THE Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) will today begin an official inquiry into the improper inclusion of 27 names on the Preliminary List of electors for the July 14, 2003 Local Government Elections.
The Commission yesterday said contrary to information at an EBC press conference last Wednesday, the Commission discovered two persons made objections concerning 30 names which appear on the preliminary list. The objection was made at the San Fernando/Debe/Penal office. Chief Elections Officer, Howard Cayenne explained that the objections were lodged since May before the period of electoral registration began on June 3. He said the EBC looked into the matter, since objections can be made any time before the published deadline, which was June 9. However he said only three names were found to be properly included on the list. As a result the Commission said an official inquiry will be undertaken today, as required by law, concerning the remaining 27 names. The Commission said the objectors have been summoned to the inquiry.
A 57-year-old Debe father of three was not in a celebratory mood on Father’s Day yesterday as his house was almost completely burnt to the ground due to what he claims was a faulty electrical supply.
Indar Persad, of 63 Ramai Trace lamented: “This is the hardest day. We have nothing today, and I have no place to sleep.” Persad’s home was gutted shortly after midnight Thursday after neighbours saw sparks on the light pole connected to his house. The canefarmer said he could only look on helplessly as the fire razed through his house which he lived in for almost 30 years. While he said officials from the Trinidad and Tobago Electrical Com-mission (TTEC) had since visited him three times. He added that he was contemplating taking legal action if he was not compensated for his losses. “I am waiting to hear what they have to say. According to their response to what I have lost here, I will put the situation in a lawyer’s hands.”
TTEC has taken statements from him and neighbours regarding the fire and Persad said TTEC told him the remains would be inspected by their officers today. On Wednesday night, Persad was liming at a bar obliquely opposite from his house when he was alerted by the shouts of the bar’s proprietor, Ramdaye Lakhan. Lakhan said: “I saw fire on the lamp-post and within two minutes the fire spread across to the house. I started bawling out, “Fire!” and he (Persad) rushed out and all the other neighbours rushed out with their hoses.”
According to Persad, the fire spread quickly through his concrete and wooden structure, too overwhelming for water hoses to control it. He then turned his attention to his son’s car that was parked under the house. “The car was already on fire. I run behind the bamboo fence and started wetting it and around it. Eventually we were able to get close and push the car out.” The canefarmer said he had estimated his losses at $180,000, excluding some US$10,000 worth of machinery which his son, Stanley, 26, had in his downstairs apartment. Investigations are continuing.
SENATE Opposition Leader Wade Mark will temporarily relinquish his role as chief antagonist of Public Utilities Minister Rennie Dumas when the Senate sits at 1.30 pm tomorrow.
That honour will go to Mark’s Senator colleague Sadiq Baksh who will ask Dumas about the number of compost sites formed under CEPEP and what became of a plan developed by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to repair sewage treatment plants in the country. Mark will ask Dumas only if Government is taking steps to recover monies paid to WASA’s CEO, general managers and deputy general managers from March 2002 to January 2003. Baksh will also ask Works Minister Franklyn Khan about the status of reconstruction works at Sunset Cove, La Romaine. Mark has questions for Planning Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Energy Minister Eric Williams about the existence of a development plan for Port-of-Spain (which involves a relocated Parliament, Magistracy and Judiciary) and negotiations for Atlantic LNG’s Train Four respectively.
Debate will continue on the Anti-Kidnapping Bill, as well as motions by Independent Senators Professors Ramesh Deosaran and Ken Ramchand for live, televised parliamentary debates and a Technical University of Trinidad and Tobago. Opposition motions concerning the introduction of Equal Opportunity legislation, Government’s efforts to deal with terrorism, Government’s efforts to regulate the banking industry and deal with corruption in public office will also be debated. The UNC’s motion of no-confidence against Senate President Dr Linda Baboolal has yet to be reintroduced to the Order Paper. The motion was removed in April after the UNC said it was not ready to begin debate on it.
The Tourism Industrial Development Company (TIDCO) in collaboration with Pan Trinbago launched its Pan Yard Sensation at the Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars Pan Yard, Duke Street, Port-of-Spain on Saturday evening.
The launch featured music by Neal and Massy All Stars and Laventille Pashponics who played to a very appreciative audience made up of members of the Neal and Massy family and pan lovers. Before the sound of steel got going, there were addresses by Pan Trinbago president Patrick Arnold, Tidco’s chairman Brian Harry and the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Pennelope Beckles. Also present were Minister Eddie Hart, NCC’s Ainsworth Mohammed, chairman of Pan Trinbago’s Northern Region, Keith Diaz, and Clary Benn of the Unit Trust Corporation. Pan Yard Sensation proved to be just more than pan as both steel orchestras featured members of their community in song and dance. Pashponic featured the Laventille Warp Crew dancers while All Stars featured Malick Folk Perform-ers. Our photographer was on hand at “Hell Yard” on Duke Street and captured these highlights.
The Regiment yesterday convened a Board of Inquiry into the reports of assault on residents in El Socorro, allegedly by members of the Defence Force.
The Chief of Defence Staff has instructed that a full investigation be immediately conducted to ascertain if there was Defence Force involvement in the incident which occurred on Thursday evening. Towards this end contact was made with the affected persons who have volunteered to visit the Regimental Headquarters to give statements. All Unit commanders were called out by the Commanding Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment to assist with the investigation. According to a release from the Army, the reports have received the urgent attention and action of the Defence Force. As such, the Defence Force said it has no intention of tolerating any indisciplined behaviour by its members.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning was reported yesterday as having called for a probe into reports of some citizens in El Socorro that they were attacked and beaten by so-called members of the Defence Force. A release from the Communications Unit of the Prime Minister said the incident is reported to have occurred in El Socorro on Thursday evening. Manning said that based on the reports received he has called on the Minister of National Security, Howard Chin Lee, to launch an investigation into the matter immediately, and to report the findings by today.
THE National Carnival Commission (NCC) will assist St Lucia in training persons to judge Carnival competitions.
Under an agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia, the NCC will provide technical assistance to the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF), the State body which runs the St Lucian Carnival. NCC Chairman Kenny de Silva said in a release the assistance will take the form of workshops at which TT experts in design, making and judging of mas costumes, steelband and calypso will train St Lucians.
Hollis Ayers, a 27-year veteran of mas making is expected to host workshops next weekend in St Lucia on the judging of costumes and bands, including kings and queens, individuals and ole mas. Lyndel Archibald, Programme Manager of the CDF, said every year at the end of the Carnival season there would be complaints about the judges not knowing what they were talking about. Archibald described the workshops as part of the work being done in St Lucia to improve skills. St Lucia’s Carnival is July 21 and 22 this year.
GOVERNMENT is studying a proposal from Trinidad and Tobago’s women’s non-governmental organisations (NGO) to make the budgets of all its ministries more gender-friendly.
This was revealed by Community Development and Gender Affairs Minister Joan Yuille-Williams when she addressed a national consultation on the formulation of the National Gender Policy and Action Plan at the Hilton Trinidad on Friday. The Minister said Government has received proposals from several women’s NGOs which have “affirmed the need for gender budget analyses” and the need for analyses to focus on both revenue and expenditure at the national level. “The Government is deliberating a proposal of women’s NGOs to incorporate a gender perspective into the design and execution of the budget in selected Ministries. Having appropriate resources for programmes in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment is clearly a policy being effected by this administration,” she stated.
Yuille-Williams said given rapid changes in an increasingly globalised world, terms and conditions of trade and foreign investment have also come under the scrutiny of women. “A 1999 UNIFEM study of the Gender Impact of NAFTA on Trade in TT, while not conclusive, signalled the need for attention to be given to the terms under which private foreign capital enters the country and trade takes place. It is critical to determine whether such flows reduce poverty, displace domestic industry and consequently promote or undermine women’s empowerment,” she stated. The Minister added that legal remedies for violations of international labour standards must be enforced, especially to protect low income men and women employed in the services sector.
Yuille-Williams noted that over the years the Division of Women’s Affairs in her Ministry, has been the advocate “within and beyond the State” for attention to the gender dimensions of human development. She said one of the Division’s main roles has been local promotion of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Minister indicated that while under CEDAW there were grave liabilities for girls from the poorer social classes, “there are also troubling gender patterns emerging among boys from poor families”. Yuille-Williams added that the recommendations of the 2002 CEDAW report are being utilised by the Human Rights Unit of the Office of the Attorney-General, in collaboration with other government ministries, “to promote gender equality through policy action”.
THE NATIONAL Trade Union Centre (NATUC) has called for trade unions to unite to help build a strong and united labour movement.
The call was made as the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) and the Communi-cations Workers Union (CWU) formalise their split from the umbrella trade union body. Acting President of NATUC Rudranath Indarsingh said any division in the labour movement would only benefit employers and government. “On the eve of Labour Day, when we recognise the struggles of the past that were built on unity, we find two breakaway unions choosing to formalise the split in the labour movement. “There is no real policy difference to justify the continuation of this meaningless division, which only plays into the hands of the employer and the government.” Indarsingh called on all unions “outside the ranks of NATUC” to join them in building a united labour movement. NATUC has over 18 affiliated unions and represents almost 90 percent of the trade union movement. In recent years NATUC has represented the interest of almost 250,000 workers.
A TRINIDADIAN woman is reported to be making waves in the United States as an engineer.
Aneecia Payne, who received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineeering last December from the South Carolina State Univeresity (SCSU), has just completed a major project with fellow students and this has won high praise from all concerned. The young engineers, who are members of the SCSU chapter of the American National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), built a wheelchair ramp complete with petunias planted alongside it. This ramp will facilitate disabled Mary Johnson, of South Carolina, to get into her home.
According to Aneecia Payne, director for the wheelchair ramp project: “The mission of NSBE is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers and scientists who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community”. Aneecia, 21 is the daughter of Anstey and Helen Payne of Railway Road, California in Central Trinidad. She attended the Woodbrook Secondary and Couva Secondary Modern School before proceeding to South Carolina State University to further her studies.
On Wednesday, June 11, we published a photograph on our front page of startling dimension. The photograph showed two men about to kiss. It was taken minutes after the two men had been legally married in a civil ceremony in Toronto, Canada. This event occurred mere hours after the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision to redefine marriage in order to allow same-sex unions. The Court’s definition of marriage is no longer a union between a man and a woman but as a union between two people, male or female. This is a development of great significance that has clearly been seen by religious leaders in the country who have roundly condemned same-sex marriages declaring them to be against the teachings of their church and the moral code by which they live. A people in the street survey conducted by this newspaper also revealed the same response; ordinary citizens see this as a serious moral issue and, like the church leaders, do not support it.
By publishing this photograph on our front page we have been at the receiving end of criticism from some individuals using terms such as “disgusting,” “poor taste,” and various other uncomplimentary comments which, of course, they are entitled to do. We made no judgement on the issue. However, our role is not to bury our heads in the sand and keep out of news issues which we may or may not like, but to report to our readers what is taking place in this world of which we are a part. As far as we are aware, this is the first time that same sex marriages have been legalised in a Commonwealth country and one as close to us as Canada with whom we have many ties. We do not bury our heads in the sand because we are certain our society is aware there is a large community of homosexuals in this country. Our concern is with the legal aspect of this development, and whether it offends us or not should not be our main concern. Among those who referred to the photograph as being in very poor taste was Prime Minister Patrick Manning. What is the definition of poor taste? Poor taste is something that offends. Well we should be offended by a great many things in this country, not only the legalisation of same sex marriages. We should be offended if our Prime Minister holds meetings with alleged criminals and with the leader of an organisation that attempted a bloody overthrow of our legally elected government in 1990.
We should be offended by a Minister of government having his political campaign manager giving out CEPEP contracts. We should be offended by men who do not know the meaning of fidelity in marriage and see nothing wrong in having endless deputies and in fact boastinig about it. We should be offended by the reckless driving on our roads about which our police do nothing and which causes so many fatalities and injuries to our people. We should be deeply offended at the poor treatment that sick people receive in this country whether at the hands of doctors or at health institutions. We should be offended by the inability of the government to deal with the crime situation that has us all living behind bars in our homes, afraid to leave our houses after dark, afraid to let our children play in parks. We should be offended by the scandalous behaviour of our elected representatives in the parliament and their display of total disrespect for colleagues and authority. We should also be offended by the lack of leadership that they offer their members and the country at large. We should be offended by the abuse of children whether it is a baby cuffed to death or the rape of a young child or the kidnapping of a minor. We should be offended by the prevalence of domestic violence in the country and the battering of our women by the men who are supposed to care for them. We should be offended by the site of the homeless, the destitute, the drug addicts on the pavements of our country. There are indeed a lot of things in TT that easily come under the heading of poor taste. Our question to Mr. Manning is, what is he doing about it? Instead of describing a photograph such as the one we published in poor taste, Mr Manning should be concerned about the effect of a change in law that redefines marriage and which in the long run could have some effect on the stability of our society.
