THE United National Congress has taken issue with Newsday’s editorial yesterday which raised questions about the Opposition’s approach to the Caroni restructuring plan.

The editorial commented on the UNC’s refusal of the PNM Government’s invitation to debate the VSEP programme in parliament this week and suggested that the UNC appeared to have no firm position on the issue. In an unsigned letter sent by fax to the Editor, the UNC denied that there was “confusion or flapping and floundering” in its position on the Government’s decision to offer VSEP to Caroni’s 10,000 workers. “We reiterate for your benefit,” the letter stated, “that the UNC has repeatedly called on the PNM Government to present a documented comprehensive plan for debate on the issue.” It said if the Government intended to send home 10,000 sugar workers and close down the factory and the cultivation section, this should be detailed in a plan that would show its social, sociological and psychological impact on the society.

The UNC said it was not backing out of its demand for a debate but was insisting that the onus was on the Government to present its plan in Parliament for a debate. “The PNM cannot ask us to debate this matter in a vacuum. This is what we signalled to the Government when we moved to have the matter debated as one of urgent public importance. We are ready to debate the Caroni issue once the Government puts it on the agenda,” said the letter. “We do have important things to say about Government’s plan for Caroni, but where is the plan?” The letter denied that the UNC ever had a plan to shut down the sugar industry. “We had no plan to retrench workers,” it said. “Our plan was to expand Caroni Ltd by inviting private sector participation. During our term of office not a single sugar worker lost his job. The PNM proposes to retrench 10,000 workers and get its hands on Caroni’s lands.” The letter concluded that the UNC’s struggle would never be violent, but would be based on non-violence and non-cooperation.

ACTING National Security Minister Franklin Khan yesterday revealed that the United States Department of Homeland Security has been working closely with the Government to improve Trinidad and Tobago’s border security. He said the armed forces were prepared for any security threat in light of the war in Iraq.

Speaking with reporters at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Khan said since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Homeland Security has been working with Government to augment security at Piarco International Airport. With respect to the nation’s ports, Khan said: “Just to be safe, most countries are beefing up security at their ports of entry. Security is not as advanced as airport security but we’re working on it.Trust me when I say that security has been increased at the major ports of entry and at key installations.” Asked what these increased measures entailed, Khan said it “has to do with manpower systems and surveillance equipment”. Asked about the Coast Guard’s ability to protect the nation’s ports and maritime installations, the Minister replied: “ Luckily we are not in the immediate war zone or we are not considered a high risk area. While the Police, the Army and the Coast Guard still under-resourced to an extent for a major national security alert, we are not in a state of alert. We are just beefing up security.”

He said the present Coast Guard vessels allow full security coverage of the ports of Port-of-Spain, Point Lisas, La Brea, Galeota and Cedros. Khan added that since the outbreak of war in Iraq, the Governments of Trinidad and Tobago and the United States have been in close communication with one another. Energy Minister Eric Williams left yesterday for Washington DC to discuss security arrangements for US energy interests in Trinidad and Tobago. He said the American Government was “quite comfortable with the levels of security” in this country. Earlier, in his address to the Shipping Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Khan announced that the Maritime Services Division of the Ministry of Works and Transport will implement the Internal Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code “to ensure security of ships and port facilities”. The ISPS is targeted for international implementation “by governments, port authorities and shipping companies before July 2004”.

THE FORMER Security Manager of the Airports Authority (AA), Dennis John, admitted yesterday that although he was aware that the Firearms Training Institute of which Tofeek Ali was part owner got a contract to service firearms belonging to the AA, he never saw a copy of the contract, and did not ask about it.

John said he didn’t think it was remiss of him not to make inquiries because when Ali’s firm was contracted to service the firearms, it was under the authority of  Leo Reyes. He said under his watch one Cpl Rattan of the AA, did the servicing of the firearms. John was giving evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Project. In response to questions from the Commission’s attorney Clive Phelps, John said the firearms would be removed from the AA premises to be serviced but he did not know of the arrangement, because it wasn’t under his portfolio. He explained that during the time the contract was given to Ali, Reyes was the holder of the firearm users licence for the AA.

John said he had asked Ali to see the contract, but it was never shown to him. John said it was also possible that before he joined the AA the Defence Force may have serviced the firearms,. John said he had been involved in security work for 39 years, and considered himself responsible. He said he gave advice on security matters to the AA Board, but while he reported to the Board he simply carried out the policies of the Board. He said while the contract with Ali may have been “loose”, it was structured in that both he and Reyes followed the procedure put in place by the Commissioner of Police for the firearms taken away for servicing. In response to a question from his attorney, Sean Cazabon, John said he was satisfied with the way the firearms were maintained. Earlier Cazabon questioned Kenneth Darlington, an estate constable at the AA and Peter Cateau, the Ministry of Works client representative on the project.

Cateau had said John received an ex-gratia payment of $5,000 a month together with several other AA managers. Questioned by Cazabon, Cateau agreed that the payment was approved by the AA Board chaired by Tyrone Gopee and it wasn’t a case of John approving a payment to himself. Cateau also agreed that according to a memo from Gopee dated April 10, 2001, the payment was for work done. Darlington had accused John of  purchasing expired bullet proof vests for the AA’s security department. Yesterday he agreed he was among the lowest rank officers at the AA and couldn’t say who was responsible for purchasing security supplies. He agreed that John was on special assignment for “some time” and Reyes was in charge. Asked if he knew that Reyes was responsible for purchasing the supplies, Darlington said he couldn’t say, although he presumed it was John as the Security Manager.

Darlington was also unaware that John merely acknowledged receipt of the supplies. He also disagreed that bullet proof vests did not have expiry dates. Told that the date he saw on the vests was the warranty date, Darlington insisted it was an expiry date. John will return on Friday when AA Chairman Linus Rogers will be questioned. The inquiry resumes this morning when former Housing Minister John Humphrey is expected to appear. Humphrey is also represented by Cazabon, who is expected to question at least two witnesses.

A Sangre Grande taxi driver testified yesterday that murder accused Leslie Huggins had asked him to drive to Uriah Butler Highway, Mt Hope, on Carnival Tuesday 1996,  to  check on his Laurel motorcar which he had earlier set ablaze for  insurance money.  In that car was the murdered body of Clint Huggins, the key State witness against Dole Chadee and his gang for murder.

Leslie, Arnold Huggins and Junior “Heads” Phillip, are before Justice Alice York Soo-Hon  in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court, charged with the 1996 Carnival Tuesday morning (February 20) murder of Clint. The trio is alleged to have shot, bounced,  stabbed and beat Clint before placing his body in the back seat of the car and setting it on fire. The upper part of Clint’s body remained out the car while his feet which were inside the car were completely burnt. Vishwanath Jawahir, a “PH” driver at the time, testified that he was plying his car for hire from Sangre Grande to Cunapo on Carnival Tuesday morning when Leslie asked him to check and see whether the Laurel was completely burnt.

Jawahir, also called “Sharky,” told the jury that Leslie told him: “Money was a bit hard these days and the boys burn down the car for the insurance.” And that Leslie wanted him to go and see if the car was properly burnt. He offered to pay Jawahir  $100. Jawahir’s reply was, “ All yuh does do some kind of madness,” but promised to go.  After taking directions he dropped off his passengers and drove to the Uriah Butler Highway, Mt Hope.  He later went to Leslie’s Mulchan Street home and  reported to him that he had seen the car burnt but did not stop because there were a lot of police. Whilst there he heard Leslie ask: “How Clint taking so long with the car?” He said Leslie then told his girlfriend Sattie (Swarsatee Maharaj)  to call Clint. Sattie came back and reported that she was not getting through to Clint. He recalled when Leslie had asked him to check the burning car, Sattie,  Phillip and Simon  “Fatboy” Ragoonanan, were present. Jawahir said he was a school mate of Clint and knew Leslie for many years. He said he usually drove Leslie to Carnival fetes.  In 1996 he had taken Leslie and a girl called Margaret to the PSA fete and Sattie and Leslie to the Bel Air fete.

SENIOR Magistrate Mark Wellington yesterday sentenced a 48-year-old father to six weeks imprisonment for chasing his teenaged son with a cutlass.

Krishna Ramkissoon pleaded guilty to possession of a cutlass with the intent to wound at Greg Street Extension, Balmain, Couva, when he appeared in the Couva Magistrates’ Court. Police prosecutor Sgt Lawrence Rondan told the court that on Monday, Ramkissoon got into an argument with his 18-year-old son Beejay at their home. The defendant took up his cutlass and chased his son around the house shouting: “ I will chop you up.” His son ran into the house and escaped. A report was made to the Couva Police Station and Ramkissoon was arrested and charged by PC Ramdial. Ramkissoon admitted to the magistrate that he was drinking alcohol at the time. He said he used the cutlass for work.

THE CARIBBEAN Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC) recently hosted two back-to-back sessions on services trade negotiations in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, from March 10-13 at the Ambassador Hotel.  The purpose of the sessions was to strengthen participation of the private sector in services trade negotiations currently being held under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The workshops formed the primary activities of a CAIC/CIDA-funded project on Services Trade Liberalisation and Expansion, whose purpose was to sensitise and inform Caribbean services providers on relevant issues and the potential impact of the GATS, the FTAA-Services, and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (Services) Protocol; and to provide support for the formulation of trade policy for the CARICOM services sector by establishing policy positions related to the GATS, FTAA-Services, and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. A one-day Train-the-Trainer session was held immediately preceding the regional working session on March 10.  This was targeted at associations and trainers and provided a basic understanding of services exporting and services trade principles as well as the principles that guide services trade negotiations, with a view to buttressing their capability to brief and train private sector firms on services trade negotiation issues.

The regional working session on 11-13 March 2003 involved all participants from the Train-the-Trainer session, as well as government participants, additional private sector participants and representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery.  In total, 87 persons from 13 countries participated, with 17 from the public sector and 70 being the private sector.   The three-day session was structured to develop specific private sector recommendations on both FTAA and GATS services trade negotiating positions for CARICOM countries.

THE WAR in Iraq has already started to affect tourism in Tobago through a number of flight cancellations and Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Orville London fears the sector could be once again be in danger. Following a meeting of the Tourism Task Force at the Blue Haven Hotel Monday afternoon, London told reporters, hoteliers had already begun to experience a drop in occupancy levels. He expressed serious concern for the sector, which is clawing its way out of a depression that started three years ago.

London said Tobago is unlikely to achieve the predictions set for tourist arrivals this year. He called the situation “distressing” given the fact that the sector had also been hit hard by the aftermath of the terrorist strikes on the United States in September 2001. “We’ve got to be realistic. People are just not travelling and one can understand that — these are dangerous times and I know what is particularly disheartening is that it has come just at a time when we are recovering from 9/11,” London said. He noted that most of the hotels had favourable projections for the following year but had experienced severe cutbacks. “This (the current situation) is particularly distressing. We are hopeful that at the end of the exercise that Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean will still be considered a safe area and that we are going to be able to compensate for what is going to be a very, very unfortunate drop in the kind of occupancy that we expected.”

London said Tobago was projected to increase visitor arrivals from about 57,000 last year to about 70,000 this year. “That was very achievable. I don’t know how achievable it is at this point in time because remember we are also in the midst of the tourist season. It is very, very disheartening but we will continue to treat with it in as professional a manner as possible,” he said. There were no immediate reactions from several hotels contacted on the severity of the cutbacks, but London noted that even the hotel where the Tourism Task Force meets to plan strategies for attracting tourists was affected by the cancellations.

THE JOAO Havelange Centre of Excellence at Macoya, Tunapuna has been ordered by the Industrial Court to pay a dismissed worker $7,500 in damages.

The court, headed by Sandra Ramparas, found that Colin Stewart’s dismissal was harsh and contrary to the principles of good industrial relations practices.  He is to receive the money on or before April 11. The company told the court that Stewart was on probation when he was dismissed for verbally abusing his supervisor, Howard Nicholas, on December 8, 1998. The company said in deciding to dismiss Stewart, it took into consideration his poor job performance and poor conduct, for which he had been warned previously and failed to show any improvement. Stewart denied that he was ever called by the company and charged with the alleged offence, or that he was ever given an opportunity to defend himself. He admitted that he staged a “sit-in” to protest the arbitrary reduction of his salary from $3,000 to $2,000 per month.

The court said it was satisfied that Stewart used abusive language, but it observed: “The more pertinent question is whether the use of abusive language by the worker caused any embarrassment to the company as was alleged.” It contended that the company led no evidence to convince the court of this. “We find that the evidential burden of proof rests with the company and its failure to discharge this burden to our satisfaction, constrains us to concede to the submission of the union. “For the court to be convinced of the justification of the company’s case as being in keeping with the principles of good industrial relations practice, we must be furnished with the evidence to justify such decisive action. “The cavalier approach taken by the company in the handling of this matter was not in accordance with the principles of good industrial relations practices.”

THE NEW Chairman of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) Council, Dr Bhoe Tewarie,  said the region must brace for bio-terrorism, because terrorism can happen at “any time and any place”.

He said war is a reality and cited events taking place in Iraq. Tewarie said the threat posed by the use of biological/chemical weapons is a possibility. Speaking at the opening ceremony for the 29th council meeting at CAREC headquarters, Federation Park, Tewarie said countries have been battling HIV/AIDS, drugs and drug addiction. He said countries must also prepare against bio-terrorism. Globalisation offered opportunities but the region has also become more vulnerable. Tewarie said this is why the work of CAREC must be appreciated with expertise and capability to support monitoring and information gathering required for advice, intervention and action.

Tewarie stressed the importance of continued support from regional governments and entrepreneurial initiatives for CAREC to have long term support. He said he would like to see the organisation working more closely with research scholars from UWI. CAREC and UWI have pursued international funding for joint projects and Tewrie expressed the hope for further collaboration in areas such as Public Health and Virology. Alluding to plans to construct a new headquarters, he said CAREC must have the environment for its scientists and administrators to work in the 21st Century.

Director of CAREC, Dr James Hospedales described behaviour change as the “final pathway” to preventing many avoidable diseases and injury. “Most of the underlying preventable health problems and cost are associated with behaviour.” Hospedales called for governments and Ministers of Health to recognise the value of Public Health and Public Health officials. “There is insufficient vision and lack of priority accorded to investment in public health, particularly public health capacity— personnel, at national and regional levels”. He called for these areas to receive the attention of governments in their national and regional health sector planning and reform.

Hospedales said 2002 was a “good year” for CAREC as there was good financial quota support from member countries and for its public health campaigns. Hospedales spoke of the ongoing challenges of HIV/AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, and rise in chronic non-communicable diseases in the elderly population. He also mentioned the threat caused by West Nile virus, and record levels of dengue and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever. He announced that the building plan for CAREC’s new facility will cost US$29 million.