The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) has to wait until 4 pm on June 28 to know if all 40,248,000 of its Class B shares in TTNGL; with an offer price of TT $21 per share, are fully taken up.

However, NGC heads have expressed confidence that this APO is priced right and will very likely be fully subscribed.

This was the response of NGC Group chairman, Gerry Brooks and NGC’s vice-president of Finance and Management, Narinejit Pariah, to questions posed about the expected performance of the TTNGL APO, three months after an APO from First Citizens bank was undersubscribed by about 32 percent.

Several people cited the TT$32 offer price as a main factor, arguing that it was too high even though $32 was the market price of First Citizens shares as of the opening day of that offer.

Taking note of this and the continued difficulties in the economy, some people have predicted that the TTNGL APO will experience a similar fate.

NGC expects to raise TT$845,208,000 from the sale of its Class B shares. The proceeds of which are intended to help fund Government’s fiscal programme.

Business Day therefore asked if management had found itself in a quandary when pricing the APO and if some investors had since expressed the view that the offer price should be been less than $21.

Pariah said, “If you look at the price performance of TTNGL over the past three months; from March 27 to now, that share traded around $21.75 on average and in fact, was closer to $22 from inception to now. So we think it’s a fair price.” Pariah responded to this and other questions during a briefing session on the TTNGL APO, held at the Hyatt Recency, Port-of-Spain on June 13.

Questioned whether potential investors may be hesitant to put their money into TTNGL at this economically challenging time, Pariah’s immediate response was “No.” “The feedback that we have received to date, there’s a lot of excitement in terms of this investment. There’s no other investment in the (local) market right now that will give you a dividend yield of 7.4 percent. So there’s a lot of excitement with respect to this investment,” Pariah said.

Brooks then give his opinion on both questions. Regarding the TTNGL APO offer price, he said, “The average price has been $21.99 as (Pariah) said, which means that you’re getting a 4.5 discount relative to the average price at $21. So there’s room for capital appreciation.” Turning to the recession question, the NGC Group chairman said, “If we were in a recession and people are holding back money and they’re staying in cash, they then need to determine where is the best place to invest that cash.” According to Brooks, the TTNGL APO provides an “excellent” option for that cash “because the return is 7.14 percent, with potential upside in terms of capital appreciation…

So the current environment favours this share because it’s an excellent return in terms of dividend yield, with good potential capital appreciation.” Business Day then asked Brooks about the response, as of June 13, to the APO. “The response has been excellent,” he said.

Asked to expand on this, Brooks replied, “In the first week, some people are going to be organising their forms, money, cheques and so forth but certainly, the feedback that we’ve gotten from the brokerage community has been (positive).” “In terms of individual investors and institutional investors, their response has also been very strong… Credit unions have been very, very enthused – they were in this room (at Hyatt Recency) less than a week ago and many of their investment committees are also looking at this APO because it fits very nicely into their investment allocation formulae..So we are very enthused, the feedback has been excellent,” Brooks stated.

Archie is now saying, “no such decision was made”.

The reversal in position was contained in a letter by the attorney representing the Chief Justice to former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, who is representing a minor before the courts on a murder charge and whose case was affected by Ayers-Caesar’s appointment as a judge of the High Court.

Ramlogan on June 12, wrote to attorney Ian Roach who represents Archie, seeking answers on the consensus arrived at a meeting of stakeholders on May 24, when it was reported these stakeholders agreed to have all 53 cases restarted de novo (new trial). However, in his letter to Ramlogan dated June 20, Roach said, “Your letter proceeds on a wholly erroneous premise. My instructions are that no such decision was made in your letter.” On May 25, a release by the Judiciary’s Court Protocol and Information Manager Alicia Carter- Fisher, announced that a decision was made at the stakeholders meeting of May 24. In the release, Carter-Fisher said, “consensus was reached and the meeting agreed to have all 53 matters restarted de novo.” It was also announced that Ag Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle Caddle would preside over all indictable cases, while all summary matters will be taken over by an assigned magistrate at the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court. All other Eighth Court matters which were not started will be managed by the acting deputy chief magistrate, the statement further noted.

RELEASE NOT WORDED PROPERLY The Judiciary statement said priority will be given to the 53 matters which will be actively case-managed using the new Criminal Procedure Rules (CPR) of 2016, “having regard to the hardships already experienced by the incarcerated, accused on bail, victims, witnesses and other stakeholders within the system.” Present at the May 24 meeting were CJ Archie, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, Law Association vice president Rajiv Persad, members of the Criminal Bar Association, the acting chief magistrate, senior magistrates and the Registrar of the Supreme Court. It was convened to “determine the way forward for the 53 part-heard matters left unresolved by Ayers-Caesar”, the Judiciary release stated.

However, in his June 20 letter to Ramlogan, Roach said that Carter- Fisher’s media release which carried the Judiciary’s seal, was not properly worded. “It is unfortunate that you have construed the media release (which was regrettably not worded as it should have been) in the way that you have,” Roach told Ramlogan. “The purpose of the meeting was simply to obtain the views of the persons in attendance, not to make a decision as to how the matters would or should be dealt with the relevant presiding magistrate.” The announcement by the Judiciary on May 25, of a consensus arrived at, came almost a month after Ayers-Caesar resigned (on April 27) as a judge, when it was revealed by the Chief Justice that she misrepresented the number of cases left unresolved before her move to the High Court.

It also occurred a week before the Law Association debated and passed a motion of no confidence in Archie and other members of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) over the bungling of Ayers-Caesar’s appointment.

The controversy deepened when on June 1, at least 40 of the 53 part-heard cases was called before the Ag Chief Magistrate in the Port of Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court.

‘I HAVE MY INSTRUCTIONS’ Earle-Caddle told attorneys, which included the DPP, that she had her instructions to restart the matters. “I can’t answer that question…

I am not in charge of the JLSC,” she said. “I have my instructions to restart the matters,” she said.

She was responding to questions from Gaspard and other attorneys on the status of Ayers-Caesar given that the Judiciary issued a previous statement which said Ayers-Caesar had been restored as chief magistrate. Automobiliai, baldai, langai, buhalterija, seo, paskolos, reklama, remontas, kreditai internetu ir kiti strapsniai portale straipsniai.org

As she apologised to each prisoner, Earle-Caddle told them that the magistrate who started the matter was no longer “with us” and it was the law that the cases must be restarted.

She also disclosed that she was informed that Ayers-Caesar had vacated the office of chief magistrate and that she was given the directive on Wednesday (May 31) that the part-heard matters were to be restarted. Earle-Caddle did not say from whom she received the directive. “I am sorry I have tried to assist you. I cannot assist you any further,” she said.

She did disclosed that no decision to restart the cases de novo was taken at the stakeholders meeting. In his letter to Ramlogan, Roach also indicated that “no further directives were issued to any judicial officer as to how they should deal with the matters which may come before them.” He also told Ramlogan that “no person or persons arrogated unto themselves the power to determine the future conduct” of his client’s case.

“Your client’s legal representative is free to make any representations or submissions he considers appropriate before the presiding magistrate and have same dealt with at that time. That is the protection of the law and the right to a fair hearing that the Constitution guarantees to your client,” Roach further advised Ramlogan. Several of the affected part-heard cases are expected to be called next Tuesday.

At Central Bank’s first public session at its office in Port of Spain, Manager of Banking Operations, Sharon Villafana explained the reason for their decision to do so was to save money for the country.

The cost of minting the one cent coin is about 21 cents for each one.

“We know overtime there will be less and less one cent coins in circulation therefore you the public would have less coins available to complete your cash payments. To facilitate this, the Central Bank has decided to introduce some guidelines to help the public. These guidelines will be voluntary and they will help the public to be able to complete cash transactions with certainty,” she said.

The Bank will issue guidelines to help the public understand the rounding process which will be used by vendors.

“Rounding really is a lesser or a greater adjustment of a final cash payment to the nearest five or ten cents. So what these guidelines are going to be doing is to assist vendors and consumers to have a common basis to treat with the absence of a one cent,” she said.

In the initial phase, the rounding process will be voluntary as the one cent will still be “legal tender”. She said the rounding guidelines will only apply to cash payments.

“Rounding guidelines are not to be applied where the consumer already has one cents that is in his possession that are sufficient to complete the exact amount payable.” If a vendor wishes to round but the consumer still has reservations, Villafana said the vendor should attempt to provide exact change to the consumer.

“If the vendor however does not have the exact change to provide and insist on using rounding the customer has some choices.

The customer may, if they have the exact amount, tender the exact amount payable or they can opt to pay for the items using other forms of non cash payment,” she said.

With these rounding guidelines, Villafana said pricing on individual items should not be changed.

“Rounding applies to the total payment at the end of a transaction, inclusive of all duties and taxes,” she said.

Citizens can also expect new five, ten and 25 cent coins from July 1. The Bank changed the composition of the coins because it was costing more to make than the value of the coin. As a result, the coins will no longer be pure alloy but mixed metal.

“This is much more cost effective for us to be able to produce a good quality coin for the use by the public as well as reduce cost.

The new coins will look and feel the same, the design, the size the weight will remain consistent with our current coins in circulation.

The old coins will continue to be legal tender and the intention is to have these coins co-mingle in the environment,” she said.

The second storm of the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season, Bret packed winds in excess of 48 km/h which was strong enough to tear the roof off of houses, topple trees, collapse street and traffic lights.

Flooding only exacerbated the stress of those left without electricity after the storm’s passage.

For Salita Le Blanc of Kissoon Trace in Vega de Oropouche, East Trinidad, she has had to live with floods every Rainy Season as the nearby Oropouche River easily fills to capacity and breaks its banks.

Bret’s showers, however, were a different matter as five hours of nonstop rainfall transformed Kissoon Trace into a sea of brown water.

LeBlanc said all she can do now is wait until the flood waters dissipate and survive on the food and water she stocked up on during the weekend on being warned of Bret’s impending arrival. She said venturing in the flood waters is hazardous as its murkiness could easily hide snakes, centipedes and caiman.

ROOF GONE In Valencia, several families were left without a roof over their heads thanks to the storm’s wind. Norma Padmore, her four children and nine grandchildren were forced to abandon their Evergreen Avenue home when the roof went flying.

She spent the night inside the Valencia South Government primary school which was converted into a shelter.

Daughter Anika Lockhart said she was sitting in the living room with her six-month-old son, her daughter and two nieces watching television when they realised rain was falling on them. “It was nine in the night when the roof started to shake. The children began to scream and just so the roof was ripped off and rain started to wet us,” Lockhart said.

She thanked officials who were in charge of the shelter saying that food, cots and other amenities were provided to the family and others who sought shelter in the school.

The family has split up, with some staying at the home of relatives and others sheltering at a nearby church until they could repair their home.

At Palm Road, Diane Paul had to lift her elderly, invalid parents from their bed and take them to safety after the roof of their house was ripped off at 9 pm on Monday.

“Not only was the roof ripped off but the walls began to sway…such was the power of the winds,” Paul said.

Chairman of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation Martin ‘Terry’ Rondon was in the mix of things yesterday, overseeing cleanup operations and also relief efforts for those badly affected.

“No, everything is not right, but we are going to put things in place.

And people, let this not be about politics eh. Let us do this for the people the way God wants it done,” Rondon said as he called on people to volunteer their time and energy in the relief effort. (See Page 8A) Another badly affected area in East Trinidad was the Oropune Gardens housing development in Piarco. Flooding affected dozens of residents many of whom spent yesterday cleaning their living rooms, bedrooms and porches. Solange Pile, of 14th Street, said that at 3 am yesterday, water started pouring into her home.

“We tried to stop the water from coming in. But as you can see, we failed. Right now we are monitoring the situation because the sky is still overcast so we have to watch out for more rain. The (Tunapuna/ Piarco) corporation is helping with washing down the place from all of the sludge that was left behind,” Pile said.

SUFFERING IN SOUTH In the south land, terrified and pregnant mother of five Ramrajee ‘Sacha’ Chance spent Monday night praying that her family survived caiman and snakes as flood waters invaded her Sunrees Road, Penal home. Through her tears, Chance said her family could do nothing except when water flooded their home.

When the roof was partly damaged, rainwater soaked the mattresses her children sleep on. No one in the family slept through the night as there was nowhere dry in the house to sleep. Her children sat in a corner on some boxes as the flood waters rose slowly through the night. “We went on top of a table and sat waiting for the water to go down. When some of our groceries in plastic bags floated out of the house we could not go for it since we were afraid of snakes and caiman being in the water outside,” Chance said.

Chance lives in the galvanise and wooden shack with her common- law husband Shameer Ali, 53, and her children Nicholas, 12; Nicola, 11; Neil, nine; Nikita, eight and Nigel, three. At midday yesterday, residents used a dinghy to access the stranded family and bring them grocery items.

“Whole morning we only killing centipedes which were driven from their hiding places by the flood water,” Chance said. Because Ali is sickly and does odd jobs from time to time, Chance said she cannot afford to repair her home. But they had nowhere else to go. Rural Development and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein later visited the family.

Hosein later contacted Penal/ Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) chairman Dr Allen Sammy.

“He (Sammy) said none of the shelters were opened because they were waiting on the ODPM to open them. I asked him to make sure the shelter is open to house this family. This family needs a place to stay, they need food, they need water and we have to accommodate them,” Minister Hosein said. He vowed to keep a close eye on developments to ensure Chance and her family get help.

KAMLA TOURS Opposition Leader and Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar toured areas of her constituency yesterday and distributed hampers to affected constituents. Accompanying her were Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal and officials from the PDRC including chairman Sammy and Motilal Ramsingh.

Persad-Bissessar said her information is that 25 houses suffered roof loss due to Bret. She knocked Government saying the relief effort response could have been better coordinated. “I had called on Government since Saturday to set up an inter-ministerial team with all the ministries as well as the NOC (National Operations Centre) as the coordinating agencies. Therefore, we would not be waiting today for people to be getting any help,” Persad- Bissessar said.

She called on Government to immediately put an emergency relief fund into place so people will know that it is accessible. The key agencies and the key ministries, she noted, would be the ones to coordinate it through the NOC. The Opposition leader noted there are shelters in the entire region but apparently these shelters were not opened to the public. At Penal Rock Road, many residents were marooned in their homes yesterday, hours after Bret had passed.

(See Page 7)

With our hundred-year history of pulling oil and latterly, gas out of the ground, and 55 years of managing the same, what do we have to show for it? “I think most people, particularly people of my generation, have expressed the fairly strong view that we really have not done as well as we should have done, given the resources and the potential that we thought that we had,” Dr Terrence Farrell said as we discussed his latest book, We Like It So? Farrell’s generation saw the rise of TT colours over the Red House in 1962 as people in their teens and early 20s.

They made up that pioneering cadre of local professionals who ran our state enterprises, Parliament, Judiciary and Public Service as young adults returning from university in the 1970s. Farrell himself, an economist with legal training, went on to become a deputy director of the Central Bank and now chairs a Board that advises government on economic development.

He tends to be outspoken on policy issues, particularly forex distribution and diversification and has theorised for some time about the curious workings of this country that have led to this underachievement.

Many of these ideas come together in We Like It So? The seeds of the book he said, started with two opposing ideas in a strange juxtaposition often found in TT, the islands as paradise versus the islands as underperformers.

Farrell said explanations that people were wont to give, that Trinbagonians were lazy, incompetent or malicious were superficial, which is why underperformance required deeper examination, particularly as he, and other commentators note, nationals work happily and willingly in foreign countries and follow the rules of multi-nationals based here.

“I was particularly concerned about underperformance in the economic sphere.

I didn’t want to get too far out of my area of competence,” said Farrell, “So I focused on questions of how we work, how we innovate, how we invest.

Those were the questions I was trying to answer and those are economic questions. But the roots of those things are socio-cultural.

Which means you have to go back in history to understand where these things come from. Our values, our attitudes.” According to Farrell, we are following a script laid out 200 years ago, during our slavery, indentureship and colonial periods.

These events have shaped and help concretised our attitudes to authority, risk taking and innovation, decision making and even our very sense of self, all concepts he expands further in the book.

Ultimately, Farrell concludes that our lack of identity, or ambivalence about self, causes the poor leadership we see.

With that lack of confidence in self, comes the inability to make good decisions, or the ability to have faith in decisions that are made. And this, is when we actually decide to make them.

Farrell shows where Trinbagonians and West Indians on the whole, have eschewed data in favour of “voops, vaps and vi ki vai” in taking key policy decisions, leading to the underperformance we see in many spheres.

As a hierarchical society and a colony of exploitation, risk taking and innovation were not necessary and failure at either severely punished by a people who respected status above all else.

We Like It So? makes for compelling reading, particularly as one relates the historical antecedents Farrell raises to present day conditions in this country’s economy: its hostile labour-employer relationships, its continual false starts at diversification, the persistence of the import-distribution business model, for example.

Some of his solutions proposed at the end of the book definitely warrant further academic study, if not by himself, at least some enterprising department of the UWI or the UTT.

It is interesting, though, that Farrell complains at one point in We Like It So? that West Indians spend too much time researching into the beginning of a problem without providing the answers at end. He spends up to 95 per cent of the book developing his thesis and only the last few pages discussing his possible solutions. Again, he may be leaving this for development in another book, or for further academic study.

One idea mentioned in connection with another review of this book is also worthy of further inquiry. The reviewer, Raymond Ramcharitar, rejects Farrell’s suppositions, on the basis of bias toward a particular intellectual tradition that Ramcharitar believes was in large part contributory to the very issues the economist discusses in We Like It So?.

Ramcharitar postulates instead, that mass migration of TT’s best minds in the 60s and 70s is responsible for the underperformance we see today.

It would be elucidating to see what future study of both theories reveal, particularly the points of connection, if any, between the two.

We Like It So?, however, is important, because it attempts to examine what we are, how we came to be that way and how we can be better.

Anything that at least nudges us in the direction to think about our society, to talk and debate about it, is likely a step in the right direction.

Two of the leading figures in those movements in the United States and Britain will be the featured speakers at the opening event at the Central Bank Auditorium, Twin Towers, Independence Square on Sunday at 5 pm.

Cleo Lake and Michael “Quess” Moore will address Dismantling the Colonial Legacy: Reflections from a New Front Line. Lake is an artist, activist, councillor (Cotham, England) and founding member of “Countering Colston”, a campaign that is stripping the city of Bristol, England of a notorious slave trader’s name, building by building.

A native Bristolian of Afro-Jamaican and Scottish roots, Lake says she is an artist who is driven by truth and justice.

The Countering Colston campaign is meant to empower residents although the city of Bristol openly celebrates the major historical slave trader Edward Colston who lived there. As a form of positive resistance, Lake has called an action of awareness to understand the complete history of the transatlantic slave trade; to commemorate and mourn those who died because of the slave trade; celebrate those who resisted slavery and promote ideas of human dignity, equality and freedom.

, USA, which has already led to the take down of a number of statues glorifying those who fought to maintain slavery in the United States.

Take Em Down NOLA was primarily founded by three young black educators: adjunct college professor Malcolm Suber, K-8 principal Angela Kinlaw, and Moore. Together, they have lobbied for the removal of statues that represent the colonial context and white supremacy.

Last month, three images were taken down: the statue of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis, originally erected in 1911; an equestrian statue of the Confederate general PGT Beauregard; a monument to the Battle of Liberty Place, which commemorated a Reconstruction-era insurrection by white supremacists.

The launch of the lecture series will be followed by an exciting film festival that runs from June 29 to July 25, comprising a number of award-winning films such as I am not your Negro by the Caribbean’s own master film-maker Raoul Peck, Get Out, Queen of Katwe and Fences. All films are free and will be followed by discussion.

For seat reservation for Sunday and more info: 625-5008, www.emancipationtt.

com or on Facebook at Emancipation Support Committee – ESC.

McAlpin was addressing yesterday’s weekly police press briefing at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain.

He said over the periods from January to June 2016 and 2017, the police had had notable successes in the collective effort not only to deal with illegal arms and ammunition, but also to focus on narcotics offences.

“The effort in drug-supply reduction by local agencies such as Customs and Excise, TT Coast Guard, security agencies at all ports of entry should not go unnoticed, and for this, the TTPS commends them for their efforts,” he said. “These supply- reduction efforts, which represent illegal narcotic seizures and eradications, are only one aspect, as the OCNFB and other external stakeholders continued to engage in the demand- reduction exercises such as lectures, displays, and interaction with youth.” Mc Alpin said the demand-reduction exercises were geared toward diminishing the appetite and interest in illegal narcotics, and catered for people of all ages.

He said it was evident from the number of first-time offenders being held with large quantities of narcotics that offenders are not limited to unemployed people seeking financial gain, but also included professionals who were otherwise employed in high-paying jobs.

Mc Alpin said in respect of cocaine from January to June 2016, 78.7 kilogrammes were seized, but in 2107 32.86 kilogrammes were seized, a decrease of 58.48 per cent.

“In respect to marijuana seizures, we had 511.72 kilogrammes in 2016 [and] 663.68 kilogrammes in 2017, an increase of 29.7 per cent.

Arrests for cocaine: in 2016, 316 males were arrested and in 2017 we had 290 – 8.23 percent decrease.

Mc Alpin said the police and by extension the OCNFB had recognised a continued interest in possessing illegal firearms and narcotics by small groups in society, and had issued a clarion call to all civic-minded citizens to join the fight against crime.

“Those willing to assist the law enforcement community in making Trinidad and Tobago a safe place, we call upon you to help us to make the difference.”

“My original plan was to create a crowd funding platform since many entrepreneurs, myself included, needed a payment option. But this was only available from a local bank via a credit card payment option in TT dollars which was very expensive,” Alleyne said.

After attending a Start-up Weekend in 2013 (an event designed to assist entrepreneurs turn their business ideas into reality), he discovered that there were many young entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas, but no payment system to monetise those ideas.

“This was the further impetus to create a payment system. I needed it and there were a community of entrepreneurs trying to do online business as well, but lacking a payment mechanism,” Alleyne reveals.

He says that credit card penetration was really low in TT (approximately 20 percent as at 2015) which meant that even though there was a credit card payment system, business owners could not target the entire population. The initial proposal he made to the bank was refused, since the bank did not allow a business to use a credit card payment option which he proposed.

Alleyne then created a prototype, a very rudimentary website and customers made payments at the banks.

He solicited feedback from his initial customers which was very informative and useful. “Customers revealed that they did not want to go into the banks to make payments, so I did some more research and tweaked the first model. In 2014, Paywise was redesigned and relaunched using a network of agents,” Alleyne says.

However, there was limited reach within the agent network, since extending outside of the East-West corridor proved challenging. So in 2015, the business model was changed again and now payments can be made through NLCB via the bill payment system at over 900 locations in TT , allowing people with cash to make payments in a simple and convenient way.

“Customers are familiar with interacting with this system to purchase phone credit, pay bills and play Lotto, so it makes things easy,” Alleyne says.

One of the primary benefits from using Paywise is that the system targets a wider market where virtually anyone with cash in their pockets can assess it. The cost to the merchant is $5 per transaction and there is no set up fee, monthly cost or minimum payment. It is safer and saves entrepreneurs lots of time and fuel that would have been spent driving around to collect cash.

It also alleviates lost sales from customers who dislike lining up at the bank. Businesses that use Paywise include debt collection agencies, cosmetics, lending agencies, fitness/training and others.

Payment methods are manual, automated and integrated.
For the manual method the customer makes a payment and sends a snapshot of the receipt to the merchant via WhatsApp or email. This method is recommended for businesses that do not have an online presence.

The automated option allows customers to make payments using their unique numbers (or order numbers) for each transaction and the Paywise system automatically identifies the customers, alleviating the need for a copy of the receipt to be sent to the merchants as they can log into their Paywise account to track payments. This method is suitable for any merchant with a web presence or Facebook page, so merchants can assign a payment number when the customer identifies a product they want.

The integrated method requires the customer to use a unique number (or order number) and the Paywise system automatically posts a message to the merchant’s website. This method works for merchants who have an e-commerce presence with shopping carts. The major difference between the automated and integrated approach is that the integrated method alerts merchants so they can begin fulfilling the order once the payment is made on the website.

The agent needs to know three things to process payment: Who is the customer paying? Paywise; What account number? –a unique number assigned by merchant’ and finally, the Payment amount.

Paywise has to conform to TT ’s anti- money laundering laws which are regulated by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Central Bank.
In order to register with Paywise, the business must be registered with the Ministry of Legal Affairs and must have a bank account in its name.

Customers indicate that it is a Paywise payment and provide the account number, or their unique number which is created by the merchant. Paywise then identifies the number with the merchant and credits the account. Bank accounts are credited every Tuesday and Friday via an automatic funds transfer system and appears within 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the bank. The merchant is automatically notified via text message and email whenever a payment is made.

One may ask why would someone venture into this type of business. Alleyne has a background in finance and IT and switched careers several times. After secondary school, he pursued computer programming at the San Fernando Technical Institute and then worked in IT for nine years at Royal Bank.

After completing his MBA, he switched from IT to finance and returned to banking where he worked in all areas of lending/credit – personal banking, commercial, corporate, investment.
“As a former business analyst in the IT area, part of my function included talking to users and translating their needs into an IT solution. My background in finance gave me a better appreciation of business and how it operates, he said. “Although I loved the area of IT, one thing that remained with me was the ability to look at a business situation and see an IT solution for it. Paywise allows me to use all of my skills to solve customers’ needs.”
For more info: www.paywise.com, ian.alleyne@paywise.co www.carolyncorreia.com

The Cipero River overflowed its banks Monday night with water inundating surrounding areas. Speaking on Wednesday during a tour of several affected areas throughout San Fernando, the southern city’s Mayor Junia Regrello said, “What I heard from one resident is that this river has not been cleaned in seven years.

This project falls under the Ministry of Works, not the Corporation, as this is a major water course.” “A lot of trees were allowed to grow in the drain which prevented the free flow of water.

If you look at the height of the river, you would be amazed that water was able to break the bank at that level. If the drains were cleared, that was not going to happen.” A flooded out resident was not pleased with the response she received from authorities when she called for help. “I just bought some of these appliances last week,” said Mearl Timla, a resident of Bonanza Gardens in Green Acres. “I will have to wait and see if they are working after they got soaked. When I called 990 for help, they told me they had no time to respond to me. All they told me was to get to higher ground. But I needed help to take the things upstairs.” Timla and another neighbour pointed to seven feet high muddy watermarks which lined some of their concrete posts. The bushes and their potted bougainvillea plants in their yards were all covered in mud. Regrello said he requested two excavators from the Ministry of Works and expected them to begin clearing the river today to avoid a repeat of the flooding.

Regrello also blamed, “poor engineering and improper planning”, on the flooding of homes on the Marabella train line.

“Marabella is very flat.

The drainage is poor so the water is not draining as it should.” Regrello pointed out eight inch drains with six inch mouths as one cause of flooding. “It leads to a bottleneck of water that overflows into peoples’ yards.”

The minister toured the school yesterday and said a fence which had been torn down by the storm would be immediately rebuilt, because the principal had told him the school was in a high-risk area.

Garcia said he intended to treat the matter as an emergency and would contact the Education Facilities Company to deal with it as soon as he returned to his office.

He also praised the Electricity Commission (T&TEC) for doing a tremendous job in replacing a pole which had fallen during the storm and had left the school without electricity as well as internet connectivity.

He said the T&TEC crew had worked through the night to replace the pole and was still there at the time of his visit yesterday morning.

He said as soon as the T&TEC crew was finished, a crew from FLOW would begin work to restore internet service, and he had been assured the electricity supply would be restored by the end of the day.

He said a number of other schools were also affected by the storm: Todds Road RC; Brazil RC; Mundo Nuevo RC; and the San Rafael RC primary schools.

In a statement, the ministry said other schools affected were Mayo RC Primary and Rousillac Hindu Primary School, where some of the galvanised sheets on the roof were blown off.

The statement added that the Kanhai Presbyterian Primary School and St Helena’s SDMS Hindu School were cut off by flooded access roads, although the school buildings themselves were not affected. However, the minister hoped that all the flood-affected schools would be re-opened by today.

The ministry also said the Valencia South Government Primary School and Manzanilla Government Secondary School were being used as shelters for displaced families and would remain closed today.