PHARMACISTS at the San Fernando General Hospital are upset with statements made by Health Minister Colm Imbert about the possibility of “leakage” and drugs “walking out of the hospital” because the pharmacy Department did not have a tracking system and control over inventory. In an open letter to the Minister, senior pharmacist Leaflet Ryan said his remarks have brought disrepute to the Pharmacy Department. She said morale has been bruised and reparation should be made. Last Friday members of the public were telling the pharmacist, “the Minister say all you thieving the drugs that’s why we can’t get it.”

Ryan said there is a system in place and the pharmacy has good distribution practices and an obligation of proper inventory management. She said the Minister does not possess a comprehensive knowledge of, and understanding of the daily operations at the Department and is deliberately misinformed or ill advised. She said detailed information about the department’s tracking and inventory control mechanisms are available upon request. Commenting on the current scarcity of certain drugs Ryan said daily communication between the National Insurance Property Development Company (NIPDEC) is about supply and demand “which is always inadequate and continues to be a thorn.”

She said this problem has always been around but this year is the worst. She questioned if this was due to the Chronic Disease Assistance Programme or because the end of the financial year was approaching and budgetary constraints are causing cost containment. Quoting the Minister as saying NIPDEC supplied drugs as requested by a senior pharmacist, Ryan said the requisitions were dated as August and not September 10. “It is true to say, the information you received from NIPDEC officials is inaccurate and knowingly misleading. An accurate documentation can be furnished to you upon request.”

A MUSLIM scholar who lives in the United States was detained for seven hours at Miami International Airport after a trip to Trinidad. Ali A Mazrui, 70, who has been a resident of the US since 1974, was hauled in by members of the Homeland Security and Immigration Depart-ments on August 3 and asked if he met with Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of the radical Jamaat Al Muslimeen in Trinidad. “I told them no, but that I did try to meet with him,” he said. “I said it is my business to know about Muslims because I teach that.” Mazrui’s story was carried in yesterday’s edition of the Washington Post. The story details problems from Muslims when they travel and return to the United States. The pressure on Muslims follow the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC. The article reports complaints by Muslims.

A delegation of 18 Yemeni citizens invited to Washington by the US State Department was held for five hours after arriving at Dulles International Airport while immigration officials questioned and fingerprinted them. The September 3 incident, during which one member of the delegation was handcuffed for half an hour, angered the visitors from Yemen, whose government has been a key US ally in the war against terrorism. “I was in shock. If things are going to continue like this, why should I come to this country?” said Yahya al Habari, 44, a member of Yemen’s legislature who had come to meet with senior trade and agriculture officials. Habari, who travels on a diplomatic passport  and has been to the United States dozens of times for his business  as an importer of US crops, said, “I’d rather import Australian or Canadian wheat and save myself problems.” Besides businessmen and legislators invited to meetings with top US officials, the Yemeni delegation included cultural figures participating in “Windows on the Cultural Heritage of Yemen,” a symposium held September 5 and 6 at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art. The event was sponsored by the Smithsonian, the State Department, the Yemen Embassy and the American Institute for Yemeni Studies.

The episode at Dulles is one of many recent cases in which Muslim air travellers have complained of being subjected to lengthy delays and sometimes being questioned by US law enforcement officials for no apparent legitimate reason. Last month, two well-known Muslim scholars who live in the United States were questioned for several hours at US airports after traveling abroad. Ali A Mazrui, 70, a professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton, said he was detained for more than seven hours at Miami International Airport and asked to explain his ideas on jihad. Radwan Masmoudi, who heads a Washington-based think tank that promotes democracy in the Middle East, was delayed four hours because of FBI questioning at a Detroit airport. Asked about the treatment of the Yemenis at Dulles, Bill Anthony, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection, said the State Department had not notified immigration officials at the airport about their arrival. Had it done so, the delegates would have been exempted from a special registration procedure — involving fingerprinting and photographing — required for male visitors between the ages of 16 and 45 from about 20 designated countries, Anthony said.

“Without pre-clearance, we are required to enforce the law, and we don’t have discretion on the ground,” he said. The handcuffing of Mohannad al Sayani, 40, who is general director for antiquities in one of Yemen’s provinces, was a case of mistaken identity. “It was a very close match that turned out to be incorrect,” Anthony said, declining to elaborate. The State Department did not return a call seeking comment. Anthony said Mazrui was detained in Miami for about six hours because of a “breakdown in communication” between immigration and customs officials. He said this led to Mazrui being questioned separately by two sets of officials and possibly an official from a third agency. Anthony declined to say why Mazrui was flagged for interrogation, saying, “There are many reasons why people get detained.” Mazrui, a political scientist, is the Albert Schweitzer professor in Humanities, Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at SUNY-Binghamton and also teaches at Cornell University.

An Internet search brings up his picture and biography. He travels on his Kenyan passport and has been a permanent US resident since 1974. In a telephone interview, Mazrui said that after he landed in Miami on August 3 having returned from Trinidad, he was questioned first by  immigration officials, then by customs representatives and finally by agents from the Department of Homeland Security. Their questions included “ ‘What is jihad?’ and whether I believed in it. I gave them ‘Jihad 101,’” Mazrui said. “Then they wanted to know what sect of Islam I believe in. When I said Sunni, they asked why I was not Shia,” he recalled. “That was definitely a first. That’s like asking a Catholic why he isn’t a Protestant.” During the last round of questioning, Mazrui said officials asked him whether he had met with a radical Islamist leader in Trinidad.

ACTING Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs yesterday assured members of the public that the Police Service is committed to taking appropriate action toward a level of comfort within the society. Snaggs was responding to the text message scare that affected thousands of post-paid customers between Saturday night and early yesterday morning. TSTT could not trace the source of the problem up to late evening, but the top cop said he wanted to draw to the attention of the perpetrator(s) the serious consequences that could follow if they are caught. He pointed to Section 106 of the Summary Offences Act Chapter 11:02 which he said makes provisions for summary conviction, fine and imprisonment for misuse of telephone facilities and false telegrams.

Snaggs also said that Section 38 of the Trinidad and Tobago Telephone Act, Chapter 47:30 makes provisions for the powers of the Telephone Company in relation to its subscribers. Snaggs said further that the “generic text message” seem to suggest a certain level of precaution to be taken by recipients of the particular message. As a result of the reports made, Snaggs said the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, with the assistance of TSTT has launched a thorough investigation to determine the origin and purpose of the relay of such message. Snaggs did not want to say what arm of the Police Service will be doing the investigations, stating that “the Police Service has many investigative arms and do collaborate in pursuance of investigations.” Asked if the Police Service was any closer to finding the persons responsible, Snaggs told Newsday that he has not fully discussed the matter with investigators. 

However, Newsday understands that the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) is one of the units investigating the matter. A senior police officer told Newsday that about three weeks ago several people got a very strange message on their mobile phones. They said the message was in an incoherent language, and it is believed to be some kind of code. The message, police said, came via a mobile number, but when that number was contacted, the person who answered the phone claimed to have no knowledge of the message.

EASTERN Division police have detained a man in connection with the suspected murder of Lauren Clarke-Olliviere, who was found dead in a river behind her Oropouche Road, Valencia, home Saturday evening. The 47-year-old man was being held at the Valencia Criminal Investigations Department (CID) up to late evening.  He was taken into custody shortly after the discovery was made by members of a church. Olliviere, 43, on Friday evening went to water cows behind her house. She did not return, but one of the two cows she went with, and a dog came back. After she was not seen on Friday night, a male relative made a missing person report to the Valencia police. A search party was organised and Olliviere was found around 5.30 pm, about 500 feet from her home.

She was only wearing a brassiere and police sources said there was blood coming from her mouth. Investigators said they could not say if the woman was murdered or if she accidentally drowned.  A post mortem is set for today and Cpl Mark is continuing investigations. Meanwhile, a man who allegedly stabbed 56-year-old Dahlia Jones to death on Friday night at a house on Beard Street, Carenage, had not been charged up to late evening. The 47-year-old man reportedly stabbed Jones following an argument.  He is said to be a United States deportee who was “shellshocked” in a war. He surrendered after the stabbing incident during which Jones, mother of four, was said to have been stabbed about 15 times.  She died on the spot. Also, Northern Division police said they have made no arrests with the murder of 22-year-old Nathaniel Samuel Blaides, who was stabbed to death Friday night at the Executive Sports Bar, Queen Street, Arima. However, police said two Cunupia men who were detained in connection with Saturday morning’s fatal stabbing of 27-year-old Ricardo Cyrus remained in police custody at the St Joseph Police Station.

VALENCIA police yesterday dug up the foetus of a seven-month-old girl from a three feet hole at the back of a house on Oropouche Road, police said. Police later detained a 45-year-old security guard who was up to late evening assisting officers of the Valencia Police Station with their investigations. A 39-year-old housewife who was warded at the Sangre Grande Hospital and the man are likely to be charged today with “procuring an abortion.” Police sources told Newsday that an anonymous caller contacted the Valencia station around 3.30 pm yesterday saying that they had seen a man “bury something” at the back of a house on Saturday.

A party of officers headed by Insp Thomas and including PC Phillip of the Eastern Division visited the scene and conducted investigations. Police said the officers  dug up the foetus which was examined by District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Roxanne Tantoco. Police said residents told them that a woman who was pregnant for several months suddenly appeared not and there were no signs of a child. Under Trinidad and Tobago laws, police said charges can be laid for such an offence.  PC Phillip of the Valencia Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is continuing investigations.

DAISY RAMESAR told Newsday yesterday that she was really happy to have all her children once again after the last of her three missing children up to three weeks ago, was placed in her care on Friday.  Ramesar said: “Everything is okay now, Candace slept well,” on her first night at her new home. After years of searching for her three children Crystal, 11, Candace, 9, and David, 7, Ramesar found joy three weeks ago when she was able to hug Crystal and David again. However the search was still on for Candace, who incidentally turned up at Newsday’s office last Monday with her father Johnny Logan. Logan who up until early Friday morning insisted on keeping Candace, was eventually persuaded to hand over the child to her mother the same morning.

Ramesar and Logan acrimoniously parted ways in 1999 hence the reason for the struggle for the children. The reunion came about following information received by ACP Winston Cooper, who immediately called WP Insp Roy of the Arouca Police Station and instructed her to go to Logan’s home and remove his daughter Candace, once she (Insp) was satisfied that the child was not in school. It did not take long before Insp Roy found Logan and spoke at length to him about the law he was breaking, after which the child was taken back to the station and her mother informed. It was the first time in years that Ramesar was seeing her second daughter.

During those years Candace, along with her other siblings Crystal and David were moved from place to place by their father and by doing so, the children were never formally schooled. ACP Cooper yesterday praised Insp Roy for her swift action which resulted in not only Candace reuniting with her mother, but also reuniting with her sister and brother after three weeks. Ramesar said she will be calling on the principal Primnath Gooptar of the Tunapuna Hindu School on Monday morning, to have Candace schooled there along with her siblings, who only started school for the first time one week ago.

 

THE now-defunct Caroni (1975) Limited includes lands the size of Tobago whose value has been under-stated and which now could fall prey to a land grab, warned a report on a seminar by some 50 academics of the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine. The warning came in a University Position Paper entitled: “A Framework for National Development: Caroni Transformation Process” dated July 2003. The executive summary of the report warned: “The current Caroni Transformation Process is about converting national assets into private assets. In the main it is serving the interest of those who wish to generate private capital from public wealth stocks; for this reason the current process is exploitative and fraught with inequity.”

The academics said: “The historical model is being excruciatingly exacted on Caroni lands. The current transformation clones the historical model.” The Report criticised areas of the current restructuring process which echoed those of the exploitative historical model. It said: “The enterprise is conceived to control land space. To control land space especially prime property near the port is to control the socio-economic agenda. Land is leased on gratuitous terms, 99 years for example, without publication of the terms of the lease or tenure. This leaves the process open to political and economic opportunism and speculation.”

The issue of abortion has generated fervent debate in society with the arguments going back and forth in letters to the Editor from people and groups divided along pro-choice and pro-life lines. Sheila Briggs, who teaches theology and the history of theology at the University of Southern California and a member of Catholics for free choice, which was formed in 1973 after the Roe vs Wade legalised abortion in the US, was invited by the group ASPIRE to speak on “Religion and Women’s Reproductive Choices” at Public Forums hosted by the group. She provided insight from the perspective of someone who is both Catholic and pro-choice proponent. In an interview with Newsday she gave her views on various issues in the abortion debate.

Abortion kills babies?

This has been the major argument of the anti-abortion movement. However, Briggs disagreed saying that a fertilised egg does not mean there is a human being since in terms of biological complexity it is the same as any other fertilised egg in the animal kingdom. “For human life what is essential is a functioning brain, without brain activity there is no intelligence, no sensation.” This is why CFFC is against late termination of pregnancy abortion—-except in grave circumstances. The presence of a soul is another argument used against abortion, but Briggs said  the writings of St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas, showed that they did not believe the foetus in its early stages had a human soul or make-up of a “rationale soul.” Briggs said the Church will not argue that a soul is present from the moment of conception because of the high rate of natural abortion. Only one-third of the fertilised eggs grow to full term. “We all recognise that a person is not simply a genetic blueprint.  It is how they develop.” Briggs said environment also plays a role in how the brain develops.

Unwanted pregnancies equal abortion

The main cause of abortions is unwanted pregnancy and these occur mainly in women who lack freedom over their sexuality and fertility. Not enough access to contraceptives and absence of proper sex education in schools were also  named by Briggs as factors contributing to abortion. “Women are not fully aware of their choices, then they find themselves in situations where they become pregnant. This is a basic moral evil that places women in a situation of unwanted pregnancy,” Briggs said at a public lecture last Monday at City Hall. Speaking with Sunday Newsday on Wednesday she said women with higher levels of education who can economically support them and their families are less likely to have an abortion. Those with less education are “unable to control their own fertility and sexuality and give in to the demands of their partner irrespective of their well being.” Briggs said even in countries where there is gender equity there are still women without control. Socio-economic development has facilitated the expansion of women’s rights but this has to be accompanied by spiritual development and values.

She admitted that making men accountable for fathering children they do not want to maintain is very difficult since laws cannot  make men caring fathers. Briggs cited the United Kingdom Child Support Act which was passed a few years ago. While modern technology has made it possible to determine paternity and track down errant fathers, the law has been only partially successful. “The best long term hope is for women to postpone pregnancy until they are in a situation, relationship where they are confident they have support to bring up their child.” Briggs said it is an uphill battle changing the attitudes of some men to parenthood, and getting them to understand fatherhood is an active parenting role which means taking care of children on an equal basis with a female partner.

Abortion as contraceptive

Commenting on the use of abortion as a form of contraception, Briggs said this is already taking place. She cited statistics from Advocates for Safe Parenthood Improving Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE) which showed that 4,000 women were admitted to local hospitals due to unsafe abortions. Taking into consideration unreported cases, she said this figure represents 20 percent of the actual number of women having abortions. “Twenty thousand a year is equal to the number of live births in TT.” She disagreed with using abortion as contraceptive. “ASPIRE is not just pressing for the decriminalisation of abortion but also for good contraceptive education and sex education in schools so women will see there are alternatives to abortion.” When women believe there is no other choice abortion is used as birth control.

Although the argument has been put forward that abortion kills the possibility of having an Einstein or Beethoven, Briggs said this is hardly likely. She referred to a study done many years ago in Czechoslovakia using official data from the Communist era. Women during this period had to get permission from the authorities to have an abortion. The children of those women who were denied abortions had higher levels of criminality, did poorly in education, and relationships.  “They did badly compared with the general population and even compared with other siblings in their family.”

Moral responsibility

Briggs said there is a big difference between how a woman in her 30’s and 40’s and adolescent will deal with abortion since their moral capacity to deal with the issue is different. She said unwanted pregnancies among teens occur because they lack good sexual education. “This doesn’t mean just biology, but also the social and emotional context of a pregnancy.” The most vulnerable young women are those in situations where their parents are unable to talk about sex and give them proper guidance. If sex is discussed, it is  “in a general sense that it is bad.” Catholics for Free Choice (CFFC) are against teens being forced to have abortions. “This practice is prevalent in Catholic upper-middle class families…it is confusing for teens because abortion is called a great sin, until she gets pregnant and they march her to the clinic to have an abortion. In such circumstances it is difficult for a woman to develop a moral capacity.”

Briggs said when a woman is denied choice she is not given the chance to take responsibility for her action. She reported that the incidence of repeat abortions is “relatively rare” in young women who receive  counselling. On the other side are women forced to carry babies to full term but are forced to put them up for adoption. Briggs said many women have lifelong regrets when they are forced to give up a child. She said even young women when they receive counselling can decide what is best for her baby. “Their moral capacity is stunted when they are now allowed to make a choice.”