The Minister visited Tobago for the annual 2016 Tobago House of Assembly Sports Award at Magdalena where he and nine others were formally invited to attend the ceremony held at the resort last Friday evening.

The blog posted yesterday afternoon contained photos of the total bill which included breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet, 11 Single/Double Occupancy rooms and a Deluxe King room. There was also another bill of TT $10, 400 for the rental of four vehicles from Rollock’s Car Rentals between the period May 19-22. Included with this, was a list of nine names all of whom were invited to the event, with a request for accommodation for three additional people made by the Minister.

When contacted the Sports Minister said, “it was not a joy ride it was work, we went to the event we celebrated with the athletes. I met with Mr (Jomo) Pitt (THA Secretary of Sport and Youth Affairs), we did the tour, I met with the youth league, we went to the (Sea to Sea) marathon. This is a non-issue, people just trying to cause mischief as always. We don’t go to Tobago at all, it’s like disrespect to Tobago. Tobago is just like south (Trinidad), Penal, like Princes Town like everywhere else but it will obviously have cost to go to Tobago.

“We tried to kill two birds with one stone so we made a trip out of it. We are now finalising some plans to do some renovations on the Dwight Yorke Stadium along with some other of the stadiums. We took this opportunity for the first time to go to the Dwight Yorke Stadium to meet Assemblyman Jomo Pitt.

“We also met with the Youth Council of Tobago and there was a marathon (Sea to Sea) over there as well where we were invited to attend and discuss some other things. I left for there on Saturday, went straight to the hotel where the event was also held, attended the function (THA Sports Awards) met with Mr Pitt on the Sunday and was back in the office on Monday.” He added, “As a Minister, my personal assistant rolls with me so I requested her, Cindy Cupid, to attend the event with me. There was another invited individual who usually goes with her assistant and of course a communications person. I was told those three were invited so they dealt with the invited people and I would have spoken to the PS (Permanent Secretary) with regards to my personal assistant.” He explained the decision to stay the additional two days will profit the island’s sports division and will contribute towards a new youth and sports policy currently being created by the Ministry.

“To cut cost we actually try to do as much as possible because we don’t know when again we will be going to Tobago. We work very closely with the athletes and the infrastructural aspect of Tobago. People just trying to cause mischief and politicise, similar to the Brian Lara Stadium with the people stuffing of jersey in the pipes to make an issue.” He said the Ministry of Sport in Trinidad and Tobago is now “recovering” from previous decisions of the former People’s Partnership administration.

“Remember where sports came from. Life Sport was $400 million and we can’t account for it…Right now for certain people, sports is boring. We are cleaning up inside the Ministry and a lot of people who were apart of those incidents are still in the Ministry and are not happy. We are implementing certain procedures to prevent these things from happening again,” he said

Trinidad and Tobago won the rights to host the major junior event, scheduled from June 24 to July 2 at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva, on the strength of the nation’s newest swimming facility, which managed by the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT ).

The CCCAN Championships is currently the largest aquatics event in the western hemisphere and features a variety of disciplines including Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water and Synchronised Swimming.

Athletes, coaches and spectators, from 33 Caribbean and Central American countries, will be arriving on our shores for the auspicious event.

With the intentions of the Sport Ministry to regenerate and enhance a sustainable sport tourism industry, taking advantage of this opportunity to market the facility and its services – to tap into the niche of aquatic sports- is of utmost importance in propelling sports tourism.

Sports Minister Darryl Smith was delighted to offer the financial support as he presented ASATT president Wendell Lai Hing, with the million- dollar cheque and encouraged corporate TT to follow suit.

During a media conference yesterday at the Ministry’s Head Office in St Clair, Smith stated, “Since the opening (last year), all areas of the Aquatic Centre have been utilised extensively.

“It has undergone routine maintenance and is prepared to host an event of this magnitude.

“I assure corporate sponsors that they will get ‘bang for their buck’ if they choose to invest in the tournament.

“With over 1,500 visitors expected, plus local spectators and viewing audiences across the region, there are unlimited opportunities to promote your product or service. I also have full confidence in ASATT to deliver on the promise of an efficient and exciting tournament in all four disciplines – swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming.” Team TT will number over 60 athletes and entails a blend of experience and youth, leaving all eyes focused on Joshua Romany, Kristin Julien, Cherelle Thompson and Olympian Dylan Carter as they are all expected to successfully compete in the swimming events.

According to Lai Hing, the talent pool is extensive as the entries are coming in thick and fast. He said, “I wish firstly to thank the Minister and SporTT for the financial and other support, and assure you that we won’t let you down.

“We are excited at the prospect of hosting CCCAN and making it a truly national event of which every citizen can be proud.” The national team will participate in four out of the five disciplines with Syncronised Swimming being the only discipline where the local athletes will not be competing.

Lai Hing added, “We will also have two divers representing TT and we thank SporTT for facilitating the athletes, in all disciplines, to train at the Aquatic Centre, familiarise themselves with the space and ensure we have a ‘home court’ advantage. This will certainly come into play as the event is FINA-sanctioned, meaning those in Open categories can qualify for the FINA World Championships.” The main events at the 2017 CCCAN Championships will take place at the National Aquatic Centre, with the exception of the Open Water events on June 24 and 26, which will be held at Turtle Beach in Tobago, as a form of sporting partnership with the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and the Tourism Development Company (TDC).

He continued, “We can’t see how any reasonable person could object to this.” Imbert also pointed out, “ There is no injunction in place restraining property owners from submitting forms and/or documents on a voluntary basis.” Persad-Bissessar said the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) believes this is “a shameless attempt to hoodwink citizens into voluntarily submitting themselves to a valuation process in the face of a strong legal challenge which seeks to have the Court declare that the entire process is unconstitutional and illegal.” On Monday, the Court of Appeal said it would hear the State’s appeal of Justice Frank Seepersad’s ruling to stop the property tax’s implementation, on June 6.

Hours after the court made that decision, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi said the State’s lawyers are confident ,”the constitutional basis for the property tax legislation is sound in law and will stand up to judicial scrutiny.” Persad-Bissessar claimed the Finance Ministry’s advice to property owners, “ borders on contempt, and is a clear violation that breaches both the spirit and letter of the Court’s Order.” She reiterated the Opposition’s call to property owners not submit valuation forms. Persad-Bissessar alleged the information in those forms could give the Government, “an unfair advantage over them when the Court is yet to rule on the legality and validity of the process being utilised.” She warned that, “citizens would be helping the Government to dig their own property tax graves.

After reiterating the UNC’s claim that the Property Tax Act violates citizens’ fundamental rights, Persad- Bissessar quipped, “Mr Imbert is not immune for prosecution for contempt of court if necessary.”

The tea party is produced through their management company, Black Tie Event Management Company. The first was held last year and if all goes to plan, their charity event will become the largest TT has ever seen.

In an interview with Newsday, Pierre said: “Tea By The Sea started last year 2016 and we aligned Tea by the Sea with The Shelter for Battered women because we found that our women and children were at risk. We wanted to help in whichever we could….

we can’t help the women because we are not qualified ourselves to do that so, we felt that we could have aligned a charity event with the shelter, by contributing to the cause we hope to help the women and children of our society which is the backbone of our country.” Tea By The Sea, scheduled for Chaquacabana Resort and Beach Club, Chaguaramas, on Sunday, will be a celebration event in aid of the Shelter for Battered Women and Children. The first event attracted 200 patrons. This year, Pierre hopes to increase that by 50 percent. The idea for the event was developed from looking at the daily news. “Everyday you read or looked at the news you either heard of domestic violence or death of a mother, women or sometimes, children. We found that the children would be vulnerable in cases where the father killed mother, mother killed father, any time there is that destruction at the head of the home, the children would suffer…,” she said. For Pierre and Giraud, the event is not simply about celebrating but educating as well.

“We invite representatives of the shelter to attend and educate the women in our society about the early signs of abuse. At the tea party, we create an environment where people are accessible to the information, can digest it and learn from it,” she added.

“Last year we had a domestic abuse survivor speak to the audience…

we found her through the media…We also had the vice president of the shelter educating the audience on the shelter’s services, how to access it and the difficulties and challenges faced by the shelter.” Like last year’s event, part proceeds will go to purchase goods required by the shelter, as well as full proceeds from a silent auction and raffle to be held at the event. The duo hopes that by 2020 Tea By The Sea will grow into one of the country’s larger charity celebration tea parties, catering to 1,000 patrons.

The duo hopes to also develop charity initiatives toward youth in the future.

In addition to a celebration cake for the shelter’s survivors, patrons can look forward to quality entertainment.

The University of The West Indies (UWI) Arts in Action, CEO and founder of Wholeness and Wellness Counselling Services Ltd, Dr Tracie Rogers will address patrons and saxophonist Pedro Lezama will entertain along with two live bands –Lujoe and the Gifted and Major Third, jazz flavour by Alisa Moore accompanied by Kristian Adams and a fashion show by Arlana Roberts and Richard Noel. The event begins at 2 pm and ends at 9 pm.

For more info: Black Tie Event Management-TT on Facebook and Instagram and visit Eventbrite for online tickets or to make donations.

He advised Mark that it was premature to claim that people will be terminated at the CDA, based on the outcome of the audit. Khan said the audit began on April 19 and is expected to be concluded in eight weeks time. He stated the firm of Gloria Eastman and Associates had been hired to do the audit. Khan also said the CDA can be summoned before any parliamentary joint select committee, if questions arise about any matter pertaining to its operations.

Charmaine Harridan, whose home was demolished, told Newsday she visited Ramdeen’s Woodbrook office yesterday with three other affected residents. She said they were only able to meet with him for a short time, as he was called away on other business.

“We gave him all relevant documents and he said he wanted to present the matter in court before Friday. People are going in groups because they represent different areas,” Harridan said. Asked if she was seeking compensation for damage, Harridan said, ‘no’.

“I am not asking for any compensation.

If the court wants to offer compensation that is fine but if they say no, then I will have to go with that. All I want to know is if I could rebuild on the land, because I was given permission to do so in the first place.” Harridan’s three-bedroom house was bulldozed in an exercise which saw several other houses similarly destroyed.

Justice Frank Seepersad, in an emergency sitting on Sunday, granted an interim conservatory order restraining the commissioner from demolishing any more homes occupied by squatters. This after attorneys for two squatters – Annesa Maharj and Ashminee Joseph – filed a suit against the commissioner.

The women say they have occupied land at Pine Lane for over 30 years.

He added that despite a two-hour long interview with journalist Juliana Ruhfus, none of his interview was used in the final footage and this led to a skewed view of Trinidad and Tobago’s national-security capacities.

“At the beginning of the documentary, they pointed out that Trinidad, while having a crime problem, did not have any measures to effectively treat with crime and violence. However, for two hours I made myself available to the interviewer where I discussed the counter-terrorism activities that we (the Ministry of National Security) and the legislative framework that we have in place to arrest fighters from returning to Trinidad. “I also provided evidence to refute the claims of Trinidad being the highest contributor to FTFs (Foreign Terrorist Fighters) in the Western Hemisphere. Overall the image provided of Trinidad was far from what it actually is.” Former Minister of National Security Gary Griffith, who was briefly featured in the documentary, also expressed his dissatisfaction with the interviewer’s portrayal of Trinidad as a hotbed for international terrorism, adding that such misinformation is likely to hurt potential investors and trade.

“It was obvious that there was a preconceived objective to label this country as a hub for terrorist activities.

Out of the 25-minute documentary, only two minutes were used to give the perception that the documentary was balanced, whilst the majority of the other 23 minutes comprised the views on the other side, from some of those who became terrorists, to those who are sympathetic, supportive and are even persons of interest.

“There are over 30,000 Foreign Terrorist Fighters from over 73 countries and many of these have returned to their homeland to wreak havoc. Many have been able to do so in Europe and Asia. However, only 70 individuals of these 30,000 are confirmed TT nationals. Just because 70 naive young men left here, never to return, cannot make us a hub for terrorist activities.” The documentary, entitled “Caribbean to the Caliphate: People and Power” focuses on the motives of some Trinidadian Muslims who have migrated to Iraq and Syria to join radical Islamist groups, and features several Trinidadians who have become part of the ongoing conflict.

Last year, Shane Crawford made headlines when he became the first confirmed Trinidadian-born ISIS fighter in Syria. Since then several others have attempted to migrate there to take part in the fighting.

In April, 12 Trinidadians who were detained in Turkey attempting to enter Syria, were deported because of suspicions that they were set to join ISIS

The boat of the day belonged to Bacchanal of the Trinity Offshore Race Team, driven by Wayne Honnock and throttled by Justin Decle. Racing in the 95 mph D Class, Bacchanal was the only boat to win the two sprints and two circuits.

In the 130 mph A Class, Ironman took top honours with three wins and one second place finish, getting the better of Mr Solo Too and Big Thunder. In the 80 mph E Class, Heatwave won two races and earned one second place in another event.

Chris Gone Wild returned to racing with Rick and Ross Garcia, to take the top prize in the 70 mph F Class with two victories.

Trident won the 60 mph G Class over stiff competition from PP Conqueror and Powered by God.

The conditions were the roughest of the season to date. This was evident as one of Extreme Measures engines broke off, and Heatwave suffered cracks in its rear deck.

The TT BPA is grateful to GNC for sponsoring the fourth regatta.

The perception of social injustices form the prejudices and mistrust of governments and leaders alike. How else would a distressed society view the careless spending by ministers who are egregiously slumberous when it comes to detail, efficiency and accountability, whether on official business or not? Remember the officiality of any minister’s business is the people’s business.

Recently in Great Britain, David Cameron resigned as prime minister because he was in support of being part of the EU while the slim majority voted otherwise in a referendum. So in keeping with the honour of the Parliament he resigned.

The lesson here is if we adopt the Westminster system we must also have values, integrity to sit in the House of the people and show some sort of genuine concern with the public purse and how we serve our country.

COLIN FORTUNE Arima

Fake news or propaganda, it all adds up to the same thing — disinformation, and the master of the science is once again at work, confusing gullible people.

If such propaganda is to be believed, Fidel Castro was a corrupt drug smuggler. He could not sleep two nights in the same place for fear of the assassination plots engineered against him by the mightiest nation on Earth.

Every effort was made to bring the Cuban economy to its knees, and to a point they succeeded.

The infamous and illegal trade embargo sought to prevent all countries from trading with Cuba, and the country has not been able to fully recover.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, few countries were willing to take the chance of trading with Cuba. The strongest supporter that the beleaguered nation had was Venezuela. Even before the oil boom of the last decade, Venezuela stood by its staunch ally and refused to be cowed by the US. The Cuban people have struggled manfully to maintain their independence in the face of sanctions rejected by virtually every other country, but insisted on by the world policeman.

The strength of the Cuban people is being tested every day, and they have stood strong, resolute in their determination not to be dictated to by any other country. Things are not as good as the people may want but it is their country and they are determined to make it on their own strength, despite the attempts at interference by big brother.

The Venezuelan people are equally adamant that outside interference will not be allowed to prevail, despite the machinations of a few power-hungry politicians, bent on their own personal agendas.

The continuing attempts to create discord in that country, even with the willing compliance of people who are only interested in their own pursuit of power, will not be allowed to destroy what has been created over the last several years.

What Hugo Chavez sought to achieve was a greater distribution of the nation’s oil wealth, such as has gained commendation for our governments over the years by a knowledgeable columnist. The success of this strategy is still to be determined, but it would be interesting to find out if there are people who oppose the principle.

Whether the Venezuelan people will succeed in their drive to create their own society without outside interference is left to be seen, but it cannot be reasonable that they should be condemned for wanting to do so.

KARAN MAHABIRSINGH Carapichaima