The Integrity Commission is unlikely to stay in its present form, if it remains around at all, Attorney General Glenda Morean, told the Senate on Tuesday evening.
She said the Integrity Commission would either be “restructured” and “re-engineered” or even completely replaced by a new body, the Anti-Corruption Commission. Disclosing the Government, through the UNDP, had hired a former Commissioner of the Hong Kong Commission Against Corruption as a consultant, she said his report was now before Cabinet which would select one future for the anti-bobol body. Morean explained: “He recommended, firstly, a new anti-corruption commission to be established as in anti corruption legislation. There would be three elements to stop corruption — enforcement of laws against corruption, prevention of corruption by eliminating opportunities and prevention by public education and support. “The second option is that the Integrity Commission could be restructured, re-engineered to be the country’s anti-corruption authority, leading all three elements against corruption.”
Morean then justified the cost of the controversial Piarco Airport Commission of Enquiry, asserting: “Money spent on corruption enquiries and Commissions of Inquiry is money well spent, better than the $1B on the Airport expansion or the $21M paid to one man for using his influence. We can no better spend money than to root out corruption.” Morean also said: “The Government will spare no expense to deal with corruption. Not just bringing those guilty of impropriety to justice but putting in place measures to prevent corruption from occurring. It is costly but the Governent can spare no expense to do so. We cannot afford what transpired in the reign of the last (UNC) government to happen again in Trinidad and Tobago”.
Noting the Government had hired forensic investigator Bob Lindquist to probe and report on allegations made against WASA, Morean said: “When the report comes, the report will be brought right here (Parliament). The PNM has no sacred cows.” She said the Government would deal with anyone committing acts of impropriety, whichever side of the House that they sat on. Senate Opposition Leader, Wade Mark, interupted Morean to ask why after 18 months, there were no available forms for parliamentarians to declare their integrity to the Integrity Commission under the Integrity Act. Morean replied: “The forms have been prepared and are being revised by the Legislative Review Committee (of the Office of the Attorney General).”
Former Attorney General, Ramesh Maharaj, has dismissed Attorney General Glenda Morean’s proposal to alter the Integrity Commission as a ploy to prevent scrutiny of the affairs of government ministers.
Saying the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 already empowered the Integrity Commission to investigate suspect officials, Maharaj said that instead of trying to amend this body, Morean should simply lay the integrity declaration forms in Parliament for politicians to fill out and be subject to scrutiny. He said under his watch, the form had been approved by the Attorney General, Legislative Review Committee of the Attorney General’s Ministry, Legislative Review Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet, the Integrity Commission, and finally Parliament where it had been laid in 2001 but had lapsed. “All she has to do is re-lay it,” said Maharaj, explaining the process would take just five minutes.
Maharaj declared: “Although since December 2001 the PNM Government has spent $30 billion with allegations of corruption, the Integrity Commission is disabled from scrutinising the bank accounts of ministers because of the absence of these forms”. He accused the Government of betraying the population. He said: “The PNM in Opposition voted for the Integrity Act 2000. Rowley, Manning and Imbert had praised the Integrity Act for giving even more power to the Integrity Commission than what the Attorney General (Morean) is now talking about. “The new Integrity Commission has wide powers to prevent Ministers suddenly getting rich, to declare the assets of themselves and their spouses, to have wide powers to investigate the bank accounts and dealings of Ministers, to prevent conflicts of interest by Ministers and influence peddling.” Maharaj slammed: “But the action of the Government is for Ministers not to have to declare their assets. Since the PNM took office no one has declared their assets. The Integrity Commission is obstructed. Morean knows she can’t remove or modify the Integrity Commission without a parliamentary special majority. She knows she is blowing in the wind.”
WITH mixed emotions, retired school teacher Danae Persad hugged her relatives after a High Court judge did not impose a custodial sentence on her for causing the death of a 23-year-old man by dangerous driving two years ago.
However, Persad, 53, appeared speechless after Justice Prakash Moosai, in the San Fernando High Court, instead disqualified her from driving or holding a driver’s permit for the next 15 years. Commenting on the sentence, Persad told reporters, “I am pleased about what happened in court today, but I am extremely sorry for causing the accident.” Justice Moosai commented that he believed the accused was filled with genuine shock and remorse about the incident. The judge said he believed Persad had taken the basic steps in the emergency situation, but sadly, the accident still resulted in Pharai’s death. “Prison will seem to serve no purpose,” Justice Moosai said, adding that the situation was not aggravated by drunken driving, drugs or excessive speeding.
On Tuesday the retired home economics teacher pleaded guilty to driving dangerously which caused the death of Ed Pharai, a machinist, on the morning of September 5, 2001. The accused had just driven away from her house on Solomon Street, Princes Town and some distance away to avoid a collision, she swerved into an open yard where she struck Pharai, of Cedar Hill, Princes Town, who was awaiting transportation to go to work. Persad said the deceased’s wife had greeted her when she saw her after the fatal accident, and did not believe she bore a grudge against her. Persad’s husband said Pharai’s father had refused to speak with them. Defence attorney Prakash Ramadhar told the court that the accused, who had not driven a vehicle since the day of the fatal accident, was never prosecuted for any driving offence nor was she previously involved in any vehicular accident.
DOCTOR Anirudh Mahabir, the United National Congress “bombshell” candidate contesting a seat in the San Fernando City Council at the upcoming Local Government elections, dropped his own bombshell during a campaign meeting in Gasparillo on Tuesday night, when he told party supporters to vote for the PNM.
A stunned crowd went silent not knowing how to respond to Mahabir’s Freudian slip of the tongue: “So when you go out on July 14, vote for the PNM,” Mahabir said. Standing at the podium before a fairly large crowd at Gasparillo Junction, Mahabir tried to laugh off the mistake then retracted his comment saying, “Vote for the UNC.” The crowd which numbered roughly 1,000 supporters sighed, “Ohhhhh….no.” For the UNC Gasparillo supporters, Mahabir’s mistake seemed like deja vu. It was on the same UNC platform and at the said venue in Gasparillo Junction during General Election campaign of 2000 when then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday made the political “gaffe” of the campaign, if not of his life, by boldly telling UNC supporters to vote for the balisier.
The unintentional error seemed to have returned to haunt this Local Government election campaign of the UNC. Mahabir, who is contesting the Cocoyea/Tarouba districts, was announced as the UNC’s “bombshell” candidate during the official launch of the party’s election campaign two weeks ago, at Screamers car park in Gulf View. Mahabir, a specialist eye surgeon, read from notes as he delivered his maiden political speech at the Gasparillo meeting. He accused the PNM of building blocks of support in San Fernando by building houses. If the UNC is voted in control of the corporation, Mahabir said, that project would be stopped. “If we don’t, no way we’re going to win San Fernando again,” Mahabir said. As he ended his address with a call for supporters to send a message with their votes that the UNC was still “alive and cooking”, Mahabir said, “and when you go out on July 14, vote the PNM.” Panday had not arrived at the meeting when Mahabir’s faux pas was committed and seated at the head table were MPs Gillian Lucky (Pointe-a-Pierre) and Dr Adesh Nanan (Tabaquite). Elections Officer of the party Dr Tim Gopeesingh chaired the meeting. The broadcast was carried live on a radio station.
Director of the Bakers’ Association and owner of Linda’s Bakery, Maraval, Tom Chin Fatt, has described statements made by Minister of Legal Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis, that bakers have not kept their promise to lower the price of bread, as “misinformed.”
Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Chin Fatt stated that Linda’s Bakery, as well as a number of other bakeries around the country, had reduced their bread prices. “So we don’t know what she is speaking about,” he maintained. Earlier this year, National Flour Mills (NFM) reduced the price of flour by 22 percent as a result of rising prices on the international market. This increase saw local bakers raising their prices by as much as ten percent. However, global wheat prices eventually fell and bakers were ordered to reduce their prices.
The Minister revealed that in May the Bakers’ Association had given the assurance that the prices would be reduced. She maintained that she was not satisfied that this promise had been kept. However, Chin Fatt disagreed with this. “All we are doing is trying to survive like everyone else,” he said. He noted that his bakery had reduced prices on some items, however, it was impossible for them to reduce the price on all flour based products, since they are still faced with numerous expenses. He said, “although the price of flour was reduced, it is now 12.8 percent more expensive than when the year started.” He said other costs, such as security had gone up.
A special Personal Identifi-cation Number (PIN) will in the future replace all other forms of numerical identification currently being used in TT including passports and identification cards. PIN numbers are already being included on new birth certificates. “The number will be issued from birth to every citizen and allow them easy access to government services,” said General Manager of the National In-surance Property Development Company (NIPDEC) Margaret Thompson yesterday as she addressed the launch of the Ministry of Legal Affairs Free Birth Certificate Programme at Crowne Plaza.
The PIN number will be issued through the Population Registry System (PRS) in the office of the Registrar General. Thompson said NIPDEC hoped to incorporate data from other areas — Immigration, Board of Inland Revenue, National Insurance Board and Elections and Boundaries Commission. The next step is the generation of PINs for the Immigration Department for citizens of TT who were not born here. The idea for the Population Registry System developed from the Health Sector Reform Program-me which proposed a PIN for citizens to access benefits from the National Health Insurance Scheme. Thompson said initial analysis found that basic information for the issuing of a PIN fell under the Civil Registry Division (CRD) of the Registrar General’s Office. Cabinet decided that a Population Registry System should be established utilising information from Civil Registry.
NIPDEC was chosen as the consultant to implement and monitor the PRS, and Fijitsu-ICL was contracted in 1999 to supply and install software for the PRS. Minister of Legal Affairs Camille Robinson-Regis said the introduction of the free birth certificates programme is more than just a $25 relief. The Minister said it is a mechanism for stopping late registration and non-registration of births and assisted the most vulnerable in society. The registration of births for the period 1984-2003 is the first phase in the programme and emphasis is on children preparing for School Entrance Assessment in 2004. Free birth certificates for the rest of the population will be available next year, and there are plans for marriage and death certificates to be issued electronically.
Robinson-Regis said computerisation of the CRD is expected to reduce the error rate by 90 percent compared with the manual system because the new system automatically checks and validates data during the electronic registration process. As TT prepares for participation in the Caribbean Single Market Economy by 2004, she said the PRS will facilitate easy travel between countries “through the use of electronically readable photo ID.” Robinson-Regis said this will be possible with the establishment of a reputable data base for easy access to TT’s National Security System.
OKLAHOMA CITY: An Oklahoma man arrested on suspicion of beating his wife faced a year in prison and a fine. But when he spit in an arresting officer’s face, he got a life sentence instead, officials said yesterday.
John Carl Marquez, 36, was convicted of “placing bodily fluid upon a government employee,” a felony that can carry a life sentence because of the possibility of transmitting a potentially deadly disease. State judge April Sellers White sentenced Marquez this week even though Marquez and the officer tested negative for any communicable disease. Marquez also was convicted of assaulting a police officer, and a jury recommended the maximum sentence because he had previous convictions. Marquez, arrested several months ago, could have received one year in prison and a $3,000 fine for wife beating, according to the Creek County court clerk’s office. His lawyers said they plan to appeal.
OPPOSITION Leader Basdeo Panday has likened the Local Government elections to the French Revolution of 1789, accusing Prime Minister Patrick Manning of behaving like a “King” in the management of the country’s affairs.
Incidentally, the date for Local Government elections also coincides with France’s National Day (July 14), which commemorates the start of the French Revolution. Panday told a meeting in Gasparillo on Tuesday night, that polling day must be an auspicious occasion for UNC supporters. Panday, perhaps for the first time, devoted an entire hour-long address to accusing Manning of favouring supporters of the PNM. He said Manning cried “crocodile tears” during a meeting in Chaguanas last Friday, lamenting the fact that the PNM was not attracting more people of East Indian descent.
A visibly upset Panday said he was troubled by the perpetuation of racism geared at the East Indian community. With anger etched clearly on his face, Panday described as “distasteful”, Laventille East/Morvant MP Fitizgerald Hinds’ outburst in the House of Representatives last week Wednesday, in which he (Hinds) described Opposition MPs as a hostile group of recalcitrant minorities. Panday said he was justified in calling upon UNC supporters to liken Local Government Election day as a day of liberation, “just like the French did.” “And you all must get rid of King Manning, who thinks he has a divine right to rule,” Panday told the small crowd that had gathered. In obvious reference to the French people breaking open the jail gates of Bastille (a jail fortress built by the French King), Panday told supporters that July 14, like in France, should be Bastille Day in Trinidad and Tobago. Panday reiterated, “Vote out King Patrick on Bastille Day. It will mark a new era of Government by all the people.”
Effective October 1, 2003, holders of British passports will be prohibited from entering the United States without a visa unless they can present a machine-readable passport (MRP) at the US port of entry, otherwise a non-immigrant visa is required. This includes all categories of passports: regular, diplomatic and official.
A MRP has biographical data entered on the data page according to international specifications. The size of the passport and photograph, and arrangement of data fields, especially the two lines of printed OCR-B machine readable data, must meet the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Document 9303, Part One. Britain is one of a group of 27 countries, which include Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Switzerland among others, that are part of a Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) which enables citizens of those countries to travel to the US for tourism and business for 90 days or less without requiring a visa. However, this new policy requires that nationals of these countries change their passports to become machine readable or acquire a visa. Families and groups who want to enter the US under the VWP will need to obtain an individual passport for each traveller, including infants. MRPs generally have biodata for only one traveller in the machine-readable zone. As a result of this, families travelling as a unit may be denied visa-free entry into the US if the biodata for only one traveller is machine-readable.
No reason was provided for this new policy since no information was forthcoming from the US Embassy for TT. Instead, Newsday was advised to log on to the embassy’s website for information. When contacted, Phillip Everest, Communications Officer for the British High Commission, revealed that they had already been informed of the new policy. However, he could give no reason as to its initiation. Instead he noted that it was a matter for the US authorities. “I have no comment on why this new policy was implemented,” he stated in the telephone interview. “It is their decision and they have their reasons.” When asked if this new policy would in any way affect relations between the US and the UK, Everest expressed his belief that it would not. “There is no question of the US and the UK not still being allies in light of this decision,” he maintained adding, “it is simply an change in policy.” Nonetheless, he did agree that it could cause some inconvenience for individuals who will be forced to acquire new machine-readable passports. However, he noted that the British High Commission had already begun to issue MRPs. He believed that the US would allow persons a grace period to acquire the new passport.
“There is a need to regulate what is happening at the library” agreed TTUTA President Trevor Oliver, as certain activities have been occurring within the past few months that are unhealthy for a place of learning.
However, he is not in agreement with schools being labelled, as it provides society with a bias against the students attending these institutions. Oliver was speaking to Newsday on the matter of a ban being implemented by the National Library which prevents students of six schools in and around POS, entry into the facility unless they are being accompanied by an adult or teacher. While he is in agreement with the need to regulate what is going on, Oliver believes that dialogue between the school principals and library authorities can help to solve some of the problems. He described the library as a place where people can “sit quietly and read,” in addition to accessing computers. Oliver stated that he was happy that it “was not a total ban,” but admitted that the request by the authorities at the facility was a reasonable one.
Some degree of discipline can be instilled in students using the facility, stressed Oliver, so that the educational development of these persons will serve enhance the library’s reputation. When Newsday contacted principals of the schools who were “blacklisted,” we were told that they were not willing to comment on the matter or that they were not speaking to the media. When Newsday contacted Debbie Goodman, Public Relations and Marketing Manager at the National Library, she would only confirm that the ban had been implemented.
