“We have hit the ground running and we have seen a brightening up of the city.

“We have cleaned up the Brian Lara Promenade because people were complaining that it had a high stench,” he said. Martinez said that they had also washed down several streets including Charlotte and Treasury Streets which were reeking with the stink of urine.

“You will notice also that the curbs have been painted, so it’s a cleaner promenade that you are seeing,” he said.

The mayor said he has also asked that there be no vending on the promenade which the City Police were ensuring did not happen and blown street lights were being replaced by the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission.

He added that the corporation’s administration team was looking into repairing potholes on the city’s streets, and urged the public if one had gone unnoticed to please inform the corporation.

Martinez said the new Besson Street Police Station, which was opened in December, last year, was there to offer it’s service to the public, but gave a warning to his council to just use it “for a brief visit.” He urged citizens to obey the law when parking as new lines for correct parking have been painted. If they didn’t, he warned, they would be out a few hundred dollars if they had their vehicles towed.

The mayor said the clean up drive was not a one-off event, but he intended that it would be done on a continuous basis.

“We want to keep the campaign sustained so we could understand what is a clean city, but we must maintain the work and educate the people,” Martinez said.

The POA head revealed that the Maximum Security Prison, which holds several of the country’s highrisk inmates, does not have an alarm system, and have been operating without one since 2013.

“Fundamental to the security of any prison in any part of the world __ worse yet for a maximum security prison __ is a functioning alarm system,” said Richards.

“And would you believe that over the past year and more we have this prison operating without an alarm system? So if there is an issue occurring in that prison, officers have no way of notifying or raising an alarm which can cause a reasonable response to treat with issues of emergency.” Richards said although the issue has been raised on several occasions by the association, their pleas have been falling on deaf ears. The lack of an alarm system is just one of the several issues that has been raised by the Association over the years. Prison officers have also been clamouring for basic equipment like the lack of stab proof vests.

Richards expressed frustration with the response of Minister of National Security, Edmund Dillon, to their requests.

Special advisers Amelia Appleby and Victoria Collier also comprised the delegation.

The delegation made this known to a panel discussion, “Reality of the Falkland Islands today”, held on Thursday by the SALISES Department of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, chaired by acting Director, Dr Roy McCree.

The British dependency in the South Atlantic was subject to Argentine invasion in 1982, with governmental- level relations still frosty.

The Falkland Islands is a twin island territory, the size of Jamaica and with a healthy economy plus large deposits of oil and gas, but there the similarities end. Unlike TT, the Falklands has virtually no crime and no unemployment, even as it needs to increase its population gradually.

Already, amongst the territory’s minuscule population of 3,000 persons in the remote and windswept territory, one TT national, Christine Ramoutar, is already running Falkland Radio.

Hansen said the Falklands as a new arrival in the energy-sector has chosen to seek help from TT so as to benefit from this country’s decades of experience.

He said a TT energy sector delegation had once visited the Falklands at Hansen’s invitation.

On his visit to TT, Hansen has signed an MOU with Kenson’s for the training of Falkland Islands youngsters in the energy industry.

He said that for domestic consumption the Falklands is very much into renewable energy including wind turbines which supply 40 percent of Port Stanley’s energy- needs, and is now looking at solar power.

Hansen noted that the Falkland Islands Legislature aims that oil drilled offshore will be transported away, and not be brought ashore for any refining which he said could pose a threat to the pristine ecology which is itself a valuable source of eco-tourism.

Otherwise he said the Falklands economy relies on the grant of fisheries licences to foreign interests, plus the rearing of sheep and cows.

He intends to review and seek Cabinet’s approval for the company’s draft strategic development plan and begin active implementation once the plan has been approved by Cabinet.

Another urgent priority for George is “getting stakeholders to buy-in to the idea of working together to improve the quality of life and standard of living so as to ensure continued improvement to the communities that EPOSDC serves.” The new chairman announced his plans on Monday during a simple ceremony at the Housing Ministry’s South Quay, Port-of- Spain office, where he and fellow EPOSDC board members received their Letters of Appointment from Housing Minister, Randall Mitchell.

Dr Jeffrey Reyes and Ann Marie Francis- Charles were appointed as Directors of EPOSDC at that same ceremony. Present to witness the event was the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Simone Thorne-Mora, and EPOSDC Managing Director, Dr Deborah Thomas-Austin.

Mitchell reminded the new board of the important responsibility they had agreed to accept and urged them to always adhere to the principles of good corporate governance.

Underscoring the fact that their role was significant in addressing issues of urban decay and poor infrastructure within the communities of East PoS, Mitchell said the company’s projects must always be focused on improving the quality of life for citizens who live, work and recreate within East PoS and environs.

The minister urged the new board to drive the urban revitalisation agenda for East PoS, so that residents and constituents can benefit from positive physical, social and economic transformation.

NATUC’s General Secretary, Michael Annisette, revealed this during an interview on Thursday following his participation in a panel on the subject.

The panel was part of the “European Union and Faculty of Law Human Rights Open Day”, hosted by the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

“We are going to meet several groups to formulate a strategy and a plan in terms of how we deal with this particular issue and the question of treating women with respect and dignity,” Annisette said. “How do we bring it into the national debate? How we bring it into the boardroom, into the drawing rooms and homes of our citizens, so that this issue would really be addressed in a meaningful and serious way?” Annisette noted that “without a woman, none of us would be here and therefore we have to respect that. We have to get away from the tradition where women are seen as objects to be used and they have no rights. (This meeting) is about building a new culture, a new society, where the dignity of women is respected and that is what we are about.” The meeting is scheduled to take place at the SWWTU Hall on Wrightson Road, Portof- Spain.

Asked by Newsday if either the SWWTU or NATUC, of which it is a member, has a sexual harassment policy, Annisette said no. He added that this too will be addressed today.

“We are looking at policies from international (union) affiliates.

We’ll want to include those policies in terms of our union (SWWTU) and in terms of NATUC,” Annisette stated.

Orlando received US$450,000 in general allocation money and US$200,000 in targeted allocation money in the deal, which also sees goalkeeper Patrick Mc- Lain move to Minnesota.

The allocation money that Minnesota paid is among the higher prices ever paid between MLS teams, which only started releasing that data publicly this offseason.

Molino, a Trinidad and Tobago international, has been with Orlando City since 2011, when it played in the USL. He will be reunited with former Minnesota coach Adrian Heath, who coached Orlando from 2011 until he was fired in July.

“Where do you start with Kevin as a player, he has incredible touch on the ball, can score goals, can create goals, he has great balance, there’s nothing he can’t do with a football,” Heath said in a statement. “In my opinion he’s the best player in his position in the country.” Molino missed most of the 2015 MLS season after tearing his ACL, but played well last season, recording 11 goals with eight assists for the Lions.

“I spoke with Adrian and he asked me if I wanted to be a part of Minnesota United and join the team and that was it — I have worked with him for a long time, so it was an easy decision,” Molino said. “I know what Adrian expects from me and I am really excited to join the club and build a relationship with my new teammates, coaches and the fans.” Orlando City general manager Niki Budalic said at the time the club was not interested in trading Molino, who was a big part of the team’s plan for the upcoming season.

“Nothing has changed, we always wanted to keep Kevin,” Budalic told the Orlando Sentinel.

“We made every attempt to resolve the situation, unfortunately he had made his opinion that he wanted a new challenge and [to] move on. Once he did that, we felt we couldn’t convince him to stay.

“We talked contract, new contracts, we had several discussions in person and on the phone, we dealt with his agent — at the end, we all agreed it was best to go our separate ways.

The most important thing is we’re not prepared to keep people here who aren’t happy. We want people here who are committed to helping this team win, and we didn’t feel that was the case with Kevin.” McClain has spent most of his career in USL. He is expected to act as a backup for John Alvbage, who Swedish club IFK Goteborg on Thursday announced was set to join the new MLS team.

Mowser was speaking concerning an incident where the car tyres of a Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TT CB) team official was hampered with at the Queen’s Park Oval car park during a recent practice match involving the national cricket team. There was one slashed tyre, while there was an attempt to deflate two more tyres.

Mowser, speaking with Newsday yesterday said, “We feel that it was an isolated incident of vandalism. After our investigations we could not prove where the blame lies.

“We feel that Queen’s Park is still a secure place to come and watch cricket and we certainly don’t prevent people from coming and watching practice matches with Queen’s Park and Trinidad and Tobago.

We did have our reports and we did speak to the gentleman (team official named), and we hope that this was an isolated incident of vandalism which won’t happen again.” Earlier this week, president of the TT CB Azim Bassarath said the recent developments have caused grave concern and does not augur well for the future of the sport.

Mowser’s statements are in contrast to Parkites president Deryck Murray who had earlier told Newsday he was unaware of any tyre-slashing at the popular cricket venue. Murray had also attended the day-night practice match between his club and the Red Force who were preparing for the Regional Super50 competition.

Bassarath caused shock waves at the recent prize distribution function of the East Zone of the TT CB, when he questioned whether the targeting of top elected officials of the national governing body were part of “a larger, sinister scenario”.

An unconfirmed report said that the car of a senior cricket official was also shot at while parked at his home.

In a career spanning almost 30 years as a professional coach and player, Stuart was the batting coach for the Australian men’s team to Sri Lanka in 2016. Before that he was part of the coaching staff for Bangladesh Under 19, Queensland Bulls, Brisbane Heat and had stints as High Performance Coach for Cricket Australia and head coach for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh senior teams.

In his role as Head Coach his core functions will include improved team results while providing leadership to players and team management.

He completes the senior technical team headed by newly-appointed Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams and Chairman of Selectors, Courtney Browne.

His professional playing career was over a ten-year period where he played in one Test for Australia and 54 one-day-internationals.

He had a successful first class tenure with Queensland, Essex, Lancashire and Derbyshire.

Stuart is touted as the most successful captain in Australia’s domestic cricket with five first class and two one-day titles and additionally scoring the most runs at that level – 27,080 in 367 matches. Stuart has the distinction as being named one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1998 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2007.

Stuart is happy to be a part of the West Indies set up at this time.

“I am excited at the opportunity to contribute to what I think is an interesting time for West Indies. I think this assignment has come at an important time of my career.” Outgoing Director of Cricket, Richard Pybus who sat as part of the selection panel added: “We are delighted to welcome Stuart to West Indies Cricket, he comes at an exciting and critical time in the development of the West Indies men’s team, with the emergence of some outstanding young talent, as seen in the most recent Test series against Pakistan.

He has great experience and breadth of knowledge as a player and coach and his cross-cultural experience and winning attitude will be key assets in the development of the team. “ Stuart’s appointment becomes effective Wednesday, February 15 and he has a two-year contract.

Sammy cracked an unbeaten 60 off 36 deliveries to guide the Volcanoes to 266 for seven, batting first at the Coolidge Recreation Ground in Antigua.

Top scoring for the Volcanoes was Sunil Ambris, who scored 69, while West Indies batsman Andre Fletcher contributed 35.
Fast bowler Delorn Johnson also contributed a valuable unbeaten 26 at the end of the innings in a solid partnership with Sammy.

The most impressive TT bowler was fast bowler Ravi Rampaul, who grabbed 4/43 in 10 overs.The other wicket takers for the Red Force were Shannon Gabriel and Rayad Emrit.

Gabriel took 2/53 in 10 overs, while Emrit snatched 1/57 in 10 overs.Roshon Primus and Imran Khan went wicketless, ending with 0/62 and 0/43 in their 10- over spells.

At press time, the Red Force were 97 for two in the 14th over after opener Evin Lewis had lashed a brisk 64 before he was first dismissed in the 10th over.Yannick Ottley was TT ’s second wicket to fall for just one.

He won TriniScene’s and Pulse Entertainment’s Up and Coming Designer in 2006 during Fashion Week. His gown was runner up at Miss World 2013. In 2014 he received fashion innovation designer award from US-based Karib Nation at its 2014 annual Caribbean Style and Culture Awards and fashion showcase held under the auspices of then American president, Barack Obama.

He became a mentor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design BFA programme.

While he has done numerous shows among them 2015 Cuttin’ Style Caribbean Gala Fashion show in Toronto, Canada; Antigua’s Independence Fashion Weekend, 2015; 2014 Tobago Fashion Coda among others, the road has not always been a smooth one. Dialogue with him tells that he takes failure as lessons learnt and finds ways to improve, taking success stride by stride.

For as long as he has been aware of himself, the Arouca resident, Griffith-Perez loved fashion. He spent seven years, 1985 to 1991, at Grace’s School of Fashion Design in Arouca perfecting something he loved into an art. Grace Duncan “taught me all there is to know about garment construction,” he said.

His new collection is titled “Destination”.

The collection features designs for both male and female but is geared more toward the male market. However, the road to that destination was not an easy one. In fact, he told Newsday, he was forced to close his business, Shaun Griffith- Perez Designs, after falling into debt due to a lack of business acumen.

He took loans and received financial assistance from friends and family for his visits to various fashion meets across the globe but that indebted him a lot. So much so that he was unable to keep up with the rent at his Maraval shop which led to its closure.

“I closed it and came back home [Arouca] and I developed the male clothing.

I was looking at a lot of imported things, looking at how the trends were going, at what people were buying, what all of the designers were doing and wanting something for men.” He has been doing garment construction for approximately 27 years.

Winning the competition gave birth to his SGP label but also was a turning point in his career.

Building his brand took him on travels to Jamaica, Bahamas among others.

“In the last three years I found out a designer can be very creative but you must have a tool inside of your design collection that would allow you to make money,” he said.

“You can do all of these couture things and it could stay on your hand…you find you’re investing money and you’re not seeing the returns,” he said.

In seeking to rebuild his brand, Griffith-Perez noticed that there was a drive toward male fashion and care within the industry. “I designed a new collection around men who are now taking care of their bodies and themselves,” he said.

He said the resort line for men began with tank tops and T-shirts.

He credited showcasing at Fashion Week 2008, 2009 and 2010 as one of the pillars in his development as a designer.

“What Fashion Week did for us was educate us, connect us to certain things,” he said.

Fashion Week led to former Essence Magazine’s editor-in-chief Susan Taylor purchasing a piece from Griffith-Perez’s 2011 collection.

“Things such as Fashion Week brings the world to us,” Griffith- Perez said.

But having gained knowledge about the business side of the fashion world, Griffith-Perez has re-branded and reopened his shop in his home town of Arouca with the help and love of friends and family.

He also utilised social media in rebuilding his brand, finding San Fernandian Joel Sherwood on FaceBook and giving him the chance to wear and promote his brand. He said Sherwood wore the T-shirt to a fete and it became an instant hit.

Internationally he gave Wendell Troy the chance to wear and promote his brand which also well-received.

One day he hopes his brand will grace the shoulders and bodies of celebrities around the world. But for now, Destination, “[offers] a cultural experience. Whether you’re Indian, Muslim, African, Chinese whatever there is something for you.” Destination, he added, “is where travels happen and where cultures meet.” Interwoven in his designs is the deep love he has found in his family and friends namely, his cousin Charmaine Hinds-Bartsch and her husband Dominic Bartsch as well as experiences gained from his many travels.