I am confident that by now most are aware that my portrayal for the 2016 Conventional Individuals competition which was held on February 4 was debarred from competing due to my not having “registered” with the NCC, although I was registered with the NCBA for the said competition. 

After deep reflection and consideration of all of the circumstances surrounding this most devastating experience, I have come to the decision that I am not going to let this matter rest until there is a suitable remedy for all of the sacrifices, psychological and emotional stress, embarrassment, belittlement, financial investment and overall disrespect for the culture of T&T.

I have participated in this particular competition since 2013 with significant success, culminating with a 4th place finish in the Female Individual of the Year 2015. 

Using my collective experiences in this particular competition, I set out to produce a costume in 2016—The Book of Revelation—and present it in a way that would top all of my previous portrayals. I invested close to $15,000 in material, made personal sacrifices and asked my family to do the same. I had a song professionally mixed especially for the presentation and hired a special type of transportation.

It is indeed a bitter pill to swallow when at the end of it all, officials at the competition venue could only tell me that I was not registered with the NCC and as such my NCBA registration for the event was invalid and they “could do nothing” for me. 

Out of compassion I was allowed to cross the stage making a “guest appearance.” Furthermore, it is patently unprofessional for those said officials to allude to incompetence and dishonestly in the NCBA. But there are some critical questions that need to be answered though:

1. Was the NCC Conventional Individuals competition 2016 the same competition as the NCBA competition that I registered for in terms of categories, judging and format? 
2. What rules did competitors in the NCC competition compete under?
3. Did I register for membership in the NCBA and (was supposed to) in the NCC respectively, or did I register to compete in a competition regardless of who was organising it?
4. When the NCBA organised and managed the event, was it doing so as an agent of the NCC?
5. If the NCBA organised and managed this competition which was in effect a NCC competition and the NCC decided to take control of it from the NCBA, why didn’t the NCC just acquire the database of registered competitors from the NCBA?
6. If the NCC took over control, whose responsibility was it to properly communicate this development to the registrants with the NCBA?
7. If the NCBA registration period for the competition was closed, why have competitors reregister for the same competition?
8. Didn’t the NCC anticipate situations such as mine? 
9. If registration for the competition was free, why couldn’t I be registered on the spot and be allowed to compete having already presented proof of registration with the NCBA?

Carisse Dedier

Shannon Yearwood, 14-year-old St Joseph’s Convent student, has earned two titles for her splendid performance at the IX Pan American Schools Chess Championship held in San Jose, Costa Rica, last month. 

She scored 6.5 out of 9 points in the Absolute U15 category, winning first place among female players and third overall. 

She tied on points with second placed CM Alejandro Nieto of the Dominican Republic and fourth placed WFM Mischel Ruiz of Equador.

As a result of her success, Shannon has gained both the FIDE Candidate Master and the Woman FIDE Master titles. Further, they enhance a chess career marked by a string of successes, at home and abroad, over the last four years. 2015, in fact, was a notable one for Shannon. 

She began with a Bronze medal in the U16 category of the Carifta Championships in Barbados. She was a decisive force in helping St Joseph’s Convent win the Paladins’ Secondary School competition. 

She tied for second place in the Women’s National Chess Championship thus qualifying to join the T&T women’s team for the Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan, later this year. 

She tied for second place in the U16 category of the Caribbean Junior tournament held at the Queen’s Park Oval and won a Bronze Medal at the Carifta tournament in Barbados. 

In 2014 Shannon not only emerged T&T’s joint Women’s national champion but also won gold at the Carifta event in Martinique. 

In 2013 she won bronze at the VII Pan Am Schools Championships held at the Hasley Crawford Stadium. In 2012 she won her first major title, the national U12 and coupled this with Bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Chess tournament in Puerto Rico. 

In that same year she became the first girl to win the Barbados Chess Association’s Open Junior Championship in the U12 category. 

Shannon also happens to be one of four Yearwood siblings who have adorned the sport by their love for the game, their contributions to it and their many competitive achievements. 

Her eldest brother Sylvan, while no longer playing competitively, is actively involved in the management of the recently revived QRC Chess Club.

Sean, her second brother, is a Candidate Master and national champion in the U8, U10, U12 and U14 age groups. Sheldon, her youngest brother, won the national U8 category in 2014, took second place in the U10 group last year and tied on points for first in the same category last month.

Thanks to their enlightened parents, the Yearwood children are excelling in a mind game that is now well recognised for its many cognitive benefits. 

The boys first learned the game from their father, then studied awhile with the Chess Foundation and, together with Shannon are now under the tutelage of coach Alex Winter Roach.

The Yearwood youngsters have created something of a phenomenon in the local chess world, but the question DR must now ask is whether any of them will choose to pursue the sport to their ultimate ability, making history perhaps as T&T’s first chess grandmaster, or whether they will follow the moves of so many other former chess stars and enter the less exciting but more secure world of the professions.

Once again, I am in total agreement with the Minister of Education in his appreciation of the children’s Carnival presentation last Saturday. What we witnessed was creativity at its best with its attendant colour and pageantry. The adults who helped to put the mas together showed the children and the world how mas’ can be created without the sole use of bikinis and beads.  

What happens between the time our children leave childhood behind and enter the adult world is the mystery we have to solve if we are to reclaim any form of creativity in the mas we portray on the streets on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. The adults in their lives need to take a second look at their actions and decisions in order to keep Trinidad’s Carnival unique and creative.

As the Minister of Education, Mr Garcia’s comments are to be appreciated, but we look forward to policies and measures being put in place to ensure that our children value the creativity involved in Carnival productions. It is only when they understand that value that they continue in their creative ways once they leave the protection of our schools.

It is a tall order but it will be worth the effort to make even a small dent in this area while a Minister of Education with the will and foresight is in charge of our schools.

Pauline Isidore

Few occasions call for reprising of the late George Chambers’ famous admonition to return to work after the fete than this post-Carnival season, sadly destined for assured relapse at the onset of Easter.

Whether we like it or not (and there is evidence that we collectively don’t), the business of achieving and maintaining an even keel calls for an urgent downing of Carnival arms—whatever its perceived and in my view, mythical, value in easing the pains and tensions of the real world.

It might be that someone would finally do the honest mathematics to disaggregate temporal emotional gain from the real value of the creative products generated by the event. But that is work yet to be done. Where do we begin? Let me have a shot at that.

It is my view, that one of the defining features of countries focused on development is a commitment to understanding the true nature of the challenges that confront them. This calls for a preference for statistics over superstition and for facts over fairy tales.

Among the people who understand this best are those who occupy space in the worlds of business and applied science. The wise businessman or woman delivers goods and services to markets in which there is measurable and affirmed demand at prices that are competitive, while the civil engineer calculates the thickness of the steel required to bear the weight of the largest trucks along the bridges he designs.

Miscalculations related to market size and demand or the true strength of the bridge can yield disastrous results.

In real-world journalism training, to cite one other area in which the employing of science is being encouraged—as opposed to guessing, obeah and mere intuition—there is now an insistence on adopting standards related to what is now known as data journalism, but what has always been described as the “journalism of verification.”

It does not mean that journalists suddenly become scientists or researchers in the classical sense, but that they become more aware of the distinction between provable fact and speculation and accord them due recognition and treatment in their stories.

In countries such as ours that rely heavily on intuition, guesswork and tribal favouritism in the framing of public policy and action there is always the tendency to eschew science in favour of popular wisdom. For example, international research on the contribution of all forms of corporal punishment to the use of violence as a means of addressing conflict is ignored in favour of the pronouncement that “I get beat and I didn’t come out that bad.”

On the base of such an assertion, I would assume that (among other things) a survey of prison inmates at Port-of-Spain, Golden Grove and Carrera would find, as a corollary to this argument, that the vast majority of violent criminal offenders had once been “spoilt children” who had been spared the rod. But, I am only guessing. Perhaps the work of a clever UWI post-graduate student is sealed away somewhere with the information we need to deliver a judgment.    

There is also research elsewhere which suggests that the death penalty does not produce a deterrent effect on the incidence of homicide. Yet, with each perceived “crime wave” comes the “hang dem high” posse, led by politicians in power intent on riding the wave of public opinion based on questionable assumptions. If the rationale is revenge, then there can probably be another discussion.

Enter now the National Statistical Institute (NSI), out of the ashes of the Central Statistical Office (CSO). If there is one institution that is an absolute pre-requisite to the shaping of public policy it would be the CSO under any new name given to it—an agency that has, over the years, housed some of the country’s finest public servants.

Hopefully, the NSI will be assigned responsibility for data-driven research on a much wider scale than currently applies. There is nothing more compelling than the disintegration of the CSO over the years to prove the point that public policy is very frequently developed in the absence of hard information.

Having moderated just two of the current series of public consultations on local government reform, it seems clear to me that the design of a new framework in this important area of governance must be deeply rooted in a much better understanding of the stock of human and other assets available in the several districts and regions. Such knowledge would help address fears linked to social and economic anomalies in the assigning of fiscal responsibilities. The question has arisen time and again at the consultations.

The Centre for Language Learning (CLL) also recently launched preliminary work on the mapping of foreign language usage in T&T and its director, Dr Beverly-Anne Carter, has urged that an audit of language competencies be included as part of the next national census exercise. The CLL’s finding that as many as 40 languages are used in households throughout the country is an astounding revelation with implications for the manner in which we engage the rest of the world in the spheres of business, commerce and foreign policy.

As I have said before, though, the politicians need to allow the professionals to do their work. The seminal achievement of the CSO in developing the Human Development Atlas of 2012, including vital data on citizen security provided by the Crime and Problem Analysis Unit (CAPA) of the Police Service, proved that the agency, once provided with the resources and with politicians out of the way, is capable of producing high-quality, reliable work.

During the course of one journalistic assignment that spanned close to two years, I had to rely heavily on social and economic data provided by the CSO and by the Central Bank. Regular dispatches from the Central Bank, via its Repo Rate announcements in particular, provided very decent, basic information while the CSO staff were always willing to offer clarification and verification to the extent bureaucratically possible.

I am yet to receive an explanation as to why my name eventually slipped off the Bank’s mailing list, but thankfully the assignment had by then ended and the requirement of very specific data was no longer as urgent as it was before. Sourly, I noted then the bottoming out of a descent occasioned by politically-inspired mayhem.

It should have taken much less than a Moody’s downgrade in 2015 to signal to policymakers the importance of national statistics as the bedrock of official decision-making. The shameful “recession” debate was rooted in routine negligence related to official use of facts and data and an absence of public, and in some regards journalistic, vigilance.

Now that the fete is over and we are back to work (for the time being), what happens to the CSO/NSI remains a much more urgent headline in my book than the points earned by the Band of the Year.

Japanese pannist Asami Nagakiya was last night identified as the masquerader found dead at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Homicide detectives were able to confirm her identity last night, having sought the public’s assistance earlier, after her body was found under a tree around 9.30 am.

Nagikiya and some of her friends have made headlines over the years as they traditionally visit T&T to play in the National Panorama competitions, including with former champions Phase II Pan Groove and PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars, and partake of the Carnival festivities. 

According to reports, Geoff Adams, of Tamana, was walking through the area when he noticed a homeless man screaming while pointing at a patch of bushes. 

“The guy say he see something in the bushes. I say it was a manicou or iguana but when I look I see a bikini bottom,” Adams told reporters in a brief interview after being interrogated by police on the scene. 

The grisly discovery was made mere metres away from Queen’s Royal College and the Maraval Road roundabout, as crews from the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) were busy cleaning up rubbish left over from Carnival celebrations. 

The area was cordoned off by police for several hours as crime scene investigators combed heaps of discarded food and beverage containers, which surrounded Nagakiya, for evidence. Nagakiya was found lying face down and was subsequently taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy will be performed today.

Adams, who said he slept on a nearby park bench between Sunday night and yesterday morning to fully immerse himself in this year’s Carnival celebrations, said he had not seen the woman in the area when he went to sleep late Tuesday night. 

“If a woman was making noise that hour of the night I would not have think something was wrong because all kinds of different things does happen in Carnival,” Adams said. He said from his brief observations of the body before he contacted police, the woman appeared to have marks of violence on her right forearm and waist. 

“She had a laceration on her elbow and black and blue marks on her waist. It look like a rape/murder to me,” Adams said. 

Police sources said based on the state of decomposition of the body, Nagakiya probably died on Tuesday night but they refused to speculate on the cause of death or the possibility she may have been sexually assaulted before they receive the results of her autopsy. Homicide detectives said last night, however, that they had received information that she had a medical condition.

When she was initially found, there were no identification documents on or near the body, save a band from the Carnival band Legacy. In a telephone interview yesterday, before she was identified, Legacy bandleader “Big Mike” Antoine said he was searching his registration database to see if he could assist police in identifying her. 

“We have a lot of people who play mas with us,” Antoine said as he explained that he was using the victim’s costume measurements to help identify her, as bands did not take pictures of individual masqueraders. 

While he maintained his band ensured the safety of its masqueraders during the Parade of the Bands, he noted that they could not ensure revellers’ safety once celebrations had ended.

“We had a smooth and incident free Carnival. A bandleader cannot do anything if someone gets killed or injured on their way home. The most I could do now is help identify the masquerader for the family,” Antoine said. 

He suggested that the victim possibly had her fateful encounter after leaving the band’s Las Lap which ended at its Woodbrook mas camp around 7 pm.  

“The only time we were at the Savannah was when we crossed the stage after Ronnie and Carro around 10 am in the morning,” Antoine said. 

Insp Michael Veronique, Cpl Stanley Romeo and PC Kendall Abraham, of the Region One Homicide Bureau, visited the scene and are continuing investigations. 

One of the victims of alleged abuse at the hands of Yuma security guards said yesterday she would not rest until she received justice for what happened to them on Carnival Monday.

In a brief telephone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Nzunaki Tuitt, a Canadian national, said she went to the Canadian Embassy yesterday as she had promised to but was told she had to return with a copy of her police statement for the matter to be taken any further. 

She added that two other women who were assaulted by the security guards were scheduled to leave the country soon but she would stay to fight the matter to the end. Tuitt said the two other women were making the most of their stay in the country but also would do all they could to ensure that they received justice.  

Tuitt, along with People’s National Movement (PNM) councillor Jason Alexander and Jenice Parker, along with another woman were  assaulted at Taylor Street, Woodbrook, on Monday afternoon by security guards working in the Carnival band after it was pointed out that Alexander belonged to another Carnival band. 

A masquerader began recording the assault after he saw Parker being punched in the face by a security officer. It was this punch that forced Alexander, who had left the band having been put out by the guards, to return to defend his friend. However, he was severely beaten by the guards when he returned.

Alexander suffered cuts and bruises about his body from the attack while Tuitt also suffered some minor injuries.

The 49-second video was subsequently posted on social media and went viral, prompting YUMA management to issue a release apologising for the action of the guards. It also sparked a call from Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge for legislation to deal with the issue of band security.

Tuitt, who said she had been told the guards were fired after the incident, said she would not be allowing the incident to be swept under the carpet as someone must be held accountable for the injuries she and her friends sustained. 

The T&T Guardian understands that the victims have all reported the matter to the Woodbrook Police Station but the incident occurred within the St James Police Station area so they must continue their complaint at that station. 

Kevin Baldeosingh

A book about an academic controversy might seem esoteric and irrelevant to even the intelligent lay reader in T&T, but this account by Mary Lefkowitz, a historian specialising on ancient Greece, is relevant to us in two ways: first, two of her protagonists are Trinidadian and, secondly, the issues she addresses have already taken root here.

In a nutshell then, Lefkowitz found herself being targeted as a racist in the 1990s for contradicting the Afrocentrist thesis that Greeks stole their philosophy from the ancient Egyptians. 

From a purely historical point of view, this is not a controversial statement, because the basis of the Afrocentrist claim is that Aristotle got his ideas from the library at Alexandria but, as Lefkowitz points out, that library was built long after Aristotle died.

One man who was spreading this historical canard was the late Anthony Martin, who was born in Trinidad and who a few years before his death published a book on Caribbean history. “It was not historical reality that mattered to Tony Martin or his faction. What mattered to them was simply race,” Lefkowitz notes.

One organisation which propagates such historical falsehoods is the Nation of Islam, which is represented in Trinidad and Tobago by David Muhammad who has a radio show and promotes his CDs and writings. Rewriting history is a necessary task for Black Muslims, says Lefkowitz, in order to “to keep people’s attention away from the slave trading that continued long after the outcome of the American Civil War put a stop to the transatlantic slave trade. The traders in this case were not Europeans or Jews but Arabs, and this is a bit of embarrassment for an organization that calls itself the Nation of Islam.”

At Wellesley College, Martin was joined in his attack on Lefkowitz by another Trinidadian, literature professor Selwyn Cudjoe, who is best known here as a PNM apologist. “Ironically, in their quest to find racism in everything they disapprove of, race professionals like Cudjoe, Martin, and (Jeremiah) Wilson too easily turn themselves into professional racists,” Lefkowitz writes. 

“Often the charges the race pros make against their opponents could be more fairly used to characterise themselves. They are the demagogues, the seekers for public intellectual status, the ones who are concerned with the present rather than the past.” (Cudjoe, for example, has attacked Indo-Trinidadians with claims like Indian teachers refusing to teach black children.)

These ideas, as well as such attitudes, have already penetrated the nation’s classrooms, with secondary school students being taught, for example, that Africans came to the New World before Columbus. And that has happened because there are historians at UWI who promote such nonsense. Nor is the propagation of falsehoods confined to the History Department: even in UWI’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, there are lecturers who deny that biological evolution is scientifically valid, while lecturers outside this Faculty are now claiming that vaccinating children is harmful.

“All narratives do not have equal value, because there are such things as facts. Narratives are only ‘equal’ in the sense that all narratives are equally deserving of a hearing,” says Lefkowitz.

This is a principle that we would do well to heed, if only for the pragmatic reason that economic development is impossible without intelligent citizens.

Part 1 

While on the surface volunteering may seem to be a time consuming effort with no reward to be gained, ask anyone who has volunteered before and they will surely tell you that it was worthwhile. Yes, chances are there may be no monetary gain, but there are often countless other benefits that can enrich our lives and last longer than any money we make. 

If you call ALTA today and sign up to be a tutor, not only will you change a life but you can also: 

Learn or develop a new skill 

Our Alta tutors will tell you that the intensive training period which they undergo before they begin teaching is extremely rewarding. You are given thorough training in teaching methods, classroom delivery, and team teaching. These are skills which will last a lifetime and which you can use with your own children. When you begin teaching, you will gain further skills in time management, patience and creativity which will benefit you in your personal and professional life. Many of the skills you learn as a volunteer can also come in handy at your workplace and make you a more dynamic and holistic person. 

Boost your career options 

A study done by TimeBank through Reed Executive shows that 73 per cent of employers are more likely to hire someone with volunteering experience than someone without. Additionally 94 per cent of employees who volunteered to get experience in their field, had benefitted either by getting their first job, improving their salary or being promoted. If you have some free time and a desire to change someone else’s life, volunteering with Alta could very well be an opportunity to learn skills which will help you in your future job. 

Also, if you have just graduated from university, volunteering is a good way to wet your feet before fully committing to a particular career. For example, if you are interested in teaching or literacy, you can sign up to be an Alta tutor and spend an academic year developing your interests while advancing someone else’s reading skills. 

Develop a sense of purpose 

After many years of working, many of us become disenchanted and feel as if we are just going through the motions. The dreams we had of changing the world are no more. However, volunteering can make these dreams a reality. Volunteers at Alta have the incredible opportunity of seeing the results of their time and dedication at the end of each academic year. 

If you become an Alta tutor, you can find new meaning and purpose in your life by changing the life of another person. Sharing the skill of reading and writing with another person can change their world. In doing so, you will undoubtedly add more zest to your life, improve your mental stimulation and feel a sense of purpose. 

• Continues next week. 

• MORE INFO: Call Alta at 624-2482 and experience the benefits of volunteering today!

Port-of-Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee has issued an apology to all women and the entire country, following statements that seemed to link the death of a Japanese masquerader to a culture of lewdness but insists that his comments were taken out of context.

The apology came in the form of a statement from the Mayor's office:

"His Worship the Mayor of Port of Spain Alderman Raymond Tim Kee unequivocally apologizes to women and the national population who were offended by remarks attributed to him following the death of carnival visitor and mas player, Asami Nagakiya.

Mayor Tim Kee says that his comments were completely misconstrued, and one particular headline unfortunately stated “POS Mayor criticises women” drawing fire even before the article was read. Mayor Tim Kee said that he advised women to take responsibility and protect themselves as so many women are the victims of abuse at the hands of others.

He agrees that his comments could have been considered out of line, but despite the anger being expressed from many quarters including feminist groups and activists, he has also received calls of support from several women agreeing with him on the lack of modesty displayed by some women and girls on the streets during the Carnival Celebrations.

There is indeed a concern about the behaviour of both male and female mas players generally as they are now being emulated by children who believe that lewd behaviour and carnival go hand in hand.

He says that it is with deep regret to have to speak of the death of Ms Nagakiya who has been a welcome visitor and close friend of the steel band community in Trinidad & Tobago for several years.

Mayor Tim Kee further states that Members of Council and Management of the Port of Spain Corporation also extend deepest sympathy to the family of Asami Nagakiya.

The circumstances surrounding her death are being investigated and the public would be kept updated by the authorities."

Autopsy results today revealed that Japanese pan player Asami Nagakiya was strangled. The police are now treating her death as a murder.

On Ash Wednesday the body of the masquerader was found at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. 

Homicide detectives were able to confirm her identity last night, having sought the public’s assistance earlier, after her body was found under a tree around 9.30 am.

According to reports, Geoff Adams, of Tamana, was walking through the area when he noticed a homeless man screaming while pointing at a patch of bushes. 

The discovery was made mere metres away from Queen’s Royal College and the Maraval Road roundabout, as crews from the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) were busy cleaning up rubbish left over from Carnival celebrations. 

The area was cordoned off by police for several hours as crime scene investigators combed through heaps of discarded food and beverage containers, which surrounded Nagakiya, for evidence. Nagakiya was found lying face down and was subsequently taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy was performed today by forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov.

Nagakiya and some of her friends made headlines over the years as they traditionally visit T&T to play in the National Panorama competitions, including with former champions Phase II Pan Groove and PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars. She was playing with the band Legacy up until Tuesday.

Keep posted to T&T Guardian as we follow this story.

There are now calls from the public to have Raymond Tim Kee removed as Mayor of Port-of-Spain.

Following statements of disapproval on social media, there is now an online petition and a public protest organised to have Tim Kee dismissed. 

The public outrage stems from his statements about women being responsible with their bodies to ensure that they are not abused.

Tim Kee in a media conference at City Hall, Port-of-Spain, yesterday said: “I spoke of some of the things that I see women do, assisted by men, of course, but the woman has the responsibility that they ensure that they are not abused. You can enjoy Carnival without going through the routine.”

His comments followed the discovery of the body of a masquerader, later identified as Japanese pan player Asami Nagakiya. Autopsy results revealed that Nagakiya was strangled.

Following Tim Kee’s statements, feminist group Womantra started an online petition calling for his removal.

Womantra’s statement reads: “In light of his recent comments with regard to the discovery of Japanese national Asami Nagakiya, whose body was found under a tree on Feb 10, 2016 after Carnival celebrations in the City of Port-of-Spain, we are asking for him to resign with immediate effect.”

The petition, which was started hours ago, has more than 4,000 signatures. 

In another attempt to have Tim Kee removed as Mayor, a protest has been organised for 11 am tomorrow outside City Hall. The organisers are calling people to show up in their costumes, if they want to.

On a Facebook event page called, “Don’t be Vulgar, Mr Tim Kee” it stated: “Mayor Tim Kee’s statements in response to the tragic death of Asami Nagakiya continue a dangerous and damaging narrative of blaming women for acts of violence perpetrated against them not just at Carnival time but all through the year.”

The protest organisers called for a stronger focus on men being held accountable for their actions instead of “victim-shaming women.” They said people like Tim Kee who are in positions of authority must be made to understand this. 

“Everyday in Trinidad and Tobago women are harassed, assaulted, abused, regardless of what they are wearing. We cannot continue to allow people to blame women for acts of violence against them. This affects all women all the time,” the event page read.

However, a statement from the Mayor’s office said that Tim Kee apologised for his statements but claimed that they were taken out of context.

"His Worship the Mayor of Port-of-Spain Alderman Raymond Tim Kee unequivocally apologises to women and the national population who were offended by remarks attributed to him following the death of Carnival visitor and mas player, Asami Nagakiya,” the release read.

The release stated that though his comments could have been considered “out of line” he maintained that there is “indeed a concern about the behaviour of both male and female mas players generally as they are now being emulated by children who believe that lewd behaviour and Carnival go hand in hand.”

A man and woman were up to last night being questioned for the murder of Japanese pan player Asami Nagakiya. However, police were careful not to label the duo as suspects as they both went in voluntarily to offer information.

The two were being interrogated after an autopsy revealed Nagakiya, 30, was manually strangled to death before she was thrown into some bushes under a tree around the Queen’s Park Savannah between Carnival Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, when she was discovered.

Police last night said they were also being “assisted generously” by citizens seeking to help piece together the hours before, during and after Nagakiya’s killing.

Nagakiya was a trained musician by profession and arrived in Trinidad on January 8 to participate in Carnival related events. She was from Sapporo in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. 

Nagakiya’s autopsy was carried out by pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov at the Forensic Science Centre, St James. However,  Alexandrov referred all questions from the Guardian to the Japanese Embassy.

The pathologist said he could not confirm or deny whether Nagakiya was sexually assaulted as had been suggested in some reports, saying it was “beyond his competence.” 

However, the T&T Guardian understands swabs would have to be taken and analysed to determine whether there was sexual assault.

At the centre earlier yesterday, two Japanese men said to be representatives of the embassy did not speak with the media after viewing the body and quickly left the compound in a black Toyota Pajero, escorted by police in a white Nissan Xtrail.

Contacted later yesterday, a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy said they did not wish to comment on Nagakiya’s case as the police investigation was at a sensitive stage. 

“We are checking the status of the incident with the local police authority. We cannot say anything definitive at this moment,” he said. 

The spokesman refused to reveal if the embassy had contacted Nagakiya’s family in Japan and if the embassy was involved in organising her funeral arrangements. However, the T&T Guardian was told  her body will be flown back to Japan as soon as arrangements are made.

House searched

Meanwhile, Crime Scene Investigators investigating Nagakiya’s murder visited a house at 40 Woodford Street, Newtown, yesterday searching for clues in the case.

Shortly after 4 pm, three police vehicles arrived outside the property, which has been abandoned for a couple years, since Nagakiya had reportedly been seen there. 

The officers were at the property for several hours and captured photographs and other sensitive material which are most likely to be submitted as added evidence in the investigation.

An investigating officer at the scene told the T&T Guardian that the house is known to be frequented by questionable characters. Another officer said they had information that Nagakiya also went there, hence the reason a team of CSI officers were despatched to process thoroughly  the venue.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, a nearby resident said the building was once occupied by the Rape Crisis Society.

“The organisation moved out about two to three years and since then it has been left abandoned,” the female resident said.

Another resident, a male, said he saw Nagakiya in the area a few times during the season and added only once he had seen her enter the compound and exit alone.

According to reports, Geoff Adams, of Tamana, was walking through the Queen’s Park Savannah when he noticed a homeless man screaming while pointing to a patch of bushes. 

It turned out he was pointing to Nagakiya’s body, which was found metres away from the Queen’s Royal College and the Maraval Road roundabout, as crews from the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) were busy cleaning up rubbish left over from Carnival celebrations. 

The area was cordoned off by police for several hours as CSIs combed through heaps of discarded food and beverage containers, which surrounded Nagakiya’s body, for evidence.

JENSEN LA VENDE and RHONDOR DOWLAT

In 1990, Judy Raymond, considering Minshall’s King of Carnival, Saga Boy (I think it was), wrote: I knew it was art because it made the hair on my body stand on end. A generation later, mas man Peter Minshall, declining to politely fade into the background, allowing the lesser lights their lime, set the 2016 Carnival ablaze with his king, The Dying Swan: Ras Najinsky in Drag as Pavlova.

Quite in St Philip, Barbados, watching footage shot on a cellphone video camera, every hair on my body stood to attention and shivered in salute. And I wished I could have been in the Savannah, to see it with my own eyes—and to hear the collective gasp; not since 1980’s Midnight Robber has a mas blown me to firetruck away like this.

The Dying Swan is: 1. a moko jumbie, a “traditional” costume but; 2. Minshall reengineers it with a stroke of presque vu genius akin to the flip-top of a toothpaste tube—how come no one ever thought of a moko jumbie on firetrucking tiptoe before? and then Minshall 3. uses the old as a springboard to (swan?) dive into something totally new that; 4. joins the Old World and the New seamlessly while; 5. simultaneously cleanly separating them and bringing; 6. theatre and; 7. history back into the mas to 8. remind us that we once had the 9. depth; 10. gumption and 11. self-esteem to 12. view the whole world as our stage and our palette.

Not bad, for a man on stilts.

But the Mas Man himself is standing on the shoulders of giants.

Just as, 40 years ago, he took the old bat mas and made it startlingly new several times—the Serpent, Mancrab, the Sacred and the Profane—Minshall used the old moko jumbie to hold up the mirror anew, revealing ourselves to ourselves.

Or trying to.

If we were what we could be, that mas would have come first for the next three years; because of what we are now—and perhaps what we may have permanently become—the man pulling the pretty float that “won” used his apparent (but actually Pyrrhic) victory to whine on Minshall about a moko jumbie placing so high; he had probably rehearsed his speech with Ras Najinsky winning, so perhaps did not want to waste it; but it was one of those rants that said less about the thing spoken about and more about the person speaking.

And the people spoken to.

Ras Najinsky deserves to be the defining memory of Carnival 2016—but it will be hard to forget other powerful, less salubrious occurrences; such as a young man being stabbed to death allegedly by a Carnival band’s “security” (and Minshall’s heart must have broken to see the personification of his dying swan come about so swiftly); the Japanese pan player (probably) murdered and left in the Savannah for the Port-of-Spain mayor to insult; and that lonely, sad beauty in the G-string and pasties, reducing herself to her buttocks and pudenda.

In the 40-odd years Minshall has been making mas in Trinidad, Carnival, like everything else, has changed; and a lot of people on my side of 50 wouldn’t consider it to have developed; the so-called all-inclusive-but-really-all-exclusive model hasn’t managed to completely spoil Jouve yet but, for me, everything else remotely good left in Carnival has been ruined by the sheer din: if you played, “Sa-Sa-Yey” at today’s eardrum-shattering volume, it wouldn’t sound sweet, but like “galvanize” sheets being folded; after being ironed flat.

My pardner Raymond Ramcharitar takes probably the dimmest public view of modern Carnival, rendering it as a PNM propaganda tool à la Himmler, and denying any legitimate expression of public anger whatever to Canboulay—but his own open letter to Minshall published in this space on Wednesday should be read by everyone; even those—especially those—who disagree with him; in (my estimation of its) essence, it recognises the beauty of Ras Najinsky but declares it falls on barren soil: Minsh is talking to himself, but Ray will listen, if no one else, because they have all left the Savannah and are in da club or da cocktails party; or, indeed, da political party.

Between Raymond and Minsh there lies a great deal of good thinking about the possibilities and limits of Carnival—my former drinking and still writing pardner Si-Oh Lee, in this paper yesterday, should also be read, as should Mark Lyndersay, Raffique Shan, Sunity Maharaj and others.

But all our thinking amounts to nothing if it fails to turn into positive action; and there are people in positions of real power and influence—the King of Carnival, the mayor of Port-of-Spain—who bring to their utterances no thought at all.

How many such have Cabinet portfolios? And what can those of us, without, actually do?

The function of the artist is to show the society what it is; and there may never have been a clearer depiction of that than Ras Najinsky. The shivers that ran up our collective spine the first time we bore witness to it, though, are but one side of the coin: toss it, and the chill runs icily down that national spine and crumples at our feet in a yellow bikini, with pan sticks in hand. If the burgesses of Port-of-Spain allow a functionary so manifestly unsuitable to remain in office, the swan would have died in vain.

And Minshall, having given us the Hummingbird and the Dying Swan, will have to start his drawings of the Cobo.

BC Pires does take this shiretrit too seriously, oui; give that man a drink and a big work and keep his short a--- quart

The remarks, effectively victim-blaming, would be controversial at any time. The surprisingly oft-expressed notion that a woman who is sexually assaulted and attacked brought it on herself because of how she dressed is offensive, and not just to women. That the comments were offered in reaction to the death of woman on the Savannah stumbled several league beyond tone-deafness, to the point of outrageousness. 

Tributes to the late Japanese pannist Asami Nagakiya have been fulsome and warm, mourning the loss of a well-liked young woman. Some concerns were expressed about what her murder does to Trinidad and Tobago’s international reputation, coming as it did on the day of the country’s cultural high point and main cultural export, its carnival. 

However the overwhelming sense was of the loss of a beautiful soul, who had made many friends and embraced T&T distinctive musical art form as if it were her own. That she was Japanese seemed not to have been noticed that much. Friends and fellow pannists remembered her for who she was, rather than where she’d come from.

The exception to the well-pitched round of tributes and commiserations was Port-of-Spain mayor, Raymond Tim Kee, whose comments in reaction to her death were insensitive and crass. Invited to react to the discovery of the still-to-be-identified body early Wednesday, Tim Kee referred to earlier remarks, in which he’d warned against what he regarded as public lewdness by women scantily clad in carnival costumes.

  “I spoke of what I see women do, assisted by men of course, but the woman has responsibility that they ensure that they are not abused”, he ventured.

So far, so out of context. Remember that he was commenting on the discovery of the body of a reveller still clad in her mas costume. He went on: “You have to let your imagination roll a bit and figure out if there was any evidence of resistance, or alcohol control and therefore involuntary actions were engaged in and so on.” 

The remarks, effectively victim-blaming, would be controversial at any time. The surprisingly oft-expressed notion that a woman who is sexually assaulted and attacked brought it on herself because of how she dressed is offensive, and not just to women. That the comments were offered in reaction to the death of woman on the Savannah stumbled several league beyond tone-deafness, to the point of outrageousness. 

Social media has been unforgiving, scornful and incredulous. Many wanted to know how a man such in a critical leadership position not see that victim-blaming, albeit ill-judged rather than malicious, was precisely the wrong sentiment to express at this time? It was read by many—on social media by women in particular but not exclusively—as Mr Tim Kee implying that Ms Nagakiya had been responsible for the violence that was perpetrated against her.

Not just at Carnival time but at all through the year, many women are harassed, assaulted and abused and these attacks have nothing to do with what their behaviour, or their clothing. There is no plausible defence for glossing over attacks of this nature, and, albeit unintentionally, offering as an excuse what the woman wore, or being judgmental about it. Somewhere in his awfully expressed reaction is a message to woman (and men) to take care with their personal safety at carnival time. Nevertheless, public outrage is justified, and calls for his removal are understandable.

Mr Tim Kee’s apology seemed to make things worse. He ended up doubling down on his earlier remarks, stating that some people agreed with what he had to say. He said his remarks had been taken out of context. He should apologise, again, clearly, without reservation or equivocation.

Nigel Baptiste yesterday took up his appointment as Republic Bank’s managing director and president of Republic Financial Holdings Ltd (RFHL).

Baptiste has been with Republic for 25 years and has served as an executive director for the past ten years.

In a statement yesterday Republic said that Baptiste leads the group with the support of the team of executive directors, which now comprises Derwin Howell, Roopnarine Oumade Singh and Jacqueline Quamina. Robert Le Hunte, who runs the bank’s operations in Ghana and Ian De Souza, who runs the Barbados subsidiary are also executive directors.

“It is a privilege to have been given this opportunity to lead what I believe is an excellent and dedicated team of individuals,” said Baptiste. 

Baptiste replaces David Dulal-Whiteway, who retired on Ash Wednesday, after ten years at the helm of the bank. 

Chairman of RFHL, Ronald Harford, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mr. Baptiste into his new role and look forward to continued success under his leadership. We also thank Mr. Dulal-Whiteway for his years of service, during which time he has played a significant role in the development of the Group."

Republic generated $1.2 billion in profit after tax for its 2015 financial year, which ended on September 30. The 2015 performance was 0.6 per cent better than the bank’s after-tax profit in 2014.

The reports of the death of Japanese pannist Asami Nagakiya has made it to the international media with an article in the Washington Post. However, the article’s headline focuses on the controversy surrounding statements made by Port-of-Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee following the discovery of her body.

Nagakiya, 30, was strangled to death before she was thrown into some bushes under a tree around the Queen’s Park Savannah between Carnival Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, when she was discovered.

Written by Michael E Miller, The Washington Post’s article’s headline stated: “Outrage in Trinidad after mayor blames Carnival killing on dancer’s ‘lewd behaviour.’”

Quoting both GML’s CNC3 and T&T Guardian, Miller wrote: “After two days of joy, the killing came as a shock for locals and the thousands of tourists who flock to the island nation every year for the famously vibrant festival.”

The article went on to address the Tim Kee aspect by stating, “Outrage over the crime, however, quickly shifted towards the city’s mayor after he suggested that by dressing in a revealing costume and dancing, Nagakiya was to blame for her own killing...Kee’s cringe-worthy comments kept getting worse, as he tried to link the Japanese musician’s killing to Carnival culture.”

Regionally, Nagakiya’s death was covered in both the Jamaican Gleaner and the Jamaican Observer. 

Currently a protest demonstration is ongoing in Woodford Square opposite Tim Kee’s office in City Hall.

A man and woman were up to last night being questioned for the murder of the Japanese pan player. However, police were careful not to label the duo as suspects as they both went in voluntarily to offer information.

Stay posted to T&T Guardian for further emerging stories surrounding Nagakiya’s death.