THE EDITOR: As I read your paper day after day I can only come to one conclusion that there is an escalation of crime in TT. Like many people living abroad the question that surfaces more frequently, is the current police force capable of doing anything to curtail the progression of crimes? As a matter of fact, what have they done so far to protect the lives of its citizens in Laventille? Perhaps we don’t have all the facts or all the answers but we are convinced that TT is one of the most dangerous locations, in the Caribbean.
This perception is made possible because the news media reports the activities of the country as accurate as possible. In most cases we notice the shootings, kidnappings and rapes on the front page regularly. I am not condemning the press but without the press we sure would have been caught up by surprise. In the US and particularly in New York the tactical approach is very different when dealing with criminals and the drug trade. It is called “buy and bust.” The police in their quest to arrest criminals don’t ever disclose the date and time of their operation. It is considered covert and mostly informants and undercover officers perform different locations. The idea was to catch the criminals with the illegal guns and drugs so that possession will be demonstrated in court. But when the news is sent out prematurely the essence of the operation is compromised and completely defeats the intent. No one wants to arrest any suspects without possession of a firearm or drugs. This class of tactical approach seems to indicate that police are incapable of carrying out undercover work because they lack co-ordination, intelligence and undercover experience.
The police have only caused a little intimidation but this certainly doesn’t really create major concerns. The gangs on the hill will temporarily relocate and reaffirm their activities. I don’t seem to comprehend the intelligence of the police commissioner when it calls for “modus operandi.” It appears that the police are not aware of some terrorist groups extorting money from the poor folks by committing murder and mayhem while they are acting in concert with the drug gangs of Laventille. It is now evident that perhaps the police department has inherited a touch of corruption. This is because they may be benefiting from the lucrative drug and kidnapping deals that are being carried out daily. Anything is possible where underpaid and overworked police officers are engaged in tedious tasks.
JAY G RAKHAR
New York
THE EDITOR: What the columnist has surmised about Miki Grant and his group Advocates for Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is very clinical (I am talking of Pastor Winston Cuffie). While this group may be a by-product of the ills of the experts who are now slamming its activities, one has to bear in mind the other extremity that stemmed from the “sex is evil” teaching. Before 1914 very little was mentioned about that private affair in the newspapers. After 1918 the flood gate of perverted sex education was manifested during the Roaring 20s when the flappers bared their legs.
Before this surge began the western civilisation was plagued by the double standards of the Victorian Era where loveless marriages caused husbands to visit bawdy places. One Pentecostal Minister had already admitted the error or teaching that sex is evil doctrine to the sheep yet he had to exercise caution while the loudspeakers blared in the community neighbourhood of Curepe nearly five years ago. The crux of the matter is that the enemy of our soul is not the creator of sex and since that being is sexless, his means of getting back at God Almighty is to pervert the purpose of sex!
The message behind the giving of condoms reminds me of a 1979 offering by Singing Diane, a calypsonian who felt that women got to “Giveaway.” Virginity is under attack. The younger the girls have sex the greater the risk of cervical cancer. The next finding will cause many who advocate the saying “let the horses run wild” as well as those who say “kill the horse” to take note. The need for sex education must be fulfilled in the home first before it reaches the classroom where the choice of sex education teachers is very risky. I must thank the Prime Minister for his change of position on the issue of condoms.
Although it was first used to prevent pregnancy, it is now a matter of protection against the virus that leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It is also noteworthy that the virus is small enough to pass through the condom, believe it or not! The strongest form of the condom is latex and that might be used as a defence but the best contraception as well as protection against the HIV is “NO!” Who vex lost!
JEFFREY M JOSEPH
Fyzabad
THE EDITOR: The elected government of Trinidad and Tobago is going around in circles dodging the issue concerning the Jamaat. All the population is aware that the State is owned millions by that radical group, and the only reason why the judgment cannot be enforced is because the government is clearly afraid of the Muslimeen.
We know they cannot pay $23m and the government is certainly not going into Mucurapo to seize anything like the International Lease and Finance Company (ILFC) did with BWIA for monies owed. So, AG Morean, don’t jump on the UNC back, whether they paid money to the Jamaat in June 2000, again. Trinbago knows they were afraid too. As I once said before, let’s forget Panday, Eric Williams, who did what and when, and attend to the issues of today. The PNM administration has been entrusted with the task of governing the country, and so they must do efficiently and at times fearlessly.
LESTER BABOOLAL
England
Forensic accountant Bob Lindquist, will seek to get all the answers as he begins his probe into WASA. Anyone found culpable, including PNM people will be brought to justice, Prime Minister Patrick Manning promised yesterday. Manning told the media he does not intend to ask the Minister of Public Utilities, or the WASA Board, anything about the allegations made by Opposition MP, Ganga Singh on the issue of the $29 million over-payment by WASA to Waterfarms Ltd. In fact, Manning indicated that Lindquist will have a free hand in the probe. The Prime Minister emphasised that he was letting forensic accountant, Bob Lindquist get all the answers, and anyone found culpable, including PNM people will face the consequences.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall yesterday, Manning said the PNM is going to wait on Lindquist investigation before passing any judgement on its members. Manning said the PNM was not going to question any of its members who were named in the Parliament on Wednesday. “The PNM is prepared to see what happens on the basis of a proper investigation by those authorised to do so.” However Manning stressed: “If any member of the People’s National Movement brings the party into disrepute there is the (party) Constitution under which those persons can be handled. And I assure you that the mood of the PNM is to do just that, to handle anybody that brings the party’s name into disrepute. In the PNM there are no sacred cows, contrary to what I see in the newspapers (Newsday) this morning. Nobody is above the law, and that includes the Prime Minister.”
The Prime Minister said it was the Opposition which asked for Lindquist to be brought in. He said government expects to have a report from Lindquist in a relatively short space of time. Lindquist was due to meet with the AG yesterday afternoon. Asked why he hadn’t asked Minister Dumas for a report on the issue, Manning stated: “I am not interested in a report from the Minister. I am prepared to allow the investigator to do his work.” He said if he had gotten a report from the Minister and used it, he would be told it is Caesar to Caesar, that the Minister is a member of the Government and “what do you expect to hear. So to avoid all of that, Mr Lindquist has been brought in, he is getting his mandate today and we expect a report not too long from now.”
Asked whether he was startled by the contents of Singh’s letter and the nature of the allegations, Manning said he had been in public life for so long that very few things startled him. But Manning said he considered it “wholly irresponsible” of the Opposition to stand up in a place of privilege (the Parliament) and call names of persons who are not there to defend themselves. He said in the very same way he was written a letter by Singh, Singh could just as easily have written a letter naming the persons allegedly involved. Manning said that the poor systems of accountability in WASA seemed to have created a situation where the Opposition was able to access information faster than the Government. He said the new Minister, Christine Sahadeo, had been asked to establish mechanisms in the Ministry of Finance to improve accountability in the public utilities and other state agencies.
FORMER PNM MP Dr Joe Laquis said corruption accusations levelled against him by Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh reflect Singh’s fears of an imminent UNC defeat in the upcoming Local Government Elections. On Tuesday, Singh alleged in Parliament that Laquis, his son Mark and WASA vice-chairman Rawlingson Agard were behind a reported $29 million overpayment by WASA to Waterfarms (Trinidad) Limited. Addressing a news conference at Crowne Plaza yesterday, Laquis declared: “To have an individual misuse the privileges of Parliament to accuse me of acts of which I have absolutely no knowledge and to implicate the Laquis name in such a way, cannot and will not be tolerated.I have nothing to do with WASA. To claim, state and implicate that I am part of a $29 million kickback in WASA has got to be one of the most ridiculous, insincere and false statements I have ever heard.”
Dr Laquis attributed Singh’s accusations to a growing fear of significant losses in Opposition strongholds and the UNC’s powerlessness to stop it. “I know not if the cause of the incursions I have made in the last few months into the so-called no longer UNC areas that I am being attacked and trying to be brought down,” he said. Recalling his role as a political strategist to win the Ortoire/Mayaro seat in the 2002 general elections, Laquis predicted “there shall be similar political results in the central areas in the forthcoming general elections” He said he was a PNM activist and stalwart but never a party financier. Laquis said while several people have approached him as a senior PNM member “asking me for opportunities to get jobs”, he always insists they use the established channels to gain employment.
He said Agard was a fellow PNMite and someone he had no business connections with. Describing Singh as someone with “a chronic paranoid personality”, Laquis declared that all irregularities at State Enterprises from 1995 to 2001 will be thoroughly investigated and “I will not be playing cards with Dhanraj and others in some jail. “You want to attack me be a man, don’t be a little coward and attack me in the House. I intend to request of my party that I be given one day as an acting senator to respond,” he added. However Laquis said that unlike Singh, “my response in the Upper House will not be to implicate falsehoods or to say falsehoods against anyone”.
Recalling Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath’s threat against Government Ministers in Central Trinidad, Laquis declared that he could prevent Singh from speaking on any political platform in the East/West corridor. Asked if this was a threat against Singh, Laquis replied it was “a fact” and attributed it to his 30 years in active politics. Dr Laquis said complaining to Oppostion Leader Basdeo Panday was a waste of time because Panday had lost control of the UNC and lamented that party’s continued degradation of Parliament. The former MP hinted that he may consider offering himself as a candidate for the 2007 general elections if the circumstances warrant it. Dr Laquis also said his son Mark, an attorney-at-law, was examining the possibility of legal action against Singh.
WATER and Sewerage Authority (WASA) vice-chairman Rawlingson Agard and attorney Mark Laquis yesterday slammed Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh for alleging that they, together with former Diego Martin Central MP Dr Joe Laquis, were behind a reported $29 million overpayment to Waterfarms (Trinidad) Limited by WASA. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Singh named Laquis (J), Laquis (M) and Agard as behind the reported overpayment to Waterfarms and declared that he was prepared to turn over whatever information he had on the matter to Canadian forensic investigator Bob Lindquist. Attorney-General Glenda Morean-Phillip asked Singh if he would like to make an arrangement to meet Lindquist, but the former UNC Public Utilities Minister was non-committal.
Both men declared there was no foundation to Singh’s allegations. Agard challenged Singh to repeat his allegations outside of Parliament and face any consequences that follow. “It was unfortunate that members of Parliament continue to use the protection of the Parliament to malign the good name of citizens who seek only to serve the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said. Mark Laquis said he was not the trustee of a $17 million account allegedly opened with monies from the reported Waterfarms payment. The attorney invited the Opposition Chief Whip “to make available to the relevant authorities any and all information he (Singh) may have regarding this matter”, Laquis said. “If such information does not exist, or is not brought forward, then I trust Mr Singh will take the honourable course of action and retract the statements he has made against my character.” He added: “I wish to declare that this and other statements made by Mr Singh as they relate to me and this matter are absolutely false.”
KERRI Greaves, the 21-year-old daughter of Newsday’s senior reporter Debra Ravello-Greaves has been released unharmed, but her parents’ lives are now at risk, according to information received by the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS). Kerri Greaves, of Belmont Circular, was dropped off at Phase 2, La Horquetta, around 10.05 pm Wednesday, exactly one week after she and her friend Vanessa Phillip, 27, were snatched by armed men at the corner of Scott Hill and Saddle Road, Maraval. The kidnappers, who eventually threw Vanessa out at Morvant Junction, later contacted the Greaves family and requested $500,000 for the young woman’s safe return. Reports are that no money was paid.
Kerri, who has not been in the best of health, was treated at the Arima Hospital and later discharged. She was said to be dehydrated, and had abrasions to her left leg and chest. Police said the abrasions were caused by a struggle inside the black B13 Nissan Sentra vehicle, in which the two women were placed when they were held. Other than the abrasions, police said, Kerri has been given a clean bill of health. Kerri couldn’t tell the police where she had been held for the last week because she said she was blindfolded and tied up and was fed food by the kidnappers. Police said that after Kerri, a business student, was released she went to a nearby house, knocked on the door, which was opened by a man identified only as “Mike”, who said he opened his door and “saw a young woman standing there”.
She identified herself as Kerri Greaves and said she had been kidnapped. Kerri asked “Mike” to contact Pastor Earl Phillip, whose church, the Lighthouse Ministries, she attends at Duke Street, Port-of-Spain. “I am just glad that this whole thing is over,” the Pastor told Newsday. Police said the Pastor then contacted the Port-of-Spain Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the information was passed on to Cpl Anthony Nesbitt and PC Simon Gill of the AKS. Senior AKS officers, under Sr Supt Gilbert Reyes and ASP Henry Millington were also contacted. Her father, Neale Greaves, manager of the PTSC Terminal Mall, told Newsday that his daughter was not well and is still seeking medical attention. Cooper said Kerri thanked the nation for all the prayers, for which she is “eternally grateful” during her trying time. The senior officer also said that Kerri sent out an appeal to the people who have kidnapped six-year-old Marc Prescott, to release him.
FORMER Miss Guyana in the Miss Universe contest, Mia Rahaman appeared in a Toronto area court yesterday morning to answer charges related to the importation into Canada of an estimated Cdn $1 million in cocaine. Conviction carries a maximum penalty of life in prison on the federal charges. Ms Rahaman, 23, was taken to the Brampton Court north of Toronto after spending the night in prison. She pleaded not guilty and was remanded into custody pending a bail hearing.
The young beauty was charged early on Wednesday morning after disembarking from an Air Transat flight from Georgetown, Guyana. She was a first-class passenger on the flight. According to Acting Staff Sergeant Gary Harvey of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Rahaman was arrested after a Canada Customs officer noticed what was termed as “suspicious behaviour” on her part on arrival at Pearson International Airport shortly after the flight touched down at 2.30 a.m. “She was referred for a secondary customs inspection at which time a false bottom on her suitcase was discovered,” Sgt. Harvey said. Canada Customs spokesman Mark Butler told Newsday seven kilogrammes of cocaine, with an estimated street value of Cdn. $1 million, was found stashed inside false sides and a false bottom of Rahaman’s suitcase. Smaller quantities of cocaine were also found inside various cosmetics.
HEAVILY ARMED police officers searched several homes along the East/West Corridor yesterday for ten guns and ammunition stolen from a security company on Wednesday night. Two guards detained for questioning were up to late yesterday at the Woodbrook Police Station. According to reports, four masked men armed with guns entered Property Protectors Limited at Colville Street, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday night and escaped with seven revolvers, three shotguns, a large quantity of ammunition and three gold chains. The incident occurred at around 11.45 pm. The masked men held up Glendon Charles and Caled Alexander, two security officers on duty at the company. Both officers were beaten and Alexander was robbed of three gold chains.
The gunmen then ordered the officers to hand over keys to a vault and took the seven revolvers, three shotguns and a quantity of ammunition before escaping in a waiting car. Officers of the Woodbrook Police Station were contacted and ACP Crime Oswyn Allard, Supt Errol Denoon, Inspector Alleyne, Cpl Stephen Grant and others went to the scene. Anthony Xavier, owner of the company, told Newsday he was very concerned about where the stolen weapons may end up. With the existing crime situation the stolen guns are likely to end up in the hands of criminals.
EDUCATION MINISTER Hazel Manning yesterday visited the family of six-year-old kidnap victim, Marc Prescott, and called on persons behind the spate of kidnappings in the country to stop targeting children. In expressing her concern about the children’s safety, the minister also called on parents to be more vigilant, and to teach their children to be careful around strangers. Speaking to reporters during an impromptu visit with Prescott’s family at their Cocoyea home yesterday, Manning charged: “I do not understand what all of this is about. Children are vulnerable. Leave them alone”. Manning said the purpose of her visit was to wish the child’s father, Wayne Prescott, and his family the best and to let them know that they were in her prayers. The minister also appealed to the child’s kidnappers to release Marc.
She added that parents should teach their children how to deal with strangers, and felt the community, parents, teachers and the Ministry should work together to ensure the safety of the children. Prescott’s father, Wayne, also begged his son’s captors to free Marc as soon as possible. Even though he has not heard from the kidnappers since last Thursday when they made a $150,000 ransom demand, Prescott was confident that God was keeping his son safe.
