Speaker of the House of Representatives, Barry Sinanan, yesterday dismissed charges of bias by Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath and Leader of the Opposition Basdeo Panday. He insisted he has been fair in his rulings. On Friday last Ramnath dared Sinanan to suspend him from the House, and on Monday at a UNC political rally at Princes Town he urged Sinanan to “Go to Hell.”.The Opposition has also hinted at a no-confidence motion in the Speaker. But Sinanan yesterday told Newsday he has acted impartially and in accordance with parliamentary norms, even once disallowing a member of Government to speak who had not followed the House’s procedures. Asked if he regretted last Friday’s events in the House which saw Ramnath’s outburst, Sinanan said: “Obviously, I regret that the House had to come to that sad situation which it came to. The Speaker is guided by the Standing Orders, May’s Rules of Practice, precedent, practice, and convention.”

Had Ramnath availed himself of all possible parliamentary devices to address Minister of Legal Affairs Camille Robinson-Regis’ alleged misleading of the House? Sinanan replied: “No comment on that.” Did the Speaker fail to point out to Ramnath that he had the option to offer a personal explanation to the House? Sinanan replied: “Mr Ramnath is a very seasoned politician, more seasoned than many.  I pointed out to him that he could avail himself of the full 75 minutes. Mr Ramnath rose on a point of order. I ruled him out of order and told him he would have 75 minutes to rebut what he alleged was not true.”  Asked whether there existed a point of order that a member was misleading the House, as Ramnath had complained of  Robinson-Regis, Sinanan replied no, explaining: “The Minister was alleging Mr Ramnath took a document out of the chamber. How would I know if he did, or not?”

Asked if Ramnath’s “Go to Hell” remarks had breached any rule or convention of Parliament, a guarded Sinanan said: “I’m looking at it. I’ll ask my secretary to check that.”  What was his reaction to the outburst? He replied: “No reaction. I think the members of the press ought to get…Do you have a reaction?” Told of a UNC press release which accused him of meeting Minister of Local Government, Jarette Narine, during the parliamentary tea-break to block the Opposition from speaking, Sin-anan, reacted with bemused laughter, noting that a reporter in the public gallery could have seen what really happened. Sinanan said: “The Standing Orders say that when a member wants to speak he must stand and seek to catch the eye of the Speaker. If you were there, you judge. You must stand up and then the Speaker calls you. If you don’t stand, how’s the Speaker to see you? If a member sits and indicates that he wants to speak, he will stay right there. It happened once on the Government side” (with him as Speaker)”.

He insisted he had no biases, “none whatsoever.” “I operate the House in accordance with the Standing Orders, parliamentary practice and procedure, and precedent, and that’s my only guide. I’m being accused of a lot of things, but I can’t be a judge in my own cause. Some people in the House will say one thing, others will say the other, and the press is there with a very great responsibility to communicate the truth. The press sometimes only stays until 4.30 pm. It would be a good idea for the press to attend the entire sitting of the House”.  (See page 5).

NEWSDAY employee, 43-year-old Ramesh Seecharan, died in an accident on Tuesday night around 9 pm when his B-13 Sentra motor car overturned and he was flung from the vehicle. Seecharan had been a supervisor in the Lithography Department at Newsday from the company’s inception in 1993. For the last year he has been attached to the Press Room, and was on his way to his home in Rousillac when the accident occurred. Police reports stated that he was travelling south on the Solomon Hochoy Highway when, nearing the Macaulay Flyover, Gasparillo, Seecharan’s car skidded off the road flipped across the median and landed on the north-bound lane. Police said Seecharan was thrown out of the vehicle which eventually landed on top of him. He died on the spot. At the family home yesterday his wife Padmini said Seecharan’s sister, Ingrid Sammy, was travelling in a car on the highway and saw the accident, but was unaware that her brother was involved.

Padmini first learned of her husband’s death when three policemen came to the house around 11:30 pm. “They told me he had been in a bad accident.”  Padmini, 36, described him as a loving and hard working person. She said: “He was a family-oriented person. Whatever he did he gave of his best.” Seecharan was the father of three children —Lauren, 19, Nicholas, 13 and Dillon, 11. Padmini said she and her husband had planned to have a Hindu prayer service to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary next month. She described him as “her best friend, the one person she could talk to about anything.” She said Seecharan worked long hours, many occasions at great expense to his family life. Newsday’s Executive chairman and editor-in-chief Therese Mills yesterday expressed the sadness of management and staff at his passing and extended condolonces to Padmini and family. The autopsy revealed that Seecharan suffered a broken neck and a fractured skull in the accident. Sgt Maurice of the St Margaret’s Police Station is conducting investigations.

A $98,000 bi-fold door was never in the plans for the Piarco airport development project, although contractor for CP9 Northern Construction Limited (NCL) tendered for it, after it was listed on the contract by consultants Birk Hillman Consultants (BHC). The absence of the door in the airport plans was yesterday described as a Trini/USA “ratchifee” by former Housing Minister and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) overseeing the project, John Humphrey. Asked who were involved in the “ratchifee,” (meaning scam) Humphrey identified the parties as Birk Hillman Consultants (BHC), Northern Construction Limited (NCL), the Airports Authority (AA) and NIPDEC. Humphrey also maintained yesterday that BHC were competent professionals although he admitted that they lied about his instructions in letters they wrote to NIPDEC. Humphrey was continuing his evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into the project. He was questioned yesterday by NIPDEC’s attorney Christopher Hamel-Smith and lead attorney for the Commission, Theodore Guerra, SC. Humphrey said after the exorbitant price of the door was made known in Parliament, he investigated the matter and discovered there was no plan for a bi-fold door. He said even up to today there is no bi-fold door.

He confirmed that BHC in the CP9 contract listed the bi-fold door as an item and priced it at $472. He said NCL as tenderer for the package, bid $98,340 which Humphrey said was a 20,000 percentage increase. Asked by Guerra if BHC and NCL had invented the door, Humphrey said he couldn’t say although he maintained his investigations found no bi-fold door in the airport plan. Asked if he felt some sort of “ratchifee” was going on, he said “could be.” Asked what sort of “ratchifee,” he said a “Trini/USA ratchifee.” He later said it was obviously an error but whether it was intentional or not, he couldn’t say. He was however told by Chairman Clinton Bernard, that evidence showed that NIPDEC merely acted on instructions to carry out CP9 and the AA was not involved. Asked by Guerra if the “ratchifee” showed incompetence on BHC’s part, Humphrey did not answer. Asked when he would stop defending BHC, he said he wasn’t doing that but the questions Guerra asked were leading to try to get him to condemn BHC. Earlier Humphrey was shown a letter BHC wrote to NIPDEC telling them Humphrey had directed the change from matte porcelain tiles to granite tiles for the high traffic areas of the airport. Humphrey said he never gave such directions.

He insisted that Edwardo Hillman-Waller had met him in his office and said that the matte porcelain tiles would scuff easily and result in high maintenance costs. He said Hillman-Waller recommended that granite tiles be used. Humphrey said he was told by Hillman-Waller that the granite tiles would cost the same as the matte porcelain tiles and the Colombian quarry would use Piarco airport to advertise the granite tiles. Humphrey said he only learnt via the Inquiry that the new tiles resulted in a $7 million increase in the CP9 contract and project budget as a whole. Humphrey admitted that he knew granite tiles were 10-15 times more expensive than matte porcelain tiles, but he accepted Hillman-Waller’s word that it would not increase the price of the project. He said if he knew the tiles would have cost more he would not have accepted the recommendation. Humphrey said he was never suspicious of Hillman-Waller’s recommendation because he seriously thought it was feasible. He said he knows he is peculiar in the eyes of some people but he trusted BHC. Asked if he still trusted them based on the lies they told NIPDEC about his authorisation, Humphrey said yes. Asked if he felt deceived by BHC’s actions, Humphrey said it was a difficult question to answer, however, he admitted he was terribly misled by BHC. He will continue to be questioned by Guerra when the inquiry resumes this morning.

NO price tag can be attached to the importance of BWIA to Trinidad and Tobago. This was the declaration yesterday from the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) as it joined the chorus of voices appealing for the national airline’s salvation. In a statement, DOMA said: “It is impossible to place a monetary value on the importance of national pride except to say that pride is a crucial element of devotion to one’s country and a stimulant of comittment for citizens to help build any nation. In this regard, we say with confidence that BWIA should be preserved because it is an icon of our national pride and a companion to our belief that we can be players on the world stage. A regional airline is an indigenous part of our future.” DOMA stressed that a “crucial element of this preservation” is the urgent restoration of confidence in BWIA’s viability. The Association lamented that BWIA’s financial difficulties are compounded “by the erosion of faith among the travelling public.” DOMA declared that “positive signals of unequivocal support mixed with conditions and enlightened management should be the message of survival for BWIA and this message should be delivered before we do irreparable damage to our favourite airline of 60 years.”

A WOMAN was yesterday taken before a magistrate and fined $600 for telephoning relatives of kidnapped boy, Mark Prescott and informing them that she knew of his whereabouts. Michelle Donovan, of Cocoyea Village, San Fernando, was charged with wasteful employment of the police, when the lawmen discovered that she had no such information. Donovan pleaded guilty before magistrate Rajendra Rambachan in the Fourth Police Court.”Police Prosecutor Cpl Wazim Ali, told magistrate Rambachan that Donovan telephoned the Prescotts home at Edinburgh Crescent, Cocoyea Village. She spoke to Wayne Prescott, Mark’s father. Prosecutor Ali informed the magistrate that Donovan told Prescott that she had information about Mark’s whereabouts.

The court heard that Prescott immediately telephoned the San Fernando CID office and informed Cpl Williams about the conversation. The Police Prosecutor said that on Tuesday, Cpl Williams and other police officers, acting on information, saw Donovan at a telephone booth on St James Street, San Fernando, in front of TSTT’s offices. She was attempting to dial a number from a telephone. The policemen approached Donovan and after cautioning her, arrested the woman. She was taken to the CID office where she was charged. Yesterday, Donovan admitted to magistrate Rambachan to wasting the police time. Magistrate Rambachan told Donovan that in light of the recent spate of crime and kidnappings, she should have acted more responsibly. Two weeks have since passed since Mark’s abduction outside his school, San Fernando Boys’ RC, Harris Promenade. The family are yet to receive word from the boy’s abductors since their demand of $150,000 the day he was abducted.

TWO WEEKS after fighting for his life following a fatal car crash in Freeport, 36-year-old David Brewster died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, yesterday morning. However, bereaved relatives are blaming his death on negligence on the part of the medical staff, and are calling on hospital authorities to launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his demise. Brewster, 22, of Corallita Drive, Pleasantville, is the third crash victim to have died since the two-car smash-up at the Solomon Hochoy Highway. The other two victims, were Indranie Rampersad, 25, who died on the spot and Marc Lee Wong How, who died two days later at hospital. Brewster’s mother, Gloria Brewster, yesterday claimed that her son would have been alive today if the nurses and doctors had paid close attention to him. The distraught mother became emotionally overwhelmed, pausing for breath at times, as she recalled to Newsday the final moments she spent at her son’s bedside, on Wednesday evening.

Brewster said her son had a high temperature and was “mumbling all kinds of things.” She said he was lying in his own filth and was slipping in and out of consciousness. His sister, who did not want to be named, said she told the nurse several times that her brother’s condition was deteriorating but she only nodded and continued writing her notes. Brewster said her daughter packed a pair of gloves with ice and placed them under his arms, in an attempt to break the fever and they started cleaning him. The nurse, the woman said, came almost an hour later to assist him. “All of a sudden I see the doctor coming with oxygen and they shouted at us to leave,” she recalled. Brewster said she cannot understand how her son died because his condition was improving and he was alert.

The mother said she was forced to get a letter from her lawyer requesting that she be given information about her son’s condition. However, she said the doctor had an attitude problem and kept telling her that he was “fed up” speaking to family members. “The doctor told me that my son would be cripple and like a vegetable because of his head injury,” she revealed. She said she had spent a lot of money for a cat scan and several other tests. According to Brewster: “I think that they could have avoided this. My son did not have to die. If they had paid more attention to him he would still be alive. I want to know what was really going on,” she added. Brewster said the post-mortem would be performed today at the mortuary of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.

FIFTEEN DAYS have gone by since six-year-old Mark Prescott was kidnapped from outside his school and police are yet to determine a motive for the abduction. It was initially believed that the kidnappers wanted money after a $150,000 ransom demand was made but after that telephone call the abductors have not contacted the family. Prescott, is the son of off-shore worker, Wayne Prescott, of Edin-burgh Crescent, Scotland Drive, Cocoyea. The child’s friends, relatives and school teachers as well as members of the public continue to prayer each passing day for his safe return.

Six women, five of whom were released, were held by police for questioning in connection with the kidnapping after a woman called the family on Tuesday, claiming to know the whereabouts. One of the women, Michelle Donavan, of Cocoyea Village, confessed to calling the family and was charged with wasteful employment of police time. She was yesterday fined $600. Meanwhile investigators said they were regarding everyone as suspects including members of the boy’s family.

A 28-year-old taxi-driver of Erica Street, Laventille was shot  while sitting on a bench at Prizgar Lands, Laventille. Reports revealed that around 3.30 pm yesterday, Nicholai Winchester, of Erica Street, Laventille, was sitting on a bench when he was confronted by a man armed with a gun. The man shot him twice in the chest and escaped. He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Officers of the Besson Street Police Station are investigating.

INTERNATIONAL Lease Finance Corpor-ation (ILFC) officials arrived in Trinidad last night to begin talks with the Government about the future of national air carrier BWIA. According to government officials, the ILFC team will meet today with the Inter-Ministerial Committee formed to deal with BWIA. The Committee which includes Government Ministers Dr Keith Rowley, Ken Valley, Colm Imbert and Christine Sahadeo will keep Cabinet updated on the status of those talks. On Tuesday, Rowley told reporters that Sahadeo convinced ILFC to come to Trinidad and speak with Government on ways of saving BWIA. He said had this eleventh hour intervention not occurred, ILFC would have enforced a US court order that would have allowed it to seize BWIA’s remaining aircraft and ground the national airline as of 5 pm Tuesday.

Rowley also indicated that BWIA is in debt to its creditors to the tune of US$100 million. BWIA officials said ILFC’s agreement to speak with Government and the airline’s own plea for time, has kept its planes airborne and flights are continuing as scheduled. BWIA’s Board of Directors are also expected to meet today to discuss the latest turn of events in the saga of the beleaguered airline. Rowley dismissed questions about the removal of BWIA CEO Conrad Aleong causing a renewal of investor confidence in the airline.