In a statement yesterday, the union’s general council described as “unwarranted and unfounded,” Rowley’s personal attacks against Annisette.

“Mr Annisette is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, who is free to express his views on any matter relating to the governance of this country in keeping with the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression,” NATUC said.

“He is also one of the leaders of a large constituency, first as President General of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union (SWWTU) and as General Secretary of NATUC.”

This year’s holiday was the first not to feature the annual revelation of National Awards and a distribution ceremony.

While there have been concerns over the degree of consultation involved in the decision of President Anthony Carmona to shift this aspect of our annual celebration to Republic Day, the move may have the intended effect of fostering a longer and, perhaps, deeper engagement with ideas of nationhood. Why should we limit this engagement to one day alone? If we were tasked with setting out a wish-list for our nation as we enter yet another year, several items would quickly rise to the top. The first has to be the elimination of crime. It is true there are many forms of serious crime and murder. But we feel the State has a clear role to play given the fact that the vast majority of killings, whatever their motivation, involve firearms. We must take guns off the streets.

And though crimes of passion involving situations of abuse and dysfunctional relationships may seem like matters completely outside of the remit of the State, these events reflect something of the larger society within which they occur. The State may not be able to stop a man from murdering his partner; but it can bring that man to justice speedily.

When the gravest offence of murder seems to have a detection rate on the lower end of the spectrum, it is clear the State is not doing enough to deter these types of crimes.

And attitudes, too, call for social intervention by both the State and civil society groups. We must continue to educate and to campaign against violence against women.

Corruption, too, is a matter of grave concern, as noted by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley this month. The perception is that corruption affects public procurement and also the workings of key institutions such as the Police Service which, though comprised of hard-working men and women, does not have an effective watchdog.

What cannot be countenanced, however, is a situation where members of the public feel they can attack police officers. We need the police to enforce law and order. Without them, the rule of law falters. We condemn any act of violence against the police in the strongest possible terms.

Our wish list would also have to set out goals for the economy.

Not only would we like to see an increase in revenue and a shrinking of the deficit, but the very structure of the economy needs to change. There should be a greater diversity of income streams, a fairer allocation of wealth nationally and sounder systems to manage public spending and revenue collection from powerful corporate bodies.

Some of these powerful corporate bodies are also financiers of political parties, which leads to the next item: campaign finance reform. Will it ever see the light of day? Our culture is also rich and is perhaps our most under-valued resource. How can we do a better job of highlighting its breath and also fostering its perpetuation? There is a direct link between the Carnival arts, music, film, literature and other forms of art and our well-being as a society.

Let us see what good can be achieved as we enter another year.

In a statement issued from its Mexico City, Mexico office, the IDB said, “While the region spends on average about the same percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) on education and skills development as more developed nations, the results fall well short. The average Latin American and Caribbean student is more than one year behind what is expected based on the region’s level of economic development.

Only 30 percent of children in third and fourth grade in Latin America and the Caribbean meet the minimum benchmark for math proficiency, compared to 66 percent for nations with similar levels of development and 93 percent in developed nations.”

Learning Better: Public Policy for Skills Development takes a critical look at government efforts to improve skills acquisition from birth to adulthood. The study identifies certain programmes that are more effective and often cheaper than others.

More successful programmes include those that improve the quality of interactions at home and at school, provide incentives for young people to stay in school, and help businesses foster a learning environment in the workplace, among others.

“A person who has had access to good stimulation in the early years, good quality schools, university and employment in a formal firm has a big leg up on life,” said IDB Vice-President for Sectors and Knowledge, Santiago Levy. “Governments can do a much better job at improving the lives of those that have had none of those advantages. It is a big challenge but with a big pay-off in terms of growth and equity if we get it right.” To help policymakers identify successful evidence-based skills programmes, the IDB launched the novel SkillsBank website (www.

iadb.org/skillsbank) to review and systematize the evidence on how to promote skills at different stages of the life cycle. It presents evidence on programmes that have been effective in promoting skills development in childhood and adolescence in a very accessible format for policy makers.

Skills development in the region is not only low when compared to the rest of the world, but unequal within countries. In the early years, children from low income families are exposed to fewer words and more negative feedback than their wealthier peers. Parenting programmes have been shown to help the most in closing this gap and they tend to be cheap: gaps in cognitive skills can be cut in half at a cost of about $600 per child-year.

The region spends about $80 billion a year on primary education but only 13 rigorous evaluations have been implemented to see if the programmes work.

Reducing class size from 25 to 20 students can boost yearly learning by 15 percent, and extending the school day from four to seven hours by 10 percent, but both programmes are expensive, increasing spending by about 20 and 60%, respectively.

On the other hand, programmes that provide lesson plans to teachers and motivate students directly are both effective in promoting skills development and cheap.

During adolescence, programmes that offer incentives to keep kids in school are effective.

Overall, each year of additional schooling translates into wages that are 9.6 percent higher (the returns for each year of higher education are 16.6 percent).

Hiring teachers competitively and providing incentives to improve pedagogical practices also offer promising results. Carefully designed interventions can also promote the development of socio- emotional skills among youth, reducing risky behaviours and setting up young people for greater workplace success.

In higher education, the book urges governments to balance access and quality. For those who cannot attend college, apprenticeship programs have been shown to work well.

For adults, the key is ensuring as many workers as possible have access to larger firms that operate in the formal sector of the economy.

These firms provide more work training and salary growth that is three times higher than for workers in smaller, often informal, firms.

Apprenticeship and initiatives to train young people with skills that are in demand are effective ways to help disadvantaged youths access jobs in globally competitive firms.

“We must instill in our children that importance of obedience and giving of themselves, just as Ismail did, upon realizing the task that had been asked of his father. For it is only in this way that we can come together as one,” Hosein said in a message to mark Eid Ul-Adha, observed annually on September 1.

“We must promote the values of having a strong character in our younger generations and to all our fellowmen. Live above reproach and this way, we can progress together as a nation.” Hosein said Eid Ul-Adha reminded Muslims of the importance of obedience to the Almighty and one’s parents.

“This is a message that we can all draw from – that we have a duty to our younger generations to inculcate the ideals of sacrifice, hard work and devotion.” Hosein said Eid Ul-Adha commemorates Abraham’s unyielding commitment to his faith, such that he proved his willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail.

“Almighty Allah recognised his devotion and intervened, letting a lamb take Ismail’s place.

It is the holiest Islamic observance,” he said. “Every year on Eid Ul-Adha, the Islamic community worldwide comes together to mark the end of the holy pilgrimage, Hajj, and to give honour to the spirit of sacrifice which marks this celebration.

“For Hajj, we leave behind our worldly possessions to make our pilgrimage to Mecca. We stand together, men and women, as equals before God. And in so doing, we recognise and honour the great sacrifice that our forefather, Prophet Abraham (Peace Be Unto Him), was willing to make; and are able to reflect on the many ways we as individuals and collectively, can make sacrifices in our daily lives to demonstrate our devotion and do good for humanity.” Hosein said during this holy observance, Muslims are called upon to make sacrifices to the Almighty by dividing meat into three portions: one for ourselves, another portion for family, and a third portion for those in need.

He said this sharing represents the key lessons of Eid Ul-Adha – sacrifice, equality and charity.

Four mobile scanners were donated to Trinidad and Tobago by the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency in 2014 and Comptroller of Customs, Glenn Singh said on Tuesday that the final contracts were expected to be received from the agents by yesterday or today.

He said once the final payment is made to the dealers, their representative will be in Trinidad within days to assess the scanners. He was speaking during a visit to the Point Lisas port by members of Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on National Security. Committee member, Prakash Ramadhar expressed disappointment that the scanners were not yet in operation, pointing out that the instruction to have scanners installed was given since 2010.

Singh told the committee that 15 percent of all full containers imported through the port are sent to the Container Examination Station (CES) to be checked.

In response to further questioning, he said that containers may also be examined when they are being unloaded at the premises of the consignees so that alltogether 48 percent of imported cargo is examined by the Customs and Excise Division.

However, officials of the Point Lisas port said that 15 percent is high because at US ports less than five percent of containers are examined.

However, committee Chairman Fitzgerald Hinds responded that those were ports which are equipped with scanners and it is the containers which are red flagged after passing through the scanners which are sent for examination.

Explaining the reason for the visit by the committee, Hinds said that guns are entering Trinidad and Tobago and the intelligence services have indicated that the legitimate ports are being used to bring contraband into the country.

Two mobile scanners, essentially a vehicle with the scanner mounted on it, will be allocated to the port of Port-of- Spain while two will be allocated to the port of Point Lisas.

During a tour of the Point Lisas port and Customs areas at the North and South Terminals of the Piarco Airport, Hinds, expressed the hope that when the scanners are installed, the Customs and Excise Department would be able to increase the extent of scanning of goods imported into the country. However, a senior official familiar with the situation said he could not give any commitment that this would happen, pointing out that the mobile scanner is something new to the department and they would have to see it in operation and understand what challenges are involved before commenting on whether there would be an increase in the extent of scanning. He said once the units are put into operation the Customs Department might make a determination that the two mobile units are able to provide the hundred percent scanning suggested by Hinds or that more units would be required to do so.

The official said that officers of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency will work along with the local Customs officers in operating the units.

The final-year math student, reading for a BSc in Mathematics at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, is also the only contestant from Tobago.

She grew up in Les Coteaux, Tobago with her father, Glenford Wilson. While, she said, he was always there for her, he was never truly emotionally available. Her mother, Amril Melville, lives in the US.

She had two different experiences growing up. Living with her mother for five years, she was dressed up all the time as a girly girl.

Then living with her father who owns a garage and helping him scrap cars she was more of “a tomboy, scraping cars and wearing a jumpsuit.” Wilson who turns 24 on September 28, said about studying math: “I did math because it is what I am best at. I would like to become an actuary one day. I signed up for the CA (Certified Actuarial Analyst) certificate with IFOA (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries). That is where I would like to go in the future.” Wilson said she had always wanted to do some form of activism for child rights.

So when she realised, “I could not become a lawyer or anything like that…so because I realised that was not my nature. I felt pageantry would be the best forum to pursue activism.” While she is aware that she could have joined organisations in support of the cause, she felt entering the pageant would have been the best way to promote her cause.

“I feel pageantry would be the easiest forum for me to take over or have control or pursue my own personal agenda. Whereas simply joining someone else’s cause.” And that personal cause focuses on child neglect. “For instance, children who don’t have their parents around because, maybe, they’re incarcerated or, maybe, they’re too busy working various jobs. Or some parents just don’t have that innate love for their children and those are the areas I want to focus…” The cause has personal tones for Wilson whose father, she said, was always usually very busy and, “he was not the loving kind. He was not the family-oriented type of person.

He focused on work and I did not get to spend much time with my mother because she lives abroad.” Wilson felt she grew up on her own and wants to be the support for those who share similar experiences.

Although, she entered fashion shows from as early as six, Wilson did not envision a career in modelling.

She said: “It all began when I decided to start sewing. I went to designer Saleem Samuel’s store [work base] on Frederick Street to buy cloth and he asked me, ‘do you model?’ I said, ‘not really’ and he invited me to come walk in his show. [Monte Carlo] From there Saleem referred me to the franchise holders for the Miss Universe pageant and it began from there.” Although being relatively new to pageantry, Wilson hopes to do well, even win, despite having a lot of work to do in a very short space of time.

Growing up, while Wilson thought about entering the global pageant, it was more of “a fantasy thing.” “It was always a one day if I am lucky,” she said to the thought of entering the Miss Universe pageant.

Wilson believes while there are always things which need to be addressed in pageantry, she believes it provides and will always provide an avenue for young women to excel.

This year’s Miss TT Universe is scheduled to be held in October.

Ramdharine said 49 percent of the accidents over the last three years involved a single driver and his/ her vehicle. He believes that the drivers who travel alone are at a higher risk as they are more likely to fall asleep or get distracted and if left unchecked, the number of road fatalities will surpass that of 2016.

“The police service would like to see an enforcement of the laws by citizens,” said Ramdharine who quoted the number of speeding tickets issued this year alone to be 13,002. He also said that the highway and traffic branch alone have issued 21,606 suffix penalty tickets.

Road safety Coordinator, Brent Batson advised parents of students who are attending new schools to do a “dry run” of the unfamiliar route before school starts. He said that as the new school term begins next week motorists should be especially aware of the expected traffic that comes with it. He warns drivers to be more alert not just for themselves but for the people around them.

Police officers will be out there in their numbers to try to manage the traffic situation.

At the meeting, Deputy Mayor, Alderman Cagney Casimire stated “Issuing stop notices seem to be a challenge in the borough.” He added that buildings are being constructed with additions that have not been approved by the council and serving stop notices are important in taking action against owners. Building Inspector, Ian Murrell confirmed Casimire’s comments stating that residents and business owners are ignoring stop notice requests or simply refusing to come out to receive the notice.

Murrell stated that only four out of the 12 stop notices which were recommended to be issued were successfully delivered to the relevant parties.

Morris-Julian expressed her dissatisfaction with this figure, stating “Four out of 12 is unacceptable. It seems as if people are not taking these notices seriously.” She further stated that this called for the council to examine why the public thinks it is permissible to ignore an officer from the Arima Borough Corporation. “Accepting these notices are not optional, it is something that must be served,” she said.

Morris-Julian stated that she believes the corporation is being forced to pursue court action against lawbreakers in Arima. “We are ready to go to court. No one will get away,” she said.

She stated that both small home owners and big businessmen must be held accountable for their illegal actions. She said, “It seems if someone puts up a shed, we are there in the morning, but when it comes to big businesses there is a problem.” Casimire spoke of one particular business in the borough that has extended their wall onto the pavement. “On the side of Hearty Foods, there is a wall built straight to the end of the road, which allows patrons of the club upstairs to be received. The extension leaves no room for our burgesses, especially the students of neighbouring schools to use the pavements and on the opposite side there is a car park which is more dangerous for students,” he said. He called for a show cause notice to be issued to the business, as well as other businesses who are currently not upholding the building regulations of the borough.

Morris-Julian commended the Chief Executive Officer, Cheryl Sirju-Chong for her impeccable integrity and quick action which led to the arrests of two persons in a recent fraud matter. She stated, “The Arima Borough Corporation will not stand for corruption of any form, whether it is ten bags of cement or $100 000. It is not our money, it is the people’s money and we must treat it with respect.” She added that all arms of the corporation are working together to stamp out corruption.

This was disclosed Friday by Port-of- Spain Mayor Joel Martinez at the corporation’s statutory meeting, held at the City Hall, Knox Street, Port-of-Spain.

Martinez did not want to disclose the location and the cost of the homeless centre, and he indicated he would leave the announcement for Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, to make.

“We have had a number of discussions over the last couple of months on the way forward in dealing with the homeless community.

We have set up a committee to take us forward in proposing how we will put up a building to serve the homeless committee and to run it over the next couple of months.” He continued, “The committee is to chart the way forward and to develop structure and scope. Also, to develop a public private partnership between the stakeholders which are the business community of Port-of-Spain, the city corporation, and the government of TT.” He assured the public the project will work because the plight of the homeless has been around for more than 25 years.

Martinez said an attempt was made 25 years ago through an assessment centre at the car park, at Riverside Plaza.

“It has served its time and it’s now considered now not fully appropriate to serve the homeless. As we can see at this time, the homeless are spreading throughout the city of Port-of-Spain into all the suburbs. Hopefully this will be the start of a project that will see some light at the end of the tunnel.”

He said that while there was cause for celebration for this milestone occasion, he emphasised the importance of preserving children and youths to continue TT’s legacy of productivity and self-sustainability.

“This morning at the military parade, we heard the bands belt out the sweet sounds of Ras Shorty I, ‘Watch out my Children’ and the lyrics of this soung reminds us how precious our children are to the future of this nation’s progress. And I quote from Ras Shorty I ‘Walk cautiously children, be alert. Sober thinking leads onto righteousness and happiness is spiritual bliss.’” He further urged citizens to engage in deeper introspection, throughout their lives, citing TT’s long history of cultural diversity and cooperation, he said that central to any nation-building initiative was the mutual respect amongst citizens.

“We must generate a genuine appreciation for our nation and regard for the art of disagreement and yes it is indeed an art.

“Where differences of opinion are shared in an environment of mutual respect and objectivity. We are after all a callalloo of cultures.

Trinbagonians let us forge a better future for ourselves and our children.” During his remarks Carmona also extended his well-wishes to TT’s athletes, including paralympian Akeem Stewart and the national men’s 4×4 relay team, who recently won gold at the World Athletics Championship in London, earlier last month.