He was former Tobago West MP, founder of the Tobago Community College, and an advocate for the creation of the Tobago House of Assembly in 1980.

Known for his strong views on Tobago’s identity, Murray was a member of the Democratic Action Congress (DAC) under the late Arthur N R Robinson, former President and Prime Minister. He studied Spanish and History at Howard University, and also attended the National University of Mexico and Georgetown University, and then taught at Morgan State and Washington Universities.

“Let us resolve to play our part in strengthening our Caribbean Community and to making regional unity a living, breathing experience,” Granger said in a message ahead of taking over from Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit from January 1. Granger, who will hold the position for the next six months, said that 2016 marked the mid-point of the Five-Year Strategic Plan which he described as “a foundational element in the Community’s Reform Process. “That process is geared towards ensuring that our people feel the impact of the integration movement in their daily lives. Integration is not merely about systems and institutions. It is mostly about people.

I was pleading with the girl at the window to help me when the supervisor came out from the back like a raging bull. I began to fear for my life. He rambled about how he has to be very exact in his recording of the drugs, yet when we present a prescription with a name brand it is being filled with a generic brand without question and without our permission. Drugs keep going missing which ends up in private practices and no one is being persecuted

People with no customer service skills should not be in authority at the hospital

When I came back with a new prescription to the San Fernando Pharmacy I was told there was none

I was afraid to ask the person at the window which facility had the drug so that I can go to that place

Every Health Minister in the past had to deal with lazy workers, uncooperative supervisors with no passion for good work

Common sense and compassion is lacking in all of the middle management at the hospitals

If records are done in the right way it will show which facility has the drug so that the patients can go to that facility and get their missing drugs. This is not being done and we are being told we have to ring and find out ourselves. I would like the supervisors and the girls at the window to try ringing the government pharmacies to see how hard it is to get them to talk

MOHAMMED HOSEIN Princes Town

2. That the Prime Minister and Cabinet close the southern including La Brea beaches, and stop all fishing in the Gulf of Paria, especially from Otaheite to Point Fortin, until the FFOS findings commissioned from internationally accredited laboratories are addressed.

These lab reports show incontrovertible evidence of dangerous levels of cancer causing toxins (Poly-cyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)) in the bottom dwelling species.

3. That Government protect our fisher communities by re-enacting the “once strike out” clause for the continued poaching by the shrimp trawlers on the protected spawning areas of the North Coast.

4. That with new scientific publications and evidence from specialist universities such as Duke University in the USA, that the professionals at the EMA recognise the long-term negative impact of seismic detonations with recurring deafening volumes are more than “just a way of taking a picture”, and should require careful data collection before, during and after the discharges, (via an Environmental Impact Assessment/ EIA).

5. That our Government halt all new or renewed quarry licenses until A) all outstanding Royalties for the legal quarries are paid in full to the treasury, B) a national assessment is undertaken of the impact of quarrying on our ecosystems and water aquifers; C) enforcement of all legislation regulating quarries; D)That our Government give all (illegal and legal) quarry operators 90 days to obtain quarry licences or be shut down; E) That Government review the rehabilitation bond in quarry licenses.

6. That our Government Review the Permit Fees for air and water pollution to include the cost of cleaning up the pollution.

7. That our Government Implement Principle 10 of Rio Declaration being the right of access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.

8. That our Government widen the jurisdiction of the Environmental Commission of Trinidad and Tobago to deal with ALL environmental matters.

9. That our Government legislate for the protection for whistle blowers reporting on environmental crimes and corruption within environmental agencies.

10. That our Government ensure full proclamation of the Planning and Facilitation of Development Act.

11. That our Government empower the annual or bi-annual preparation of a State of the Environment Report.

12. That our Government create tax incentives and subsidized loans for the establishment of waste recycling facilities/businesses.

13. That our Government pass the Beverages Containers Bill (with a suggested 20c refundable fee for each container) which will spawn the birth of hundreds of container recycling businesses employing tens of thousands of landfill scavengers.

FFOS continue to publicly offer all or any assistance to this Government in our shared journey for order, wealth creation, public health and sustainability.

TERRENCE BEDDOE, CECIL MC LEAN, GARY ABOUD FFOS

QRC is a government school and it is government’s oldest and most prestigious teaching institution.

It is therefore government’s responsibility not only to fund and manage QRC day-to-day, but to provide for its future growth and development in the near and longer term. I see the Education Minister as representing the State’s ownership of QRC; he should be a visionary formulating the grand education plans for this century. Principal David Simon is just an employee of the education ministry, reporting ultimately to Minister Garcia; yet the principal is being mandated to argue the QRC case to convince Garcia the owner, and the Cabinet ultimately.

My humble view is that Minister of Education Garcia must recommend to Cabinet that the State property on Alexandra Street be reserved for QRC’s future use. It seems inappropriate for the Ministry of Public Administration under Minister Cuffie to be challenged with evaluating this QRC claim, alongside other mundane land matters –including possibly waste disposal sites, box drains and rural community centres.

Any QRC matters requiring cabinet approval or endorsement is for the Education Minister to advocate directly with his Cabinet colleagues.

Michae l J Williams Maracas Valley Trinidad

The young people are into Soca and Chutney Soca. The steelpan and calypso, part of our musical history, is the great love of we “the oldies”. Panorama for the young is dressing up and showing off and walking the streets. They are as disinterested as worrying about tickets to attend the Sydney Opera House visiting TT. They will be more shocked if the government banned the sale of the most up-to-date cellphones. There are no steelbands playing in the fetes the youngsters attend. The name of the game is Soca.

If PanTrinbago and interested parties cannot account for the millions of tax-payers’ dollars given to them in 2016, what nonsense are they talking now? My opinion is that since this PNM administration came into office there is an orchestrated attempt to shame the government to urgently reward political loyalty.

Two thousand and ten to 2015 was a mirage, an obscenity in vainglorious spending of tax-payers’ money.

Threats to remove political support if your handout is not big or quick enough is a reflection of poverty of thought. Reward, political or other wise, comes at great cost and takes time.

The “we waiting to see how long we have to wait to see what we get from Rowley, if it was Kamla we done get something already” must cool down. The former administration spent themselves into a corner buying the hearts and minds of a disgusted electorate to no avail. The TT economy was allegedly left “running on fumes.” Realistically, with rock bottom oil and gas prices we have plenty more fumes to inhale.

So while we anxiously wait for “Rowley to get his act together” let us not cut off our own noses to the detriment of our own political faces. Do not ever forget what we went through beginning with the 8,000 plus PNM supporters heartlessly fired and replaced with Kamla supporters in 2010.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin

Mr Roget and his team should be grateful that the Petrotrin workers are still employed.

Thousands have lost their jobs during this year due to the economic downturn.

At least Roget, Petrotrin is weathering the storm that is plenty to be grateful for. Instead of complaining and just seeing your little niche, what the country needs from you as a leader is the support in this time of challenges. We do not need scare tactics and pressing the panic button in order to get your way.

What is even more ridiculous is a request of an 18 percent increase, are we for real or is it that OWTU knows something that no one else is aware off. I say again Mr Roget, please consider citizens and country before you act and encourage people down this path which will not be beneficial for any of us.

ARNOLD GOPEESINGH San Juan

What more, in heaven’s name, will it take for the Government to listen and now totally ban fireworks and scratch bombs in TT? I wonder how Communications Minister Maxi Cuffie feels, now that a citizen has died.

He was adamant that moral suasion was a partial solution. Maybe, it would not matter to him and the government because it was not one of their family members who died or are homeless.

I wonder, as well, how many government ministers and opposition parliamentarians were busy setting off fireworks and scratch bombs on Old Years Eve.

I wonder if the Government is going to come back with one set of “blah”,”blah”,”blah” talk again. I wonder if the Attorney General is going to man up and amend the legislation governing scratch bombs and fireworks.

By the way, my heart was in my mouth on Old Year’s Eve when I saw fire lanterns in the sky. Those things are an uncontrollable fire hazard.

But, who cares?

LINUS F DIDIER

“By the close of this year, 48 countries and territories in the Americas had reported more than 532,000 suspected cases of Zika, including 175,063 confirmed cases. In addition, 22 countries and territories reported 2,439 cases of congenital syndrome associated with Zika. Five countries had reported sexually transmitted Zika cases,” PAHO said.

It said Zika, the first mosquito-borne flavivirus found to be also sexually transmissible and to cause birth defects, spread quickly, noting that before 2015, little was known about Zika apart from reports of earlier small outbreaks in Micronesia and French Polynesia.

“But the outbreak in Brazil’s northeast drew global notice and apprehension as graphic images of newborns with microcephaly, or smaller than normal heads, appeared widely.

PAHO’s Dominica- born Director Carissa F. Etienne recounting Zika’s sudden appearance in Brazil in May 2015 and its rapid spread throughout the Americas, noting, “no one could have imagined two years ago that our children would be affected by microcephaly as a result of this once-dormant villain.

“There is a still long way to go on Zika. The development of affordable new tools by the scientific community, including diagnostic tests and a vaccine against Zika, as well as innovation in vector control, is an urgent priority. Our health systems will need to be prepared to ensure such new tools are introduced and that their benefits reach everyone, not merely a few,” she added.

She said in the Americas, “Zika was first confirmed while we were preparing for Ebola and responding to chikungunya.

“It was astute frontline healthcare workers who first realized that they were detecting something unusual. Indeed, our Zika experience proves once again that good clinical judgment and awareness of atypical events are crucial for the timely detection of emerging diseases. It also points to the importance of investing in the health workforce as the first line of defense against emerging disease threats,” she added.

Zika virus disease is caused by a virus that is mainly transmitted by infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes but also through sexual intercourse. People infected by Zika virus usually have mild symptoms that normally last for two to seven days and can include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headaches.

There is no specific treatment or vaccine currently available. The virus is now known to circulate in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

PAHO said when clusters of babies with microcephaly and cases of Guillain-Barr? syndrome were reported at the same time and place as Zika virus outbreaks, it published a series of alerts starting in December 2015.

Zika spread rapidly not only through the Americas but also to other regions. In all, 75 countries and territories now report evidence of mosquito- borne Zika local transmission since 2007, 12 countries have evidence of person- to-person transmission of Zika virus other than through mosquitoes, and 28 countries have reported microcephaly and other malformations.

Experts now consider Zika to be a longterm public health challenge, following the declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Emergency Committee on Zika that the epidemic’s emergency phase was over.

Coordination and response activities by PAHO and WHO are being folded into longer- term efforts in detection, prevention, care and support. Further research is underway to strengthen preparedness and response in affected countries.

For Carnival 2017, James has a name change and is offering two songs for Carnival 2017.

In an interview with Newsday, James said of the name change, “At that time I was only about 23 and I was one of the youngest soca artistes out. I said you know I have a voice for soca and I young. So I said Young Voice and people liked it.” The Brooklyn, New York soca artiste said he wanted to sing soca as his family was from TT. “My entire family is from Trinidad. That is the reason calypso stood out to me, the soca, the pan, the iron, the drums and every thing like that.” He recalled immediately coming off of the plane from a visit to TT in 2009 and wanting to sing soca.

The time came, the 31-year-old artiste said, for a name change as, “a lot of people have been seeing my growth as an artiste from 2009 to now and they have been saying when you’re got to get rid of that young. You’re not young again.” He could not go with “Voice”, as it was already taken. But he decided on “One Voice” since he holds the view, “that soca from all Caribbean Islands should grow as one. I see soca as basically one , no one matter which island you come from.” James believes that soca’s evolution and growth is hinged on viewing the soca of Barbados, St Vincent and all other islands as one.

For 2017, James has released two songs; one entitled “Dutty Behavior”. “It speaks to J’Ouvert.

The mud, the oil, jumping up, the paint…just clothes or you will get paint or mud.” The song was released in August this year and according to James, did well at New York’s Labour Day festival, as well as Miami and London Carnivals.

The song, he added, has also been getting heavy rotation on local airwaves.

It was produced by a New York producer called Wildfire and Sherron Lewis on the Breaking Dawn rhythm.

He has also released “Up De Road”- telling of the experience Carnival Monday and Tuesday ‘behind the truck.’ “There is no stopping no matter how tired you are. Non-stop. Carnival is only once a year,” James said when telling of what the song speaks to. It was produced, by Bortherz, a New York production team seeking to enter the soca market. James has made it to the Soca Monarch semi-finals twice, the first being with his first soca attempt called “Jumper Cable” and in 2014 with “Bass”. This is something he hopes to replicate in 2017 and to even make it to this year’s finals.

While he hopes to do well in TT, the growth of Carnivals across the US is also helping artistes like himself.

“There has been a big growth of soca and Carnival in the US with smaller states starting to throw their own little Carnivals.

“Little states that never had a Carnival or knew what a Carnival was are now having their own.

Washington DC has a Carnival and Philadelphia has a Carnival. You would go there and it would be one truck on the road. You would see people coming out in numbers to be with that one truck.” He said it creates business for soca artistes in the US. “The more states that have Carnival , that means bookings for us. It is easier instead of having to book an artiste all the way from the Caribbean, it is easier to get to us,” he said.

James intends to be in a lot of fetes and Carnival competitions for Carnival 2017.