“All 137 candidates filed their papers before noon. There was no problem,” Ford said. He also said there were no problems as well in submitting the names of the ruling party’s 137 nominees for aldermen at the EBC’s headquarters in Port-of-Spain yesterday either. He said all of the PNM’s candidates are “very excited” and determined to bring the election home for the party. “We are on the road,” Ford declared.

The PNM’s election bandwagon will be at Market Square in Point Fortin tomorrow and then at Charlie King Junction, Fyzabad on Friday. Both meetings start at 7 pm with Prime Minister and PNM political leader Dr Keith Rowley being the feature speaker. Ford was confident the PNM would retain control of the Port-of-Spain City, San Fernando City, Diego Martin Regional, San Juan/Laventille Regional, Tunapuna/Piarco Regional, Arima Borough and Sangre Grande Corporations which it won in the 2013 local government election.

On the other side of the political divide, UNC chairman David Lee said everything “went well” for the party in filing its nominations across Trinidad as well as nominations for aldermen at the EBC’s head office in Port-of-Spain. Like the PNM, Lee said the UNC ensured that all its candidates were early in completing their exercises.

He said all its candidates and nominees for aldermen would have been presented last night at the party’s public meeting at Montrose Junction, Chaguanas. Opposition Leader and UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar was expected to deliver the keynote address at that meeting.

Apart from retaining its six local government corporations (Princes Town, Penal/Debe, Chaguanas, Rio Claro/Mayaro, Siparia and Couva/ Tabaquite/Talparo), Lee said the UNC was “very, very confident” of wresting the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation away from the PNM. Lee said he accompanied Persad-Bissessar to Sangre Grande on Sunday and the party is “heartened” by the response it got from residents to her visit. In addition, Lee said the UNC’s candidates have been doing a lot of work on the ground in the area as well.

He scoffed at a claim from the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) that the UNC stole its slogan of “send them a message”. Lee countered that other parties contesting the November 28 polls are basically “the PNM B team.” He said the only possible role these parties could play is to split votes in favour of the PNM. COP general secretary Clyde Weatherhead rejected Lee’s claim that the COP would not make a difference in the November 28 elections. “Nobody owns anybody’s vote,” Weatherhead said.

Saying the party’s candidates had no problems filing its nominations, Weatherhead said the COP is offering the electorate a blend of youth and experience with its candidates.

“This election is about good local government representation,” he said. MSJ political leader David Abdulah said Lee’s comment about other parties in the race being part of a “PNM B team” was “a total joke.” Abdulah said the MSJ had chosen the districts it will contest very strategically and November 28 will show who the joke is on.

The party is contesting districts in the Arima, Tunapuna/Piarco and Point Fortin Corporations.

ILP leader Rekha Ramjit said her party’s eight candidates filed their nominations for the UNC-controlled Chaguanas Borough Corporation “without a hitch” yesterday.

Declaring that the battle for control of this corporation will be “a three-way fight” between the ILP, PNM and UNC, Ramjit said she was confident her party will have “the same chance.” The ILP is only focusing its efforts on this corporation. Contacted yesterday, EBC officials said “up to this point the process has been generally smooth.” HUGS, PICONG IN T’PUNA It was a case of hug-up and picong as Deputy Speaker Esmond Forde bounced up a grinning former Speaker and Opposition Senator Wade Mark at the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) office yesterday, each backing their party’s nominees for the upcoming local government election, respectively People’s National Movement (PNM) and United National Congress (UNC).

“You ain’t get my permission to come in Tunapuna,” MP Forde (Tunapuna) teasingly told Mark, while Opposition Senator Khadijah Ameen looked on bemused.

PNM candidate for Caura/Paradise/ Tacarigua, Aaron Thomas, 28, said it had been a smooth process, as he keenly sought a second term to continue to work with Forde to improve the area. He saw his major achievements as a bridge built in Caura, painting public housing units, upgrading children’s play parks in La Goya, Peasetree, Paradise and El Dorado Gardens, setting up a jobs database, and emailing residents a schedule of garbage collection.

Forde hailed Thomas as “the young blood” called for by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Mark and Ameen (and former TPRC vice-chairman Roseanna Sookhoo) backed UNC candidates, financial adviser J-Lynn Roopnarine, for Curepe/Pasea and homemaker/activist Mary Mohammed- Moti, for Macoya/Trincity.

Ameen said, “All is well so far.

No major hiccups.” She said most of the party’s 137 candidates nationwide had filed nominations before 10 am, by simply following the process set out when they had previously met their respective returning officers for a dry run. She added, “I see interest from people who don’t usually participate in local Government elections. It is a chance to send a message to the Government.” She said people want roads fixed and garbage collected and a reachable councillor. Ameen said local government is not about “reform” but about people. “It is not the letter of the law but the spirit and the political will.” SMOOTH DAY IN SANDO In the southland, Nomination Day went smoothly as Local Government candidates filed their papers.

UNC chairman Lee boldly predicted that the Opposition party would win the keenly contested Sangre Grande Regional Corporation (SGRC) as well as make inroads in the PNM controlled San Fernando City and Diego Martin Regional Corporations.

“We are confident to hold our six (regional corporations) and I’m very confident we will win Sangre Grande, very confident that we will make some inroads in the San Fernando Corporation, we hold one district presently, I predict we will get four in total, hoping for five and we will make inroads in the Tunapuna Corporation, the San Juan Barataria Corporation and I predict that we will make an inroad into the Diego Martin Corporation and we will hold aldermen in that corporation,” said a confident Lee.

Asked whether he was worried the smaller parties, he said: “we are not because we have been doing our ground work and our voters are aware of what the third party can do and we have seen it in the last Local Government election in 2013 where the ILP did split some of our votes and so our voters are a lot more wiser and it’s about a twoway fight between the PNM and the UNC.” Lee, the Pointe-a-Pierre MP, described the nomination process as smooth with the party expected to have presented its 137 candidates at a public meeting at Chaguanas last evening.

“I want to finish my degree here, and go back and serve my country,” Saint-Herve declared as he emerged smiling from the courthouse .

Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh accepted a last-minute intervention by attorneys from the Office of the Attorney General, who gave the judge an undertaking that the Chief Immigration Officer would issue the 25-year-old student, from Port-au-Prince, a student permit so he can complete his studies in project management at Cipriani Labour College in Valsayn.

The judge granted the consent order made between attorneys for Saint-Herve and Assistant Solicitor General Neil Byam, from the Attorney General’s Office, who made an appearance in court yesterday.

The injunction, which was filed on Saint- Herve’s behalf and heard last Friday in the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, came up for hearing yesterday in San Fernando before Boodoosingh.

The judge commented that when he read Saint-Herve’s application, he was perturbed.

“What should be noted is that when the status of persons are called into question, proper legal advice should be sought,” the judge said.

Saturday could have been Saint-Herve’s last day in Trinidad and Tobago, as he had been ordered to leave the country on the grounds that no extension was given for his stay here. Attorney Gregory Delzin filed an injunction against the Chief Immigration Officer in which he invoked the powers of the judge to grant an order staying the decision to deport Saint-Herve. Boodoosingh granted the ex-parte injunction last Friday and immigration officers held their hands in deporting him to Haiti.

Saint-Herve had been in Trinidad since August on a three-month visa, attending the college and residing in Tunapuna. When he sought an extension of his visa, he was granted until October 4 and was told to provide certain documents. He returned on October 14, but was asked to produce a course outline of his study programme, as well as a letter stating the duration of his course.

In his injunction, Saint-Herve stated that when he returned to the Immigration Division on October 25, he was asked to hand over his passport and then placed on an order of supervision.

The student permit he had sought was refused. Saint- Herve was ordered to leave Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday last.

Yesterday, Saint- Herve walked into the courtroom accompanied by Kafra Kambon, chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee.

He seated himself in the front benches and when the case was called, Assistant Solicitor General Neil Byam announced that he was representing the State (Attorney General) because it had joined, albeit late, as a party in the matter. Immigration officers were also present in court.

Delzin told Boodoosingh that after consultation with attorneys from the Attorney General’s department, it was agreed that the Immigration Division would issue a student visa to Saint-Hevre, and, that is to be done by Friday.

Byam confirmed action would not be taken against the Haitian until further notice. The judge ordered that legal cost be assessed.

Justices of Appeal Gregory Smith, Peter Rajkumar and Charmaine Pemberton are presiding over an appeal filed by John Henry Smith, Barbara Gomes, Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj and Northern Construction.

Two days had been set aside for the hearing, however, additional time was given to the Piarco defendants to sort out some discrepancies relating to their record of appeal, which will now be heard over two days in December.

The Piarco defendants have complained of the former Chief Magistrate’s participation in the airport inquiry, alleging that he received significant financial and other advantages and favours from the then Attorney General and as a result his adjudication has been in contravention of their rights to be heard by an independent and impartial tribunal.

They have stated that the former chief magistrate should not have continued to adjudicate at the inquiry, especially since the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) had filed disciplinary charges against him.

The two had called on the Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls to step down from presiding over the proceedings in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court, prior to him committing them to stand trial.

Mc Nicolls refused to step down.

The unemployment rate at the end of the last quarter of 2015 was 3.4 percent.

In a release issued yesterday, the CSO said the information was based on data collected in the Continuous Sample Survey of Population conducted during the April to June 2016.

From a gender perspective, the CSO said that the unemployment rate among males increased from 3.7 percent to 4.1 percent, while among females, it increased from 3.8 percent to 4.9 percent for the same period. Compared to the similar quarter a year earlier, the data showed that the overall unemployment rate increased from 3.2 percent to 4.4 percent.

The registered labour force at the end of the second quarter was 640,900 persons. This represented a decrease of 1,000 or 0.2 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2016, the CSO said.

From a gender perspective, the release said, the decrease in the labour force was reflected among females.

“The data shows that males increased by 900 or 0.2 percent while females decreased by 1,900 or 0.7 percent,” the CSO said.

In addition, the overall labour force participation rate dropped to 60.0 percent in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the corresponding quarter in 2015 when the overall labour force participation rate was 61 percent.

According to the CSO, the survey data showed a decrease of 5,400 or 0.9 percent in the number of persons with jobs, in the quarter under review.

From a gender perspective, the number of employed males decreased by 700 or 0.2 percent while the number of employed females decreased by 4,700 or 1.8 percent. When compared to the corresponding quarter a year earlier, the data showed a decrease of 16,200 or 2.6 percent in the total number of employed persons in TT.

The refrain — that the unions should have been consulted, that the law demands a wage negotiation process and since the minister appears to have violated these he should be fired — is trite.

In this plantation driven by the rents from the energy sector, there is a shortfall in the country between the foreign exchange earnings, rents, and the demand for foreign exchange for imports.

Further, it is impossible for our private sector to increase exports or replace substantially imports in the short term. Hence aggregate demand for imports in the country has to be reduced.

Since the major demand for imports comes from the middle and lower classes — simply because of their numbers — measures have to be put in place to constrain and not increase this demand.

Increases in wages and salaries simply increase or maintain aggregate demand.

Hence, as the minister indicated, these have to be restrained, even cut to zero. Otherwise we will continue as we did recently with large increases and then have to counter them by devaluations of our currency, which will have other negative effects on the economy.

Still, a devaluation in wiping out the effect of wage and salary increases may also encourage or infuriate the unions/Opposition and can signal the start of a wage/ salary increase spiral and labour unrest.

We are in a recession in which we cannot spend ourselves out of by non-exporting activity.

The immediate option is to dampen economic activity onshore as the recession progresses.

However, the way out is investment (even in the recession) into developing exporting capacity and capability via the creation of a national innovation system.

MARY K KING St Augustine

The politics of race and class continue to blossom in favour of both parties when elections are called. The current climate suggests that we may be looking at a “slack in, slack out” model, where these two parties will take turns governing TT .

Conventional issues of corruption and arrogance tend to be traits that both parties use against each other when seeking office.

The call to save our country, the call for hope and change seem to dominate the campaign strategies of both parties as they campaign for the power and control of the Treasury. Those who vote hope things will be better this time around but are usually disappointed.

The PNM’s 2015 campaign was based on the massive corruption taking place under the UNC with a promise to bring the culprits to justice. The population took heed and voted for the other side of the coin which now appears to be more exchange than change with the recent Housing Development Corporation revelations.

The UNC partnership also campaigned on massive PNM corruption with Calder Hart and the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago to win in 2010.

To date the Treasury remains “burglarised” and neither side of the coin has brought anyone to justice.

How can we do the same thing over and over yet expect a different result? I refuse to believe that our population is insane but rather believe our population is choosing based on what is available. Political parties don’t win elections but governments lose elections and therefore the options available outside of the Government have the opportunity to be the most favourable options to win elections.

It is refreshing to see the Movement for Social Justice, the National Solidarity Alliance and the Independent Liberal Party all standing up to present options to the electorate.

The degree of their success will ultimately depend on their ability to convince the voters that they are the best political option in this local government elections.

The political analyst will say that we are designed for a two-party system but another party can emerge into the top two just as the National Alliance for Reconstruction and the UNC did in their time. The Congress of the People was heading towards the status of a major contender but surrendered to the UNC.

Let’s bring more value to the coin and welcome further political options to enhance our democracy.

RONALD HUGGINS St Joseph

Certainly they appear to have taken a back seat in the fight against crime, preferring to place the blame on the public for not bringing information to them, which incidentally is their job.

What is surprising is that they “will not continue tolerating these sorts (sic) of murders.” It is a shock to learn that to date the police have been tolerating such murders.

The citizenry must be wondering what “methods” are going to be introduced that have not been tried and failed before.

The country has heard these ineffectual statements before and are not impressed. The police should just get on with the job instead of making grandiose promises which they cannot keep.

The people are fed up of the badjohn talk with no action.

Stop talking and do.

KARAN MAHABIRSINGH Carapichaima

The really excellent young PNM Senator Sarah Budhu made way for the placing of that diamond of a man, former San Fernando mayor Kazim Hosein, as a senator and new Minister of Rural Development and Local Government.

Budhu came to my attention in the contentious 2015 general election when she made a speech on a PNM platform in St James. She said, and I hope I am not misquoting, the PNM would get votes like chilli bibi and beat the UNC. The PNM crowd loved her speech.

The chilli bibi talk resonated with me because when I lived abroad, nowhere could I find chilli bibi. I could find roti skins, chennet, TT beer and mauby in Shepherd’s Bush Market in London, but nobody sold chilli bibi.

The fact that Budhu is qualified and ambitious should soon see her gainfully employed.

The sojourn into politics would have whetted her appetite for serving her country.

Budhu is the new face of the politics in TT . A face that says once you are talented and committed to helping your community then there is a place for you in the PNM.

I hope to see my “chilli bibi girl” running for future general elections. Hopefully she will be again chosen as a senator until it is time to put her name forward to run for a ministerial post under the PNM in the general election of 2020.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin

Gifts of land were granted to the migrants and further grants were made to slaves who accompanied the migrants.

The only restriction was a religious one: migrants had to be Catholic. Blacks and coloureds benefitted in that they also came with their slaves and were granted lands.

Pierre Gustave-Louis Borde in his The History of Trinidad under Spanish Government (1883) mentioned that the fourth provision of the Cedula “grants the same privileges to black or coloured colonists but only one half of the quantity of land given to white colonists.” The lands given to the slaves remain practically the same.

Trinidad had a black and coloured slave-owning class. In fact, they constituted the largest slave-owning group but were not the largest slave owners.

Blacks were also owners of Amerindian (Tainos) slaves and contributed to the genocide of Amerindians in Trinidad.

Franciso Morales Padron in his Spanish Trinidad (2012) clearly mentions this. He wrote that “there was a third social element that the governor dared not go against, the Africans.” Men of colour and mixed ancestry employed Amerindians for work, but Governor Sebastian de Roteta dared not forbid them to use Amerindians as he had done with the Spaniards.

The reason had to do with the colony’s security. “A third of the island’s population was of African descent and they were the ones who carried the burden of the island’s defences.

If they were to take away the Amerindians from them, they would surely move elsewhere.” Roteta was governor in 1654.

The reality is that all races were subjected to slavery at some point in their history.

There were white slaves throughout the Arab Empire.

The Muslim invasions of south Asia also saw millions of Hindus subjected to enslavement.

In fact, this is being call the Hindu Holocaust.

One should not use a period of history, have a fixation with it and allow it to colour the present. A proper view of the past is essential.

The continuous control of state power by blacks in Trinidad has definitely created a dependency syndrome among blacks and this has spread to other sections of the society.

This has had a devastating effect on society.

KAMAL PERSAD Carapichaima

This was announced yesterday following a press conference by PSA president Watson Duke at his office at Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain.

Duke said the building will remain closed until Finance Minister Colm Imbert intervenes as it falls under Imbert’s portfolio.

“We are now calling on the Minister of Finance who have a lot of time on his hands, that he is joking about the life and health of workers, to make certain that workers of BIR and the Treasury Building are in a sound and healthy condition because the PSA intends to gather all the evidence against them and launch lawsuits in the name of these workers,” he explained.

Duke said they have advised workers not to work within the building, and the PSA will be moving to the other BIR buildings which include Queen Street, the Financial Complex, South and Central.

Duke emphasised that they are declaring zero tolerance where it comes to the health and safety of workers and workers have been advised to leave the building.

“The BIR, Trinidad House is now an empty building. All the BIR buildings that was once deemed unsafe we will be checking the buildings again to see whether they have comply fully with the law or not.

There will be zero tolerance when it comes to workers health and safety issues.” He added, “Both Express and Newsday published a full statement from OSA advising all employees that they have the right to refuse to work and a responsibility once the environment is deemed unsafe.” He said based on the evidence they have gathered, the BIR building at Trinidad House should not be occupied.

Duke indicated the PSA received a letter from a member of staff at the BIR complaining of a rat infestation in the building.

“We recognised that there are several violations even where fire is a concern and we have asked for a fire certificate, but instead they provided us with nothing but paint, new ceiling, a better air condition system, and they promised us that they would have worked on the issues via a joint health and a safety committee management/PSA.” He continued, “We have had three or four meetings which bore no fruits and as a result the management stopped all the meetings all together, and promised the employees of BIR will move into the new building earmarked in the Government complex.