N Touch

UNC: PNM passing the buck

THE United National Congress (UNC) yesterday claimed that statements made by Planning Minister Dr Keith Rowley prove that the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) has abdicated all responsibility to govern Trinidad and Tobago.

The UNC said Rowley’s utterances demonstrate “a clear lack of understanding of the principles of ministerial responsibility and collective responsibility of the Cabinet.” It viewed Rowley’s statement as “a pathetic and sorry attempt to pass the buck and to blame public servants for the widely acknowledged incompetence of the Minister of National Security and the entire Cabinet.”

Panday: Ramesh Maharaj — estate agent

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday believes former Attorney-General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj has found his calling in life as an estate agent for Caroni (1975) Limited.

Addressing a meeting of union leaders at his Port-of-Spain office on Thursday, Panday was visibly amused about proposals made by investors Amarama Limited (with whom Maharaj has been holding talks over the last month) to purchase Caroni’s assets and rehire all of the company’s former workers. The plan was shelved on Monday, after the investors agreed that Government’s plans to restructure Caroni was the best strategy to follow at this time. “What proposals for Caroni land? This is the one in which my AG has descended into an estate agent. Has he become an estate agent? I have not seen the particulars of the proposals. I imagine I will leave that to estate agents like Mr Maharaj,” Panday said. The UNC leader’s remarks also appeared to please All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union president general Rudranath Indarsingh.

Maharaj subsequently said the investors were making a bid for Caroni lands not given to former workers and cane farmers and claimed that none of these individuals have received land from the Government. Agriculture Minister John Rahael said the matter was now in the hands of the Estate Management Business Development Company and Government will keep its promise to give former sugar workers and cane farmers first preference to Caroni’s lands for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes.

NATUC general secretary Vincent Cabrera appealed to the UNC to support the Occupational Health and Safety Bill 2003 when it comes to Parliament to prevent workers from being “squeezed.” In immediate response, Panday said: “We have given our word to the trade union movement that we will not allow our arena of struggle to be chosen for us. We are the ones who had brought the OSHA to parliament which the PNM had rejected. We will support the bill and we are going resist any move to refer it to any committee so that it will be delayed any further.” Panday said the unions were also concerned about the effects of a $1,000 monthly NIS pension on old age pensions, crime and limited staff at the Labour Ministry to police the Minimum Wages Order.

Prime suspect in Penal murder released

THE suspect held in connection with the murder of a mother of two, who was strangled and then left hanging in the gallery of her Penal home, has been released by Southern Division Homicide Bureau investigators.

The 35-year-old man was released Thursday afternoon since investigators did not have sufficient evidence to seek directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to charge him with the murder of 27-year-old Sherry Ann Ablack. However, investigators said the man remains the main suspect in the murder and investigations are continuing. Police said the killer strangled Ablack, then tied a noose around her neck and hung her from a rafter in the gallery of her July Branch Trace, Penal Rock Road home, to make it look as if she committed suicide. Her body was discovered around 8.15 pm by her husband Khemchan Maharaj, after he awoke from sleep and went in search of her.

Suspended vet gets his job back

SUSPENDED Government veterinarian Dr Bhim Ramoutar got a birthday gift on Thursday. His suspension was lifted with immediate effect and he was ordered back to his job at the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources.

Dr Ramoutar was suspended on February 15, 2000 by the Public Service Commission (PSC) and placed on one charge. The particulars of the offence read “that you, Dr Bhim Ramoutar, Veterinary Officer, Ministry of Agri-culture, Land and Marine Resources, exercised your authority unreasonably when on January 2, 1999, you admitted into the Dog Quarantine Section, a brown male Cocker Spaniel instead of the black and white Cocker Spaniel for which you had received documentation and a request for quarantine.”

Dr Ramoutar, 46, of Salazar Street, St James,  was on duty at Piarco on January 2, 1999 awaiting the arrival from the United States, a Cocker Spaniel, owned by Larry Porter, the then chief executive officer of PowerGen. Unknown to Dr Ramoutar, the Cocker Spaniel which had arrived in Trinidad was switched between the aircraft and the area where the inspection took place. After taking possession of the wrong dog, Dr Ramoutar placed the dog in the quarantine section for the next six months.

Three months later, an animal attendant at the Quarantine facility attempted to blackmail Porter to the tune of $20,000 by claiming that he knew about the switching of the dogs.  This matter was submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and investigations were carried out. A tribunal was set up comprising former Magistrate Cecil Beckles, former Assistant Police Commissioner Cyracius Liverpool, and Fred Hamel-Smith. Dr Michael Diptee, and Dr Sham Bissessar, both veterinarians attached to Piarco, gave evidence on behalf of Dr Ramoutar. The man who attempted to blackmail Porter died of a heart attack in 2001, while Porter returned to the United States with his Cocker Spaniel after his stint in Trinidad.

Diego woman assaulted, businessman’s gun stolen

OFFICERS of the Four Roads Police Station are investigating two separate reports, in which a 20-year-old Diego Martin woman was allegedly buggered by a man she knows and a businessman was robbed of his personal firearm.

In the buggering incident, police sources said around 10 pm Thursday a woman was approached by a man she knows at Cuthbert Circular, Diego Martin.  The man is alleged to have made sexual advances towards her, after which an altercation took place during which time the man is said to have beaten the woman. About ten minutes after, while the woman was on her way home, she was held and subsequently buggered by a man. 

The area was very dark, police said. A report was made and a party of officers from the Four Roads Police Station headed by acting Insp Roland Thomas and including Sgt Stephen Ramsubhag and PCs Vaughn Joseph, Broomes and Ramnarine visited the scene. About three hours earlier, the same party of officers were called out to investigate the theft of a firearm from a West Mall businessman. At the time of the incident, police said the man had just closed his business and was approaching his vehicle when he was confronted by three armed men. The men then robbed the businessman of his personal Smith and Wesson revolver as well as a cellphone and approximately TT$4,000. The assailants then fled the scene. PC Joseph is continuing investigations into the incident.

Maxi recklessness

THIS NEWSPAPER has been consistently critical of the culture of recklessness that maxi-taxi drivers have cultivated on the roads of our country. While it is true that these private mini-buses provide an important public service, offering a cheap and ready form of transport for our very mobile population, the fact is that they have been allowed to become a virtual law unto themselves, taking advantage of the poor enforcement of our traffic laws to break them with impunity. It is no accident that maxis are now among the maximum offenders, the major causes of mishaps, on our roads and highways. How bad this unchecked situation has become was illustrated in Wednesday’s accident on the Diego Martin Main Road where an out-of-control maxi ran off the road and struck down two-year-old Tyrel Roberts who, we understand, suffered severe head injuries.

Making matters worse is the fact that the youngster will not benefit from any insurance coverage. After the accident, the police discovered that the 32-year-old maxi driver did not have a driver’s permit and the vehicle involved was not insured; as a result the driver was detained at the West End Police Station. We have no idea of the extent of Tyrel Roberts injuries and we can only hope that the unlucky youngster will make a full recovery. The fact is, however, that if his medical treatment incurs any cost whatever, it will have to be borne by his 21-year-old mother Annmarie Jerry. Our reports are that Jerry and her son, of Waterfall Road, Diego Martin, were standing at the side of the road when the runaway maxi skidded off the road, slammed into little Tyrel, and ended up in the drain. Jerry told the Police that the incident happened so suddenly she did not have the time even to throw herself in the path of the maxi in an effort to save her son. Passengers in the maxi told Newsday they were also shaken up by what had happened. After the vehicle landed in the drain, they had to crawl through the windows to get out. Some of the passengers recalled seeing the driver nodding while behind the wheel but gave him no serious thought. When Newsday arrived on the scene, the driver, apparently in a daze, was walking up and down the busy main road looking in disbelief at the mishap, while angry passengers, other motorists and onlookers hurled abuses at him.

The distraught mother collapsed on the road while her son was being placed in a taxi which took them to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
The recklessness of maxi taxis stem largely from the fact that many or most of the drivers are not owners of the vehicles; they are really hustlers who have been hired by owners and are required to return a certain amount in fees each day before they can claim their earnings. Not having any responsibility for maintaining the vehicles they drive and under the daily pressure of exceeding the owners’ “quota,” these drivers have become mercenaries who care little or nothing about other users of the road. We wonder how long the driver involved in Wednesday’s Diego Martin accident has been plying this route illegally. We wonder whether if he had not nodded himself into the drain whether he would have been discovered at all. We wonder how many other maxi drivers are placing passengers in jeoardy by not having permits. And, finally, we wonder when the police will mount an ongoing campaign to properly control this runaway industry and make the country’s roads safer for the driving public.

Rational thoughts

In this country, people with rational minds are like people who have herpes. Neither lets anyone know what they have, since both conditions cause embarrassment. In both situations, outbreaks occur: the person with herpes gets sores when their resistance to the virus gets low, while the rationalist gets sore when their resistance to dotishness gets low. When people do find out, they react to the rationalist in the same way as to the herpes sufferer: either with a sort of uncomfortable sympathy or with outright rejection. If, however, the persons with herpes or rationalism are attractive enough or rich enough for other people to become intimate with them, the other people mostly use some sort of protection. With the herpes sufferer, they usually use a condom and, with the rationalist, they usually use a Holy Book and a condom. (After all, who would want to be the parent to a little rationalist? Clearly, the child would have more trouble in life than Selwyn Cudjoe at a Conference for Academic Meritocracy.)

Although I have managed to avoid contracting any sexually transmitted diseases, I have never made any secret of my rationalism. This shocks many people, though mostly ones who aren’t half as appalled at racial prejudice, paedophile priests, or the belief that a woman should be stoned to death for adultery. Interestingly, because I do not believe in baseless blather, I am sometimes called a cynic. To this my usual response is to quote Ambrose Bierce, who in The Devil’s Dictionary defined a cynic as  “A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.” Yet I do, in fact, have a clear vision of how things ought to be: but most women I meet refuse to help me achieve it. Even so, having as I do naturally curly hair, I can afford to be boldfaced about my rationalism. Except for Hindu fanatics, everyone knows that naturally curly hair confers a singular advantage in life. Were it not for that, though, it’d be easy for me to be defeatist. You see, it’s depressing to discover that even supposedly intelligent people in this place are impervious to rational argument. Present them with evidence that contradicts their pet views, and they advise you not to read so many books: I call this the spoilt-Bratt syndrome. Others are just plain dishonest, saying I said things I never said in order to refute arguments I never made: I call this the straw-Marion technique. On the other hand, the attempts to reject rationalism can sometime be very amusing, like the born-again Christian who once wrote to tell me that my beliefs were wrong because “in 1950 in Houston, Texas there was a supernatural light photographed that science can’t explain to this day.” I certainly had no answer to that one.

Mind you, this enmity towards rationalism is not unique to our society. In the introduction to his book Sceptical Essays, the philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: “I wish to propose for the reader’s favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine in question is this: that it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true. I must, of course, admit that if such an opinion became common it would completely transform our social life and political system; since both are at present faultless, this must weigh against it. “I am also aware (what is more serious) that it would tend to diminish the incomes of clairvoyants, bookmakers, bishops and others who live on the irrational hopes of those who have done nothing to deserve good fortune here or hereafter.” This was written 75 years ago about England but, given its relevance to present-day Trinidad — where psychics get full-page interviews in the newspapers and “What you dream?” is a serious question and clerics praise God for destroying homosexuals — it’s a fair measure of how far we really are on the road to Vision 2020. After all, Patrick Manning is a man who believes in prayer, not proof. Me, I believe the opposite. The difference between the rational man and the superstitious man is that the rational man can be convinced of anything. You might think it would be the opposite, but not so. Present me with reliable evidence and a logical argument and I will believe whatever I am told: especially if the person presenting the proposition is a shapely woman in low-rider jeans. (This addendum is quite rational: good packaging is an important part of persuasion.) On the other hand, it is virtually impossible to convince a superstitious person that a coin has no memory, telepathy is nonsense, and demons don’t exist. I must admit, though, that I sometimes envy the certainties of irrationality. There are even practical advantages to it: you get to sit on official committees on race relations, conduct seminars on self-esteem, and have private meetings with the Prime Minister. No wonder, then, that almost all the people who promote ignorance in this society drive better cars than me. It makes me wonder if naturally curly hair is really enough, and if the irrational people are actually smarter than me.

In this state, I once thought of joining Rationalists Anonymous, a support group for people who are addicted to empiricism and logic. I thought they might have a 12-step programme to cure rationality.
You know: (1) become a politician; (2) listen to Pastor Cuffie; (3) join the Maha Sabha or the Emancipation Support Committee; (4) go to a reflexologist; (5) speak in tongues; (6) write in jargon; (7) badtalk evolutionary theory; (8) read feminist literature; (9) straighten hair; (10) preach abstinence; (11) support the death penalty; (12) repeat Step #1.
Much to my surprise, though, I discovered that no such organisation exists in Trinidad and Tobago. I guess there aren’t enough rational people in this place to form a group. So I’ll just have to continue along my path, hoping to increase our small numbers through my writing and taking comfort from something Albert Einstein once said: “The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.”


E-mail: kbaldeosingh@hotmail.com
Website: www.caribscape.com/baldeosingh

God breathed life into man, not animals

THE EDITOR: I read with interest the interview of Shiela Briggs by Lara Pickford-Gordon carried in Newsday September 15, 2003. I feel compelled to make the following comments. Briggs “teaches theology and history of theology,” yet she cannot produce a single Biblical support for her pro-choice stance. Her theology, therefore, is as meaningless to us, as is her statistics derived from communist Czechoslovakia.  Her positions as theologian and pro-choice proponent are inconsistent as well as unclear and seem calculated to deceive the simple-minded. As a pro-choice “theologian,” Briggs’ obligation is to prove that the Bible, (the Word of God), supports abortion! This she is unable to do and thus resorts to the baseless biological argument that “a fertilised egg does not mean there is a human being…it is the same as any other fertilised egg in the animal kingdom. For human life what is essential is a functioning brain.” On what criteria is her opinion based? Nothing! However, Briggs claims to be a theologian, and is entitled to receive a “theological” response.

All human life (soul) is imparted by God! This impartation is different from that of the animals. God breathed life into man but not into animals! (Genesis I:24;2:7) How can a “theologian” be unaware of this distinction? Further, in support of her incorrect “theology,” Briggs cited both St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas as not believing “the foetus in its early stages had a human soul.” First, these two great Christians were mere men, and susceptible to error as any other men. What is important here is, “what does the Word of God say?” Secondly, a study of their writings admits no such claim. Indeed, it would be a fantastical thing if these two, writing in the centuries that they did, were aware of the “foetus in its early stages.” St Augustine, in particular, wrote four books On the Origin of Souls. He said that he did not know how the soul comes into the body: “Wherefore, I too, on my side, say concerning my soul, I have no certain knowledge how it came into my body; for it was not I who gave it to myself. He who gave it to me knows whether He imparted it to me from my father, or created it afresh for me, as He did for the first man. But even I shall know, when He Himself shall teach me, in His own good time.

Now, however, I do not know; nor am I ashamed, like him, to confess my ignorance of what I know not.” (On the Origin of Souls Book 1 Chapter 25) St Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica admitted that the soul was created before the body! The writings of these Saints are available online, free of charge, at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://ccel.org). However, the above quotation should sufficiently disprove Briggs’ claim. Furthermore, Briggs claims that in communist Czechoslovakia women who were denied abortions had children “who had higher levels of criminality, and did poorly in education and in relationships.” One can’t help but ask, “Why does a theologian resort to statistics derived from a godless communist society?” Are these the only figures available to her? Yet, of what use can this statistic be to us in Trinbago? Briggs claims there is correlation between “higher levels of criminality” and the denial of abortions! Should we legalise abortion to lower the crime rate (Mr Chin Lee take note!) Further, she says on the same authority that some who perform “poorly in education” do so because their mothers were denied abortions. Guess how we can improve the literacy rate?


SYLVAN JAMES
Debe

‘Don’t let me die in jail’

A KILLER who was convicted 28 years ago at the age of 17, for murder, does not want to die at the Carrera Island Prison. He is pleading with the High Court to release him. In fact, most of Felix James’ family, including his mother and father have died while he was in prison. James, 49, who has been in prison for a total of 32 years, including the four he spent awaiting trial, filed a constitutional motion on Wednesday in which he is seeking a number of orders, which, if successful, can lead to his freedom. His motion will be heard in the Port-of-Spain High Court on November 3. His attorney is Mark Seepersad, instructed by Gerald Ramdeen. In 1971, James was charged with murder at the age of 17. He was convicted in 1975 after Dr Iqbal Ghany gave evidence of his mental condition. James was found guilty but insane and detained at the President’s Pleasure. He believes he has been cured of his mental illness based on the visits of his doctors.
   
“I have expressed remorse and regret for the fact that my actions resulted in the loss of the life of another human being. These expressions have been and remain sincere. I do not want to die in prison but I feel as though I have been either lost in the prison system or forgotten,” he added. James, in his affidavit, admitted that he is the longest serving prisoner in TT. While in prison, he has witnessed that upon their arrival at the Carrera Island Prison, prisoners are informed of the earliest possible date of discharge and the furthest possible date of discharge. He added, “the possibility of me remaining incarcerated and eventually dying in prison as punishment for an act committed some 28 years ago fills me with dread and fear. This possibility is very real to me since I am unaware of any real or genuine prospects that I will be released.” James said he spent four months after his conviction at the Port-of-Spain State Prison before he was moved to Carrera. “I know of no person living or dead who has been incarcerated for a period longer than that which I have served.”

James said that over the years he has asked those in authority when, if at all, he would be released. He said he was still waiting as no one seems to know anything. He said his mental problem developed from the collapse of a relationship he was having with a woman. James said he had instructed his attorneys to make applications to the Office of the President, the Minister of National Security and the Commissioner of Prisons. But he is still waiting. He said he cannot wait indefinitely for the President to act, or for him to die, so he has decided to take the matter to the High Court. The convicted killer added, “I have made this decision in light of the fact that yet again it was promised to me that I would be released at around the time of the nation’s celebration of the anniversary of Independence. This time has passed. I read in the Newsday newspaper and believe that Boodram Bedassie, whom I met while at the Port-of-Spain Prison and whom I know to be the second longest serving prisoner in the prison system, had his petition for release denied.” James believes that the authorities, especially the Office of the President and the Ministry of National Security, are not interested in considering for release, the prisoners who are there for a very long time.

James cannot recall any review of his case being undertaken. He said he has not been giving any opportunity of making representations concerning his lengthy incarceration, his mental condition, whether he poses a risk to the general public, his general conduct, his work in prison and his progress towards rehabilitation. In his affidavit, James said he received a commendation for bravery at the prison. He said that in 1991, a prison officer was viciously attacked by an inmate. “After the attack, the inmate ran away into hiding. I saved the officer from further injury. It was also I who found the prisoner in hiding, apprehended him, returned him to the prison and handed him over to the authorities.” James said he has not had any disciplinary action taken against him for the last 15 years. Because of his good conduct, James is an assistant orderly. He supervises other prisoners while they perform their duties. “I am not a risk to the public and I do not have any mental problems. Therefore, I can see no reason why I have been detained for some 32 years, now why I should continue to be detained. At this stage of my life and in light of the duration of my incarceration, all I want is to be released,” James added.

Jagdeo Singh heads for the Privy Council

JAILED attorney Jagdeo Singh was yesterday granted leave by the Privy Council to appeal his conviction and seven-year sentence on two counts of corruption. His main argument will be the failure of the trial judge to adequately address his good character before the jury at the High Court. The three Law Lords said that the grounds submitted to the Privy Council have merit, and that the appeal should be heard before a full Board comprising five judges in early 2004. The application for leave was heard before Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, and Lord Simon. Edward Fitzgerald QC, leading James Oury and instructed by Rajiv Persad, appeared for Singh who is incarcerated at the Maximum State Prison, Arouca. Peter Knox represented the State.

Singh was convicted and jailed by Justice Stanley John in the Port-of-Spain Assizes on November 20, 2001. He lost his appeal before Chief Justice Sat Sharma, Justice Roger Hamel-Smith, and Justice Lionel Jones on November 15, 2002.
Singh was convicted of  the following offences —
* Between October 1 and December 3, 1999, corruptly soliciting for himself the sum of $40,000 from Shirley Ann Basdeo as an inducement to Magistrate Deborah Thomas-Felix to grant bail to Rudolph John and as an inducement to Police Prosecutor Claudette Bynoe not to object to the granting of bail to John.
* On December 2, 1999, obtaining $40,000 from Basdeo and WPC Lystra Bridgelal as an inducement.
Fitzgerald argued several grounds. He submitted that the TT Court of Appeal erred in law when it decided to apply the proviso which led to the dismissal of the appeal.
He further argued that the Court of Appeal acted in denial of Singh’s human and constitutional rights by (a) making decisions as to fact and inference that were contrary to the totality of the evidential material before, and (b) doing so without inviting Singh, through his attorney, to address the court.
The British QC said all the grounds arose from the judge’s direction to the jury about Singh’s good character. He said that based on the judge’s summing up and the judgment of the Court of Appeal, several critical issues of fact had to be determined by the jury. One such issue was whether the prosecution had proven that Singh did ask Sherry Ann Basdeo for $40,000 in cash to be used to bribe the prosecutor and magistrate dealing with the case of Rudolph John. Secondly, he asked whether Singh received the sum of $40,000 from WPC Bridgelal on December 2, 1999 as a result of the request made by the lawyer. Fitzgerald argued that the judge’s direction to the jury on Singh’s character was the subject of his appeal against conviction in the TT Court of Appeal. He said the direction of the trial judge was erroneous in law and inadequate in fact. This, he added, amounted to a material misdirection.