The money, donated by Stag Beer, was collected during its November Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign, “Stagbeerd”.

Stag, in a statement to the media yesterday said, “We see it as our duty as ‘A Man’s Beer’ to make sure our consumers understand and appreciate the importance of leading a full life. So, as much as we want them to enjoy cracking open a Stag with friends, we hope to inspire them to get regular health check-ups to ensure the good times don’t come to a stop because of something preventable,” said Stag Brand Manager, Shehann Caruth. Over 2,400 people participated in the event and sent in selfies and videos of their “Stagbeerds”. $50,000 of the $52,400 was donated upfront by Stag.

In a lawsuit filed in the Civil Registry of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago, COSL Office Supplies Limited, is seeking to recover payment owed to it for the outfitting of the building, which now houses the Ministry of Public Utilities. Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan, Richard Jagai, Varun Debideen and Joel Gobin are COSL’s attorneys in the multi-million dollar claim.

According the lawsuit, COSL was awarded the contract by PSAEL in May 2012, and completed the job in December 2014, when the building was handed over to PSAEL. The contract was for the customisation and outfitting of office space at One Alexandra Place to accommodate the Ministry of Local Government. The contract sum was listed at $50.5 million in the lawsuit. The lawsuit stated that COSL submitted invoices for work done but has, to date, not been paid by PSAEL.

It went on to add that in August 2015, PSAEL acknowledged it owed $28.8 million but COSL said after extensively reviewing its records, it issued a statement of outstanding invoices for the $34.5 million it is seeking in the high court action which the company says is the true sum for which PSAEL is indebted.

It is also seeking $18.8 million in interest and an additional $22,000 a day from October 15.

The lawsuit contends that COSL’s managing director Andy Balgobin has attempted on numerous occasions to receive payment but is yet to receive any or part of the outstanding sums owed to his company. A pre-action protocol letter was sent to PSAEL on May 5, 2016, and an extension of time to respond to was requested but PSAEL is yet to respond to its claim for payment. The lawsuit was filed in the San Fernando Civil Court Registry on November 24.

During the recently concluded Local Government election campaign, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the real reason the People’s Partnership Government never used the building at One Alexandra Place was because they were more concerned with making sure that their friends and family were awarded the contract for retrofitting the building.

He said the Ministry of Public Utilities had already moved into the building and the rest of the ministry was in the process of moving with the ministry being the anchor tenant of a three-year lease from September 1, 2016 going forward.

As he thanked the electorate in Trinidad for participating in Monday’s Local Government Elections and expressing the Government’s satisfaction with the way the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) oversaw that exercise, Rowley said, “The THA (Tobago House of Assembly) has been dissolved on the advice of the Chief Secretary (Orville London) to the President (Anthony Carmona).” Rowley explained,.” That was done in October. That dissolution requires by law that an election be held within 90 days.” The Prime Minister said the 90th day is in the first week in February and London has advised President Carmona as to what date he would like the THA elections to be held. However the Prime Minister said, “It is President who will make that call after the relevant consultations and more importantly the EBC’s report which has been available.” Rowley explained that the EBC’s report on the boundaries for the 12 electoral districts in Tobago (currently all held by the PNM) has been laid in Parliament.

He said Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives Camille Robinson-Regis, has advised that the House will sit next Wednesday to approve the report.

Rowley said once the report is approved, the President will be, “in a position to call the election date for the THA.”

We try to emulate almost everything foreign except the work ethics. “Gimme, gimme” is the mantra of many. Who or what brought us to this sad state? Once again the tribes have maintained the status quo.

Imagine two brass-faced individuals claiming victory in the startling reality of defeat.

They saw only the trees and not the forest. Not surprising, for they must have had skins thicker than a rhinoceros’ and were strangers to the dire truth.

The message was clear — the electorate was disappointed, discontented and depressed. It mattered not who gained control, six of one half a dozen of the other, same ole, same ole.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is very rough at the edges. He comes across as quarrelsome.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has lost whatever appeal she had. She seems to think that managing a government is similar to running a house.

We need new blood, not a transfusion but a purging of the old brigade, the emergence of young people in the body politics.

A lengthy period in one particular position makes one comfortable, bereft of new ideas and eventually fossilised.

We as a people must also recognise that it cannot be business as usual. The economics of the world has changed and we must move with the times.

Unions must play their significant part also. A paradigm shift is necessary and that must start with us.

SAHADEO RAGOONANAN via email

But this evergreen vista holds a secret. It has been aptly described as the second “botanic gardens” of TT. It was John Cyril Augustus, then curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Port-of-Spain who journeyed to the south to manage Palmiste Estate and created Palmiste Park.

I recently came across a speech by Sir Norman Lamont in his book Problems in Trinidad, published in1933. As the owner of Palmiste Estate, he acknowledged the assistance of Mr and Mrs Augustus and his hard working gardener Persaddi in developing the garden.

Today, the south “botanic gardens” waits to be rediscovered. It needs to be cared and curated.

While we are all aware of the Botanic Gardens in Port-of-Spain, there is a poignant and forgotten fact that south Trinidad has its own veritable botanical arrangement.

For those who have not ventured south, the area is picturesque with grand old trees with tortuous rooted trees and nearby evergreen foliage, amid landscaped open patches of green. It gives a refreshing and even therapeutic relief to many who venture for exercise, picnic or afternoon stroll.

The area boasts trees from faraway countries. There is even a pistachio tree standing proudly, unnoticed at the side of the roadway that traverses a section of the park.

Old identification signs, now faded, tell the story of the botanical name and fame of the large imposing trees like “the devil’s ear” that overshadow mortals as we walk beneath its spreading branches along the shaded path.

Squirrels scamper from tree to tree and lizards play in the afternoon sun in a community teeming with life.

Then there’s the old giant silk cotton tree that still harbours the secrets of incantations, written on bits of paper and small dolls, hidden between its large buttress roots.

And of course there’s the collection of proud Palmiste palms.

Many fell away in time but, like life, young eager trees are rising to take the place of the old and restore the sentinel that could be seen for many miles around.

Palmiste National Park is a revealing place; it speaks of our love for God and country. Yet, it remains our unheralded second major effort to prepare another botanic gardens in TT .

But while we commend the work of the respective groups that maintain its grounds, we must do more than just cut the grass. There must be new signs on the trees for children to appreciate the arboriculture and floriculture, we need to see the hibiscus and our national flowers bloom again, to be a living agriculture lesson for our youth.

Sadly, though, there are those among us who seem intent on spoiling the picture of pristine beauty by littering and driving indiscriminately over the greens, while a few nearby residents encroach with impunity into its legal boundaries.

It’s time to upgrade this heritage of the south, this lasting tribute to people who came before us. We have to honour the heritage of this noble place and the work of those who have made this place an indelible part of the mosaic of life for the people in the south.

Let us hail our heritage and appreciate the beauty of the “botanic gardens” of the south at Palmiste National Park.

TERRENCE HONORE Palmiste

Well, with a leading gas supplier apparently abandoning a sinking ship and passing their smell of either the worsening lawlessness and crime or the depletion of our gas resources to another prospective company, I think the writing was on the wall when the Prime Minister stated recently our gas supplies were in a serious state and that he was going to Venezuela to sign another gas supply agreement.

Not only that, I see even a policewoman has been raped at gunpoint. The irony of it all is that even this Special Reserve Police officer was unaware that this could happen here, which is now a haven for criminals.

The situation is worsening day by day and so far no one has any positive solution to our growing damaging predicaments. I am eager and at the same time fearful of what to expect tomorrow.

GA MARQUES via email

The money represented the partial payment from a lawsuit for slander which Elias won against soca artiste, Iwer George, owner of the radio station 99.1 and talk show host Barrington “Skippy” Thomas.

The lawsuit arose out of statements made by Thomas on the radio station in the lead-up to the general elections in 2010. Elias said he received the money, which was only Iwer George’s part of the judgement, about six weeks ago but had been taking time to select the groups which would receive donations. He said the groups all got about the same amount with some getting as much as $80,000. However, he said he is still owed about $71,000 from Thomas.

Elias said Thomas will appear in court on December 8 to have his assets assessed, a determination made about his capacity to pay and a schedule for payment set out.

Elias said that money will also be donated to charity.

His daughter, Charlotte, said the company had a motto, “Do Right and Prosper” and it was guided by this in its growth and development and in the selection of the groups to receive the donations.

Elias said the organisations chosen were doing “extremely vital” work in Trinidad and Tobago.

The contractor said that after the lawsuit was filed Thomas stopped working for 99.1 and moved to 102FM where, he claimed, Thomas repeated the slander in the approach to the 2015 general election “and multiplied it tenfold.” Elias said he has also sued 102FM.

“If you multiply a slander tenfold, well, its possible that the NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) community will be enjoying a rather large pay day in the not too distant future,” Elias said.

He claims that in the lead-up to the Local Government election, there was an “unbelievable slander” against him by Opposition MP Dr Roodial Moonilal while speaking on a platform.

This alleged slander, he said, was repeated “verbatim” by the Sunday Express. He said he intends to sue Moonilal and the newspaper as well as Synergy TV and Jaagriti Radio which, he said, also carried the broadcast live.

Cheques were distributed to the Family Planning Association; Mamatoto Birthing Centre; Vitas House Hospice; the Social Outreach Committee of the All Saints Anglican Church; Women in Action for the Needy and Destitute (WAND); Servol; the Lady Hochoy Home, South; the Environmental Research Institute in Charlotteville; the Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre; birdsong Academy and the Anglican Church for the restoration of Hayes Court, one of the Magnificent Seven buildings around the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Awards were also presented to Dr James Armstrong of the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry; the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute and the Movement Mechanics Athletic Club.

Ali said Industrial Court appointments should not always be left to be made by the political directorate and the influence of trade unions.

Ali also said that “Contract labour has all but been abolished in Trinidad and Tobago because of decisions of the Industrial Court.

He said that in the case of a contract employee, if his contract expires and the employer renews that contract then the contract worker automatically becomes an employee of the company.

Ali added that he does not foresee any reform of the Industrial Act because of “judicial activism,” adding that the impact of Industrial Court judgements on business is not good.

During the question and answer session, businessman Frank Mouttet said the level of productivity in this country is shameful and blamed the Industrial Court for this situation.

He said he would advise Sandals not to bring its proposed resort to this country because “you can’t fire anybody.” He said he had employees “lined up to be fired” for various reasons but was worried that he might be found to have dismissed the workers wrongfully and the minimum fine imposed by the Industrial Court for wrongful dismissal is $75,000.

He charged that the Industrial Court is harsh and oppressive in its judgements against employers, suggesting, to much laughter from the audience, that the judges of the court must have been brought up in Siberia under Joseph Stalin. “When will this madness stop?” he asked. “The country is going down the tubes!” He said, again to much laughter, that “there is no ‘tripartite’ there is ‘onepartite.’ Asked to respond to Mouttet’s charges, Industrial Court judge, Patrick Rabathaly, who earlier delivered a feature address setting out the reasons for the existence of the court and reviewing some major past judgements, said employers can dismiss workers but, if they do so, they must have the evidence to support their decision. He said if they are brave enough to fire a worker then they must have the evidence to come to the Industrial Court and defend their action.

Ali said, “We can do our best to reduce disputes but we will never eliminate disputes because capital and labour will always be in conflict.” He said the trade union movement’s ability to get access to the Industrial Court and get large settlements is a business and the trade union movement is highly organised. He said they discuss ways of improving the terms and conditions of their members and have conferences locally where union federations comprising several unions meet to share ideas and have further discussion.

He added that after this they attend international conferences and absorb “first world” ideas on worker compensation and benefits and then come back home and put them into effect.

He said “business is nowhere near as organised as the trade union movement” and added that employers needed to develop something that would allow them to meet the trade unions across the table on an equal footing.

Rabathaly said that the decisions of the Industrial Court have been recognised by superior courts as being sound and both sides won and lost at the court in equal measure, “so I don’t know where harsh and oppressive comes in, really.” He added that the judgements of the court do not bear out any accusation that the court is anti-business. He said the trade unions make the same accusation as well, that the court is anti-union.

“If I were to ask anyone in this auditorium to put up your finger,” said Deyalsingh speaking at the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Dinner and Awards Ceremony on Wednesday night, “if you are diabetic, suffer from hypertension, suffer from high cholesterol, have some form of cancer, or have an immediate relative like a spouse, a mother or father (who is afflicted with some ailment), all your hands would go up. Correct? Every single hand in this auditorium will go up, including mine.” Deyalsingh said bad eating habits, displayed in the audience’s choice to indulge in the wide array of deserts offered at the dinner, is bad in itself, but also bad for the businesses represented in the audience.

“All people who own businesses, how many times do we have an employee who would call in sick because they have to take their mother or their father to the doctor or to a clinic? it is estimated that the cost to this country for non communicable diseases (NCD’s) is about $6 billion per year.” The figure, he said, includes direct medical costs, indirect medical costs and productivity lost due to employee illness.

Calling on the business community to champion health in business, Deyalsingh announced Government’s creation of a US $51 million national plan for tackling NCD’s, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.

He said that the plan was the result of a 2007 pledge made at a Caricom Heads of Government meeting which, he said, laid dormant since then due to lack of political will.

The nation’s low productivity was further highlighted by Agriculture Minister, Clarence Rambharat.

“Even though this country has effectively invested billions in educating our population, we have not seen that being transferred into productivity in the workplace,” Rambharat said.

He then turned his attention to his portfolio, saying that the responsibility to reduce the food import bill is not only the Government’s, but the citizens’.

“Every time the population talks to me about the food import bill, I always go back to placing the individual responsibility on them. it is important that as a country we wean ourselves off unhealthy and unsustainable food imports. It is vital that we do that, not only because of the high food import bill but, because of the cost to us as a healthy nation.” He then stated his commitment to encouraging agriculture, saying that Government intends to enforce the covenants made with persons who purchased Caroni 1975 Ltd lands which restricted its use to agriculture, as some have since converted its use to the detriment of the agriculture industry.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2016, observed yesterday, was “Take the Challenge: End AIDS.” This involves strengthening the response for HIV and taking innovative steps so that the region can reach the global goals and end the epidemic by 2030, Hospedales said. To end HIV transmission, he said, the focus should be on HIV combination prevention, early detection and access to antiretroviral treatment.

“To end AIDS as a public health threat,” he said, “our combined efforts are important.

It is therefore critical for us to have a multi-sectoral approach involving community participation.” The community, he said, “must play its role in advocacy, the fight against stigma and discrimination, and support those affected and prevent others from being infected. By strengthening community participation and working together we can end this epidemic.” He said that, “HIV/AIDS is not just a serious health issue in the Caribbean, it also impacts negatively on the economy and our social life. Let us all take the challenge to end AIDS.” A CARPHA release said that many of the obstacles that have impeded effective HIV prevention and treatment still exist today.

The Caribbean is still has the second highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world, after Sub-Sahara Africa. One in three persons with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean do not know that they have it which can only result in its further spread, and undermine measures that have been put in place to end the epidemic.

It was important CARPHA said, that everyone should know their HIV status and ensure it is managed properly to prevent the spread of new infections.

Factors that can decrease someone’s chance of getting or transmitting HIV include HIV testing, HIV drugs for persons at high risk for HIV infection, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and the use of female and male condoms.

For persons infected with HIV, an important measure to prevent transmission to others, is to stay on treatment, the release said.