Rowley entered the Parliament chamber while Opposition MP for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal was wrapping up his contribution and questioned George’s suitability based on historical antecedents.

The PM later said, “It was not before us to debate or engage in the suitability of the commissioner.” Moonilal’s contribution was interrupted several times by Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis on points of order, some of which were ignored by the Speaker.

Ro b i n s o n – R e g i s moved the motion and read out George’s qualifications.

George’s curriculum vitae, Rowley said, came to the House after the President would have consulted with the Leader of the Opposition and himself as Prime Minister. “How the consultation went and what position the officers took is not open for debate or even to be made public,” he said.

Standing on a point of order, but ignored by the Speaker, Moonilal mumbled to himself: “This is contemptuous.

Offensive.” Rowley continued saying that George’s curriculum vitae came to the House by a process and some comfort in the process was taken before. “What happened here today is likely to happen on every occasion that a vacancy arises and has to be filled,” he said.

As such, he asked the Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar if she still agrees that as a Parliament, they need to review and make changes to the system of appointing a Commissioner of Police and the commissions that services of the police to put an end to the debate that ensued in the Parliament yesterday evening.

Annisette-George did not grant Persad-Bissessar any time to respond.

Heckling, Moonilal said Rowley’s question was irrelevant to the debate “and not before us”.

Prior to that Moonilal’s contribution was interrupted for irrelevance.

To this Rowley said, “This is precisely what I am addressing. This parliament of which I am a part, behaving in a way that is upsetting to the national population.” Responding to Moonilal’s contention that senior public officials were scrutinised in the American system, Rowley said that bipartisan committees of the US Congress were set up to examine the nominees as is going on right now in the US, but there was no debate across the floor between members of either side.

“You are completely at sea,” he said directing his attention to Moonilal and adding, “That is why we had so much difficulty this evening. That is why we had so much jumping up and ‘smartmanism’ and wasting Parliament’s time, and looking very bad in the public’s eye.” He said he watched a piece of the debate on television before entering and that the Parliament needs to get serious and distinguish itself.

Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan asked aloud whether George can add anything to the PSC, even saying George’s qualification in Management as a member of the Association of Business Executives does not make him a manager. The MP asserted that Parliament is no mere rubber-stamp of President Anthony Carmona’s nomination of George, and that there is a reason that the Parliament is mandated to discuss the motion.

Questioning the process used in Parliament, he suggested that instead a committee be set up that could question George about his aptness to serve on the PSC.

Rambachan said that after years of George having served on the PSC the Commission is still no more efficient than before, such as being poorly staffed.

On a point of order from House Leader Camille Robinson-Regis, Speaker Bridgid Annisette- George ruled that Rambachan must limit his contribution to the nomination of George, not speak about the broader PSC. At the end of the debate a vote was taken and George’s nomination was approved.

Kerwin Williams was arrested in May 2014 but pleaded not guilty and remained incarcerated as he could not secure bail.

Yesterday, Williams made a decision to plead guilty before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John in the San Fernando court.

The charge was read to him, that on May 2, 2014, he had in his possession a .38 revolver and six rounds of ammunition. Court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan told Magistrate Forde-John that police had cause to search a vehicle which Williams was driving. The other men were occupants in the car.

Officers discovered the gun on the floor of the vehicle below the driver’s seat, Seedan said.

Defence attorney Chantal Paul told the magistrate that Williams had been incarcerated for the past two years and eight months and his only previous conviction was for possession of marijuana. She pleaded with the court for a fine rather than a custodial sentence.

The accused, the court heard, is a father of two.

Magistrate Forde-John agreed with Paul’s views and fined Williams $7,000 of which, $1,500 was to be paid immediately and the rest within two months time. Failure to pay the fines would attract nine months in prison with hard labour

On Thursday at 12 noon, a fishing pirogue reportedly overturned in rought waters with Toppin, her mother Sherlyn and a man who was the boat captain at the time.

Although Tobago police remained tight-lipped on the incident, sources said that the three were taken out of the water with Toppin dying hours later at the Scarborough General Hospital.

Her mother and the man were unharmed with the latter reportedly fleeing the scene. He was arrested on Thursday evening.

The charge was laid indictably and as such the accused man was not called upon to enter a ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ plea. A preliminary inquiry must be held and the presiding magistrate will decide on the weight of the evidence if to set the accused free or order him to stand trial before a judge and jury in the High Courts. Boxie was granted $45,000 bail with a surety and ordered to return to court on February 10.

Anderson Peters, Nigel Frame and Delano Glasgow stood before Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas- Ragoonanan charged for the murders of Carlyle La Fortune, Hubert Weekes and Yoryi Ernesto Ramirez Carache, which occurred on June 28, 2008. Magistrate Cardenas- Ragoonanan deliberated on the matter in the First Court.

The magistrate’s ruling yesterday came after no case submissions were made by defence counsel Suneesh Singh (representing Peters), Shurland Augustine (representing Delano Glasgow) and Kerry Pantin who represented Frame.

Bridget Anthony, representing the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and who was expected to respond to the no case submissions, was not present in court but instead forwarded a letter stating to Magistrate Cardenas-Ragoonanan that she (Anthony) would not be responding to said no case submissions. As Magistrate Cardenas-Ragoonanan ruled in favour of defence counsels, the three accused men rejoiced and shook hands with their attorneys.

He made the statement as the union arrived at the Industrial Court, St Vincent Street, Port-of- Spain, to resume conciliation talks with the company over the industrial agreement for the years 2011 – 2014.

Roget said the union was reacting to statements made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley when he addressed the nation via television on Wednesday night. He said the union wanted to remind the Prime Minister that it was the OWTU which had committed itself to saving Petrotrin by going on the record repeatedly highlighting corruption; inefficiency; mismanagement; political appointments and the placing of people in top positions for which they had neither the qualifications nor competence; paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to former top executives of the company to which they were not entitled and said all these had contributed to Petrotrin being in the position in which it has found itself. “In other words, if Petrotrin is in problems and facing many challenges today, which challenges has to do outside of the falling price of oil and gas; then it has to do directly with the poor management of Petrotrin throughout the years.” He dismissed as “bleeding hearts” the various “armchair experts” who he said had come out of the woodwork to comment on the five percent interim settlement agreed between the company and the union earlier this week for the period 2011 – 2014, saying they had remained silent when the union was exposing the corruption, mismanagement and other wrongs being done at the company.

He said Petrotrin has been placed in more challenging circumstances because of the failure of past governments to put people in critical operational and technical areas while filling positions in non-core operations which were not central to the company’s business of winning oil and gas. He said the union was clear about what needs to be done to make Petrotrin a profitable company, adding, “nobody will be allowed to take away Petrotrin from the hands of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. When you put it in private hands it goes into the pockets and the bank accounts of the private interests.” Roget said the Prime Minister had missed the mark in his address to the nation and should have said that the country should roll up its sleeves and get down to work with a sharp focus examining all the options for Petrotrin to decide which was the best. He said the union had submitted plans to past and the present governments as well as the former and current prime ministers for the restructuring of Petrotrin into manageable segments.

Saying the company as it existed currently was an unwieldy structure, he said the union’s plan called for the different segments of the company to be split off into separate units.

The Prime Minister made the statement during an address to the nation on Wednesday night in which he primarily focused on the recent wage negotiations between State-owned oil company Petrotrin and the Oilfields Workers Trade Union, (OWTU). The union had planned to embark on a 90-day strike starting on Monday if the company had not moved from its zero-zero-zero offer for the 2014- 2017 period. An initial offer of five percent was agreed to by the union and averted the planned strike action.

In a media release yesterday, PDCC president, Shiva Roopnarine, pointed out that a zero percent increase in wage and salaries may be better than a cut in salaries which had occurred some 30 years ago.

“How far are we from IMF’s door? The nation needs to be aware of the possibilities of returning to the IMF and be aware that 0-0-0 in the future might be better than a cut in salaries as occurred 30 years ago,” Roopnarine stated, adding, “If we do not study our history, we will definitely repeat it. We might be forced to devalue the currency and freeze all wage negotiations. Your purchasing power would diminish as cost of living escalates.” “Did we really forget the unrest that resulted in 1990?” he asked.

Roopnarine also wondered when cost cutting measures, which had been alluded to by the Prime Minister, would materialise at the company.

“The Chamber eagerly awaits the commencement of the proposed cost cutting measures the Prime Minister announced for Petrotrin.

We all appreciate that it is necessary but with all the stakeholders involved, who is going to do it? Would the union allow Petrotrin to send home workers and reduce its annual wage bill to under 50 percent of their total annual costs? We should be aiming at figures that are on par with the international benchmark,” he stated.

“This is a time when the entire country, businesses and citizens have already initiated serious cost cutting measures to meet rising inflation and the slowdown in our economic fortunes,” Roopnarine pointed out.

He noted that a “silver lining” may be on the horizon saying foreign exchange could be increased should Petrotrin increase its production output.

“The nation is coming to terms with the decrease in availability of US dollars and an increase in output from Petrotrin can lead to an increase in US dollars,” he stated.

He noted that citizens had to increase their appetite for locally manufactured goods with measures put in place to protect manufacturers and local farmers to ensure that they remain relevant.

According to reports, at about 2 am officers of the North Eastern Division were on patrol along Silver Mill Road, San Juan when they saw Sheldon Rampersad, said to be in his early thirties, grimacing in pain and walking along the roadway in a dazed manner.

When confronted by the police, Rampersad claimed he was severely beaten and provided an alias for the person who allegedly inflicted the beating on him.

Officers alerted EHS personnel who arrived at the scene a short while later and took Rampersad to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex EW MSC for emergency treatment.

Shortly after 8 am yesterday, police officers were contacted by officials at the EW MSC and told that Rampersad had succumbed to his injuries.

Initially, he complained of broken ribs and severe injuries to his hands and chest.

An autopsy is expected to be carried on the body of Rampersad to determine the cause of death.

Yesterday, the murder toll stood at 15 for the year thus far.

The autopsy was performed on Thursday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

The pensioner’s badly burnt body was found by relatives at his Palm Avenue, Esperanza Village home on Wednesday evening.

Doctors said that 80 percent of the elderly man’s body was burnt.

According to a police report, at about 3.30pm Ramnanan’s son, Sunil went to the family home in Couva to check on his father after efforts to contact him on his cellphone proved futile.

Reports said when Sunil arrived at the family home, he saw smoke coming from the back of the house.

The son said he called out to his father several times but received no response.

Minutes later, he heard his father’s groans approximately 500 feet from the house near a bushy area.

Sunil then found his father’s burnt body.

“When he was found he had burns about his entire body and the groans had stopped.

“He had on a tall boots and where the boots covered his legs he did not get burn,” said the emotional son. Ramnanan was rushed to the Couva Health Centre and later transferred to the San Fernando General hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10.45pm. Speaking with Newsday at the family home, Sunil said that the death of his father came as a shock to the family.

“It was really unexpected in the manner he was taken from us,” he said.

He told Newsday his father was a very active man for his age.

“He loved cleaning and loved to see the backyard clean always and would take it upon himself to clean the area, by burning the grass,” he explained.

He believes that his father may have stumbled and fell unto the burning garbage he set.

“My father had problems with his legs, so I believe he fell and inhaled the smoke and could not get up so and he burnt there,” the tearful son said.

Ramnanan would be cremated at the Waterloo Cremation Site following a funeral service at the family Couva home on Sunday.

Investigations are continuing.