Congratulations on your first victory as head coach. It is really a great feeling to taste victory at last. Also my heart goes out to the team for the injustice against Mexico on March 28.

Lawrence, there are some chinks in the armour, especially in attack. Home advantage should be taken and we should have won that game against Panama by three clear goals at least.

There is a striker from Trinidad plying his talent in Turkey by the name of Quesi Weston. He was a former national under-20 goalkeeper. He has given up goalkeeping and is now playing as a striker.

He represented Shiva Boys Hindu College in the Secondary Schools Football League and was named the most outstanding player in the league on one occasion and the all-star team on many.

He has a very powerful foot which is a goalkeeper’s nightmare.

Someone like him would be an asset to the team, especially in attack. He is also a very good reader of the game.

Coach, please seriously consider this individual.

I understand there are some clips on his Facebook page, and I am sure your striker Levi Garcia will agree with me as they both represented Shiva Boys.

RODRICK PETERSON San Fernando

Two weeks ago, International Shipping, the owner of the MV Super- Fast Galicia, served notice to the Port Authority (PATT) that it will be withdrawing its vessel from the sea bridge.

On Monday, Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan confirmed that there are three options on the table to deal with the fallout – the T&T Spirit, the T&T Express and a walled barge.

The suggestion of using the barge has met with strong objection from the Tobago Division of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as several people throughout the Tobago community, as they called on Government to purchase a vessel immediately.

Responding to questions at a press conference held at the Scarborough General Hospital on Thursday morning, Duke said focus should be placed on getting it right.

“Let them get a boat that can carry both cargo and passengers, that can facilitate the truckers who roll on and roll off, that facilitates a journey that is nothing more than four hours as the Galicia, that is basically new and not more than 15 years old,” Duke said.

“(We want) a boat that has multiple engines, so in case one is down it can still traverse, we want a boat with a track record, let them get a boat.” Duke said he has been speaking on the issue for a long time however no succession planning was put in place.

“We have said that the Galicia is going back and they are bringing a barge. This was to alert Tobagonians, this was to bring a consciousness to those who make decisions in Trinidad for us in Tobago that some type of good succession planning should have been in place. We spoke of that in January, we are in April and they are now saying that they have a barge available for us. We don’t want any barge.” He suggested that the Tobago Jazz Experience, scheduled to be held from April 22nd to 30th and which has been given a budget of $12 million, be cancelled.

“Is the jazz taking place? They really having jazz? Them guys real? There is nothing to jazz about in Tobago. The jazz right now on the ground is do we have a boat, will grocery run out, will we get our back pay, this is the jazz on the ground. These guys are living a different world. I would not be going to any jazz and I am discouraging persons from going to any Jazz.” The Super-Fast Galicia is expected to depart the inter-island route next Friday before it is returned to its owner, Trasmed. The Galicia, a 13-year-old vessel which principally transports cargo between Trinidad and Tobago daily, has been on a month-to-month lease with PATT. It began its service on July 7, 2014.

President of the Industrial General and Sanitation Workers Union Robert Benacia described the working condition for workers as “inhumane.” “They are putting workers at further risk of being poisoned because we have indiscriminate dumping of toxic materials in these landfills. Workers are amongst the most hazardous conditions in the country.” He said the condition at the landfill in not only affecting workers but the entire country because the dust blowing off the landfills contaminates Port-of-Spain and anywhere west of the landfill.

“We have hospital waste, industrial waste, radio waste, dead and decease animals coming in here, you name it, and that is mixing in with carbon materials and blows like dust.

They need to place landfill management as a priority. We need to hear about time lines and the plans and how they want to implement, how it is going to affect the SWMCOL and the workers, and funding provided.” Benacia said they are again calling on the Public Utility Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Finance Minister Colm Imbert to settle all back pay immediately, and addressed the issues raised by the union.

The workers staged their first protest this week on Monday.

Responding to Moonilal’s claims in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Khan said all MPs knew the establishment of such a committee was “par for the course” and this practice has been used by several administrations in the past.

“The ministry does not run the oil company,” Khan said. He also dismissed suggestions that the committee’s chairman Selwyn Lashley has a conflict of interest because he is also the Permanent Secretary in the Energy Ministry.

Khan also rejected suggestions from Moonilal about there being an attempt to bypass the Integrity in Public Life Act.

Abdulah insisted in his statement that any new contracts for the supply of vessels on the sea-bridge, whether those contracts are short, medium or long term, should be done in a totally transparent manner so that the public can be satisfied that the best decisions are being made in the interests of all.

The statement said the breakdown of contractual arrangements for the service between Trinidad and Tobago of the “Super Fast Galicia” indicated a “total lack of regard and respect by successive governments for Tobago.” Abdulah said that there should never arise a situation where the vital transportation link of a dedicated cargo vessel becomes broken.

He said all the information in the public domain with respect to the contractual arrangements for the Super Fast Galicia point to a total lack of regard and respect by successive governments for Tobago – residents, business-people and visitors alike.

The statement said that the original contract for this vessel was made by the United National Congress in 2014 and was for a short term period; yet that Government did not move to ensure that a medium or even a long term arrangement was put in place before the expiry of that short term contract

Timmons recently visited Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon and Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Rodney Smart and other senior officials.

Timmons is Delaware’s first female twostar general and first female Adjutant General.

In February she replaced her predecessor Frank Vavala who retired after 18 years.

While having visited twice before as Assistant Adjutant General for Air, Timmons said visiting now was one of the things at the top of her to-do list in her new role in order to promise a continuation of the TT/US relationship, said a United States Embassy statement yesterday.

“We greatly value our relationship and we look forward to advancing and maturing the nature of our engagements,” Timmons said.

“This is my initial senior leadership engagement.

We will look at issues that are of mutual interest between the TTDF (TT Defence Force) and the DNG.” Timmons said over the past decade the TTDF and DNG have learned a lot from each other and intend to continue that partnership by sharing their individual experience and expertise.

The DNG and the TTDF have enjoyed a partnership under the Guard’s State Partnership Program which provides opportunities for joint training and subject matter expert exchanges on a variety of topics. These include flight safety, engineering and counter drug operations, and personnel issues such as professional development, family support, and force support programs.

Asked about being a woman leading the DNG, she said: “It is a big deal because it’s another barrier getting knocked down.

It’s good to recognise it and not because you are patting Carol Timmons on the back, but it shows there is .

opportunity for other women and men and anybody can rise to this level in the DNG.” She said the fact that women are in the military shows diversity in gender and race and improves overall effectiveness.

She added that good qualifications are also critical to sustaining organisational effectiveness.

Timmons recently celebrated her 40th year in the military having joined after high school.

Initially enlisting in the Air National Guard, she said she wanted to fly but back then women weren’t allowed. However she flew helicopters in the Army National Guard for four years, later deployed in Desert Shield/Desert Storm flying large cargo jets, and ultimately returned to the Air National Guard where she ascended through the ranks as both pilot and leader to become the top military officer in the State.

He thanked the judges after the State’s appeal was dismissed and embraced his attorney Richard Mason. Samad was one of several police officers who went to George Street, Cunupia, on February 5, 2003, to execute a search warrant at Bernard Albarado’s home. At the time he was armed with an Uzi sub machine gun which he claimed was accidentally fired resulting in the death of Albarado.

In a majority ruling yesterday, Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke- Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed held that the judge was correct not to send the case to the jury since the prosecution failed in its duty to establish that a prima facie case had been made out against Samad. “In this case, the direct evidence and the medical evidence are in violent conflict,” Justice Yorke-Soo Hon said.

She held that by withdrawing the case from the jury, the judge acted in the best interest of justice and did not usurp the jury’s function as the State claimed in its appeal. “Before getting to the stage of inviting the jury to consider the evidence, the prosecution must have established a prima facie case. The difficulty for the prosecution is that they were unable to pass this first hurdle because there was a material defect in that they were unable to produce any evidence to support the trajectory of the bullet and explain the exact manner in which the deceased met his death,” Yorke-Soo Hon said.

She also held that the evidence of the three eye witnesses was inconsistent with the evidence of the pathologist. Justice of Appeal Rajendra Narine dissented. Albarado’s wife Sharon Albarado, testified that as her husband got up from where he was sitting, a shot was fired. It struck Albarado in the back, exited and struck a washing machine.

Another witness claimed Albarado was in the process of getting up when he was shot while a third witness gave a different account of what took place. A post mortem report, prepared by forensic pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes, revealed that the bullet entered the left side of Albarado’s body and moved in an upward trajectory through his body and was then lodged in the knob of a washing machine one metre away.

Samad’s case was that he tripped and as he was falling, in an effort to break the fall, he relaxed his grip on the front of the firearm and while going down he grabbed the firearm and the strap snapped. There was then a loud explosion and the firearm discharged one round before he fell to the ground.

According to Samad’s account, after his fall he realised Albarado had been shot. Albarado was taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Samad was on suspension after he was charged with manslaughter, following a coroner’s inquest which ended in December 2004. Attorney Travers Sinanan represented the State at the appeal.

ACP Hackshaw was responding yesterday to statements made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, in a televised interview. The Prime Minister stated: “I am not satisfied in any area of crime management, crime detection and crime suppression. I am not satisfied with any area. It is an intractable problem that has been with us for some time.” According to ACP Hackshaw, serious crimes have decreased by 20 percent. The detection rate has seen a 52 percent success rate in the Eastern Division, 60 percent in South Western and 37 percent in Tobago Division. He said the six other divisions have already achieved a 20 percent success rate.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister also spoke about alleged corruption in the police service. “Rooting out corruption in the police service is fundamental to the creation of a police service that a population can trust and officers themselves can trust their colleagues,” PM Rowleys said.

In response, ACP Hackshaw said: “The Professional Standards Bureau continues to investigate officers over alleged misconduct and misbehaviour along with the Police Complaints Authority.

There are mechanisms in place to have these activities managed and investigated.” Efforts to reach Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams for comments on the Prime Minister’s comments proved futile while the president of the Police Social And Welfare Association Michael Seals said that he would first have to review the PM’s statements before giving a response.

In rejecting a call from Barataria/ San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan for the creation of a commission to do these evaluations either on its own or parallel to the CoP, Rowley said, “I don’t want to suggest that we solve one problem by creating another.” He explained there is an appeals tribunal for persons to seek redress from in these matters. The Prime Minister said Government has gotten this tribunal back into operation after being non-functional for some considerable time.

Rowley recalled making a commitment on this matter but admitted that this had apparently, “fallen through the cracks.” The report’s recommendations were used to guide Cabinet’s decision last July to improve GATE’s efficiency.

Rowley also said that once the School Improvement Project in Laventille is assessed, the project will be undertaken in other parts of the country. The Prime Minister said there has been no discontinuation of payments to private sector partnership stakeholders of the Early Childhood Education Centres and Government is committed to the future of the Universal Early Childhood Education Programme.

Later in the sitting, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said note will be going to Cabinet to treat with the employment of 75 school social workers, once his ministry takes receipt of a particular report.