“I HAVE the fullest confidence that at the end of the day, in spite of all the bitching and backbiting  which take place in the workplace, for the country’s sake, you would find ways and means to foster team building in carrying out the invaluable work of the Authority.”

This was the advice Israel B Khan SC, Director of Legal Aid and Advisory Authority (LAAA), gave to his staff  during the opening ceremony of a retreat organised by the Authority and aimed at fostering “teambuilding in the work of the Authority.” In his short but fiery speech, Khan said: “I myself have no doubts in my mind that each member of staff is doing at least the minimum amount of work that is required of him/her. But there are others who do more than that minimum — they go the extra mile in providing the required services to those who are in need of legal aid. And there are one or two or maybe three or four of us who subscribe to the ‘work-to-rule’ concept.” He suggested to the workers that they take the attitude: “ Let me see what I can do for the Authority, rather than saying what can the Authority do for me.” 

He added: “The Authority has been doing something for you. It has been paying your salaries. In other words, it has been assisting you to clothe, feed and educate your respective families. I know that you are overworked and underpaid. And so too are our police, teachers and our judges. “At $25,000 per month, taking into account his duties and responsibilities, the Prime Minister is overworked and underpaid. But he does not engage in work-to-rule tactics. I am quite aware that you work under cramped conditions, but so too do the members of staff in the PM’s office —  even Parliament needs more space. We do not live in a perfect world so do not expect to work in a perfect workplace.”

Khan assured his staff that the Board has been trying its best to improve their terms and conditions of work, including more office space, equipment and better pay packages and pension benefits. He noted that the LAAA’s line Minister Camille Robinson-Regis was a very sagacious politician and receptive to the ideas of team unity and team building in the workplace. He observed that the Minister has her ear to the ground and via indirect routes is willing to lend an ear to the captain or the cook, or in “this regard from director to the cleaner.” He recognised that the only person who has the luxury of working out of the workplace was the Director. “Hence the Director has no interpersonal problems with anyone in the workplace, but that does not mean that certain things do not bother me. But that would not prevent me from giving one hundred percent performance.” An example Khan recalled was when he took up office. He said: “ It struck me as odd that there was both a gender and an ethnic imbalance in the membership of the staff. And this is in spite of the fact that we have had three different administrations governing the country during the period — PNM, NAR and UNC.

“At the end of my term of office, the status quo in relation to this gender and ethnic imbalance remains intact. “I personally took up the position — so what if there is this gender and ethnic imbalance? Staff would be recruited and be evaluated only by one set of factors — that is merit, ability and integrity.” Khan told the workers that he was aware that they cannot give 100 percent performance, “but I implore you to continue putting your best foot forward in performing your duties.” He said the Authority is one of the most important institutions of the national life of this country and reminded the workers that if the Authority falters in performing its duty, it would affect the criminal justice system and the rule of law. “Indeed, without the LAAA, the criminal justice system would crumble and man would be against man like a pit-bull… life in this country would be nasty, brutish and short.”

INTELLIGENCE gathered by the Anti-kidnapping Sqaud has revealed that a well organised group in the underworld has established kidnapping as a lucrative business, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee revealed on Saturday night.

However, he said, this kidnapping cartel is not likely to survive long because the country’s armed forces have enough evidence to crack down on the ring leaders. Chin Lee said his biggest concern is that when the ringleaders do get captured, they are likely to walk free if the Anti-Kidnapping Bill,  which is currently before Parliament, is not passed. Chin Lee, who was speaking at a People’s National Movement public meeting in Princes Town, added: “Police are aware that certain people are the kingpins. It’s now a crime business where on a cost benefit analysis, people have migrated towards kidnapping.”

Asked if he believe those guilty of committing this crime were part of an underground movement in the country, the Minister said intelligence had reached the security forces of the extent to which the kidnappers were organised. He said based on police information, those arrested and charged with kidnapping are often repeat offenders. “That is why we need to have the Bill (Anti-Kidnapping) passed to deny them bail,” Chin Lee said. Chin Lee is convinced the crime could be eradicated with legislation which contains stiffer penalities, including no bail.

GOVERNMENT WILL modify the Anti-Kidnapping Bill so it can be passed in  Parliament without the support of the United National Congress (UNC), Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced on Saturday night.

The Opposition has refused to vote with Government to ensure a two-thirds majority required for passage of the Bill which would give magistrates the power to refuse bail to persons charged with kidnapping. On the issue of constitutional reform which the Opposition is seeking as a condition for support of the Bill, Manning said his Government will pursue an agenda of reform but not on the UNC’s terms. Addressing a large crowd at a PNM public meeting at Triangle Square in Princes Town, Manning said: “We will pursue constitutional reform with or without them — we don’t have to enter into any agreement with the Opposition.” Health Minister Colm Imbert, who also addressed the meeting, was critical of industrial action currently being taken by doctors at the country’s main hospitals and described Government’s stance in the matter as “a fight between the rich and the poor”.

Imbert noted that doctors had engaged in industrial action on three occasions over the past 12 months, the Health Minister warned that Cuban doctors will soon be manning the hospitals. “If they don’t want to work, we will find other ways to deal with the matter,” he said. The Minister said the doctors were the only group of workers in the country who over the past three years had received a 67 percent salary increase, and he vowed not to allow the country’s health system to collapse at the hands of the protesting doctors. He pointed out that his Ministry had not interfered in the impasse and the RHAs will be left to handle the matter. “But we in the Ministry will do our job. While in Cuba, our negotiating team found the Cuban doctors to be quite qualified,” Imbert said.

Agriculture Minister John Rahael said Government could not continue to fund Caroni (1975) Limited to the tune of $500 billion a year. He said of the 1,079 staff members at the company, 1,103 had accepted the VSEP’s offer. Also addressing the meeting were Works and Transport Minister Franklin Khan; Housing Minister Martin Joseph; Minister in the Ministry of State (Industry and Commerce) Dianne Seukeran and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Christine Kangaloo.

NEAR KUT, Iraq: Iraqi troops Sunday released seven US POWs — some wounded but in good condition, a surprise development near where US troops were entering Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.

Clad in an assortment of tattered Iraqi prison garb and shorts, the soldiers who had been held captive for 22 days clambered out of helicopters to a delighted welcome at an air base in southern Iraq, hours after their release. The seven were taken by helicopter to this base near Kut and flown to a military airport south of Kuwait City. They were later released after medical examinations in Kuwait, an Army nurse said. The nurse refused to identify the injured soldiers or give details about the examinations. But Marine pilots who evacuated the POWs from Iraq said Army Spc Shoshana Johnson, 30, of Fort Bliss, Texas, had been shot in the ankle, and Spc Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas, had been shot in the elbow.

Johnson, the only woman among the freed prisoners, had limped in slippers on her way to a transport aircraft after her release and wore a bandage on her ankle. They — along with Sgt James Riley, 31, Army Spc Joseph Hudson, 23, and Army Pfc Patrick Miller, 23 — were all members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company. The five were taken prisoners when Iraqis ambushed their convoy March 23 outside the southern city of Nasiriyah. Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D Young Jr, whose Apache helicopter was forced down March 23, clutched a bottle of water as he walked toward the C-130 for the flight to Kuwait, then grinned widely as a soldier shook his hand. His father, back in Lithia, Georgia, watched shaky video footage of his son on CNN. “It’s him, and I’m just so happy that I could kiss the world!” Ronald Young Sr said. “It’s him! It’s definitely him.”

Maj Chris Charleville, a pilot with the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268, said the freed prisoners were ecstatic on the way out of Iraq. Army Pfc Patrick Miller, 23, came into the cockpit and thanked the pilots profusely. “He was just grabbing us, telling us that he loved us and hugging the crew chief,” said Charleville, who commanded the evacuation. Capt Matt Belisle, pilot of the second aircraft that carried five POWs, said the US soldiers had been in a hideout before the helicopter arrived. One of the escorts told the helicopter crew that they had been searching buildings in that town, stormed a palace and found the POWs inside. Shortly after their capture early in the war, the seven had been shown on Iraq’s state-run television — giving a human face to the peril confronting prisoners of war. Also among the seven was Chief Warrant Officer David S Williams, 30, who was in the Apache with Young.

REHABILITATION of criminal offenders is a serious priority for the Government, with a commitment given by Prime Minster Patrick Manning that the correctional services will embark on programmes aimed at preparing offenders to re-enter society and avoid crime, said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Phillipa Forde.

Forde made the point while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority’s two day retreat at Cascadia Hotel, St Anns. Forde talked about Government’s Recidivism project which will attempt to determine the causes of the high level of repeat offenders in prisons and offer insight into the scope for rehabilitation and reform. She also noted that the Youth Deviance project aims to provide data as well as clarify the facts related to the genesis and solution of youth deviance and school violence. She told the retreat, which was facilitated by Anthony Watkins of Odyssey Consulting Limited, that long after the Government had fulfilled these goals, there will still be need for legal aid and advisory services. She reminded them that they were part of a larger programme where the focus is on making “People our priority — a strongly held belief of the current administration which espouses that the development (of our country) is about people and improvement in the quality of their lives and the potential for children to enjoy a higher standard of living than their parents.”

She told members of the Authority that as they serve their clientele they must “always appreciate that among the root causes of crime are factors such as the breakdown in family life, drug abuse, hopelessness, poverty, and the failure of the system of extended families and that of raising children as wholesome communities”. “You are unique and you are the care giver who, above all else, must serve your clientele in a most customer-friendly environment, knowing and forever remembering and understanding that the point at which we offer these services, is a period where they are often facing varying degrees of trauma — an occasion of crisis. “The charge therefore is to understand the delicate nature of your job, being constantly sympathetic and knowing your priority. You do not judge and treat people with prejudice — that is not your role. “You are expected to be full of compassion and that, I assure you, will only come easy if each of us remember the adage which says: ‘There go I but for the grace of God.”

FORMER Calypso Monarch Black Stalin brought back memories of the glory days of calypso with his sterling performance at Kings Hold Court 2 at the Hilton Trinidad poolside on Saturday night.

Stalin’s repertoire included a stunning rendition of  “Whey I Band” backed by former World Steelband champions TCL Group Skiffle Bunch.  The band out did themselves, showing their dexterity, style and flair. The band from Coffee Street, San Fernando played classical, soca, calypso, bossa nova, religious and rapso music and also provided music for a dance choreographed by Allison Seepaul. Violinist Anslem Walters won well deserved applause when he performed the theme from Titanic “My Heart Will Live On” and “Amparita Roca”. Up next was Miss Trinidad and Tobago Faye Ali-Bocas who joined with popular singer and radio personality Raymond  to perform “All I Ask of You”.

When conductor Ben Jackson walked out on stage there was a feeling that something “big” was going to happen and it did. Skiffle Bunch performed “Ocean Rhapsody” a  Len “Boogsie” Sharpe’s composition that brought back memories of the band’s outstanding performance at the World Steelband Music Festival at the Jean Pierre Complex. Rapso group 3 Canal came on to a tremendous round of applause and performed “Talk Yuh Talk”. Their second song “Blue” received special treatment and sent the audience into a frenzy. Then  Black Stalin was introduced and he did “We Can Make It If We Try”, “Caribbean Man” and “Dorothy”. He then presented his special guest , musician, Roy Cape who played along with the band as Stalin and Twiggy performed “Giving Praises”.

Stalin did ten songs, including “Bun Dem”. Then he joined with Skiffle Bunch to bring the show to a close with “Black Man Feeling To Party”. President of the Republic, Professor Max Richards and First Lady Dr Jean Richards led the list of dignitaries in attendance. Other VIPs included President of the Senate Dr Linda Baboolal, Attorney General Glenda Morean, Community Development Minister Joan Yullie Williams and  Junior Culture Minister Eddie Hart.

MEGA is the only insurance company in Trinidad and Tobago with the capacity to issue policies on the same day on which they are written and to pay claims on the same day they are made, once the relevant documentation is in order.

This was the boast of the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Albert Tom Yew, when he addressed his company’s awards ceremony. He said the company was challenging itself even further. Its objective for this year is to be able to issue a customer’s cheque for payment of a claim within five minutes of that claim being made. Tom Yew also said his company had minimised the cost of maintaining a policy to way below current industry standards — meaning lower rates and improved benefits. “We are constantly on the lookout for new, non-traditional business and are currently examining some possibilities outside of Trinidad and Tobago.

“These, when they materialise, will further increase our profitability and hence give us the ability to reduce rates even further,” he said. The insurance executive also said his company no longer saw its role as one merely to provide policies and pay claims when they become due. He said MEGA must become involved, by joining the fight against HIV/AIDS, and by working with both governmental and non-governmental agencies, to help educate the population to the lifestyle changes that are necessary “to survive the threats that confront us today”.