However, Minister of Housing and Urban Development Randall Mitchell told Newsday that Ramdeen was “trying to confuse the population about an expression of interest that was sent out by the HDC via public advertisement inviting interests from entities across Trinidad and Tobago to be a part of the HDC’s PPP housing initiative.” The UNC has not brought any idea with respect to its local government intentions, he said, “and this is just a distraction from our reform initiative.” At a press conference held yesterday at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of- Spain, Ramdeen claimed there was collusion between HDC Land Coordinator Deborah Cheesman and director of Media 21 Limited, John Afoon on “expressions of interest” in the $8 billion PPP HDC housing project. Within 24 hours of yesterday’s press conference, he said, he was taking purported documents and e-mails exchanged between Cheesman and Afoon, to the Commissioner of Police, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Integrity Commission.

Ramdeem shared copies of the documents with the media. Mitchell said he had not seen them but, he said, “As part of a responsible government with interest in transparency and accountability in governance affairs, if there was anything untoward in any document, I would investigate.” Claiming that Cheesman’s employment should be terminated forthwith, Ramdeen said that she needs to explain whether or not the e-mails shared were hers or not and whether the documents were authentic or not. Asked whether the documents were public documents, he said, they would be made public now.

Cheeesman’s curriculum vitae, he said, implicated her as she described herself in the introduction as having “Excellent contacts within the Government and good working relationship with the business community.” Ramdeen said that Cheesman’s substantive post as land coordinator, attracted a salary of $23,000 but since the PNM took office, the board approved an enhanced salary of $51,000 a month along with an SUV and a driver.

Mitchell and HDC Chairman Newman George, he said, need to come forward and explain to people of TT how someone sitting to evaluate the bids in this project was sending emails to a bidder and the bidder comes out at number one.

Calling on the Prime Minister to scrap the PPP project – which was meant to jumpstart the economy – before it becomes a feeding trough, he said, the project represents a tainted evaluation bid process by the HDC.

On Cheesman and Media 21, Mitchell said that Media 21 and Deborah Cheesman were not a part of the tenders evaluation committee for the only HDC’s PPP project, the Mount Hope Mahogany Court project, that is now on stream.

The Fyzabad man was a passenger in the PH car at about 7.30 pm when he asked the driver to stop at Apollo Pharmacy located on High Street in Princes Town to allow him to purchase an item. He told the driver and other passengers to wait for him as he would not be long.

Unknowing to the driver and passenger, the 34-year-old man went into the pharmacy and announced a hold-up using a caps gun. The frightened pharmacist handed over a quantity of cash and the thief ran back to the waiting car which then drove off, unaware of what had transpired. A report was made to the Princes Town police and a party of officers which included PC’S Ramkissoon, Ali and Mitchell responded. The getaway car (PH car) was spotted near the police station and as the lawmen tried to intercept it, the suspect jumped out of the vehicle and ran off.

The officers exited their vehicle and arrested him a short distance away. A search was carried out and a quantity of cash and a caps gun were found on the suspect.

He was taken into custody and is expected to appear in the Princes Town magistrate’s court once charges are laid.

The PH driver was interviewed and his story corroborated by the other passengers, and he was released.

Police say the suspect served several prison terms in the past for robberies and narcotics possession.

I refer to domestic violence murders. Then there are those which occur because of family disputes over property and land.

Equally preventable are the murders that happen because a relative has a mental condition that is not being adequately monitored.

This person could just erupt and kill everyone in the family home.

Relatives, friends and neighbours can see the problems brewing for many years but say and do nothing.

Fast forward to an actual murder and it is a mad scramble to attend the funeral. The main topic at the wake is, “Man, is years I could see this murder happening. It was only a matter of time before they kill one another.” Murder has become a spectator sport.

Then we move on to the other preventable but murky area of police shootings.

How many police are trained to shoot but seem incapable of hitting the suspect in only an arm or a leg? There is more angst for the poor policeman than for the relatives of the deceased because he/she must have been a dangerous criminal.

According to the Police Service Social and Welfare Association, it is not usually the fault of the poor overworked and underpaid policemen and women.

I now change channels when I see association officials being interviewed.

Until they can step up on results that show a reasonable detect-and-solve rate I do not particularly want to hear them.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin

These two friends got pregnant around the same time as the Zika virus scare of microcephaly erupted in Trinidad and are the happy living testimonies that positive support, informed actions and resilience can overcome fear any day.

In light of the recent newspaper articles related to the Zika virus — which many people have long forgotten, due to the reality that the statistics (except in Brazil, which has pointed to insecticides playing a major role) related to the possibility of young babies developing microcephaly from mothers with Zika is quite negligible — I was at a loss as to what could be the reason for this renewed interest.

It did make me breathe a sigh of relief, however, that our Government did not act in haste to legalise abortion as a solution, as I am sure many of us would have been so saddened to think of the tragedy of the grief and regret of the women who would have made that choice out of fear, and the innocent, perfectly normal babies who would not have been given a chance to live.

These two young friends had the support of each other, they took the necessary precautions to protect their skins as much as possible, and, most importantly, they did not buy into the fear factor.

I hope all of us can learn from their example.

As women, we need to learn to support each other in making the right choices, to use discernment, not emotions, to identify what in fact these right choices are, and to have the courage and will power to act on them.

TONIA GOODING via email

Precious exhibit trees are permanently scarred by this vainglorious atrocity. Where the wire has been nailed – yes nailed – into the trunk, the tree has grown around it, permanently embedding the large wire into the trunks several times a tree.

Managers/curators of the Botanic Garden, go and look at what this “prettiness” is doing to our tress. Friends of the Gardens, stop this.

Drape lights maybe, but do not wrap the limbs and trunks of the trees.

PETER O’CONNOR Cascade

However, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) was not on the list.

To the best of my recollection I was told that CAL does not fly into Orlando every week. I think that is something the airline should look into and have corrected.

GERARD DUVAL Petit Valley

I feel sorry for fans who pay to experience such pain at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

If I were Football Association president David John William I would accept Hart’s walking papers. This would allow me the opportunity to bring in two different talents.

I would ask coach Russell Latapy to hold the reins. Latapy has the knack for spotting dynamic talent which, I think, abounds in the B-Mobile National Super League. I would also ask Everard “Gally” Cummings to join the crew as technical director. This is the change national football needs. These two men working in tandem.

They are experienced men, they can be the change.

We cannot continue to relive this insanity of doing the same things and expecting a different result in World Cup games.

We even look jokey in warm-up games.

Hart is like a typical politician, offering hope in the face of the stark reality that the team is delivering a matter associated with WASA. It is the goodly gentleman who picks the team, so he is responsible.

He is being paid to deliver results.

Football is not played in the past tense, but is all about results in the present.

For the length of time Hart has been coach, the team should be performing at a higher level, and more cohesively.

Our defence is porous like our borders and making our goalkeepers look bad.

Passes are sprayed senselessly by players, making you wonder if they are brain dead.

You also wonder why they are there. Forwards won’t pull the trigger in the box, making you believe they are gun shy. It is pure torture. So after all the national hype, and hours of practice, our footballers have delivered nothing worthy of praise in the last two qualifiers against Honduras and Costa Rica. When a player is cheered off the field, he must take stock. Captain Kenwyne Jones, who I think has reached his expiry date, is much like Captain Smith of the Titanic, standing on the bridge wondering what hit him, or what he hit.

I always feel the national team of 1972, the Strike Squad and the 2006 World Cup teams will beat the current team like a bobolee. Time for a real shake-up.

KEITH ANDERSON via e-mail

Funnily enough, just before the local government election.

This I can assure is not the only story we will hear about wasting of public money by our politicians who apparently are living luxurious lives at the expense of ordinary citizens.

As soon as the PNM loses an election and the incoming political party starts to audit the books, we would know what is going on with respect to public funds by those now in the corridors of power.

You see, they are all at it, that is why we as a young nation, despite our wealth, is laden with political and racial division, poverty and a continuous galloping crime rate and a police force that acts as protector for those of status and wealth.

Politicians, their families, and their rich associates have classified themselves as the untouchables and escape the drawbacks and hard times of our nation by having easy access to the profits from our gas and oil resources via the Treasury. Where on Earth do you think the previous government got the money to lavish on a roti banquet? It’s just unlucky for them that this squandering of public money is being brought to light. It smells a bit fishy and looks to me like part and parcel of the corrupt practices that exist here.

GA MARQUES via email

In a media statement yesterday, the Chamber expressed concern with the “current state of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago and the ongoing demise of a number of business organisations over the past year.” “As the national economy has continued to contract, businesses have been forced to adopt various strategies in order to cut costs, manage cash flow, and realign their operations in order to stay afloat.

Under these present economic conditions revenue streams have become thinner and profits are declining,” the Chamber stated, though pointing out that the banking sector seemed to “continue to grow large profits.” “The Chaguanas Chamber is concerned that the existing gap between the deposit rate and lending rate is far too wide.

As a result, research showed that the interest rate spreads among the commercial banks and perhaps other similar financial institutions are among the largest in countries that have open economies.

We urge the banks to reflect and do something about this urgently.” The Chamber also urged banks to revise their service charges which it said can be deemed “ridiculous and exploitative” and cited persons being charged fees for encashing cheques in banks where they did not have any accounts.

“The fact that there have been no decreases in prime lending and overdraft rates could reflect a lack of interest by the banks in adapting like other business organisations, and share in the burden of adjustment within this very challenging economic environment,” the Chamber added.

The Chamber also noted that commercial banks tend to increase their lending rates whenever the Central Bank raised the repo rate adding there was “some potential for this repo rate to increase further in the coming year due to anticipated actions of the United States Federal Reserve.” “The commercial banks must realise that this economic recession is deepening and intensifying. People are losing their jobs and businesses are under immense stress.

Citizens are under pressure to pay their loans, mortgages and credit cards.

Therefore, we call on the banks to be much more sensitive and work with their clients for mutual interest and for the best development of our country and our people,” the Chamber added.

“They are happy with the increased attention,” she said, adding, “well naturally you will meet constituents who are a bit concerned and disappointed. But once I explain to them that this is really affording me a better opportunity to pay closer attention to their needs and I’m now getting time to start interacting with schools in the area, I’m making the most of the opportunity.”

Olivierre continued: “It has been great for me. I have started having two constituency days per week, so on Tuesdays I am at the main office in La Brea and on Thursdays I am at the sub office at Rancho Quemado. So the backlog of constituents that have been waiting to see me, that has been significantly cleared up. So I do have a lot more time to focus on the needs of the constituency and I can have a greater hands on approach in matters related to the constituency.”

And regarding the Local Government election, she said the party is actively seeking to not only regain control of the Otaheite / Rousillac electoral district but also retake the Siparia Regional Corporation which had been won by the People’s Partnership Administration in the 2013 poll.

“There are actually four electoral districts within the La Brea Constituency that are part of the Siparia Regional Corporation and, of the four electoral districts, the PNM previously controlled three of them. We intend to control all four of them by November 29,” Olivierre said, adding, “I am on the campaign trail with some of the candidates and will be spending this entire week at least walking with each candidate every day.”