Speaking at the launch of the website on October 22, Sizzleisland’s CEO and founder, Maria K Lewis, explained the history of the site, which she indicated has been in the works since 2011, according to a media release.

“Five years ago, when I produced the television show, Kulture Keepers, a programme which was 100 percent local in content, one of the biggest challenges I faced was sourcing the funding to showcase the programme on our local television stations.

Although I was fortunate to have eventually acquired the financing, I promised myself that I would strive to find a more affordable platform for my work in the future.

“Back then I played around with the idea of posting my production on YouTube or Vimeo, but I dismissed the thought because those sites are inundated with content from millions of people around the world.

I wanted a space where .the competition for viewership was much less, and a place that would celebrate the ‘Caribbean-ness’ of my content. That’s when I hit on the idea of having a site which would broadcast the talent of our region. My mind soon broadened to think about the many Caribbean film-makers, singers, dancers, musicians, jewelry makers, fashion designers, writers, spoken word artists, painters, culinary artists, graphic designers, beauty and makeup artists etc., who all possess a passion for their craft, yet lack the requisite vehicle to properly showcase their talents.

Sizzleisland therefore evolved to what it is now: a website which aims to showcase, promote and develop the artistic talents of Caribbean people,” said Lewis.

The website, which is both mobile and tablet compatible, boasts several features for budding and established artists: •Sizzleisland’s homepage portrays photographs of Caribbean artists.

•The Talent Search feature is a networking service that allows users to search for and communicate with one another.

•Sizzle Showcase “shows off ” the users’ talents through their video and music posts.

•Unleash! is Sizzleisland’s online magazine which highlights artists through insightful and entertaining articles.

•The Sizzle Entrepreneurs feature was conceived for users to earn an income from their creative passions.

This service offers the facility for users to advertise and sell artistic products and services of their own creation directly from the site.

•Sizzle Jobs was created for the artists who need to make a living, whilst they pursue their passions in their free time.

•Sizzle Funding is the site’s crowdfunding feature which enables users to generate financing for their artistic projects through donations from the Sizzleisland community.

• Finally, the website boasts a Profile Page section for each user to individualise as they please.

All the features of the site are easily available via this one profile page, which users can also use to market themselves.

“The overarching dream for Sizzleisland.

com is to create an online community of talented Caribbean artists…a space in which Caribbean people and the rest of the world can recognise, appreciate and celebrate the extensive mass of talent which exists in our region!” Lewis said

However, Isabel Brash’s hobby blossomed and her hard work has resulted in the chocolate maker and confectioner being a finalist in The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s annual Champions of Business Induction Ceremony in the EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year category for her company, Cocobel Chocolate Limited.

Brash told Sunday Newsday that being nominated was an honour but being a finalist was an even greater pleasure. She said she was especially surprised because Cocobel did not advertise much so most of its marketing took place through word of mouth. “I don’t know who nominated Cocobel, but I think it’s really cool that someone thought of us. It’s nice to be on people’s mind in a positive way,” she said.

This is especially the case because of the many challenges – physical, personal, financial, and organisational – Brash had to face during the seven years since she started the company.

For example, Brash admitted that at first she knew nothing at all about chocolate and had no one to advise her. However, after overcoming her ignorance, she had to face the ignorance of the public, who did not understand why her chocolates were so expensive. She then had to educate the market on the processes, which she did herself, including roasting the cocoa, shelling it by hand, grinding it for days, making the chocolate, pureeing different fruits, etc. “That too was a challenge because I am not a very social person. I love designing and creating but it was a lot of pressure having to talk about it,” she said.

Also, all the hard work took a toll on her body. She said she did not get a full night’s sleep for about five years after she started the company, and would fall sick from exhaustion, and even had a few emotional breakdowns during that time.

In addition, she said she only started to make profit in 2011 when she moved out of her mother’s kitchen into Cocobel’s home on Fitt Street, which she designed.

She was supported by family and friends who believed in her and invested in the business and her capabilities.

She also did not know much about the financial and administrative aspects of running a business but thankfully, she now has Crista Morgan, who assists with Cocobel’s organisation.

However, Brash believes Cocobel survived because of a combination of stubbornness, determination, pride and passion. “I’m talking about the kind of fiery, love/hate kind of passion… When you are in something and you know how important it is but it’s very difficult,” she said.

As the company grew and became “enriched with people,” she received further motivation in the form of her staff and suppliers.

Now that so many people were dependant on the company’s success, she knew that, despite the difficulties, she could not give up on it.

Brash noted that she gets her beans already fermented and dried from the farmers at Rancho Quemado Estate, Siparia. She stressed that the farmers were very important to the process because fermentation is important to the taste of the chocolate.

“I never underestimate the value of the raw product. Farmers who do an excellent job should be rewarded.

The beans should be paid for properly.

They should not have to make chocolate to make money,” she said.

Therefore, Brash is focussed on making Cocobel Chocolate a high quality product that is well presented and that can compete anywhere in the world.

Her dream is for Cocobel to be synonymous with Trinidad and Tobago. “I realised that it is something I can do for my country, something that can tie me into giving back. I want people to say, ‘I’m going to Trinidad so I have to visit Cocobel,’” she said.

THE INCEPTION In 2005 Brash returned to Trinidad after finishing her Masters in Architecture in London, to work with a local architectural firm. She had worked there for three years when business started to slow down. “I am just the type of person that I need to have something to do. I love just making things but cocoa popped into my head,” she said.

Brash told Sunday Newsday that, a few years before, she visited a local food festival where she bought a chocolate bar made from Grand Couva cocoa but made in France. She found it strange that the chocolate was not made locally, and she had never tasted chocolate like it before, so she believed the idea stuck in her mind.

Therefore, in 2008, she began researching chocolate on the Internet, learning about the bean itself and the different processes and reactions that would convert the bean into chocolate and its various by-products. “It’s like architecture.

It’s problem solving.

I loved the idea of making something from scratch.

I like to challenge myself in that way,” she said.

She noted that her initial thought was to make “pretty chocolates” for exhibition openings at Medulla Art Gallery, the building she was designing at the time.

However, as she shared her chocolates with friends and family, they, in turn, shared it with others. She began to get chocolate job offers and she did that part time while still working as an architect.

In 2009, the World Cocoa Foundation had its international meeting in Trinidad and the man who pressed her cocoa butter encouraged her to do a display, which she did.

Her father named the chocolate Cocobel, which means “brown beauty” in patois. She liked the name because it was something to which Trinbagonians could relate and wanted people to feel as if they to owned Cocobel.

“The international chocolate experts were very encouraging and helpful, and from then I realised I was getting deeper in this and that I would stick with it,” she said.

Soon after she was invited to work with Ali Khan of Hilton Trinidad, to do a presentation for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOG M), so that by the time she registered Cocobel later that year, she realised she was mostly done with the business of architecture.

TASTE THE MEMORIES Brash has created a wide selection of flavours from which to choose and most of them have a Trini flair. The idea, she said, is to invoke childhood memories.

Some of the flavours include Dark Sorrel with clove and cinnamon to evoke Trini Christmas; Mango Pepper because Trinis like to add spice to everything; Rum and Raisin because, while raisins are not from this country, the flavour is ingrained in our local culture; Ponche De Creme, which is white chocolate with nutmeg; a pineapple with chadon beni chocolate called “Mermaid’s Kiss” which reminded her of buying pineapple chow on the way to Maracas; and Felicity (cardamom and cashew), which evokes barfi and Divali.

She noted that she got the idea of her Guavas and Cream chocolate from a desert her mother told her about called guava stew with custard. “It wasn’t as if I was on this “go local” thing. I just thought it would be cool to use things from here. I thought, ‘I’ve never had a chocolate with guava in it before. I’d like to do that.

So I had to go look up how to make guava cheese,” she said.

“The brand just evolved that way. I realised I wanted to tell our story in a box – our culture and traditions. So that someone who eats it would relate it to a memory and experience,” she added.

The designs of the individual chocolates were also based on how she felt about the tastes she created.

She explained that the mango pepper flavour is “a bit wild” so she thought of Carnival, so the decoration is splashes of jab jab colours – blue, red, and yellow.

Recognising years of careful thought and hard work, the TT Chamber of Commerce finalists of the EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award also include Anya Ayoung Chee of Anya Ayoung Chee Limited, and David Thomas and Rachel Renie of Market Movers Limited.

The winner of the will be announced on November 12 at the Champions of Business Induction Ceremony and Gala Cocktail Reception at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain.

The former Cardiff City forward came off the bench to score a late equaliser before winning a free kick that led to the go-head goal scored by Darren Mitchell as 10-man Central FC escaped Police FC with a 2-1 comeback at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.

The win kept the two-time defending league champions ahead of the pack on 16 points, with rivals W Connection moving up a spot into second on 13 points following a comprehensive 4-0 win over St Ann’s Rangers in the second game of the Round One Match Day Six double-header.

Kurt Frederick scored twice in the first half before Jamal Charles and Andre Toussaint completed the comfortable Connection win.

Jones, who was sidelined for almost a month since being injured in a Caribbean Cup qualifying game against Martinique on October 12, had earlier on Friday been named by TT coach Stephen Hart in a 23-man Soca Warriors’ squad for forthcoming World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras.

The 32-year-old former England Premier League frontman, on loan at Central from Atlanta United, erased any doubts over his prowess ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifiers by heading Central level four minutes from time against Police, who had broken the deadlock seconds after Jones had entered play in the second half.

Police midfielder Kenaz Williams, netting for the first time since February 2015, gave the lawmen the lead on 58 minutes when his shot through a dangerous Andre Ettienne challenge clipped the defender’s leg to sail the ball over TT and Central goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams and into the back of the net.

It doubled the trouble for Central coach Dale Saunders, whose side were reduced to 10 men five minutes before the break after Kaydion Gabriel, who was booked just before the half hour mark for a high boot challenge, saw a second yellow from referee Keilon Bacchus for a tackle on Police left-back Nequan Caruth just over the halfway line.

But with four minutes left, it all went sour for coach Richard Hood’s team who suffered their third straight defeat.

Jones made it 1-1 when he towered in the Police area to head past his national teammate, goalkeeper Adrian Foncette, off a perfectly placed Jason Marcano.

Then, on the stroke of 90 minutes, team captain Darren Mitchell snatched the winner with his fifth league goal of the season. Jones was brought down above the area, Marcus Joseph unleashed a low freekick that clipped the wall, causing further problems for Foncette who was unable the stop the effort and Mitchell steered in the rebound from close it.

In the second game on the night, Rangers, who entered play on back-to-back wins and tied on 10 points with W Connection, were knocked out of the clouds by the Savonetta Boys, who picked up their fourth straight league win.

Frederick unleashed a rocket from 35 yards in the 35th minute for a 1-0 Connection lead after beating a fully stretched goalkeeper Cleon John, who had earlier denied Dimitrie Apai, Hughtun Hector and Toussaint.

Then from a similar distance after Toussaint rolled a free kick into his path in stoppage-time of the first half, Frederick completed his double to give his side a 2-0 cushion.

All fault of two Rangers’ players who allowed the left full-back time and space to position himself behind the ball before letting off another left footer that found the bottom corner of John’s net.

Connection completed the 4-0 rout with two more goals within a four-minute period in the second period, converted by substitute Jamal Charles in the 75th minute and Toussaint in the 78th minute, following crosses by Hector and substitute Alvin Jones, respectively, that Rangers failed to cut off.

In one incident, three men, believed to be involved in illegal drug activity were killed in a brazen, drive-by shooting in D’Abadie.

The men have been identified as Frank Joseph, his son, Kevin Plaza, 20, and Ricardo Singh, 38.

A fourth man, Roger Plaza, said to be Kevin’s uncle, is in a critical condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, while a woman, Debisette Noray, who was hanging out clothes on a line at the time of the attack, was shot in her leg by a stray bullet and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

The area was quickly cordoned off by homicide officers and a District Medical Officer was called to the scene.

According to reports, the men were at John Lane, in D’Abadie around 3.30 pm, when the driver of a unregistered, gray wagon drove into the street and pulled up alongside the group.

Police said two men armed with automatic weapons exited the vehicle and opened fire on the group.

The men, police said, tried to run away but were pursued by the gunmen and killed. Neighbours reported hearing as many as 50 gunshots.

Investigators are hoping to secure surveillance footage from a nearby house to identify the perpetrators of the triple murders.

CTV News reported that the grisly incident hampered a wedding in the area. The report said guests were only allowed to enter the area for the reception last evening after investigators completed their search for evidence at the crime scene.

In the second incident, yesterday, a 20-year-old Mt Lambert man was shot dead while liming with friends outside Williams Bar shortly after 2 am.

Reports are that Zachory Roberts was liming outside of the bar with friends even though the establishment was closed.

Police reports revealed the driver of a vehicle pulled up and fired shots in the direction where Roberts was standing.

He was shot but later died while undergoing treatment at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Homicide officers, who visited the scene, are continuing investigations.

Meanwhile, newly-appointed Snr Supt of the Northern Division, Mc Donald Jacob, who visited the D’Abadie crime scene, told Sunday Newsday he believed the killings may be linked to illegal drug activity.

Jacob, who was accompanied by Supt Sankar and Insps Birch and Gyan, said the police had set up a network in an attempt to retrieve the vehicle.

“This is totally ridiculous,” a visibly upset Jacob told Sunday Newsday.

“The TT Police Service will not continue tolerating these murders with impunity. Our intention is to take a more proactive approach to our policing.” He said the police will do what is necessary to stop the killings in Arima and surrounding districts.

Acknowledging that the murders will create some inconvenience and unease in the society, Jacob urged citizens to be tolerant as they take proactive steps necessary to stamp out the criminal element.

The murders came almost 48 hours after Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, back from a three-month vacation leave, announced to his nine divisional commanders last week that he was not pleased with the high incidence of murders.

Williams also had announced that he was going to be on the ground with his officers as the Police Service tackled head on the spate of homicides.

During his address at the People’s National Movement’s 46th Convention at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain, last Sunday, the Prime Minister said he proposed to take a direct interest in overseeing a comprehensive review of the way in which community policing functions are introduced within the Police Service, Rowley, who is also the head of the country’s National Security Council, also announced the launch off a Nationwide Crime Prevention Education and Mobilisation Programme to involve all sectors of the population in the fight against crime in TT.

According to reports, Customs and Excise officers Susan John and a male colleague, acting on intelligence information and accompanied by heavily- armed officers of the Inter- Agency Task Force (IATF), under the supervision of Snr Supts Rajkumar and Boxill, Supt Mohammed, ASP Daly and others, Port-of-Spain CID and the Guard and Intelligence Branch officers, went to the Pt Lisas Port at around 3.30 pm on Friday to examine the contents of a freight container on a trailer.

When the Customs and Excise officers opened the container, they initially discovered a quantity of plywood, but on further examination, found two blue-coloured crocas bags concealed between the plywood.

When officers examined the bags, it contained a quantity of US currency, which was verified as genuine.

Officers of the Financial Intelligence Bureau (FIB) of the TT Police Service were later alerted.

Sunday Newsday understands that it took officers several hours to check the US currency, which amounted to US$2 million And while this was being done, the police provided support to their colleagues from the Customs and Excise Division.

Reports are that shortly after 9.30 pm on Friday, the bags containing the cash were placed in an armoured vehicle and transported to the Customs and Excise Division in Port-of- Spain.

Sunday Newsday also learnt that, based on intelligence information, a similar container carrying the same amount of cash, was already cleared by Customs and collected by someone using false documents.

On Friday, the officers also discovered a quantity of false documents in the container where the cash was found but they are working on information that the container was in Jamaica and then moved to several parts of the Caribbean before it arrived in Trinidad at Pt Lisas.

This seizure has now prompted a full-scale investigation by the Customs and Excise, Police, Interpol, FIB, and regional agencies.

Sunday Newsday understands that authorities in Jamaica are to be contacted to assist in this high-profile probe while attempts are also being made to ascertain who collected the first container with the same amount of cash.

Leslie Moses, president of the Southern Caribbean Conference, told a congregation at the South-East Seventh- Day Adventist Church on Piccadilly Street, Port-of-Spain, that the brazen killing of one of its own, Felicia Dyer-Francis, outside of the church, last Friday, had sent its members into deep mourning.

He stressed, however, that the murder of the God-fearing woman, so close to a house of worship, gave further credence to the fact that “we are at war.” “For us, this is the worst thing that has happened and I am convinced, brothers and sisters, that we are at war.

That is my conviction,” Moses declared while addressing sullen-faced worshippers at the church’s Sabbath School celebration.

“So, I am not seeing this as something that has happened just by chance. We are at war.

Some of you live in war zones because everyday you hear bullets flying all over the place.

“Some of you have testified that you have to run for cover, you have to hide and that is the reality of living in Trinidad at this point in time.” Moses stressed the situation was not to be taken lightly.

“If you didn’t come to the knowledge, brothers and sisters that we are, indeed, at war, then I want you to understand that this is not a dolly house matter. This is not a kindergarten school matter. This is real,” he stated.

Dyer-Francis, 71, had attended an early morning prayer session at the South-East Seventh-Day Adventist Church, last Friday, which sought healing for the people of Laventille and other crime-plagued communities.

Hours later, at around 10.30 am, the woman’s limp, bullet-riddled body was discovered by police officers inside of her Nissan Tiida vehicle, parked outside of the church, after lawmen assigned to the Piccadilly Police Post heard several loud explosions in the vicinity of the church.

Dyer-Francis died while receiving treatment at the Port-of- Spain General Hospital – a victim of the very violence she had prayed would end.

The killing followed reports that her son, a police officer, had been receiving death threats from criminal elements in Laventille. Investigations are continuing.

Yesterday, Moses suggested that other members of the church also could have been killed in the violent attack.

“She was waiting on a member and if that member was there, she would have been killed too,” Moses said.

Moses said he learnt that the car of a male worshipper also was a short distance away from Dyer-Francis’ vehicle “but he was taking things out of his car trunk when he heard the gunshots.” “If his head was up….

Let’s suppose he had taken out his stuff and had gotten there just at the point at which that person came and he saw the person, he would have been killed too,” he told listeners.

“I am saying to you, then, that we are at war but also at this time, even though this thing has happened to her family, to her and to us, we still have much to be thankful.” To cope with Dyer- Francis’ sudden, violent death, Moses said a team of professionals from the church’s Southern Conference and associated associations, all of whom were present at yesterday’s service, will offer counselling to the church’s flock through a process referred to as Incident Stress Management Intervention.

Moses said Dyer- Francis’ death was not easily explainable.

“This is not something that is easily talked over. For a member to pass away is a traumatic experience but for a member to pass away at the hands of a gangster and murdered is quite another thing,” he said.

“For a member to be murdered on Preparation Day (last Friday), in front of the church, makes it even more difficult for us as a people.” Moses said, however, there was still hope.

“I want to suggest to you, today, that even though we are bruised and battered, even though we are run over, we, as a people, we will never be defeated. Nothing that the Devil does or attempts to do will defeat us.” Alluding to two recent incidents in which members of the church were violently attacked, one of whom was sexually assaulted and murdered during a home invasion, the pastor noted that none of the victims had the opportunity to prepare.

“It all happened suddenly, at a moment and for me the message is that this has to be a wake-up call to those of us who hold up ourselves as Seventh Day Adventists.” Moses urged listeners to do away with the laissez- faire attitude they sometimes project.

“You know this lackadaisical attitude that we sometimes have, the attitude that says que sera sera, whatever will be will be…We have to be ready because we are in a war zone,” he declared.

“We have to be full Christians, no compromises, no underground religion, we need to be firmly fitted on the shore of creation, Jesus Christ, Our Lord.” Moses regarded Dyer- Francis’ demise as “a time of personal revival.” “It could have been any of us and I want to encourage you to settle your issue with God,” he said. “You don’t know what will happen. You just have to be ready and when you are, if you have to be confronted with a situation like this, let it be that you are ready.”

Keston Perry, 29, spoke to Sunday Newsday yesterday from London where he began pursuing a PhD in International Development at the University of London, three years ago, on a Trinidad and Tobago (TT) government scholarship.

His studies at the university are for four years, but Perry told Sunday Newsday his scholarship from the TT government covered expenses for tuition and housing for three years.

In order to complete his fourth and final year at the university, Perry applied for an extension of his threeyear scholarship but has not received any acknowledgement from the Ministry of Public Administration which oversees the scholarship programme, both local and abroad.He said his telephone calls and emails have fallen on deaf ears.

Perry said, “If I list all of the times I contacted the ministry, this note will be too long.” The last payment he received from Trinidad was in May 2015, but that was a lump sum for expenses up until December 2015.

A graduate of Queen’s Royal College, Perry won a national scholarship in the CAPE examination and pursed a degree at the University of the West Indies.

The government granted Perry a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in Innovation/ Management at Newcastle in the United Kingdom.

Upon completion in 2013, Perry applied for and received an additional scholarship to read for a PhD degree in International Development studies which covered him up until May this year.

Perry said since May, he has been writing to Scholarship Division of the Ministry of Public Administration for the one-year extension but he has not been able to secure it.

He said, “Up to May, I was informed that my application was being processed, but since September, I have not received any communication.” Perry, whose aim is to return to his homeland and contribute to the country’s development, has been paying rent for his apartment in London from May to October out of his own pocket and with help from friends.

“Since then I have not gotten any word from the ministry.

“I do not know what is my fate, if it is that I would have to shack up (sic) my PhD for now and come back home,” Perry said. Perry has taken to social media network, Facebook, to plead his case, in which he has shared information from emails he had sent to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education as well as the Director of Scholarships since June 20.

Sunday Newsday contacted Education Minister Anthony Garcia who said he knew of Perry’s application.

Garcia explained that in order for anyone to be granted an extension on a scholarship, a note from the Scholarship Division has to be given to him to take to Parliament.

“No note has been presented to me to take to Parliament,” Garcia said.

“The minister, however, promised to look into the matter. This year, Government announced the Government Assistance Tertiary Education (GATE) programme will be scaled back with the introduction of a means test from the 2017 academic year, when post-graduate degrees will only funded if they align with the country’s development needs.

Also, from 2017 funding will be provided for one undergraduate degree and one postgraduate degree.

Bernard’s novel lawsuit against the Port-of-Spain City Corporation pit two competing interests against one another: the rights of the homeless, and the expectation of citizenry who have a right to access and enjoy public spaces.

Justice Eleanor Donaldson- Honeywell, in a ruling on the judicial review application of Bernard, said although the lawsuit failed on its merits it served as a “clarion call for urgent action to be taken by the nation to address the issues of the socially displaced.” In the lawsuit, Bernard claimed the homeless were adversely affected by the corporation’s decision to place locks on the gates to the square.

In December of last year, the corporation locked the square leaving only one gate open. The lawsuit contended that if this fifth gate to Tamarind Square was locked the socially displaced would have nowhere left to go.

Bernard argued that it was unfair to him and other homeless persons to be denied entry to the square without any alternative arrangements being made to accommodate them. He also sought to have the court make an order requiring the City Corporation to leave the gates open until viable alternatives are made for them and asked for tents and portable toilets in the square.

“In a society as small as ours these persons are connected perhaps by less than six degrees of separation from each of us,” the judge said. “Accordingly, this issue of street dwelling is a matter that requires urgent attention and it is a concern from which no member of society can feel absolved of responsibility. A nation’s greatness, according to Mahatma Gandhi is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” She dismissed Bernard’s lawsuit as he failed to show that judicial review was an appropriate remedy for the alleged breaches of his constitutional rights meaning the door may be open to an alternative form of action.

Bernand’s plea that the homeless will have no other place to stay if the last gate of the square is locked speaks to the inadequacy of resources to deal with the problem. The Centre for Socially Displaced at the nearby Riverside Plaza is overwhelmed by the numbers seeking shelter. It makes a valiant effort to help, but the manager recently lamented that people were now squatting on the ground floor.

This is a problem that requires political will. Little headway has been made under successive administrations.

Under the Patrick Manning regime, street dwellers were hauled out of the city in time for swanky international summits, only to return again. Then, the People’s Partnership Social Development Minister Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh tried an exercise of placing the homeless in rehabilitation centres outside the capital in locations such as Piparo. Former PoS Mayor Louis Lee Sing also cleared the streets in policing exercises but these actions faltered in court. Some persons were sent to St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital but most ended back on the streets.

The last PoS Mayor Kerron Valentine had promised a census of the homeless. This clearly must wait until after local election.

The San Fernando City Corporation recently banned feeding homeless persons on the city’s streets urging Good Samaritans to do so at designated shelters.

These plans are all well and good, but there must be partnership between all stakeholders, public and private, to find a longterm solution. This is especially so now with the economic downturn which is seeing out-of-work families struggling to keep the roof over their heads.

(Concise Oxford). After singing calypso and soca for some 20 years, Shadow felt compelled in 2000 to ask the crowd: “Am I ugly or what?” Last Sunday, when our Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, expressed “the need for community policing,” the words of calypsonian Shadow suddenly invaded my mind. Why? I will tell you lower down.

After winning the road march twice and backed up by popular opinion, Shadow got worried that there was no Calypso Monarch crown for him. Until the year 2000 when he sang a calypso aimed at pricking the judges’ conscience: The calypso: “What’s Wrong With Me?” Going face-to-face with the judges, Shadow asked: “Am I ugly or what?” A question not many of us – including Lord Brigo – dare ask. (Detailed commentaries on Shadow by Debbie Jacob, Caribbean Beat, Nov/Dec, 1995; Julien Neaves, Newsday, Dec 6, 2015).

Shadow’s “Am I ugly or what” was a protest against perceived injustice.

In his 1995 album, he sang: “Everything is over the judges’ heads, By the time they understand, I go be dead, And they still won’t understand.” Why I too am now asking, “Am I ugly or what?” In that same year 2000, when crime and murders were highly- charged political issues, the then government, through its high-profile, 12-member National Quality Council, asked me to prepare a book on community policing. That is, to explain what is community policing, how to implement it, measure it, evaluate it, and quite importantly, to train police officers how to do it. The completed book was entitled The Dynamics of Community Policing: Theory, Practice and Evaluation (2000, 217 pp).

I can’t sing calypsoes like Shadow or even Lord Brigo, but I can write books. So why I too feel like asking “Am I ugly or what?” In this evidence-based 2000 book, one of the 42 actionable recommendations made for implementing a nation- wide programme of community policing stated in part: “We strongly recommend a National Community Policing Week. While the police can help to initiate and develop the civic- mindedness required, it has to be clear to the national community that they too have a direct role.” (p. 206) This punch-line added: “During this National Community Policing Week, all the nation’s institutions (eg schools, police stations, ministries, and non-government organisations (churches, community groups, private sector, etc) will show support for community policing by a series of relevant activities such as poster displays, lectures, district marches, reading materials, concerts, conferences, etc. The prisons and juvenile institutions (eg Youth Training Centre, Police Youth Clubs, St. Jude’s, St.

Michael’s, etc) can participate.” It added: “Through this embracing occasion, the nation will be showered with the concept and usefulness of community policing. This National Policing Week will also help boost the police image and public confidence.

It will also be a culmination of a two-month high-profile policing activities across the countries (eg town meetings, etc).” The other 41 recommendations spoke extensively about training, citizen-police alliances, street signs, number plates, improving the system for citizens’ complaints, incorporation of municipal police and SRPs, a Professional Community Policing Advisory Board attached to the Commissioner’s office, etc, etc…Imagine how this crime-beaten country would have benefited if these recommendations were accepted.

However, at last Sunday’s PNM conference, Prime Minister Dr Rowley said, “billions have been spent on crime over the past two decades without the expected results.” Dr Rowley intends to discuss with the Minister of National Security the merits of embarking “on a nation-wide crime prevention education programme involving all segments of the national population.” Very good, that was already said in 2000.

He added that all school pupils and others will be given an opportunity to become involved and share their views and ideas in the search for solutions to this crime menace in their local neighbourhood. Very good, but that too was clearly said in 2000.

He added: community policing will be embraced more convincingly.

We are glad, but that pathway was already outlined in 2000.

So what we are hearing in 2016 are the same things said in the 2000 book – 16 years ago.

Why? Are we all that “ugly?

The Dr Keith Rowley administration, she said, was trying to save face with the announcement by Finance Minister Colm Imbert last week, but “it was since in June of this year, the IMF knew of this wage restraint and zero-zero offer.” The UNC held its first meeting at Fyzabad Secondary Secondary School to showcase the party’s candidates who would contest seats in the Siparia Regional Corporation in the November 28 elections.

Five candidates were presented to a large crowd of supporters.

Persad-Bissessar said, “So do we believe Imbert in this instance or do we believe the prime minister, that it was said in a vacuum and speculation, when it seems that the IMF that is guiding the policy of this government – the fiscal policy – they knew about it since June? We are now in November.” The former prime minister told the crowd that if they “google” (do an search) on the internet the topic “IMF wage restraint” for Trinidad and Tobago, they would see that it was since June, that such a measure was in the making.

She referred to a daily newspaper report, in which IMF’s executive director for Trinidad and Tobago, Otaviano Canuto, and his senior advisor Veronica Ramcharan, praised the People’s National Movement’s government’s “planned introduction of wage and hiring restraint mechanisms”.

Persad-Bissessar went on to say Imbert mistakenly revealed the Government’s plans, because he was showing off that he was “in charge”, while sitting in the Hyatt alongside officials from other countries. She told the crowd, “But mouth open, ‘tory jump out, and then when they realise ‘but wait, Colm, how you going to say a thing like that? We have an election in three weeks time, you mad?’ I am sure they must be tap up that poor fella, because if it were me, I would not have tap him up, I would have fired him.” Gestapo tactics? Persad-Bissessar then went on to speak on the lawsuit announced by Government on Thursday, against nine former State officials, believed to be from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) saying it was an attempt to change the conversation, and called on Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to remove the “shroud of secrecy” and release the names of the persons he said he had filed a lawsuit against in the courts.

Persad-Bissessar said, “They are going after nine persons, but they will not tell us who the nine people are? Why? Why are they operating with Gestapo-style tactics? If there are people you have allegations against, why don’t you tell the country? Is it to keep this thing as a shroud over the heads of everybody? Al-Rawi later confirmed a lawsuit was filed, but did not disclose information on the claims in the lawsuit, saying the matter was still at a sensitive stage, except the lawsuit involved matters of corruption, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duties