The members are Imbert, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, Minister Stuart Young, La Brea MP Nicole Olivierre, Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh and Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh. Winding up the debate, Imbert said, he was surprised to hear Singh say there were flaws in the bill when all 26 members of the then People’s Partnership government voted in favour of it.

The previous bill was passed in the House in May 2015, but it subsequently lapsed in the Senate.

The flaws, Imbert said, will be dealt with at the JSC. Urging members of the Opposition to consider the seriousness of the bill, he said, “one of the highlights of Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) report on Trinidad and Tobago is the fact that we have an unregulated gaming sector.” He said, “It is one of the areas in which we are in complete breach of FATF’s regulations.” Noting that TT has been downgraded to a state of enhanced scrutiny, he said, this was “due in no small measure that we have an unregulated $12 billion gaming sector in this country. It is a very serious matter.” Should FATF downgrade TT again, he said, “we will find ourselves again facing problems with corresponding banking and trade with the outside world and so on.” The bill, he noted provides for the security of tenure for employees in the industry, regulating the industry, and to establish criteria for key people in the gaming establishments and private members club.

Meanwhile, responding to Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad- Bissessar’s comments that the bill presented to the House was not the same put forward by her administration previously, as he had said he would, Imbert said, he checked with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel and the Parliament before he laid this bill.

The confusion arose, he said, from the fact that there was an original bill laid by the former administration that had some amendments during the committee stage, and the bill sent to the Senate was “a little bit different from the original bill” that was laid in the House.

“I am reasonably satisfied that the bill is exactly the same,” he said

“Today (yesterday) we are told we have 58 murders, six unclassified deaths,” she said noting that as she spoke the funeral of young woman who was killed was taking place in her constituency.

Responding to Attorney General Faris Al Rawi’s contribution to the debate on the gaming and betting bill in November last year, Persad-Bissessar said, he boasted about crime patrols, border patrols and drug seizures.

“If we listened to him in November last year then we should have been seeing the crimes dropping (this year),” she said.

Recalling from the Hansard that Al Rawi said Government had put a dagger in the heart of corruption, she said, yet in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index for 2016, Trinidad and Tobago dropped by 29 places to 176, in one year. While Al Rawi also boasted on that occasion about putting an end to wastefulness of government spending and corruption, she said, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report revealed in September 2016, TT dropped from a ranking of 89 to 94 of countries ranked.

She noted some of the indicators such as public trust in politicians ranked TT 118 out of 138 countries; wastefulness of government spending was pegged at 107, compared to the previous year of 78; business cost of terrorism was 74; business cost of crime and violence 132; organised crime, 116; and reliability of police 126, when in the previous year it was 121.

In addition, she said, the Opposition has issues with respect to Government dealing with deadlines and proclamations of legislation. “The Attorney General always comes to this House with deadlines – we must pass this,” she said, but fails to act to have the bills proclaimed.

Since March last year, she said, the Attorney General came to the House with the SSA Bill to have it passed. “We passed that.

Almost one year later it is not proclaimed. The Children and Family Division Bill was passed in February last year. Not proclaimed,” she said.

Since November last, she said, the House of Representatives was assured that the regulations for the gaming and betting bill would have been drafted. It was still to be circulated, she noted.

Declaring that she does not share the Attorney General’s views that crime and criminality, corruption, waste and mismanagement have been dealt with, she said, “We cannot be happy.

How many more will die?”

However, the report on the bill, which is critical to ensuring this country is compliant with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of the United States, was apparently laid without the signatures of any Opposition members of the committee. On January 6, Government bowed to the Opposition’s demand for the bill to be sent to a JSC in exchange for its support to pass the legislation.

As he laid the report in the House, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said, “We leave the report open for the signatures of the Opposition.” Imbert, who is also the chairman of this JSC, said the report will be debated in the House next week. The other members of the JSC are Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat, Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen and Independent Senators Hugh Russell Ian Roach and Taurel Shrikissoon.

Imbert, who is also acting Energy Minister, later said a report which alleged that the National Gas Company (NGC) was going to fire 150 workers was not authentic.

He said when he consulted the NGC, the company had told him that “any such report is speculative.“ Speaking later in the debate, Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh charged that local banks were denying opportunities to local entrepreneurs in the gaming industry but were quick to cry wolf when there was a “hold-up” on FATCA.

On Thursday, Young said FATCA remains US law and this country will honour its international obligations.

Sinanan gave this response to a question from Barataria/ San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan in the House of Representatives. He further indicated, “The registration of PH drivers at the relevant police stations and the requirement for their display of PH taxi driver information and car license is not being considered at this time due to the fact that the use of private motor vehicles as a taxi is illegal in accordance with the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act of TT.”

Sinanan further explained that the insurance which covers these vehicles is not for the purpose for hire and his ministry, . “is not in a position to prosecute anybody.” Asked by Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh whether the same scenario pertains to Uber, Sinanan said he and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi recently met with Uber representatives.

“We informed them that their service in TT is illegal.

We expect that the law enforcement agencies will do what they have to do,” he stated.

Sinanan later assured Princes Town MP Barry Padarath that repair works are underway on Garth Road which runs through Princes Town and Naparima.

He said a soil test was recently done and this would guide the ministry with respect to longer term works on the road.

Commuters are suffering for hours and nobody is saying anything to the travelling public.

Why must we wait three and four hours before we can get an Arima bus? The buses for other areas are working but not the Arima buses. Something has to be done to rectify this situation.

We are hearing all kinds of accusations about why the situation is the way it is. Somebody need to investigate. The travelling public should not be put under all this stress and frustration.

Lots of senior citizens who depend on public transport find themselves having to stand for long periods on the buses if they cannot get a seat. Why are commuters of Arima being punished? We pay taxes too. This has been going on for a long time and it seems nobody cares.

I hope the minister looks into this problem and has it solved at once, because this is intolerable.

If there is a schedule for the buses, then the management should ensure its is adhered to.

Or privatise PTS C for better service.

MODICIA MARTIN

Yes, he has failed.

I wonder what comes next? Will Dillon continue to get his salary etc under the crime conditions.

Gordon Dalla Costa via email

Until that statement, I had never heard a Prime Minister deliver such a sincere plea to “criminals,” urging them to reflect on the fate of their own lives. Not to fear the law nor guilt from the infliction of pain on victims’ lives but to contemplate the grief and effect on their own lives.
In response to violent crimes, politicians tend to react by making statements which are themselves violent. Statements such as “declaring war,” “releasing the dogs of war,” “hang them high” all capture the ethos of a society created, engaged in and determined to continue the cycle of inflicting pain on each other.

Society, movies, music and entertainment have always glorified a young man’s combativeness.

His ability to fight is encouraged, whether metaphorically or literally, once of course it is directed to a deserving enemy. Young men never seem to be praised for acting peacefully or obeying the rules. We are often inculcated to believe that respect is only gained by conquest, and we are only empowered by money, women or our superiority over another person.

We are often stripped of any emotion from a very young age by the simple and deadly phrase of “man up.” Certainly murder is the extreme expression of this violent nature; it is still a reflection of these qualities.

While the Prime Minster’s statement may have no tangible result, at least it opens a dialogue as to why we young men are so violent and how we can challenge that energy constructively. Until we find such an avenue, we will be nothing more than a society of Vikings searching for a battle in the scorching heat.

Daniel Khan via email

Sleep was difficult as the noise continued to 4.30 am.

There were many foreigners staying at the hotel at the time but this situation will not encourage them to return. With the already alarming drop in visitor arrivals in Tobago, this does not bode well for Tobago.

I spoke to at least four foreign couples who told me they did not pay for a green and serene holiday to be disturbed at night by noise.

I am back home but will choose differently when next visiting. I ask the Environmental Management Authority and the police to get involved, if only to save our tourism industry from further destruction.

Richard Lobo Diego Martin

Maybe it’s the fear of our own mortality that makes us believe that someone with the innate ability to commit such an atrocious act will one day target us personally, or maybe it’s our attachment to other individuals that necessitates emotions of sentimentality and sympathy for each life that is taken “prematurely.” But how do we then separate ourselves as a society to those murderers if the punishment we bestow is the very same act which we have condemned them of? To paraphrase many great pacifists and freedom fighters of the past, the problem with an eye for an eye is eventually it will leave the whole world blind.

While it is quite natural to expect that justice be served in these cases, the truth is that the state of our national security infrastructure prevents capital punishment from having any effect on the escalating crime sweeping our country.

I am pretty sure that those people in prison either awaiting or serving their sentence aren’t the ones on the street murdering innocent civilians. So what assistance can capital punishment provide if the criminals are not being apprehended or prosecuted? Even the much touted State executions of the Dole Chadee gang at the end of the last century didn’t impact the crime rate as much as the measures that were enforced by the Basdeo Panday-led administration, which registered a decrease in the murder rate a full three years prior to the hangings.

The ability to execute people for their crimes is precluded by the Government’s inability to arrest and successfully prosecute those who perpetrate the crime, thereby rendering this entire argument moot. However, should we ever be faced with the possibility, is this really the road we wish to take? We are already aware that crime is a byproduct of the social failings of our society, so are we really willing to condemn someone to death for falling victim to their circumstances? Especially when a non-lethal alternative of incarceration is not only available but viable? Because an imprisoned inmate is no more likely to commit murders than a dead one.

The real questions are how willing are we to reciprocate the taking of a life with the same, and how does that make us different from those whom we have so righteously condemned? Ravi Maharaj via email

When I first started to use the water taxi, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of customer service and the punctuality of the sailings, particularly when compared to other forms of transportation.

However, this has not been the recent state of affairs.

In June last year, passengers were advised a few days in advance of a reduction in the number of sailings, including the removal of the peak 6 am sailing, to facilitate maintenance of the fleet of vessels. This led to increased demand for the remaining sailings, which are often sold out soon after tickets become available.

To date, the schedule remains unchanged and no explanation has been given as to why maintenance activities have lasted for seven months or when (or if) the original schedule will be restored.

To make the situation worse, the boats that are in use have slowed considerably, making a 45-minute sailing last an hour or more. While this may seem like a negligible difference, it affects passengers who take the water taxi in an effort to reach to work on time. It is unfortunate that passengers have been treated with such disdain since most of them are regular travellers. I urge the relevant authorities to resolve these issues or, at the very least, update their passengers on the current situation.

LISA WILLIAMS Fyzabad ?”