Stewart, confirming that he was receiving the award, said: “I will be receiving the Humming Bird Gold medal in Trinidad…I’m very happy because I did not expect that at all.” Stewart, 25, claimed two gold medals at World Para Athletics Championships in London in July, taking the javelin F44 title and then delivering a record- breaking throw in the men’s shot put F44 category.

In September 2016, Stewart broke the javelin world record twice in one night at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His first throw of 57.23 metres broke the world record set in 2015 of 54.77 metres, and the burly Tobagonian improved on his record- breaking effort with his final throw reaching 57.32 metres to win gold for Trinidad and Tobago.

“This will be my tenth year as a track and field athlete. The journey was very rough and it is still rough but over the years of experience I’ve gained, I learnt to keep pressing forward and try to excel in field events,” he told Newsday in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Stewart is also slated to receive the “Father of the Nation” Medal of Honour, Gold, alongside fellow Tobagonian Lalonde Gordon, a double Olympic medallist and World champion. The award is being bestowed by the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Committee on Sunday too. Chairman Reginald Vidale said Stewart and Gordon were being honoured for their stellar performances in sport. This award ceremony is expected to take place during a church service, starting at 10 am at the Deliverance Tabernacle – New Testament Church of God in Plymouth. Stewart said his sister, Wasame Stewart, will be collect this medal on his behalf, since he will be in Trinidad.

Relatives of Gordon are expected to receive his award since he is out of the country. Gordon ran a stunning anchor leg in the Men’s 4×400 metres relay final at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in England in August, helping the TT team win this country’s first ever relay gold medal at a major international meet.

We must therefore reflect on how this violent disposition is cultivated in our society.

I posit that such people result from poor socialisation to meet societal expectations.

Unless this deficiency is corrected urgently, the nation will be generating more criminals to replace those that are incarcerated.

The agents of socialisation include the home, the church, the school, and the impact of public institutions.

Among the obstacles we face is that some homes do not cultivate peaceful attitudes, and the homes that do are often challenged by the influences of peer groups and electronic media.

Although most religious groups are sincere, we cannot disregard the conspicuous consumption and self-aggrandisement of some church leaders who shamelessly parade their dubious doctorates and personal achievements on public billboards. To many of us, these churches, preoccupied with rituals, wealth accumulation and control, have lost all credibility.

I understand that education and schools function to develop the capacities and attitudes of people for harmonious living in a society, transcending excellence in algebra, chemistry, literature etc. By this criterion, our education system has failed. Our schools’ curricula ignore meaningful instruction in peaceful coexistence, conflict resolution and opportunities for legitimate personal fulfilment.

This can be better understood when we note that some major curriculum reforms have been supervised by teams of Canadians, and although we boast of three universities with schools of education, our own practising researchers are marginalised.

For example, do we prepare our students to become resilient to the enticements of criminal gangs and the drug culture? Should parental education not be taught in secondary schools in preparation for later roles? We need to reform our curriculum urgently to address the challenges in the reality of TT . But curriculum is not only about what is to be taught, but also about how things are taught. Despite the outstanding academic achievements of a minority, our teaching methods are ineffective for many students who have not been motivated to learn by the traditional processes of the schools.

Teachers need to put away the textbooks and design relevant learning tasks that require students to explore their country and community to find out how things are done; how jobs are created; the indicators of justice and oppression, and the hidden agendas that often underlie public decisions. They must learn to become outspoken critics of wrongdoing.

Another agent of socialisation in TT is the impact of the operations of public institutions on the people.

When members of the State apparatus use their power to marginalise the poor and disadvantaged, resentment results, leading to increased criminal activity. When elected leaders knowingly make false allegations, or when priority needs of the masses are ignored and money is spent on vanity projects to appease a few, you develop a setting for crime. In this respect, the Police Service is a powerful agent of socialising people into negative dispositions.

When police fail to prosecute those who break the law, people realise there are no consequences for lawlessness and become emboldened.

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil was trading yesterday at US $50.55 per barrel which, when converted to TT dollars, is $343.74.

Sagewan- Alli was speaking at a trade and economic development seminar at the Enchanted Gardens banquet hall, North Road, New Grant, Princes Town on Wednesday evening.

Saying she had been advocating for the diversification of the economy towards the agricultural sector for the past 23 years, Sagewan- Alli said the sector had been written into the policy documents since Independence without any significant progress.

“Caroni Green was engaged in a significant effort at producing citrus for export, but it was allowed to go to nothing,’ she said, adding, “This current government has not articulated anything about agriculture.

“In this industry you have suffered from a lot of old talk,’ she said.

“You have to respect yourself and you have to understand the value of the lobby.” She pointed out that as a “market lady” who shopped for her fresh produce at the Tunapuna market, she had observed that one lemon at the farmers market was retailing at $15.

And with the moringa plant now being hailed worldwide as the next superfood, she wondered where were the agricultural estates for both the moringa and the once-blooming citrus industry.

She also lamented that although Trinidadian cocoa was a fine-flavour cocoa which was a worldwide- accepted benchmark in the global cocoa industry, locally the industry was in decline, as the cost of producing cocoa was a deterrent despite high global prices.

Both mother and daughter were stabbed outside their South Trinidad home on Wednesday by a man after the mother petitioned the courts for a restraining order against him. Residents who assisted the woman and her child, later found the man in some bushes and gave him a sound cuttail before calling the police.

The man remains warded in a different ward at San Fernando General Hospital where his victims are also warded. Police said a decision was made to beef up security around mother and daughter and to also manage and limit the number of people allowed to visit them, after death threats were sent to the child. Police sources said that the death threats were made by associates of the male suspect who is handcuffed to the iron rails of his bed. The schoolgirl remains listed as serious but stable. The suspect was expected to appear in court next Friday when the case filed by the woman for a restraining order, was expected to be heard.

Police sources said that the man, when he is discharged from hospital, could face two charges of attempted murder as well as several charges of sexual assault against the child. The mother was stabbed in the chest and hand.

Speaking at a function at City Hall on Thursday night to commemorate World Day of Peace and make San Fernando a “Peace City,” Kokaram said the legal system which had been fostered on a people to resolve disputes instead served in most cases to exacerbate broken relationships.

“An adversarial system which sanctions civilised warfare between disputants. A system which has recoded physical violence for a far more insidious type of violence, of language which is socially acceptable and socially destructive.” Taking some responsibility for the system which he represents and symbolises, Kokaram pointed out that the system made it socially acceptable for someone to stop talking to their neighbour and instead send off pre-action protocol letters.

“It is a system which tells you don’t talk to your opponent, let your lawyers do that, conditioning you to remain in your private silos. impervious to alternative realities.” He cited real examples of family disputes between parent and child which had reached the court, and lamented the need for both parties to be respected and acknowledge each other’s importance in the family unit.

“Who is having that conversation?” he asked.

“Institutionally, the legal system as the force of the State compels people, orders them to do things. The force of the law legitimises violent acts such as the destruction of homes, the removal of crops, the laying of oil pipes in forests, the taking of a life.

“We live in an adversarial society. We have been conditioned to the view that to achieve peace there must be a war of attrition of rights. To achieve an increase wages there must be strikes, to achieve respect there must be inflammatory language, to achieve better conditions of life there must be protest.” His audience included San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello, Australia’s smiling policeman and Rotarian Geoffrey Bernard William Little, District Governor from Suriname Waddy Sowma, Basheer Mohammed, president of the Princes Town Rotary Club which initiated the commemoration.

Kokaram said simple issues had mushroomed into national controversies because of missed opportunites for working peace plans.

“The highway reroute conflict, the judiciary controversy, the ferry fiasco, the Couva hospital: all of these national controversies have mushroomed from simple desires to better the human conditions but that desire is now lost in our conditioning of positioning, leveraging, The judge knocked the celebration of peace in the face of humanitarian atrocities such as the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims, the Isis campaign declaring war against established order, the sabre-rattling of the United States and the North Koreans, human-rights atrocities in Venezuela and the violence which erupted in St Maarten in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, with groups turning on each other, “the proverbial man crab betraying the social inequalities that existed under the mascaraed of the island paradise in the Caribbean sun.” Saying the system was outdated and there was need for a new way of doing things, Kokaram suggested that peace be the centre of focus in a new paradigm.

“Instead of doing things to people, institutions should devise a way of working with people. Our jurisprudence and our system of justice should work with people and not against them, towards finding results which allows them to enrich their lives and not destroy it.” He said the system should be more human and more humane.

After the function, the audience, led by the cadet corps, joined in a candle-lit peace march around Harris Promenade, which ended in front of City Hall, where Regrello planted a peace pole to mark San Fernando as a “Peace City.”

He is to reappear in court on Tuesday, when the charges will be read to him by the presiding magistrate. Diaz was charged with false imprisonment, common assault with a firearm, shooting with intent, possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm and ammunition to endanger life.

Two officers – Cpl Ronald Ramdeen of the Malabar CID and Acting ASP Mervyn Edwards of the Northern Division – charged Diaz. According to reports, a man arrived at the O’Meara campus in a taxi with a 20-year-old female trainee. The taxi driver got out and went to campus security, saying the passengers had been arguing and the man had threatened to kill the woman.

Police were contacted and when they got there the man fired at them, and there was an exchange of gunfire.

The man ran into the school building and held a 17-year-old male student captive for about ten minutes. Cpl Paul De Leon of the Arima CID, engaged the suspect, persuading him to release the teenager and disarm himself

Rowley was confident that most of this country’s citizens are caring people .

However, he expressed disappointment at the uncaring attitude of some over Government’s proposal to waive immigration regulations to allow Dominicans to stay in TT for six months, as their country rebuilds .

In a television interview, Rowley said Dominica was totally devastated and its people need help .

“In that situation, TT has a duty of some kind to extend a hand of friendship and help…and I daresay caring…in so far as we are able to.” Rowley said this was a question of humanity and he believes most, if they are able to, would put their own personal reservations aside and try to help .

Rowley reiterated that if there were Dominicans who have relatives or friends in TT, who are willing and able to help them, “then we at the level of the State will not be an impediment to those persons’ way.” He continued, “We will allow them to extend that hand for six months.” Rowley said within this specific period, the numbers of Dominicans who may come TT will not be huge .

The Prime Minister said many Dominicans may choose to stay in their country and rebuild. He said those who choose to leave could go to other Caricom countries besides TT. “When I see people talking about political repercussions and who coming here to vote, I was disappointed,” Rowley said. He appealed to these people, “to not see race in every thing that we do in TT.” Rowley said the Immigration Act and this country’s treaty arrangements with Caricom, “allow Dominicans to come here by virtue of being citizens of the Commonwealth of Dominica.” He continued, “When they get here, they can ask for an extension and that extension can be granted.”

However, on a charge of giving alcohol to the girls, aged nine and 14 at the time, Senior Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan ruled that a beer could not be deemed a dangerous substance. Surajbally, 40, was charged with administering a dangerous substance under Section 36 of the Children Act.

Surajbally, a father of two of Lothians Road in Princes Town was charged with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of sexual touching and two charges of administering a dangerous substance namely a beer. The charges were laid indictably and Magistrate Rambachan held a preliminary inquiry in the Princes Town Magistrates’ court.

The State called eight witnesses including the two sisters. The children’s mother also testified.

Attorney Pamela Elder, SC, who represented Surajbally, made a no-case submission arguing the State’s case was not adequately made out to commit him to stand trial.

On the dangerous substance charge, Elder contended that alcohol could not be so deemed.

When the inquiry ended, Magistrate Rambachan deemed that the state had made out its case against Surajbally on all of the charges except the administering a dangerous substance charge. The accused was ordered to stand trial in the Assizes and bail of $300,000 was continued.

Magistrate Rambachan warned Surajbally to make absolutely no contact with the victims and/ or their family whether directly or indirectly. Surajbally was ordered to report to the Princes Town police station once a month.

Speaking at the San Fernando ASJA Mosque during ‘juma’ prayers, Sulaimani saluted Rowley’s stance saying people are duty- bound to help and especially those in the Muslim community, even if it meant people having to facilitate a family in Dominica in their respective homes .

“People do not have food, drinking water and their houses have been destroyed,” Sulaimani told the congregation. He called on Muslims to begin putting together their Zakaat to send to Dominicans and they must be at the forefront in initiating such a drive .

“Muslims must not be holy only during the month of Ramadaan .

What has happened to our neighbours, is a test for us. Or, it is a punishment depending how we look at it from an Islamic perspective .

It is public knowledge that some of these islands are filled with lewed activities, for tourists. They commit sin. But, it also serves as a test for us here, for we are not to blame others, but reform others using the best way,” Sulaimani said .

The mosque was packed to capacity and included Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein, former House Speaker Nizam Mohammed, Justice Robin Mohammed and retired judge Shahfeyei Shah .

Sulaimani said that the calamities that befall some, is a test of faith for those who have not yet been affected by hunger, thirst and the forces of nature .

“Nationals of this country must never lull themselves into a false sense of security, in believing the winds will not destroy us, for we are told as Muslims, to seek refuge from the evil of the winds and the very water which cleanse us.” With this in mind, Sulaimani said, Rowley made a bold declaration for nationals of this country to sponsor a family, relative or friend they may know who have lost their home in Dominica .

“That is why I salute the prime minister. Let us not play politics with this. The prime minister understands the effect on the one who gives, at a time, to the one who is in need.”

The event was filled with expectation and excitement as winners of the various categories and champions of the various disciplines that make up the games took their seats to be a part of this award function. Nikosi Mc Leish, feature speaker, reflected on his time as an awardee at a previous event and had this to say, “The bottom line is we came out and we competed and we are here to celebrate winners!”