Cherisse Nixon, a student of St George’s College, Barataria, was surprised yesterday on learning that she had won an Open Language scholarship. However, she intends to pursue Law. Nixon who was told the news by Newsday, said she was surprised but “I was expecting it.” She said she and her family had prayed hard in the hope that she would get a scholarship. Nixon got three As in General Paper, Literature and Spanish and a B in French, which her school is querying.

However, she said, “I just can’t study for too long and I made sacrifices.” She will take a year off and try to get a job with the Legal Affairs Ministry, before pursuing studies in Law, although she always loved languages. She said she also participated in lots of extra curricular activities including the schools aerobics competition, being a member of the Parang group and playing pan.

Government is likely to present its 2003/2004 Budget on October 6, sources said yesterday. Prime Minister Patrick Manning confirmed on Thursday that “it was very unlikely” that Government would not be presenting the Budget before September 30, the end of the fiscal year. Government is likely to present the Appropriation Bill “early” in the new fiscal year. Asked why, he replied that it was “the Government’s option in accordance with the law.”  Manning stressed that Government would be meeting the constitutional deadline of October 31. He said as a parliamentarian, he recalled that there were many occasions when the Budget was presented in the first month of the new fiscal year. The Prime Minister, who is one of four finance ministers, stated: “There is no keepback. That is our option.” He said there were commitments at this time in the Finance Ministry namely the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting and the meeting of the IMF and the World Bank. “In accordance with the schedule we have worked out, we consider it most propitious to present the Budget early in the new fiscal year.”

Newsday investigations revealed that Government has not only one but two deadlines to consider. Both deadlines come around the same time — within two weeks of each other — the prorogation of Parliament — which has a legal deadline of October 16, and the Budget deadline of October 31. The debate on the Budget and passage of the Appropriation Bill has to come either before or after the prorogation. The Parliament has to be given at least 11 “clear” days for the presentation, debate and passage of the Bill through both Houses. In short, Government would either have to go for an early prorogation of Parliament, or present the Budget at least 11 working days before October 16 in order to beat the deadline for the prorogation.
If Government sticks to the October 6 date, it would not make the deadline. But it has the option of proroguing the Parliament earlier and presenting the Budget in the new session of Parliament. That way it would also make the October 31 constitutional deadline for the presentation of the Budget. Attorney General Glenda Morean also pointed out yesterday that in setting the parliamentary agenda for the rest of the session, Government realised that it did not make sense to fill the Order Paper since the remainder of this session would be short. All business on the Order Paper lapses once there is a prorogation.

Therefore, it is expected that legislation such as the Caribbean Court of Justice Bills and papers such as the declaration forms for the Integrity in Public Life Bill would be presented in the new session. Sources suggested that the Ministry of Finance’s lack of readiness with the Budget might be related  to the question of fulfilling the promise to pay NIS pensioners $1,000 a month by the start of the fiscal year, October 1. In order to make this proposal self-financing, it would mean an increase in contributions both on the part of the individual worker as well as the employer, something which neither parties would support. But the Prime Minister Patrick Manning made the pledge at the PNM’s Local Government election launch and on Thursday he reiterated that from October 1 all NIS pensioners would receive $1,000 a month.

DIFFERING POSITIONS are emerging within the ranks of the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) about the type of Budget which Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Patrick Manning, will present in the House of Representatives towards the end of September or early October. Speaking with Newsday mere hours before yesterday’s resumption of Parliament, Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh predicted that the 2003/2004 Budget debate will be “very heated.” Singh explained that this will be so because of the “poor state of the economy” and the intertwined non-performance of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) in managing Trinidad and Tobago’s affairs.

He said alleged nepotism and corruption by Government in terms of the Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) will also be a hot topic in the debate and hinted that Government will draw fire from the Opposition benches regarding additional funding for CEPEP. Singh added that the UNC remained unconvinced that the PNM was being totally transparent and accountable regarding governmental expenditure, especially during the period prior to last year’s general elections. However, former Finance Minister Gerald Yetming adopted a guarded approach to the upcoming Budget. “I don’t know if it will be heated. I don’t know what they (Government) will come with,” he said. Yetming noted that given the variety of issues in society today, any parliamentary debate could become heated. 

The St Joseph MP, who has differed with his fellow UNC MPs over the last month on different parliamentary strategies adopted by the Opposition, stated that he preferred to wait until Manning delivers the Budget before making any pronouncements upon it. Asked last week, whether a date had been set for the Budget’s presentation, the Prime Minister said: “The answer is yes, but we are now trying to see if we can make that date before we announce it.” Manning revealed that Government’s 2003/2004 Budget preparations will be a radical departure from the past with Government Ministers being intimately involved, with final budgetary cuts being made by an eight-member Ministerial Committee headed by the Prime Minister and not by civil servants. That exercise began at the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday and Manning was optimistic that it would be concluded by today. While being tight-lipped about the exact contents of the Budget, the Prime Minister has hinted at major expenditure in the area of national security. Last week, Manning also announced that the national deficit had been reduced from $4.2 billion to $2.7 billion.

Local chicken producers are calling on Minister of Consumer Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis, to clarify what she considers to be an “acceptable price” for chicken. This cry comes after Government gave poultry farmers exactly one week to reduce their prices to an “acceptable level” or risk the removal of the surcharge of imported chicken. This surcharge, which currently stands at 88 per cent, protects the local industry from being overrun by leg quarters, namely drumsticks and thigh parts, which are not popular in the United States. Without it, local producers will be unable to compete with imported chicken, which would be available at a much cheaper price.
 
It is speculated that a removal of this surcharge could destroy the industry which employs some 10,000 persons. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Marketing Director of Arawak and Supermix, Robin Phillips, stated that only a few producers were to blame for overcharging customers. Some producers, including Arawak, Nutrimix and Warnerville Grain Mills Ltd, have already reduced their prices. This week, Phillips said, the price of  live chicken stands between $3.50 to $4.40 per pound, while processed chicken is being priced at $5.75 per pound. “The Minister needs to clarify what an acceptable price is,” he maintained. He revealed that the Poultry Association was seeking a meeting with Minister Robinson-Regis and Minister of Agriculture, John Rahael, to come to an “amicable solution” to the problem. “There has been some variation in price,” he admitted, “but we would prefer that action not be taken against the entire industry, but rather against those who are responsible for the overcharging.” Attempts to reach a representative of Nutrimix Feeds Limited proved futile.

FIVE CONVICTED KILLERS, who applied for Presidential Pardons, have been blanked, while other felons who committed lesser crimes were the recipients of pardons during the period January 2002 to May 31, 2003. One of these killers is Wenceslaus James who was saved from the hangman’s noose in 1998. He applied to the Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon (Mercy Committee) for a pardon, along with Kishendath Seepersad, Roger Sobers, Godson Neptune, and Boodram Bedassie. All five prisoners have been in jail for more than five years. Their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment based on the guidelines laid down in the Pratt and Morgan case.

Twenty-nine persons applied to the Mercy Committee for pardons, while the Commissioner of Prisons Leo Abraham recommended eight convicted felons for Presidential Pardons. The list was released yesterday in the House of Representatives in a written statement supplied by Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee. This was in response to a question from UNC MP Subhas Panday. Chin Lee, in his statement, said a total of 22 persons were granted Presidential Pardons during the period in question. Another 15 applications, he added, are still being processed. While James was fortunate to escape the hangman when he filed a constitutional motion, his partner in crime, Anthony Briggs was not so lucky. The State was able to execute Briggs in July 1999, the last man to be hanged in Trinidad.

James and Briggs were sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of PH taxi driver Siewdath Ramkissoon at the Heights of Guanapo on August 5, 1992. They lost their appeals in the TT Court of Appeal and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The State read the death warrant to Briggs and James, but they were able to file constitutional motions challenging the execution. Briggs went to the gallows a month after Dole Chadee and his gang of eight were executed for four murders. Godson Neptune was sentenced to death for chopping his wife to death at their house in Westmoorings. Neptune’s defence was that he thought his wife was a snake when he chopped her with a cutlass. Fourteen of the persons who filed for Presidential Pardons were successful. The eight recommended by the Commissioner of Prisons were granted full pardons.

The felons who applied for pardons and were successful were:
* Moonesh Ramsubhaj – possession of marijuana.
* Finton De Veaux – larceny, breaking and entering.
* Rennie Rambharat – obscene language.
* Suruj Motiram – larceny.
* Randal Ramlochan – possession of marijuana.
* Glendon Kent – possession of cocaine.
* Kenrick James – larceny.
* Dayanand Mohess – making a false declaration.
* James Dennett – possession of a firearm, ammunition.
* Ramsaroop Ramjit – throwing missiles.
* Jason Julien – possession of marijuana.
* Aaron Wright – unlawfully pitching a stall on the street.
* Clyde Haynes – robbery with aggravation, kidnapping.
* Nigel Kerr – assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Those pardoned on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Prisons:
* Myra Bhagwansingh  – causing grievous bodily harm.
* Marcia Jupiter – larceny.
* Beville Loney – wounding with intent.
* Clint Abraham – breaking and entering dwelling houses.
* Brian Huggins – breaking and entering and larceny.
* Christopher Lewis – breaking and entering.
* Lawrence La Chapelle – armed robbery with a fish gun.
* Stephen Belgrave – armed robbery with a knife and gun.

Education Minister Hazel Manning yesterday revealed that almost 68 per cent of the textbooks to be distributed to primary schools had already been delivered as, according to the Minister, “The majority of primary schools opened on Thursday and Friday.” Admitting that not all primary schools had opened on Thursday, Manning claimed that “the majority of primary schools had received their books.” Speaking with reporters at the formal launch of the Student Support Visa Electron Card at one of the newly constructed secondary schools, the Bon Air High School, Manning said there was no keep back regarding the $1,000 book grant card. She assured parents that they could visit their children’s schools to sign and collect their cards, but that it would take three days for the bank to activate the cards.

Questioned as to whether the failure to appoint the Central Tenders Board hindered the process of organising the cards, Permanent Secretary Angella Jack claimed the Board was functioning within a week and that this in no way interfered with the production of the cards. Pressed by reporters as to whether this also prolonged repairs to schools during the vacation, Manning vehemently replied that the Central Tenders Board had nothing to do with this “as there are just so many contractors in this country.” She accused the media of “mixing up the facts and rumours that people are giving you and coming up with your own stories and saying we (the Education Ministry) are incompetent.”

Concerning a three-page release which had been issued from the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday itemising a number of different initiatives being put in place by the Education Ministry and if it was to be the norm that the Office of the PM will be issuing press releases relevant to the Education Ministry, she denied knowing about this. Instead, she said, “I can’t tell you a thing about the Prime Minister’s Office,” and referred us to the marketing department. “Maybe they are going to do it on all other Ministries and this is just one,” Manning offered by way of explanation. Revealing that over 38,000 cards were to be distributed to Forms III and IV, as well as Lower VI, Manning said they were considering renaming the Bon Air High School the George Padmore High School or the Donovan Palmer High School — past education officials. She extended congratulations to the 36 students who placed in the first ten in this year’s Cambridge exams and also cautioned parents and guardians to use the card wisely and carefully.

PARLIAMENT resumed yesterday with a series of stinging attacks against Attorney General Glenda Morean by former AG Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Persad-Bissessar sharply criticised Government’s skimpy legislative programme, saying that it could not be serious about the people’s business. “Get yuh house in order!” she roared, noting that there had been very few Bills of substance over the past year. It was “disgraceful,” she charged, adding that hundreds of pieces of legislation were “sitting down” in the Attorney General’s department. Leader of Government Business, Ken Valley, in offering an excuse for the scant programme, stated that Government saw little sense in bringing important Bills after the six-week break because of the imminent prorogation of Parliament.

He announced that Parliament will be prorogued on September 12  and that there would be a ceremonial opening on September 29. “Would (former President) Robinson be coming?” Couva South MP, Kelvin Ramnath asked with a hint of mischievousness in his voice. The Budget would be brought in the new session. But Valley’s explanation only added fuel to Persad-Bissessar’s fire. “So the Parliament had a break of six weeks and you ready to shut it down again.  So because we are having a prorogation we must do nothing. We could have brought the declaration forms for the Integrity Commission,” the UNC MP thundered. Furthermore she pointed out that Valley’s justification conflicted with reasons given by the AG in a Newsday article. The Attorney General in an article published on Thursday blamed the feeble parliamentary agenda on the tardiness of the Legislative Review Committee.

No Cuban doctors have yet been assigned to Tobago despite deployment to several health facilities throughout Trinidad. However, Secretary for Health and Social Services in the Tobago House of Assembly, Cynthia Alfred, said that within “a month’s time,” Tobago should get the 11 doctors that were requested to fill the various vacant positions. Speaking at the weekly post-Executive media conference on Thursday, Alfred disclosed that after learning about the doctors’ redeployment in Trinidad, she had spoken to the Minister of Health who explained that they (the Ministry) had received only 30 of the 40 doctors it had requested. He gave the assurance, though, that “Tobago will get ours.” Alfred disclosed, too, that apart from the Cubans, they were expecting a number of doctors from the UN who, she noted, along with those already being recruited in Tobago, will make a significant difference to the health sector in Tobago.

WITH immediate effect, the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago is reducing its operating interest rates by 25 basis points. The Central Bank “Repo” which is the rate at which it provides overnight credit to commercial banks, will therefore be set at five percent. According to the Central Bank, the discount rate will also fall from 7.25 percent to seven percent and the special deposit rate from 3.25 to three percent. It said the decision to reduce the rates has been taken against the background of a contraction in domestic credit, subdued inflationary pressures and the protracted delay in global economic recovery which continues to affect demand for exports.

THE OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) will try to force the Government to say when the declaration forms for public officials for the Integrity in Public Life Act will be laid in Parliament.  This is but one of a series of questions which the UNC has in store for the Government when the Senate resumes its sittings at 1.30 pm on Tuesday. Despite promising last month that the forms would be laid in Parliament on its resumption, Attorney-General Glenda Morean said the forms were still being examined by the recently-appointed Integrity Commission. The forms are part of a broader package of legislation which is under review by the Legislative Review Committee.

Housing Minister Martin Joseph will answer two questions from Senate Minority Leader Wade Mark about whether lands being used for housing in Tunapuna are State or privately-owned and provide details of all lands purchased on the private market for the purpose of satisfying Government’s housing policy or programme. UNC Senator Jennifer Jones Kernahan will also talk land issues but with Agriculture Minister John Rahael. Opposition Senator Sadiq Baksh will ask Work Minister Franklyn Khan whether there was a pre-qualification exercise for the Piarco Airport Runway Overlay Project while Independent Senator Professor Ken Ramchand will ask Trade Minister Ken Valley to give an update on the status of restoration work on the Red House.

Debate will continue on a motion by Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift to affirm the Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories) (Extraditable Offences) Order 2003. The Senate will also discuss Ramchand’s motion for a Technical University of TT and Opposition motions on Equal Opportunity legislation, prevention of corruption and regulation of the banking sector. The UNC’s no-confidence motion against Senate President Dr Linda Baboolal remains off the Senate Order Paper. The motion was struck off the Order Paper in May after the UNC said it was not prepared to begin the debate and was not put back on during the last parliamentary session.