Workers from a cleaning company have refused to empty bins and clean the area where dialysis treatment takes place six days a week.

Nurses have been complaining to management that due to the poor sanitation patients continue to be at risk of contracting infections.

Up until Saturday the situation was not rectified. A nurse told Newsday, “There is no magic needed to clear up this mess.

All workers have to do is bear in mind that they are dealing with a special type of patient who needs an extremely clean environment when they are dialysing.” Nurses said that in the dialysis ward they use needles, syringes, tubes and other equipment and if the ward is not kept clean and sanitized patients could become infected. Workers from the cleaning company told Newsday they are refusing to clean the ward because they are not receiving their salaries on time. Calls yesterday to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh’s cellular phone went unanswered.

At that same event, the bank also launched the 2017 edition of the Scotiabank Vision Achiever Programme (SVAP).

Addressing SME owners at the launch, General Manager, Small Business and Self-Service Channels, Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago, Gregory Hines, said SMEs are “an important customer segment for us.” “SMEs play an important role in the growth and development of economies globally. They play an even more important role in creating employment, generating wealth and supporting sustained economic growth in smaller economies…

Here in TT, there are more than 20,000 registered SME, employing over 200,000 people and contributing more than a third of our country’s GDP (gross domestic product). When we consider the challenges associated with the current economic climate, SMEs now more than any other time in our history, have the potential to play a greater role in our economy.” Hines said there are however several impediments in the way of SME growth in TT. “Two impediments that we have identified and which we have decided to address directly are access to affordable financing and availability of practical, hands-on, relevant business training. (Scotiabank) is pleased to officially launch two initiative which are geared at addressing these challenges. The first, is our SME Development Credit Fund, which provides low cost financing options for qualified businesses. The second is Vision Achievers 2017, which provide practical, hands-on, and relevant business training to entrepreneurs,” Hines said.

Speaking about SVAP, Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of Scotiabank’s South and East Caribbean operations, Reshard Mohammed, said the programme “was developed with the entrepreneur in mind – to help build capacity – so that they can manage their operations more efficiently and effectively.”

New man at the helm is Peter Acham who defeated the incumbent Linford Carrabon 29-24 at the club’s annual general meeting held at the Santa Rosa Park racing facility yesterday.

Acham takes over from Carrabon to initially serve a two-year term.

Multi-time champion trainer John O’Brien was elected unopposed to the position of 2nd vice-president.

Ex-ARC president Hugh Lee King was one of three members of the management committee elected.

There were two other new faces elected to the management.

Outspoken radio and television commentator and newspaper columnist Andre Errol Baptiste, part of the Errol Stables is one of the newboys in the management committee.

The other new member is prolific champion owner Shivam Maharaj..

The trio replaces Tansley Thompson, Winston Govia, a stipendary steward, and long serving member Charles James

PNM PRO Stuart Young reported that tributes were paid to Dumas at the PNM General Council post-meeting media briefing held at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain.

Young described Dumas as a “stalwart” who “contributed significantly not only to the PNM but TT as a whole”.

He reported at the general council meeting members took the time to thank his family, friends and supporters for all he did for the PNM and the people of the country.

The funeral for Dumas was held last week Saturday at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port of Spain and then a service was held in Tobago last Wednesday.

Dumas, 62, died after being hospitalised for five months. His ex wife reported he was suffering from a faulty heart valve for which he recently had surgery from which his family hoped he would recuperate. Dumas served as an Opposition Senator in 2001, and then began a nine year ministerial career under former prime minister Patrick Manning.

He was minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister (2001 to 2002), minister of public utilities (2002 to 2003), minister of local government (2003 to 2007) and minister of labour (2007 to 2010).

In 2007 he was elected Tobago East MP.

“If we think of it in terms of liberalising the policies within the prisons, the calls for expanding the visitation for all inmates, it is a good move,” he told Newsday over the weekend.

Saying that the issue was one of human rights, Husbands noted that the call was not new.

“That has long been recommended in terms of keeping the bonds alive and in the new prison rules, while it has not been tabled in Parliament yet – those were issues that were also incorporated in terms of increasing the number of visits.” Husbands’ support for the move came days after San Juan/ Barataria MP Dr Fuad Khan pledged to take a motion to the Parliament seeking to allow for increased visitation between inmates and their children. The former health minister said last week that he had already spoken to National Security Minister Edmund Dillon about the issue.

Khan also cited studies in San Francisco and other cities in the United States which showed that frequent visitation within the prison system benefited parents and children by reducing recidivism and the likelihood of youngsters engaging in a life of crime and delinquency.

Khan’s call was triggered by Superintendent of Prisons, Charmaine Johnson’s plea, during the annual Mother’s Day function at the Women’s Prison, for all incarcerated mothers to spend time with their children.

At present, only selected inmates are allowed to bond with their children on Mother’s Day.

Husbands said it has long been proposed that, at a minimum, parents should have special family visits on a weekend where they can have “a sober and connected bond” with their children.

“So, while we support the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day events, there is a broader policy in terns of redeeming broken lives and keeping the bonds alive.” Husbands, a former chief prison welfare officer, said studies have shown that inmates who have had ongoing contact with their children were six times less likely to re-offend than those who have not been in contact with their families.

“Therefore, we need to liberalise the visitation to reduce the potential for re-offending,” he said. “It calls for a structured programme, with the right kind of resources and staff and it will be open to all inmates, not only women but also males as well.

“That is what we call a special approach to help reduce re-offending, because the research has indicated that the frequency of the contact and the kind of impact helps reduce the likelihood of that person re-offending.” Husbands said the Prison Service should accept the recommendation in keeping with the movement toward restorative justice.

Acting Prisons Commissioner Cecil Duke, speaking through communications officer Krishna Bidaisee, has declined an interview on the issue.

Gopeesingh, a medical specialist, listed the “awful effects” of hypertension and diabetes as justification for his call for full disclosure to the population, even as he recalled the death of former prime minister Patrick Manning was allegedly due to faulty pharmaceutical drugs.

Deyalsingh said it was wrong for anyone to say all pharmaceuticals in the CDAP programme were bad, as he narrowed down the dubious drugs to two drugs taken orally to treat diabetes and hypertension which are mixed by pharmacists in solutions to various strengths. “We are going to replace them, and those instructions have gone out to Nipdec for this year’s procurement cycle.

“What the doctors are doing in the interim (is) titrating the dosing for these two drugs according to the clinical symptoms presented by the patient. So no patient is in danger. Absolutely no patient is in danger. They may have to take a little more and that’s about it, just to bring it up to bio-equivalency.” Deyalsingh lamented the media reporting on the issue, plus two other matters. He refuted a press headline (not Newsday) that a Venezuelan man had died after being refused medical treatment at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mount Hope, saying that the man had been treated but had then discharged himself against medical advice.

Deyalsingh then took issue with a Newsday report of alleged side-effects in a girl taking the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine. “You know what is the backlash? People are now shying away from the HPV vaccine that could save lives.” He urged all to be careful discussing medical matters so as not to create a backlash that could scare away the population from seeking treatment.

His reply repeated the note that has resounded throughout the week.

He was from Manchester, he said, and despite the fact that a number of people had been targeted and spat on in the aftermath of the horrific event, it was more important for him to be seen to be part of the growing wellspring of cohesiveness forming as part of the reaction to the tragedy.

His words brought home the fact that disaster can create unity.

They also pointed to an awakening desire across the globe to resist the spread of terror not by more violence, but by strengthening bonds within communities.

The mother of one of the first named victims, Olivia Campbell, who was 15 years old, also appealed at a mass rally on Wednesday not to let the bombings “beat any of us” and make “us victims.” Lines such as “Crowds gathered to show defiance against terror and declare the city ‘will not be intimidated’” stare at readers in all newspapers.

I am also at the same time rereading the poetry of Kamau Brathwaite whose later poetry emerged out of successive traumas, including the death of his wife Doris, the destruction of his home and archives by Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica and the fact that he was attacked, tied and beaten up in his house. The poems that come after these events are amongst the most innovative in Caribbean literature.

Brathwaite has developed an idea of community based on what happened in the wake of the destruction of Amerindian culture, the violence of colonialism, the enslavement of Africans and the introduction of indentureship.

For him community is a form of resistance. This, for him, is most evident in the Maroon communities of Jamaica. Their flight to the hills was an act of resistance to enslavement and loss.

For Brathwaite, this resistant spirit of the African remains submerged and alive through what he calls “the self-in-maroonage.” For this Barbadian poet, theorist and historian, the poet too is a “self-in-maroonage.” As speaker and recorder of his society, he must resist all efforts to suppress his right to create and to speak.

What he means is that when terrible events happen to the individual it causes repression and emotions to “go underground.” The artist has to find ways to bring these emotions and memories to the surface. If not, then acts of terror will continue in cycles of abuse.

Brathwaite has invented what he calls “Sycorax video text format,” which is in the first instance a way of keeping records in a concrete and visible form, in a manner similar to film or video. His style of writing uses the computer as a memory bank to keep records. He is also saying that what we remember is carried in stories and in the way that we tell them to future generations.

The method of the telling becomes important. After all, what we remember is shaped by how it is told. So that his poems use the ability of the computer to simulate noise and tone of voice and to provide emphasis through different font sizes and types.

He is here seeking to make the electronic media have the same effect as a storyteller of old.

We see the value of resistance movements, the cementing of bonds and retelling of narratives in the persistent attempts by the Carib community of Arima to assert their rights. Their struggle has finally borne fruit. The Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts has announced a one-off holiday commemorating the First Peoples on August 13, and lands have also been set aside to build an Amerindian Heritage Village and Living Museum for the Santa Rosa Carib community on the Blanchisseuse Road.

What Brathwaite suggests in his writings on the Caribbean is that our history has provided us with unique attitudes and lessons of survival. We have learnt that acts of violence can bring together disparate peoples.

We have also learnt the value of difference and that when apparently dissimilar peoples come together in unity after an act of terror or violence then something new happens. He uses the process of creolisation as a way of demonstrating this. The collective acts of terror that brought so many races and cultures together in the Caribbean led to unique forms of cultural adaptation and expression.

Brathwaite’s writings on creolisation also point to the fact that the building of community is nonetheless fraught with danger.

Alongside the idea of community comes that of the scapegoat.

So often in the process of becoming coherent, societies demonise those who are different.

Groups need a focal point around which to rally. So that the danger of mass rallying in Manchester and across Britain is that all people who look as if they are Muslims become the objects of hate. This, of course, is what the counsellor at M a n – c h e s t e r Unive rsity was s e e k i n g to prevent by insisting on being visible.

Police said that shortly before 3 pm, Basdeo was driving along Ruben Lane in Enterprise, Chaguanas accompanied by his wife and their daughter. Basdeo, co-owner of Joey and Laura Wholesalers of Enterprise Street, Enterprise, was about to proceed onto the Southern Main Road when death came on a bicycle.

Police said a the gunman rode alongside the car and opened fire at the driver’s side of the vehicle, hitting Basdeo several times. His daughter was grazed by a bullet while wife Laura was not injured.

The gunman pedalled off while passers-by rushed to the aid of the Basdeo family, who were seated inside the car.

They were taken to the Chaguanas Health Centre where Basdeo succumbed to his injuries. Central Division police cordoned off the area where the shooting took place and also carried out a search for the gunman. Police said they are yet to determine a motive for the killing.

An autopsy is expected to be done today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. No arrest has been made.

Martinez made the statements while responding to questions from reporters at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of Woodford square’s renaming last week.

He said while he understands the issue of homeless people is one that requires special care, he is prepared to meet the challenge and pick up where his predeccesor Keron Valentine, left off.

“The matter as it is right now is currently before the magistrate’s court, but I will say that I have been working closely with the Ministry of Social Development in drafting a document that will be presented to Cabinet within the next few days and whose intention will be to seek some long-term solution with respect to the homeless,” Martinez said.

Last year, then mayor Valentine, in an attempt to crack down on homeless people sleeping in Tamarind Square locked the gates to the square. In addition to homelessness, Martinez said he was also prepared to work closely with engineers of the city corporation and the Ministry of Works and Transport to help reduce flooding in downtown Port-of-Spain during the Rainy Season.

At the event last week, guide and historian Joseph Bertram was on hand to explain the Square’s importance in Port-of-Spain’s historical timeline.

“The square has been here for a while needless to say, it originally came about when the Spanish governor Chacon rerouted the St Anne’s river that once flowed through here to transform the port into the city we now know as Portof- Spain.

“Then when the British took control, the governor Sir Ralph Woodford, transformed this plot of land into a park area where he brought in trees from Venezuela giving it the name, ‘The Green Heart of Port-of-Spain’.” Valery Taylor, CEO of the National Heritage Trust said plans are underway to provide tours on a more regular basis to visitors and bring greater insight into the history behind Woodford Square.

The Fatel Razack brought a new labour force to assist in the economic development of Trinidad.

But it also profoundly changed our culture and Trinidad and Tobago society for the better.

If there is one lesson this country can teach the world, it is the fact that multiculturalism is an invaluable mode of life. All members of society will tomorrow be commemorating Indian Arrival Day, even as it singles out the contribution of one demographic of our society.

But Indian Arrival Day was not always on the calendar. While it has been celebrated among the East Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago for many years, it was not until 1994 that it was made an official public holiday. It was called Arrival Day. In 1995, it was re-named Indian Arrival Day.

In May each year, a host of activities occur, including the staging of re-enactments of the arrival of the Fatel Razack at various beaches throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

There is music and dance, and outstanding members of the community are honoured for their contributions to society.

Trinidad and Tobago’s observance of this holiday comes at a time when the idea of global migration flows and multiculturalism is under direct attack. The rise and scandalous tenure of US president Donald Trump represents a bold re-assertion of racist and close-minded ideas, premised on the idea that all immigration flows are detrimental not enriching.

The Brexit vote, which British voters will soon have a chance to reverse should they be minded, also gave us a taste of the power of the right to turn the world back in the wrong direction. There was the momentary reprieve represented by the clear victory of Emmanuel Macron in France. But next up is the election in Germany in which Angela Merkel — who has faced criticism from elements in Germany for her open-door refugee policy — will face the polls.

Comparing indentureship to immigration is of course not a completely sound analogy.

However, the historical process which saw members of the Indian arrive in these islands does shine a light on how societies are impacted when there are global flows.

Indian immigration to Trinidad spanned the period 1845 to 1917.

During this period, over 140,000 Indians were transported to the island. The journey was long and arduous and living conditions were deplorable. After disembarking at Nelson Island, the arrivals were fed and rested for a couple weeks and then sent to the various estates that had put in requests for them previously.

Today, we enjoy a society that is rich and complex, where all are aware of the cultures and traditions of others and, in large measure, where people live showing mutual understanding and respect; where, despite racial differences, we work together in harmony and peace. No one can doubt the contribution of the East Indian community to shaping the fabric of our society. Every single field of endeavour has been touched: politics, art, sport, music, science, commerce, law.

When Indian Arrival Day was first introduced, the holiday was somewhat controversial as it was felt that the arrival of all races should be commemorated. Indeed, there has been little rationalization of our public holidays in that regard. For example, they are still very much skewered towards a colonial, Christian view of life.

However, we are grateful for this specific day because of the clarity of the reflection it causes as well as its provocation of meaningful dialogue. What did it mean to arrive, all those centuries ago? And where has the journey now taken all of us? The holiday is a perfect occasion to reflect