about the Abercrombie Fund which the Commission invested $20 m at First Citizens.

“How does a company on a tight budget have $20 million to invest?” Small asked. Zephyrine said the investment in the fund “has been a bit of a mystery.”

But Baptiste-Primus noted Zephyrine himself had signed off on two withdrawals from the fund. Baptiste Primus expressed concern that money from the fund was used to pay suppliers without approval from either the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Community Development.

Zephyrine said the board took the decision to use the money “based on the fact that the money in the account was under the Board’s control. We had exigencies, we had a serious situation, and the Board acted.”

Baptiste-Primus said she was “very troubled,” when the Commission’s Corporate Secretary and Legal Advisor Kendra Thomas-Long who had earlier admitted that there was “acrimony” among members of the management and that this had rendered the operations of the Commission dysfunctional, informed the JSC that she recognised “certain breaches of control,” by the Zephyrine-led Board and “sought to raise it via a Board note but I was prevented from doing so.”

That advice she said related to the Board’s decision to create positions, an authority which was not in keeping with the structure of the organisation approved by the Cabinet.

Mark informed Zephyrine that the Board abrogated to itself responsibility which it did not have and directed that it should “reverse those decisions because they are not proper.”

Child sexual abuse is prevalent and common in several communities with many of the offenders going unpunished for their crimes, according to Prof Rhoda Reddock of the University of the West Indies.

Reddock was speaking yesterday at the Break the Silence (BTS): Educators and Child Sexual Abuse symposium at the School of Education Auditorium, UWI in St Augustine campus.

The symposium was held in collaboration with the School of Education Library, the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) and the University of The West Indies (UWI) in St Augustine campus.

She said the project was researched between 2008 and 2011.

“Stakeholders reported that child sexual abuse/incest to be prevalent and common in some communities and prevalent everywhere. It just existed and was never discussed,” she said.

She said research revealed that after the crime the perpetrators continued to live their lives as normal in society.

“We noted the ages of prevalence and they were younger for women than men.”

Reddock said the research was to understand how the act was rationalised and justified.

“I believe there has been a consistent problem of under-reporting and I believe that is still the case,” she said.

Referring to report, carried in 2013, in which Magaret Sampson-Browne, then head of the TTPS’ Victim and Witness Support Unit, stated that there were 200 cases of incest, rape, and sexual abuse in Central Trinidad.

“Now if you take the entire country how much this would be?” she asked.

Reddock said in a 2016 report by the Children’s Authority close to 25 per cent were of sexual abuse to a female.

“One of the key findings is that sexual relations between older men and young under-age girls were common.”

She said the onus was not on men to refuse but women/girls to not be available.

Reddock said several phrases which were reported by men to be: “I not feeding any cow for anyone else to drink milk. After eight is breakfast, after nine is mine and after 12 is lunch.”

She said there were many key findings such as a lack of safe spaces, support systems were non-existent at the time, minors could not report abuse without an adult and psycho-social support was necessary for survivors.

Clinical psychologist Dr Nirvana Maharaj said there were many indicators that would raise red flags of abused children.

“The peak age of vulnerability is between seven and 13 years because grooming is easiest at this stage and accessible for relatives.”

Maharaj said 90 per cent of the attackers are known to the child and it is people that they know.

She said there were many effects the victims would display such as inappropriate emotional experience, heightened levels of anxiety, maintaining the secret, anger and emotional constriction.

“Withdrawal from normal activities, suicidal pre-occupation, self-destructive behaviours and risk-taking behaviour, early substance use and criminal behaviour and modification of sexual thoughts,” she said.

Maharaj said teachers should make a significant impact on the safety of their students.

Barrackpore residents are bracing for floods in the rainy season, just about a month from now, after a land developer backfilled part of the Jingiesingh River to extend his property.

More than 40 residents yesterday signed a petition calling on the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and the Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan to widen the river and take action against the developer Ramasar Mahadeo.

During a protest at Rochard Road, Barrackpore yesterday, the residents of Rochard Road vowed to seek legal redress if the matter was not rectified soon.

When the Guardian Media team visited yesterday, the river appeared to be diverted. Rajesh Samaroo, who headed the protest, said the work began last September and was completed over a weekend before anyone could alert State agencies.

Samaroo said they pleaded with the developer to stop interfering with the river course and he apologised. Samaroo said weeks later, just as they predicted, huge floods affected the area causing damage to livestock and personal property.

The resident said the developer returned to the United States and the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and the Ministry of Works failed to take action to return the river to its normal course.

“We want to know whether the Penal/Debe Corporation will go back to bringing mattresses and water for flood victims like they did last year, or if they will take action now to fix the river like it was to prevent the flooding we faced last year,” Samaroo said.

Rooplal Bissoon, a flood victim, said the project was a danger to farmers.

“When they block up the river here, all the upstream tributaries overflow and we suffer. We want the Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan to visit this area and get a first-hand look at what was done here. This is not right,” Bissoon said.

Pensioner Rookmin Samaroo said she knew the path of the river, having lived in the area for all her life.

“I know when here was a lagoon. People backfilled and built their houses. This one resident does not care that so many people will suffer. All they care about is extending their property,” Rookmin said.

Responding to the complaint yesterday, the land developer admitted that he did not have permission to backfill the river. He said last year another resident backfilled another portion of land and this caused the river water to threaten the residents’ home.

“The water was coming up to the porch. I get dengue twice and the water from upstream was causing a stink. We had to protect our home so we cleaned the river,” Mahadeo said.

Contacted for comment councillor for Rochard/Barrackpore East Kheymwetti Chulan said he had received the residents’ complaints and petition. Chulan said she forwarded the issue to Kumarie Ramjatte from Ministry of Works and Transport Drainage Division.

Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Dr Allen Sammy said the mater was referred to the chief engineer of April 16.

Sammy said the corporation has started moving on people who are building illegal structures.

“We are issuing stop-work notices and we have now started advertising in the newspaper. Because most of our lands are in the Oropouche drainage basin, illegal backfilling has a ripple effect upstream and downstream,” Sammy said.

He added that people were accustomed to breaking the law, adding that most were compliant but a few had been delinquent.

Contacted yesterday, Minister Sinanan said he would look into the matter and have the relevant action taken following investigations.

Scores of school bus drivers yesterday staged a protest outside of the Public Service Transport Corporation in San Fernando over $10m in outstanding debt owed by the Government.

The protest blocked motorists and caused a massive traffic pileup along Lady Hailes Avenue.

They demanded the outstanding salaries be paid immediately and threatened to withhold their services once the Secondary Entrance Assessment examinations are completed on May 3.

President of the Maxi-Taxi Concessionaires Association, Rodney Ramlogan said more than 300 drivers transport an estimated 30,000 students on a daily basis and since December they have not been paid a cent.

“We are usually paid on a fortnightly basis by the Public Service Transport Corporation. People have been struggling to meet demands for even servicing their maxis and paying their loans. It has passed the stage of diesel and tyres and banks. Right now it’s about buying food — these guys have not been able to provide food on their tables at home,” Ramlogan said.

Since the salaries were withheld, Ramlogan said more than 40 drivers have withdrawn their services, opting to ply their vehicles for hire.

“I have asked all the drivers, especially those who transport children to primary schools, to beg, borrow or scrape the bottom of the barrel just to make sure we accomplish this next week and take the children to school to write their SEA exams. After that if we are not paid we will not work,” Ramlogan said.

He said last year there was a similar problem occurred and after the protest outside the Ministry of Education they were paid for two outstanding terms.

Another driver, Harold Codrington, said his maxi taxi insurance, which is $22,000, will come up for renewal next month.

“I don’t have money to pay. I have a daughter in University in Barbados doing law. How do you expect me to feel when she calls for me and I don’t have money to send? When I have a daughter who is at her highest level of her education, what can I tell her, that the Government don’t pay? I have to find money, borrow money, somehow to send her,” Codrington said.

He urged the Minister of Education Anthony Garcia and Minister of Finance to look into the matter.

“This is quite heart wrenching and we are not asking for handouts, we are just asking for the money that we worked for already,” Codrington said.

PTSC’s Operations manager Brian Juanette declined to comment on the protest yesterday and directed questions to general manager Charles Mitchell but he was not in office.

Head of Marketing at PTSC Sherry Ann Lee Hunte also was unavailable. Finance Minister Colm Imbert could not be reached for comment.

PAYMENTS BEING PROCESSED

The Ministry of Education has put measures in place to verify all invoices for payments to maxi taxi operators who are contracted by the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to transport school children, according to a media statement issued yesterday.

This decision follows concerns raised by people from various quarters to carefully review and analyse all requests for payments, in order to ensure quality service and value for money.

Minister of Education Anthony Garcia says the review exercise conducted by the Ministry of Education has so far resulted in the reimbursement of approximately $ 1.7 m to the Ministry.

Garcia said the invoices for payments for January were received from the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) on April 20 and are being processed.

He said the service provide by the maxi taxi operators is valuable and the Ministry of Education will continue to work with them as a valuable stakeholder in the education sector.

Energy Minister Franklin Khan is being asked to explain a new Petrotrin internal report which, according to attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, casts doubt on whether the energy company was justified in terminating a contract with A&V Oil and Gas for production and supply of crude oil.

The August 2017 report, which was compiled by Petrotrin’s internal audit team, was passed to Maharaj by St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar, who told the T&T Guardian he preferred that Maharaj speak on the issue.

Ramadhar, who first raised the issue with Khan two weeks ago but got no response, confirmed that he will be taking the issue to Parliament again, hopefully tomorrow.

A&V was accused in an internal audit report of overstating the oil it supplied to Petrotrin. The energy company ended its contract with A&V for production in the Catshill field, Moruga, after those findings were confirmed by independent foreign auditors Kroll and Gafney Cline.

Maharaj is expected to reveal details of the report later today but said it “casts doubt on whether Petrotrin was justified to terminate A&V’s contract with Petrotrin for the production and supply by A&V of crude to Petrotrin.”

He said the report found that the data and measurements Petrotrin used in the internal audit report were faulty. Maharaj added that Petrotrin’s failure to disclose the report sent by Ramadhar to A&V’s lawyers “raises serious questions on the reliability of the internal audit report on which Petrotrin relied to terminate A&V’s contract.”

He said this affects the public interest as Petrotrin is losing revenue and its debt burden has been put at close to $15 billion. He said the company needs all the available revenue and if it wrongfully terminated a contract from which it earned substantial revenues “that is an injustice against the public.”

Petrotrin officials have declined comment on the matter.

Need cash fast but forgot your wallet at home? A Cardless Cash facility launched yesterday by Republic Bank Limited (RBL) allows customers to get up to $500 daily at any Republic Bank Blue Machine.

General Manager of the bank’s Electronic Channels and Payment Division Denyse Ramnarine said the new facility is an extension of RepublicOnline and RepublicMobile App services, so customers already registered for these services can simply log on to use the feature.

Customers can simply log on and select the desired option—payment to self or a third party—via the transactions tab in the main menu of RepublicOnline, or via the transfer funds tab on the RepublicMobile App.

The transaction amount is then entered and in the case of third party transfers, the recipient’s name and mobile number.

Once the transaction is submitted, a transaction ID and cash code is sent via email and/or SMS, or to the third party recipient, via SMS. The recipient can then press any button on either side of the ABM screen and enter the requested codes to withdraw the cash.

The transaction ID and cash code must be used within 48 hours from the time it is initiated. The recipient, who doesn’t have to be a Republic Bank customer, can then visit any Republic Bank Blue Machine.

Ramnarine said the Cardless Cash feature allows fast and secure access to cash without the use of a card and is a convenient payment option for conducting low-value payments to any recipient with a mobile number.

A transaction fee of $4 is charged to the sender upon successful completion of the cash withdrawal. A fee of approximately $0.55 for each message sent and received is applied by the mobile service provider.

Ramnarine said as long as the sender is within his/her $500 daily limit, multiple transactions can be performed to the same or other recipients. Once the sender has access to RepublicOnline or th RepublicMobile App, the transaction can be initiated from anywhere around the globe. However, the recipient can only access the funds at a Blue Machines in T&T.

Ramnarine said over time the bank will examine the feasibility of increasing the $500 limit.

Implementation of T&T’s National Quality Policy (NQP) will strengthen market access by enhancing the country’s capability to trade more effectively, says Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon.

“Businesses face challenges in meeting stringent quality standards abroad and in competing with poor-quality imported products . . . he National Quality Policy will address these market access challenges,” she said at the launch of the policy on Tuesday.

The NQP will aid local businesses with increasing competitiveness and their ability to participate in international value chains.

It is anticipated that its implementation will build specialist capabilities and enhance resources in quality related areas, as well as develop and enforce technical regulations and practices which support production and creation of high quality goods and services.

The policy vision was reinforced by Norris Herbert, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry who also anticipated a positive impact on trade with the NQP’s operationalisation.

Gopee-Scoon said the policy addresses several barriers related to laboratories, legislation, enforcement, certification and accreditation. While the Government has negotiated a number of trade agreements for manufacturers and service providers there is opportunity to ensure market presence.

She added: “There are many price competitors and therefore, Trinidad and Tobago’s emphasis should be on delivering products and services that differentiate themselves in the world market place on the basis of quality, value and innovation rather than on price alone.”

During the period of the policy’s implementation, which extends to 2030, a robust system of regulation, certification and assessment will be introduced to protect consumers and increase the presence of local products on the global market.

This will be facilitated by the work of a National Quality Council which will ensure that high quality goods and services can be produced locally and T&T’s reputation and brand as a provider of quality products and services in the national and international markets is assured.

Overall market activity resulted from trading in 16 securities of which six advanced, two declined and eight traded firm.

Trading activity on the First Tier Market registered a volume of 667,894 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $4,615,344.89.

Trinidad Cement Limited was the volume leader with 460,000 shares changing hands for a value of $1,204,425.16, followed by T&T NGL Limited with a volume of 104,464 shares being traded for $2,904,491.90.

National Flour Mills Limited contributed 72,002 shares with a value of $129,603.60, while JMMB Group Limited added 13,919 shares valued at $25,889.34.

National Flour Mills Limited registered the day’s largest gain, increasing $0.05 to end the day at $1.80. Conversely, Ansa McAL Limited registered the day’s largest decline, falling $0.10 to close at $59.80.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 11,679 shares valued at $235,421.64. It remained at $20.16

In Wednesday’s trading session the following reflect the movement of the TTSE Indices:

• The Composite Index advanced by 0.02 points to close at 1,227.64.
• The All T&T Index advanced by 0.04 points to close at 1,694.12.
• The Cross Listed Index remained at 102.44

The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), the only institution in the English-speaking Caribbean to formally offer Animation and Gaming training at the undergraduate level, has embarked on a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership to assist qualified students and graduates in entering the rising global Information Technology-enabled Services (ITeS) industry.

These initiatives are being funded via a loan contract by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through the Ministry of Planning and Development in the context of the Global Services Promotion Programme (GSPP). The objective is to advance the country’s position as a preferred source for Information Technology-enabled Services (ITeS).

Planning Minister Camille Robinson Regis explained: “The goal of the Global Services Promotion Programme is to shape, inspire and motivate the development of the ITeS sector for Trinidad and Tobago, with a focus to increase exports and employment in the sector.

“The local animation and gaming industry has increased nearly tenfold since 2004 and achieved estimated revenues of US$242 billion in 2016 globally. Trinidad and Tobago has several competitive advantages, which can enable the country to establish itself as a competitive location for the provision of ITeS.”Through this programme, employees from the two winning firms, which are both managed by UTT alumni—Coded

Arts and Animae Caribe—will receive sector-specific training to fill the gap required to meet global demand. Employees of the awarded firms, as well as other industry stakeholders, will receive training in Pre-production, Ideation, Storyboarding and Pre-Visualisation, Licensing and Distribution, IP Application for Creative Content, Animated Trailer Development and Game Prop Concept as well as Modelling Building.

UTT Animation graduate Jessica Yawching said: “Coded Arts and Animae Caribe share the common goal of solving issues important to the local animation and gaming Industry.”

This view was shared by Animae Caribe Festival Co-ordinator Camille Selvon-Abrahams, who is also Programme Leader for Animation programmes at UTT.

“Helping graduates meet global industry standard is the key to UTT’s success, working together creates a stronger workforce and better environment for everyone,” she said.

In addition to the training initiatives, the university is exploring solutions to provide equipment and tools required to meet global outsourcing demands. This will enable the amalgamation of T&T’s animation efforts which will solidify the local service offerings in the global market.

It should be cause for alarm by all that T&T has dropped five spots, from 34 to 39, in the World Press Freedom Index just released by Reporters Without Borders.

Among concerns cited in a report accompanying the Index are pending pieces of legislation—the Cybercrime Bill, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Data Protection Act, and the Broadcast Code—which it said “could have a chilling effect on press freedom and free expression online if adopted.”

Also highlighted was the incident last year in which reporters were physically attacked while investigating a story involving A&V Drilling in south Trinidad. It was described as “a rare example of violence against journalists unseen in the country in recent years.”

The free press as an essential pillar of democracy was demonstrated not too long ago with the Section 34 controversy, a prime example of the media keeping government in check.

In this new era of digital communications, the freedom to seek out and circulate news, information, ideas, comment and opinion, as well as hold those in authority to account is constantly being challenged.

In the current social media terrain, where there is an abundance of information from the expanding number of media sources, maintaining a free press is more important than ever. Media practitioners must work continually to build and maintain public trust and preserve the power of freedom of information.

Malpractice alert

The alarm raised by an orthopaedic surgeon at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital should trigger an immediate audit to check the source and integrity of components used in transplant surgeries. This should not be limited to the North West Regional Health Authority but the entire public health system.

The potential for severe health consequences for patients implanted with mismatched or defective components is just too great for this matter to be swept aside simply on the promise of an investigations.

Empowering our girls

Today some tech savvy T&T girls will join with counterparts across the Caribbean to celebrate Girls in ICT Day. They will have an immersive experience in technology, taking part in the second edition of Caribbean Hackathon, a female-driven initiative facilitated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). This is a worthwhile effort which encourages girls to pursue studies in Science, Technology,

Engineering and Mathematics.

How many of you have your cellphone close by? How often have you looked at it today or sent out messages? Do you sleep with it close by? Does it accompany you to the dinner table or to the bathroom? Is it there to greet you when you awake? Be honest now! How many of you cannot do without your cell, for even one day!

I know the stress levels just went up when you thought of doing without your cell phone. After all, it has been your constant companion, keeping you in touch with your friends, your family and the outside world, at just the touch of the screen.

The use of the cell has even invaded churches, as many priests and pastors have their sermons written on this device, which speakers also use for their keynote addresses at important conferences.

Therefore, the recent newspaper report of a teenager who chopped his mother and severely wounded her when she took away his cellphone should alert us to the fact that this device, despite its benefits, has become one of the most insidiously harmful inventions of this century.

Many people have become addicted to their cellphones. Like all addictions, the emotional consequences can be devastating. Addiction creates changes in the chemistry of the brain which further drives the compulsion for the behaviours, somewhat akin to substance abuse. There is the constant need for stimulation and cell phone use offers this to a great extent.

Children and teenagers are on their cellphones more than eight hours per day in some instances.

Research shows that excessive phone use puts a person’s mental health at risk, and increases in mental illness among youth seemed to coincide at the same time that cellphones became a common accessory.

Children became more prone to mood disorders, anxiety, depression and even suicide.

While correlation does not necessarily imply causation, one has to look at the impact of cellphone use on the average child or teenager. As a parent, you may have struggled with this issue at some point. I know that I did.

Many years ago, when I took away my teenager’s phone for refusing to comply with a request, she gave me a solid push that startled us both, as this was the first time that she had become physical with me.

Even though it never happened again, I often questioned if I could have possibly approached the situation differently.

But how do we create a balance here? Like all things, anything that is done in excess will have negative consequences. We buy our children the cellphones, the television sets, the video games, all stimulating devices that appeal to them and then we expect them to exercise control and be emotionally distant from these devices.

Some of the solutions are to provide other opportunities for young people that can be equally stimulating. Whilst some parents may do this, many have no social or physical activities in place for their children as a break from studies, and the cell phone has become the new babysitter, the constant companion and close friend of the child and adolescent. Me, my cell and I!

Have we modelled appropriate cell phone use ourselves? What do our kids see us do? There are parents walking on the streets and talking on their phones, with their children lagging behind; those who use the phone while driving or take calls at family get-togethers.

If we want our children to do it differently and exercise restraint when told to do so, then we also have to model self-control. The cellphone is a relatively safe place to socially connect with their peers, to seek information and to do activities when used in moderation. When this lifeline is removed, there will be an emotional backlash and withdrawal symptoms.

What are the limits on phone usage that you have put in place, to help your child or teenager to learn self-regulation skills?

Dr Margaret Nakhid-Chatoor

Madness is defined by doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting that the result will be different. Crime has ballooned, the social fabric is weakening; the justice system is clogged with an increasing backlog of cases; the education system’s results declining; the roads congested; the economic data to inform decision making is of poor quality and is not produced in a timely fashion. The deterioration is a national issue and ongoing under different administrations. There have been nine elections between 1986 to 2015 and in the process, the party in power has been changed six times. This is an indictment against all parties and a recognition by the public that solutions remain outstanding.

Between 1999 and 2008 the economy boomed, experiencing a compound rate of growth exceeding 12 per cent per annum. Did we address the issues? Expenditure increased, government employing more people at higher rates, without any increase in productivity. Construction activity accelerated, but many houses remain unoccupied and incomplete. Health care, national security and education budgets increased without improvement in output quality.

Spending on subsidies and transfers (welfare and social programmes) expanded to 40 per cent of the annual budget under the PNM ballooning past 50 per cent under the UNC. Indeed, the entire increase in revenue between 2010 and 2014 was spent on subsidies and transfers; Cepep, Hoops for Life, URP, Life Sport et al, all populist measures to retain office.

We speak of the need for reform and retraining as illustrated by various development plans (Vision 2020, Growth Poles, 2030) with no connection to the budget or delivery objectives. Dr Williams’ words resonate in a way that we can, now, understand fully; money is not the problem. We lack direction, balance, priorities and political will. Not all the solutions are palatable. You must break an egg to make an omelette.

New laws have been enacted to address corruption; an Integrity in Public Life Act, Proceeds of Crime Act, Anti Money Laundering legislation and so on. The Central Tenders Board has been scrapped and new Procurement legislation to regulate procurement by the state and its State enterprise agents passed. There have been several commissions of inquiry and many recommendations. The recommendations remain, unimplemented or ignored.

And yet the spectre of corruption, the key theme in every election campaign for the last 18 years, remains unchecked. There has not been one successful prosecution for money laundering and no one has been sentenced for any corrupt act since Independence.

The democratic systems have worked; we have changed the management (the government) seven times. Why then have we not been getting results? Is it that the ministers are incompetent or is it a wider issue and the changes have not extended to the people issues at the next layer of management? Or are the systems and procedures, which keep an organisation on track, failing? Or is it some combination of all three? What are we to do?

In a recent conversation with a former director of Petrotrin, he noted that the company had been overstaffed from its inception and the maintenance issues well known. Yet, several decades later, the efficiency issues have not been addressed.

The Prime Minister touted that the best Minister of Foreign Affairs is leading this Ministry. He doubles as a Minister in National Security. Despite this, last Saturday saw a flagrant breach of Article 31 of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in the deportation of documented asylum seekers. This follows closely on other glaring mistakes emanating in the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs.

Venezuela’s problems started years ago and are only going to get worse. Expect more refugees and asylum seekers. Yet we seem to have no plan or policy to address this issue. Four ministries are fault: Foreign Affairs, National Security, Planning and Labour.

This synopsis points to leadership, management, people and process issues, a deadly combination. It is unrealistic to address every problem with equal intensity. So, priorities must be identified, capacity built or reinforced. One cannot keep blaming subordinates or public servants or demonising institutions.

A leader is responsible for the timing tone and tempo of the organisation and the success of the management team is measured by its results. Standards must be set, built into processes and accountability demanded. The timing tone and tempo has been discordant for some time and results difficult to identify. Action is required.

Honourable Major Edmund Dillon,

On behalf of Soy Venezuela, the independent and plural political alliance of our country, we take the liberty to address you, in order to respectfully express our greatest concern for the situation that affects dozens of Venezuelans refugees who have been arbitrarily returned to Venezuela by the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago, disregarding the international norms that regulate the institution of refugees.

The three signatories of this letter are all former ambassadors to the United Nations. We are even more concerned that those Venezuelans have been arrested, ill-treated and returned to their country, without due administrative procedure and without consideration of their human rights, especially the right of every person to seek asylum when their life and physical integrity is in danger, as established in the declarations on Human Rights, in the Refugee Statute of 1950 and in the Geneva Protocol of 1967, a term that is later specified, in 1984, in the Declaration of Cartagena de Indias.

Amnesty International has already expressed similar concerns.

We are sure that you are aware that the Cartagena Declaration of November 22, 1984 states that “the definition or concept of a refugee recommended for use in the region is one that, in addition to containing the elements of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol, considers also as refugees those people who have fled their countries because their lives, security or freedom have been threatened by widespread violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances that have seriously disrupted the public order”.

Mr Minister, it is public knowledge that those realities are applicable without any doubt to our country that has morphed into a narco state.

It is important to stress that Venezuela was always a territory of asylum, receiving and providing for years, the protection due to massive flows of people fleeing the dictatorships of the Southern Cone and the violence and armed conflicts in the region and even in Europe.

We have received, in previous decades, nationals of many countries of our region, including from of Trinidad and Tobago in particular, displaced by economic reasons.

We understand the impact that such displacements can have, especially in more vulnerable countries that must face their insertion in the social and economic life of their communities, as part of the protection that should be provided to them; but this should be considered in a balanced way between the interests of the host country and the full respect for the international protection standards established in the international instruments to which your country is a party.

Venezuela was always a country of immigrants, not emigrants. Our people loved to live in our country. The situation of Venezuelans requesting protection in these cases is very different from the one that arises in relation to migrations and other displacements of people. Those are very different spaces, regulated by equally different rules and principles. These are people who flee to safeguard their lives, physical integrity, security; who escape from state violence and persecution of a regime that has shown to be harsh to their own people.

The situation of our compatriots fleeing the country requires separating then, for the causes that cause it, the migration issue, the issue of refugees. Those people flee to save their lives and not to improve their economic conditions.

The right to request asylum is an unquestionable human right, recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The States have the obligation to consider it properly and to adopt the most convenient decisions, based on national and international standards, in full respect of the human rights of asylum seekers who have been, unfortunately, subjected to degrading treatment, contrary to all international standards.

We are confident that your government will review this serious situation that only the rescue of our freedom will be able to solve.

Milos Alcalay,
Diego Arria,
Víctor Rodríguez Cedeño
Alianza parp La Republica soy Venezuela
www.soy-venezuela.com