Rowley is in California for a brief vacation and to undergo a medical checkup.

On Saturday, Moonilal threatened to take legal action against Rowley for statements that he made at a press conference at Piarco International Airport last Friday before leaving for the United States.

Efforts to contact Rowley were unsuccessful.

However, senior government officials said, “While Dr Moonilal is free to approach any court, he will be met with all the necessary responses when required.” The officials also said Moonilal “will have to surpass insurmountable hurdles of fact, many of which pre-date the prime minister’s statements.” They added it was curious that Moonilal, “is only now responding to material already in the public domain.” Moonilal said he asked his attorney Israel Khan SC to write Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams to find out whether or not he is the subject of any police investigation.

At the press conference held at the airport on Friday prior to his departure, Rowley said Moonilal was under investigation by the police in connection with the alleged mishandling of more than $400 million at the Estate Management and Business Development Company Limited in August 2015, just before the last general election.

Media reports in June claimed Moonilal’s name was on a police search warrant in connection with this matter.

The prime minister condemned Moonilal for alleging there was collusion between certain elements in the Police Service and the political directorate regarding last week’s arrest of former attorney general Anand Ramlogan.

Rowley said the course of events which led to Ramlogan’s arrest had its genesis in under the former Kamla Persad- Bissessar administration.

Ramlogan has been charged with obstructing justice by using threats and bribery in October 2014 to persuade incoming Police Complaints Authority director David West to not give evidence in Ramlogan’s defamation case against then Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.

He is also accused of misbehaving in public office by improperly endeavouring for West not to testify on Rowley’s behalf.

The matter has been adjourned to January.

In the statement, the ministry said this represents a landmark commitment on Government’s part, by reaffirming TT’s commitment to the protection of the ozone layer as well as taking into consideration the effects of ozone depleting substances on the earth’s climate. The ministry said ratification of Kigali Amendment further strengthens efforts to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in TT, which are climate warming pollutants.

The ministry said its National Ozone Unit has begun this process with the adaptation of climate and ozone friendly technology in the air conditioning and refrigeration sector. The ministry said the aim of this objective is to have consumers adopt more environmentally friendly technology, as well as have a well-trained cadre of technicians to service and repair equipment and appliances.

The ministry highlighted a ten percent reduction of the HFC baseline in 2015 and assistance provided to local manufacturing facilities to transform their production methods to more climate friendly chemicals in the aerosol, foam manufacturing and agricultural sectors. The ministry also said national compulsory labelling standards for refrigerant cylinders have also been implemented.

Haleema, her parents and her seven-year-old brother Haleem, who is her donor, were scheduled to leave today for India but will now leave next Monday instead.

Haleema was diagnosed with Beta Thalassemia Major, a blood disorder, since she was 18 months old. She was accepted by the Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, India to undergo a bone marrow transplant at a cost of $400,000.

Her ailment requires her to visit the hospital twice per month for blood transfusions.

The child’s mother Kristal Mohammed said days before she undergoes blood transfusion, she would develop a high fever, become listless and nauseous and begin vomiting.

Haleema’s father Hamil is a construction worker while Kristal is a housewife.

The couple has three children and Haleema is the youngest.

An application for assistance from the Children’s Life Fund Authority was turned down on the basis that the condition is not a life threatening one. But with the help of sponsors and fund-raisers, her parents were able to acquire the money for the surgery and three-month stay in India.

After the surgery on Haleema she would be required to stay in India for three months for doctors to continue to monitor her recovery.

Her brother, who will be donating bone marrow, will also have to undergo surgery.

When Haleema was 18 months old, her mother noticed something was wrong and took her to the doctor where she was diagnosed with the disorder.

She has been hospitalised on numerous occasions and is required to do blood transfusions on a fortnightly basis.

Desperate for their little girl to have a better life, her mother and her father decided to seek the public’s help in raising the large sum of money.

The lion’s share of the money came through donations to the Islamic Broadcasting Network owned by businessman Inshan Ishmael with corporate Trinidad and Tobago and well wishers making up the difference within two to three weeks.

Part of Ireland is still in the UK and has been the subject of intense debate around Brexit.

The question here has been what will happen to free travel across the border post-Brexit, since one part of Ireland will be in the EU and the other in the UK.

Well that little matter is now resolved to an extent. The UK in its planned exit proposes to guarantee free movement to all EU citizens between Ireland and the UK. Of course this is a great relief to people who live in the North where roads, water and industry are often shared and where one can suddenly find oneself in the UK and just as suddenly be back in the EU within minutes.

But the truly surreal event in these unhappy negotiations is the attitude of Great Britain, summed up by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, who said last week: “The UK wants to take back control, it wants to adopt its own standards and regulations, but it also wants to have these standards recognised automatically in the EU. That is what the UK papers ask for.

This is simply impossible.” He believes that the UK won’t face up to the implications of leaving the EU, nor does it understand that this exit comes at a price.

Britain is fast assuming the look of an arrogant senior citizen who refuses to accept that the world and her position in it has changed. In fact, as Trinidad and Tobago celebrated its independence from Great Britain, I was reminded of my youth when we sang God Save the Queen and recited Rule, Britannia.

In those days we were brainwashed into believing that all things British were best and that as Caribbean people and children of the Empire we were welcome on Britain’s shores.

That many migrated there and now form part of the population and citizenry speaks to this belief. But the attitude to those who are non-English, or whose ancestry is not of those shores, has remained an issue and is, of course, part of the reason that the majority of voters opted to leave the EU.

Yet, despite history’s lessons, we of the Caribbean still fervently believe that Shakespeare is the greatest poet and playwright.

Our ideals are still in many ways British. We still see Britain as the hallmark of civilisation.

The problem is, so do the British.

The EU 27 leaders are determined, however, to put Britain in her place and “not to let Britain off the hook.” This includes forcing them to honour a legal and moral obligation to pay what is being called the “divorce bill” or exit bill, that could range anywhere between 25 billion to 80 billion euro. The mood in Europe is that the perceived ingrained chauvinism of the former empire simply cannot be allowed to continue.

As former British colonies, those of the previous generation grew up with these beliefs of the superior rights of Britain and the inferiority of others. It was part of our education as good citizens and we recited poems and sang songs that ingrained these perspectives into our psyches.

Brexit opens the door to a new way of looking at our own condition in relation to history.

Perhaps Independence Day may at some stage bring with it a better understanding of how these attitudes h a v e shaped o u r own insecurities and inabi l – ity to govern o u r – selves.

Dead is Ronald Marshall of Enterprise Street, Chaguanas.

According to police reports at about 1.30pm Marshall was liming with friends near his carwash at Africa Grounds, Enterprise when a man armed with a gun approached the group.

The man pointed the gun at Marshall and shot him several times to the chest. He died on the spot. A district medical officer pronounced Marshall dead and ordered the body be removed to the Forensic Science Centre where an autopsy is expected to be performed today.

Police say the killing was gang related. Homicide Region Three police officers are continuing investigations.

That system needs to become far more transparent and accountable, particularly on the matter of asylum and the alarmingly high estimates of illegal immigrants resident in the country.

According to a Newsday report published on Friday, sources closely linked to the IDC facility say it is affected by the absence of an air-condition system, leaking roof, defective surveillance cameras and a faulty electronic gate, which, for the longest while, was being operated manually. While there has reportedly been a marked reduction in the number of detainees (73 men and 18 women), there is enough to suggest conditions remain deplorable.

Not only do these matters raise questions about whether the facilities have become inhumane, but they also point to tremendous security risks.

People housed at the facility include Jamaicans, Russians, Haitians, Vincentians, Venezuelans, Grenadians and Chinese nationals.

There are further reports, however, that people who have regularly been subject to immigration controls here, Cubans who, since a 2016 US order blocking their access to the country, have been forced to find new migratory routes. Other nationalities of unauthorised immigrants frequently cited by officials include Guyanese and Ghanaians.

With high estimates of illegal immigrants resident in Trinidad and Tobago, the potential for breaches from the IDC is a serious matter.

Citing a newspaper article that quoted former minister of national security Gary Griffith, a recent report by the Swiss-based Global Detention Project says it is estimated that there are 100,000 illegal immigrants in the country.

However, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, there were only 49,900 international migrants in the country as of 2015.

Though the discrepancy between these numbers is high, it is clear enough that there is a substantial presence in our country.

This means more is at stake given lapses at the IDC in Aripo.

Things are particularly messier when we consider the lack of a clear, centralised policy when it comes to the key issue of asylum.

According to the Global Detention Project, an international group based in Switzerland, non-governmental sources report that asylum seekers are also placed in administrative detention.

While Trinidad and Tobago is a party to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, “it has not adopted implementing legislation nor established a national refugee status determination procedure.” As a result, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its local NGO partner (Living Water Community) have the responsibility for identifying and providing assistance to asylum seekers and refugees.

However, transfer of refugee status determination procedure from the UNHCR to the government began in June 2014 after the adoption of the National Policy to Address Refugee and Asylum Matters.

The first phase included the creation of an ad hoc Refugee Unit in 2015. In 2014, 161 new asylum applications were registered by the UNHCR and Living Water.

This arrangement has the advantage of not placing more burdens on local law enforcement agencies that would have to conduct checks into applicants. However, it effectively means the population cannot hold anyone to account for these matters since they fall within the remit of the UNHCR and a private Roman Catholic organisation.

The overall, picture, therefore is one of commess, which needs to be addressed. And soon.

The suspect was positively identified in an identification parade on Friday.

Police said a 17-yearold student from South Trinidad boarded his PH taxi in San Fernando to be taken to her home. Instead, the driver took her against her will to a lonely area where he raped her and also robbed her.

A report was made to the San Fernando police who conducted investigations and arrested the suspect.

It has been more than a month since Newsday ventured into the institution at Western Main Road, Diego Martin. The paper exposed deplorable conditions, dilapidated grounds and equipment, and most disturbingly the neglect of the youths at the home.

Since the report, not much has changed. The facility is still unkempt, security lax, and lackadaisical staff continue to leave the children unsupervised.

Newsday sought to find out from the people directly involved with the operations of the home, who is truly responsible for the home falling into such a grim state.

Ultimately, bureaucratic gridlock and internal politics have caused several people who have not been doing their jobs, to stay in key positions while the home slowly deteriorates.

Gender, Youth and Child Affairs Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy, in an interview with Newsday, called on employees at the home to stop playing politics and focus on the task of bettering the lives of the children in their care. She said the home has been given ample programmes for the participation of children, and enough funds to maintain the facilities.

“People (at the home) have a moral high ground but they should think about the children,” Webster- Roy said. “These are adults who are neglecting their duties to the children they are being paid to look after. I do not care about politics.

I care about making a meaningful impact in the lives of these children. They need to be cared for despite the reasons for which they came into the institution. What we sow into the lives of these children, we will reap when they are adults.

Do we really want to sow violence and neglect into their lives?” Newsday was told Webster-Roy made several unannounced visits to the home and was dismayed at the conditions under which the children live. On one occasion, she went into the home in an unmarked car and found the gates wide open.

Webster-Roy told Newsday the guards who were supposed to be manning the gate did not even recognise her as a minister when she asked why the gates were open. It took one of the youths to tell them who she was.

Another boy, barefooted and bare-backed, begged her to buy a box of KFC for him. She did not know whether he had any nutritional restrictions, so she told him no.

Webster-Roy said that home was not the only institution she visited unannounced. However, the difference between the boys’ home and others was staggering.

“I went to St Dominic’s and I saw children laughing and playing and engaging in activities. I went to St Mary’s and I saw the same thing – there was even an Emancipation show going on where the children were singing and playing instruments.

“What is the difference? The adults in the other institutions care.” Sources from within the home have revealed the school gets a monthly grant of $900,000. This is used for the upkeep of the premises, payment of staff and other expenses such as food, clothing and medication for the boys, as well as for equipment for all the programmes.

However, sources complained very little is being done with the money. The boys are given small snacks and meals are being restricted.

No repairs have been done to the physical infrastructure, and programmes are at a halt.

Anglican Bishop Claude Berkley admitted his church was part of the internal politics which have caused problems for the home. However, he said while the church is committed to the betterment of the youths, they as a governing body have very little power over the decisions made.

In a recent interview with Newsday, Berkley said the Anglican Church, which has been operating the home since its inception over a hundred years ago, ran it wholly and solely. But, in the 1970’s, a decision was made to merge with the State.

Now, the church is only allowed to appoint a board of nine people, inclusive of two church members, to run the home.

The church also has permission to employ contract workers who work under the manager. However, aside from these few contract workers, they cannot hire, discipline or fire employees at the home.

Newsday was told the board makes decisions and plans and sends them to the management to be executed. In recent times, it has been proven that these mandates either take a long time to implement or are ignored altogether. Not being able to discipline or fire, the Statutory Authorities Services Commission – the body responsible for appointing staff – is called in. The church will lodge their complaint and suggest how to move forward, but this is still only taken into consideration by the commission and an investigation has to take place before any decision is taken. This, as well, may take a long time.

Berkley said the bureaucratic gridlock which plagues the executive of the home has frustrated the church so much that they began making moves, starting in 2015, to remove themselves from the home altogether.

“The actions of the church in the home are done without profit or favour,” Berkley said.

It is done simply because they have taken care of the children in the home since its inception over a hundred years ago. We have sought to care for children at different levels of risk or trouble, but when something happens at the institution where the home is placed in a bad light, the church becomes scandalised.

We do not have the clout to hold people accountable. We have responsibility without authority. We should be advocating for the young boys, which we have been, but maybe we need to exclude ourselves so that we can begin advocacy “.

Berkley mirrored Webster-Roy’s earlier statement that other institutions are being handled better because people charged with running those institutions are standing up to their responsibilities.

“When you look at other institutions you would see things are not in such a disarray, because someone fulfilled their accountability and their role. Someone was responsible.

For some reason we cannot get that here. It is difficult (for the church) to hold people accountable because we are part of the problem, since we appoint the board.” Attempts to reach manager of the home, Allison Joseph were futile.

In an interview with Newsday yesterday, hours after his mother’s body was found in her Fondes Amandes Road, St Ann’s home on Saturday evening, Stephen said, in recent years society has been desensitised to violence, pointing to a rising murder toll as the major reason for the public’s indifference.

It is believed the woman’s throat was slit.

“Crime is just a symptom of the lack of sympathy and understanding that we have for one another these days. I think that Trinidadians have become so accustomed to murder that they have lost their sensitivity to the victims and to people in general,” Stephen said.

He said he was visiting a friend in Brasso Seco at the time of the incident and only learned of it when he received a call from one of his neighbours that a portion of the house was on fire.

Stephen also hit back at social media users who, in the wake of his mother’s killing, have alleged it was part of a plot by family members to collect insurance money.

“First of all my mother was a cancer patient and was not eligible.

The insurance companies would not insure her. So to answer their questions about relatives collecting insurance money is baseless, very insulting and very insensitive. To make a statement based on nothing, without any knowledge based on people or their circumstances, is irresponsible and it shows that insensitivity is one of our major problems.” He said unless law-abiding citizens were prepared to partner with the police in securing their streets, crime and criminality would continue to run amok.

Up until late yesterday afternoon, there was a heavy police presence at the family’s home as officers continued their inquiries into the murder. The home is bordered by a steep slope to it’s western side and is hidden from the opposite side by dense trees and underbrush.

Newsday also spoke to several residents of River Road, St Ann’s who were struggling to come to terms with the murder of the woman many affectionately referred to as “Mama”. One resident, who asked not to be identified, said the mother of three maintained a close relationship with members of the community and expressed his disgust at her demise.

“We would scarcely see her outside her home but whenever she passed, she would always hail us out. She would stop and have these long conversations with us, she was really well-liked and it’s a real tragedy what happened to her. We’re all very angry right now.” Another resident, who asked only to be identified as “Jerome”, said Broadbridge would often employ young men from the community to do odd jobs around her house.

He said she would never hesitate to assist families in need.

“She was a very welcoming person, she would always have a few young fellas from the neighbourhood helping her out, whether it’s to maintain her lawn or whatever. She was all there for us and what happened to her was an outrage.” Several residents have speculated the killer or killers may have come from outside of the community, given her status in the area.

Police said, at about 5 pm on Saturday, residents saw clouds of black smoke rising from the other side of the slope and notified the Fire Service. When they arrived and searched the house, they found Broadbridge’s body.

He has had a colourful tenure in public life – one in which he faced off frequently with the media, was jailed and incurred intense flak over allegations of corruption in the now infamous Piarco Airport Development Project, which began during his government’s term in office and, arguably, remains a scar on that administration.

Yet, Basdeo Panday will go down in history as one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most dynamic and controversial post-independent leaders.

As TT celebrates 55 years as an independent nation, Panday believes that while the country has achieved much, it has fared “very badly” in spite of the oil and natural gas resources which has been its economic driver.

“We have had several oil booms and we gave it all away,” Panday said in a Sunday Newsday interview as he bemoaned the country’s dwindling economic fortunes. “We have also failed to diversify the economy and prepare for the present situation where oil is no longer a mainstay in obtaining revenue.” The 84-year-old lawyer and politician said, though, TTs most glaring shortcoming has been its failure to create a “free” people.

“I think that’s the greatest drawback.

I would like to see the nation become free. The nation is unfree because of the political system,” he said, attributing the situation to the Westminster model of governance.

Panday said the Westminster system, with one of its most dominant features being the first-past- thepost model, “superimposed upon a racially divided country,” must be removed to engender a free people.

The former PM said the situation could be reversed through constitutional reform, which he has long advocated.

“Until such time, freedom is a word in inverted commas. There needs to be a reform of the Constitution so that the people can have real power.” Born on May 25, 1933, in St Julien Village, Princes Town, Panday is TT’s fifth prime minister, having served as the head of government from 1995 to 2001 as political leader of the United National Congress (UNC). The former Couva North MP, known for his silvery-white hair and sharp wit, also held the position of opposition leader on various occasions between 1976 and 2010, prior to the latter year’s general election, which the UNC-led coalition People’s Partnership won.

In 2010, Panday lost the party’s leadership election to Kamla Persad- Bissessar, one of his protégés, who later became prime minister and served one five-year term in government. She is now the Opposition Leader and remains UNC political leader.

Although Panday’s political career began in 1966 when he joined the Workers and Farmers Party, it was his subsequent position as president general of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union, which laid the foundation for his ascent in local politics.

There, he advocated passionately for the rights of the working class, particularly among the East Indian population, many of whom had struggled in the sugar belt of central Trinidad during the turbulent 1970s. From a factual standpoint, Panday holds the reputation as TTs first East Indian prime minister, a feat which represented a major breakthrough for a significant portion of the country’s citizenry.

His tenure came after the People’s National Movement’s (PNM’s) 1991-1995 term in office, a traditionally African-based party, which led the country in an unbroken stint in government for three decades, from 1956 to 1986, when the National Alliance For Reconstruction won that year’s general election and lasted just one term.

Today, many years later, Panday told Sunday Newsday he never saw himself as an Indian prime minister.

“In my view, Trinidad never had an Indian prime minister. Only India has an Indian prime minister and I don’t think I was an Indian prime minister. I think I was a prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago actually.” Still, there were some tumultuous moments throughout Panday’s stint as prime minister. In 2000, some 12 years after he founded the UNC, the party won the general election with 19 seats while the PNM got 17 seats. But the government collapsed after three of its MPs, Ralph Maraj, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Trevor Sudama fell out with the party. The following year, Panday called a general election which ended in an 18-18 deadlock. Arthur NR Robinson, who was President at the time, appointed Patrick Manning as prime minister in December 2001, in what turned out to be a controversial decision.

Robinson said subsequently in his book, In The Midst Of It, launched in 2012, that Manning was the better man to lead the country by virtue of his moral and spiritual values. Robinson claimed, though, he had reached the decision after consultation with both Manning and Panday.

Of Robinson’s decision, Panday told Sunday Newsday: “First of all, I thought he (Robinson) was wrong and everybody thinks he was wrong because precedence would have shown that under that kind of circumstance what the President does is to call upon the sitting leader of the government, the Prime Minister, to form a government and if he cannot then he calls upon the Opposition to form a government.

But Mr Robinson broke the rules. He gave foolish answers like moral and spiritual values. So he was totally wrong.” Asked why he had dismissed Maharaj, who was the attorney general, Sudama and Maraj, Panday said: “The attorney general was guilty of certain things which I will reveal in my biography and because of that I removed him as attorney general. When I removed him, he somehow influenced Sudama and Ralph Maraj to join with the PNM in voting against the government.

And they began to do so on every single act that we were trying to do in Parliament.

“Anything we tried to do they voted against it. And so we couldn’t pass any laws and do anything.

When that happened, I said to myself I was elected to run this government and serve the people and if I cannot do that, then I will go back to the people. And that is exactly what I did, I called an election, which resulted in 18-18.” Panday said he harbours no ill will against the three men. “My relationship with them is the same as it is with everybody. I have no enemies.

I do not have a spiteful bone in my body. I speak to everyone. I hate no one.” Panday, at the start of his administration, also clashed frequently with members of the media.

In one of his more bitter encounters, he clashed with former television journalist Natalie Williams over allegations of corruption and nepotism in an agreement between the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (TTEC) and a company once known as Inncogen over the purchase of an electrical plant. The deal was alleged to have been brokered by a close associate of Panday, who ran an automotive business in the US and had a history of involvement in power generation.

When Williams had asked Panday about the deal, he responded: “That’s insulting. That’s insulting!” Panday’s misgivings about the ability of certain members of the media to carry out their function effectively gave rise to the drafting of a Green Paper on media reform during his government’s term. To this day, the controversial document has not seen the light of day. Panday said the Green Paper was intended to engender fairness in the industry. “I believe that many people believe that the media can be quite biased.” He recalled that Ken Gordon, then publisher of the Caribbean Communications Network, whom he called a pseudo- racist and had to pay a hefty sum for defamation, once said the media had an “untrammelled right to publish.” “But I replied by saying they (media) do not have an untrammelled right to publish with lies, half-truths and innuendos. And it is on that basis that an Act was being drafted to prevent people from putting lies, half-truths and innuendos in the media.” Regarding his relationship with media as PM, Panday said: “It happens all over the world. Some were biased and some were not and they tried to be sensational.” Panday gave two examples.

He recalled he had once said, “No one will attack my government unfairly and escape unscathed.” The reporters, he said, left out the word ‘fairly.’ On another occasion, he said, someone had asked him a question about Robinson and he replied, “The PNM had been in power for some 30 years and I would have slept with the devil in order to remove the PNM.” He said the reporters changed his words to ‘Panday will sleep with the Devil.’ “Why they do it? Some of them are personally biased and the media has an axe to grind.” In March 2007, Panday got a feather in his cap after the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction against him for failing to declare a London bank account, based on the likelihood that he would not have received a fair trial.

Three Court of Appeal judges found there was a real possibility of bias by the Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls in his April 24, 2006 ruling, which had found Panday guilty on three counts of failing to declare the London bank account to the Integrity Commission for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999, contrary to Section 27 (1)(b) of the Integrity in Public Life Act 1987.

On the Piarco Airport scandal, Panday said there was “a lot of misinterpretation about that issue.” Referring to claims that a window for a structure on the airport had been purchased for $75,000, Panday claimed his government had no role in such a decision but had placed the project in the hands of the National Insurance Property Development Company Limited (Nipdec).

“Nipdec was building the airport, not the government, and therefore, whatever issue came out of that was of no corruption of the government,” he said.

“The government was in no way charged with corruption in the airport.

Nipdec was actually charged because the issue with Piarco was bid-rigging. The government had nothing to do with bid-rigging.” During his tenure, Panday claimed his administration was able to reduce crime to the lowest it had been in 15 to 20 years, and also made the education system more all-embracing.

“We brought back in to the schools thousands of children, who, every year, were dumped on the dung heap because they did not have access to secondary education,” he said. “We abolished the Common Entrance examination, built schools to accommodate them and brought all of the children leaving primary school into a secondary school.

The idea was to ‘chorale’ them, so to speak, so that they were not on the streets and many of them coming out of the primary schools didn’t have the necessary qualifications to absorb the secondary education.

We knew that once we got them in schools, we were able to identify them and bring them up to standard to accept the secondary education.” Panday lamented his government was not able to complete the initiative after it came out of power in 2000.

Saying his regime also managed to reduce unemployment from 18 per cent to between ten and 12 per cent, Panday felt his administration’s effort to unify the country was, perhaps, their biggest achievement.

“We tried to unite the nation in the peak of its historical antecedents of racism and division.” This focus, he said, was manifested in the granting of a national holiday to the Spiritual Baptists on March 30, the donation of 25 acres of land to members of the faith in Maloney for the construction of an African Spiritual Park and the granting of land in Trincity for Pan Trinbago to build its headquarters.

(which today remains a partially built structure overgrown with vines off the Churchill Roosevelt Highway).

Regarding unfulfilled aspirations, Panday said he would have liked to make a more significant impact on crime, which was at the top of his government’s agenda.

“I would have liked to deal more with crime since it cannot be solved in one sentence. It has to do with unemployment, poverty, all kinds of things. And in order to deal with crime, those are the areas where you must begin,” Panday said, adding he would also have liked to see more unity among the ethnic groups. Although he has left representational politics, Panday remains a sought-after resource on matters of national interest.

AT A GLANCE

* Basdeo Panday attended university in London, obtaining degrees in law, economics, and drama.
* Panday is married to Oma Panday (nee Ramkissoon) and has four daughters, one of whom, Mickela, also followed in her father’s footsteps, serving one term as Oropouche West MP.
* In June 2005, Panday became the first prime minister to spend time in jail, at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca, on corruption charges for which he was eventually acquitted.
* On May 1, 2007, he opted to resign as UNC chairman but the party’s executive refused to accept his resignation.
* In March 2008, Panday was suspended from the Parliament for using his laptop for a debate.
* He lost the party’s internal election on January 24, 2010 to Kamla Persad-Bissessar.