So Rev Dr Knolly Clarke said yesterday during the homily at the three-hour funeral service for Rennie “Stretch” Dumas, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Portof- Spain. Another funeral service is expected to be held on Wednesday in Tobago.

Clarke said churches, political parties, and other organisations had become so exclusive, that they had no use for people of different positions and ideologies.

“We can not tolerate different things. We cannot recognise that Trinidad and Tobago is a diverse society… we have lost the art of listening and dialogue.” He said Dumas, 61, was a man of many talents who was involved in all aspects of national development.

He said if the people of Trinidad and Tobago were going to build up this country as Dumas did, we would have to do so as a community of communities. “If this man’s life meant anything to you, we must change.” All of the speakers described Dumas as a man of many talents who served his country and the People’s National Movement (PNM). They said he was a man who understood people and so was patient and empathetic.

Listing some of Dumas’ accomplishments, Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis said he served as president of the UWI Guild; an executive member of TTUTA; a senator; a member of the House of Representatives; a government minister; member of the General Council and Central Executive of the PNM; and as an executive member of the PNM’s Tobago Island Council.

Speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the PNM, and the Women’s League, Robinson-Regis described Dumas as a good and decent man, and as the voice that bridged the two islands.

“He gave us strength in times of trouble, wisdom in times of uncertainty, and generosity in times of happiness… He was always by our side… It was because he was a man who understood people, that in the darkest days of 2000, 2001, he lit the lamps of hope at many firesides as we traversed the length and breath of Trinidad and Tobago and released so many from the chains of despair, that by 2002, we were able to convince the nation that we were worthy of their trust.” Former PNM minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid told the audience Dumas was “one of the most underrated politicians, a true intellectual powerhouse” and he loved Dumas as a brother.

He said although Dumas was “a mountain of strength and power” in the Parliament, “Rennie’s superior generosity and wisdom were to be found, not in academia, but in his understanding of people.” In addition Abdul-Hamid said, “He had the courage to stand on his principles, even at great personal cost. At a time when it was fashionable to ridicule, humiliate and persecute Patrick Manning, Rennie Dumas refused to join the herds stampeding in desperate search of high political office.” Delivering the eulogy, William Benjamin, a friend of Dumas’ for 30 years, was the most emotional.

He said he could not believe it when Dumas died because he was too young. In fact, he said he visited Dumas a few weeks before his death, and Dumas was an eternal optimist. He said Dumas felt confident all he needed to do was strengthen his body, undergo the surgery, and he would be back on his feet.

While that was not the outcome, Benjamin said he was happy his friend lived his life well, had done so many good things, and was loved.

He described Dumas as gracious and warm, full of love, a man with a joy for life, a scholar, counsellor, a proud father and loving companion, an educator, and an integral part of the PNM in Tobago.

Benjamin said Dumas was a walking encyclopaedia of the social, political, and economic landscape of Tobago, and that Tobago had lost a community man and a champion who understood the institution of democracy.

“It seems of little consequence now that there were political differences or objections to his legislative product, his approach to development, and his style of leadership… What matters now is that feeling of loss. That personal sense of emptiness which most Tobagonians and Trinidadians feel because Rennie, our Stretch, has left us in the prime of his life,” he said.

After the eulogy, Benjamin began to sing Hear Me Calling, Great Redeemer by Fernando Ortega.

He was not able to finish as he broke down in tears and had to be helped from the platform.

Al-Rawi said he had been told so by the Chef Parliamentary Counsel. “Thank God for written records,” he said, in his wind-up to the bill he had piloted earlier.

He related that a Cabinet policy document from March 2013 (under the PP) had dealt with prisons officers collecting bail money, as he hit back at Opposition MP for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal’s complaint that the process was cumbersome, that prisons officers were to be turned into cashiers and that prison was not the right place to store any such accrued sums of money.

The committee stage of the bill will be taken on Friday when the House will also debate an Opposition motion on

A 35-year-old farmer was detained and charged. According to police, at about 10.30 am Al Clement, 32, was liming with friends at a bar along the Naparima /Mayaro Road in Mayaro when a man he knew approached him. The man accused Clement of a crime involving his family members which occurred one year ago.

Clement denied the accusations and the two began arguing. The man, police said, went to his car took out a cutlass and went back to Clement. There was a scuffle and the man chopped off Clement’s hand then ran off. Emergency Health Services took Clement to the Mayaro Health Facility and transferred him to Sangre Grande Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery to save his left forearm. The suspect was arrested shortly after the attack. PC Chan of the Mayaro Police Station laid the charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The suspect is expected to appear before a Mayaro magistrate tomorrow.

He said his ministry is now evaluating three suppliers of tagging devices and will engage a local service provider (of telecommunications).

Dillon said he wants to improve the conditions at the Remand Yard, saying first-offenders placed there may become hardened criminals who ultimately return to their communities.

“It’s not a sight you’d want to see. A 10 by 10 room built for three individuals now houses nine or 10 men.” Calling for relief from such overcrowding he said the bill is just one measure to do so, along with measures such as electronic tagging and DNA testing.

Dillon said awaiting trial for 20 years, deprived of loved ones, will harm one’s mental state and must be treated with by society. Incarceration has a serious social cost to the inmates and their families.

The Golden Grove Remand Prison holds 960 men, out of 2,000 remandees in nine institutions.

Built originally as a World War II airbase, he said the remand prison is now overcrowded.

“The cost of somebody being held in remand prison on a daily basis cost about $618 per person.

Monthly roughly $18,000-plus.

Annual cost is $225,920.” He gave data on the number of persons arrested by the police each year, as 10,986 in 2014, 10,942 in 2015, 10,679 in 2016 and so far for 2017 some 4,192 persons, many of whom end up in the Remand Prison.

Well, let me give our Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture full credit for this.

I am certainly impressed that someone – and moreso from this environmentally challenged government – has finally recognized the critical value of reforestation in areas along the Northern Range. And the preparation of healthy seedlings and saplings is a preliminary step in any reforestation project. That this first step has been quietly taken over the past several months is a welcome indication that the project may have been inspired and guided by practical considerations rather than by political motives.

There is very little “political benefit” to be wrung from the green lime that sours consideration of environmental issues in our planning and development discussions. So I will give the Prime Minister and his government encouragement and support for this initiative. Indeed I must, for I am among those lost voices in the wilderness which have been calling for the protection of our forests and the reforestation of denuded hillsides for years now.

In 2000, before I began this column with Newsday, I had called for our barren, burning hillsides to be replanted with flowering trees. In an article titled, The trees belong to me, I called for us to “plant rainbows on our hillsides”. The then Minister of Agriculture ridiculed the suggestion.

And he did this without consulting his own forestry people who do work in small ways to save our hillsides in the absence of any government (at any time!) programme or support for their initiatives. I know of forestry officers, who lacking any real power to prevent people felling trees “to make garden”, give the gardeners tree saplings to plant between their crops, so when the garden soil plays out, the new trees will be growing. Some gardeners do plant the trees, many do not. But the trees that are planted have a head start on the tall grasses, strangling vines and the like that will rapidly fill the abandoned garden space.

They would have grown for their first few years in the cleared garden space.

Which brings us to an important point in this new tree planting initiative: I am confident that the tree planting sessions will be well organized, hopefully with many keen volunteers among the forestry staff setting all of these trees in suitably cleared spaces. Fruit trees, flowering trees, softwood trees and hardwood trees, all to be set as little saplings into holes dug in the hillsides. Some of these will be on very steep slopes, some on the ridges, and many down in the valleys to where streams once flowed. And the potential for magic here is that old streams, when trees are planted along their banks, will spring and flow again! So let us all look forward to the planting sessions and support the initiative, and the people who will go out to start this very worthwhile project.

And when the planting is done? Well, some words of appreciation for that step would be welcome.

But everybody involved, especially all the governing minds, had better understand that while the planting may be done, the “journey now start”. And before the happy volunteers come down from the hills, the grasses, the weeds, the strangling vines, will be growing – growing to smother all the trees. Within a few short weeks the grasses will be taller than the saplings. By next dry season the grass will be over six feet tall, dried to crisps and burning in fires set by us to “clean the land” of snakes and animals. And when the fires pass, there will be no more saplings to grow into trees.

So we need to hear from the government what are their plans to maintain and care for the trees which we will work so hard to plant? How many times between the planting and the next dry season, let us say in March 2018, will workers walk these new plantations, cutting the grasses and clearing the strangling vines from the saplings? Because if they are not going to do this on a regular and sustainable basis, they better not waste their time planting this year. Hold the saplings until they have a plan to ensure their survival. But who knows? In this strange place we endure, maybe the whole idea is to create a massive failure, so when all the newly planted slopes are burning, government can say “Well, we tried, but you see what happened?” and then write off “the environment” as a hindrance to development and watch the hillsides wash into the sea? Prove me wrong, please Mr Prime Minister. Ensure a really memorable and lasting legacy!

Supreme Court Registrar Jade Rodriguez confirmed this to Sunday Newsday yesterday, saying she received the notice of appeal via e-mail.

“That notice of appeal was sent to the attorneys-at-law for Mr (Devant) Maharaj,” she said in a brief response.

“I have an undertaking that the notice will be filed on Monday, which is the 22nd of May and as a result of that, I have fixed an appointment with the Court of Appeal for 9 am on Monday in the east court, Court of Appeal, Hall of Justice.

Rodriguez said the quorum tomorrow will include Justices of Appeal Peter Jamadar, Gregory Smith and Judith Jones.

Earlier yesterday, the United National Congress (UNC) political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar claimed Government had not served the Opposition with any legal notice of its appeal.

As a result, the party signalled its intention to move a motion in the House of Representatives to bring Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and, or, Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert before the Privileges Committee for “deliberately and wilfully misleading the Parliament and attempting to unduly apply pressure and influence on the Judiciary in a politically sensitive case in which the government’s illegal conduct is being challenged.” But in an immediate response, Al-Rawi yesterday dismissed the Opposition’s proposed motion as “arrant nonsense,” claiming Government’s action in appealing the ruling was well above board and in sync with standard legal practice.

In a strongly worded statement, Persad-Bissessar said the UNC never received any notice of an appeal.

“Our legal team led by former attorney general Anand Ramlogan SC, has not been served with any notice of appeal in this matter,” the party said, one day after Seepersad ruled in the San Fernando High Court that a temporary stay had been placed on the implementation of the property tax.

The stay will, in the first instance, remain in effect until May 31.

G o v e r n m e n t , through Al-Rawi and Imbert, announced on Friday in the Lower House that they intended to challenge Seepersad’s ruling in the Court of Appeal, tomorrow.

However, Persad- Bissessar said when official enquiries were made of the Supreme Court Registrar about Government’s plan they were advised “that no appeal has been filed and the Court of Appeal has not convened any emergency session at 9 am on Monday to hear the Government’s supposed appeal against the property tax judgment.” “The UNC is concerned, to say the very least, that the Government can make such reckless, false and misleading claims in the Parliament to deceive the population and pour scorn on the undoubted legal victory for the people,” she said.

“We see this as an alarming and disturbing last ditch attempt by the Government to save face and apply pressure on the Judiciary.” She added: “For the Government, through its Attorney General and/or Acting Prime Minister, the two most senior members of Cabinet, to exert such naked and raw political pressure on the judicial arm of the State is a serious breach and fracture of our Constitution which enshrines the separation of powers.

“The Judiciary is insulated and protected from this kind of disturbing and dangerous political interference as the undoubted consequences of a government meddling in the administration of justice is dictatorship and oppression.” The UNC called on Government to apologise to the public and Judiciary for its “hypocritical, deceptive and self-serving statements which have no basis in fact.” “We challenge them to produce any evidence to substantiate the reckless statements as we now know it to be completely untrue,” she added.

Lamenting that Imbert’s “reckless statements” have been widely reported in the media, the UNC leader said the audio-visual record of the Parliament sitting showed Al-Rawi also made this statement during his contribution “after the landmark judgment”.

“These statements were made by the Government in Parliament in a clear attempt to do political damage control and give the false impression that the Government’s appeal was meritorious and hence warranted the immediate convening of the Court of Appeal in an emergency session within forty-eight hours.” Al-Rawi again dismissed the Opposition’s motion against himself and Imbert.

“I understand that they have threatened to take Minister Imbert and me to the Privileges Committee.

That is arrant nonsense largely because the position that we volunteered to the Parliament is a position of fact born out by the statements of the attorneys- at-law who represent the State and their information to us,” he said.

Al-Rawi took umbrage at the Opposition’s condemnation of the State’s attorneys in the matter.

“I can say that the attorneys for the Commissioner of Valuations include Russell Martineau, Senior Counsel, Deborah Peake, Senior Counsel, Ravi Heffes-Doon and that for the Attorney General, the team includes Fyard Hosein, SC and Rishi Dass.

“Effectively, therefore, the UNC is saying that these very reputable attorneys, have dome something wrong. That has got to be the epitome of foolish statements. It is just to be ignored. It is a storm in a tea cup.”

Last Friday, Minister of Public Utilities Fitzgerald Hinds, who chairs the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on National Security, laid in the Lower House the JSC’s First Report (2016 to 2017) on the status into the probes of the Police Service and Police Complaints Authority (PCA) into the events of March 23, 2015.

The report asked what action was taken on the JSC’s previous report (2014 to 2015) on the matter, what is the status of the PCA’s report and what has Williams done to ensure no recurrence.

In its general findings, the report said, “The Acting Commissioner of Police has taken no further action, disciplinary or otherwise, in relation to the day of total policing.” It said this inaction was due to the acting Police Commissioner’s view he couldn’t act until the PCA’s probe was done (under the PCA Act, section 48).

The report said the PCA’s investigation has been completed, with its draft report now under review to assess the evidence gathered, with the PCA saying the matter is “not yet closed”.

The PCA had challenges to complete its investigations and a lack of resources.

“No disciplinary action has been taken against any officer involved in the day of “total policing,” added the JSC report.

“The actions of officers involved in the day of total policing may have compromised the national security apparatus of Trinidad and Tobago and the comfort and safety of its citizens.” The report also said, “The committee recommends that the Commissioner of Police (CoP) should act with alacrity in dealing with matters of discipline which do not fall within the purview of the PCA.” It urged the commissioner to carefully note the JSC’s past recommendations.

The JSC advised that the PCA complete its investigations in an efficient and timely manner, such that the public interest is best served. Also, the line ministry should assess the PCA’s resource needs to ensure the PCA’s work is not hindered.

The committee wanted to find out who knew what beforehand about the 19 roadblocks conducted nationwide by officers from 19 police stations across six of the nine police divisions in Trinidad and Tobago.

“These roadblocks had the effect of severely inconveniencing the public and costing the economy millions of dollars as business activities came to a halt. The resulting massive nationwide traffic gridlock led to public outrage.” The committee said there should be a probe of the role of the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB), the TT Police Service Social and Welfare Association and Inspector Roger Alexander.

“The relationship between the officers conducting the roadblock exercises and those attending the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association meeting on the 19th March 2015 at the offices of the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) should be investigated.

“The role of the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) in relation to the provision of security of the Parliament should be immediately reviewed.” The committee also wanted to know of the levels of awareness of Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Garfield Moore and Snr Supt Joanne Archie of roadblock exercises.

“There was a breakdown of communication systems within the TTPS as intelligence agencies such as Heads of Divisions and Branches, Cyber Crime Unit, Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit indicated that they were unaware of any planned roadblock exercises.

“For a brief moment, First Division officers who were in charge of six police divisions and Second Division officers who were in charge of six police stations lost control of their divisions and stations respectively, to a small group of junior officers.” The report urged greater clarification of the jurisdiction of the PCA, CoP and Professional Standards Bureau in disciplining officers.

“The director of the PCA advised that nothing stops a commissioner from dealing with disciplinary and organisational matters within his remit, pending the conclusion of an investigation commenced by the PCA. The director further added that clear disciplinary issues exist for the CoP to address.

“As such, the committee is of the view that the Ag CoP had a duty to treat with matters of discipline.

Certainly it is the commissioner’s duty to ensure that acts labelled ‘malicious obedience’ are recognized and identified as such and that he condemns all such acts in clear and unambiguous terms.” The report concluded, “The committee is disappointed that after almost two years, not a single officer involved in the actions labelled ‘malicious obedience’ on the day of “total policing” has been made to face disciplinary action.” The JSC said this is due to the commissioner’s decision not to proceed as he thought he was stopped in law from any action until the completion of the PCA’s investigation, but queried this.

“The PCA’s remit is to investigate criminal offences involving police officers, police corruption and serious police misconduct, while the Commissioner of Police has legal responsibility for the exercise of disciplinary control over police officers pursuant to Section 123A of the Constitution.

“Discipline of police officers therefore remains within the purview of Commissioner of Police who should exercise urgency when dealing with matters of discipline which arise from investigations into the day of total policing.”

The report was in relation to an incident on November 24, 2016 where a remand detainee accused of murder was allowed to conduct business at a bank while not in handcuffs and with members of the public present and unaware of his presence.

The JSC, chaired by Laventille East/Morvant MP Fitzgerald Hinds, conducted a public hearing on December 8, 2016 with Prison Service officials, including Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart, and received both oral and written submissions.

The JSC noted a submission from the Prison Service on January 4, 2017 which revealed that 61 requests were made by inmates/ detainees (not including Youth Training Centre) during the period 2015-2016 with 51 of these requests to view a corpse. The JSC reported that 20 of the people granted access were charged with murder which is a “direct contradiction” with a policy stated in a 1987 prison document which prohibits prisoners under sentence of death and inmates on murder charges from being granted access to this facility.

“The committee is thus dissatisfied with the conduct of the officials of the Prison Service,” the report stated.

The JSC pointed out that no steps were taken to effectively communicate with the TT Police Service (TTPS) on the prisoner’s bank visit.

“The committee finds it inexcusable that prison officials failed to inform the TTPS of the November 24, 2016 visit of a prisoner to a bank, as is required in its own policy in relation to the granting of access for the viewing of a corpse.” The JSC also reported that prison officials had failed to adequately prepare for the public hearing in December and had failed to conduct in-depth investigations.

The JSC stated there was no policy governing the granting of access to detainees/inmates to services outside of the prison facility other than the policy to grant access for the viewing of a corpse. In its recommendations, the JSC stated that as an immediate measure the Commissioner of Prisons should complete and implement the provisions of the draft policy on inmates leaving the prison in instances other than court, clinic and programmes “at the earliest occasion to prevent recurrence of the incident in question.” The JSC also advised the Prison Service rules should include framework policy to allow for access to critically needed external services by prisoners who qualify, and these rules should clearly define the communication protocols that must be followed between the Prison Service and the TTPS on all such occasions.

The JSC also stressed that “the safety and protection of citizens should be of paramount importance on all such occasions.” Other suggestions included alternative arrangements for access to critically needed services by detainees/inmates in secured locations within prison facilities.

The ghats can be roughly translated as the stairs that lead down to the holy river. As I set foot on Kedar Ghat through a narrow doorway, the river opens out in front of me. It’s a breathtaking view after my twenty-six years absence. The auto-rickshaw driver, Ahmed, points out Harishchandra Ghat to our right. The smoke from burning bodies floated off over the river on the early winter morning.

A man passing by comments with a knowing shake of his head, as though teaching us a lesson, “We all end up there one day.” I nod in response and look towards the river. Men are already waist-deep in the water, making their offerings of flowers and water and taking their ritual baths.

Benares or Kāshi as the city is also known, now has a different appeal to me as an adult. For children, as we were in the late 1980s, the ghats were a morning adventure where we were taken for a bath during the Kartik nahaan or where a 5.30 am boat ride revealed a gorgeous sunrise and a wide expanse of architecture that gave the city its special feeling.

Today, I walk down the long flight of steps to the river, look up and see the magnificence of the temple architecture and old palaces. One feels minute in the presence of centuries of history enshrined in old walls, and temples that resonate with the simple devotion of daily worshippers who endure long lines simply to have a quick look at the images of gods and goddesses inside.

One lady is sitting on the steps of a shrine in a courtyard of the Vishwanath temple looking through the bars that are three-quarter way blocked off. There is a space at the bottom. Her head is almost on the floor as she strains to catch a glimpse of the mūrti/image through the open space. A pujari/temple priest chases her. The priests are still getting the mūrti ready for viewers.

No one is supposed to be intruding on the dressing of the image. But the lady has gotten her satisfaction and she moves on.

To my left and right, the other ghats stretch along the river like open arms as if to embrace the river that flows peacefully along.

From the top of the stairs, I survey the river that defines this city and many Hindus in Trinidad.

A friend has asked me to bring back Ganges water.

The Ganges of Benares is the site of life and death. There are over eighty ghats dedicated to different activities even while ritual bathing and devotion is a common theme.

In a sense, one experiences the city’s life on these ghats, from the daily Ganga aarti on evenings, done with much pomp and festivity, accompanied by singing and chanting, to the burning of bodies and the washing of clothes, that all take place on ghats allocated to these activities.

One cannot visit Benares and sidestep the presence of death. On our drive from the airport, a car passes by with a body strapped to the roof. It is wrapped in bright orange cloth with gold tassels that gives it a festive air. The car bumps along the dirt roads of the villages we have to pass through. The body too takes a hard ride, bouncing up and down much to the amazement of my friend who has never seen a dead body in this situation.

“It’s so impersonal, unemotional.

I can’t see my family being treated that way, exposed to the world even though the body is covered. But I guess this is normal for them because the body has no life right?” The question is rhetorical.

My childhood in Benares has made me immune to this amazement.

I had misjudged the impact of memories until now. Death is a given, a part of a mathematical formula where life is the one you have to work out. Varanasi is commonly defined as the City of Light. That light includes death, just another rite of passage, and a release from the illusory world. But the legacies left behind serve as an impetus for some to build upon.

The deaths of calypsonian Brigo and guitarist Tony Voisin, this week, signify the continuous movement towards the end of eras of music.

These deaths coincide with a year that marks the centennial anniversary of the end of East Indian indentureship.

We are thus reminded further of the importance of recording the lives and legacies of our people for we often forget in our present, that there is a future. And the histories of nations are built through the legacies of both individuals and communities.

The universal Church celebrates the heroic faith and witness of children who refused to be bullied –by religious and secular authorities alike– into recanting their accounts of the appearance of a beautiful lady who urged them to pray the rosary daily, to make sacrifices for sinners and open their hearts fully to the love of God.

The Lady asked the children then what she would ask of us today: pray the rosary every day. Many Catholics have long neglected the practice especially in the family setting. It is seen by many as a time-consuming and tedious task, best undertaken by Catholic schools, many of which have stopped the recitations of this powerful prayer and the meditation of the holy mysteries.

The children were told that the Great War of 1914 to 1918 could be brought to an end by prayer. Our Lady warned about future wars, which the world would bring upon itself by its wickedness.

In an era or political and military instability, with the threatened use of nuclear weapons by North Korea, the widespread suffering, civil unrest and violent clashes on our doorstep in Venezuela and now with the almost daily murders in this country, we should heed our Blessed Mother’s call to pray, and save ourselves from the destruction which is increasingly rearing its evil, ugly head.

The fact that the children to whom the Virgin appeared were humble, ordinary peasants holds another truth that we need to acknowledge. We are all called to be saints, regardless of our state in life.

In the performance of our daily duties, in our treatment of brothers and sisters, in our handling of the challenges which each of us must face and in our relationship with God, we are called to be heroic in our faith.

The idea of a heroic faith may seem far fetched and impossible to achieve. To be certain, it is a state that we cannot reach without divine help.

It requires a complete surrender to the will of God, complete faith in His power and love.

The Lord assures us in today’s Gospel, that if we keep His commandments we will have His help.

He will send “another Advocate”, the “Spirit of truth” to be with us forever (John 14:15, 16).

In her love for the children, Our Lady of Fatima allowed them to have a vision of Hell, as she warned that many souls were being lost to the fires of eternal damnation. She begged for prayers for the conversion of Russia and for penance to bring about world peace.

The message of Fatima are as applicable today as they were in 1917. We would be foolish, indeed, if we did not heed them now.