“This is quite simply untrue,” Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young said in a statement issued by his personal advisor Cheryl Lalla. “The Leader of the Opposition in fact has been suggesting a tribunal be set up under section 137 of the Constitution which is in no way vaguely similar to the route that the Government intends to take by approaching the High Court to have the matter determined.

“Once again the UNC, at the level of its chairmanship, is seeking to mislead the population and the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.” In a statement on Friday, UNC chairman David Lee said the decision showed that Persad-Bissessar was right to reject a legislative solution to the issue of the 53 part-heard cases when she met on July 18 with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at Tower D of the Portof- Spain International Waterfront Complex.

Young, who is also the PNM’s public relations officer, said the party has noted the content of Lee’s statement with respect to the position taken by the Government and its approach to Ayers-Caesar’s outstanding court matters.

He said the PNM fully supported the position of the Government to seek the Court’s determination of this matter and “rejects the attempts by the UNC to falsely take credit when in fact all they are doing is once again attempting to fool the population.”

The league has been sponsored by BP Trinidad and Tobago since 1999, and its resurgence has been warmly welcomed by the community which always turns out in large numbers to support their favourite teams taking part in the male and female divisions of the league, round-robin and knock-out competitions. This year the competition is managed by Mafeking Superstars Sports and Cultural Club.

Joel Primus, Community Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations Adviser, BPTT, spoke at the re-launch of the league in April.

“The BPTT Mayaro Night Cricket League has always allowed communities across the south-eastern region to unite in a fun atmosphere.

It also presents a platform for young people especially to come out and demonstrate their talent in a friendly, yet competitive, environment.

Our support for this league shows that BPTT remains committed to the development of Mayaro and its citizens, especially through the investment in human capacity development in areas like education, culture and sport.” Playing a major role in the cricket league is the All Mayaro Sports Foundation, a community- based organisation, which has been charged by BPTT with the responsibility of guiding sports development in Mayaro and environs. Orchestrating the resurgence of the night cricket represents the first project undertaken by the group.

According to the Foundation’s Chairman, Bartholomew ‘Bunny’ Lynch, “It was great to see the return of the night cricket and this and the other sporting initiatives are a mechanism for the upliftment of the community.

There are myriad benefits, including the engagement and empowerment of young people, bonding of the community, and even a platform for entrepreneurial growth.” The league is also supported by companies operating in the community such as Hydro Tech Limited, National Energy Corporation, Shell Trinidad Limited, Laing and ZOR Services Limited.

Since the CoE into the Lock Joint sewer contract in 1956, we must have had over 50 COEs and I challenge anyone to produce evidence of any benefit accrued from even one of them. They were all costly exercises in futility.

Until we learn to elect and then appoint morally qualified, reasoning adults to high office we will continue to live with rum-shop politics and its twin sister — disastrous and extremely costly decision-making.

GREGORY WIGHT Maraval

Ryce and Rudder have raised a serious lesson for us and will force us to pay attention to our schools’ curriculum. They initiated a protest about the Vidya Maharaj social studies text which omitted mention of Emancipation Day.

Maharaj is the author of a series of social studies texts and is listed as having a teacher’s diploma and 33 plus years of teaching experience The author says that the Social Studies Made Simple texts were written in accordance with the objectives of the social studies curriculum.

But the point is that social studies in TT has a limited relationship to history. The Secondary Education Modernisation Programme, Secondary School Curriculum, Forms 1-3, Social Studies, published in September 2008 by the Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Ministry of Education, is a document with which we should become familiar.

Clearly, it has the input of the Inter- American Development Bank which is listed first in the acknowledgements.

The rationale states, “A primary purpose of social studies is to enable students to function comfortably in today’s society. Thus, the curriculum is not designed or intended to teach the discrete social science disciplines such as history, geography, or economics. Rather, it takes what it needs from such disciplines in order to achieve its aims and objectives.” In effect the status of history (as well as geography and economics) had been depreciated as a subject in our schools.

The other matter which has bearing on our history is what Shabaka Kambon and Dr Claudius Fergus are doing with the Cross Rhodes Freedom Project.

It brings to mind the significance of statues and monuments because the project is a campaign to look at how “we celebrate in our public spaces and rebranding these spaces with our local heroes.” Among other matters, the project seeks to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus from its present location behind the Roman Catholic Cathedral in downtown Port of Spain.

Clearly, Kambon and Fergus are following in the footsteps of Makandal Daaga, Khafra Kambon (Shabaka’s father) and others who during the 1970 TT revolution advocated for the changing of the names of certain streets and other sites to be more in harmony with our independence.

The Cross Rhodes Freedom Project parallels international movements such as the ones led by Cleo Alberta Lake from Countering Colston in Bristol, England and Michael Quess Moore from Take Em Down NOLA in New Orleans.

While our activists are concerned about Caribbean history, one person who doesn’t know his country’s history is US President Donald Trump. He needs to be told that the statue of Robert E Lee which was being venerated by the “alt-right” is one of 700 monuments to the Confederate cause which were built particularly during the Jim Crow and segregation eras and their purpose was to maintain the memory of white supremacists.

No wonder that since the protests and subsequent death of the young woman, Heather Heyer, certain cities and states have hastened their plans to remove Confederate monuments from public property.

Among the cities are Birmingham (Alabama), Brooklyn (New York), Gainesville (Florida), and the states of Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee.

We need to pay attention to our history lest we are condemned to relive it. The concerns of Ann-Marie Ryce, Akende Rudder and Shabaka Kambon must not become nine-day news items.

AIYEGORO OME Mt Lambert

That often seems to be the story of race relations, or more precisely, of racial perceptions in this rather small, multi-racial country. When you think we improving, we slide back.

From food connoisseur Anthony Bourdain’s interview with Mario Aboud-Sabga’s “one per cent” boast and his apology; the battling crosstalk by Israel Rajah-Khan SC, Lloyd Ragoo, Karan Mahabirsingh, Prof Theodore Lewis, Dr Kamal Persad, Capil Bissoon and Trevor Sudama; Gary and Gregory Aboud, with fiery reaction by unionists Ancel Roget and Vincent Cabrera and Steve Smith; with Prof Selwyn Cudjoe and Dr Winford James “defending” Roget; then the “seeking to calm” comments by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

And quite familiar with the “greasy-pole effect,” the inevitable newspaper editorials calling for peace. Regular contributors, Steve Alvarez and Dr Errol Benjamin, made touch-and-go comments.

Perhaps frustrated by now, my friend Reginald Dumas, like other notables, stayed out the greasy-pole phenomenon this time.

This panoramic name-calling is respectfully used to show how important and widespread this subject of race relations is to this society in its up-and-down struggle to achieve just one inch of its national anthem.

Opposing Roget’s one per cent boycott, Lloyd Ragoo, self-described “dougla,” stated: “It’s almost laughable when you say we (workers) must be prepared to take control.

We (workers) are already in control of all the wine and jam chutney/ soca bacchanal, already in control of all the river and beach limes that are saturated with alcohol, already in control of all CEPEP and other government ‘wuk.’ The Syrian/Lebanese community has been one of the major suppliers/contributors of our Christmas traditional needs,” (Express, August 17).

Citing several supporting texts, Prof Cudjoe sought to clarify: “The 23 unions that marched through Port of Spain on August 4 want to play a significant role in solving our economic problems.” In two commentaries, Dr James, too, examined the contributions by labour in the face of self-serving capitalism. He wrote: “Neither man (Ragoo and Gary Aboud) can see workers in a productive light. It is as if the mass of workers are on welfare doled out by the Syrian/Lebanese businesses.”( Express, August 17).

To which J Hadeed, giving a pro-business response, said: “Mr Roget should spend his time urging his membership to be hard working, productive, earn an honest day‘s pay, report environmental risks, and emulate the Syrian community for its family unity, its thrift, sacrifice and investment. My father came to this country when he was 17 years old without a cent in his pocket and worked 12 hours a day until he was 70.” The far distance between perceptions defies attempts to prove who is right or wrong. Steve Alvarez gave a more “easy to say than achieve” view: “In this land of wonderful people of many races, different faces and a callaloo of cultures, we have no choice to work together if we wish to overcome the global economic, social and political challenges that confront us.” (Newsday, August 17). But alas, every time you think there is improved harmony between the ambiguously defined races here, everything slides back – the greasy-pole effect. July and early August have been very hot with race relations here. But this is not the first time. Neither will it be the last – too much psychological resistance.

I recall sociologist Philip Mason’s early words: “As the Caribbean eased out of colonialism, Trinidad and Tobago remained muddled by tensions over colour, class and race and the hypocrisies that inevitably help to smoothen relationships and decorate the tourist brochures.” In his 1972 book, Aftermath of Sovereignty, David Lowenthal added: “The rosy image of multi-racial harmony, however, grossly distorts both the actual facts and the way they are locally seen.” Perhaps, Mr Bourdain’s interview–45 years later– confirms that.

The greasy-pole effect will be soon illustrated with “all ah we is one” speeches at Independence Day celebrations. In any pluralistic democracy, you expect contestations over space and opportunity.

But I ask two questions: (1) Do we go too far? (2) When will race relations and equity improve so as to achieve effective national mobilisation for social and e c o n o m i c progress of all? Or do we remain stuck with the greasy-pole effect?

In a statement issued by the Communications Unit of the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, last evening, the ministry said Crawford was listed as an individual in the United Nations 1267 (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List on Friday. Crawford’s listing came after a proposal was submitted by the TT Government to the committee established by the United Nations Security Council to review Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities.

Should Crawford wish to be removed from the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, the statement said, he or a representative may submit such representations to the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs.

Alternatively, the statement said Crawford or his representative may apply directly to the United Nations Office of the Ombudsman to petition his removal from the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.

On July 23, at NDATT’s annual general meeting he was elected president, along with a new executive, and intends to make the association the voice of theatre.

NDATT, which was formed in 1980, “aims to foster an interest, develop and help facilitate all aspects of the art of drama in Trinidad and Tobago; protect and ensure the freedom of expression for dramatic artists and promote all aspects of drama.” The previous executive, led by Trevor Jadunath, had been described as “dormant” in some media reports.

Etienne, however, said dormant was “a bit strong” as there was an executive in place but it was stymied by resignations and the migration of an executive member. He said the executive was still there and accessible.

He reported there was research taking place, including veteran actor Michael Cherrie looking into the establishment of an actors guild and the conducting of a general survey. He said they also attempted to have a Cacique Awards, an annual event honouring theatre practitioners, which had not been held since about 2010. Etienne was a recipient of a Cacique for his first full length play, Red House Fire back in 1998.

He described it as “unfortunate” that the awards were not being held as it represented and acknowledged excellence in theatre.

He recalled that around the time the Cacique was being held there was an exponential growth in practitioners.

“It left everyone in a state of limbo. We need to get back to that. Where the association and the profession reach the point where we celebrate excellence.” Etienne, who had been on the comedy circuit for some time and returned to theatre last year, recalled that he was part of the staging of the play Bitter Cassava and he saw excellence.

Regarding NDATT, Etienne said there was a disconnect and not a collective voice and it was the immediate task of the new executive to be accessible and “repair that bridge.” He stressed he was not casting aspersions on the previous executive adding that systems break down at times and need to be rebuilt and renewed.

He said there was a “nucleus” of young, strong actors who are largely without a platform and they need to find a way to “corral that energy.” He explained that the association must provide a space for directors, producers, actors, singers and stage crew to meet and discuss how to make their craft better.

Etienne said that he has been blessed that he is able to live off his craft for 19 years, adding that he has also embraced corporate Trinidad. He said there was a need for others who have been able to live full time as theatre practitioners to share their stories. Asked how many full time theatre practitioners there are locally, Etienne said it was difficult to say.

He added that a number of practitioners teach more than they practice. He said it is unfortunate NDATT has a virtual office and not a physical office space because it takes away from the “beauty in the tangible” of being able to sit across from someone to talk. He said along with creating spaces and education, focusing on communicating with the membership and finding out their needs was also important.

A strategic plan He said the most immediate agenda item is to get the executive on a retreat within the next couple of weeks and to come up with a strategic plan for the next couple of years. He stressed there will be tangible objectives and it will be informed by what the membership requires to offer them value for their investment.

Etienne believes they should have mandatory youth representation as he has “no intention of being president for life.” He said no one in the executive, which has a two-year term, was there for glamour and no one was being paid or will personally benefit.

“The people who derive the benefit is the membership. That is the way it has always been and will continue.” Asked about the size of the NDATT membership, Etienne said the financial members who voted were 120. He said, however, there is a larger group of non-financial members which they plan to pull back into the fold.

“I expect the number (of members) to triple in the coming months.” He said they represent theatre as a whole and default theatre graduates form universities and secondary school and people who take part in Best Village were by default their constituents.

“We speak for theatre.” He said when they address an issue it is not just for their paid members but it was about stimulating an industry.

On the setting up of an actors guild he said it adds structure for someone looking at theatre as a career. He explained that in any other profession you have clear definition of rank, remuneration and specialities, but currently people get qualified in theatre and then have to “hustle” .

“The guild would take the hustle out of this and have professionals earning their keep.” He said there was also a shortage of legitimate performance spaces and competition from other sources such as churches, government ministries and conventions. He explained that each venue has its particular issues in terms of seating and availability for bookings.

He said in the short term they have to “make do” in terms of spaces and focus on developing practitioners so they can then demand more spaces and better spaces. He also pointed out that every community has a community centre which are largely closed during the week and can be used as theatre spaces.

Etienne also spoke of a need for decentralising of theatre and to have more work in Central and South. He said they also have to look at the needs of Tobago and added that there was a tendency to forget the “Tobago” part of NDATT.

In terms of advocacy, he said there is a system in place where people get back 150 per cent of funding into theatre via tax break. He said with this people can invest in different types of work and not just what they think would be profitable.

He said, however, people were having difficulty in even getting information on the facility and as an association they have to levy these arrangements to add value to their membership. On the local theatre audience, Etienne said the crime situation was a factor but it was not the only one. He recalled that from 2008-2012, he started to see new faces and younger faces attending shows and he was informed that they learned about the events via social media.

He said the issue of attendance at shows was based on how it is presented. He explained there were producers who had built a clientèle over a number of years and their advertising has a certain tone which attracted patrons.

He said NDATT has to find similar ways to assist producers with their marketing plan and strategy and the use of non-financial resources. He added the strongest word is word of mouth and they also need to take advantage of social media.

He said there were “all kinds of theatre” taking place but an audience will only look into what they have heard about.

Etienne said his wish would be to open a newspaper and see a catalogue of theatre events including dance shows, musicals, plays by graduating students and consultations of working backstage. He also wished the standard would be high and people would participate at various levels.

The HSU recently initiated a student Health & Wellness Programme to complement the range of medical and mental health services available to the students, staff and faculty. All our services are free to students at UWI.

The Health and Wellness Programme is an initiative to promote the holistic health of the campus community. According to the research data, the presence of plants in the home and workplace significantly contributes to overall physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

In fact, multiple studies have reported stress reduction as a perceived benefit of contact with nature. It is clear that contact with nature has been shown to have a profound positive effect on various aspects of physical and mental health. Some researchers have identified specific relationships between contact with nature to decrease anxiety and alleviate depression.

At HSU, we are interested in fostering a healthier clinical environment by creating a healing garden with an assortment of herbs, medicinal plants and flowers, in front of the medical clinic. In July 2016, the HSU Therapeutic Garden Project received the support and commitment from Wilma Charles, president, Eastern Horticultural Club and its membership to “grow a healing garden at HSU”.

A healing garden is an age-old practice that promotes the purposeful interaction between people and the use of plants to improve social, emotional, psychological and physical well-being.

The term healing gardens is most often applied to green spaces in healthcare settings that are designed specifically to improve health outcomes.

What makes a garden therapeutic? Whereas a therapeutic garden is a plant-dominated environment designed for specific groups with special needs to facilitate interaction with the healing properties of nature. A healing garden is specifically designed to address the diversity of applications, and population with multiple needs within healthcare facilities.

Basically, a healing garden will incorporate features which include a sensory-oriented plant selection focused on colour, texture, fragrance, sound and will be accessible for everyone. The HSU healing garden will promote: • Stress reduction • Improved moods • An overall sense of wellbeing • Healthy lifestyles by shaping diet and exercise preferences The goal of the Healing Garden Project is to create a place of refuge and promote a sense of wellbeing among the UWI campus community.

The garden will be an open and welcoming space that encourages students to enjoy the restorative power of nature while studying on the planned picnic tables and benches. The HSU has involved a few student groups in the planting phase of the garden and its maintenance.

By utilizing the expertise and technical support from the Eastern Horticulture Club membership, HSU will be creating an outdoor space where students will take part in organic growing, learn about environmental sustainability, and create a stronger connection to the soil and soul of gardening.

As the Healing Garden Project moves forward into the final phase, we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the support and donations received from several sponsors including:
• Coastal Dynamics Limited

• Republic Bank Ltd.

• The Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries(Horticultural Services Division)

• Penta Paints Caribbean Limited • Lionel Seucharan, Tropi Mulch Ltd.

• Francis Jones, Outdoor Concepts – Decorative Pots
• Plants Phase 1&2 – members of the Eastern Horticultural Club
• Charmaine O’Brien – Delpesh
• Dr Hollis Charles
• Prof Emeritus Clement Imbert
• Dr Trevor Townsend
• Thomas Wallace – Wooden Bench
• Kerwyn’s Exotic Plants & Landscaping
• Kevon & Lisa – Livon’s Plant Shop
Please help us grow our HSU Healing Garden and contact the Eastern Horticulture Club to make a donation.

For further information contact the Eastern horticultural Club at 357-5033, 764-9125 or 720-2698 or easternhorticulturalclub@ hotmail.com. The club meets on the first Saturday of every month (except public holidays) at 3 pm at Moreton Hall, Aramalaya Presbyterian Church, Cochrane Street, Tunapuna.

For decades, we have failed to realise and understand that nothing can be done to progress our country if we refuse to work together and across party lines. This ideology of partisanship that our first prime minister, Dr Eric Williams established and entrenched needs to be abolished, along with the falsehood that he was a patriotic statesman.

And when I say work together, I don’t mean the recent publicity stunt qua meeting between a Prime Minister with no ideas, and an Opposition Leader with no shame. What I mean is that there must be meaningful dialogue and genuineness from all sides; all stakeholders; every single citizen; otherwise our country would remain completely and totally paralysed by politics.

Bi-partisanship is only impossible without sincerity. What the country needs is a sincere leader whose loyalty is to the holders of our passports, and not holders of party-cards. Every time I reveal my destiny of becoming the first prime minister to lead a bipartisan cabinet, the immediate response is always derision and scepticism because no one believes in that kind of “utopian” rhetoric. Trinbagonians believe that there is nothing more corrupt than politics and no one more dishonest than politicians; therefore anyone who follows a path of politics will eventually become corrupted.

I, however, strongly disagree and firmly believe that politics does not change anybody; it merely reveals who those people have been all along. Frankly, integrity constructed on solid foundation cannot easily be shaken because of power and/or wealth.

Too many of my compatriots believe that nothing can be done about the incompetence we have parading as governance for the past several decades. And too many people believe that the democratic dictatorship of the UNC -PNM system is incorrigible and that it is impossible to destroy because no one votes on issues– only party. I, however, have faith in the electorate. I have faith that a viable non-partisan option presented with the right leadership will transcend all biases that have, for far too long, corrupted our politics and our people.

The recent success of president Emmanuel Macron in France, and even that of American independent senator, Bernie Sanders, during the 2016 democratic primary elections has solidified my belief that this corrupt system can be collectively torn down by an enlightened electorate.

There is so much to get done and we are running out of time.

As mentioned before, the solutions are out there but the folks in our parliament aren’t interested in implementing anything that isn’t politically beneficial.

For dealing with crime and reforming the entire criminal justice system, we have endless research and personal knowledge from criminologists like Renee Cummings and Prof Ramesh Deosaran. For the economy and helping us diversify, there is no dearth of intelligent economists but we could start with Dr Roger Hosein for his views on what to do next. And for the other issues like corruption, infrastructure and public transportation, there is an endless supply of knowledge and opinions to use as a starting reference.

So even though the ideas are all there, it boils down to political will and the need for votes; who dares interrupt the corruption that runs rampant in the Police Service, Coast Guard, Army, Licensing, PTSC, Customs, Immigration and every government ministry? With a registered electorate of just over one million people, the potential votes from corrupt people and their families is a huge chunk of prospective voters, and there is nothing more important to any of our politicians than that figure.

Moving the Beetham landfill from being a welcome sign to our capital city and building new prisons are also necessary issues requiring urgency but both continue to receive resistance from residents in earmarked areas; however, making unpopular decisions is part of being in government.

Additionally, no government wants to implement contemporary legislation on employment and labour to replace the existing unconstitutional mess we call a labour justice system because who wants to lose the votes of the labour movement, which is estimated to be somewhere between 5,000 people and “the balance.” How long are we going to allow corruption, trade unions and criminals to run our country because of political paralysis? I think 2020 is a good time to turn over a new leaf. Remember, the paralysis of Trinidad and Tobago due to politics is still temporary but if we do not attempt to rehabilitate the system now, permanent paralysis is inevitable.

All relevant agencies and officials must immediately respond as they will soon be confronted with a real, undeniable, inexplicable and most intolerable example as occurred on July 21. Urgent redress is demanded. Be hereby warned.

COURTNEY BURNETT Sangre Grande