N Touch

Improved SEA results in Tobago

THA Secretary for Education, Orville London, has reported an improvement in the performance level of students who sat the S.E.A exam on the island.

At Thursday’s Post Executive media briefing, London said that after an assessment of this year’s SEA results by education staff, a reduction in the number of students in the “R Grade”, students who normally scored under 30% in the exams, was detected. He said that the number of students in the R Grade had been reduced from 19% in 2002 to 8% in 2003 but stated however that he was still not satisfied with Tobago students’ placement in the “upper strata”. “Our initial information is that only one of the Tobago students would have placed in the top 100 in the country, that is Kayola Wilson of St Andrews Anglican (Scarborough) and her position was 91st. I think that we must have more of our people (students) coming in that first category.” London noted. He reported also that members of the Education division had met with TTUTA on Wednesday to discuss ways of further decreasing the percentage of students in the “R Grade”. All of the 915 students who sat this year’s exam have been placed at Secondary Schools throughout the island including the new Mason Hall and Goodwood Government Secondary Schools.

Hearing impaired to get 3-year driver’s permit

Driving permits for all hearing-impaired persons can now be renewed every three years.

The Disability Affairs Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) yesterday said the Transport Commissioner Nathaniel Douglas advised them of this development. The service, however, does not automatically apply to all hearing-impaired persons. Douglas has said that permits will be granted on a case-by-case basis. To get a new permit, applicants must obtain a recommendation from the Diagnostic Research Educational Therapeutic Centre for Hearing Impaired (DRETCHI) certifying that the hearing device/hearing aid is in good working condition. They must complete application Form 4, which must be presented along with the recommendation and $200 renewal fee at any Licensing Office to an officer no lower than Automotive Licensing Officer I between the hours of 8 am to 3 pm. Applicants can be renewed at the main Licensing Offices of the Transport Division.   

Idi Amin can be buried in Uganda, no state funeral

KAMPALA, Uganda: A senior official said yesterday the body of the man who brutalised Uganda and its people for eight years could be returned for burial, but Idi Amin would not be recognised as a former head of state.

“If they (Amin’s family) request for the body to be brought back, we shall give them permission. If they need assistance in any form, we shall assist them, but as a government we are not going to recognise Amin as a former head of state nor offer him a state burial,” Ali Kirunda Kizejinja, the minister for the presidency, told The Associated Press following Amin’s death yesterday. Amin died from kidney failure in Saudi Arabia where he had lived in exile since his ouster in 1979. Although the front pages of early editions of Sunday papers were splashed with headlines proclaiming “Idi Amin is Dead,” reaction in Uganda to the death of the man who seized power in a 1971 coup was generally low-key.

It was not clear when and where Amin would be buried; his wife Madina Amin called a local radio station at 1.30 p.m. (1030 GMT) and said burial arrangements were still under discussion.  “Let him die because he killed so many people. He killed my uncle who was supporting our family,” said Michael Mademaga, 41, an office messenger who said Amin’s agents killed his uncle in 1974 and dumped him in the Nile River east of Kampala. “His body should be brought back to Uganda and put on display for people to view somebody who killed so many people.”  Although there are no official records of how many people were killed after Amin seized power, it is believed his victims numbered more than 100,000; some reports say as many as 300,000.  The Rev Alfred Ocur, an Anglican priest in the central town of Lira — an area targetted by Amin because it is the homeland of Milton Obote, the man he ousted and who eventually replaced him in 1979 — expressed regret that Amin had died unrepentant. “He should have lived longer to repent. He’s now gone, he’s dead, and it’s beyond our human control; but he’s going to face eternal judgment,” he said of the former non-commissioned officer in the British colonial army who was a convert to Islam.

Shaban Mubajje, the mufti or leader of Uganda’s Muslim community, told the private Central Broadcasting Service that Amin had “made mistakes, but he was not a bad man.”  He called on all Muslims to gather in mosques to pray for Amin’s soul.  A saying in many languages in eastern Africa holds that even though a person has done bad things in life, he or she will be properly mourned in death. Reed Brody, legal counsel for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Saturday it was “a shame that death caught up with Idi Amin before justice did. Idi Amin was a brutal tyrant, but he has died the peaceful death that he denied to so many Ugandans.”  Jiza Patel was four years old when Idi Amin expelled his grandfather and tens of thousands of other residents of Indian origin from Uganda in 1972 in a move to “Africanise” the economy of the East African nation. The move was initially popular among Ugandans who resented the power and the influence of those they called “the Asians” who controlled most of the country’s retail business and manufacturing. But the poorly organised nationalisation destroyed the Ugandan economy. “Amin did very bad things to my people and to the people of Uganda,” said Patel, 35, who first came to Uganda in 1992. “We have better things to do now than to think about a man who destroyed this country.” Dalal Murtaza, the 44-year-old chairman of Uganda’s 15,000-member Indian Association, said the Asian community was happy in Uganda under the government of President Yoweri Museveni, who invited Asians back to reclaim their property and help rebuild the economy. “We have no grudges against Amin because his era has ended. The expulsion of the Asians was a very sad event … the country was ruined, and many lives were lost. Now it’s history because he is dead, and there’s no point having grudges against a dead man.”

Wake up call for US

IS THIS really happening — the world’s only super power, the most technologically advanced nation in the world, reeling from the worst power blackout in its history, a power failure that has crippled the entire north eastern area of the country and parts of southern Canada? The nation that struts the world stage like a colossus, contemptuous of lesser powers in its determination to have its own way, could not secure the stability and reliability of its own power supply system. This is the United States which landed men on the moon, sent rockets to explore deep space, which spies on other countries through satellite viewing, which invented the Internet, spends billions to protect itself from terrorist attacks and recently flexed its mighty military muscle by a destructive invasion of Iraq. This is America, the economic giant whose influence is global, where authorities boast of  having the highest standard of living on the planet. How could such a country suffer such a massive failure of power, the one commodity on which its entire civilised system depends?

How could more than 16 million persons, in a swath of the north east, including New York city and stretching west to Ohio and Michigan, be subjected to the sudden and terrible dislocation, the anxiety, fear and trauma of a prolonged blackout which started during Thursday afternoon’s rush hour and still continues in many parts of the northeast? Millions were stranded as the public transport system in cities shut down, people were caught in subway trains and office elevators, out-of-towners slept on the pavements as powerless hotels could not accommodate them, the loss of traffic lights created havoc in cities, a water crisis arose as pumping stations went dead, flights could not leave John F Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports, and the fear that terrorists had struck again generated an epidemic of anxiety. What makes this question even more puzzling is the fact that up to yesterday no one could say definitely what caused the massive power failure. With its enormous technological superiority and all its extensive precautions against terrorist attacks, one would expect that the US would have ensured the fail safe nature of its electricity supply. This blackout now reveals a different scenario, where measures to isolate grids and so prevent power disruptions from spreading did not work and where there is no comprehensive or even regional monitoring system.

In fact, it is now surprising to hear electricity industry and government officials say that the nation’s power grid has needed major upgrades for years. One can hardly avoid being cynical about a country which spends billions of dollars on a dubious on-going space programme, sending manned shuttles regularly into outer space, while at the same time it cannot find the will or the money to upgrade its national power supply system. What can be more vital to maintaining the amenities and facilities of civilised living than a stable and adequate electricity supply? This failure seems even more questionable when we recall the experience of two previous blackouts in the US, the lessons from which the authorities have clearly failed to learn. In August 1996, an outage affected four million customers in nine western states and back in 1977 a blackout in New York city left some nine million people without electricity for up to 24 hours. How could the land of high technology allow another, and far worse, failure to happen at such a time? President Bush’s response that the blackout sends a “wake up call” to the country is right. The US must wake up to the need to put its house in order, electrically and otherwise.

Faith — The success imperative


Inherently, man (including the woman, of course) was endowed with the ability to do exploits and accomplish the incredible…Faith was designed to be the empowering agent.


The topic of faith is certainly not restricted to ecclesiastical circles. To a large extent, the subject is universal, finding major interest in just about every sphere of life. Some years ago, it seemed that in most cases, when the word “faith” was mentioned, there was only a religious connotation. Not so anymore. In the secular classroom, the sports and entertainment arenas, the corporate world, and even the realm of science and medicine, faith is now no stranger. Several motivational speakers now tend to prefer the term. “faith” over “confidence,” depending on the context. Apart from faith, there are many other scriptural items that the secular and scientific mind has eventually come around to accept as imperatives to the success of human endeavours and existence. As the Holy Bible indicates from the very beginning, faith was an integral factor in the Creator’s plan for man. Man’s relationship with his God and the appropriating of the Maker’s purpose for his life, depended upon the vital element of faith.

Faith was originally designed and intended to be a supernatural force. It was made available to man so as to provide a magnitude of empowerment which would allow him to access significant measures of the actual creative ability of God himself. In fact, potentially, man possesses the very nature of God. Man was “created in the image and likeness of God” (Gen 1:26). So inherently, man (including the woman, of course) was endowed with the ability to do exploits and accomplish the incredible. Faith was designed to be the empowering agent. The prophet Daniel said, “The people who know their God, shall be strong and shall do exploits” (Dan 11:32). When man fell as a result of sin in the Garden of Eden, his capacity to exercise faith was drastically affected. Man had lost his essential contact with his true source of faith — his God. As a result, he (man) became only a mere shadow of himself, as far as his faith was concerned. But the Lord did provide a redemptive plan, via Christ in the New Testament era, so that the status of genuine faith could be restored. Mankind can therefore once again come into that intimate relationship where he can “Know God and do exploits” including the miraculous.

The great Apostle Paul, who has startled all of humanity with his mind-boggling exploits as the greatest apostle that ever lived, declared: “..the life that I now live, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20). Paul was a noted intellectual of his day. However, when he was converted to Christianity (which he had previously hated with a passion) he became a “faith fanatic.” He went on to declare that in comparison to his faith life in Jesus, the philosophies by which he formerly lived “were all dung.” Paul also made the major declaration: “The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17). He saw faith as the very bedrock of live and living. Faith and life are therefore synonymous. Primarily in this context, faith is the essence of life. The better we understand and employ faith, the more fulfilling life would be. The key ingredient necessary for fulfilling life’s purpose is faith. “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world” (1 Jn 5:4). The challenges encountered by man in his lifetime on this earth are usually formidable and frightening. Generally, there is more frustration than elation, more pain than peace, more discouragement than encouragement, more failures than success, more defeat than victory. But with a life of focused faith, one can surely experience “the victory that overcomes the world.” Fear is the direct enemy of faith. Fear is essentially a spirit (2 Tim 1:7). This spirit creates a negative state of mind. If faith is not used to effectively counteract fear, then “the thing that you fear will come upon you” (Job 3:25). Faith or fear determines the quality of thoughts which dominates our hearts/minds.

This in turn determines the quality of our lives. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” (Pro 23:7). “Out of the heart are the issues of life” (Pro 4:23). Romans 10:17 informs us that subsequent to a redeemed life in Christ, one must maintain a life soaked in, and committed to, the principles of the Word of God, in order for a life of faith to flourish. The verse instructs that “faith cometh by hearing the Word of God.” While from a particular viewpoint, we may speak about faith in the superlative, the Bible does say “the greatest is love.” 1 Cor 13:13 states, “Now abideth faith, hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” Paul writes in 1 Cor 13:2 “Though I have faith to move mountain, and have not love, I am nothing.” To the Galatians, he also proclaimed, “Faith works by love” (Chap 5:6). Love therefore is the fuel that works faith. It follows that the believer who must live an effective faith life, has to live an effective life of love. Recently a noted US researcher found that the average American, who is known to lead a life of strong faith in God, lives at least seven years longer than those who do not. For African American, it’s fourteen years. This might be the greatest motivation for living by faith!

We must promote culture of life

THE EDITOR: You may publish this letter on the issue of abortion which I have written to The Hon Mr Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Dear Mr Manning, On behalf of my Commission, I write to thank you for your public support of unborn children. Your statement to the Media after your Cabinet meeting on Friday about the fact that your Government is Pro-Life and not Pro-Choice is the miracle that many of us have been looking forward to. That single statement has lifted the moral tone of our nation and makes it clear that a culture of death has no place in your Government’s 2020 vision. To achieve developed nation status our nation must bring to the market place a moral vision that is consistent with a culture of life — one that seeks to respect, preserve, protect, defend, and enhance life at all stages and in all circumstances rather than crush it. The fact that many nations currently have laws permitting abortion does not nullify the right to life which is a fundamental and inalienable right of every human individual and a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation. No one can “choose” to violate that right.

As the late Cardinal Hume said: “Moral choices do not depend on personal preferences and private decision but on right reason and divine order…Once we are convinced that we have the right of determine when life becomes human and ceases to be so…then we stand in danger of creating a society that is potentially self-destructive.” However, we must also promote the dignity of each woman in our society. We must not forget the financial, emotional, physical, spiritual, social and other needs of the pregnant mother. A culture of life must protect and promote the life of both woman and child. Issues such as poverty, employment, support for family life, housing, health and so on need to be addressed so that women and men will be able to bring their children into this world with the wherewithal to look after them. We need Government policies and programmes that would provide morally acceptable alternatives to abortion; better use our human and financial resources; and social policy initiatives which provide support to pregnant women for prenatal care and extended support for low-income women and their children.  As the latest UN Human Development Report on TT states, we need to do much more to eradicate poverty in TT and, as I have stated in my recent article in The Guardian, we need to put children and families first. The African proverb that it takes a whole village to raise a child, is pertinent here. Let’s empower our families to undertake their important duties efficiently.

Although there is enough scientific, religious, legal and philosophical evidence to prove that life begins at conception, the pro-choice/pro-abortion lobby continues to disrespect God’s creation by stating that what grows in a woman’s womb is a ‘potential human being’ and not a human being. One only has to look at the film by Bernard Nathanson entitled: “The SilentScream” (see www.silentscream.org) to see what harm is done to the unborn. Also of importance is the fact that 7 new studies conducted in the last 18 months, support previous studies showing the nature and impact of Post Abortion Trauma suffered by many women. The pro-choice lobby will have us believe that having an abortion is like going on a “Sunday School Picnic.” The fact is that all they have to offer is a dead baby, a scarred body and a wounded mind. We must continue to pray and be vigilant as many of those who are pro-choice/pro-abortion in TT are blacked by powerful US based groups such as Planned Parenthood and the Alan Guttmacher Institute. There is sound evidence that such groups have not only had a racist past, but that their work across the world continues to be underpinned by racist philosophies. One only has to read the books of George Grant: Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood, 2nd ed. (Franklin, Tennessee: Adroit Press. 1991) and Carlisle Peterson: The destiny of the Black Race: Planned Parenthood (1992), to realise that we cannot divorce the work of these organisations from the work of groups such as ASPIRE, the look group that is affiliated to these organisations and which is lobbying for abortion law reform in TT.

It is impossible to sever Planned Parenthood’s past from its present. Its legacy of lies and propaganda continues to infiltrate the black community in the USA. In its wake is the loss of more than 12 million lives within the black community alone in the USA. Planned Parenthood’s own records reflect this. “Abortion is the number-one killer of blacks in America,” says Rev Hunter of LEARN. “We’re losing our people at the rate of 1,452 a day. That’s just pure genocide. There’s no other word for it (Sanger’s) influence and the whole mindset that Planned Parenthood has brought into the black community… say it’s okay to destroy young people. We bought into the lie; we bought into the propaganda. “We’re destroying the destiny and purpose of others who should be here,” Hunter laments. “Who knows the musicians we’ve lost? Who knows the great leaders the black community has really lost? Who knows what great minds of economic power people have lost? What great teachers?” He recites an old African proverb: “No one knows whose womb holds the chief.” Grant observed in his aforementioned book “During the 1980s when Planned Parenthood shifted its focus from community-based clinics to school-based clinics, it again targeted inner-city minority neighbourhoods,” he writes. “Of the more than 100 school-based clinics that have opened nationwide in the last decade (1980s), none has been at substantially all-white schools,” he adds. “None has been at suburban middle-class schools. All have been at black, minority or ethnic schools.”

Recent statistics show that the situation remains the same today. Margaret Sanger sold Black Americans an illusion. Today the veil of deception has been removed but each year the highest award given by Planned Parenthood to individuals in that organisation remains the “Margaret Sanger Award.” Records of the speeches made by those who have received this award, including past presidents of the organisation, show clearly that they are, as they say, “Proud to walk in the footsteps of Margaret Sanger.” The legacy continues! I urge you and your Government to do your best to ensure that Planned Parenthood’s eugenic past is not unleashed on TT’s community today under the guise of ASPIRE. We should all welcome this opportunity to renew our resolve to defend life in every phase as a blessing from God, never to be sacrificed, never to be compromised.
May God continue to guide you in all endeavours.


LEELA RAMDEEN
Episcopal Delegate/Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Attorney-at-law and Education Consultant

Time for TT to recognise Stephen Ames

THE EDITOR: Over the past four years I have travelled to eight PGA tour events to support the Caribbean’s sole member of the PGA tour, Stephen Ames. From time to time, family members and a few other travelling and transplanted Trinis come out to support Stephen, but generally he is on his own. He receives no support or sponsorship from TT, even after his well publicised achievements at the highest level of the game. Stephen has led PGA tour events a number of times and almost won the prestigious Players Championship (unofficial 5th Major) last year. On these occasions the major networks’ attention focused on Stephen providing TT with much free publicity. This could be parlayed into valuable golf tourism for our twin island state, with the right plan supporting the venture. However, everything has to start with Stephen Ames being recognised and valued for his significant achievements at the highest level of the world’s most difficult and fastest growing sport. I would start by offering Stephen a diplomatic passport and appointing him a roving ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago. He should also be offered free hotel accommodation in Trinidad and Tobago for up to two weeks annually.

In this regard, there was a recent debate by letter writers as to whether Stephen Ames represents Trinidad or Canada when he tees it up on the PGA tour. I think both of them are right. Normally, in regular PGA tour events his significant Canadian sponsors insist that he be listed as Calgary, Alberta. Do you blame them, (and him) as real money is involved here. However, if you look at his listing in a major tournament, such as the PGA Championship (this week) he is listed as Trinidad and Tobago. I would like anyone reading this to realise that in Stephen Ames, TT has one of its few world class performers in the full glare of the American media, on a weekly basis. Yet officially, he is completely ignored by the Government and TIDCO. That says much more about those two organisations than it does about Stephen. A final word here, Stephen Ames has been residing in Canada for 12 years and it is likely that he will shortly be offered citizenship of that country. Let us more swiftly to recognise, reward and market Stephen Ames, in the land of his birth and young life, before we lose him to the frozen north.
Apart from being smart, it is the fair and right thing to do.

GREGORY WIGHT
Diego Martin

Staff noise at library

THE EDITOR: I use the library facilities on a daily basis. On Tuesday August 12, while there studying, two members of the library staff and one non-member were speaking loudly enough to disturb patrons. So in my good nice way I went across and asked politely for them to please lower their voices. The staff member responded crudely, telling me “boy gon with yuh book.”

Now tell me what should I have done in that situation? ‘Cuss him up,’ return to my desk or report to management?
Could you imagine a bank teller having a similar attitude towards customers and still having that job the next day?
Most importantly, what should management at the National Library do?


GREGORY JAMES
Port-of-Spain

Bursting the plastic bag project

THE EDITOR: Sir, with reference to an article written by Fr Peter De La Bastide in the Newsday of 9-08-03, on the negative effects of the profusion of plastics on our eco system, he quoted the Irish Government as having imposed taxes on the use of these bags, which eventually raked in millions to institute recycling programmes, beneficial to the environment. He later said that he clearly remembered the Supermarket Association being responsible for a plastic bag project, which was apparently short-lived. What is noteworthy here is the fact that the Irish Government effected their plans in 2002, but SATT’s project was implemented in 1997. It must also be made clear that it was the Irish Government that spearheaded the plans. Apparently, the SATT had this plastic project well under way with scores of people coming forward to manufacture these reusable bags, and up to today these bags are still being sold at market venues (more employment). But the crux of the matter is, what caused the failure of the project? Since I headed the project along with Bally Maharaj and Anthony Proudfoot, I am qualified to let the public know how it fell through.

Mr Mervyn Assam, the then Minister of Trade, never wanted or intended to help fund the programme, although we pleaded with him that this should be a joint effort. He never once cooperated with SATT. But we continued an aggressive campaign to the point where we introduced a 25 cents charge to every customer who did not return with their reusable bag which was originally given free of charge by supermarkets. This 25 cents was to be given to needy organisations. Then came the final blow by Mr Jerry Narace, at the time the owner of three Budget Foods outlets. Who announced at a press conference that the Supermarket Association members were attempting to rip off consumers, and that his outlets would not be charging for these plastic bags. Customers fumed, and the project met its demise. So, Fr De La Bastide, we as Trinbagonians have vision and ideas, but our politicians are the most arrogant in the world; they are the most destructive species in the country. The Irish Government has succeeded where we have failed, simply because our government and so-called leaders are all individualistic by nature. All Government ministers must understand that development is a cooperative effort. It must benefit the country, and must not be a forum for individual status.


DOODNATH MAHARAJ
Arima

Open letter to Crimestoppers

THE EDITOR: This is an open letter to Crimestoppers; Crimestoppers, you are not telling us something we don’t know. Yes we all know there is crime. It is plastered on the front page of every newspaper, featured on the news and spoken about with almost every breath we take. What I don’t understand is why Crimestoppers must spend in excess of one million dollars in advertising and promoting their organisation. Even more so, why are they spending money that they don’t have in their possession? Granted the government has promised a three millions dollar injection into the programme, but past experience has shown us that, those promises may not always materialise. And to add fuel to the fire, Crimestoppers has enlisted the aid of private enterprise in funding their programme. Crimestoppers in principle is an excellent programme but under this new drive and leadership, it has become a cold calculating organisation. Spending resources that could better be utilised elsewhere — I’m thinking a million dollars could have gone a long way in putting infrastructure and physical resources in place to fight the crime, even as reward money, but please not advertising and promotion. What sort of expertise is there heading this organisation. Hats off to Mr Martin George, as well known, highly proficient member of the bar I applaud your efforts and involvement in this organisation. However, with the recent appointment of your new  General Manager, I must question Crimestoppers judgement and desire to really make a difference. What expertise does Mr Dupigny have in the security or legislative sectors?

Additionally, how secure is the collection of rewards. Crimestoppers’ general manager has been quoted on many occasions as saying that “only the safest and most secure means have been put in place for the collection of any reward. Through alliances forged with Scotiabank and their operations Managers, Crimestoppers can guarantee utmost confidentiality.” I am sorry to say I find this very hard to stomach. In an island as small as this “where everybody knows your business” confidentiality is certainly not guaranteed. Especially not with certain sectors of the banking community coming under scrutiny for alleged involvement in most of these kidnapping cases. Crimestoppers, you have the support of the people, you don’t need to spend unnecessary money to promote your organisation. I am hoping that the above issues will be addressed and in so doing help in moving Crimestoppers forward. I wish your organisation continued success.

RICHARD OUDIT
Valsayn