This assurance was given yesterday by permanent secretaries in the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, Jacinta Bailey-Sobers and Natasha Barrow, during a sitting of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) at the International Waterfront Complex, Port-of-Spain.

The sitting examined the operations of geriatric care facilities in the country.

“We could expect to get everything now within this fiscal (year) so that we could announce for the next fiscal that we will be doing away with persons having to come in (at social welfare offices to show that they are alive),” Bailey-Sobers said.

The permanent secretaries were responding to a suggestion by JSC Chairman Dhanayshar Mahabir that the practice of having persons over age 65 present themselves at social welfare offices to show that they were alive, should be discontinued because of the hardships it placed on them.

“We are looking at the 65 plus population, some of whom are institutionalised in care at homes for the elderly.

Many of them are living in their own homes and I would imagine, that of the 177,000 (persons in TT that are over age 65) over 90,000 – half of them are in receipt of the Old Age pension but there is a requirement that these people must make an appearance, whether once or twice a year to the Social Welfare Office to show that they are alive,” he said.

The independent senator, an economist, also noted there was a growing incidence of immobile persons over 80.

Mahabir noted the National Insurance Board (NIB) had decided to dispense with life certificates.

“Instead, they are substituting it with death certificates which are going to be issued from the Ministry of Legal Affairs to the NIB on a regular basis,” he said.

Still, it was a welcome gesture on Minister Cuffie’s part and after reading his comments, I am hopeful he can be relied on to indeed take this matter seriously.

A letter was delivered to Minister Stuart Young asking for his intervention since he did promise to address this issue last year. However, there has been no response to date.

I have written on numerous occasions regarding the banning of all incendiary devices and will continue to do so.

Scratch bombs and other outlawed devices hide themselves well within fireworks. I am bombarded continually with such devices with absolutely no recourse.

There will also be an escalation in their use over the Christmas season.

Appeals to neighbours go unheeded because people have a lot of disposable income, the permissiveness to do as they please without penalty, and they just don’t care __ a state/attitude that is reflective of many in TT ’s society.

Minister Cuffie also states that he would like to see the perpetrators in the video made responsible for their actions (if they are ever held).

I beg to differ. The perpetrators seen in the video have been given licence to commit these unlawful acts which have caused such serious and life-altering changes to Sally-Ann but which also extend to her family as well.

The fault and costs, therefore, lie with those in authority who have refused to enforce the laws of the land and give carte blanche to users of such devices. They are the ones responsible.

To Sally-Ann and her family, I urge you to do all within your power to work towards banning these unlawful devices and I wish you the best in having to learn how to cope and adapt to your adversely changed circumstances.

LEY-ANN SUI Chaguanas

In many instances, unfortunately, I plead ignorance to some of the matters being ventilated in the public because of the way in which some of Pan Trinbago’s business is conducted.

I am concerned however about the further damage done to the already tarnished image of the only grassroots organisation in TT — Pan Trinbago. I am already hearing overtones and undertones of a general clearance of the Augean stables.

The ex-vice president must know the very fabric from which the suit is cut. You can’t be swimming in a muddy pool for years and suddenly realise you are covered in mud. He again accepted the post of vice president at the last election in 2015.

Frankly, I don’t support the manner in which he is doing what he’s doing but I think the time is right to rattle some cages at Pan Trinbago. I think this impasse offers the necessary stimulus and catalyst for change that we must make in order to ensure a better future.

Because I am an eternal optimist, because I prefer to see the proverbial glass as half full and not half empty and because I see the silver lining and not the dark cloud, I know this impasse presents opportunities for immeasurable growth and benefits to Pan Trinbago through critical introspection and consultation.

I see a review of Act 5 of 1986, the Act which established Pan Trinbago. I see reform of Pan Trinbago’s constitution. Coincidentally, this responsibility was Byron Serrette’s for over four years and he failed to deliver.

I see greater involvement of youth, not just as pannists but at the administrative level. I see a better governance model in keeping with 21st century principles.

I see grater transparency and accountability in the affairs of Pan Trinbago.

I see greater involvement and investment by the private sector in the affairs of Pan Trinbago. I see a deliberate policy of industrialisation of the national instrument.

I see a financially sufficient Pan Trinbago not just depending on taxpayers’ money for existence.

I see a government with greater respect for the national instrument and acknowledgement of its responsibility to culture. I see a Pan Trinbago playing a greater role in the social and penal systems of TT .

I see a greater rationalisation of Panorama, greater respect for the pan players, the only indispensable resource in the whole equation. I see a one man, one vote system replacing the corrupt delegate system.

I see a more enlightened pan fraternity that realises that the administration of Pan Trinbago is best suited to a manager by profession or to a panman with these specific skills. I see a Pan Trinbago head office in Port-of-Spain on the site where the government printery was.

Out of a muddy pool, 10,000 flowers bloom.

GERARD MENDEZ via email

I was shocked and embarrassed to see garbage in the water. There were bottles and white bags in the water and I also saw soft drink bottles, food containers and candy wrappers.

We need to take better care of our environment. I saw dead fishes and even a dead rat. I felt very ashamed for my country and I remembered that there are lots of types of pollution which I learn about in Standard Two.

What I saw was water and land pollution.We need to be very careful with our country and help save our planet.

HAILEY LYSA ARJOON via email

There are enough acres of government owned lands doing nothing. We need two state-of-the-art prisons actually, one for females, one for males. The living and working conditions at the existing prisons have been described as deplorable. For whom and for what are we waiting?

Maybe the hope is that US President- elect Donald Trump will be too busy or can be persuaded not to follow through on his threat of mass deportation of immigrants. Meanwhile, back here at our own little ranch, the prisons we have need upgrading and rigorous expansion.

Should I extrapolate the number of TT citizens who might have migrated illegally to the US in the past 50 years and are all still alive? If ten TT illegals are arrested for each year, when we multiply we can expect 500 former citizens being repatriated with the rest of them coming back some years later.

Perhaps, if we wait long enough, the sky will fall down and there will be no necessity to plan for a future.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin ?”

He must give due credit to former prime minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar for all the hard work invested on the comprehensive and insightful law-creating process that commenced with the 2013 Budget statement of intent announcing the new regime.

There is no doubt that the Dr Keith Rowley administration, both on this occasion and previously, is piggy-backing on the excellent, incisive, international and domestically consultative- based Bills such as this Gambling Bill 2016 in order to impose a long-outstanding legal order and regime over the illegal proliferation of casino gambling and gaming machines.

The industry if unregulated can serve as siphon to foment and encourage money laundering, the financing of terrorist activities and other negative practices challenging the moral fabric of TT .

Although the then Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) was absent from the House on May 27, 2015, when the 2015 version of the Bill was passed with the requisite threefifths majority (26), it appears that the PNM has now seen the light of reason and judgment.

The People’s Partnership government did an excellent job. It bequeathed to the PNM a comprehensive legislative legacy geared to address this complex and demanding subject in spite of the self-centred objections now being raised by the casino owners.

These casino owners want to delay the legislation by sending it to a Joint Select Committee so that they can continue to exploit the current unregulated industry without paying the requisite licence fees and adhering to the stringent enforcement/oversight mechanisms proposed therein.

All the relevant bases of the industry have been taken on board including consulting international standards prevailing in several jurisdictions that will have the effect of attracting foreign investors in a nascent industry and contribute to revenue diversification.

I hope that this maverick, non-performing PNM Government can suspend its cheap arrogance and treat the Opposition with respect on this matter and others so that the latter can be persuaded to give its support to achieve the requisite three- fifths majority for the Bill to go forward to the Senate.

The Bill stops the current free-for-all that the casino owners want to perpetuate exclusively for their continuing partisan illegal group benefit.

STEPHEN KANGAL Caroni

But residents admitted they are now worried that the ongoing project could worsen the flooding situation if there is not a “proper opening” as it relates to the maintenance and cleaning of the drain.

“The decking materials remain under the drain,” said resident Harold Begg.

“Also, there is debris from the construction itself and the workers are about to put a concrete ceiling to complete the project. When that is covered, how can a person can go in to clean? Things could only get worse if the problem is not rectify now.” Another resident, Marlon Daniel, 54, suggested that an iron covering, similar to that which existed before, be placed as an opening over the drain.

“That drain is several feet in depth. When construction started, workers blocked the course to prevent water from entering the project as is normal for these types of work.

But rain fell causing flooding and some water and debris entered and is settling into the new project. I believe we need an iron slab to allow proper cleaning,” Daniel added.

Contacted yesterday, incumbent councillor Shanty Boodram, of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, noted that she relayed the concerns of the residents to a road officer and a foreman of the corporation.

Boodram said she spoke with the officials of the corporation on Tuesday and they indicated that they intend to work with the residents to determine the best solution.

“Give us a vehicle number, give us the residents’ names so we can serve them with papers and fine them.

We have done by-laws that are going through the process now to be proclaimed where we are going to demand that every resident have animal proof bins attached to their property,” Christopher said.

“The residents themselves are throwing garbage on the ground and you do this. We are going to continue monitoring the bin in the area.” Christopher was responding to claims made by Haig Street residents who called on the corporation to remove two garbage bins from the area. She said that last weekend the corporation removed 152 loads of garbage out of the region.

“Last weekend we did a major clean-up within the Carenage area, we worked on Friday from 3 pm until one the following morning. Ten am on Saturday till midnight and 10 am on Sunday until three o’clock Monday morning.” Christopher continued, “We have tried to educate the residents as to when to put out their garbage because it is only picked-up three times a week.

Somehow residents are not complying with the days the garbage is supposed to be put out and 95 percent of the time they are dumping garbage on the ground after hours when we do not have litter wardens and public health officers out.”

“The girls with whom we have spoken, sound quite youthful and one can’t help but wonder what circumstances led them to undertake this type of work. The phenomenon of human trafficking cannot be ignored in this scenario, with its horrendous element of sexual slavery; and it is ironic that while articles have been printed condemning and highlighting the problem of human trafficking, several pages ahead in the classifieds sections are ads indicating, for example, ‘Latin escorts service available’,” Jattan noted.

He said it was even more incredulous that these establishments have not been investigated by the authorities.

“The police ask for information all the time on criminal activity, but the advertisement of a certain type of criminal activity is right under their noses in a major newspaper with contact numbers provided. All kinds of questions thus arise in this regard,” he said, adding: “A routine call to the numbers listed in these ads reveals that for the right price sex can be provided with one or more persons, including males. The question which also comes to mind concerns the legality of these services, particularly the escort service, which is really just a code word for prostitution.

“Prostitution or the sale of sex remains an offence in the law books of Trinidad and Tobago, under the Sexual Offences Act 2000 (Section 19-24). What concerns Heswatt is how rapidly these ads have grown in number and the deafening silence on the part of civil leaders in this regard.” Jattan also warned of the risk of ill health, in the form of STDs, to young men and women, and called on the police to use their legal authority to investigate the services being offered.

He explained this is done on a needs basis. When Opposition Senator Wade Mark claimed Brooks was using a private vehicle, loaned to him by the NGC, and asked Khan whether he knew of this, Senate President Christine Kangaloo told Mark this was not a supplemental question. Khan also said current NGC vice-president (commercial) Cordelia Noel is paid a monthly salary of $107,000 per month while her predecessor’s salary was $106,809.

The Senate sitting was the first for new Rural Development and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein, as he took his oath as a government senator. Hosein took his new spot on the Government’s front bench and his first act as a Senator was to lay three papers associated with his ministry.

Hosein replaced Khan in this post on October 31, when Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley reshuffled the Cabinet.

As he was sworn in as a senator, Senate President Christine Kangaloo also noted the revocation of the senatorial appointment of Sara Budhu, who made way for Hosein to enter the Senate