The scent of violence and fear hung thick in the air on the “Gaza Strip” in Enterprise last Friday. “They does call here the Gaza Strip. Here have Taliban,” a resident said, hurrying to get off Enterprise Street. Warfare between rivals gangs, Rasta City and the Muslims, had reignited in the area. Gunshots have been ringing through the neighbourhood day and night, heard by fearful residents even in the nearby upscale Lange Park community.

The few residents on the streets quickly conducting their business were afraid to talk. A woman, busy stripping the husks off corn in a shed at the front of her house, did not look up once as she spoke. “I don’t have nothing to say. It happening over so, in Crown Trace and Bhagaloo Street. “I don’t have time with them and they crime. At the end of the day, I looking for a dollar.

“I have over 30 grandchildren. I does sell roast and boil corn by Busy Corner (Chaguanas). “I pray to God to reach back safe and I lock up my gate and I inside. “I living here 33 years and is only good morning, good evening and I gone by way. “They creating they own monsters.” An Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) worker on the “Gaza Strip” said she and other workers could not go to work on sites in Crown Trace and Bhagaloo Street.

“Yesterday, we had to run. Is gunshots, morning, evening and lunch time. It have no special time. “Is like a lockdown. It affecting everybody.” The office of Enterprise South councillor, Ronald Heera was closed. A resident of John Street said the area was normal at one time and claimed she did not know what started the war.

An elderly woman, who identified herself as only Margaret, preached a judgment sermon on the street when asked for a comment on the gang war in the area. “Before God destroy a city, He does send a warning. What going on here is God work. “People not hearing God voice. Is only sinning and feting and God want righteousness. This is God judgment coming.”

n Continues on Page A6

Government PROJECTS, DRUGS

Fighting for Government projects may be one of the reasons behind the gang rivalry in Enterprise. Sources said gangs in Central are fighting for Local Government and Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) and URP projects, running workers off sites and demanding jobs. Fighting for control of drugs turf is another reason.

Police said the Beetham-based Rasta City, with connections in Enterprise, moved into the area last year. A war began between the Muslims in Enterprise and Rasta City. The conflict began when the Muslims moved in on a rival gang dealing in drugs in the area demanding they hand over their goods. The rival gang wants to control Enterprise, the source said.

In June last year, gang warfare erupted in Enterprise with several shootings but no fatalities. Central police arrested two key players and slapped 34 charges on them, confident that would have kept them in jail for a long time and end the war. The war resumed around April this year. Nikhail Dyer, 24, and his 18-month old daughter were shot dead at his Eagle Avenue, Enterprise. home. Police believed the killing was related to gang warfare in the area.

There were two gang related killings and several shooting injuries from nightly gunfire in the area. The gangs have been displaying photos of themselves on social media with high-powered weapons. Rasta City and the Muslims each made videos of their own “anthem” which they have also posted on social media.

Security cameras for Lisas Gardens

The upsurge in criminal activity in the Lisas Gardens and California areas is directly related to a fight for Government projects, the Guardian was told. An official with the area’s URP programme said gang leaders have been claiming turf on job sites. “If any work is about to take place they move in and threaten workers, saying they need jobs.”

Between Couva and Chaguanas areas like “The Wall” on the Orange Field Road, Wyabi, Waterloo and Brickfield have been identified as other central hot spots. Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial had earlier said criminals migrate from north areas to these spots to cool out. There was a shootout in “The Wall” in May last year but the area has since been quiet. Last week, a 19-year-old Akile Tallan of La Brea was shot and killed in California.

The same night two brothers from Lisas Gardens, Anwar Young, 24, and Jamal Young, 20, were shot and injured at their home. Residents of the area said apart from June and Annabelle Streets, the rest of the area is relatively quiet. Mary Peltier, who said she was a Government activist in the area, said while there are some turf wars, Lisas Gardens was “not like Laventille”.

There are plenty unemployed youths in the area who need good jobs, she said. Peltier said “its fellas from outside” who are responsible for most of the crime in the area. President of the Couva Chamber of Commerce Liaquat Ali has called for the urgent intervention of the armed forces in the area. 

Ali said the business people in the area, frequent victims of robberies, are fearful, especially as the September 7 general election approaches. He said the chamber has asked the National Security Ministry for a meeting to discuss the setting up of security cameras in various hot spots in Lisas Gardens and other parts of Couva. The cameras cost an estimated $1 million.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has requested an observer team from the Commonwealth for the upcoming September 7 general election.

The PM made the request yesterday during the 36th Caricom Heads of Government conference in Bridgetown, Barbados. 

Heads of Government met with Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, according to a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The PM’s request comes on the heels of a similar, recent one by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley requesting Caricom observers.

Rowley told supporters at a political meeting he intended to call on Caricom to provide “invigilators” for the general election. 

He claimed that the Persad-Bissessar-led People’s Partnership Government has, in its five years in office, interfered with a number of state institutions.

PNM chairman Franklin Khan said yesterday the party intends to seek clarification from Caricom on a statement allegedly made by its Secretary General Irwin LaRocque, in a media report ,that Caricom can only send an observer mission to this country if it was requested by their Government.

He spoke during a news conference at the party’s headquarters, balisier House, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Khan said that matter must be clarified as in most nations it would be the Opposition party which would seek international observer missions to monitor elections.

The EBC said observers had been present for a number of T&T elections over the years. 

In 2000, the Commonwealth Observer Group came to monitor T&T’s election. And in 2001, 2007 and 2010, the Caricom Electoral Observer Mission was present.

The EBC said it could not be politically manipulated and welcomed such observers.

At the Caricom conference in Bridgetown, Persad-Bissessar said an official request would be made for observers for the September 7 election later this year, in accordance with established protocols, through the EBC.

When the request is received, the Commonwealth will deploy an assessment mission before formally accepting. 

The Prime Minister said the last time a Commonwealth Observer Group visited T&T was in 2000 and a great deal of valuable assessments and recommendations came out of its final report.

She said the work done by Commonwealth Observers during Guyana’s elections in May was exemplary.

Support for Guyana

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has affirmed her support for Guyana in its ongoing maritime waters dispute with Venezuela. 

The PM assured Guyana’s President David Granger of her government’s support during the 36th Caricom Heads of Government conference in Bridgetown, Barbados, yesterday. The Venezuela government last month proclaimed a presidential decree claiming maritime waters which encompass Guyana’s exclusive economic zone. 

A US exploration company currently in the waters in dispute recently announced it had found minerals on the seabed and indicated there might be large deposits of oil in the area. At the Caricom meeting, Persad-Bissessar spoke of interests T&T shared in common with both Guyana and Venezuela. 

She said, however, Venezuela’s presidential decree was a violation of the international laws of the sea and expressed support for Guyana’s claim.

Dawson Pancham woke up at 5.30 am yesterday to find two feet of water in his Endeavour home. His stove was floating on its side in the kitchen and his washing machine, living room set and other furniture and appliances were standing in water.

When he looked outside, his front yard was like a river, filled with water from the overflowing old trainline across the road that served as the main drain in the community. Small tools in his business, L&M Fabricating and Welding, located at the side of the house, were damaged by the water. 

Pancham’s family was one of some 30 in Endeavour, Chaguanas West, whose homes were flooded out after brief but intense rainfall accompanied by gusty winds yesterday morning. His next door neighbour Arun Salickram lost six “big size” ducks she was rearing when her yard flooded out. 
“They drowned. I had to take the rest and put them in a high, dry place,” she said. “The water didn’t reach inside because we put sand bags by the door.”

Pancham commended the quick response of Chaguanas East MP and Mayor Gopaul Boodhan. He said they promised to send social workers to his home to estimate the cost of the damages and assist him to refurnish his home. When the T&T Guardian visited Endeavour later in the morning, Cadiz, in tall boots, was overseeing the dredging of the trainline by a backhoe from the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.

The area’s councillor Vandana Mohit and Mayor Boodan were also at the site. Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner was not seen. Cadiz said the trainline being dredged on one side of the road was in his constituency of Chaguanas East. The other side, where the homes were flooded out, was in Chaguanas West.

Cadiz gave a short history of the trainline settlement. “When the trains stopped running in 1967 an unplanned settlement grew up around it. There was a lot of ad hoc construction of unauthorised dwellings. “People erected bridges over the trainline and put their own drainage systems into it.”  This resulted in a lot of problems as the trainline would become blocked and overflow during heavy rains, Cadiz said.

“As fast as we fix, more problems come,” he said Cadiz said a senior engineer from the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources visited the area yesterday and will visit again today to do a proper assessment of what needed to be done to fix the problem. He said two areas, Jerningham and Cunupia, had been affected by the heavy rains for the same reason, 

Boodhan said on the banks of the Caparo River close to Woodford Lodge, there are some ten to 15 illegal structures which contribute to the clogging of the watercourse there. He warned that the Chaguanas Borough Corporation would begin to enforce the law about interfering with water courses and people would be charged.

Boodhan said he got a report that part of the roof of a house on St Ives Street, Chaguanas, was blown off but the Fire Service quickly responded and brought relief to the family. He said there were reports of flooding and collapsing culverts in St Charles Village, Charlieville, and Cacandee Road, Felicity. 

Boodhan said residents felt the clogging of some drains in these areas was due to Government pavement projects.

“Fire coming!” a young man shouted and small groups of men hanging out on a corner at Bhagaloo Trace yesterday afternoon, some with walkie talkies, scattered. A police jeep with three officers, one a woman, cruised down the street and stopped to talk to some of the men. 

During a T&T Guardian check of the area yesterday, there were none of the soldiers seen on Saturday. Asked if there were soldiers in the area, the police officer driving the vehicle, said after a pause: “Have a good day ma’am.” Residents said the police were patrolling the area regularly and about 12 officers were there earlier in the morning interviewing people.

Andre Phillip said the police presence was good: “The police doing their work. We have no judgment with the police doing their work.”  A dreadlocked man sitting in front a tray of cigarettes, said “all the badness” was coming from Crown Trace.

“Some people coming and making here look bad but everybody here living with love,” he said. Asked if the residents showed more support for Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner last Saturday when his visit to the area clashed with that of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s, he said: “The media say that. We can’t recall giving no verdict on that.” Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, at his supermarket on Freedom Street Junction, said he did not think soldiers were necessary in that part of the area.

“In Crown Trace and Bhagaloo maybe people would welcome it,” he said. Asked if the shootings in the area had stopped, he said: “I don’t know if it stopped. It ease up for now.” And what about Warner’s role in the matter, Robocop said he spoke to certain people and had held town meetings in the area.

During her visit to Enterprise last Saturday, Persad-Bissessar announced that a joint security exercise called Operation Restore 2 would be coming to the area. She said women and children must be protected and the Government will not tolerate the boldness of criminals. Persad-Bissessar said the effort comprising military and protective services officers will be concentrated in Bhagaloo Trace and Crown Trace and eventually fan out into the wider community. Chaguanas East MP Stephen Cadiz said it was the only way to stop the shootings in the area.

Residents to march against gangs

Enterprise grandmothers and mothers and their children are leading the way in a new effort to stop gang warfare in the area. Nyandy Ifill, 26, said a march is being planned for sometime soon. “It’s a march to stop the gang violence and to take back our community,” she said.

“People are telling the police and the prime minister enough is enough but I am not seeing people coming out openly and saying it themselves.” Ifill said they intend to approach people from the two warring sides at Crown and Bhagaloo Traces and invite them to the march, as well.

“We are letting them know we are not leaving them out and if they, too, feel enough is enough, they can join the march.”

Ifill said they already have the support of Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, a businessman in the area, who promised to get Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner to sponsor jerseys and posters for the march. See Page A6

Enterprise residents have turned down an invitation to participate in a “peace walk” in the area tomorrow (Sunday) organised by the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO), which is expected to be attended by senior police officers and politicians.

One group of residents who said they would not take part were planning their own walk for July 25.

Their event will be sponsored by Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner.

“We heard (Johnny) Abraham and the police will be in this march. I doubt I will take part,” Taky Ifill, one of the organisers of the July 25 walk, told the T&T Guardian yesterday.

She said they had initially planned their walk for today but postponed it because more sponsors wanted to come on board and they wanted to have a mini-football match at the end.

Ifill said alleged gang members in Enterprise were approached to participate in their march and had accepted.

Central Division head Sen Supt Johnny Abraham, Supt Bedassie and acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams were invited to Sunday’s peace walk and have accepted, IRO president Harrypersad Maharaj confirmed.

“We need protection in the area,” he said.

Abraham, contacted on the matter, said by Saturday night he would know if he was going or not.

As for rumours that a plan was afoot to disrupt the peace walk, Ifill said she honestly had not heard of such.

Ifill said even though the ILP was sponsoring their walk, residents did not want it to be political and asked for purple jerseys.

“It’s a non-political colour.” She said residents wanted to make their own statement. 

Maharaj said Chaguanas East MP Stephen Cadiz and Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodhan would take part in the peace walk on Sunday.

Asked if the IRO invited Enterprise residents, Maharaj said, “We didn’t go around the area with a mike.”

“We invited the community through the media and through the four mosques in Enterprise, the Presbyterian and Baptist churches, and the Esmeralda Sports Club. I think people have been very cooperative. Our peace walk is not connected to politics. We will be wearing our religious garb, not jerseys.”

More info

Participants will assemble at Esmeralda Recreation Ground, Enterprise, at 6 am and pray for one hour. Hindu, Muslim, Bahai and Orissa prayers will be offered. Participants will then proceed in a westerly direction along the Southern Main Road, north into Connector Road, then east along the Southern Main Road to finish at the starting point.

A meeting yesterday afternoon between Larry Lalla, who represented the Prime Minister, and the T&T Debates Commission (TTDC) ended 20 minutes after it started without the parties being able to agree on when the leaders’ debate should be staged.

No People’s National Movement (PNM) representative was present at the meeting.

Shortly after the meeting, the TTDC announced that “the two scheduled debates” will be on August 20 and August 27, adding it did try to accommodate a request by Lalla to hold an exclusive debate between Persad-Bissessar and Rowley. 

“However, despite our efforts to find an acceptable middle ground between both parties, the TTDC has been unable to deliver a solution that is workable. As a result of this impasse, we reverted to our original rules, which included criteria for participation, which is the fairest.”

But Lalla made it clear afterwards that the Prime Minister had not agreed to participate in any debate in August. He said he went to the meeting after Persad-Bissessar issued a call to Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to debate her on national issues on July 30.

“I was hoping the Debates Commission would be able to facilitate the debate on July 30 but the commission pointed out they were only able to have it after nomination day (August 17).”

Lalla said that was the date the commission decided on despite the fact that they sent him an e-mail on July 3, fixing July 30 as the date for the leaders’ debate. He said the commission wanted the debate after nomination day to see if other parties qualified.

In making a case for its final decision yesterday TTDC said it had held nine meetings over the course of the last two months with the interested parties. 

“We have listened to all the views put forward and we continue to act with integrity, transparency and fairness by engaging equitably with all parties. 

“We are confident that all eligible entities would benefit from the unique platform which the debates afford party leaders through this unique and broad media outreach,” it added.

Lalla said he informed the commission it was not necessary to wait until after nomination day since the public wanted to know, now, what Persad-Bissessar and Rowley’s plans for the country were.

“I said, realistically, only the Prime Minister or Rowley would be prime minister on September 7. Therefore, it was not a productive use of 90 minutes of debate time to have others included but we were unable to come to an agreement and the meeting ended,” Lalla said.

Yesterday, the Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) CEO Ken Ali said the commission had not informed them that the July 30 debate had been cancelled. 

He said CNMG was now prepared to partner with other organisations to stage it on that date.

Khan mum on issues

PNM chairman Franklin Khan, who is in charge of the matter for the party, refused to comment.

“We gave a commitment to the Debates Commission that we will not comment (to the media) on any matter relating to the debate and I am sticking to that. I have no comment,” he said.

Several efforts to get a response from the Debates Commission and CEO Catherine Kumar were not successful.

Persad-Bissessar, addressing a UNC forum last Monday night at the Country Club, Maraval, waved a copy of an email from the commission which confirmed July 30 was set for the debate between she and Rowley.

She said she was ready for it and was disappointed the commission cancelled it. 

Rowley, on the other hand, said he was informed the debate was to be held in August and said no July date had ever been discussed with him.

The rift between the T&T Debates Commission (TTDC) and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s negotiator Larry Lalla has widened, with Lalla now accusing the body of being “biased and incompetent.” 

“If their explanation is true, that they wrote to me and stated the July 30 date had been ‘decided,’ but wrote separately to the PNM and said the date was only ‘proposed,’ then it brings their impartiality into serious question,” Lalla said yesterday.

“I appreciate that they are in a difficult position, as there are only two possible explanations of their reversal of their decision of a 30 July date.

“They are either incompetent or biased. Neither explanation reflects well on them.” 

He added, “It is bizarre that they claim to be an independent body and to be negotiating with debate participants in good faith, but yet they are now peddling dates in late August.

“I have specifically indicated to them that the Prime Minister is unavailable in August. This again seriously questions their impartiality and credibility.”

Lalla’s strong charges came shortly after the TTDC held a news conference yesterday to clear the air on the confusion surrounding the date for the “Great Debate” it planned between Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.

Noting that his integrity was being brought into question by the TTDC’s explanation, Lalla said, “The TTDC cannot deny with any credibility that they are the ones that fixed the July 30 date. I have an email dated July 3 from Loraine O’Connor to so prove.”

Lalla offered a copy of the email as evidence.

He asked, “Are they really so careless that they don’t double check the correspondence they send to the representative of a political leader on such an important matter?

“I regret their false claim that the notion of a 30 July debate originated with the People’s Partnership.

“The record in the public domain shows that such date originated with their email, which stated a decision had been taken to hold a debate on that date.

“I regret too their false claim that in some way I broke an agreement of confidentiality. To so state is offensive and wrong.”

Lalla said he gave no undertaking to keep the date confidential and if it was meant to be kept from the public, O’Connor’s email did not say so.

He said in the circumstances it was best if the TTDC departed the field, since it had lost all credibility and had proven to be partial and incompetent.

Earlier in the day, in another press release, Lalla said, “We have lost faith in the Debates Commission.”

He also questioned the TTDC’s ability to arbitrate and set up a debate. 

Lalla said the PM has agreed to participate in the July 30 debate organised by CNMG and challenged Rowley to take part as well.

Close to 20,000 citizens in this country are still suffering quietly from the psychological effects of what is believed to be a well-planned, politically motivated conspiracy to shut down the sugar industry in 2003.

The All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union (ATGWTU) and other unions and associations born out of the sugar industry, past and present, insist this is the case.

The shutdown of the sugar industry, they said, politically, psychologically, socially and economically destroyed entire communities in the sugar belt of Central and South Trinidad.

Some estimate that a rural community of over 300,000 that was dependent on the operations of the industry for their economic survival was left in limbo.

John Jaglal, first vice-president of the ATGWTU, during an interview, recalled that at a seminar two years ago, the South West Regional Health Authority said an increasing number of patients on the psychiatric ward at the San Fernando General Hospital were ex-sugar workers. Many others went to early graves in poverty from stress-related illnesses. 

These children of indentured immigrants who came to work in cane, with little education or skills, had filtered into the menial job sector.

Psychologically wounded, they continued to struggle to find a place in a society that considered them “tenth class” citizens, according to Basdeo Panday, former president of the ATGWTU’s predecessor, the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (ATSGWTU).

“I think the PNM treated them that way because they were not part of the party’s voting strength.

“The UNC ignored them because they thought they would get their votes anyway.”

Panday, who moved up from union president to become UNC leader and, eventually, prime minister, removed himself from “the UNC” that treated sugar workers badly.

Panday said, “When the industry was closed down by the PNM in 2003 I was not in political office. I was prime minister from 1995 to 2001.”

Alcohol and drugs 

provided escape

Nirvan Maharaj, who is now the ATGWTU president, said 65 per cent of the 9,000 ex-sugar workers received less than $50,000 in severance payments in 2003, which was quickly used up.

Alcohol and drugs provided escape, breaking up many families. “A lot of them felt they were in limbo. They did not know where they belonged anymore,” Maharaj said.

“No matter how small their salary in cane, it gave them a sense of security. Stripped of this security, they faced an uncertain future. It was like throwing them to the wolves.”

And there is yet another group for whom the effects of the shutdown are only now starting to kick in. 

Seukeran Tambie, president of the Cane Producers Association of T&T (CPATT), said cane farmers were allowed to continue supplying a limited amout of cane to the Sugar Manufacturing Company Ltd, which took over operations from Caroni Ltd after the shutdown of the industry.

He said in 2007 the government abruptly severed all connection with cane farmers and paid them some compensation from a European Union grant given to the government.

He said in four years’ time, most of the money had been depleted and cane farmers, who got no other assistance to diversify, began feeling the pinch around 2011.

“I listen to people, and by 2011, they started feeling it. Those who wanted to send their children to university had no resources. Health-wise, many began to deteriorate...The effect will be felt for generations to come,” Tambie said. He called for an impact assessment.

Maharaj said the People’s Partnership had started the process of correcting the injustice by, firstly, withdrawing the state’s appeal of the 2004 judgment by Justice Lennox Deyalsingh in favour of Caroni workers. Deyalsingh had ruled that ex-Caroni workers should be given land leases, along with other relief. This means that distribution of promised agricultural and residential lots to ex-sugar workers under the Ministry of Land and Marine Resources has begun and is ongoing.

Maharaj, who formed the National Solidarity Assembly and had threatened that ex-sugar workers would withdraw their support of the UNC, said they were now fully backing the People’s Partnership.

“This is the first Government that has moved to help ex-sugar workers. You have to give credit where credit is due.”

Tambie said the Government paid the first tranche of an allocated $130 million to cane farmers in Princes Town recently. Cheques of $12,000 were given to 500 farmers. Two other payments are scheduled for later this year and in 2016. 

A total of 441 ex-Caroni workers received their leases for both agricultural and residential lots in April. This brings the total recipients to 2,350 out of the 8,000-plus workers who were promised the lots in 1993. Some 131 people received lots for residential use, while the other 310 have been given land for agricultural purposes.

However, the story of the ex-sugar workers remains largely untold while they continue to suffer silently from sugar’s bitter legacy.

“No one wants to come out and officially say 20,000 people have been wronged,” Tambie said.

The Sunday Guardian, beginning today, attempts to tell their story.

Scattering the sheep

During discussions with the ATSGWTU just before the shutdown of the sugar industry in 2003, union leaders, including minister in the Labour Ministry and former union president, Rudy Indarsingh, heard a top-ranking PNM government official saying, “Too many so-and-so leaders coming out of the All Trinidad union. That s--- must stop.” Jaglal, during an interview at Rienzi Complex, said, “It was a political move by the past administration to not only close down the sugar industry, but also shut down the union.

“It was a move against Panday. It was a way to get rid of Panday,” Jaglal, 68, said.

Jaglal said actuaries’ reports on the evaluation of workers’ pensions showed the shutdown of Caroni was in motion a long time before.

“When Caroni closed down, all factors relating to the shutdown of the company were already in the pipeline.

“It was well thought out. It was a plan to destroy the leaders in the sugar belt.”

Jaglal, 40 years with the union, said opposition politics was becoming a serious thorn in the flesh of the PNM, the first government to be elected when T&T began to move out from under colonial authority.

“A serious transformation was taking place on the political landscape. The ULF was born in 1975 from various trade unions at the time.

“The party was established by union leaders in an attempt to unify black workers in the oil industry and Indian workers on the sugar estates.”

The PNM had won the 1956 general election, but by 1976, the ULF got ten seats from an alliance with the Tobago-based Democratic Action Congress.

Indarsingh, corroborating Jaglal’s claims, said Hansard records him saying in Parliament that the decision to shut down the sugar industry was a political conspiracy to destablise the union and its supporters in the sugar belt.

“Other union members and myself were present. The PNM minister said the union was a breeding ground for young, upcoming politicians and the time had come to break it.”

Speaking in Parliament during debate on the Sugar Industry Control Board in December 2013, Indarsingh had said the closure of the industry came when the political dynamics began to change following the 1995 general election.

In 1995, the UNC and the PNM tied 17-17 but the UNC formed an alliance with the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), which had two Tobago seats, and formed the government.

In 2001, the PNM and UNC tied 18-18 but the PNM was put in government by then president Arthur NR Robinson who said the UNC did not have the moral authority to lead the nation.

“As soon as the political dynamics shifted from 19-17 to 18-18, plans for the sugar industry moved from one of stabilising and consolidation to one of closure,” he said.

“The then administration allowed the assets of this company to be plundered, pillaged and, of course, to be benefited by those who were favourable to them in terms of political patronage at that point in time.”

The state’s milking cow—‘The shutdown was no simple plan’

Whereas Tambie traces the shutdown of T&T’s sugar industry to Europe, Jaglal said the EU’s involvement came only after, when they came up with an exit strategy to assist farmers.

Tambie said European markets had been buying T&T’s (and other countries’) sugar at a guaranteed price.

The beginning of the shutdown came, he said, when three ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) states resisted this and the European Union took a decision to phase out the guaranteed price over a period of time.

But despite this, even Tambie agreed that the decision by the PNM government to shut down the sugar industry was a political one.

“I said so publicly when Basdeo Panday appointed me a senator in 2009,” he said.

Tambie said Caroni Ltd became unprofitable after the government took it over from British-based multinational agribusiness Tate & Lyle in 1975. It no longer contributed to the GDP.

“Caroni became a state milking cow. There was massive corruption and mismanagement. If properly managed, it could have been viable,” he said.

“It appears, therefore, the driving force behind the shutdown of the industry was an attempt to remove political clout from the opposition.

“If you attack the opposition’s supporters, their capacity to fight politically would have been removed. It was like a scattering of the sheep.

“There were about 9,000 sugar workers and 5,800 farmers, who employed another 3,000 cane cutters. Altogether, they were close to 20,000.”

These sugar cane farmers and workers lived in communities in the sugar belt in Central and South and were loyal supporters of the ULF and, later, UNC opposition party.

“When they were destroyed, they would have become disenchanted and would blame their leaders.

“It wasn’t a simple plan. Maybe it was well thought out,” Tambie said.

Maharaj, meanwhile, avoided the issue altogether. “I was not around when the industry was shut down,” he said.

They were treated like tenth-class citizens...they were fooled—Panday

Panday dismissed the idea that the directive to shut down the sugar industry came from Europe.

“The PNM shut the industry down arbitrarily. They didn’t have to get any directive from the European Union.

“It was when the government closed the industry that the EU decided to provide funding which would help sugar workers come out and grant them some kind of relief.”

Discreetly avoiding any outright mention of a political plan behind the move, Panday said, he advised sugar workers not to accept the Voluntary Separation of Employment Package (VSEP) being offered by the government to the workers in 2003.

“They accepted anyway. They were promised training to deal with the changeover, land and so on. None of that was really forthcoming. They were fooled.”

Ex-sugar workers took the government to court for severance benefits promised them and won the case. The PNM appealed the ruling of Justice Deyalsingh.

Did the sugar industry contribute anything to the economy?

“The sugar industry provided foreign exchange when it was in short supply,” Panday said. “The government said it was costing more to produce sugar than to import it but it was not merely a question of that kind of economic cost.

“Caroni Ltd maintained roads, schools, drains, recreational facilities. It provided housing and medical treatment for citizens.

“When the company closed, the maintenance of a lot of roads and drains were abandoned.”

It was believed this contributed significantly to flooding in Central and South around that time.

Patrick Manning was prime minister when the sugar industry was shut down and promoted the idea that taking the Indians out of the cane fields was for their own good.

“He took them out and made them unemployed. If that was progress...,” Panday said.

“There were thousands of cases where people literally didn’t get their dues and were unable to live. Many died in poverty.”

Were ex-sugar workers treated like second-class citizens?

“I think it’s probably tenth class,” Panday said.

Panday said it was in a bid to give dignity to the former sugar workers that he had appointed Dora Bridgemohan, a cane cutter from Tacarigua, as a senator in 1976. Panday was leader of the ULP at the time.

“Women were the most militant set of sugar workers. They were no less than any other human being but were treated like the dregs of society.

“They lived that way so long that they lost confidence in themselves. People asked me why I put Dora as a senator when she couldn’t speak.

“I didn’t put her in the Senate to speak. I put her there to lend dignity to women who fought so valiantly in the industry.”

Rahael: It’s a far fetched theory...Caroni’s operating losses jumped from $97m to $367m

Former agriculture minister John Rahael, described by Panday as “the first person to decimate the sugar industry,” dismissed claims there was a well-planned political conspiracy behind it.

“That’s nonsense. That’s a far-fetched theory.” Asked what, then, were the PNM’s reasons for bringing the sugar industry to a halt, Rahael said he had nothing more to say.

There is no official report available to the public from the past administration on the shutdown of the sugar industry. According to media reports, in 2003, Rahael had said because government bit the Caroni bullet T&T would not have to pay $1 billion annually to keep the beleaguered company afloat. Rahael is reported to have said that despite annual government subventions of $600 million, from 1996 to 2001, Caroni’s operating losses jumped from $97 million to $367 million.

“If we were to continue like that, in the next two or three years, the subvention might have been $1 billion a year.”

He said the ailing sugar industry stood a “very good chance of survival,” if there was a restructuring process without interference by “recalcitrant elements.” Part of this restructuring included the creation of the Sugar Manufacturing Company.

In January 2004, then opposition leader Panday alleged the government had lined up private individuals to import sugar and was “intent on totally destroying what is left of the sugar industry.”

The UNC claimed then that the Trade Ministry “has been giving out several import licences to private individuals to import sugar into the country” and wondered whether these individuals had any affiliation with the ruling PNM.

Mismanagement, corruption at the highest level—Tambie

Former finance minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, speaking in Parliament on a Caroni Ltd motion brought by the then opposition in December 2009, said the government expended a significant amount of money on counselling and retraining of former sugar workers.

She said Caroni Ltd was shut down because of 30 years of consistent losses from an industry that was intended to contribute to the GDP of the country.

Speaking on the same motion, Tambie, who was appointed an opposition senator by Panday, disputed the minister’s claims. Tambie said for 30 years the PNM government had made a profit of $2,000 on a tonne of sugar.

“The issue here is not that the sugar industry was making a loss; it was mismanagement and corruption to the highest level.” 

Jennifer Kernahan, another UNC senator, had said the past administration apparently was determined to shut down Caroni Ltd and used the excuse that it was a drain on the economy to the tune of $200 million annually, and that the production price of sugar in Trinidad was uneconomical.

She countered that foreign exchange earned by the industry from export sales was US$175 annually. She said it kept 10,000 rural sugar workers and 15,000 cane farmers in gainful and productive employment and a rural community of over 300,000 was dependent on the operations of the industry for their economic survival.

Former Caroni Ltd director Dr Mahfouz Aziz also dismissed the idea of a political conspiracy behind the shutdown of the sugar industry.

“I don’t think any one government was responsible,” Aziz, who served as a director between 1996 and 2000 said. “In some ways, the Panday administration and the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) also wanted to diversify the company. They all tried. It was not a deliberate thing.

“However, after the closure, there were those who wanted to grab the resources and do what they wanted. I have no qualms about saying that.”

Panday was seen as a failed leader by sugar workers—Aziz

Aziz said Panday, when he was in power between 1995 and 2001, wanted to diversify Caroni Ltd away from sugar but did not have a strong vision.

“He was seen by sugar workers as a failed leader.”

Aziz said during the NAR’s time in office, from 1986 to 1991, Ranjit Singh, an economist, served as chairman of the board of Caroni.

“They came up with a plan by Winston Dookeran, a minister at the time. It was the most comprehensive plan for the diversification of Caroni.

“They started and then governments changed (the PNM won the 1991 general election) and the project fell apart.” He said the PNM had a tripartite plan, involving workers, the government and the company, to write off a $2 billion Caroni Ltd debt.

“Since then, there has always been some effort, even when Dr Keith Rowley was agriculture minister, to do things for Caroni.”

‘Sugar production increased under Rowley’

Aziz said under Rowley sugar production actually increased after a long time.

“He had a lot of management support. A large part of the management in Caroni were of PNM persuasion.”

Aziz said lack of capital to develop diversification projects led to the failure of the company.

“I recalled being asked to do a livestock master plan for Caroni and finance minister Brain Kuei Tung giving $50 million to develop it.

“Five months later, I got a call saying they needed $30 million to pay workers’ salaries.”

Aziz said Caroni was not only growing sugar and did not have only sugar workers’ salaries to pay.

“The company was fat between senior and lower management. They needed to trim there a whole lot.”

He said Caroni also operated various other factories and estates, outside of sugar. “There were cocoa estates, Caroni was one of the largest owners of water buffaloes.”

He said the company, which also owned ten per cent of Plipdeco and had 69,000 acres of land, was rich in resources and could have been a very successful one today.

As for whether pillaging had any part to play in the company being unprofitable, Aziz said, “I would not say there was no corruption at Caroni.

“But it was not the cause of its closure.”

No response from Rowley

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley did not respond to calls from the Guardian to his cell phone or a text message requesting an interview on the issue.

Continuing tomorrrow in the T&T Guardian

There seems to be no end in sight to the “Great Debate” deadlock as Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday remained resolute that she was prepared to debate only on July 30.

“I am prepared for July 30. We plan to go forward with July 30,” she told the media at the opening of the National Enrichment Centre for Persons with Disabilities at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas.

Confusion over the date of a planned leaders’ debate between Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has brought it to a standstill.

The PM’s negotiator Larry Lalla says the T&T Debates Commission (TTDC) decided with his party to stage the debate on July 30 but Rowley said he was told the debate was to be held on August 20 and 27. Both parties are insisting they will debate on no other date other than the one they were told about.

Asked what was the rush to debate on July 30 as opposed to the August dates set by the TTDC, the PM replied: “We want get the issues out there to give the electorate enough time to hear them.”

Told Rowley said he was willing to debate, she shot back: “I am also willing to debate, sir. I will participate in the debate on July 30.”

A number of squatters from crime hot spot, Crown Trace, Enterprise, were yesterday among 61 people who were given Certificates of Comfort (CoC) by the Land Settlement Agency (LSA). 

The residents, many of them elderly, who have been living for decades on state lands, received their certificates amidst reports of the fatal shooting of fellow resident, Akmal Lynch, son of Enterprise Imam, Morland Abdullah. His elder brother, Akyel, was also wounded in the attack. 

Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodan, who addressed the recipients at a distribution function at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, said: “A lot of people from Enterprise, Longdenville and other areas in Central received Certificates of Comfort. “Today is a happy day in the borough, regardless of the recent problems in the area highlighted in the national news.

“Some of the recipients said they have been living for 44 and 47 years on the lands.” Boodan said the Borough’s guiding philosophy was to have a happy community. He said another distribution would take place in the next week or two. LSA chairman, Nisha Mathura-Allahar, said squatters from Chaguanas East, Chaguanas West, Caroni Central and Tabaquite got certificates.

She said yesterday’s distribution  was the seventh for the year and the 26th since 2010. Mathura-Allahar said the LSA was not just giving out certificates to people and leaving them at that stage. It is only the first stage in a process to give squatters official deeds of lease for lands they occupy, she said.

“It is a very valuable document and I hope you guard it well,” she said. At a PNM public meeting in Arima on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley chastised Land and Marine Resources Minister Jairam Seemungal for giving away state land. Rowley advised supporters to get rid of Seemungal if they wanted to protect state lands.

Seemungal was unable to attend yesterday’s ceremony in Chaguanas. Boodan responded to Rowley’s comments: “If this is not what a caring government does, then I want to know.”

Passengers at Piarco International Airport and ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago were affected by flight delays yesterday after security officers engaged in unusually thorough examination of every piece of luggage, causing inconvenience to hundreds of travellers.

However, a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) advisory, quashing rumours of a go-slow by security officers, said the long queues and delays at the airport were, rather, the result of detailed security checks.

The heightened security checks came as news broke of gunfight at the Port-of-Spain Prison during a jailbreak by three prisoners.

As a result, CAL advised Trinidad customers travelling to regional and international destinations to arrive at the airport at least three hours before departure and domestic passengers to arrive two hours earlier.

CAL corporate communications head, Dionne Ligoure, in a statement advised travellers to comply with the requirements to minimise inconvenience and delays. 

Ligoure said “these elements” were outside the control of the airline and it was making every effort to maintain smooth management of its operations.

She said giving an exact number of how many people were affected would be misleading since other airlines depending on Airports Authority security were also affected. She said by the afternoon period, CAL’s flights were running “comfortably.”

“We had half-hour delays and not with every flight either.” This was because of the advisory the airline sent out and the calls made to customers, she said.

The effects of the action at Piarco Airport rippled through the Caribbean.

Out of St John’s, Antigua, Caribbean airline LIAT sent a release stating it was operating its normal scheduled services to and from Trinidad but customers “should expect delays due to extensive airport authority security checks at Piarco International Airport.”

LIAT corporate communications head Desmond Brown further advised that significant delays in Trinidad could affect the airline’s other flights in the region. 

“Customers using the Piarco International Airport are advised to leave their home or hotel earlier than they normally would, giving themselves enough time to pass through airport security.

“LIAT sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused as a result of the extensive airport authority security checks at Piarco International Airport,” Brown said.

Airports Authority

The Airports Authority also insisted the flight delays were caused by 100 per cent security checks at its check points.

“[The] security department at both airports in Trinidad and Tobago are currently engaged in 100 per cent screening at all the security check points, thus increasing the wait times at the airports.

“The management of the authority assures the travelling public that contingency plans are being put in place to facilitate the return to normal operations at Piarco and ANR Robinson International Airports.

“The authority apologises for any inconvenience caused as we continue to maintain high levels of safety and security at our nation’s airports for the benefit of all of our valued customers.”

What PNM La Horquetta/Talparo general election candidate Maxie Cuffie is calling voter intimidation is simply a teleforum election strategy used by politicians all over the world, says the UNC’s campaign team. Cuffie claimed he received several complaints of voter intimidation from constituents of La Horquetta/Talparo who said they are being called on their personal cell phones by someone with a voice purporting to be that of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

The voice invited constituents to participate in a telephone conference call to discuss the general election and said she will be joined by the area’s MP Jairam Seemungal. Cuffie said his constituents complained about these intrusive calls from the UNC campaign team and questioned how their personal numbers were obtained.

He charged it was voter intimidation. UNC’s campaign manager, Rodney Charles said Cuffie’s charges were “absolute nonsense”. He said voter intimidation is unheard of in the 21st century. “This is something the UNC would never, ever do. Charles said the PM held a teleforum recently and invited citizens the previous day to participate.

“There was no intimidation. People could have only participated if they wanted to.” Broadnet, an international company which facilitates the open exchange of ideas by enabling real time, personal and efficient conversations with any number of people, from hundreds to millions, organised the teleforum for the PM.

Broadnet posted on Facebook they were “honored to have hosted Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar on a live TeleForum town hall last night.” “She spoke with thousands of Trinidadians over the phone while hundreds of others streamed the event live on their mobile device, tablet, or laptop,” Broadnet said.

On a Facebook post, the PM herself said of the Teleforum, “Last night, we held our first conference call and thousands of individuals participated from across our country. “In fact, so many people wanted to participate we could not have everyone on the line at once. “I would like to thank you so very much for taking the time out of your evening to listen in and ask questions.

“If you did not have the opportunity to participate last night, we will be doing many, many more calls like this and you will have the chance to join us in future.” According to Broadnet, this is a legal election strategy used by prime ministers all over the world. “Broadnet is honored to have powered each of US Senator Ron Johnson’s 40 telephone town hall events, beginning in March of 2011.”

Another Broadnet Web posting said, “Join the call with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and voters all around the country on Saturday morning. Register your interest and we’ll send you an email with the details and instructions on how to join the call.” Cuffie said it was intimidation when someone, especially a public servant, gets a call from the ruling party asking if you were willing to vote for them.

You become intimidated and fearful.” Cuffie said he heard of similar complaints from other constituencies. Told that, so far, the complaints are only coming from PNM supporters who are reporting to their candidates, he said, “UNC supporters are probably getting them too but are not complaining.”

Cuffie also said his constituents were complaining they were being given the impression by people at the UNC constituency office in La Horquetta/Talparo that technology can find out how they voted in the last election. Questioned about this, he admitted, “That’s not possible.” But he insisted, “They could be given that impression.”

If the People’s National Movement (PNM) forms the next government, the Police Service may be demilitarised and allowed to focus solely on policing.

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said he agreed entirely with that proposal which was put forward by retired Brigadier General Ralph Brown.

Brown made the proposal at an outdoor event billed  “Conversations with Dr Rowley” at Windsurf Park, Westmoorings, on Monday night.

Brown said the entire Police Service had to be reorganised. He said “all that stamping of feet, shouting and raising of hands” (marching) had to stop.

De-emphasise the military aspect of the Police Service and let it focus on police work, he said.

“Police want to be soldiers and soldiers want to be police so that there are now poldiers and solice”, he added.

Rowley said he agreed totally with that and said he had a plan to augment the Police Service with more municipal police officers.

“This will free up the police from that kind of groundwork,” he said.

Participating in the conversations was Major General Edmund Dillon, recently retired Chief of Defence Force, and the party’s candidate for Point Fortin.

Speaking on the issue of national security, Dillon said over the last five years there had been a fragmentation in the national security framework and a dismantling of its institutions.

Someone very much unqualified for the job was put in charge of the Special Intelligence Agency and because of the cancellation of the offshore patrol vessels, T&T’s borders had been left unprotected for the last five years, he said.

“We have seen the effect of the absence of that protection over the last five years. We have seen the amount of guns and drugs coming into our T&T.

“I have just come from a funeral where four members of my constituency, in the area of Chatham, were murdered.

“The main weapon used was, of course, the gun. Statistics show that 80 per cent of murders are committed with guns,” Dillon added.

He said: “We have reached a stage now where not only small arms are being used. Police have discovered AK-47 assault rifles... Tec-9 guns.”

Dillon said if the PNM got into government, it would have a total, holistic approach to crime- fighting. 

“It cannot be left alone to law enforcement authorities. Intervention must be made at different levels of the lives of young men by parents, the church, the school, the community,” he added.

Prison Officers’ Association (POA) president Ceron Richards says he has no faith in promises made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to fix the prison system. Richards said he had no faith in promises made by politicians because over the years each government had only talked about prison reform but none had done anything about it.

“Politicians choose the right time and moment to say things to create certain emotions. Based on experience, many promises never materialise,” he said. In the same breath, he said he was cautiously optimistic about the PM’s announcement to set up a commission of enquiry into the criminal justice system.

“The recommendations are sometimes not implemented,” he said. “All these things are good. There is nothing wrong with them. It’s the aftermath. You pay people millions to conduct the inquiry and after that nothing is implemented.” Richards also noted the problems in the criminal justice system were already well known, implying that millions did not have to be spent to find out.

Nevertheless, the POA had called for a commission of enquiry into the issue since 2013, he said. As for the government’s plan to expand the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre and build a new remand centre at the Golden Grove Prison, Richards said he would always support any expansion of the prison system.

But, again, he expressed a lack of faith in politicians’ promises. “Politicians make popular statements. I have no faith in anything they say,” Richards said. Asked for his solution to the problems in the prisons, he said he had reiterated this numerous times. Persad-Bissessar, at the UNC’s Monday Night Forum at San Juan Secondary School, said a commission of enquiry would help devise ways to speed up trials and clear a backlog of cases.

Remand prisoners would get preference in the hearing of cases, she said. The expansion of the physical space of the prisons was to alleviate the horrors of overcrowding, she added. She said recommendations from a 2013 committee to look into prison reform were implemented, including providing more cameras and scanners at the prisons, as well as firearms and bullet and stab proof vests for prisons officers.

The response to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Leadership Exchange on Thursday night has been overwhelmingly positive, Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) CEO Ken Ali says.

“Ninety per cent of the feedback has been positive. And I have the evidence,” Ali said yesterday.

He was responding to questions about statements made by People’s National Movement (PNM) public relations officer Faris al Rawi who said the PM’s Leadership Exchange was “public relations gimmickry” and criticised what he said was a staged, closed-door event.

Al Rawi also asked how the interviewers were selected, if they were paid and who determined what questions were asked.

The interviewers were Isha Wells, a former PNM councillor, who wore a distinguishing red beret during the show, political analyst, Derek Ramsamooj and Dr Morgan Job, former government minister, author and talk show host.

Ali said most of the media was invited to the show which aired at 8 pm on CNMG Thursday night. “The door was left open until the start of the show for Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, in case he decided to turn up.”

He said he selected the panelists and expressed surprise that even Wells was being criticised.

“Isha Wells? A PNM operative?” he asked, incredulously.

Ali also said he did not know what questions the interviewers planned to ask. “I gave them free rein and told them to ask what they felt like asking, without being disrespectful to the Prime Minister.”

“Listen, let the critics talk. I don’t want to join this debate,” he said.

Wells asked the PM a question which she said was asked of Barack Obama before the US presidential elections. 

“Do you smoke marijuana?”

The PM replied, “The answer is no.”

However, al Rawi was highly critical of the PM’s Leadership Exchange even though he did not view the programme.

He went on to critique it, nevertheless. He said the public was excluded from the event. 

“I am very familiar with the CNMG studio and the main studio is a massive auditorium which could have easily accommodated several hundred people.

“Therefore, it was very conspicuous that no member of the public was permitted entry and the identity of the interviewers remained a closely guarded secret until the event came off.

“Public suspicion that the interview was staged is rife throughout T&T.”

Al Rawi added, “I don’t know what were the terms and conditions of the interviewers. Were they paid? Where did the questions come from?”

Told that previous debates staged by the T&T Debates Commission were not open to the public either and had a selected moderator who asked questions worked out in advance, al Rawi side-stepped a response by referring to a PNM event called “Conversations with Dr Rowley”.

He said the PM’s Leadership Exchange came nowhere close to “Conversations with Dr Rowley”, in which Rowley and a few candidates held outdoor conversations with people which was broadcast online.

CNMG had originally planned a debate between Persad-Bissessar and Rowley. Rowley said he will participate in the debate being organised by the T&T Debates Commission in August, after nomination day on August 17.

The PM has said she will not take part in that event because she was told the debate would have been on July 30.

Wells and Ramsamooj could not be reached for a response.

Workers at the Arima District Health Facility walked off the job yesterday because of unsafe working conditions but they can be posted to safer sites in Blanchisseuse and Toco if they wish, says Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan.

The workers were advised to leave the facility by Public Services Association (PSA) president, Watson Duke.

Duke said they were planning to do the same today.

“We have taken a zero tolerance approach to unsafe working conditions,” he said.

“There will no work during any hours of the day.”

Supervisors and medical personnel remained and tended to only emergency cases.

“Things are pretty okay so far,” a doctor told the Guardian around 4.30 pm.”

He declined to say more and said they should not be talking to the media.

Khan said he received no report about any crisis at the eastern health facility. 

He said the workers’ walkout was just “Watson and his antics again”.

Any emergency case would be referred to the nearby new Sangre Grande Hospital, the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex or the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, he said.

“When they walk off the job, it’s the patients who suffer.”

Khan said if workers downed tools for no proper reason, it was “very illegal”.

“They are forcing me to look for workers in other countries.”

He said citing unsafe conditions was really a scapegoat.

The facility is being renovated and workers are operating out of one block, he said.

“What they are really about is salaries. There is no unsafe condition at the Arima Health Facility.”

The minister said Duke has been inciting workers at various institutions in the public health sector to protest against unsafe conditions because the PSA is not their recognised union and has no bargaining status for them.

Khan said public servants across the board are asking for a 14 per cent salary increase, plus arrears from the last three or four years.

He said it amounted to about $1 billion and the Government has been trying to find the money to pay them.

MORE INFO

The Arima District Health Facility is not a hospital, MP Rodger Samuel told the T&T Guardian yesterday.

Samuel said construction of a brand new, state-of-the-art hospital in Arima, close to the health facility, has begun.

“We are also doing extensive work on the redevelopment of the health facility.

“There are four blocks and to expedite the process we built a first class, modern wing for dental and medical services.

“At present, workers are operating from Block E while work is going on in Block D.”

Samuel said he took his asthmatic grandson to the facility over the weekend and saw no unsafe conditions.

“I guess the workers might see it differently.”

There is no crisis, as yet, at the Arima District Health Facility because patients are being sent to other medical institutions but soon they will have no place to go, warns Public Services Association president Watson Duke.

“Patients are being sent to different areas. Soon, they will have no place to go,” he said.

Duke said he has already “paralysed” several departments at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), including the Blood Bank.

He said workers at the Arima Health Facility went home again yesterday shortly after reporting to work and signing the attendance register.

“They come in, sign and leave. If there is any emergency, they deal with it. They are strictly on emergency mode,” he said.

The workers have downed tools at the Arima District Health Facility citing unsafe working conditions. 

They are also registering their disapproval of the Government’s delay in paying them a 14 per cent salary increase, Duke said.

He claimed mould from the Arima Health Facility was growing on workers’ hands and skin.

Reminded the Government is in the process of constructing a modern Arima hospital and remodelling the Arima District Health Facility, Duke replied: “The present environment is killing people softly.”

Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said the Government was trying to source the estimated $1 billion needed to pay all public servants but Duke insisted they did not have to search for it.

“They have money in the Treasury. Take out the money and pay the people,” he said.

Duke said he has shut down the Blood Bank, Central Sterilisation Department and Dental Unit at the EWMSC.

“If the Government wants to play tough, we can play tough too. It’s blow-for-blow. We are saying all the gloves are off,” he said.

Khan earlier said if the workers wished, he could relocate them to safer working conditions at health facilities in Toco and Blanchisseuse.

Duke said the workers had no problem working anywhere. “Khan should get it out of his mind that people should howl and scowl if they have to work in these faraway places,” he added.

Khan told the T&T Guardian he was yet to receive a report on any crisis at the Arima District Health Facility or any other medical institution in the eastern region.

Arima MP Rodger Samuel said he had not heard anything either.

“I am on a walkabout in Arima this morning and, so far, no one has told me anything about problems accessing health services,” he said.

What district health facilities offer

District health facilities are open 24 hours a day, offering accident and emergency and general practice services which include:

• Pharmacy services

• Radiology (X-ray and ultrasound) services

• Dental services for children and adults at some facilities

• Specialists clinics for chronic and/or lifestyle diseases

• Ante-natal and post-natal clinics

• Family planning clinic

• child health clinic

• health promotion fitness programmes.

The T&T Debates Commission (TTDC) is preparing to stage the two debates it had planned for later this month. “The TTDC remains in preparation for two debates as previously announced,” said Lorraine O’Connor, TTDC project manager, in response to questions from the T&T Guardian on the matter.

“We intend to remain focused on delivering on our remit to make debates between the leaders of our main parties a part of our political culture. “While this might prove to be difficult, it is our sincere hope that good sense will prevail and the population will hear from the leaders in a neutral and independent forum, answering directly some of the burning questions that the electorate are eager to have answered.”

O’Connor said invitations would be sent to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who had earlier indicated through her negotiator, Larry Lalla, that she would not debate in August. The PM’s reason for this was that the TTDC had told her the Leaders’ Debate would have been held on July 30. Asked how the TTDC would proceed, should Persad-Bissessar decline the invitation to participate, O’Connor said, “We are working on different contingency plans.”

She would say no more on the matter, however, only disclosing that the TTDC would make a full statement on the matter Friday. “I would rather not elaborate on the matter as yet.” Told that there might be a perception in the government’s camp that the TTDC was biased, she said, “We have always followed the principles of balanced and fair approach to both the process and all the parties involved.”

Well-placed sources in the government’s camp said there was concern that Roman Catholic priest Father Clyde Harvey, who led a protest outside Parliament last Good Friday, was one of the commissioners on the TTDC. Harvey said he protested because he was concerned about the disillusionment of citizens. 

“When the people in Parliament lose their sense of responsibility for Parliament and simply see it as a place to score political points and destroy their political opponents the society has to say no,” he had said then. Harvey’s protest came soon after Tobago East MP Vernella Alleyne-Toppin made controversial statements in Parliament about Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.

The T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) is also supporting the TTDC’s debate, saying it was the only suitable entity to stage it. TTPBA president is Darren Lee Sing, son of former Port-of-Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing and husband of former PNM senator Laurel Lezama. On its website, the TTDC states it is “an independent, autonomous, not-for-profit body striving to embed a culture of debates in T&T’s democratic process.”

Debate negotiator for the Prime Minister, Larry Lalla, when asked if the PM would participate in the TTDC’s debate later this month, said, “I will not comment on anything about the TTDC at this point in time.”

TTDC’s Facebook debate countdown

Meanwhile, the TTDC, on its Facebook page, has been counting down the days to the “Great Debate.” The commission updated its Facebook cover photograph to highlight the event. On Tuesday it said, “The Great Debate 2015, The Countdown is On, 16 days left”. It also said that after one week of looking to social media to source questions for the upcoming debate, the TTDC had had an overwhelming response. 

“You are definitely playing your part to ensure our leaders answer the tough questions during the debates.” The TTDC’s preparation for the event is not unlike the approach taken by Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) in organising the July 30 debate. CNMG organised the leaders’ debate with no assurance that Rowley would participate in it and, on the night of the event, produced the “Leadership Exchange,” in which Persad-Bissessar answered questions from three interviewers.

Protesting hospital wards maids and other public health workers who broke down a door, smashed a glass and caused injury to a security guard at the Health Ministry’s Park Street, Port-of-Spain, head office have been reported to the police by Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan.

“We have reported that to the police and the police will take action,” Khan announced at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media conference.

Asked how the police will be able to identify the group of women, he said: “We have cameras.”

On Wednesday, the group of mainly women barricaded the entrance to the head office, blocking anyone from entering or leaving the building. The police had to be called in.

The wardsmaids moved to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where Khan was opening the Nephrology Unit and loudly chanted they wanted their money.

When Khan went outside they swarmed around him threateningly but he calmly walked to his waiting vehicle and got in with the women moving in around the car and shouting. Yesterday Khan said the ministry and its security guards took no objection to the workers clamouring for whatever they desired.

However, it was an entirely different matter when it took on the tone of the violence it did, he added. 

Khan said he sympathised with the female security guard who did yeoman service and tried to keep the matter under control.

He appealed to workers not to reach to that level of violence in negotiating for wage increases. He asked workers planning any protest action today to do their jobs without such action.

Khan said he understood why they were clamouring for their money before the election. 

“They may have been worried they might not get it after,” he added.

Khan said in the political season, he was entitled to put that political spin on the matter.

He said a large fraction of Regional Health Authority (RHA) workers, most of them monthly paid, were non-unionised.

“There is no recognised union for nurses, wardmaids and others,” he said. It was only a small section of daily paid workers who were members of the National Union of Government and Federated Workers, he noted.

When nurses at the Arima District Health Facility stopped working over the same salary issue, Khan said what they were doing was “very illegal.”

Tracing the start of the protests, he said the RHA workers were not members of a union, negotiations for salary increases for them were being done with the Ministry of Health, the RHA and the Ministry of Finance.

The Public Services Association (PSA) got a 14 per cent increase in April this year and soon after that there arose a lot of clamouring by the PSA and the T&T Registered Nurses Association for equitable payments for all those not represented by a union.

Khan said the ministry took cognisance of that and indicated that parity would be given to Ministry of Health and RHA contract       workers.

When the Government is not sending people to kill him, they are paying people to lie on him, says Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley.

He did not elaborate on the last part of the statement.

His charge came in the midst of allegations by former Express journalist Anika Gumbs that he made inappropriate statements to her at three meetings she had with him in January and April this year at his home and Port-of-Spain office.

She alleged in one meeting at his home he was bareback and asked her if she would like him to be her bodyguard outside her bedroom door.

He also allegedly touched her back and asked about a tattoo she had there and in another meeting told her she was looking rosy, she said.

Rowley’s charge that the Government was paying people to lie about him was made at the announcement of the PNM’s two Tobago candidates, Shamfa Cudjoe and Ayanna Webster-Roy, in Market Square, Scarborough, last evening.

He was addressing a crowd of PNM supporters.

On the issue of the threat on his life, he said for the first time in his 30 years in politics he felt afraid for his life at a political meeting recently.

He said it is the first time an opposition leader is attacked so much by a government.

PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi has claimed that there is confirmation of a paid hit on Rowley’s life.

National Security Minister Carl Alfonso, however, has denied knowledge of this.

Alfonso said while the matter may have reached the Commissioner of Police the information has not been forwarded to him.

Rowley also responded to criticisms from other political parties in Tobago that the PNM selected “two little girls” as candidates in the general election.

He described them as “stout and strong lieutenants” who will win Tobago East and Tobago West.

Rowley said no political party will be going into government without these two seats and told Tobagonians they will decide who wins. He also dismissed all other political parties contesting the two Tobago seats, barring the Hochoy Charles-led Platform of Truth, as “UNC parties.”

The other two political entities are the Tobago Forwards, led by former Minister of Tobago Development, Delmond Baker, and the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP).

Baker broke away from the TOP and formed the Tobago Forwards.

The TOP, part of the People’s Partnership coalition government, is led by Ashworth Jack. Rowley’s charge was supported by Webster-Roy, the PNM’s Tobago East candidate, in her address.

She warned Tobagonians that all political parties campaigning in the island, apart from the PNM, are agents of the UNC.

Whatever their symbol, jersey colour, whoever they say is funding their campaign and how independent they say they are, they are all UNC agents, she said.

Webster-Roy said she can say that without fear of contradiction.

Tobago Chief Secretary, Orville London also endorsed the claims.

He said the UNC is marketing itself in Trinidad under “Kamla” and in Tobago under the Tobago Forwards and the TOP.

“You’ve got to see behind the subterfuge,” he said in his address.

Rowley spent a large part of his speech listing his plans for T&T as a whole.

As for Tobago, he promised as soon as he is prime minister, he will put the necessary legislative arrangements in place to ensure Tobago is given maximum autonomy in managing its own affairs while remaining a part of the state of T&T.

Giving an example of how he will cut out corruption and waste, he said as soon as he gets in government, he will instruct his attorney general to discontinue the Government’s appeal of the case involving former Strategic Services Agency member Nigel Clement.

Clement won the case for wrongful dismissal. Rowley said to save money being paid to lawyers he will withdraw the State’s appeal and let the parties settle the matter out of court.

As for the UNC’s email and telephone campaign, he said the party was “provoking” citizens.

Answering the question of how the UNC got people’s cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses, he claimed the same people they were paying millions to develop the National Health Card were the same ones running the campaign.