In a statement to the House of Representative yesterday, Garcia said on May 31 he said two of the 14 special private schools registered with the Ministry of Education had received cheques for the 2016 to 2017 academic year.

After reports were published in the media that none of the schools were paid, Garcia said he was out of the country, but immediately called for a report on the matter.

“After an exhaustive investigation,” he said, “it has been ascertained that the payment vouchers had in fact been prepared and verified.” “The Comptroller of Accounts had previously issued instructions to all ministries that salary payments were to be given priority.” The officer who provided him with the information that the two schools had been paid, he said, “had overlooked this restriction and assumed that the cheques had been printed and issued.” In his haste, Garcia said, the officer had failed to double check the information.

He said he and the permanent secretary in the ministry interviewed the officer.

“I am persuaded that the misinformation was a genuine error, and was not a display of negligence or dereliction of duty.” The special private schools have been complaining of not being able to carry out their programmes for children with special needs because they have not received their subventions and they cannot, in some instances, afford to pay salaries and meet their overhead expenses.

These schools cater for more than 1,000 children with varying disabilities from age four.

Hughes made the statement while delivering the first lecture, Guyana: New Frontier, on the opening day of the Second Oil and Gas Law Conference held by the Faculty of Law of the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies at the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s, on Thursday.

He said the proposal followed the oil and gas discovery in Guyana’s Liza 1 field, 120 miles offshore in May 2015, when Exxon discovered 800 million-1.4 billion barrels of oil and gas, which he said were staggering numbers for a country which had no history of oil exploration and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the time of only US$3.6 billion. He said the discovery was one of the richest oil and gas finds in the world for decades.

The two-day conference was sponsored by BPTT, Shell and eog resources and closed yesterday. Day one also featured a panel discussion on local content in the energy sector, in which Dr Ekpen Omonbude, economic adviser (natural resources) at the Oceans and Natural Resources Advisory Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, said among other things that in building local content, clarity was important, because if something meant different things to different people, there was a good chance that it would be done differently.

He said the advantage could be an overall improvement in quality and systematic valuation, though the downside was that the country could become too risk-averse and the policies end up focusing on the “small stuff.” He said policies also needed to be adaptable. He urged the early integration of procurement strategies of companies into the planning of countries, saying that the companies always knew before the countries what the skills were, and the country could then try to fit them into their national development plans.

Anthony Paul, chairman of the Local Content Committee, traced the development of local content in Trinidad and Tobago. He referred to the late Lloyd Best’s theory of the plantation economy, in which, he said, locals are only trained to build and operate an asset, but the skills to develop the business plan and source financing are kept at the head office of the international companies which own those facilities.

However, he said during this country’s gas development phase it was forced to build those skills because it had to get its own ships and management contracts and this was learnt during the development of the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.

These were the words of Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, who addressed scores of police officers at the Revival Time Assembly Church, King’s Wharf, San Fernando, yesterday. Williams urged them to unite and provide good policing for the people of this country.

“As I extend condolences to the family of officer Mondesir, I ask you to look out for each other and to carry out your duties with pride,” he said. The church was filled to capacity as Mondesir was given an official send-off.

Fr Glen Forde, who gave the sermon, said the wicked lived long lives and those who were good had short lives.

He said Solomon was known as the wisest man who ever lived, according to the Holy Bible.

“Solomon addressed the issue of death by saying human beings do not have the ability to predict the future, and how can they avoid what they do not know,” he said, adding that if Mondesir knew he was leaving his home never to return, he would have made alternative plans. But in the words of Solomon, he said, no one could hold back the spirit that was ascending to God.

“There is no escaping death. Solomon said death is an obligation that we must fulfil just as long as we are born in this world.” Forde said Solomon’s advice to man was: do not be too wise or too foolish. Men who are too wise, he says, do not believe in God and neither did those who were too foolish. Therefore, he urged, we must avoid these two extremes.

“The problem with people in TT is that they are not God-fearing citizens and as a result they are at times uncontrollable,” he said, noting that people should not try to be too wise or too foolish and make the wrong choices in life. He noted that Satan was a killer and was happy to deal with those who messed with him.

Forde said people should not allow God to become angry as he would send down the thunder and lightning in a flash. He urged the congregation to open their hearts to Jesus and allow him to take control of their lives.

Mondesir was killed in a road accident on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near El Socorro on Tuesday morning.

Fellow officer Dayne Horsford, who was with him, remains in critical condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Police reports say at about 2 am on Tuesday, the officers were heading east when their SUV skidded near Courts Megastore, flipped several times and PCs Mondesir and Horseford were thrown out.

They landed in bush at the side of the road.

Mondesir was pronounced dead on the spot, and Horsford was taken to hospital.

He lamented that many of them had been festering in jail unjustly simply because they could either not afford the bail allotted to them or because they could not afford legal counsel.

No one would disagree that prolonged imprisonment for such reasons is manifestly unjust.

It exposed an insidious type of inequity that weighed heavily against the poor and vulnerable.

When I reflect on the archbishop’s deliberate silence today, on the prospect that 53 prisoners may have to suffer the anguish of having their cases restarted de novo, I wonder privately how this affront to justice has not reignited the archbishop’s fervour. Some of these unfortunate souls have waited as long as eight years for their matter to be heard in court.

Just as their issues began to wax warm, the Judiciary has seen it fit to douse the rekindling of their hope with cold water.

As far as I am aware, Archbishop Harris has neither offered comment nor suggested a solution to this act of apparent judicial incompetence. That said, I preemptively offer my apologies to the prelate if I am in error.

One cannot fault a man for his silence since his thoughts remain his. On the other hand, a radio host has used his platform to suggest that the sentiment that Chief Justice Ivor Archie should demit office took root in racism.

The leader of the Anglican Church has also privately opined that citizens must not be too eager for the authors of this injustice against those in captivity to be fired, since those in error were people of “impeccable character.” The radio host suggested that the people who continue to demand Archie’s immediate resignation allegedly harbour hidden “racial” motives.

Of course if one were to isolate the Chief Justice and treat the relevant issues as though they pertained to him alone, then he stands out as Trinidadian with African roots.

If one looks at the entire picture, however, then one would discern that the same call is being directed at all the members of the present JLSC. Before the advent of E Koylass, that body comprised two men with Caucasian lineage and a woman who appears to be of mixed descent.

So I would like to ask the radio host to define the type of “racism” that he is seeing. Is it anti-African, anti-mixed race or anti-Caucasian? Why “isolate” Archie from the rest? He is the head of an inept organisation.

Further to this, I heard the radio host suggest that “they want an Indian Chief Justice.” I do not know who “they” might be. He also lamented the fact that even Afro-Trinidadians in the Law Association called for Archie’s resignation.

I would have thought that level- headed men judged the actions of their fellow men by considerations that extended beyond simply the way they look. It is a tragedy that this level of ignorant bigotry exists in present-day Trinidad.

STEVE SMITH via email

Clifford Llewellyn, 54, a mechanic will now be registered as a sex offender in accordance with Part Three of the Sexual Offences Act, Chapter 11:28.

Llewellyn, a mechanic, appeared before Senior Magistrate Gillian Scotland on Thursday in the Arima Magistrates Court to answer to the charges.

Llewellyn was found guilty of the two charges and sentenced to six months for the first offence and 18 months for the second, but will only serve 18 months, as the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

Police arrested Llewellyn after the parents of an eight-yearold boy and a ten-yearold girl reported that he had exposed the children to pornography and a sexual act while they were at his home.

As Magistrate Scotland handed down the sentence, she lamented the psychological effect such incidents had on the lives of children and the prevalence of such abuse against the vulnerable in society, namely children.

The money was used to close the deficit gap in the national budget said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

“That is not earnings. That is money obtained by the sale of the TTNGL shares,” he said.

Responding to questions from members of the Opposition in the House of Representatives yesterday, Rowley said, “I am flabbergasted to receive a question like that from the other side.

“We received $3.3 billion in dividends from TTNGL. Compare that with $14 billion paid to the last Government and we cannot find what that $14 billion was spent on.” Asked also about the divestment of 40 per cent of the Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU), Rowley said Minister of Finance Colm Imbert is exploring the divestment and there was no agreement at this time.

Imbert will take steps to divest 40 per cent of the TGU and other assets within the 2017 fiscal year, he said.

“That work is proceeding apace and we anticipate that it would be concluded in some time to allow some capital injection into the ongoing programme.” With interested parties and proper arrangements in place, he said, Government was working towards concluding transactions so that funding from the transfer of the shares would go to the minister of finance’s account before the end of the fiscal year.

In terms of procurement, he said, “We are considering offers.

We are inviting persons who may be interested – international companies that may be working in Trinidad and Tobago.” Cabinet will then determine, based on the offers, the best options for Government.

Government will maintain majority shareholding in the company so as to be in control of the future in a certain way, he said. In addition to divesting the 40 per cent to the private sector, Rowley said nine per cent of the shareholding in the company would be made available in the form of initial public offerings to nationals, pension funds, unit trusts.

“It is the intention to sell to 49 per cent and Government maintains 51 percent in TGU. This is as transparent as it can get.

On a special fund for capital projects suggested by Opposition MP Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, Rowley said, “It is very interesting that these proposals are coming now.” He said it would have been a whole lot more useful when NGC had $16 billion in their bank which could have been used specifically for a diversification programme or new development projects. “It is a great idea. Except that those funds were spent within the confines of all kinds of things I don’t know.

“If we spend it in the health sector on medicine, we don’t have it to spend on the road building programme. If we spend it on teachers salaries, we don’t have it to spend on tourism infrastructure.” The ability to keep the capital programme going in a deficit budget, he said, “can be interpreted that we are borrowing to spend on the capital programme.”

The system will also allow officers from south Trinidad to access training at the San Fernando Divisional headquarters without having to travel to St James.

The donation was part of a series of events to mark the historic one-day relocation of the US Embassy to the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA), corner Todd’s Street and Rienzi- Kirton highway, San Fernando yesterday.

Speaking at the handing- over ceremony, the US Embassy’s acting political/economic chief and security policy and assistance co-ordinator Dina Abba-Ogley said the system was part of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) between the United States and Caricom states.

“The United States has funded over $441 million since 2010, so this is part of the CBSI Connect system, part of our donation and total collaboration with the police service,” she said.

“And I want to congratulate Mr Williams and the police academy because they were deemed a regional centre of excellence recently and they will be training everyone in the region from the police academy.” Speaking with reporters afterwards, Williams said TT had been designated a centre of excellence at a formal two-day workshop earlier in the week and the St James police academy had received the “necessary support by way of equipment, the training and the facilitation of our instructors for the purposes of delivering this online training.

“The United States government has effectively facilitated the Caribbean region with what is referred to as CBSI Connect, and this is a system of online training facilities across the region so that training can take place simultaneously in regional locations – the academies across the Caribbean region can all have training taking place simultaneously,” he said.

“Since 2010 to now, the training hasn’t been regional. What was happening was that the US Embassy would arrange a training – let’s say cyber- crime investigations – they will arrange a training at the police academy and they will invite officers from Suriname, Jamaica, Bahamas, whatever area, and it would be a high-cost item to bring all this officers down to Trinidad at the Police Academy, St James. It involves issues around accommodation and travel.

But with this facility, in Bahamas, at their police academy, they will be able to receive training without their officers having to leave Bahamas,” Williams said.

“This is positive, this is tremendous, we always need to look at Trinidad and Tobago in different ways. In this particular instance one way you can look at Trinidad and Tobago is as a leader which stands out, facilitating training for the entire Caribbean region and that’s positive for us.”

When there is lack of morality in the affairs of the Judiciary, do we expect moral judgment from those inclined to criminality?

IMAAM IQBAL HYDAL Felicity

These allegations have been vehemently denied by Maharaj’s lead counsel Anand Ramlogan, SC, who said it was ‘preposterous and ridiculous’ to suggest there was anything untoward in the filing of the high court actions which challenged the implementation of the property tax and the composition of the JLSC.

Both cases were presided over by Justice Frank Seepersad, who granted injunctions in favour of the former politician. These orders have since been overturned by the appeal court. The coincidence of the same judge hearing the same claimant’s case over a matter of weeks have raised eyebrows, however, the procedure for the assignment of cases to judge has been clarified by the Judiciary in a statement on Thursday.

On May 25, six days after Justice Seepersad granted the first injunction in the property tax case, the attorney for the Chief State Solicitor Department, wrote to Supreme Court Registrar Jade Rodriguez questioning how the case came to be assigned to Seepersad. The Registrar provided answers to the queries on June 5, the day before the appeal court heard the property tax appeals filed by the Commissioner of Valuations and the Attorney General.

In her response, Rodriguez said Maharaj’s judicial review application was first filed at the Registry of the Supreme Court sub-registry in San Fernando on May 18 at 3.18 pm – the same day Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced an extension to the deadline for citizens to file their document.

Maharaj’s claim was given a case number – CV2017-01837 – and was docketed to Justice Robin Mohammed. Rodriguez said the next day at 8.56 am, a notice of withdrawal was filed. Maharaj has said he gave these instructions to his attorneys since he needed to reconsider his case following the minister’s announcement of an extension.

CASE RE-FILED “From an administrative standpoint, it made better sense to discontinue and re-file the claim with the necessary changes,” Maharaj said.

Rodriguez said a new ex-parte application was filed a few minutes earlier and this was given case number CV2017- 01839 and docketed to Seepersad.

She explained that cases when filed in the civil court office are assigned at random to a judge selected by the computer automated docketing system. The Registrar added at the time of filing, no oral or written request was made by Maharaj’s attorneys but the attorneys asked for a hearing that day.

She provided an explanation on the process involved in filing a judicial review application.

“The filing of an application for leave for judicial review is customarily treated with some urgency wherein the counter clerk enquires from the attorney’s clerk as to whether there is any urgency as to the date of hearing.

This information is then communicated by the counter clerk to the listing unit. “I am informed that this procedure was followed on the morning of the May 19, 2017, when CV20101839 was filed and the request was made orally by the attorneys’ clerk for the matter to be heard on the same day.

This information was communicated to the listing unit,” she said.

In her eight page response, Rodriguez noted the judge’s Judicial Support Officer (JSO) was emailed with the notice and at approximately 9.37 am, the file was collected and the JSO Tracey Headley was instructed by Seepersad to arrange a court and to contact Maharaj’s attorneys.

This was done. Seepersad commenced hearing at 11.30 am at the San Fernando High Court, in open court.

The order staying the implementation of the property tax was granted at 6 pm.

Rodriguez also said that attorneys for the Commissioner of Valuations were sent an email at 2.07 pm.

Told that attorneys for the State were informed by court staff that no Registrar was present when they made frantic efforts to ascertain whether an ex parte application was being heard, Rodriguez said although she and the assistant registrars were attending a seminar hosted by the Judicial Education Institute of the Judiciary, they were all available via telephone to deal with any urgent applications and were on call to deal with Maharaj’s matter.

She said at approximately 5.20 pm upon receiving notification that the case was still ongoing in the San Fernando Court, assistant Registrar Priscilla Rampersad proceeded to the San Fernando court and signed the judge’s order at 7 pm. She also noted that the assistant Registrar did not place the penal clause on any of the five office copies of the judge’s order which were requested by the attorney.

SPECTRE OF ‘UNC JUDGES’ In a statement, Maharaj said it had come to his attention that there was a politically motivated attack on Seepersad in light of his ruling in the property tax case and the composition if the JLSC.

He cited previous perceived attacks by the People’s National Movement which criticised certain judges in high profile cases and were labelled ‘UNC judges.’ “My case against the JLSC was filed and I was advised by the court registry that it was assigned to Seepersad. I was told that this was a random assignment. What was I supposed to do? It should be noted as well that the first judge who was assigned to the property tax case was Justice Robin Mohammed who was the trial judge in Mr Ramlogan’s defamation case against Mr Jack Warner and awarded $1 million to Mr Ramlogan,” he said.

The people of Tobago depend heavily on the inter-island service, so it’s really Tobagonians who are being punished.

However, it is my view (and that of many other ferry users) that the presence of security officers makes little difference in the behaviour of rowdy and destructive passengers other than adhering to the no-smoking zones.

In the presence of a full security shift, passengers often play loud music and put up their feet on the chairs and tables while the officers pretend not to notice.

A fellow passenger had better not try to correct them or ask them to lower their music, lest he/she be told where to get off.

There are signs indicating that radios should not be played loudly yet one often has to endure another passenger’s noise throughout the trip.

People often use obscene language and are raucous and disruptive to other passengers in the presence of the security officers who look at you as though to say, “Not me, I’m not getting involved.” I applaud the captains who decide to sail without the officers, because I’m sure they know about the misbehaviour which occurs in the presence of officers.

Since the sailings can continue without the security officers who see it fit to “work to rule,” maybe not as many of them are needed now.

CAROLYN CORRIAN Carnbee