Chairman of the Chamber Demi John Cruickshank in addressing reporters last week said that the letter was sent off to the board’s chairman Allison Lewis, as he is of the hope that they can sit around the table as was done previously.

“We have penned a letter and sent it out requesting an urgent meeting to see if we can solve this problem once and for all. Yes, we went through this fiasco already in the past and what we did is that we sat around the table with everybody and we discussed a way forward, a way how we can solve the problem but this regime is bent on doing things their way and they have seen that doing things their way is not in the best interest for all the people of Tobago. So, we are calling on the chairman to meet with us urgently,” he said.

The chairman referred to the present challenges aboard both the passenger and cargo vessels, which he said to date has resulted in a shortage of construction materials at hardwares as well as the low stocks on supermarket shelves.

“We have indicated to both the ministers and his members in Port of Spain that what we were saying a month ago has come to fruition in terms of the two fast ferries are giving serious problems mechanically, we do not have an adequate cargo service between Trinidad and Tobago even bringing on the barge and the Atlantic provider that still is causing some serious hardship for the business community, the truckers and also the citizens of Tobago. You have hardwares that are literally empty, the supermarket shelves are actually running low and people’s warehouses are questionable in terms of if we can continue in this manner, so we have to at some point in time bring some sort of closure to this crisis that we have been faced with and have been forced to endure by the powers that be who have the responsibility and the authority to fix this problem,” he said.

Cruickshank also responded to critics who have labeled the chamber members as ‘Hush Puppy and Hush dog team’.

“Let me put on record now, we have been the voice of the business community in Tobago, we have been championing the cause of Tobagonians and bringing the plight of the situation to the general public, so I am not too sure where he would have received that bit of information from and we take very, very serious offence to his statement as an organisation that has been working very, very hard and toothless to solve the problems in Tobago,” Cruickshank said.

President of the Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) Chris James in adding his voice, noted that he is seriously concerned about the current situation as it will adversely affect the July/ August busy period.

“We are very seriously concerned about the position on both the air and sea bridge and as you may know July and August are our busiest times for our domestic tourism and normally the bookings are coming in around now for that period and we’re not seeing them coming in so this is an urgent situation for us and we are concerned,” James said.

The president said that the tourism industry has been on a serious decline for the last ten years.

This as he noted that hotels and guesthouses across the island have reported a number of last minute cancellations, which is adding to an already crippling situation.

“I’ve heard stories of people waiting over fourteen hours to get to Tobago, so on top of that we have last minute cancellations so accommodations are suffering from that because of either the air bridge or the sea bridge, we have a serious challenge here which is affecting our bottom line. We are currently averaging an occupancy of 34 percent from our figures, we represent the largest numbers of hotel rooms on the island. The region is averaging somewhere about 66 percent, our rate has now dropped to $154US and the rate in the region is US$228. So, we seriously depend on the months of July and August to keep us afloat,” he said. Meanwhile, President of the Interisland Truckers and Traders Association Horace Amede said that following meetings with both the Minister of Works and Transportation and the Port Authority board last week, they feel disrespected.

“They were supposed to call us and let us know if a vessel was found, but they never did and we saw it in the papers and to begin with, we thought that was disrespectful.

Up to now, we have not received any calls from them and apart from that they said that they would have meet in Tobago on Wednesday with the stakeholders, to bring us up to date on what is happening and up to now, we are just seeing things in the papers that the Chairman apologized to the people of Tobago and we don’t think that is good enough.

You cannot feed your families on apologies and this is what we are getting from everybody. From my standpoint and the truckers, nothing is wrong with saying I am sorry,” he said.

Amede said now is not the time to play games with people livelihood.

“Let us bring an end to the suffering that Tobagonians is going through. We have members in Trinidad for four and five days and cannot get back to Tobago at a rate of three hundred dollars a night in guesthouse but meals and that is not doing good for us at all,” he said.

In February, I wrote to the managing director of this bank advising that the closure of the Chaguaramas branch in March would have brought undue hardship to the many clients who use its services. To date, I am yet to receive a response.

However, in speaking with several bank representatives, I was assured by one that my concerns would be addressed as the bank would be increasing the number of tellers operating out of the West Mall branch to accommodate the anticipated influx of clients from the western peninsula.

The Chaguaramas branch accommodated clients from the coast guard, regiment and many businesses in the West.

However, on every occasion, regardless of the time of day that I have visited the West Mall branch, there has been a long line of customers waiting to be attended to by four-five tellers.

A simple transaction there could take two hours plus, depending on the type of business being conducted by people ahead of you.

Speaking to a supervisor was also an exercise in futility, particularly when I enquired if every client had to wait in the same line, whether it was to cash a cheque or to conduct a longer transaction. The supervisor said everyone had to wait in the same line to be served as the bank only had four tellers. She said the bank is encouraging its clients to use the online and drop-box services that were being provided.

I informed her the online service was also limited.

I also found out the bank’s services for senior citizens at the West Mall branch is only offered on certain days.

So a senior citizen is limited to particular days. On all other days, they too must join the long line.

We Trinidadians and Tobagonians are known for our very high levels of tolerance and patience, as well as our capacity to accept less than adequate service.

But there must be a limit when it reaches to the bank where people go to conduct business that is of mutual benefit to both parties.

It is time to draw a line and to say enough is enough. I say this against the backdrop of rate increases for bank services. I think it is time for all customers to stop the grumbling and collectively send a message that we deserve better.

There is an old-people saying, “It is hard to take licks when it is your own whip beating you.”

JOAN DE CHABERT Carenage

Justice Eleanor Donaldson- Honeywell granted the emergency injunction in the unusual form on Friday in a claim of trespass brought by Glenford Grant against couple Arnan and Vashti Bassin.

Attorneys for Grant, Kelvin Ramkissoon and Sonya Gyan, approached the court for the emergency order after he complained that the Bassins’ were encroaching on his property at 40 Don Miguel Road, San Juan.

Justice Donaldson-Honeywell, who was on a retreat for judges and magistrates, granted the injunction by telephone from where she was located.

As part of her order, the Bassins were warned that if they fail to obey the court’s order they will forced to do so and will be found guilty of contempt. They were also warned that they can be sent to prison, fined or their assets seized.

According to Grant, the couple lives at LP 55 Braithwaite Lane, El Socorro but occasionally occupy a house on a piece of land which is located south of his property on Don Miguel Road.

In his claim, Grant said the house on the property was built by his father and was the family’s home.

He and his brother now share the house.

He said the lands which he occupy and which is cousin occupies to the west were originally leased to his grandfather since 1912 while the Bassins’ occupied a third parcel of land at the same address.

Grant said he and his cousin paid an annual rent to his aunt in whose name the tenancy of the parcels of land was passed on, through a real estate agency. Steps were also made for the purchase of the parcels of land and Grant said he made several repairs and improvements to the house he lived in.

According to Grant, when the Bassins’ moved to Braithwaite Lane, they occasionally visited 40 Don Miguel Road to maintain the house there but in 2012, they claimed they were the new owners of the lands and served them with a lawyer’s letter claiming they (the Bassins) have been forced to undertake extensive renovations on Grant’s house.

Grant said they also threatened to remove the iron gate at the front of his property and in 2016, they deposited a load of gravel to the entrance of the property, blocking him from using the garage to park his car.

He said they began doing work on their house on the parcel of land they occupied and dumped building maters in his garage space, telling him the property belonged to then.

Grant also said in November, the water supply was cut to his house and he was told by the Water and Sewerage Authority that the bill for his house was now in Vashti Bassin’s name.

Since then he has had no water supply to his home.

In March, the Bassins ordered, by letter, to move out of the house he occupied and hand it over to the Bassins and on May 9, four men came to his house to put him out, two of them claiming to be police officers. The men neither provided a warrant nor court order but forced themselves into his house.

They removed household and personal items and left them on the side of the road. Grant reported the incident to the police and although a policeman from the Barataria Police Station accompanied him to the house while the four men were still inside, the policeman refused to take the name of the four.

On Friday, when the injunction was granted, Grant said he was at his lawyer’s office when he received a telephone call informing him that the Bassins’ were demolishing his house. An emergency stop order was sought and granted by Justice Donaldson-Honeywell, restricting the Bassins’ from taking any action on Grant’s property until the matter is resolved at trial or until further ordered.

The matter comes up for hearing on Wednesday at the Port of Spain High Court.

Nanan was hospitalised after complaining of feeling unwell on Wednesday last. A blood clot was discovered in his head and he died at the San Fernando General Hospital on Thursday, two weeks after celebrating his 59th birthday on May 5.

His funeral service was held at his home in Exchange Lots, Couva, yesterday morning after which his body was cremated at the Mosquito Creek Cremation site in La Romaine.

He was given a military funeral and among those at his home and the ceremation site were those officers who graduated with him from the Police Training Academy at the St James Barracks.

His son Andre remembered him as a bird lover, a hard worker, and the co-ordinator of all of their family gatherings.

Nanan’s legacy culminated in his latest promotion to being Senior Superintendent, the most decorated responsibility of his being the lead investigator into the “emailgate” scandal of 2013.

Speaking briefly during the service, Commissioner Williams said “During his last few years in the service, he (Nanan) would have been the main investigator in one of the highest profile investigations seen in the country over recent times.” Williams celebrated Nanan as a model example of the police service.

And so did National Security Minister Dillon. “I remember some time ago he reminded me, when he was an honour guard, I was a young officer then. At one of the inspections, because we had to inspect guards before the Prime Minister came out, I remember giving him a good turnout. A good turnout, ladies and gentlemen, is one where you couldn’t be checked for anything because you were dressed so impeccably.

There was nothing the inspecting officer could have checked you for.” Dillon said Nanan lived the values of the service and he did so with pride before extending his condolences to Nanan’s family. Nanan is survived by his wife, Lystra Nanan, a police sergeant, and his son Andre.

Mitchell made this disclosure as he responded to a matter on the adjournment of the House raised by Princes Town MP Barry Padarath.

After assuring Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George that he “will not shout” during his contribution, Mitchell said the Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott) had a $90 million budget to complete the works on the stadium.

Government MPs thumped their desks as Mitchell said, “I am very happy to report that it was done for less than $90 million.” He said this was a far cry from what happened under his predecessor, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal when the People’s Partnership (PP) was in office.

Mitchell said every time Moonilal reiterated the PP’s commitment to opening the stadium, “the price to complete went up.

The minister said that price went from $150,000 to $150 million to $185 million and, “it ended at $200 million and it (stadium) was not touched.” He said while Padarath alleged there has been flooding and other defects at the stadium, the facility was “flooded” with people when it was formally opened on May 12. He said 11,000 people attended the opening and some $750,000 in revenues were earned.

Noting that Padarath has been “trying to create fear and panic” in the population about the stadium, Mitchell declared that the stadium was successfully opened, “notwithstanding the mayhem that certain sections of the population tried to create.” On Padarath’s claims about defective welding at the stadium in the McCaffrey Report, Mitchell said McCaffrey himself was unsure of the information contained in his own report.

He questioned why Moonilal never told Padarath about the Arun Buch Report he had Udecott commission about the stadium in 2013. Mitchell said both Buch and MCCaffrey would have relied on the technical reports of Incor-Tech. “ Arun Buch not a welding inspector,” he said., Mitchell said the Arun Buch report said the stadium’s structures were approved as “fit for purpose.” He added that checks were done on the stadium prior to its opening and he was confident that all of the defects were remedied.

On Saturday, Udecott chairman Noel Garcia said a sewage leak at the stadium was fixed.

The leak occurred during the Courts Women T20 Grand Slam on Friday.

In September 2013, I was told that two of the President’s nominees for membership of the Police Service Commission did not satisfy the constitutional criteria for such nomination. Section 122(3) of the Constitution states that the President, after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, is to nominate people “who are qualified and experienced in the disciplines of law, finance, sociology or management…” Section 122(4) says that notifications in respect of the nominees “shall be subject to affirmative resolution of the House of Representatives.” After such resolution, the President makes the appointments under section 122(5).

I was persuaded, after examination, that one of the two nominees did not fit the criteria at all, the other only partially so. On my behalf, the late Karl Hudson-Phillips wrote the Attorney-General on the matter, copying his letter of September 26, 2013, to the President, among others. Inter alia, he said that, should the nominations be approved by the House, I would “take such steps as (I might) be advised to ensure compliance with section 122(3)…” On November 13, the House, with the Opposition abstaining, approved the nominations; appointments followed.

A few days later, I requested Hudson-Phillips to commence action against the Attorney- General (the relevant officeholder in such circumstances), seeking an interpretation from the court of section 122(3) in relation to the two appointments.

In my statement to the High Court I said that my concern was not personal. “Nor,” I continued, “did I judge that I would be directly affected in my individual capacity by any possible consequences of the notifications, if approved by the House…Rather, I was and am concerned as a citizen who has for many years written and spoken publicly about the need for good governance in this society, particularly including respect for our institutions such as our Constitution, which is the highest law of the land. I am therefore acting in what I consider to be the public interest of Trinidad and Tobago…It is in the public interest that the Police Service Commission be properly constituted under the Constitution.” On July 22, 2014, the High Court dismissed my application on procedural grounds, saying that “any interpretation of the Constitution can only be carried out by the court where the claimant alleges a fundamental breach of his or her fundamental rights and freedoms. This has not been alleged by the claimant.” In addition to his interpretation of the Civil Proceedings Rules, the judge was referring to section 14(1) of the Constitution, which allows a person to apply to the High Court for redress if he “alleges that any of the provisions (of Chapter 1 of the Constitution) has been, is being, or is likely to be contravened in relation to him…” And I, of course, had acted as a citizen, not in my personal interest.

I was therefore deemed to have no standing before the court.

To me, the distinction was a serious challenge to the rights of the citizenry as a whole in a society said to be democratic.

Were we to keep silent even when we had good reason to believe that a President or a Parliament or a Cabinet had acted unlawfully, simply because we might not be directly affected as individuals? I knew I had to take up the gauntlet. I appealed.

“Why? Why? Why?” he asked repeatedly.

Savitri Mohammed, 54, was found by her husband last week with her throat slit at their home at Bonne Adventure, Gasparillo.

He told police he went to the bank and returned home to find his wife’s body. Robbery was ruled out as police said nothing was taken from the house. Investigators also said the house was not ransacked.

At the family’s home yesterday, Savitri’s cousins Terry Gabin and Visham Goberdhan delivered the eulogy.

Gabin said at an early age Savitri began her career in cosmetology.

He said she began working at a hair saloon and later started working a cosmetics store for 20 years. It was there she met her husband.

“They courted and then got married on April 4, 2004,” he said.

Savitri he said was also passionate about cooking and planting.

Goberdhan said that he remembered how loving and kind Savitri was to everyone she met. “She had a good relationship with family and community.

She loved nephews and nieces so much and they loved her also. I remember for Mother’s Day how she spent the day with her mom. It was her last Mother’s Day,” the cousin said.

Bhajans were also sung by family members at the funeral service which was conducted under Hindu rites. Savitri was later cremated at the Mosquito Shore of Peace. An autopsy showed the mother of two died as result of a single chop wound to her neck which almost decapitated her. No one has been arrested for her killing and Homicide Region Three are continuing investigations.

According to reports, 18-year-old Mikel Arthur, of La Puerta Diego Martin, was travelling in a car with another man identified as Alexander Sutherland, along La Puerta Road in Diego Martin on Saturday morning, when unknown assailants shot at them. Both Arthur and Sutherland were struck several times about the body. The police were contacted and the men were rushed to the St James Medical Facility. Sutherland was discharged as he suffered only minor injuries however Arthur had to undergo emergency surgery.

Officers of the West End Police station are continuing investigations.

Siew told Newsday on Saturday that for the past days she had not been able to sleep at nights as she continues to pray for her son’s abductors to release him to his family.

The mother said she had a dream on Friday that her son was alive but being kept hostage.

“In the dream I saw him standing and he smiled at me. I know in my heart he is alive. I know he is being kept against his will, but my son is alive,”the tearful mother said.

Anthony, 34, was abducted two Sudays ago at about 11 am while he and his cousin Kevin Mahabir were walking along Lime Fruit Road in Freeport. Anthony was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and grey long pants. Members of the Anti -Kidnapping Squad have since questioned several individuals.

Police officers told Newsday that they were working on certain leads and were searching for several individuals who would could assist them in finding Anthony.

Police have also obtained a statement from Mahabir who witnessed his cousin’s abduction. Anthony lived with his family at Commonwealth Drive, off Nelson Road, in Freeport.

On the day he was abducted, Anthony and his cousin went to seek employment and were returning home. Siew told Newsday she could not understand why anyone would want to harm her son.

“He never told me about anyone threatening to harm him in anyway, so I just can’t understand why.

He is an innocent man,” she said.

She pleaded with her son’s abductors not to harm him and send him home. “Please I am begging please, just send my boy home, please please,” she begged, as she wept.

Anthony’s cellphone has since been switched off. Siew, who is expected to undergo surgery next month, said she did not know how she will cope without her son as he was the one who took her to the doctor and cared for her.

“All my children are there for me, but he is the one who takes me to the doctor always . He said he was going to be there at my side when I undergo the operation. I can’t do it without him,”she cried. Relatives are concerned about Siew’s heath as they say his abduction has taken a toll on her.

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Road Safety Council, Stan Huggins, explained that there were two Traffic Management Branches – one with the TT Police Service and the other with the Ministry of Works and Transport.

He complained that no one was synchronising the two branches and suggested that the Branch be handed over to the police as they were the ones “on the ground.” The branch at the Ministry, he added, should be converted to a road safety department. “We are duplicating this thing, we are not getting any where with it, and it is not working because the traffic is in a mess in this country. Traffic brings headaches to our drivers and increases our road carnage situation. We need to streamline this situation to put less stress on our drivers, passengers, and pedestrians… It makes no sense that the people in the Ministry are telling the police what to do when the police are the ones manning the streets.” Huggins called on Transport Minister, Rohan Sinanan, to help the organisation establish good road safety practices through education.

Part of this assistance would be to help the Road Safety Council to set up a home office from which to run road safety programmes.

At the new location, Road Safety Council hopes to install a library so that children could learn proper road safety, arrange to teach road safety programmes in schools, and run programmes at all driving schools so that instructors would be certified under the Road Safety Council. These plans, he said, would require funding from the government. However he stressed that it was important for Government to assist as there had been an average of 200 road fatalities a year since 2000.

He said road safety included education, enforcement and engineering so it was necessary to start with youths as many young people were being killed or damaged in vehicular accidents. In addition, he said, the public was spending too much money on medical bills, traffic tickets, or fixing vehicles, which could have been avoided by obeying road safety guidelines.

“We are saying you can not punish people on the road if you don’t teach them proper road safety.

Doing that is like ripping off the public.” Huggins also requested that “zebra crossing” sings to be changed to “pedestrian crossing” and the slogan “safety first” be placed at each one; that proper signage and pedestrian crossing be installed at all major intersections on the bus route; and that speed limits around schools be drastically reduced.