Fire Service Association (FSA) President Leo Ramkissoon and Prison Officers Association (POA) President Ceron Richards held a joint press conference at the Besson Street Police Station in East Port-of-Spain to advance this position.

Ramkissoon stated that the promises referred to involved the settlement of arrears owed to officers of various arms of the protective services namely police, fire and prisons. He said although union heads have already agreed with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Housing, for certain considerations, the government has not kept up their end of the bargain.

“We did not come to a total settlement of arrears and the government came into agreement that of housing provisions for officers of the protective services will be met to treat with the settlement owed to officers of the protective services,” Ramkissoon said.

He said Minister of Housing Randall Mitchell gave an assurance that in keeping with government policy, ten percent of government housing will be allocated and shared among officers of the protective services.

However, Ramkissoon said government has not adhered to this assurance for some time.

“Officers of the protective services have been patient and very understanding given the economic realities.

But the government gave certain assurances such as the formation of a Joint Services Housing Committee to ensure some manner of equity and fairness.

We are still waiting on this.” Ramkissoon said that provisions were also made to allocate officers living in high risk areas would have been treated with urgency. This too, has not been forthcoming.

“Today, we are very much disappointed because it is quite clear to us there is no genuine attempt by the Minister of Housing to make any provisions to treat with the needs of officers of the protective services.

We are in a position now where we must consider how to go forward. The minister is playing games and we are not going to tolerate this,” he said. For his part, POA head Richards said his members are fed-up with the deception.

“We are fed-up with the promises of allocation for housing and these promises not materializing.” Richards said the unions within the protective services are calling on Prime Minister Rowley as chairman of the National Security Council to deliver on promises and assurances given by his ministers.

The security guard, who hails from Solomon Trace in Princes Town, was standing in front of the casino. He was confronted by the officers and searched. One pistol loaded with 13 rounds of ammunition and another, loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition, were found in the guard’s possession.

The guard who is not a precepted officer (given legal authority to carry and use a firearm) could not account for being in possession of the two weapons and was arrested. Up to press time, he remained in police custody assisting officers in their enquiries.

The magistrate read a charge that the accused men robbed a man, his wife, daughter and son of a quantity of jewelry, electronic items and cash. The magistrate said that said robbery was committed with the use of a firearm.

The three were not called upon to enter a plea as the charge was laid indictably.

Magistrate Forde-John then read two charges against the three that on the same day, they had unlawful sexual intercourse with the female victims namely a 50-yearold woman and her 19-year-old daughter. The rape charges were also laid indictably and the three were not called upon to plead.

The three were unrepresented by an attorney and court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan presented the criminal record of the three accused men.

Magistrate Forde-John granted bail to Dean in the sum of $120,000 and ordered that he report to the San Fernando Police Station three times weekly.

However, she refused bail to Johnspann and Harris and remanded them into custody. The three were ordered to return to court on February 6. Charges were laid by detective Cpl Majid Khan. The charges stated that the offences were allegedly committed on December 22 inside the victims’ house in South Trinidad.

Lynch, 53, together with Andy Doolamsingh, 25, appeared in the Chaguanas First Court before Magistrate Jo-Anne Connor, jointly charged with possession of a nine-millimetre pistol and ten rounds of ammunition.

Lynch of Enterprise in Chaguanas heads the Enterprise Mosque while Doolamsingh of Charlieville, is employed as a security guard. The charge alleged that police found the illegal weapon in a car in which both men were alleged occupants at Chaguanas last week Tuesday. PC Roberts subsequently laid the charge.

Yesterday, the magistrate granted both men $80,000 surety bail each and adjourned the case to February 5. The accused men first appeared in the Chaguanas courthouse before Magistrate Margaret Alert who remanded them into police custody for tracing and ordered them to return to court yesterday

Malikah Timothy, police said, has been missing for the past three days. Police added that Mariah Modeste, who went missing seven days ago, returned home on Sunday evening. Police said both teenagers reside at the same district in Vistabella, but their disappearances are not linked to each other.

According to a police report, Malikah left her Purcell Street, Vistabella home to visit an aunt at Indian Walk in Princes Town. Reports are that the teenager never showed up at her aunt’s residence.

Her father Marlon Timothy said that calls to his daughter’s cell phone went unanswered. Marlon said his daughter left home shortly after 7 am on January 7, to visit the aunt. In giving a description, in a media release, police said Malikah is of African descent, 5 feet 1 inch tall and brown in complexion.

She has long black hair and brown eyes. As police officers continue their search for Malikah, they are also pleading with members of the public to call the nearest police station if they have any information that could help them locate her.

Meanwhile, the family of Mariah Modeste are breathing a sigh of relief as they said she is back home and unharmed. Mariah’s mother Diana Saroop yesterday said she was happy that her daughter was back home. Saroop said that the time her daughter was unaccounted for, she could not sleep. “As a mother you are scared to know your daughter is out there and not home. I did not know where she was and I still don’t know where she was, but the police are investigating that issue,” Saroop said.

“I am just glad she is back home safe.” Saroop believes her daughter was influenced negatively by friends and has decided to send the child to stay at her father’s home in Mayaro. “I will not give up on her. She needs guidance and as parents we have to come together to be there for our children,” Saroop said.

Dr Ryan Wellington, in March of last year, was ordered by Justice Nadia Kangaloo to repay over $3 million to the government when he failed to attend the start of the civil trial brought against him by the Office of the Attorney General.

Kangaloo declined to grant an adjournment to Wellington’s lawyer and entered judgment against him.

He appealed and his case was sent back to the judge for determination.

Wellington’s lawyer, Ravi Heffes Doon, submitted that there was no requirement in the contract for the scholarship winner to report to the Ministry of Public Administration in person.

“An ordinary reasonable person would have made a phone call,” Heffes Doon said. His client in testimony said he did so on two occasions after he completed his studies in Ireland.

Heffes Doon said there could only have been a breach of the contract if Wellington refused an offer of employment from the ministry, which he did not as he was never offered a position.

Wellington, who currently lives in Australia, in his testimony before Kangaloo at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, claimed that after writing his final exams at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in May 2009, he wrote the Ministry of Public Administration, which managed the Government scholarship programme at the time.

He said that he received no response and after several months he decided to contact the ministry via telephone. Wellington said he was told that he could not be offered a job as he had not immediately returned to T&T upon the completion of his degree.

He said he doubted he had to return in person for immediate placement in the Ministry of Health. “I did have reason to doubt that,” Wellington responded. “If I had no intention of coming back, I would not have made the phone call and be now incurring $3 million worth of debt,” he said in response to questions put to him by the ministry’s attorney, Lesley Ann Lucky Samaroo.

Parties are to file submissions and will return for oral submissions on March 10.

The Education Ministry, which filed the action against the scholarship winner, alleged that Wellington signed an agreement after being awarded an open scholarship in 2003 to obtain a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland.

For the five years of his studies, the Government paid Wellington’s tuition fees and he was given textbook and personal maintenance allowances. Under the agreement, Wellington, as is the case with other scholars, was required to repay the Government if he failed to work in TT for the period of their foreign studies.

Kangaloo had ordered that Wellington repay the $1,734,994.30 expended by the Government on his studies in addition to $1,328,764.64 in interest calculated at the rate of 7.75 percent from the date of his graduation.

The judge had also ordered him to pay legal costs incurred by the State in the sum of $194,227.98.

The State was also represented by attorneys Nadine Nabbie and Kendra Mark, while attorney Kyle Rudder also appeared for Wellington.

Doodhai said the St. Joseph Girls’ RC, Iere Government Primary in Princes Town and Penal R.C.

schools ended their day at noon yesterday. St. Joseph Girls’ continues to undergo electrical repairs; Iere Government had a problem with a pump, and Penal R.C still has structural issues. In fact, Penal R.C. will stay closed today. The Sangre Chiquito Presbyterian Primary did not open yesterday.

The Ministry said, “Students returned to their classrooms this morning as the Ministry of Education confirms the reopening of all schools. Over the last three weeks, the Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the Educational Facilities Company Limited (EFCL), undertook repairs and maintenance projects to ensure the readiness of schools and a successful reopening for a new academic term.”

Rowley said, “ I’m an optimist. I am hoping and expecting that his surgery will go well and he will come back to his job after.” The Prime Minister said Finance Minister Colm Imbert, who has been acting for Khan since he was overseas, will continue to act as Energy Minister until Khan, “is able to relieve him.” At a post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in St Clair on December 22, 2016, Minister in the OPM, Stuart Young said Khan, earlier last year, had, “some issues related to his heart and he went through some non-invasive medical procedures.” He said it was for Khan and his family to decide what would be the next step in his treatment and whether this would involve him being medically evaluated in TT when he returns.

While Imbert is handling Khan’s ministerial duties, Khan responsibilities as Leader of Government Business in the Senate are likely to be handled by Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon who is the second most senior government senator after Khan on the Government’s bench.

Responding yesterday, to a number of questions on issues pertinent to the operations of the national and regional carrier at the Joint Select Committee on State Enterprises inquiring into the operation of the regional carrier, Mohammed said, “I can firmly say that we are making that turn” on profitability.

“I am happy to inform that we have turned around (the) New York (route). I believe the initiatives that we have been working on have begun to bear fruit,” he said.

“We do believe that in 2018 we should be able to break even. Our numbers indicate that 2016 was better than 2015. Our numbers suggest that 2017 will be better than 2016. We are hopeful that by 2018, CAL perhaps will no longer be a burden on the taxpayers.” On its assets, Mohammed said that CAL operates 17 aircraft, five of which it owns. The remaining 12 are leased. The aircraft may not be new, he said, but they were safe and reliable. He said CAL was conducting a fleet review to capture, not only passengers’ needs, but the types of aircraft best suited to fly certain routes, reliability and costs.

Noting that routes previously run by Air Jamaica and taken over by CAL were not doing well, and apart from Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in Guyana to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York “which is one of our cash cows as it were,” member Fazal Karim asked if CAL intended to drop any route and engage new routes. The airlines believes that it should continue on the routes currently served, Mohammed said.

With two of its five ATR 72-600 issues resolved, Mohammed said adding, “We believe that there is a window of opportunity that we can grow the airline regionally without the addition of aircraft”. The ATRs had been a source of concern in recent weeks and two had been out of commission. One has been on a flight test and is due to be back in operation.

CAL was also looking at a new route in the region for which the ATR could be used, has made a application for the destination and was awaiting a response from the regulators. He did not name the route and at the end of the hearing, Mohammed was not prepared to answer any question from the media. In relation to CAL’s safety record and the incident involving CAL and Fly Jamaica aircraft at the CJIA last year in which the wing of the Fly Jamaica plane was clipped by a CAL aircraft, Mohammed said the incident was still being investigated.

On the 2011 incident in which a CAL aircraft overrun the runway at CJIA, CAL Acting Chief Executive Officer Jagmohan Singh said the cause was human error.

The incident investigated by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) with the help of the United States National Safety Transport Board. “We were informed very early in the investigation of what may have occurred that caused the incident,” he said.

With that information, he said, the airline immediately started remedial training for all its crews including pilots and flight attendants.

In the aviation business, he said that the majority of accidents or incidents can be put down to human error. It is important to learn from aviation incidents and accidents and take correct actions in training of crews.

“We carried out full training and when the report was eventually laid, we found that we had conducted most, if not all of the training needed for the crews,” he said.

On the cost of this arrangement, Ligoure said this was private information but that the cost was one “that was not borne by taxpayers.” She described Swift Air’s operating a wet lease on the domestic air bridge as “nothing unusual.” The aircraft, she said, “is dedicated to Tobago.” Ligoure confirmed that Swift Air was based in Madrid, Spain, and that the carrier has leased one aircraft to CAL.

Asked if the arrangement between Swift Air and CAL was arrived at to accommodate increased travel between the islands, Ligoure said such arrangements were “pretty normal” in the airline industry, adding: “When you look at the airline you make decisions based on what your needs are.” She said CAL had a wet lease “just last week” to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US, and that Swift Air was a carrier that the national airline has dealt with before.

Asked if there were discussions between the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and CAL on the leasing of Swift Air, Ligoure said there are always discussions between the airline and the THA as the latter was one of its valued stakeholders.