And Leader of Government Business in the House, Camille Robinson-Regis also disputed Persad-Bissessar’s claim that all of the deliberations of a joint select committee (JSC) would be debated when the JSC submits its report to the House. She said only the final decision of the committee is discussed by the House when its report is laid in the House.

Responding to Persad-Bissessar’s reiteration that the Tax Information Exchange Agreement 2016 Bill was not the legislation drafted by her former People’s Partnership government, Imbert said, “I have spoken about this before when I first introduced the FATCA Bill in September. I made the point that the Bill was identical to the Bill drafted by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel under the previous Attorney General and Minister of Finance under the PP government.” He added, “This is one of the reasons why we (Government) are so taken aback at their behaviour.

The FATCA agreement I signed with the USA on behalf of TT in August is identical to the agreement they (PP) agreed to sign in 2013.” Imbert said the “FATCA Bill now before the Parliament is identical to the Bills that the former administration drafted in 2015.” On Tuesday last, Opposition Chief Whip David Lee said the UNC was holding to its position of sending the Bill to a JSC. On Persad-Bissessar’s claim that all of the deliberations of a JSC are made public when that JSC’s report is laid in Parliament, Robinson- Regis said, “On the contrary, a verbatim report is laid in the Parliament but only the recommendations of the committee are reported and may be debated.” She added, “So unlike a committee of the whole (House) where all the points are made in public and on camera, only the final decision of the committee is debated before the Parliament.” The Opposition blanked debate on the FATCA legislation on September 23, December 9 and Monday. During Monday’s sitting, in committee stage, Government made several amendments to the Bill. These included designating the Board of Inland Revenue as the competent authority to deal with the US Treasury and making the legislation specific to the 2016 inter-governmental agreement with the US and the 1989 US Tax Sharing Agreement.

The House next sits on January 6, to continue its deliberations on FATCA. Imbert previously said Government hoped to have the legislation passed by February.

The amended Bill indicates that once passed by Parliament, the Tax Information Exchange Agreements Act 2016 “comes into operation on such date as is fixed by the President by proclamation, which date shall be on or before March 31, 2017.”

This was the position advanced by party chairman David Lee ahead of meetings today between the Opposition, the Bankers Association and the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) legislation.

Both meetings take place at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Portof- Spain. The Opposition meets first with the Bankers Association at 10 am and then with the Chamber at 11.30 am.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar will not be present for either meeting since she is still in London, where she attended a conference last week.

Lee told Newsday that after meeting separately with both organisations, Opposition members will caucus on what transpired and then some of those members will be in the Senate from 1.30 pm for debate on the Finance Bill.

“We are hear to listen but we will not be bullied by any association,” he declared. Lee said it was very unfortunate that the Bankers Association declined an invitation to meet with the Opposition last Friday at 10 am on FATCA but chose instead to hold a news conferencde on the same issue.

He added that the Opposition wrote the Association last week indicating last Friday was an opportune time for them to meet. While Lee said the Opposition will facilitate both groups today and hear their views. However he was non-committal as to whether the Opposition would change its position of calling for the Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill 2016 to be referred to a joint select committee.

Last Friday, five of the country’s major business organisations called on Government and the Opposition to put aside political wrangling and pass the FATCA legislation. Bankers Association, Anya Schnoor, said that the association began discussing this issue with the previous government from 2012 to 2014 when the then government accepted the “Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) 1” option and entered into an “agreement in substance” with the US Treasury Service, a first step toward adoption of the legislation. In a letter dated December 15 to Persad-Bissessar, Schnoor said if the bill is made subject to existing laws such as the Data Protection Act and the Financial Institutions Act, as they relate to confidentiality, “the bill would be rendered ineffective.” Schnoor also told Persad-Bissessar that the Association does not consider the MOU between the competent authority ( Board of Inland Revenue) and the US Treasury should be subject to affirmative resolution of Parliament.

However, quick response by the Rio Claro police resulted in the arrest of a 19-year-old man and recovery of the stolen car.

According to reports at around 8.30 am on Saturday, Nanda Lall was at his Bristol Village, Mayaro home when he was accosted by two men who struck him on the head with a piece of wood and robbed him of his car. Lall regained consciousness a short while later and reported the matter to the Mayaro police.

An All Points Bulletin was issued and officers from the Rio Claro police station intercepted the vehicle which was being driven by a 19-yearold man of Bristol Village, Mayaro.

He was arrested and taken into custody.

A second suspect is also expected to be arrested shortly. Cpl Maharaj of the Mayaro Police is continuing enquiries.

Baptiste-Primus, on Thursday last, presented the members with their instruments of appointment and acknowledged the work of the previous committee at the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Port-of-Spain.

She told the 15-member committee she was heartened by the varied skills sets of its members, who will enhance its work, and was comforted by the fact that there was continuity in the committee.

The committee is chaired by Dr Hyacinth Guy, who chaired the previous committee.

The previous committee was responsible for the preparation of several, critically important documents, whose contents informed two of the ministry’s consultations held this year.

Commenting on the tripartite composition of the committee, she reiterated government’s commitment to ensure that all policy areas that fall under the remit of the committee are given the required attention. Some of these areas include, basic terms and conditions of work/employee rights legislation, and the establishment and administration on an unemployment insurance scheme or severance benefits fund or both.

Other areas include the definition of “trade dispute” under the IRAC, and the application/ implementation of freedom of association by the IRAC.

Speaking with Newsday, Lee said “time will tell” as to whether or not Al-Rawi is right on this issue. According to Lee, the party has obtained “some expert information” from eminent legal counsel which disputes the position advanced by Al-Rawi at a news conference in San Fernando on Saturday.

Lee declined to say what that information was or the attorney who provided the information.

Last week, Lee said Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar may seek legal advice on this issue in London, where she is attending a conference. He said Persad-Bissessar will return home early this week and when she does, there will be further dialogue within the UNC as to the way forward. Lee reiterated that the UNC maintains that what transpired last Thursday in Sangre Grande was “an act of thuggery” and the party is keeping its legal options open.

On Saturday, Al-Rawi said, ““I am not confident that the UNC will go to court on this issue because the law is pellucidly clear… I really do not think they have the guts to go to court on this. And if they do, then c’est la vie, (due process). That is what the courts are there for.

We will meet them on the floor of the courts and we will beat them again.” Al Rawi said that according to the Municipal Corporation Act and the Standing Orders of the SGRC, as amended post-2013, that a presiding officer has an original and casting vote. He explained, “The law is the outgoing mayor sits as mayor until a new mayor is elected.

The outgoing mayor lawfully attends to the first meeting and the first order of business is the appointment of a presiding officer.

Last Thursday, UNC councillors and aldermen walked out of the swearing in ceremony at the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation’s office in objection to corporation chairman Terry Rondon chairing the process instead of the corporation’s CEO. Following the November 28 Local Government Elections, the PNM and the UNC each won four seats and also each have two aldermen, resulting in a 6-6 tie in the corporation.

One of its founders, Dr David Toby told the guests the foundation began when a group of doctors began, ten years ago, speaking about the effects that crime and other social ills were having on TT and whether they could do something about it. Although none of them possessed, “degrees in social services,” the group decided to do work.

Toby noted that discussions around gender always seemed to focus on women and no one paid much attention to the men, “who also had problems.” The first project done by the group, he said, was “Daddy Please don’t go.” The project was done to try and get men to accept the children they had fathered.

“Some of them did not even know where the children where,” he said.

The group started having mentorships and also received funding.

“We realized we could start and organisation doing projects like that,” he said. Toby said the Ministry of National Security began giving the group projects to go where it could not go. Over the ten years the group has been in existence, Toby said, it has been successful in the areas.

But, he said, the group’s big project happening now, the Cradle to Career initiative, was developed and targets East Port-of-Spain which he added, “has serious problems there.” The group has partnered with a number of organisations to get the project going among them Medgar Evers College, US.

The US Embassy’s Public Affairs Officer, Stephen Weeks, speaking on behalf of US Ambassador John Estrada also addressed the audience.

He said the work being done by the foundation was close to his heart and the collective heart of the embassy. He said it was a project very close to Ambassador Estrada’s heart. He praised the foundation for its work, saying it had real impact on the community.

“What it does instead of having a series of discreet activities that a child might access or might not access during the time that they need it most. What the Cradle to Career initiative does is it merges them all into a continuity of services so that it is building toward something and it is centered in one environment,” Weeks said.

Weeks said there were a lot of programmes in the country and a lot of programmes in the area but some of the programmes were not always coordinated and goal-driven.

The foundation’s initiative gave a place for all of the services to become congruent. The guests who were asked to wear a touch of red or gold were treated to the sounds of Denyse Plummer, a parang band and other entertainment.

Plummer treated the guests to Christmas songs as well as donated proceeds from the sale of her book to the foundation.

My use of the word “return” is somewhat problematic here since the death penalty in itself has never left us and Trinidad and Tobago, according to Amnesty International, remains one of only 52 countries in the world, of which nine are Caribbean, that still permit the death penalty.

The fact that there has been no execution in TT since 1999, when within a six-week period ten people were hung — between June and July — is neither here nor there.

But what is the logic of such a call by a trained religious and pastoral leader? We are faced everyday with suicide bombers who quite obviously are not deterred by the fear or threat of their own death. Would capital punishment stop one such attack? Do young men and women who participate in or initiate brutal crimes fear losing their lives? If they did would they so openly wage war with each other and take part in activities that so often lead to gang violence and murder? Or are their lives simply not worth living anyway in their eyes? Young men from certain neglected districts in TT accept that their lives may in fact be quite short. They may even have a death wish. There is no respect for human life in this country, anyway, so what will death by hanging achieve? Of course one of the problems facing religious movements and churches worldwide at present is a growing conservatism, often masked by a veneer of righteousness and a call for moral justice.

But is this call for justice for victims simply another way of approving the inclination for revenge and retribution that is so much part of our Trinidadian culture? It goes something like this: if someone does something to you, “you go do for them.” But you won’t do it directly. There is a network made up of extended family and friends that is part of the very fabric of our institutions that will ensure retribution.

We see this system of networking within every part of our society — from banks to universities to government ministries and yes the police force. Vengeance is fuelled by well-oiled connections. It is one of the reasons why we have become a society that accepts all manner of unjust events at every level of society. There may be talk for a while, but no one actually does anything. The fear of retribution coupled with the need to protect one’s own is always there.

You do something to me and I will make sure that you suffer because I am well connected.

So why not go one step further and apply this logic of revenge and retribution to the justice system? But is this not one of the fundamental reasons in Trinidad why good men and women remain silent? What does it say of our society when the murder of a bright young woman opens the door for bigotry and inhuman treatment? Perhaps in this culture of impunity that we have created because of our network of affiliations, there needs to be a different and more thoughtful and analytical approach to crime rather than an emotional response to terrifying acts.

Before we begin meting out punishment on the basis of a vengeful God let us try and identify and change some of the chronically imbedded attitudes that generate and enable such acts of brutality.

For this Catholic priest who should know better, an eye for an eye and a life for a life is the cure for mounting senseless violence in this country. Should heinous crimes such as brutal rape be so punished? The logical response, if “retribution” must come “in a form of punishment to suit the crime”, I guess, should be, let us have castration. An eye for an eye.

Some might well agree.

In thinking about the very idea of an eye for an eye this Christmas I wonder about the Christian principle of salvation, which is why we celebrate Christmas in the first instance. Since Christians believe that every sinner has the possibility of repentance and salvation because Christ was born, what happens when this possibility is taken away? In Catholic terms, does the State then become responsible for a loss of a soul? And what of people who may have been convicted and later found to be innocent? What remedy and logic should we apply here? There are many sides to this matter of capital punishment.

For example, one of the problems surrounding the death penalty is that people who spend protracted periods of time on death row may argue that this in itself constitutes inhuman and degrading treatment.

“The death row phenomenon” evolved as a concept from a 1989 extradition hearing concerning German citizen Jens Soering. He fled to the UK and argued that if he returned to the United States where he was wanted for capital murder he would be exposed to lengthy periods between sentencing and execution. The European Court of Human Rights agreed that to allow his extradition in his particular circumstances would be in breach of his human rights.

Given the protracted time spent by individuals in the remand yard in Trinidad, for crimes they may or may not have committed, we could say that these inhuman conditions already exist.

Women are human too and as all humans, we are not born with rights. We are born with needs, and when those needs are not satisfied and we are hurting physically or emotionally, our right to have our needs satisfied emerges. Therefore, we must understand how needs become rights.

I have the need to breathe fresh air, and drink clean water, which will satisfy my need to live a healthy and self-fulfilling life. If my needs to breathe fresh air and drink clean water are denied me, I then have the right do all in my power to demand that the air that I breathe and the water that I drink are cleaned up.

Here are the basic needs of women.

Our basic needs are food, water, warmth and rest. We also have the basic need for safety and security; the need to be protected from harm or any threat of harm. This latter is also a basic need. If a woman cannot walk our streets with the confidence that there is no threat to her basic need for security, or safety, then she has every right to demand it. It is in the demanding to have basic needs satisfied that women are becoming angry and aggressive. Wait a minute! Don’t men have these needs too? Here are two other basic needs.

The needs that emerge after our physiological and safety and security needs are satisfied are love and belonging and esteem. We have the need for friends, family and relationships.

However, if we feel threatened and do not trust that our men mean us well, and they want to harm us instead of protect us, then we will not be genuine with our interactions with members of the opposite sex, and our one-on-one relationships will not succeed.

In my moving around this sacred space that is my beloved country, I observe many young women dressing like young men. They are in the baggy pants, oversized T-shirts, slippers dragging and walking with a swagger and bump that says “do not mess with me.” I did ask one very attractive young woman about her manner of dress and she was very frank with me, when she responded that she did not want to expose herself to the uncomfortable and disrespectful advances of those uncaring men.

I remember that Alicia Keys confessed that this was the reason she dressed how she did in her late teens and twenties. It is only now that she feels confident enough as she is getting older. She is now in a secure, fulfilling relationship. I hasten to add that she feels safe and protected enough now to express her femininity without feeling threatened.

We now have to teach our girl children how to negotiate the space that they inhabit with uncaring and selfish men, who only look at women as “a good piece of meat” to be devoured or “a good &%$#.” Here is another subject that must be included in our school curriculum.

Our boys must learn that as human beings we all need to be protected, to feel safe, to belong to a group of caring individuals and to feel good about ourselves and be creative.

These are basic.

If these basic needs are not met, they become rights and as women we have a right to demand that we be treated with respect. This country and the world that we inhabit are as much women’s as it is men’s.

When we are all fulfilled and are working together in an environment that is safe, full of respect for each other, only then we will feel good about who we are. Love will flourish.

Our country will then be filled with citizens who create beauty, produce order, and promote justice and who work to develop community and share their talents, with the understanding that “I am my brother’s keeper.” Get a life, men. It is no longer a man’s world. Deal with it. We have needs just like you have and if you are not working with us to ensure that our basic, emotional and self-fulfilling needs are not satisfied, then we have a right to demand it no matter what.

The levels of crime can be greatly decreased in a very short time.

As it stands today, the odds favour the criminals. Criminals can easily get firearms to commit crime while it is almost impossible for citizens, including policemen and soldiers who are daily exposed to criminals, to legally access firearms. Additionally, citizens cannot legally access non-lethal protective devises like pepper spray, mace or stun guns. Criminals know that despite being seen on video, such evidence can be challenged in the courts.

Criminals can easily generate fake vehicle identification as our vehicle identification plates are simply letters and numbers on a white or black surface.

A major contributor to crime is our outdated and inefficient justice system. Conflict resolution and justice favour the criminals who, after being arrested, are free on bail to continue their criminal activities for years before ever facing the courts. There is absolutely no fear of repercussions for breaking the law.

The following steps must be taken to reverse the levels of crime in TT : * Enact legislation to immediately reduce the number of cases before the courts. Cases over five years that have not been heard or are not likely to be heard ought to be either dismissed outright our entered in a plea-bargaining system. These cases can be sorted by levels of threat to communities.

* Immediately enact legislation that imposes a mandatory jail term of no less than five years for firearm offences.

This legislation should come into effect after a gun amnesty programme of two months where criminals can dump their illegal firearms into safe receptacles placed within the communities with impunity.

* Enact legislation for a gun court where all firearm offences are brought immediately and dispensed with as soon as possible.

* Allow for crime scene forensics to be sent abroad for evaluation and determination.

Upgrade and staff the forensics department to investigate crime scenes.

* Enact legislation to allow for a DNA bank and for appropriate DNA legislation to support criminal investigations similar to what exists in developed countries.

* Change the firearm laws to allow for a firearm board comprising civilian and police to determine whether an applicant should be issued a firearm permit.

* Immediately make available to citizens non-lethal self-defence mechanisms like pepper spray, mace and stun guns.

* Immediately have State-issued vehicle licence plates with security features for all vehicles.

There are many other initiatives that must be taken if one is serious about dealing with the crime situation. These include having structured police patrols, revising the local government structure to allow for effective community policing, legislation for allowing electronic surveillance to be accepted in court, and immediately embarking on a structured and well planned initiative to improve the relationship between the police and the civilian community.

Steve Alvarez via email

No longer can the police wait 24 hours to see if a missing person turns up, only to find, as in this case, the person has been murdered. Banfield’s mother, Esther Sherry Ann Lopez, had already passed the relevant information to the police and they lapsed.

If this crime is not solved, do we women become paranoid, afraid to go anywhere, even downtown? I am ashamed of the Police Service and of this country. My thoughts, prayers and tears are with the Banfield family. May they get justice in order to find peace.

DARLA MOORE Santa Cruz