If this cowardly act does not serve to galvanise the men and women of the Police Service to live up tot heir oath to protect and serve, then nothing will.
If this monstrous, foul murder does not motivate the Government to finally appoint a serious, professional police commissioner, instead of a month to month actor, then all our mothers are a risk.
TT now stands for turmoil and tragedy.
TYRONE EVANS Belmont, PoS
(2) The “high” levels of living in some quarters which has had a “demonstration effect” on those who may feel dispossessed.
(3) Related to item (2) is the clearly observed “discrimination” in the distribution of income.
(4) The general lack of opportunities for the poor, relatively uneducated and dispossessed.
(5) Failure by the properly constituted authorities to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country.
While all of these items may be indubitable, it is clear that we are failing to identify the “root cause” of the problem with which TT is faced.
I postulate that the “causes” identified above are but “spin-offs” and that the “fundamental” is the tardiness in the administration of criminal justice combined with failure to “attach” meaningful penalties thereto — a situation which, if not tackled at source, will continue to provide fodder on which criminal elements will feed knowing full well that, at the end of the day, they could either be freed at trial or even escape relatively unscathed.
At criminal courts, we have been witnessing trials lasting for as long as nine years and still not being completed. We must also appreciate that this is taking place at a time that this country is being “served” by a plethora of legal practitioners considerably larger than never before.
I therefore postulate that the major impediment to swift and assertive justice is to be found in the practices and procedures of our criminal justice system — practices and procedures which seem to encourage delays and filibustering in our courts. Are these related to the high fees and refreshers which our lawyers are being permitted to charge? The DPP has expressed his disappointment at the outcome of the recent Coolman trial, stating that his case was well presented.
It is also not surprising that the Chief Justice, perhaps out of frustration, has expressed the view that trial by jury (as we know it) ought to be abolished — a suggestion which has raised the ire of many senior lawyers to the extent that one senior practitioner has, regrettably, even reported to have mentioned the allusion of the possibility of bribery were trials by juries to be abolished.
Now let us examine briefly the matter of trial by jury.
Trial by jury is said to have had its origin in common law jurisdictions such as England and Wales and has found its way into former British colonies, in particular.
Its major features, which are to be found in the Magna Carta 1215 and Abolition of the Star Chamber 1641, respectively, were: (a) trial was to be by “respectable men of the neighbourhood” and (b) “no freeman can be imprisoned or deprived of his liberty except by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” Here, “peers” were responsible for finding the “facts” of a case while the judge determines the law.
It leads one to wonder as to the mechanisms in TT for selecting “peers” in a society where those most “qualified” to be jurors tend to find loopholes enabling them to avoid this civic duty.
Our citizens have been known to express surprise at the relative alacrity at which courts in the US have been tending to do their business notwithstanding the varying provisions in state and Federal constitutions. I suggest that we take a look at our neighbour to the North.
Furthermore, we could be enterprising by reviewing procedures in non-common law jurisdictions where, generally, courts comprise panels of “learned “ judges (numbering perhaps threefour) and lay people (also perhaps three-four), thus allowing a person prosecuted to be tried with an input by his/her “peers”. Let us be innovative.
ERROL OC CUPID Trincity, Tacarigua
The Met Office is projecting as much as 25 mm of rainfall according to a weather bulletin issued at 10 am on Tuesday. Chief Meteorologist Shakeer Baig explained that during last Saturday night into Sunday morning, Trinidad experienced a large amount of rainfall and the Met Office measured in excess of 75 mm of rainfall.
“As a result of the rainfall some of the rivers became really swollen and some low lying areas in Central Trinidad, the streams and drains were filled. We saw a system this morning called a ‘Trough’ and we issued the bulletin because the grounds are already saturated. The rivers are already high and with any additional rainfall there would be a quick run off and possibly more flooding in the country,” Baig said.
He also noted that over the next four to eight hours (on Tuesday) Trinidad and Tobago was expected to experience cloudy conditions with periods of rain, heavy showers and thundershowers. In a release, the met office stated that the activity is related to a low-level trough system. “Although the occurrence of heavy showers and thundershowers will be localized to some areas, rainfall accumulations could be in excess of 25mm. Numerical Weather Prediction Models indicate that heavy rainfall events are not expected to be widespread.” The release further stated that, “The additional rainfall expected today (yesterday), brings with it the possibility of additional surface run-off to already high water levels in the Caroni and other river Basins in central Trinidad.” The met office encouraged citizens in general, especially those residing along the Caroni River Basin and other flood prone areas are advised to be vigilant and cautious as they conduct their activities.
The release added, “Citizens can also pay attention to the media or visit our website at www.metoffice.
gov.tt/forecast for daily weather updates at 6am, 10am, 3pm and 6pm.” However, the release indicated that Trinidad and Tobago is not under any Tropical Storm threat, Watch or Warning, and will continue to closely monitor this weather event and will issue another bulletin if the situation warrants.
Nestle? Country Manager Michel Beneventi, provided a comprehensive presentation of Nestl?’s operations both locally and internationally detailing its export markets and the organisation’s upcoming plans for new product development.
He said, “Nestle? exports to 19 countries in the region and an estimated 40 percent of its total production is exported while 60 percent is used locally.
Nestle? continues to supports the local industry by purchasing fresh milk from farmers to allow for the production of our dairy products.” Senator Gopee- Scoon witnessed the company’s operations which she said indicates, “a clear commitment to providing quality products, investing in technology and innovation, developing and training of staff and caring about the environment.” Minister Gopee-Scoon expressed willingness and interest to increase collaboration with Nestle? Trinidad and Tobago Limited and the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association to promote business growth and expansion for local manufacturers.
She commended Nestle? on its support of local famers through the purchase of fresh milk and noted that, “the Government is particularly interested in developing the agro-processing/ agro-business sector which has the potential to increase its contribution to GDP by creating jobs and generating increased exports.” The Minister called on Nestle ? to look to new markets, be unique, continue to develop new products and advertise to remain competitive.
Dr Balgobin noted that the manufacturing sector continues to grow and to provide employment.
More than 1,700 students are scheduled to receive undergraduate and higher degrees over the two day ceremony.
In addition to Mahabir, honorary degrees will be presented to Earl Lovelace; Peter Minshall; Michael Anthony; David Boothman; Justice Anthony Lucky; Ray Holman; Winsford Devine; Angelo Bissessarsingh; the late calypsonian The Mighty Duke (Kelvin Pope) and sitarist Mungal Patasar.
The names of those who would reveive the honorary degrees were announced at a ceremony held by UTT yesterday at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port-of- Spain. In welcoming remarks, UTT Chairman, Professor Ken Julien said the practice of awarding honorary degrees had lapsed for a few years but was being reintroduced because the UTT felt it was important to recognise the contribution of the honourees. The graduation exercises began at 3 pm yesterday and was streamed ‘live’ online at www.u.tt while a statement from UTT said that the presentation of graduands will be made to President Anthony Carmona, who is Chancellor of the University.
This similarity arose from his question whether TT really did havve a society in the classical sense as represented under Section 53 in our Constitution which stated that the Parliament and the Government have a duty to ensure peace, order and good governance for the good of the country.
He said Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, who had been running a hard hitting below-the belt-campaign against Democrat representative and a former first lady of the US Hillary Clinton, knew that substantial sections of the American community had lost faith in their institutions, had lost confidence. The campaign has been rife with accusations from email scandals to sexual slander.
“They are filled with fear and frustration and he has come in with some slogans and positions that perhaps quite surprisingly have attracted thousands of people across the US. You can make a moral judgement, but politically it has been a strategic move that when your institutions fail, it leaves for awakening our prejudices, fears and frustrations and mobilise these things into the political arena,” he said.
Deosaran was the feature speaker yesterday at a Port-of-Spain Rotary luncheon, Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook.
He said many people were predicting that Clinton was the better choice for president but seeing early figures, and knowing how politics worked, it would be of no surprise if Trump won.
“If he does win it will tell us an interesting story about democratic politics and what happens when a national community begins to be fearful and to feel frustrated.
Any number can play. On the other hand, Hillary is promising and expressing hopes, so it is really a clash between two worlds of the democratic community. “But, whether Trump loses it will be hard evidence as to what happens to a national community when the institutions lose public confidence and faith. It is therefore a warning sign, a mild optimism that we can do better,” Deosaran said.
He said while all other institutions in TT were subsidiary in implementing the constitutional pledge, at the same time what we had in the society was a betrayal and a subversion of the core backbone values that keep a country together.
“Amongst those values are the respect for personal safety, private property, civility in public life… all those values are now broken and fractured. I am making these remarks not out feelings of despair, but of hope that we can change the course that country seems to be heading towards, he said.
Deosaran said there were several public safety institutions in TT– the Judiciary, Police Service, Prisons Service, Director of Public Prosecutions, Police Service and Public Service Commission, even the Teachers Service Commission –but these institutions had become broken for many years. “If our public safety institutions, critical as they are, the fractures and ineffectiveness for several reasons are quite pervasive, we have to ask, as citizens, do we really have a society.
“When you have these vacuums in a society it leaves room for demagoguery, vigilante purposes where every man feels he must take care of himself and family in ways that are not completely legal giving rise to vigilantism. Sometimes I wonder if the shootings and killings we are witnessing on a daily basis are really revenge killings, and the loss of faith and confidence in the institutions that look after victims and people who feel injured by perpetrators of one kind or the other,” Deosaran said.
Ramsumir was picked up by taxi driver, Wayne Paul, at her home and was on her way to the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission’s Customer Service Centre on Cipero Street to pay her latest bill. But while driving along the M2 Ring Road, Paul’s Nissan Almera crashed into a pickup van and Ramsumir was killed. Paul and the driver of the pick up truck sustained minor injuries.
According to Ramsumir’s sister, Snowie Bharath, she got news of her sister’s passing from a neighbour whose husband worked for the wrecking company that removed the crashed cars from the scene of the accident.
“She came and tell me that my sister died. I was so shocked.
I could not believe that my sister had passed away.” Bharath said that her sister was the youngest of a clan of five who all grew up on GP Road together. “Two of our brothers passed already, so now is me and my next sister upstairs.” Ramsumir was remembered by Bharath as “a very kind person who was very faithful in the Lord. She was always going to church right down the road in the Christ Recruiter Assembly Church.” According to Bharath, Ramsumir lived alone and survived on social welfare.
Marking his first week in the post on Tuesday, Khan acknowledged that government was facing the “perfect storm” regarding the energy sector, a trifecta of low energy production, low commodity prices and an inability to match domestic supply with demand for natural gas.
In fact, Khan identified resolving the gas curtailment issue as his number one priority, during his speech as the keynote speaker at AmCham’s HSSE 20th anniversary conference.
“There is a one bcf deficit between current supply and official demand.
To compound this matter, with the reduction in supply on the upstream side, there is now a major conflict with regard to allocation,” said Khan.
His concerns were echoed by Nigel Darlow, the Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic.
“Atlantic is suffering badly from big supply shortages on a scale that we have never experienced before. In 2016, Atlantic has suffered over 30 per cent gas supply shortage,” Darlow said.
The Atlantic CEO projected that 2017 was likely to be worse, with predictions of shortages ranging up to 35 per cent. Khan’s solution is to incentivise the upstream producers to increase supply, though he did not say what form these incentives would take. He also revealed that the ministry was in talks with BP, Shell and BHP Billiton in terms of supplying more gas. He also said talks continued with Venezuela to finalise a cross border initiative to bring gas from that country.
The minister also said the “precipitous” drop in oil production was another item engaging the ministry’s attention. According to Khan, oil production in TT has dropped from 270,000 barrels per day in 1977, to 100,000 barrels per day in 2010, to 66,000 barrels per day currently.
“To boost oil production, there is no getting around dealing with Petrotrin as an issue,” declared Khan.
He acknowledged that Petrotrin was struggling with a number of problems including its massive debt profile versus small margins after primary upgrades, asset integrity and aging infrastructure and a lack of investment capital.
Khan said Petrotrin’s problems were further underscored by the fact that there could be no boosting of production without investment.
Low commodity prices, the third issue the new energy minister identified as a priority, was not helped by what he described as government’s “generous write offs” to oil companies.
He said while the situation appeared grim, as a geologist, he was an eternal optimist.
“The challenges we face are not insurmountable,” said Khan.
Khan said the country had all the resources it needed such as the presence of some of the world’s premier oil and gas firms, a large state energy sector including Petrotrin and NGC, stakeholders such as the professional bodies and the OWTU and that together, these could come together to draft solutions to see the country through this difficult period.
Everyone can tell a story about exactly where they were, what they were doing and who they were with the moment the heard the Soca Warriors had battled their way into history, becoming the smallest English speaking country to qualify. In an instant, the disappointments of 1973 and 1989 were liquidated.
Ten years on, it seems the team may be heading into the campaign for Russia 2018 without the name by which most Trinbagonians have come to identify them.
Another sort of battle entirely, has been quietly brewing on the daily sport pages, this time between veteran broadcaster, Selwyn Melville and head of the Trinidad and Tobago football association, David John-Williams. Melville claims he coined the phrase in 1998 and has been trying to be recognised as the owner of the trademark and to be compensated as such.
On the other side, various incarnations of the TTFA’s board, the most recent headed by John Williams, has just recently announced it is dropping use of the title.
Neither man would comment officially for this article, but the dispute may result in a potentially precedent setting case both in the way trademarks are administered and distributed and the determination of their worth that the business community may want to pay attention to.
For instance, an issue that immediately arises, is why didn’t Melville seek the legal protection for what he alleges is his intellectual property from the beginning? Like most business owners, Melville very likely assumed the goodwill of all stakeholders using the name. Moreover, the cost of filing trademark, copyright and patent documents at the IPO Office in this country are prohibitive, running into tens of thousands of dollars. He may have thought it could have been cheaper to deal with the name users directly.
Depending on the brand involved however, this could be an expensive mistake involving the years of court battles and possibly, loss of income.
The fight for the ‘Japs Fried Chicken’ brand comes to mind. The brand started during the commonlaw relationship between original business owner Nicholas Thomas and Bhagwatee Maraj. Maraj’s son, Darryl Mahabir, the current managing director of Japs, was eventually found to not have the rights to register the trademark, as the courts ruled Thomas still owned 50 per cent of the brand.
Readers casting their minds back to 2006 can probably recall that Soca Warriors paraphernalia was everywhere. T-shirts, caps, towels, key chains. Anyone holding the rights to the name would have owned valuable property.
How valuable, Melville himself gives a clue by demanding US$30 million from the TTFA for the use of Soca Warriors.
The TTFA is reported to have refused this offer.
However, checks with some football stakeholders reveal that the name could be worth as much as US$50 million or just under TT$350 million.
This raises two other significant issues: Why would the TTFA negotiate with Melville? Did it believe, as he claims, he was the originator of the name ‘Soca Warriors’? And given that they attempted to negotiate with him, does the TTFA have to compensate Melville for the use of the name up to this point now that they have decided to drop it? Has the name “Soca Warriors”, functioned as a brand all of these years, even though no formal attempts were made to make it so? The other question that surfaces is, is the TTFA truly laying down its claim? Checks with the US Trademark and Patent Office website show as of Monday November 7, five applications made for various permutations of the name “Soca Warriors” are still ‘live’ or active.
Why make applications for a trademark in the US that has not been yet settled locally? Is it perhaps time for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to intervene in this affair.
In this time of diversification talk, could the Warrior name as an official brand prove lucrative to the national coffers? Could licensing the use of the name in turn create profits for private sector merchandisers.
This was one of the main messages from Vivian Schiller, Editor-in- Chief and head of North America for Weber Shandwick’s Mediaco practice, during her presentation on “The Rise of Digital Media and its Impact on Mainstream Journalism” at a media workshop hosted by the Unit Trust Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UTC) at its Independence Square, Port-of-Spain head office this past Tuesday (November 8).
“The best thing that any manager could do, while you can’t necessarily give your newsroom everything that they want, is to allow room for experimentation where you can, even while we’re meeting deadlines. You can’t just turn your business model topsy-turvy but allow space for experimentation and celebrate those that are willing to take risks and give them that safe space to do that.”
“Beyond that, it’s tough for me to say because resources are limited. That’s why I suggest, if you’re going to cut (staff), the (way) to cut is not a little bit, a little bit and certainly don’t cut from innovation. Pick an entire area to stop doing and re-invest in other areas. The worst thing you could do is just sort of ‘nickel and dime’ your entire news organisation,” Schiller advised.
Media owners and managers the world over are struggling to answer the question, “How do you pay for good journalism?”
Noting that “good journalism costs money,” Schiller didn’t mince words as she told local media practitioners that “there is no one singular answer.”
She did however say that “the savviest thing you could do with your news organisation is to experiment with different forms of revenue.”
Encouraging the audience to “try different things”, Schiller said a lot of organisations are experimenting with community events that someone pays for or that “a sponsor wants to participate in – it doesn’t control the content but can participate in terms of the branding of (event).”
Others are experimenting with creating branding content newsroom. Schiller explained that this involves the establishment of an organisation, separate from the journalism newsroom, that creates “very compelling” content for brands.
“Who better than a news organisation at telling stories? You can tell stories with careful labelling to make sure that people don’t confuse what you’ve done for an advertiser with your proper journalism.”
Schiller also said donations or pledges, while not necessarily a big revenue source, can “add up to some money. So, diversifying your revenue stream is very, very important.”
Prior to joining Mediaco, Schiller was Global Chair of News at Twitter. In this role, she led the company’s strategy for news and partnership with journalism organisations and the news publishing ecosystem. Before that, she served as Senior VP and Chief Digital Officer for NBC News where she had strategic and operational oversight of the networks’ presence on the web, mobile devices and social media. Schiller also previously served as President and CEO of National Public Radio (NPR) in the USA, leading all of its worldwide media operations.
Drawing upon her past work experience, Schiller has come up with an eight-point “To Do” list entitled, “Waking Up to Digital Reality”:
1) Live where your audience lives;
2) Integrate your newsroom;
3) Put audience engagement at the centre;
4) Think about your brand experience off platform;
5) Experiment with different kinds of storytelling;
6) Diversify revenue streams;
7) “Do what you do best and link to the rest”; and
8) Always stay true to your mission.
Regarding point seven, Schiller said this is actually a quote from media commentator, Jeff Jarvis and that her interpretation of it is, “Don’t try to be all things to all people.”
“As budgets shrink, as you worry about resources, the idea is, ‘What can you cover? What can your news organisations cover uniquely, that you can ‘own’, that you’ll become famous for? That people will come to you and seek you out because they know you cover this better than anybody else?’ In terms of all the other news, link to, God forbid, your competitor, link to another news organisation or don’t include it at all.”
Point eight, ‘Always stay true to your mission’, speaks to the core role of journalists/traditional media – informing the public about events so that people can “make important decisions about their lives…based on facts” while listening to what your audience/the public has to say.
Schiller also advised media houses to brand themselves, since data shows more and more people get their news from social media, so that consumers know to turn to X newspaper/TV/radio station for coverage of a particular issue, community et cetera.
“There’s not a lot of data on news institutions here in TT, so it’s really hard for me to say, because an impression based on consuming your media for a short period of time is probably not very useful. I will say that I think there’s an advantage here in that it’s a small handful of news organisations and the country is small enough that it’s almost, in many ways, like a major city in the United States.”
Schiller added that “in some ways, local news organisations in the US have the advantage because people really want to understand and feel connected to their community as opposed to (say) the NY Times. (So) keep pressing the local…become indispensable to your community. Become indispensable. All paths lead from there.”
Another of the questions posed to the Editor-in-Chief and head of North America for Weber Shandwick’s Mediaco, concerned the importance of mobile web versus an application (app).
“The conventional wisdom is, mobile web is good for reach while mobile app is good for engagement – meaning, if you want to bring in new audiences, it’s important that your website is optimised for mobile, really effective, readable but if you want to bring people deep into your site and you want to engender loyalty, you need to have an app.”
Schiller disagrees with this, pointing out that much of this is based on data that shows how much time people spend on their phones on apps when in reality, “the apps that they’re spending a lot of the time on…are not news apps.”
“It’s Facebook, Twitter, What’s App and (this) is skewing the data to make it look like apps are a good idea. The fact is, people download lots and lots of apps but the ones they actually use, you can usually count on one hand. So I am a believer that unless you have lots and lots of money that you don’t know what to do with, that you don’t need an app. You need a really, really well-optimised website.”
Schiller noted that having a well-optimised mobile web experience is not just about responsive design. While “that’s absolutely critical”, she said media houses must also look very carefully at the data.
“Thinking about size, thinking about testing how people go from one story to another, making sure that you’re constantly making your app navigation as effective as possible.”
Earlier in the proceedings, UTC’s Executive Director, Ian Chinapoo, explained why the company thought it important to sponsor such a workshop.
“The rise of digital media has quickly emerged as the primary communication medium and this dramatic shift has transformed how media houses operate. What it means is that people now have a choice: ‘Do I continue to access traditional media or just go fully digital?’ Most surveys will show what the Millennials (the generation born between 1982 and 2004) want, and they are strident in how they want it delivered and packaged. It’s a whole new world out there. Breaking news and information are now just a click away and this trend has enabled our society to become involved and active in discussions. Digital media in an instant encourages comments, fuels debate and provokes opinions and dialogue, both healthy and unhealthy.”
Chinapoo asked what this means for mainstream journalists, before going on to provide an answer.
“Your key role as media remains to deliver accurate and unbiased news, to ferret out information, to probe, to investigate, to create and shape public opinion while strengthening of society. All this while maintaining your credibility. Media is a vital part of our democracy and acts as watchdog to protect the public interest. However, the challenges you face in strategising for the rise of digital media means you have to adapt. We are all part of this new digital phenomena and we all have to adapt or our very survival will be at stake.”
“The media is a vital and influential aspect of this digital age and must evolve to remain relevant. We are past the point of no return,” Chinapoo declared.
