I APPEALED the High Court ruling to the Court of Appeal, which on October 20, 2014, unanimously came down on my side. I quote at some length from its judgment, delivered by Justice Peter Jamadar.

“In our opinion, barring any specific legislative prohibition, the court, in the exercise of its supervisory jurisdiction and as guardian of the Constitution, is entitled to entertain public interest litigation for constitutional review of non-Bill of Rights unlawful constitutional action, provided the litigation is bona fide, arguable with sufficient merit to have a real and not fanciful prospect of success, grounded in a legitimate and concrete public interest, capable of being reasonably and effectively disposed of, and provided further that such actions are not frivolous, vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the court’s process.

“The approach to be taken to this issue of standing is a flexible and generous approach, bearing in mind all of the circumstances of the case … The public importance of the issues raised and of vindicating the rule of law are significant considerations (emphasis added) … “Standing is a matter of discretion … Ultimately … context is the determining factor … For example, where the alleged unlawfulness affects the public generally, no particular or direct interest in the matter may be necessary … In this case, Mr Dumas contends that the nomination and appointment of two individuals to the Police Service Commission by the President were unconstitutional … In our judgment, this represents a legitimate interest in having a properly constituted Police Service Commission … This is a sufficient interest in the context of this case … to vest the applicant, prima facie, with appropriate standing to bring and continue this action (emphasis added)… “In our opinion, the trial judge erred in his analysis of the issue of standing and jurisdiction on the evidence before him at this stage of the proceedings.” The other two Justices of Appeal wrote: “The Attorney-General’s objection as to Mr Dumas’ locus standi is very much out of step with a liberal construction of the Constitution as often advocated by the Privy Council itself.

Such a restricted approach will exclude from judicial adjudication important constitutional questions upon which there may be a public need for judicial pronouncement (emphasis added).

“This is to be considered against the backdrop of a total absence of ex relatione actions by Attorneys-General in Trinidad and Tobago, when such actions would involve challenges to decisions made by the Government of the day, of which they form part.

Viewed against this backdrop, the fact that objection to Mr Dumas’ locus standi is made on behalf of the Attorney-General himself is beyond ironic.” The Attorney-General was not of the same mind. On December 1, 2014, he sought and was granted leave by the Court of Appeal (Chief Justice Ivor Archie presiding) to approach the Privy Council.

In his submission for grant of leave, he unsurprisingly raised the question of locus standi.

He also said this: “The issue in this appeal goes far beyond mere matters of procedure but is encrusted with and raises the substantive legal question of the ability of a citizen to seek an interpretation of the Constitution simpliciter when he alleges no breach of any of his constitutional right (sic). This is a fundamental question for which guidance is sought from the highest court of the land. It imports a critical and fundamental extension of the rationale for accessing the Constitution.” Then, not content with merely seeking guidance, he posited that “(t)he Court of Appeal’s ruling would amount to a significant and unwarranted extension of the law for citizens to bring and maintain and (sic) action for the interpretation of the Constitution…” R e a d t h o s e w o r d s carefully, citizens.

T h i n k hard about them

In recent years, Chile has strived to develop closer ties with the English-speaking Caribbean –and with Trinidad and Tobago in particular– through new proposals. We therefore decided to open an embassy in Guyana last year, and to increase our diplomatic presence as an observer country, both within Caricom as well as at the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).

As a result, President Bachelet participated as a specially-invited guest at the 37th Inter-Sessional Meeting of Caricom Heads of Government in July 2016, and the ACS Secretary General visited Chile in April this year. At the aforementioned Caricom meeting, the President and Prime Minister Rowley met to promote the bilateral agenda, which led to this visit.

Accordingly, we held the third Round of Political Consultations this year and we have increased bilateral co-operation. During 2016 and in the course of this year, we offered 28 courses and seminars to Trinidad and Tobago in several areas and we shall continue with other meaningful joint initiatives that will soon be announced. From 2006 to date, more than a 100 citizens of this country have been trained through Chilean co-operation or from joint initiatives with other countries. Similarly, several citizens from Trinidad and Tobago participate in Chile’s “English Open Doors” programme, which aims to help Chilean teachers in public schools teach the English language.

This supporting evidence tells us that gradually, in spite of the distance and language barriers, there is greater interaction between Chile and Trinidad and Tobago. This year, we shall work more on specific projects already agreed to, incorporating cultural fusion with the invaluable support of the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts.

In the economic sphere, Chile and Trinidad and Tobago have an active trade relationship. Last year, 38 percent of our exports to Caricom came to this country.

Bilateral trade reached US$640 million at the end of December 2016. It is quite noteworthy that Chile is the main buyer of liquefied natural gas from Trinidad and Tobago, and that 92 per cent of the LNG used by Chileans come from this nation. In terms of energy, we are working to make the Inter-American Conference of Energy Ministers a meaningful regional milestone.

This conference will be held in September this year in Santiago and will address the challenges of climate change.

We want to strengthen and expand the linkages in energy to other areas in the economy.

Thus, we would like to conclude initial studies for a possible and more ambitious trade agreement.

In a few weeks, we shall have specific ideas to propose in this regard. Teams from both trade ministries are working on this.

We also wish to forge ahead in signing an air services agreement, so that the Piarco and Santiago airports can become regional hubs for passengers and cargo.

Chile and Trinidad and Tobago are countries that belong to the same hemisphere. We share the same respect for representative democracy, the rule of law, the supreme value of human rights and the universal validity of international law. Herein lies the foundation of our shared relationship, but there are also practical elements that increasingly unite us. Chile is today the largest Latin American user of the Panama Canal and, accordingly, we are quite interested in the security of Caribbean maritime routes. I also believe that the future of Caribbean countries lies in greater openness towards Latin American countries where hundreds of millions of people reside.

Climate change must also mobilise us towards having more meaningful dialogue for capacity building in resilience in both countries. Chile is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to certain natural disasters and Trinidad and Tobago has the most outstanding regional institutions for the prevention of these. Similarly, the global paradigm shift from electricity production to non-conventional renewable energy sources has given rise to more dialogue in the sector. We are working in these spheres, as well as on the exchange of capacities that will improve the lives of our fellow citizens.

In summary, herein lies the significance of Prime Minister Rowley’s visit to Chile. It is an ambitious visit, but one that wishes to sharpen the focus on relations with a view to the future in light of the challenges faced by both countries in the world today

They wage wars against their leaders and rulers. They believe it is a lawful Jihad and for them it means cruelty, killing innocent people and brutality.

They possess a little knowledge about Jihad. Jihad means tolerance, love, justice, compassion, sympathy and the rights of people at all times.

Certain governments are failing to protect their citizens which makes the rebels rise in violent opposition. There is a breakdown in society in Muslim countries that fail to live peacefully and believe in violent destruction.

A number of Muslim terrorist groups commit atrocities and export them abroad.

In the past year terrorist attacks were committed in Paris, Brussels, Orlando and now Manchester where innocent people have been slaughtered mercilessly.

Muslims have an obligation to pray for peace for other people regardless of their religion.

Prophet Muhammad warned us that it was necessary to desire for others whatever we desire for ourselves. If we want peace, security, love, respect and comfort for ourselves we must wish it for non-Muslims.

Let us remember that Islam means peace and not war.

AHAMAD KHAYYAM Curepe

This sum represents 4.98 percent of the total programme for the SDF, a Ministry of Planning and Development release said.

The ninth cycle covers the period 2017 to 2020, and the payment will be made in instalments over the period of the cycle.

The Special Development Fund is a partnership among CDB members where borrowing and non-borrowing members contribute to the fund financially.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the major contributors to the fund as a member country.

In 2013, for the eight cycle, Cabinet had agreed through the Ministry of Planning and Development, to the sum of US$10 million or 4.25 percent of the total amount of US$348 million of the fund’s value. The eighth cycle covers 2013 to December 31, 2016. In 2012, TT’s contribution to the seventh cycle was US$3.5 million.

The SDF provides loan funding as well as grant financing for sustainable development initiatives in developing states of the Region.

This SDF, the release said, plays a critical role in the international effort to reduce poverty in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of which Trinidad and Tobago’s National Development Strategy — Vision 2030 is tied to — and assists with economic transformation and major economic adjustments within the CDB’s borrowing member countries.

Trinidad and Tobago has benefitted from the CDB through loans for energy sector support in 2014, establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2003, establishment of the National Energy Skills Centre in 2000 and southern roads development programme in 1995. Meanwhile Minister of Planning and Development Camille Robinson-Regis was TT’s representative at the CDB’s Board of Governors 47th Annual Meeting in the Turks and Caicos. The three-day meeting ended last Friday.

Usually I know exactly why I am enjoying a book soon after I start reading it. I liked Jiles’ book from the first page, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was that gripped me.

Yes, it felt rich in description, but that isn’t enough to peak my interest. The story had potential, I noted.

Set in 1870, News of the World is the story of retired US Army Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd who travels through northern Texas reading the important news stories to audiences who are willing to pay for this service.

Maybe, I thought, it’s this novel idea of using a newspaper like this. Stories about journalism do attract me. Captain Kidd, a 71-year-old widower who lived through three wars and fought in two, likes his solitary life, which is about to be disrupted when someone in Wichita Falls offers him a $50 gold piece to take a young orphan to relatives in San Antonio, Texas.

The ten-year-old girl, Johanna, had been kidnapped four years ago by Kiowa raiders who killed her parents and sister.

The Indians raised the girl as their own.

She has forgotten all English so it’s not the communication between Johanna and Captain Kidd that grabbed my attention.

Action is quite sparse until about three quarters of the way through the book when a band of nefarious characters decide they want to take the child from Captain Kidd.

There’s more distance than the 400-mile journey in this book to cover if you want to count the emotional distance between Johanna and Captain Kid. Captain Kidd never reconciles himself totally with the momentous task he agreed to when he swore to deliver the girl safely to relatives.

Eventually the girl and the old man do begin to trust each other. A good, old-fashioned, cowboy-type shoot-out helps the process.

It is near the end of the book, when Captain Kidd delivers the girl to her relatives that I realise the value of this book. The fact that two strangers could take such a journey over such a long distance and grow as individuals appealled to me Their cultural differences struck me as well. One realises that Johanna’s life has changed permanently.

No matter what happens, she will probably never be able to totally assimilate herself into white society, although one wonders if this is possible because she is still so young.

Faced with difficult decisions, Captain Kidd must decide the child’s fate in more ways that one by the end of the book.

Themes of family, commitment, trust, honour, loneliness and love abound, and they are written about with such subtlety and grace that they are barely noticeable until the end of the book.

The characters of Captain Kidd and Johanna grow slowly and endearingly – like real-life people.

This allows readers to get lost in the story; lost in the journey.

The author never relies on gratuitous violence or sex to advance her story. She takes her time to spin a beautiful, positive story with a most satisfying ending.

Down to the very end, the author feels no need to spring surprise on the reader.

In short, News of the World is a beautiful novel that will make you wonder about how culture defines us. It is a satisfying story because it is the story between a grandfather figure and a child.

“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.

Commission maintenance supervisor Marrius Gorking is claiming the organisation and more specifically, his department, is under siege at the hands of one of its commissioners. “This place should not be operating like this,” said an irate Gorking. “I want to know who is in charge! Who is in charge, Mr (Kenny) De Silva or Mr Darian Marcelle, because Marcelle is moving like he is the Chairman and not De Silva,” Gorking said.

According to Gorking, a number of issues are plaguing his department and he is blaming Marcelle.

“Tradesmen are being paid as labourers because they have no certification but yet they are doing tradesmen work.” Gorking is also claiming that a take-it-or-leaveit policy is being applied to these workers.

Another issue that has been festering is a lack of staff for the maintenance department. This according to Gorking stems from a lack of fairness. “A number of persons in the department can do anything they want. Come when they want, leave work when they want and this is causing a shortage in the staff. You ask for six workers but this doesn’t make sense because the workers are called away from their duties to do this man’s bidding.” Gorking said staff who are not in the good graces of certain commissioners are feeling tense and the work environment is less than comfortable. “Just imagine, I was verbally abused by a woman. I wrote a report as the Department Supervisor but nothing ever came out of it,” Gorking said.

But contacted for a response, Marcelle who is a radio talk show host flatly denied all of Gorking’s claims. “I have no direct authority in the National Carnival Commission regarding the daily running of operations. I do policy and not day to day operations. Except for the Carnival season, where I have to expedite work, I am not there for the day to day running of the organisation.

“Furthermore, I don’t have to defend myself against these allegations because I have nothing to defend.” Marcelle said if people would stop ranting and raving and get on with their work, the NCC would be a far better place. “Talk to others. There is a Human Resource Manger and there is also a head for Mr Gorking’s department who is Owen Serrette. Talk to them but this has nothing to do with me,” Marcelle said.

NCC chairman De Silva, when contacted, said he had no knowledge of the claims of victimisation being made by Gorking. De Silva also confirmed that commissioner Marcelle has no in put in day to day operations but deals with policies.

This as he too agreed with the position taken by the outspoken pathologist.

On Saturday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Vel Lewis contacted Dr Alexandrov and asked him to go to Tobago to conduct autopsies on the bodies — two being murder victims and the third, a suspected suicide — which have been outstanding for several days.

Dr Alexandrov left for Tobago yesterday to carry out the autopsies today on the bodies of Iris Benjamin, 71, Dexter Providence and another man who has not yet been identified. Benjamin allegedly committed suicide while the two men were shot to death. Sources revealed that Alexandrov agreed to go to Tobago on the condition that Pathologist Dr Hughvon Des Vignes shoulder the workload of all autopsies scheduled for today at the Science Centre.

When Newsday attempted to reach Dr Des Vignes for a comment yesterday, calls to his cellular phone went unanswered. Dr Alexandrov said he told Permanent Secretary Lewis that he didn’t mind going to Tobago because he felt the victims’ families were suffering unnecessarily in having to wait to get the bodies for final rites.

Alexandrov said he also is willing to meet with Lewis to discuss ways and means of dealing with delays in autopsies being done in Tobago, “once and for all.” At present, no pathologist is assigned to the Scarborough Mortuary and it is customary for pathologists to travel to Tobago to conduct autopsies.

Dr Alexandrov along with Dr Eslyn Mc Donald Burris have been travelling to Tobago to carry out autopsies. However, Burris is presently on leave and others at the Science Centre have refused to go to Tobago citing a shortage of mortuary attendants — a claim which Dr Alexandrov said is false.

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.

Police believe Periana was hacked to death Friday night although the gruesome discovery of her body was made the following day in the apartment building at Boyie Trace off Madras Road. The suspect, who residents said is over 65 and sells clothes in Tobago, has gone into hiding.

Tenants recalled yesterday that Periana moved into the apartment about three months ago with the suspect. She kept to herself but almost daily, they would hear screams from inside the apartment leading them to strongly suspect she was being physically abused. The tenants, who all did not want to be identified, told police that on Friday at 10 pm, they heard screams from inside the apartment with Periana bawling out for her mother. A short while later the screams stopped and there was silence.

Minutes later, tenants saw the suspect walk out to the road with two plastic bags in his hands on.

He boarded a car. Tenants said they assumed it was yet another beating and made nothing of it. The following day around midday, the driver of the car went to the apartment and told tenants he had some bad news to deliver. “The driver told us that (suspect’s name called) sent him to tell us that we must go and check on the woman. He (the suspect) said if she did not answer, we should break in to see. At this stage we called the police and when they came, they forced their way into the apartment and found the woman’s body on the ground in a bedroom. Blood was all over and body parts were hanging from the skin,” said a tenant.

Periana, police sources said, was chopped all over her body and police recovered a bloodstained cutlass. Newsday was told that the Guyanese woman had previous addresses at Sandalwood Crescent in Malabar and at Broadway Road in Arima. Her daughter and granddaughter live at Frederick Settlement in Caroni.

Newsday was also told that the suspect was renting the apartment since August and gave the landlord his (the suspect) address as being Mc Bean, Calcutta No 3 in Couva.

“Almost every day she got licks.

She was not allowed to even tell us ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’.

One time the woman burnt the pork while cooking and that man beat her bad, bad. Another day, she was carrying some bags in both hands and he pushed her for walking too slow,” said one of the tenants.

Since the gruesome discovery, neither tenants nor other residents have seen the suspect. An autopsy is expected to be performed this morning at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. No arrest has been made.