We constantly complain about the high cost of food items, and while justifiable, it is a direct result of the importation of most of our foodstuff and we have no control of prices on the international market. In addition, our palates have become accustomed to highpriced luxury items.

In 2006, when a leading parliamentarian and decision maker was asked about increasing our food production, his response was “we have oil and gas, we have money and we can buy all the food we need.” I was ashamed of this thoughtless and uninformed opinion and within a year there was a significant increase in the prices of grain and milk on the world market due to a decline in production caused by severe drought in major producing countries. Wheat production during 2006 and 2007 was four percent lower than in 2004 and 2005.

Between 2006 and 2008, average world prices for wheat rose by 136 percent, rice by 217 percent, corn by 125 percent and soybeans by 107 percent. In late April 2008, the price of rice, one of our major imports, hit US24 cents a pound, doubling in price in just seven months.

In order to prevent price increases, world food production must always outpace population growth, which is 1.2 percent annually.

The world population is estimated at 7.5 billion today, and to be 8.4 billion in the mid-2030s and 9.6 billion in mid-2050s.

The challenge is to keep pace with the food requirements for this increasing population. And the effects of climate change on agricultural production is still unknown.

When I say we must grow what we eat I refer to quality ground provisions, plantains, green vegetables, fruit, chicken, ducks, sheep, goat and pigs. Sheep farmers should be growing quality black-bellied and West African strains of sheep. Why are the excellent strains of corn developed by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) not being extensively grown? There is a demand for quality yams, eg “cush-cush”, breadfruit, citrus fruit, melons such as honeydew and cantaloupes. Honey is always in demand and fetches a good price. Why then are we considering the importation of honey? And where are our herds of buffalypso? Surely there are graduates in agriculture from the University of the West Indies and the University of Trinidad and Tobago who wish to become farmers.

Why are there no incentives to attract these graduates to farming? Why are our graduates wasting their knowledge sitting behind desks and becoming pen-pushers when they should be producing food? I am pleased that consideration is being given to utilising the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme’s workers in food production.

A 2010 CARDI study concluded that praedial larceny is the single most discouraging aspect of agriculture and is a threat to a livelihood in farming and fishing.

Therefore more must be done to eradicate the theft of livestock and agricultural produce. And, hopefully, the resuscitation of the Police Marine Branch will significantly reduce the incidents of theft of pirogues, outboard engines, and piracy.

Our beloved pigeon peas are being imported from Peru and Ecuador; pork, chicken and eggs from the US; ground provisions from Grenada and St Vincent; bananas from Santo Domingo, and dried sorrel from Jamaica. Why are we not self-sufficient in these items? Maybe our decision makers are still of the opinion that we have money and can buy food. We will continue to c o m p l a i n about our high food import bill if we do not produce more of what we eat and eat more of what we produce.

According to sources, intense investigations and surveillance activities led officers to the man who was picked up Monday night during an exercise involving heavily armed policemen and soldiers in Maracas and Las Cuevas. The suspect was interrogated for several hours yesterday and up to press time, remained in police custody.

Sources said he may be placed on an Identification Parade. Apart from being a suspect in the double murder, police said the man was wanted for robbery, firearms offences, assault and drug trafficking.

Last week Thursday, George was on his way to the Maracas Police Station to sign an attendance book as a condition to him being granted bail. At the time, he was accompanied by Ali. The two were ambushed and shot dead along the road outside the police station. On officer who responded to the sound of gunshots, was wounded when a bullet grazed him in the head.

“I feel like I do not know who to trust,” said Blaide. “I do not want to travel anymore. I don’t want to walk the streets at night. I must insist to people travelling at night to be very careful and observe your surroundings. And now women are degrading themselves by committing crimes. It shows they have a low mindset. It is disappointing.

You just can’t trust anyone.” Blaide, an employee of the Ministry of Education, said had she not kept her wits about her, she may today be a crime statistic.

Blaide stood at a taxi stand near the Bon Air mall on Monday evening awaiting transport for home.

She just came from the grocery and was holding several bags along with her purse which contained cell phones, a small quantity of cash and personal documents. At 9 pm, a silver-coloured Nissan Sylphy car pulled up in front of her.

The vehicle was being driven by a woman who appeared to be in her 20s. The car also contained two passengers, one male and the other female. Believing the woman behind the steering wheel to be a PH (private hire) taxi driver, Blaide got in. The driver later made a detour to Viceroy Road, claiming she was dropping off one of the passengers.

But when she dropped the man off only to pick him up again, Blaide said she became suspicious and shifted towards the car door in the backseat. “I insisted that I be let out of the car but the driver began speaking loudly and aggressively,” Blaide said. “While the car was moving I tried to jump out, but still had my bags in my hand.

The man in the back seat grabbed the bags. I asked, ‘what are you doing? don’t you know I am a police officer?’ and with that, the driver tried to spin the car around and leave with me. I started to scream,” Blaide said.

On hearing the screams, residents came out of their houses to see the vehicle driving erratically with Blaide hanging outside.

She was dragged several feet before she let go of her bags with all her belongings. The vehicle then sped off. Concerned residents rushed to her aid and the police were called in. She was taken to the Arima Hospital where she was treated for soft tissue damage to her arms and legs. Police officers took a statement from her and are now searching for the driver and her accomplices.

The share price of TCL stock closed at $5.50 in trading on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange yesterday, up fifteen cents from its opening price of $5.35.

The stock closed at $3.38 on December 1, 2016, gaining 13 cents in that day’s trading. Sierra Trading on Monday January 9, 2017, announced a change to its takeover bid for TCL, increasing its price to TT$5.07, which it said was a fifty percent premium and including the option for shareholders in this country and in Jamaica to be paid in US dollars by February 3.

Espinet hailed the achievement, saying the management which replaced former Chief Executive Officer Dr Rollin Bertrand, had taken a company which was on the brink of bankruptcy and managed to get all the stakeholders together to correct the situation which existed. He said the management succeeded in getting banks to agree to accept a reduced debt payment if the company settled the debt, they got the shareholders to agree to contribute to the shoring up of the depleted equity of the company and got employees to agree to give up part of the claim that was due to them following a court order.

“What shareholders benefited from was that at the time that the process started it was originally trading at 95 cents when I came on the scene and by the time we got into it it was in the $2.00 range but albeit people were excited that something was taking place.” He said that shareholders who had invested in the rights issue or who had held onto their shares had seen growth.

However, Dr Bertrand said what happened yesterday was merely a culmination of earlier steps such as the removal of the Board of Directors and executive management of TCL and the rights issue that diluted shareholders’ value and gave CEMEX management control “and now they are just mopping up.” He said “who knows where they will get to by the end of the week.” Dr Bertrand said even the acquisition of control of the company will not be the final chapter. He said the final chapter will be the buying out of the minority shareholders and delisting the company. “And then the TCL Group will wither on the vine.”

He said TCL had added shareholder value through expansions and acquisitions and such growth which he said will no longer take place because CEMEX is already big in the Caribbean and now that they have control of TCL which gives them control of the Eastern Caribbean. He said the company has spare capacity in the bigger countries such as the Dominican Republic and they are also into Columbia. “So these plants in the Eastern Caribbean, once the plants get to a certain stage, they will just mothball them, close them down and supply from larger plants in the Northern Caribbean.”

But Espinet said that made no sense because it was CEMEX which had come to the rescue of the company when it was failing and could have simply let the group collapse if it wanted. CEMEX has said that the offer is conditional on Sierra acquiring at least an amount of TCL shares that would allow CEMEX, for financial reporting purposes, to consolidate TCL. It said that if the offer, as amended by the Amended Offer, is successful, TCL will continue operating as usual and will be maintained as a publicly listed company on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.

Since the start of the new school term, only the Standard Five students have been attending classes at the St. Dominic’s RC Parish Hall located across the road from the school due to the dilapidated condition of the school building.

President of the Parents Teachers Association, Vonetta Daniel, noted that at the start of the school term, officials from the Education Ministry identified two relocation sites (namely the church hall and the Penal Community Centre) to house all the students.

Due to inadequate accommodation, the students of Standard Five got first preference because of the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SE A) examinations scheduled for May 4 nationwide.

“The school is falling apart.

There are cracks all over and they are getting wider and wider. There are generations of grandmothers here who attended this school. We are calling on the Ministry to relocate our kids. At the church hall, there are not enough toilets to accommodate the students and there is a water problem,” Daniel said.

From as early as 5 am yesterday the protesters gathered at the gates of the school and burnt debris in the street to highlight their plight.

Chanting “We want we school now”, the protestors said that it is unfair that students are denied an education by being unable to attend classes. One placard read, “Our education matters”, while another, “Our education is important”.

The PTA president vowed that if the Ministry does not find alternative arrangements to facilitate the 200-plus students, protest action will continue at the Ministry’s head offices in Port-of-Spain.

“This is not a political thing. We need a new school. Single parents like myself have to pay for lessons and find other people to take care of the children,” Daniel pleaded.

Another parent noted that successive governments failed in constructing a new school for the students.

“We attended an emergency PTA meeting the day after school reopened and an official from the Ministry told us that this school was on a priority list for construction.

Somehow it dropped lower on that list,” she noted.

The Bankers, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU), in a statement issued yesterday, said Certificate No. 1/2017 “covers all monthly rated employees of the RBC Group of Companies whose job positions fall within the position levels ten to 12.” This includes employees of RBC Royal Bank (Trinidad and Tobago Limited), RBC Trust (Trinidad and Tobago Limited), RBC Investment Management (Caribbean Limited), RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean Limited), RBC Insurance Services (Caribbean Limited), RBC Financial (Caribbean Limited) and West Indies Stockbrokers Limited .

BIGWU said its representatives will be meeting with top management of the RBC shortly. The bank has informed BIGWU that “without prejudice to the RBC’s rights and the outcome of the intended judicial review proceedings and subject to the outcome, we are amenable to meeting with your representatives pending a decision on the issues to be brought before the Court. BIGWU will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday at 11 am at its headquarters in Barataria to discuss negotiations on behalf of the 2,000 workers .

The students pursued their Bachelor of Science in Dental Therapy at the COSTAATT’s Port-of-Spain Campus.

One of the students, who asked that her name not be used, told Newsday that the students were supposed to graduate in 2016 last year, and are still awaiting their BSc in Dental Therapy certificates.

“Up to last February we were told that all the equipment for the practicum was not ordered, when they told us they had already ordered the equipment.” She continued, “We have had meetings with the head of the department and the president to address the issue and, to date, students have not been told what is going to take place.” She indicated that their first practicum was scheduled for February 2012, but was postponed until further notice.

Justice Carol Gobin yesterday granted leave to Levon Julien, of Las Alturas, Morvant, who spent ten days in police custody before he was eventually released by police at the same time they were ordered by Justice James Aboud to bring him to court on December 24, 2016.

Gobin also granted Julien permission to add the three police officers – Inspector Harvey Jawahir of the Port of Spain Criminal Investigations Department, PC Stephen Smith of the Homicide Bureau and PC Hercules of the Central Police Station in Port of Spain – as defendants in the contempt proceedings.

Julien is represented by attorneys Darrel Allahar, Chase Pegus and Ajay Babal.

In the ex-parte application for leave yesterday, Allahar argued that the police officers disobeyed Aboud’s orders that Julien be brought to the court, on two occasions, to give effect to the writ of habeas corpus order which was granted on December 23, 2016.

Julien was arrested by police on December 13, 2016, on murder inquiries.

Allahar said the matter was being brought in the public’s interest as it was important to obey the court’s orders.

He said by disobeying and obstructing the order of Justice Aboud, the officers frustrated the process with impunity and should be held in contempt.

The lawyer also referred Gobin to Aboud’s overtures to attorneys to pursue inquiries into the matter after he was forced to telephone the police station to enquire why Julien was not being brought to court as ordered.

Aboud had first issued an order that Julien be brought to the court at 11 am on December 24, 2016, but had been told by Smith that the suspect was being taken on an identification parade.

He then ordered that Julien be brought at 12.45 pm, and was forced to make the telephone call to the police station at which time he was told by Hercules that the suspect had been released.

Allahar also quoted from affidavits in support of the contempt proceedings which spoke of the reluctance of Hercules to accept the court’s second order at the Central Police Station. The lawyer said they were instructed by the judge to deliver his order, in person, to the police station but Hercules allegedly refused to accept it saying they had it since the day before.

Aboud’s telephone conversation with the officer at the station was recorded and forms part of the application for contempt.

“The police knew there were orders of the court,” Allahar said.

The contempt proceedings have been adjourned to March 10

The Nigerian ship MT Tumini is anchored off the Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), Claxton Bay jetty where the Guyanese sailors were stranded since 2013 because they refused to leave and return to their country, fearing that owners of the vessel in Nigeria could quietly sail the MT Tumini back to Africa and not pay them their wages.

High Court judge Devindra Rampersad made the order in a lawsuit the ship’s local agent, Gerald Andrews, and the five men, had filed last year against MT Tumini’s financiers – Eco- Bank Nigeria Limited. The crew had decided to take legal action when they see ‘water more than flour’ , to claim their wages, and petitioned the High Court to arrest the ship under Admirality laws. The grounds on which they did so, was based on the fact that the ship’s owners in Nigeria, Africa, refused to pay their wages and have left them stranded on the vessel.

Andrews is claiming, according to Justice Rampersad’s order, US$502, 425.59. The rest of the crew’s wages and fees amount to approximately TT$6 million.

Rampersad further ordered that the MT Tumini be valued by a Marine surveyor and that the sale be carried out by private treaty, but should attempts fail to sell within the next nine months, then the vessel would be sold by private auction.

The judge further ordered that $50,000 be deposited into the court. The judge’s order lists that the attorneys are to be paid the cost of the claim out of the proceeds of the claim, amounting to US$128,196.00 which is approximately TT$877,000.

Advertisements have been published in the daily newspapers about the sale but checks yesterday with persons responsible for the sale, revealed that no buyers have yet come forward to purchase the vessel.

The M T Tumini sailed to Trinidad six years in December 2008 after Petroleum Brokers Ltd of Nigeria bought the vessel from a Florida-base company which was working the vessel in the Caribbean, transporting fuel and industrial water.

The ship’s new management from Nigeria then recruited the five nationals of Guyana to work the vessel in 2009, but some time later, they discovered that the MT Tumini needed extensive repairs.

Eco Bank Nigeria Limited took over the mortgage on the vessel and continued to finance it for proposed operations in Trinidad.

However, in 2013 the ship was abandoned and men were left to fend for themselves in the vessel.

Up to September 2013, they men were owed approximately US$215,000. They are: Rakesh Jim (Chief Mate); Foy Fredericks (Chief Engineer); Laurence Daniel (second Engineer); Mohamed Gadwah (second officer); Neil Rampersaud (Assistant Engineer/ oiler).

In mid to late 2013, their money and provision began to run low when they stopped receiving wages, but the crew stood their ground and continued to live on the MT Tumini. They pleaded with the then government to seize the ship under International Maritime Law.

With the crew running out of funds to even purchase drinking water, the Guyanese men sent an email to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in London seeking held, but they were advised not to leave the vessel for fear that they would lose their wages.

The suspect was wanted in connection with the April 25, 2016 shooting death of Guyanese national Kumar Shivpersad in La Romaine and had been on the run since. Police found a “roll up bed” in his car trunk. According to reports, Shivapersad, 30, was at his Duncan Village home when he was shot and killed. His friend Sean Boodoo, also a Guyanese national, was also shot and wounded. According to a police report, at about 4.30 pm on Monday, Inspector Don Gajadhar was traveling along Southern Main Road, La Romaine when he observed the suspect driving in a heavily tinted blue Nissan Almera car.

He followed the suspect into Cross Crossing where he pulled into a gas station. The suspect joined the long line of vehicles waiting to fill their gas tanks.

With the assistance of officers of the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and Homicide Region Three and before a crowd of curious onlookers, the suspect was taken into custody.