Maharaj also accused the operators of a farm of engaging in illegal industrial relations practices as some workers employed continuously for the past ten years, have been redefined as “short term employment’ and no longer entitled to sick and casual leave.

He said a worker had money deducted from his salary after he took a day off due to illness. “What is happening here is we are descending into an abyss of no return when it comes to labour relations in this country,” Maharaj said.

He displayed a memo titled – ‘policy re-payment to contract officers – head office’ which stated that workers classified under “Vote 22 – short term employment” are not entitled to sick and casual leave. He said workers were also informed they had to repay the ministry for over payments due to sick and casual leave for the period October 2016 – May.

“That is madness and will not be tolerated by the union,” Maharaj vowed. Regarding plots of lands still owed to ex-Caroni workers, Maharaj said the Agriculture Minister was being deliberately misled by technocrats in his ministry.

“I am disputing the Minister’s figure and I want him to ask the Commissioner of State Lands to show who are these people who received leases for agricultural lands and where they are, Maharaj said. “What is certain is that these lands are not in the hands of the former Caroni workers,” he said.

The teen was taken to the Homicide Investigations Bureau office where he remained detained up until yesterday. Sources revealed that the suspect was seen by residents in the area of the Bethel Church of God where Okera was murdered last Thursday. Police described the suspect as a nuisance in the community.

On Thursday, Okera left his Calcutta home to sell vegetables on the compound of the church. His mother tried contacting him by cellphone at 3.17 pm, but when he did not answer, she went to the church’s compound where her son was last seen. The frantic woman made a report to the Couva police and officers went to the church’s compound where they saw traces of blood. On Friday morning officers returned to the scene with cadaver dogs and found Okera’s body in the pond behind the church.

Up until yesterday the murder toll stood at 294 for the year.

In front of a boisterous crowd, Akil, representing PSL Cycling Club, rode an excellent final in the Points race, lapping the bunch with a lap remaining and gathered a total of 164 points to win the category. His teammate, Varun Maharajh, finished in the second position on 154 while Adam Alexander (Team Foundation) was third with 138.

Teniel (PSL) then followed in her brother’s footsteps when she rode a controlled event, also lapping the field on her own during the Points Race, to claim the Omnium on 178 points. Alexi Costa, representing Heatwave Cycling Club, dug deep to take second with just one sprint remaining, as she finished on 139, just ahead of Alexandra Bovell’s (Unattached) 136.

While preparing for his Flying 200M event, Quincy Alexander (Team DPS) had an unfortunate incident when his tyre blew out, seeing him crashing down the steepest point of the banking. Though he got back up and re-attempted the Flying 200m, his time of 10.64 seconds was way off his best at the NCC. Consequent to that, Alexander scratched himself from the remainder of the event.

Earlier in the morning, Nicholas Paul qualified with third fastest time of 10.39 seconds, following Kwesi Browne’s (AWCC) second fastest time of 10.36 in the Flying 200M event. Njisane Phillip took the poll position with 10.30, however, he too was scratched from the remainder of activities as he seemed to be suffering from a stomach bug.

In the semi-final, Paul rounded Browne in both rides to advance to the Final against the reigning Keirin champion, Keron Bramble (Sonics). The final was similar to Paul’s semi-final race where he easily rounded Bramble in two tactical rides to take the win. The young sprinter from Gasparillo punched to the sky with passion as he crossed the line and then acknowledged his supporters in the stand.

Kollyn St George of Breakaway qualified the fastest in the Women’s Flying 200M and made easy work of her teammate, Dominique Lovell, in the Sprint Finals. The tournament concludes today at the NCC and admission cost $20.

TT’s contingent, representing in the tournament held at the National Racquet Centre, Tacarigua, had mixed results on final day of activities.

Marcano’s first gold medal came when he got the better of his rival Dominick Scantlebury, trouncing the Bajan 21-19, 21-9 after two sets. He then joined forces with his partner Zion St Rose to defeat Suriname’s pair of Jason Chen and Kevin Karg. After losing the first set 21-15, the local boys came back in the following two sets 21-17, 21- 17 to take victory.

Getting the first medal for TT on the day was T’Shelle Barnes as she also needed three sets to surpass her TT counterpart, Amara Urquhart, 21-17, 13-21, 21-12 in the Girls Singles Under-11 category.

TT’s second gold came from Boys Doubles U-11 after Aditya Maharaj and Kiran Rampersad rallied past local pairing of Nadav Singh and his partner Jamahl Mason 21-12, 21-14.

Nathan King pulled off an upset, yet again in the Boys Under-11 category, as the Bajan defeated TT’s Nadav Singh in the finals 21-20, 21-9.

Singh did manage to get his gold, in the Mixed Doubles Under-11 category, when both himself and his partner, Sanna Guria, got past Kiran Rampersad and Amara Urquhart in the final 25-23, 21-10.

Travis Sinanan and his teammate Seth Mollah also got to taste gold in the Boys Doubles Under-13 division when they won their all- TT final against James Babwah and Nicholi Marcano 21-15, 21-9.

Sinanan featured in the final of the Boys Singles Under-13, however, he fell victim to his Surinamese rival Rivano Bisphan 21-18, 21-18.

Leon Cassie was unable to overcome his opponent in the Boys Singles Under-17 age group as Dominican Republican, Daniel Acosta, copped the CAREBACO gold after two sets 21-9, 21-9. TT lost out on another gold medal opportunity, in the Girls Doubles U-13 category, when Amara Joachim and Danae Mootoosingh were defeated by the pairing of Michelle Guzman representing the Dominican Republic and her Surinamese partner Melody Sjauw Koen Fa 22- 20, 21-16.

The CAREBACO tournament concluded last evening.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony for participants of the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-Operative Studies’ “Empowering Communities through Education – The Laventille Project” held on Saturday at the Laventille Community Centre.

Hinds said he was hearing complaints that Government was not doing anything for young people and black people but pointed out that graduates of the project are, “only youth.” He also said such a programme would require Government support.

Hinds said they were living in “extremely seriously dangerously economic stringency” and Government was “struggling on a monthly basis to meet national commitments to you.” He said young people and black people are benefiting from the programme.

“So you see why I have to reject the suggestion that the Government has done nothing for young people and eh (sic) doing nothing for black people.” He said that regardless of what is happening their priority is to meet the needs of those who want to educate themselves and people would not be denied education and training for want of money.

He said the second priority, even if they cannot pay public servants’ salaries, is to provide benefits to those in need like senior citizens through the Social Development Ministry. “That is the best evidence of a Government that is determined to look after those who have needs in the society.” Hinds said the programme will bring the graduates personal benefit and their families, the community and the country will also benefit.

“Good things do happen in Laventille and you need not be afraid (to come here).” The programme is the first outreach problem by Cipriani Labour College to Laventille. For ten Saturdays, participants – 50 at the start and 41 at the end – received foundation teaching in the area of occupational safety and health and also an opportunity to move forward to the next level of certification with the college.

College chairman Dr Roosevelt Williams congratulated the participants on “staying the course” and noted that some of the participants had signed up for programmes at the college.

He said that it did not matter what qualifications one came with but what matters is what they leave with.

Brachytherapy is the administration of radiation therapy directly into a tissue or a cavity.

The two most common types are the low dose rate (LDR) and high dose rate (HDR).

The centre previously offered the LDR Brachytherapy which required hospitalisation and patient immobilisation for several days to complete treatment. This new drug will treat and reduce the risk of the recurrence of different types of cancers, specifically gynaecological cases like cervical, endometrial and vaginal.

The equipment is automated, thus reducing radiation exposure to staff. This form of Brachytherapy offers advantages such as greater accuracy by using 3D planning over the traditional 2D planning.

Treatment times will be decreased to a few minutes versus a few hours, increasing patient comfort as treatments are faster and done on an outpatient basis over three to five sessions, instead of only inpatient treatment as previously offered with the LDR.

The patient waiting list will be reduced which can translate to improved survival outcomes for patients.

As the Director of the Black Agenda Project, David Muhammad, pointed out: “Especially since our nation is the most diverse in the Caribbean, there must be consideration and awareness for every heritage, identity, and ethnicity.

Therefore, any oversight would immediately disqualify the relevance of any such text.” And the Maha Sabha’s Sat Maharaj added: “we are being erased from the history of our nation.” Coincidentally, I was attending a conference on modernism in Amsterdam as this matter flared up on social media. In this city, the marks of Dutch colonial authority in the Caribbean remain visible, both in its multi ethnicity and in its vibrancy.

At this conference we were also debating ideas of exclusion and inclusion of Asian and African cultures, and in particular the visibility of disaporic cultures.

According to panellists, participants in a conference in Bandung in 1955 highlighted the fact that narratives of modernism and modernity centred exclusively on Europe and America. Yet, Africa and Asia deeply influenced the art of the 20th century. What is more, there has been deep transcultural exchange to the point where a new term, “planetary,” could be used to describe modernism.

One speaker noted that the Caribbean has been engaged in a transcultural process ever since the beginning of colonialism with the importation of enslaved peoples and the introduction of indentureship. Africans, Europeans and peoples of Asian descent had to make accommodations and society reflects these shifts.

According to one panellist Trinidad is a microcosm of such processes and writers at the early part of the century sought to record and examine the impact on society. Seepersad Naipaul, father of V. S. Naipaul, was used as a signal example. He reflected the interweaving of cultures originating in far different places, and the creation of new forms.

Trinidad’s culture has been described by Derek Walcott as “a babel, like heaven.” It is certainly a microcosm of the world in many senses. The interchanges and interconnections that exist within modern culture and society are everywhere evident in our society, both in terms of the arts that we call modernist and the fact that our writers and artists have sought to create something new out of this mixture.

Many of our writers have also examined how the memory of original cultures including Amerindian culture have remained imbedded in our collective psyche and become transformed into something distinctly Caribbean.

Wilson Harris the Guyanese writer and philosopher analyses limbo as an art form born of the journey from Africa to the Caribbean and the cramped conditions endured by the slaves, but also sees it as a spatial image of the Asian gods as well as of Christianity. He says we have to use these acts of performance as gateways to memory.

Caribbean history with its several ruptures demands an act of determined remembering and repossessing.

Further, at the heart of the heated debate about the exclusion of Emancipation Day and Arrival Day is the fear of devaluing ourselves.

As my friend the writer Niala Maharaj says, “The world does not take sufficient cognisance of the profound contribution of African peoples to the shape and rhythm of modern culture, notably in music, fashion and sport. Yet the icons of recent times are Obama, Bolt, Mandela and Mohammed Ali.

These men drew heavily on their sense of the dignity of their heritage and have redefined the physical and spiritual concept of homo sapiens.” Without a sense of where we came from, we c a n n o t move with assurance and value into the future.

The residents of Woodbrook and long standing members of some steelbands will be awarded at the event, that will be held on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, from Taylor Street to Colville Street on August 26, from 6.30 pm. As usual the annual event is done in celebration of the anniversary of our Independence and in recognition of our national musical instrument the steel pan.

But Allima Garcia, Corporate Secretary of the Association was a bit peeved yesterday when Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz stated in a television interview last week that Pan on d’Avenue event is part of Pan Trinbago’s calender of events for steelband month.

Garcia told Newsday: “Pan Trinbago have no involvement with Pan on d’Avenue.

It is a Woodbrook/St.

James Community Association event and we have been doing it for the past five years.” She said the members felt that their hard work to bring this event to the success that it has grown into, was undermined by Diaz’ statement.

The Woodbrook/ St. James Community Association (Association), is a non-profit Community Based Organisation that was formed in 2011 to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Woodbrook.

Garcia said: “Over the years and with the Government’s assistance, we have held several successful events annually such as the celebrations of Eid, Divali and Christmas, inclusive of a Christmas Toy distribution drive amongst others. Last year we had our very first Christmas Pan Parade and it was a huge success.

“In celebration of the Anniversary of our Independence and in recognition of our National Instrument, the Steel Pan, our Association has successfully staged five Steel Band parades in Woodbrook, from 2012 to 2016.” She added that the event is being dubbed the ‘Borough Day event of Woodbrook’ and is geared towards bringing out the residents on the sidewalks with a picnic like atmosphere, to enjoy the National instrument.

In the past the Association honoured unsung heroes including the first carnival king and queen Colin Edghill and Kay Christopher (2012), Steel Bands (2013), Steel Band Arrangers (2014), Steel Pan Tuners (2015) and Steel Pan Percussionists (the Engine Room) (2016).

List of Steelbands for Pan on d’Avenue VI.

South/Central
1. Pan Elders
2. NGC Couva Joylanders
3. Southern Marines
4. Tropical Angel Harps
5. Skiffle Steel

East
6. Super Novas
7. Republic Bank Exodus
8. Arima Angel Harps
9. Harmonites
10. Sangre Grande Cordettes
11. Curepe Scherzando

North/West
12. Phase II in Collaboration with Hadco
13. Bp Renegades
14. Witco Desperadoes
15. Massy Trinidad All Stars
16. PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars
17. Caribbean Airlines Invaders
18. MHTL Starlift
19. Laventille Serenaders
20. Brimblers
21. Harvard Harps
22. Defence Force Steel Ensemble
23. Fire Services Steel Ensemble
24. Newtown Playboys
25. Western Stars Philharmonic
26. Pandemonium Steel Orchestra
27. Blue Diamonds
28. St. James Tripolians
29. Laventille Road Police Youth Club

In a statement, WASA advised that from 8 pm on Friday August 18 to 5 am on Monday August 21, “there will be traffic restrictions along the O’Meara Road, Arima between Nutones Boulevard and La Chance Trace, to facilitate installation of new sewer mains.” The restrictions will be in effect as follows: North bound traffic along the O’Meara will be diverted onto Nutones Boulevard, then to Subero Street or Malabar Road, then back out onto O’Meara Road. South bound traffic will be diverted along La Chance Trace, then to Subero Street onto Nutones Boulevard to O’Meara Road Motorists are asked to slow down and proceed with caution; observe signs and barriers and obey the instructions of the Police Officers on duty.

WASA apologised for the upcoming inconvenience and thanked the public for their cooperation and understanding.

However, Jones, like Bishop and Ganga, can claim to be a Trini as her father was born in Trinidad, before migrating to England, where Jones was born on August 11 1972.

She played five Tests and 61 One-Day Internationals for Australia between 1997 and 2005 as a right-handed batsman and medium pacer, but has forged her name as one of the growing pool of female TV commentators, which also include Isa Guha (England) and Anjum Chopra (India).

Yesterday morning, following the conclusion of the Trinbago Knight Riders-Barbados Tridents encounter at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, Jones took the time to talk about her CPL experience, as well as her career in the media.

JOEL BAILEY (JB): It’s very rare you see female commentating (on) cricket, especially on the TV circuit. How it feels for you, as a trailblazer so to speak?

MEL JONES (MJ): It feels no different than I think the fellahs commentating these days.

We’ve had a wonderful change in the cricket landscape. We’ve had four female commentators at the IPL over the last three years. The Big Bash back home had Lisa Sthalekar and myself for a while now, and most of the T20 franchises as well. Maybe three years ago it sort of felt nervous and different.

But these days I feel like one of the team which is really nice.

JB: How does it feel in the CPL this year?

MJ: I’m absolutely loving it. We’ve heard about it back home.

Australians have always loved it when the West Indies have toured. It’s so much hype and energy about it. When the CPL started, it was something that everyone was quite excited about. Due to the time differences we didn’t get a lot of broadcast, we didn’t see a lot of it. But I know from the players that come back to Australia and the commentators, they just said it’s something really quite entertaining and cool about it.

Coming over here, with the crowd, the players, so many different factors.

So, to get the opportunity to come over and be involved in it, it’s really pretty special.

JB: When it comes to Test matches it’s strictly men (doing TV).

Do you think some day you’ll have women commentating in Test matches on the TV circuit, instead of just radio and print?

MJ: Yea, I hope so. I think at the moment, because the women’s game is so heavily favoured to T20 formats and the amount of games played, it’s been an easy transition there. We don’t play as many Tests. I’m hoping that, with the profile of the game at the moment, more and more countries will get the opportunity to fit Test matches in. That’ll mean more and more countries will be playing them and hopefully more and more commentators will be coming through.

JB: You’ve mentioned that you’re dad has West Indian roots…

MJ: Dad’s from Trinidad, San Juan. Unfortunately he (Richard Tyson) couldn’t come over (on) this trip. It’s always been a plan of us to come to Trinidad.

He missed it on this occasion but it’s really nice to be home in a sense. It’s really nice and the people have looked after me, taking me around. I’ve had doubles, I’m going to continue exploring the island more and more.

JB: When you were playing, did you see yourself one day giving back to the game in terms of commentary?

MJ: No, not a chance at all. I was a teacher.

I then worked with Cricket Victoria in development stuff, then I worked as an athlete manager (for) netballers and cricketers.

I never thought I would’ve got this opportunity but I’m very thankful I do have it.

JB: Finally, Melanie Jones outside of cricket and the media, how is she like?

MJ: It’s a lot of media at the moment. I’m pinching myself half the time. I’m travelling the world, watching some great cricket. Life is very, very good.