AMERICAN BUSINESSMEN in Trinidad and Tobago have been fully briefed on kidnappings and are taking all the necessary security precautions.

This was the word yesterday from Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy, Albert Nahas, when he addressed a news conference at the US Information Research Center. Nahas told reporters that all American and American-affliated companies doing business in TT are members of the Embassy’s Overseas Supervisory Committee which briefs them on any potential threats to their security, and American businessmen in TT are “security conscious.”

The diplomat said that despite the crime situation in the country, the US Government still believes TT provides a good climate for investment in several areas of the economy. He noted that after Canada, TT has the second largest per capita investment of American funds in the Western Hemisphere. Asked if the US Embassy was providing information to Government regarding the FW Oil- Trinmar/Soldado affair, Nahas said there has been an exchange of information but he could not discuss ongoing matters under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the US and TT.

US Ambassador Roy Austin slammed certain sections of the media for leading the population to believe the US and TT “were at each other’s throats” over the issue of withdrawal of American military aid to this country and the International Criminal Court. “You (media) should be peacemakers and not take positions that make life more difficult for people,” Austin stated.

UNC Senator Arnim Smith was forced into  embarrassed silence yesterday when Senate Vice-President Rawle Titus made it clear to him that he was a virtual “squatter” at Tuesday’s sitting and had no legitimate status as a Senator then.

Smith’s appointment had been revoked by President Professor Max Richards on  Tuesday, on the advice of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday. But Smith turned up for the sitting, becoming in parliamentary parlance a “stranger” sitting in a “senator’s chair.” The UNC leader had decided to appoint a doctor to speak in the debate on the Medical Board Amendment bill. Newsday understands that an instrument of revocation (of Smith’s appointment) along with an instrument of appointment of Dr Patricia Deonarine had been prepared and submitted to the Parliament. Deonarine did not show up to take the oath. Smith was there and Titus decided not to read the instrument of revocation, even though it did take effect. But none of this was known to most people in the chamber on Tuesday.

The first clue that something fishy had gone on yesterday was when Titus announced that the President had revoked Smith’s appointment on Tuesday and then the President had re-appointed him yesterday. Smith, who was seated in the VIP gallery rose and took the oath. There were bewildered looks from Government and Independent senators as well as members of the media as Smith went through all the procotol of a new senator, being led by Minority Leader Wade Mark to shake hands with Government leader Dr Lenny Saith, and Independent Senator Dr Eastlyn McKenzie. People were wondering what was really going on. But the stuff hit the fan when Smith made the mistake later on of referring to something that happened at  Tuesday sitting — at which he alleged Public Utilities Minister  refused to answer a particular question. “You were not a senator then,” PNM Martin Joseph taunted, but Smith was undaunted.

It was at this point that Titus felt constrained to put the recently re-instated senator in his place. “I tried to be as discreet as possible. We spoke with the leader of the Government in the Senate and as a result no mention was made of it,” Titus said in soft tones, almost as though he was sharing a deep secret. “Today I had to read it into the record because you were appointed as senator. Yesterday you were not a senator! If you were in the House, it was at the discretion, only of the Chair, and it was dealt with very discreetly…You cannot ask about matters of yesterday!” Titius stated firmly.

Mark told reporters later on that the UNC had acceded to the doctors’ request to have a representative speak on the Medical Board Amendment Act, but then the doctors  changed their mind. He said the withdrawal of Smith’s appointment was not supposed to take place but because of the “efficiency” at the President’s House, which acted immediately, things got “messed up.”  “Let me tell you that we have an very efficient President,” he said grinning broadly. He added that the UNC had grown accustomed to the last President taking a week before responding to requests. Robin Montano said the muddle as the result of “us assuming that the President’s House would continue to be inefficient.” Both men stressed that the mix-up was “no big deal.”

Joycelyn Ramsawak was yesterday still thinking of names for her three babies who were born on Monday afternoon, six weeks early at Mt Hope Women’s Hospital, Mt Hope.

Anticipating two girls and a boy, she had been thinking of naming her daughters Alianna and Alena. Instead she had two boys and a girl, each weighing four pounds. The 28-year-old housewife was undecided about what name she would retain for the girl, who is resting in an incubator at the post-natal unit. All three babies were doing well. She has not been allowed to hold the babies since they were born. They were placed in incubators because of mild respiratory distress. Doctors have not said when the babies would be discharged from hospital.

Mahase Ramsawak, a technician with Portable Works Ltd, was “shocked” when he heard the news of triplets but adjusted to the idea. “I feel I was more shocked,” said Joycelyn. Both parents have a history of twins in their families. Joycelyn was still in pain from giving birth to three babies via Caesarian section, and coughing or laughing caused it to intensify. Asked how they would cope with three babies, Mahase chuckled and said he expected support from “good neighbours” at Logwood Trace, Mafeking Village, Mayaro. The Ramsawaks have two other children, an 11-year-old girl and eight-year-old boy. Asked if they planned to have more babies, Mahase was quick to respond: “No, no.”

HIGH COURT judge Pamela Elder yesterday agreed to delay the sentencing of a man found guilty of three sexual offences after his attorney Nathaniel King requested that the court get a probation officer’s report on his client.

Santa Cruz resident Uric Smith was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of having sex with a female under the age of 14 by a nine- member jury in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court yesterday. Following a three-hour deliberation by the jury, the Judge asked the foreman if they had arrived at verdicts in the three offences. The foreman informed the judge that they had arrived at verdicts in two of the charges, but were originally undecided on one of the rape charges. The judge accepted a seven-two majority verdict of guilty.During the trial, the  court heard that sometime between November 1 and 30, 1998 Smith began having sex with the victim, who was 13 years old at the time. It was also revealed that the sexual relationship continued from December 1, 1998 — when the victim turned 14 — and ended sometime in May, 1999.

It was revealed that Smith, who was related to the victim’s half brother and lived in the maid’s quarters of the house would visit the teenager’s bedroom to have sex with her at least twice per week. The teenager told the court that she did not report the incident to anyone because Smith had threatened her. He also reportedly told the teen that he would report that her stepfather gambled and had sex with little girls, and he (her step-father) would be sent to jail. The teenager informed the court that she did not have consensual sex with Smith.

In August 1999, the teenager’s mother observed that her daughter’s belly was getting larger and took her to Mt Hope Medical Complex to have her examined. The examination revealed that the teen was pregnant. The teen then confessed everything to her mother, and a report was made to the Santa Cruz Police Station. On October 21, 1999, following an investigation, PC Narace and others visited Smith at his Santa Cruz home and arrested him in connection with the offence. He was later released and arrested again in December 1999 and charged for the offence. In his defence, Smith told the court that he never had sex with the teenager, and explained that she only made those accusations against him to try and explain her pregnancy. In his evidence in chief he also told the court that “I can’t say I am the father of the child.”

Following the verdict, the judge asked Smith if he had anything to offer the court in mitigation, and Defence Attorney Prince asked the judge to submit a request for a probation officer’s report on his client before passing sentence. The judge then granted the request and adjourned the matter to July 22 for sentencing. The State was represented in the matter by attorneys Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo and Alexander Prince.

Leader of the Opposition, Basdeo Panday, claimed that sensitive UNC party documents had been stolen in an armed robbery, just days before the July 14 local government elections.

 He was addressing a party rally at El Dorado on Tuesday night. Panday said: “Last night, Garvin Nicholas, senior legal advisor to the Leader of the Opposition was held up at gunpoint as he left Rienzi Complex and arrived home. His car and his computer were stolen and all the UNC files he had in his car.” Panday said while the car and computer had value to the robber(s), he could not understand their interest in the UNC documents. He listed persons who had got CEPEP contracts including relatives of government ministers and PNM party activists. Saying the PNM knew that in CEPEP it was involved in a “humungous act of corruption,” Panday said this was the reason the ruling party was now trying to change existing anti-corruption legislation. 

“The Attorney General announced the PNM will abolish the Integrity Commission, which was also confirmed by the Prime Minister. They will put in its place a Corruption Commission — under Bernard? under Deyalsingh? — to avoid the consequences of the vast corruption in which they were engaged.” Saying the PNM, unlike the NAR and UNC, had never before brought anti-corruption legislation, Panday accused the PNM: “It will be legislation to neutralise the corruption fuction so they can’t be brought to justice.” He slammed the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport expansion, saying Commission chairman Justice Clinton Bernard had so far earned $700,000, while Clive Phelps, his son and his law firm had earned a total of $1.2 million, and attorney Theodore Guerra and an associate had together been paid over $1 million. “That’s how they run commissions of inquiry!”

Panday criticised Prime Minister Patrick Manning for having asked other Caricom governments to urge the Opposition to implement the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as this country’s highest appellate court. Panday mocked: “Have you ever heard of that?! Don’t put Owen Arthur and PJ (PJ Patterson) in trouble. Come and talk to me yourself. Do you think Owen Arthur and PJ are stupid?” Casting doubt on the CCJ, he said the Caribbean did not have an enviable record of dealing with discrimination, saying member States had stayed quiet and let Forbes Burnham rape Guyana. Panday concluded by urging voters to follow the example of Jamaica, whose voters had recently given the Opposition JLP a victory to send a protest to the ruling PNP.

Following the High Court ruling last month where the 2003 Carnival results were annulled, National Carnival Commission (NCC) Chairman Kenny de Silva told Newsday yesterday that the NCC Board could not pay out any prize monies as the court ruled that there were no winners.

This was in response to questions raised on the status of the 2003 prize monies. The National Carnival Development Foundation (NCDF) has since written to the NCC, recommending that the prize monies be distributed evenly amongst all participating bands per category. Secretary of the NCDF David Mc Kell, stated in a release yesterday that it was a reasonable position for the NCC to take since it would provide some long needed financial relief for a large number of bands given the present situation. But de Silva did not want to take any decision personally on the matter. He said: “The recommendation by the NCDF, along with a number of other recommendations will be tabled today at board level and the NCC board will decide what to do with the monies”.

The NCDF viewed the circumstances that led to the annulment of the results as “most unfortunate,” and blamed the National Carnival Bandleaders Association (NCBA) for the judging debacle. They said the NCBA failed to assist the NCC as requested, after an earlier court judgement in favour of the latter to run the Carnival. That decision has since been appealed by the NCBA, and is awaiting hearing. In light of this factor and also because of the time of year, the NCDF is recommending that the NCC start training judges, identify location of production facilities for legitimate small and medium bands, open up financial lines of credit for small and medium bands, and make provisions for the training in accounts, management and marketing for bands. That too will be discussed  at the NCC board meeting.

INDEPENDENT SENATOR Professor Ramesh Deosaran yesterday declared that parliamentarians are “prisoners of the mass media” in Trinidad and Tobago. Piloting a motion in the Senate for live, televised, parliamentary debates, Deosaran lamented that too many times much of what transpires in Parliament never sees the light of day in either the print or electronic media.

The Senator explained that while the media has a crucial role to play in nurturing the nation’s democratic processes, Parliament cannot be “subject to the vagaries of media reporting. There is a need to remove that large veil of ignorance from the public’s eye.  Deosaran said a recent survey by UWI’s Criminology Centre revealed that only a mere one percent of what happens in Parliament actually reaches the general public.

He observed that unlike the media, the role of parliamentarians was not a commercial one because “we are here about analysis and decision-making of the highest kind.” Deosaran lamented that under the current system of media reporting in Parliament, the population has very little facts upon which to draw sound conclusions. Deosaran said while not all parliamentarians’ contributions were “gems of wisdom,” they should never be “prisoners of the privately owned media”.

The Senator added that such debates were critical to the realisation of Government’s Vision 2020 and of a society where Parliament is transparent and accountable to the people. He said the debates would “create a better democracy and a more informed citizenry.”

DR ANIRUDH MAHABIR, the United National Con-gress’ candidate whose letter of resignation was revealed by Health Minister Colm Imbert on Tuesday, yesterday denied telling the media that he had not resigned as Head of the Department of Ophthal-mology at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Mahabir, bandied about as UNC’s “bombshell” candidate, reportedly told the media on Monday that he had not resigned. Imbert, attending the sod-turning ceremony to commence construction of the $33.6 million expansion of the San Fernando General Hospital, made it a point of duty to carry a copy of Mahabir’s resignation. The minister also provided the media with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Hamid O’Brien’s reply.

Asked yesterday to clarify the issue of his resignation, Mahabir said: “I never told the media I did not resign; I do not wish to comment on it.” Mahabir told Newsday that the question of his resignation did not arise because as far as he was aware, public service regulations takes effect only upon election of the public servant and upon his swearing in. O’Brien has written to Mahabir informing him that the authority to accept retirement had been delegated to the Public Service Commis-sion.

Mahabir yesterday took issue with statements made by Prime Minister Patrick Manning that he (Mahabir) had no place in politics. “For the Prime Minister to say this, means that I’m no barren fruit or just dirt and rocks, but a force in Tarouba/Cocoyea to reckon with,” Mahabir said.

Two weeks after Minister of Legal Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis, called on consumers to boycott chicken in light of an alleged increase in prices, Nutrimix Feeds Limited has lashed out at the Minister, blaming Government for the increase.

In a full-page advertisement yesterday, the company noted that the current political campaigning has earned the sobriquet, “the silly season” in one area. “The area is the field of chicken prices,” the advertisement stated, “a handy and volatile issue that some politicos are whipping up to gain attention and votes.What they are suppressing and failing to disclose is that Government is to blame.” The advertisement went on further to describe certain “increases” which it maintained Government and its agencies had inflicted on the “dependable and stable chicken industry.” Among these was an increase of 12 percent in land rental from Plipdeco, a 14.3 percent increase in the minimum wage for an industry which was said to employ thousands, a 4.2 percent rise in natural gas, as well as a 9.95 increase in electricity.

It was also noted that as a result of an escalation in the level of crime in the country, notable robberies and kidnappings, businesses have been forced to step up their security expenditures by approximately 300 percent.  Additionally, Nutrimix Limited cited increases in plastic and packaging materials, insurance, lubricants and ocean freight, which is used to transport feed and ingredients.  Grain prices were said to have shown an increase as well, with corn rising by approximately 25.77 percent and soybean meal by 41.13 percent. Another local poultry supplier maintained that these increases did and continue to have an effect on the industry. However, he noted that the poultry industry was not the only one being affected since other businesses would also feel the pinch that increased security, insurance and freight costs among other things would cause. “We need to be able to handle charges and offer employment,” he said. He further expressed his belief that chicken prices had stabilised within the last week. In fact, he stated that the prices had “increased to what they are supposed to be,” and would very likely remain this way for some time to come. When contacted, Nutrimix Vice President, Ronnie Mohammed, noted that the company had opted to place the advertisement after being “viciously attacked” by the Minister on a political platform. “We also wanted the country to be aware that we are not responsible for the increased prices,” he added.

Mohammed reiterated that within the last two weeks, chicken prices had shown no increase. However, over the extended period of the past two months, the price had gone up due to a number of factors which, he explained, were listed on the advertisement. “All we are saying is that diplomacy should apply and that statements with respect to boycotting an entire industry should not be made. Discussions should be held with all the concerned parties to determine the facts first,” he asserted. “If a price increase is not justifiable, then such statements can be explained. However, we provided the necessary invoices to support the facts,” Mohammed said. The price of chicken presently stands at $6 per pound, he added. When Newsday attempted to contact Robinson-Regis at her offices, we were informed by her secretary that the Minister had requested a complete report from the Consumer Affairs Division and would make a statement forthwith.