Hotel 21 follows the investigation of a persistent inspector of police as he is hot on the trail of certain suspects in a $5 million robbery.

The trail leads him to a converted farmhouse in Erin that is now known as Hotel 21.

The madam of the hotel played by the colourful comic Nikki Crosby attempts to convince the inspector that everything is normal at the hotel and nothing illegal takes place there. The workers who curiously are all attractive girls are merely “spreading happiness” and are farm girls.

The comedy never stops as it is Labour Day and major union officials are “celebrating” at the hotel as the inspector chases after the money which leads to unexpected turns and twists towards a hilarious and riveting end.

The play is directed by multi Cacique Award winner, director and actress Debra Boucaud Mason and features a stellar comic cast that includes, Nikki Crosby, Richard Ragoobarsingh, Aaron Schneider, Leslie- Ann Lavine, Ria Ali, Zo-Mari Tanker and the Bling (Sunny Bling), featured in his second major theatrical production. For more info visit RS/ RR productions on Facebook. Tickets available at all our advertised outlets.

“Banks are not price-fixing, and fees and charges are reflective of the cost for providing the services,” she said. Schnoor yesterday told the Joint Select Committee inquiring into finance and legal affairs at the Office of the Parliament, Port of Spain that bank fees and service charges “were adjusted” only three times over the last ten years. Some banks had no increases during the same period, and online and mobile banking options have remained free, she said.

For many fee categories, she said, “the inflation adjusted fee increases have actually been negative over the last ten years.” In preparation for the inquiry, Schnoor said, “because BATT does not collate or have knowledge of the strategic decision making process of any individual member bank, we engaged the services of an international accounting firm to collate information in aggregate on the industry.” Compared to similar services provided by banks in the region, Schnoor said, almost all fee categories in TT were lower. She noted that the survey carried out by the accounting firm found that fees and charges represent seven to 11 percent of total revenue of all banks, and the banking sector’s profitability per customer and per account has declined over the last ten years.

There were many reasons for the decline in profitability with the main reason being, she said, “tremendous increases in operating costs in all banks over the same period.” The firm also found, she said, that net interest margins in the banking industry are at their lowest levels in over a decade and all loan major categories, current interest rates are lower than they were a decade ago.

Deposit rates have also declined over the same period, she said, “this is directly due to a build up of liquidity in the sector.” She added, “As a reference point deposits have grown from $50 billion to now over $110 billion in the last decade.” She said that profitability in the banking industry has marginally increased “at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 1.2 percent over the last decade with declines in key metrics such as ROA (return on assets) and ROE (return on equity).

Schnoor said that over the past decade the eight commercial banks (BATT’s membership) have provided over $4.6 billion in taxes to Government and over $11.8 billion in dividends to shareholders, the majority being TT nationals. Asked if $4.6 billion in revenue over the past 10 years was not low given profitability, Schnoor said, that the banking sector is the second largest contributor to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the country.

Noting that it was important for clients to have access to information, she said, there was need for financial education and financial literacy

However, the best laid plans are easily destroyed by the ineptness of the inter-island ferry service.

Sailing schedules are altered at short notice to the chagrin of passengers who may be stranded either in Trinidad or Tobago.

The callousness of the managers of this service and the disrespect for the users is symptomatic of all past and present governments in their failure to plan and maintain a functional sea bridge.

The present system uses two passenger ferries for passengers, vehicles and light goods. Invariably, one or the other of the ferries is out of service and the passenger service is thrown into disarray.

On April 6, passengers and vehicles were forced to wait at the ferry terminal in Port-of-Spain until 11 am for a sailing that was scheduled for 6.30 am. Vehicles and passengers were only informed of the delay at around 6 am, after waiting in some cases since 3.45 am in the vehicle line.

The port management never saw it fit to inform passengers by way of the public media; plus, no signage was provided at the terminus and security officers had no information to share. Where tickets had been bought online, in this case one week before travel, the management could have provided information on the change in travel time at least 24 hours before through email.

The Tobago end was even worse as the sailing for April 11, at 4 pm, was cancelled again without any notification, public or otherwise, to ticketed passengers.

Consequently, passengers returning to Trinidad were forced to seek further accommodation after they had booked out of their rented apartments/hotels. Especially, as the Tobago terminal was locked, forcing people to sit on the streets outside.

Why has it been so difficult for all our governments since independence in 1962 to institute and provide a reliable ferry service? It should be likened to a road between Port-of-Spain and any other place in Trinidad in terms of the ease of getting there.

Fifty-five years later our ferry service is a dismal failure. Boats have come, boats have gone, while successive governments fail to get it right. Are we as a people so inept that we have chosen (four PNM, one NAR, one UNC and one PP) prime ministers through their parties to govern and they have successively failed to satisfy the simple need of a reliable ferry service? We as a people must demand that the Government solves the sea bridge problem now — not tomorrow or next year. If we do not demand performance from our governments we will get none.

ALBAN C SCOTT Woodbrook, PoS

Lochan pleaded guilty to the charges of warehouse breaking and larceny.

Prosecutor Cleyon Sedan told the court that at about midday on April 10, a business owner secured his warehouse along Farrah Street, San Fernando and left for the day. When the businessman returned at about 5 pm on April 24, he observed that the warehouse was broken into.

Sedan said a door was prised open.

Checks were made and $57,300 in equipment and other items were missing. Following investigations by PC Mohess, Lochan was arrested on April 5 and subsequently charged. He confessed to police that he along with another man stole the items over a period of days. Lochan said he sold the items on the streets.

Lochan who was unrepresented asked the magistrate to be placed on a bond so he could work to compensate the warehouse owner.

The magistrate declined his request. In reviewing Lochan’s criminal record Magistrate Antoine said he has 17 convictions over the last ten years.

Despite going ahead through a terrific free kick goal from Zachary Welch from 30 yards out on the half hour, TT conceded three second half goals. Houston got a 60th minute equaliser when Ulyses Jaimes struck. Houston kept pressing and got the go-ahead goal four minutes later thanks to Jake Crath. Jaimes added another in stoppage time to complete the 3-1 come-from-behind win for Houston.

TT were denied a chance of doubling their earlier advantage when Jean Heim McFee’s shot crashed off the upright in the 42nd minute.

TT , who drew their opening game 2-2 with Manchester City, played their final game last night against DC United.

The national Under-15s, coached by Russel Latapy, were placed in the toughest group with the academy teams of three established professional clubs from the UK and US. The other groups included the Cayman Islands national under 15 team, Cuba Under 15 team, Jamaican club Harbour View, La Ceiba of Honduras, Bahamas’ Tottenham Hotspur (who conceded 22 goals in their three losses) and Alchemy DSC (who conceded ten goals in two games).

Cavaliers Soccer Club qualified for the semi finals after they topped Group A, having to contend with IMG Academy,Cayman Islands U-15s and Alchemy DC.

TT head coach Latapy said, “Obviously it was disappointing to go down the manner in which we did after a bright start in the first half. Maybe we were unlucky with the post not to go further ahead. But then we gave up three second half goals that took the game away from us.

“But we’ve had two very competitive games and we go straight into our third match in four days on Friday (yesterday) against DC United and I am expecting another good exercise which is most important.”

The mall, built in 2005 by deceased former prime minister Patrick Manning, is the property of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC). Yesterday, Parris slammed the HDC for a lack of proper security and poor maintenance at the plaza. This is the third armed robbery at the mall this year. “I am shaken up by what happened but I am more alarmed and hurt by the fact that residents of Pleasantville can’t go the village mall and shop peacefully because of the escalating crime,” Parris said.

He called on HDC to implement better security measures at the busy shopping centre and spoke of a number of criminal activities that occur at the mall but often go unreported. Police reported that at 5 pm on Thursday, three gunmen entered the supermarket and announced a holdup.

They proceeded to rob the cashier and then ordered customers to lie on the floor and, “empty allyuh pockets.” The bandits later escaped with cash and jewelry.

During the ten minute ordeal, Parris said he prayed for his safety and that of the other customers some of whom were women. On March 25, Christopher Wells, 32, a barber of Hibiscus Drive, Pleasantville who was gunned down while sitting outside the barber shop at the mall. On February 14, truck driver Kern Joseph, 35, of Parakeet Boulevard, Pleasantville was shot dead at the plaza which is not far from his home.

“Customers and tenants alike feel like sitting ducks because when the plaza was built, Mr Manning built it with a certain amount of standards which included security.

But everything has fallen apart,” Parris said.

Newsday was told that for the past seven years security cameras installed on the perimeter of the mall have not been working despite many complaints to HDC. A tenant said: “Cameras don’t work, fire hoses don’t work, drains are not cleaned, something must be done because persons are scared to return to the mall. HDC head of Corporate Communications Maurisa Findlay said yesterday the armed robbery on Thursday was brought to the attention of the agency’s internal security.

“We have also spoken to the Ministry of National Security and will continue to have discussions with senior officers of the Southern Division to increase patrols in the area.” Findlay said while the HDC has security measures in place, store operators must also implement their own safety systems to safeguard their properties.

On April 28, former health minister Dr Fuad Khan told Newsday there was no conflict of interest in him holding shares in St Augustine Private Hospital Limited while he served in the People’s Partnership (PP) administration from June, 27 2011 to June 17, 2015.

According to the Certificate of Incorporation for the St Augustine Private Hospital Holdings Ltd, dated December 20, 2012, Khan is listed among 29 shareholders of the company. He is classified as a medical doctor and is listed as having 250,000 ordinary shares. Registrar-General documents dated October 26, 2007, list Khan as holding those shares since that date. Documents dated February 8, 2013; January 7, 2014; January 8, 2015; July 17, 2015 and July 14, 2016 also list Khan as a shareholder.

When Khan asked Deyalsingh if there was any increase to access to CT scans at the St Augustine Private Hospital, Deyalsingh replied, “I am aware that no minister of health who owns shares in a private facility, can sign a certificate under the Public Hospitals Act to issue to a licence to a facility in which they are a shareholder.

How can a minister owning 250,000 shares in a private facility in the first place be conducting operations in that facility and issuing a licence to the same facility that he has shares in?” He said under the Integrity in Public Life Act, “There should be an investigation.” Speaking afterwards with reporters, Khan said he had been a shareholder in the company since 1999. “I have always declared my interests to the Integrity Commission.

They have all the information there. Khan said as minister he recused himself from anything to do with the hospital and the chief medical officer dealt with those matters.

While he had no intention to file a matter of privilege against Deyalsingh, Khan said, “This is a silent attack on myself but I don’t believe it is coming from the PNM.” Asked if the attack could be coming from the United National Congress (UNC), Khan said he had certain information and would do his own investigations.

Earlier in the sitting, Deyalsingh said Government saved taxpayers $190 million on the Arima Hospital because of overinflated costs on the project under the PP.

He said the country owes Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi “a debt of gratitude” for that.

The level of human interaction, civility and common sense has virtually crashed in almost every community. A person can now be beaten worse than a dog for doing their job, or for correcting someone for their misbehaviour, or for even a slight scratch on a vehicle.

I thought we Trinidadians were supposed to be friendly, warm loving and hospitable towards each other, especially if there are foreigners looking on? Intolerance and violence have even invaded our schools to the point where we can watch girls and boys gone wild, fighting on YouTube. The thing is that people are going to blame the Government, the Opposition, cable TV, the Internet, the media generally, and not the man in the mirror, which is all of us.

We adults have failed in our responsibility by setting rotten examples of behaviour at home, in schools, and in public.

Manners, politeness and displaying good qualities are considered outdated or “old school” and who wants such a boring title. The only way this beautiful nation is going to see some change is when mature, respectful and law-abiding citizens do all in our power to make a difference, starting with our own actions on the streets and in communities across the country.

MARK HERNANDEZ via email

On Thursday at a press conference, Garcia placed blame for the errors on the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). In a statement to the media yesterday, Gopeesingh said Garcia has direct and total responsibility for the education sector and cannot “pass the buck” to a regional institution. He said the ministry has representation, at a senior administrative level, at the Barbados-based CXC and ought to have ensured the crucial examination was error-free.

“In fact, on the eve of the examination, Mr Garcia confidently assured that everything was in place for a smooth running of the test and that the ministry had played its appropriate role,” Gopeesingh said.

He said the ministry’s Division of Education Research and Evaluation and Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan, should have ensured an error-free examination.

He said the errors added further stress to the more than 18,000 students who wrote the examination and, “raised burning questions about the integrity of the examination process.” “Mr Garcia must apologise to the students and must launch a full and complete investigation into the obvious and critical failure of the ministry’s officials who serve at the CXC. This foul-up in the latest in a series under Mr Garcia’s watch, which have served to undermine and otherwise negatively impact the education sector in Trinidad and Tobago,” Gopeesingh said.

And so, steps must be taken to ensure there is no repeat of the kind of errors which affected Thursday’s Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination.

According to various accounts, three questions were defective.

While it is difficult to quantify exactly how the defects would have impacted students, it is not hard to envision how some students would have wasted time pondering over the flawed questions in vain. So preoccupied, they would have had less time to handle other questions.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for the simple removal of the three marks from the exam to evenly account for this kind of impact. However, in the circumstances it is probably the easiest remedy.

On the other hand, some might argue that the flaws did not have as adverse an impact as we have been led to believe.

In fact, they may have benefitted better students. Those students unable to break the backs of the questions may have opted to move on to others. This is the kind of prioritising which should be rewarded, not penalised.

But because the SEA is such an emotional issue we cannot afford to have such carelessness, even if it benefits smarter students or students with better time management skills. Students prepare for a long time and there is much expectation over their performance. The State should do what it can to minimise the great social pressures which are already in play, not contribute.

Judging from the accounts given by the Ministry of Education, however, it would appear the problem originated at the level of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). Perhaps as a precaution against leaks, examination papers are not opened locally but rather all checks are done by CXC officials abroad.

This means the State is only made aware of defects when it is too late.

Efforts must be made to ensure the system of checks in place at CXC is up to the task.

Because of the considerable trust placed in CXC’s hands it must be able to assure that its processes are watertight. If we cannot have confidence in CXC to prepare a faultless examination paper, can we depend on CXC to handle scores? To correct papers? To manage private information? CXC has lost marks and must now make up for it.

Aside from the issue of the examination script, other aspects appeared to have gone smoothly.

Administratively, the process — involving 18,000 students — seems to have been a success.

The ministry should be congratulated in this regard. However, CXC must be urged to improve its overall system.

The Ministry of Education should also look into a system of control that balances the need for confidentiality and for quality.

While it may be reluctant to impinge on the jurisdiction of the CXC officials, clearly there may be need for more cooperation.

Should it really be the case that the ministry does not see the examinations script? The National Primary School Principals Association and the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association should be consulted with a view to possible recommendations in this regard.

We also wish all students best of luck and remind them that — examination error or no — the SEA is just an examination.

It does not define worth and cannot limit any student’s true potential. We also hope there will be no errors when the time comes for results.