This is intended to be the first of such publications for 2017 as part of its fundraising efforts, the release issued to media said.

The calendar features art pieces from primary school children throughout the country and from its diabetes camp for children. The calendar also contains local healthy recipes, diabetes educational information and the association’s annual events.

The release said, “For 2016, we decided to place a special focus on children, with our theme “Diabetes Prevention: It starts with the Child.” Children are now more vulnerable to develop Type II diabetes than ever before in human history.

In Trinidad and Tobago we have an estimated adult prevalence of all forms of diabetes between 15- 17 percent. We now have data that shows that around one third of our children are either overweight or obese and are well on the way to becoming Type two diabetic if interventions are not taken. Type I diabetes (T1DM) is also becoming more prevalent in Trinidad, however, many people are not aware of the characteristics of this form of diabetes.” The release noted that there are over 100 children in TT living with Type I diabetes and close to 500 adults.

It is the association’s hope that the camp aids the improvement of the lives of children in TT living with diabetes.

The association noted that at the end of the camp, held annually at around July, “the children are better able to self-monitor, inject insulin and plan appropriate meals which set them on a path to longer and happier lives.” Usually children living with Type 1 diabetes have a hard time adjusting to the pace of life among healthy children.

The association said the greatest triumph of the camp is the development of friendships spanning across age groups and geography.

The calendar is being sold at $20 per copy and distributed at the association’s 18 branches as well as all Superpharm branches.

The Port-of-Spain that had room for residents, business and was cultural mecca is no more. What has replaced it is a sprawl of homogenous office complexes, housing mainly government employees, who are only too happy to head to their homes by the hundreds of thousands at the end of the day. By 6 pm, Port-of-Spain is a ghost town. For the most part, businesses in the capital city now serve the transient workforce and have no need to stay open once they are gone.

Nightlife has moved to the west of the main city centre to Woodbrook and Ariapita Avenue. Those who lived here have moved to suburbs in the west, to the north of Port-of-Spain, or have quit the country entirely. A recent US State Department report has warned its citizens to stay away from downtown Port-of-Spain at night. A drive through the town centre at this time will reveal padlocked doors and shuttered storefronts. If they need anything, people no longer come into the city to find it, preferring to go to shopping malls that open later and are closer to their homes, but which also provide a relatively safer shopping environment and parking. Charlotte Street, which still serves as a beacon for bargain hunters, may have this position challenged with the disappearance and the subsequent discovery of the body of 20-year-old Shannon Banfield at one of the street’s most well-known business establishments in December last year.

Everyone is running from the crime. The number of businesses in Port-of-Spain has declined from around 5,700 in 2000 to around 5,000 in 2011, according to the CSO’s 2011 Population and Housing Census Preliminary Count

But there is also a general environmental degradation that makes Port-of-Spain a hardsell. Increasing numbers of homeless wander the street. The capital is gridlocked at peak hours and is prone to flooding and near shutdown during the slightest rainfall. Several roads are pockmarked with potholes. The city is losing its green spaces and unique architecture.There is a sense that it feels less and less like the capital city as years go by.

Banfield’s murder has brought crime and safety in the city back to the forefront, but perhaps policy makers should be focusing on the deeper ramifications of this loss of life. One issue that comes to mind the question of whether or not Port-of-Spain a decaying, dying city.

According to the Union of International Associations (UIA) Encyclopedia of World Problems, it may be.

They define a decaying urban area as one:

“…where the concentration of the entire range of economic, financial, political and cultural activities is the greatest and the most complex. Traditionally

2011 census has listed Port-of-Spain’s number of residents declining from 46,021 in 2000 to 35,663 in 2011. Meanwhile, street dwellers have been increasing from 246 in 2000 to 307 in 2011. Port-of-Spain now has the highest number of street dwellers of any region, according to the census.

The UIA definition continues that decaying urban areas have:

“a high level of commercial specialisation, a large number of offices and a sizeable daytime population. … The concentration of the service industries inevitably entails the replacement of traditional housing and shops by office blocks, the provision of basic utilities at the expense of civic amenities and the provision of major access roads which eat up urban space. The ensuing over-concentration of traffic has the inevitable consequences of air pollution… Structures of historic origin are often unable to meet modern requirements and, notwithstanding their value, frequently face demolition. Some of the future-oriented activities hitherto dominating central areas tend to abandon the stifled centre and look for more favourable locations.”

Does this sound like Port-of- Spain?

Business Day spoke with former Port-of-Spain mayor, Keron Valentine to get a sense of how hard it is to take the city back from the brink.

Valentine took over the mayorship from Raymond Tim Kee in what was supposed to be the last ten months of Tim Kee’s term.

As a major achievements, Valentine said he was able to address the homeless situation in some measure, getting the courts to pass bye laws in litigation by homeless people against the city. Now, he said, it is illegal for the homeless to loiter and to set up permanent dwellings in the city’s public parks, playgrounds and schools.

He said he also focused on improving physical infrastructure within the city, particularly parking and roadworks. However, gang land crime culture of East Port-of- Spain proved to be a serious deterrent to more work being done.

“Doing developmental work, like putting in exercise equipment or a play park in certain parts of the city was a major problem,” said Valentine. “We would have lost quite a number of employees to the whole ‘borderline’ phenomenon. It was a major issue in terms of staffing. When it came to scheduling and rostering workers, some of them would tell us that they could not go on this street, or they could not go further than this point.”

Next week, Business Day continues with former mayor Valentine’s assessment of the situation, other stakeholders contributions and what can be done to revitalize the city centre.

Anand the singing legend has fallen but, his memories will transcend time and unify the diaspora.

The late Yankarran was one of the sweetest and most distinctive exponents of the art of classical singing after his father Isaac.

He then graduated to becoming the powerful, pulsating and expansionary voice of chutney and crossover music. I will always remember his deep penetrating but very exciting and entertaining melodies that seem to transform and conduct us down the romantic eastern lanes as the late Kamal Chach would have said of Anand.

He was a great ambassador for the chutney genre in the TT diaspora as well as in Holland and in the French Antilles. That magnetic and soothing voice marked by inimitable control, playful modulation and a rising and sustained crescendo at a young age is now silenced.

But he will be buoyed up and live forever in our hearts that will continue to resonate and beat with the magic spell that he cast over us and seduced us whenever he sang for us Trinbagonians.

We will still be his adoring fans who had the exquisite honour and unique pleasure to hear and see this legendary son of Dharti Mata (Mother Earth).

Anand’s relaxed stage mannerisms were like that of a professional entertainer who towered over all the chutneyists.

He virtually mesmerized us into eating from the palms of his hands.

The late maestro and ustad created such a distinctively profound and lasting impact on the chutney landscape that his gana (song) and bhajana (music) will survive the acid test of time.

Thank you Anand! You deserve a suitable national shrine built in your memory. I send condolences to the family and all the socachutney aficionados who are now mourning your premature demise.

Sing your way to nirvana my son and charm the angels into complete submission.

Tephen Kangal via email

The shooting left residents of Commonwealth Drive in Freeport in a state of shock and bewilderment with residents saying that their quiet community has been scarred by this incident permanently.

The dead have been identified as Michael Brown, 26; Winston Edwards and Elton Amera.

Birthday boy Spencer was shot in the arm and face and is one of three persons warded in critical condition.

Police reported that the victims were liming at Spencer’s home when at 12.3o am, without warning, gunmen emerged from nearby bushes, stormed the house and shot the occupants with automatic weapons. As persons started dropping to the ground under the hail of bullets, the gunmen left the house and disappeared into the night. Several persons were rushed to hospital. Of the seven survivors, four were treated for flesh wounds and discharged.

Police sources said that this mass shooting which left three dead plus an unrelated murder in Santa Cruz, have sent the country’s murder toll within the first four days of 2017, to seven. Eyewitnesses were willing to tell their story but too afraid to give their names.

“I was coming outside in my gallery to blow up balloons and make party bags when I heard people running through the bush in my backyard. I had to gather all my children and put them in one room. I saw about seven or eight of men, some with small guns and two with big, long guns,” said a resident. The person said that rapid gunfire was then heard followed by the gunmen slinking back into the bushes from whence they came.

“This place was quiet but now we have been stained by this incident.

They could call her hell town now,” another resident said. Relatives of Brown told Newsday that he was a hard-working young man who worked construction, reared sheep and goats and loved to care for birds.

His life, they say, was taken away for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Relatives said that Brown was a childhood friend of Edwards, who in turn was a cousin to Spencer __ the host of the birthday party.

Brown’s common-law-wife Racquel Hypolite wept as she reminisced on the good times spent with him. “He was a good man who did not deserve to die this way…gunned down like a dog in the road,” she cried. Relatives of Amera and Edwards were too distraught to speak with reporters.

The bodies of the three victims were taken to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsies.

Contacted on the incident, Head of Police Central Division Snr Supt Kenny McIntyre said the police were in the process of putting together an official statement on the matter. He said the number of gunmen remains unknown and investigations were at a very sensitive stage at this point in time and he would not want to comment further.

Member of Parliament for Couva North Ramona Ramdial, in a statement, called on Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon, Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams and others to “act immediately” on the mass shooting. “In addition to these shootings and murders there is also an increase in robberies of businesses and homes. The businesses in Central are reeling from the negative impact of crime.

Constituents are living in fear daily as they go to sleep wondering if their lives and property will fall victim to the criminals,” Ramdial said in the release.

She also asked for confirmation on whether the promise made by Minister Dillon to establish an army base in Chaguanas would be fulfilled. “It must not continue like this where citizens live in mortal fear daily. Our leaders, especially those entrusted with the responsibility for safety and security of the nation, must step up and act now. Trinidad and Tobago is fed up of the talk and we the people deserve more.” Freeport Police are continuing investigations.

Up to press time, no arrest was made.

However, addressing workers shortly after serving strike notice on Petrotrin president Fitzroy Harewood at the company’s Pointe-a-Pierre administrative offices, Roget said the union had not ruled out last minute negotiations to avert strike action. “The collective agreement provides for the company to have a minimum of 96 hours (to avert the strike on being served the notice).” He said that the 96 hour grace period, from the time of the notice being served, would end at 10 am on Sunday, but, “we have given them an extra 24 hours so that will be on Monday morning and we said to the president of the company, while serving him, that despite the fact that we have served strike notice, we are still open to discussions between now and Monday morning,” Roget said.

He said the 96 hour window also gives the government enough time to open discussions with the union regarding a settlement of the 2014- 2017 bargaining period. “Unless the government, who claims to have the authority and who said Petrotrin does not have the authority to negotiate, unless they begin to talk with us the strike will go on,” he warned.

“So the ball is in the court of the government, in the court of the Finance Minister who in fact attacked the OWTU with those zeroes (in the offer to the OWTU).

And all members of the public who talking now (against the union), when government send up the price of gas and when they begin to bring hardship through austerity measures on everybody, then they will begin to understand the struggle we were putting in place this morning to prevent austerity measures against the people,” Roget said.

Meanwhile, the union together with Petrotrin executives are scheduled to meet with Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus at the Ministry’s head office in Port-of-Spain at 1.30 pm today.

Roget advised union members against listening to criticisms from the various business and energy chambers as well as “those bleeding hearts” in society. “I want to advise comrades not to listen to those critics, not to listen to those bleeding hearts in the media, not to listen to the business community, the Energy Chambers and the ECA…all they want is foreign exchange!” Roget also poured scorn on Petrotrin’s contingency measures saying neither the Army nor Police are trained to work in the high-risk energy industry.

“They have absolutely no contingency measures,” Roget said adding, “I don’t know anywhere in the training for police and for soldiers, they know how to start up and to run a cat cracker which is a very volatile piece of equipment.

The soldiers and police cannot do the job for which they are paid to do right now so I don’t know how they can do the job of oil workers.

That has to be some kind of magic (if soldiers and police do the oil workers’ job).”

The Government has a responsibility to the wider national community.” Reiterating that his administration did not offer a zero-zero-zero wage proposal to the OWTU, Rowley disclosed that this proposal was made by the former People’s Partnership (PP) government in 2011, “in a time of plenty” for the period 2011 to 2015. He reminded reporters this matter is currently before the Industrial Court. Rowley also said, “ I can tell you a one percent increase involves hundreds of millions of dollars.” He then disclosed that Petrotrin’s ability to pay any wage increase now will be a charge on the Exchequer because, “ currently, the company is basically…

at this particular time…a ward of the Ministry of Finance.” Rowley said he expected the” venerable and responsible OWTU” to do their duty to the people of TT and themselves, to help rectify this situation.

Expecting that “reason and common sense will prevail,” Rowley said, “As Prime Minister who wants the best for all our citizens and wants the best for our employees at Petrotrin…I think it would be irresponsible on the part of the Government to enter into that arrangement to offer and execute an increase on Petrotrin’s payroll for 2015 to 2017, not knowing what that percentage increase will apply to.” He said it is, “s more reasonable for us to conclude the period 2011 to 2015 and then we will know…

that becomes the base on which the period 2015 to 2017 can be concluded.” Should the OWTU strike from next Monday, Rowley said, “The Government is dutybound to be ready to respond and if it gets to that, we will respond appropriate to ensure that the public inconvenience is minimised or eliminated.” He recalled that while conditions existed on December 4, 2014 for the OWTU to strike or Petrotrin to initiate a lockout of its workers, neither scenario played out.

Rowley also announced that today, Finance Minister Colm Imbert will issue “a very firm and clear circular memorandum” to all State Enterprise managers and their boards about failure to submit their companies annual financial statements on time. He said all managers will be required to submit these statements to Imbert by March 31, whether they are audited or not. Rowley said failure to comply with this directive, “would have serious consequences for those who fail to comply.”

The Newsday Bingo promotion began on November 13.

Two Bingo cards were placed in the Sunday Newsday.

The Bingo numbers were published daily and once the players’ numbers matched the shape of the day they could win the daily prize of $500.

Players also had a chance to win the Blackout $2,500 weekly prize once their bingo card was completely covered. At the Grand Prize Draw, Pooran Gobin’s name was pulled from the barrel of entries making him the winner of the Suzuki Vitara.

Following is the full list of winners Daily Shape Winners: Winning $500 daily Innocent Harris – Chevron Shape Christon Ramdath – Crazy Kite Stephanie Payne – Small Corner X

Weekly Blackout Winners – Winning $2,500.00 weekly Wk 1: Uranus Mc Farlane Wk 2: Romatie Ramsaran Wk 3: Rebertha Ingrid James Wk 4: Jonathan Jagdeo Boodoo Wk 5: Roger Reis

Grand Prize Winner – Winning Suzuki Vitara Pooran Gobin

The PNM won all 12 seats in the 2013 THA Elections, held amid jibes of “pumpkin house” and “Calcutta ship”, rendering fruitless the then People Partnership (PP) Administration’s heavy campaigning for the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP). The TOP also lost its two parliamentary seats in 2015 and lost key activists and is now little heard of, as is Hochoy Charles’ Platform For Truth (PFT), another contender in 2013.

Now, Tobagonians can vote on a mix of Tobago issues (such as Sandals Hotel, airlift, sea-bridge, water-supply and construction) and national issues (chiefly crime and the economy). There are new and old faces, but not outgoing THA head, the avuncular Orville London, who ran the PNM-led THA for 16 years, nor Ashworth Jack whose TOP is offering no candidates. Even as Tobagonians mull a THA minus London, the question now is whether the PNM Island Council’s new head, Kelvin Charles, can inherit the commanding stature once held by London, a former school principal whose calm demeanour had endeared him to many who still highly respect him.

Former PNM MP for Tobago East and government minister, Eudine Job-Davis, has split from the party and now leads the MFT. The Public Services Association’s (PSA) charismatic yet controversial president, Watson Duke, a Tobago East candidate in 2015, leads the PDP which he is confident will win seven seats. The Tobago Forwards are led by former PP senator and justice minister, attorney Christlyn Moore, herself a former Tobago West candidate in 2015.

This election now comes after the recent Local Government Elections in Trinidad where the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) largely kept its support base won three years prior and in last year’s General Election. One surmises that the PNM enters this THA Election with several advantages.

These include an island’s pride in a son of the soil ascending to the country’s highest political office, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, as was the case for former PM and former President, the late Arthur NR Robinson.

Secondly and thirdly the PNM has an advantage of incumbency at both central Government and in the THA. While local polls – for Trinidad’s municipal corporations and Tobago’s THA – let voters protest against an incumbent party in central Government, the PNM recently felt no real voter- backlash in Trinidad, but for a low voter turnout that affected all parties across the board. However, Job-Davis – since leaving the PNM and launching the MFT – espoused that Tobago should be governed by an indigenous party with no links to Trinidad.

In a recent interview with Newsday she alleged arrogance and nepotism by the PNM in Tobago by saying extremely the isle had descended into “Hitler days” where one no longer knows whom one can trust to talk too. A similar allegation has been levelled by Duke, who has been sporting a jersey emblazoned, “Enough! Nepotism, Underdevelopment, Promises, Corruption”.

Duke has transferred his fiery charisma as trade unionist to the political arena, but himself still faces matters external to politics, even as his party could well make its mark. Christlyn Moore, touting a block of blue soap against the PNM, has vowed to “Wash dem away!” With the exit of London, whatever the results, the THA will get new leadership in an election of great significance for Tobago and for its relationship with Trinidad.

Take the case of Zika, the mosquito- borne disease that spread rapidly last year through Brazil and made its way around the region. Once the images of the small-headed (microcephaly), affected babies hit the newspaper front pages and TV news headlines in the USA there was a demand for something to be done to curb its spread. There is a rule when deciding the media news agenda. It dictates that the nearer to home, the higher up the agenda, regardless of the essential importance of the story.

That means 500 people dying in a tsunami on the other side of the world is less important news than a local bigwig being arrested for some reason. The faraway, heavyweight issue only rises to item one on the agenda if local people are affected or involved. And, the pictures matter.

Often, no picture means no story, or poor pictures could push an important news item down the agenda, which is one reason why radio remains such a ubiquitous and popular medium. It is also why Zika has overshadowed other diseases, with a vaccine soon to be ready.

I have a bee in my bonnet about the dreaded Chikungunya virus, which has left a trail of permanent disaster in over 60 countries and is far more debilitating than it is given credit for. I see from a WHO report that its prevalence has been declining, which is probably why no vaccine has been developed, but it is a fact that the countries that control the research purse were never sufficiently affected by the disease although we do know that Chik-V can cause eye, neurological and heart complications, as well as gastrointestinal complaints. Quite apart from the joint pain that can be acutely debilitating and also prolonged, in some older people it certainly can change the course of their lives by triggering chronic arthritic and other conditions that weaken them, even causing death. It does not help that symptoms of the infection may go unrecognized, or be misdiagnosed in areas where the even more deadly dengue occurs.

Dengue and malaria are very serious, far-reaching diseases but Zika has knocked them down the importance list, as a Google Trends analysis proves. Interest in Zika is out of proportion to its real impact argues the Break Dengue organisation. When, last February, the WHO declared Zika a public health emergency and the White House put$1.9billion behind Zika’s prevention, detection and response, it deterred money away from dengue and malaria research and treatment.

The figures are stark: Between 2006-2016 there have been 390 million estimated dengue cases globally, and 214 million malaria cases in 2015 alone, compared to 467,000 estimated Zika cases in the Americas between 2015-16. Yellow fever affects an estimated 200,000 people per year globally. According to Break Dengue, dengue, spread by the same mosquito that carries Zika and Chik-V, is the fastest-growing mosquito-borne viral infection in the world now, causing 22,000 deaths a year. Yet, it is still often undiagnosed.

I feel quite vulnerable when I see the effect of all these mosquitoborne diseases upon us here and the amount of public health resources they have absorbed, for little reward.

It i s a curious phenomenon that while human beings, certainly in this region, face fewer conventional predators, the tiny mosquito can take us down. We cannot afford to take our eyes off the ball for one moment.

Asked to elaborate on Khan’s surgery, Rowley said the minister was not hospitalised at this time. “He’s at home, he has been examined by local doctors and has serious heart challenges. He is due for surgery on Sunday.”

Reminded that Finance Minister Colm Imbert acted for Khan while the latter was in Thailand, Rowley said Imbert will continue to act as Energy Minister until Khan, “is able to relieve him.” Khan did not participate in the two-day Government retreat at the Diplomatic Centre which ended yesterday

When Newsday asked whether any consideration was given to Khan being unable to continue as Energy Minister following his surgery, the Prime Minister replied,” I’m an optimist. I am hoping and expecting that his surgery will go well and he will come back to his job after.”

Khan and his wife Laura returned home from Thailand last Thursday, “around noon.” 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 certain media reports which claimed Khan suffered a heart attack were incorrect. Young explained, “It is a complication to do with his heart and brought on by a viral infection. They found fluid in his lungs and they are treating that situation now.” 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.