While some may challenge the activity as being unnecessary, there is a point to note that it served us quite well as children; if not just to slow us down and give us cause for reflection. Back then it didn’t matter how much you protested, our mothers knew best.

Today, I am of the view that our nation is in need of a purge. As we enter this period of our national history, we are pained by the constrictions to our progress, the serious financial constipation, moral decadence and stomach-churning murders.

We have tried so many diets from the experts and naysayers, but there is some merit in applying the tried and tested occasional purge of our system, burdened as it is with a history of largesse and overindulgence.

I speak not of the routine call for a change in diet as administered by our political nutritionists, but a good doze of senna for the country, accompanied by a time for rest and reflection. This will definitely force us to sit down and contemplate our state.

We must challenge ourselves as a nation to do what is necessary, to reduce the harmful concoction of crime and moral decay, which are harmful to our consumption. Indeed, we must go deeper, beyond the dialogue and conversations to address the source of our malady and expel those elements that restrict us from operating efficiently.

We need to come clean with the reality of our situation before God and country and set ourselves the task, though painful, to cleanse ourselves in body, soul and spirit.

Although some among us have performed our religious duty of fasting and prayer, there is the urgent need for a national coordinated effort as a people to address the present state of our country.

I appeal to the Christian community not to be content with a few days of prayer and fast, but to improve their regimen in addressing the spirits of crime, violence and corruption, among others.

So my call is for the “Christian collective” to join the rest of the nation in a special 40-day holy fast that would culminate with the expected freedoms on Independence Day and beyond.

At the beginning of this Government’s term of office, I had called for a day of prayer and thanksgiving.

Now I am calling for a 40-day fast for the nation, a time of cleansing and a time when we can administer a “spiritual purge” to get rid of the undesirable elements that plague us. We have tried everything else, why not try the biblical method of securing guidance for a nation… “that the people would fast and pray, turn from their wicked ways and seek God” …so that “a remnant will be blessed and a nation will be purged of its sins.” Time for our nation to take a “spiritual purge,” Mr PM.

APOSTLE TERRENCE HONORE via email

We recognise the importance of partnerships in accelerating growth and we are now poised to leverage our combined teams and resources to produce even greater value for our customers in the Caribbean architectural coatings market.” He added, “ We are pleased to have all three Berger entities as new operating subsidiaries of the ANSA McAL Group and look forward to working with all Berger’s employees to execute on our vision.

Together, we will define the future of the paints and coatings industry in the Caribbean.” ANSA McAL is publicly listed on the TT Stock Exchange with market capitalisation of US$1.7 billion. Through its ANSA Coatings Limited subsidiary, the group has produced and marketed paints, coatings and materials trusted by customers for over 55 years.

LBOH is a privately held British company with equity-ownership stakes of 100, 70 and 51 percent respectively in Berger Paints Barbados Limited, Berger Paints Trinidad Limited and Berger Paints Jamaica Limited respectively.

The combined Berger Caribbean business has estimated net sales of US$35 million.

When asked about her thoughts on the team’s performance in Botswana, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Netball Association (TTNA) Dr Patricia Butcher said in an interview yesterday, “We asked the team to do their best and they went out and put on a good show in the first round of the competition.” After a 55-28 loss against Fiji and a 75-27 defeat to England, the TT girls managed to defeat Wales in the first round with a 36-32 victory and fellow islanders Grenada 76-35. However, a 40-31 loss against Cook Islands, in the second round, saw them miss out on the 13th position.

TT finished their campaign with a pair of victories – 51-40 over Northern Ireland and 53-44 over Wales.

Dr Butcher expressed feelings of promise for the team moving forward, adding that, although she was hoping that the girls would have won their second round game, “This was the girls’ first outing on the international stage and they gave it their best shot.” The tournament ended with New Zealand defeating Australia 60-57 to lift the coveted Cup. When asked about her expectations for the team moving forward she stated, “We have some good talent in that Under- 21 group, certainly the team will be kept in practice so that the girls will enhance their skills and so that we will have a strong senior team moving forward.”

Richards made the call on Monday at a press briefing on the grounds of the Golden Grove Maximum Security Prison in Arouca, where he and members of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) raised issues pertaining to the state of security within the prison system.

Richards said he was concerned by the minister’s failure to address issues of safety and security within the nation’s prisons and urged Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to revoke Dillon’s ministerial portfolio.

“While we do understand that he is very busy, he is busy doing nothing,” Richards said.

“We have been calling for a meeting with him for almost ten months now and we have yet to see or hear from him.

These issues need to be addressed especially within a prison environment where every action can result in either life or death.” Richards also questioned the allocation of funds within the Prison Service and called on the prime minister, who also serves as head of the National Security Council, to investigate reports of financial mismanagement.

“When national security allocates $6 billion every year and there is $2.5 billion in recurrent expenditure for wages, salaries and general upkeep, where does the difference go? We don’t have a judicial space at Golden Grove although that has been touted for years.

We don’t have, in our biggest most volatile prison, an alarm system.

I heard the prime minister talking about various crime prevention programmes, but I want him to know that at the heart of any successful crime initiative lies an efficient prison’s service.” Newsday attempted to contact Dillon for comment but was unsuccessful.

At about 12.45 am on Tuesday, Niomi’s worried mother Carol Antoine visited the Freeport Police Station and lodged a missing person’s report. Niomi is described as being of African descent, four feet tall and of brown complexion and wearing shoulder length hair.

She was last seen dressed in a long black dress and a pair of black sandals. Anyone with information on Niomi’s whereabouts is asked to call 800-TIPS or contact the police at 555, 999, 911 or any nearest police station.

A decision was made to postpone the meeting, called at 3.30 pm, since at that time, the Court of Appeal had not yet given its decision on an appeal by Government against a ruling last week of High Court judge Kevin Ramcharan which put a halt to the state’s plan to appoint liquidators and have the company wound up.

The shareholders met at the CLICO Box at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain yesterday with the specific task of appointing two additional directors – Carpenter and Reis – to the seven-member CL Financial board which at present has more government-appointed directors than those appointed by the majority shareholders.

Chairman of the Clico Policyholder’s Group Peter Permell said that Carpenter and Reis had given an undertaking not to offer themselves for election to the CL Financial board until October. He said that undertaking was an interim measure pending a full hearing of the matter involving the appointment of the provisional liquidator.

“In other words, it gives everybody some time because the four Government-appointed directors who are there remain in control…

so there is no shift in the balance of power. The Government remains in control until such time as a meeting is held to elect the two additional directors or a provisional liquidator is appointed,” Permell said.

The Court of Appeal, in a 6 pm ruling, gave government the green light to appoint two provisional liquidators to preserve assets of CL Financial, as it seeks to recover a $15 billion debt left from the 2009 bailout.

Speaking before the ruling, Permell said the appointment of a liquidator would be a stain on CL Financial.

“Once you appoint a liquidator, that sends all sorts of signals to the financial community and the economy of Trinidad and Tobago. This is not a parlour, as our attorneys have argued, this is a multi-billion dollar company that they are seeking to have wound-up. These are matters that you have to take very seriously and serious consideration has to be given, certainly by the judges in making their final decision,” Permell said.

Sinanan’s observations were made after he toured Chester Trace, Debe which, several weeks after the passage of Tropical Storm Bret, had not completely recovered as a large number of drains and culverts were still under water.

“The residents have contributed significantly to the problem,” Sinanan said, adding, “They admit that they filled the land and in doing so, they blocked most of the drainage and that is basically responsible for the problem that they are facing there. Yes the government has a responsibility, local government and the Ministry of Works, to go in and try to bring some sort of relief, but the problem there is a problem that was caused by the residents.” Speaking with reporters from atop an embankment built as part of the Debe to Mon Desir highway segment, he said the area’s hydraulic system had to be looked at before any work could recommence on that segment.

Sinanan said due to contractual obligations, government was obligated to complete work which had been started by Brazilian contractor OAS.

He also touched on the perennial flooding which occurs in Port of Spain saying there had not been any improvement in the underground drainage system for some time. He said high tides coupled with heavy rainfall usually led to flash flooding within the city and a temporary solution may involve the use of pumps while the long-term solution may be large retention ponds to store the water during high tides and release it when the tides receded.

Sinanan also sought to dispel reports that no work was being done on the major water courses in south Trinidad and cited works which were being performed on the Cuchawan river.

“A lot of work has been going on, the problem we would have had is the storm Bret, there is no way we could engineer for that amount of rainfall, however the problem here is the embankment that we see here, and if you look at the outflows, they are very small. We definitely have to do something about that but there is a river cleaning program going on and that have started a couple of months ago.” He also downplayed the absence of Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal from the tour saying the ministry had only decided on the tour two days ago and Moonilal sent a representative who brought a list of infrastructural work which needs to be done.

He was the father of a four-year-old boy.

Roodal was driving his car along Brothers Road when at about 5 pm, as he was passing Brothers Road Presbyterian School, lost control of the car.

The car flipped several times before coming to a stop at a nearby drain. Relatives described Roodal as a loving, jovial, helpful and hard-working person. “He would do anything to make an honest dollar,” said his mother who did not want to be named. “I will miss calling out his name in the morning. Every morning as I wake up I would call him, and he would answer back, ‘yes mommy’.” The woman said the last time she spoke with Roodal was a few hours earlier when he dropped her and his son off at Don Moore Junction so they could go to church.

An autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre in St James confirmed Roodal died from internal injuries consistent with a car accident.

While his 65-year-old father, who was shot in the back of the head, was pronounced dead at the scene, Jabari was still alive at the time and was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where the 25-year-old died hours later while undergoing emergency surgery. The double murder was the latest in a series of bloody incidents which left five people dead between Monday and yesterday. (See story below) According to reports, at about 1 pm, father and son who hailed from Snake Valley in Laventille, arrived at Picton Road to visit family after they received word that their loved ones had been involved in an accident hours earlier.

As Jabari drove in the direction of Pump Trace, several men surrounded his red station- wagon.

As he stopped the vehicle to find out what was going on, shots were fired and Fitzroy who was sitting in the front passenger seat slumped over to the right, his body being held up by the strap of the seatbelt.

On seeing his father being shot, Jabari jumped out of the car ran off. Gunmen chased after him, their guns blazing.

Jabari stumbled and fell along the road with gunmen standing over him as they pumped round after round into his body. They then ran off.

As residents contacted the police, several men who surveyed the scene, used their cellular phones to take photo and video images of Fitzroy and Jabari.

The images were later uploaded to social media.

Up to press time, no motive was established for the double murder. Autopsies are expected to be performed today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. Up to press time, the murder toll for the year stood at 279.

Devon Edwards,. a technician who is. from Malabar, is also. charged with two. counts of robbery. He. was charged over the. weekend and joins. Mohammed’s brother. Solomon Baksh, 54,. and Wayne Liverpool,. 25, as people charged. for the murders of Mohammed. and Vedesh. which were committed. on June 28.

Baksh and Liverpool. appeared in court on. July 17.

The bodies of Mohammed. and Subar. were found in the. former’s Azim Baksh. Trace, Malabar home.

Both had their throats. slit.

.