Khan said this information was contained in the Integrity Asset Report which was commissioned in July 2015 under the then People’s Partnership (PP) government and completed last April under the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) He said it was the Government’s intention to implement the recommendations of this report, “in the shortest possible time.” Khan said the report comprises the audits of 30 companies in the upstream and downstream companies. He added that, “areas of specific improvement were discussed with the individual companies.” Earlier in the sitting, in response to another question from Paray, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon assured him that a fire tender would be assigned to the Mayaro Fire Station. Dillon added that this station would be supported by appliances from the Rio Claro Fire Station if necessary.

In France presently, the retirement age is 65 years, and in Denmark it is expected to be increased to 70 years of age, because life expectancy is higher there and people are living well into their 90s. It should be emphasised that those are countries with a cooler climate, a higher standard of living and a better quality of life.

In TT we have seen people living into their 80s and 90s.

Those people grew up during the time of no automobile transport, they were therefore more mobile, did more physical work than people do now, and they walked long distances to school and also to fetch transport to work. Also, their nutrition was far better than the eating habits that got established since the early 1980s.

In France, where the retirement age is 65, one candidate in the recent election campaign, Jean Luc Melenchon, proposed to lower the pension age to 60 and the weekly working time to 32 hours, give employees a sixth week of holiday, raise the minimum wage by 16 percent and force the State to give everyone work.

Societies are undergoing a demographic transition the world has never seen. It is also true that work provides cognitive health, slows mental decline and lessens isolation, but in this country, working conditions and daily life are stressful to many and even unbearable in some cases. For decades, the daily stress of travelling alone has wrought a tendency towards absenteeism, unpunctuality and reduced manpower. Older workers eagerly look forward to gaining control of their life at retirement.

They do however wish for some kind of engagement to prevent atrophy, but they certainly do not see themselves working 8-4 at 60 years of age.

Being able to work beyond 60 years depends on sound physical and mental health. Many young people in their 40s are afflicted with some ailment; be it obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol or chronic back pain, which is now increasing in numbers. Depression medication is now listed on the CDAP programme, indicative of a condition prevailing in the country.

Then there is the creeping condition of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, which is affecting some people in their 40s. Alzheimer’s, it is said, manifests 20 years before symptoms are detected.

All of this mitigates against raising retirement age. The annual increase in budgetary allocation for health in this country is testimony that the country is neither robust nor healthy.

Many people after retiring find themselves at a loss to adjust to a life of failing health and dependency.

Over the past 30 years, I have observed government workers who die within three to five years after retirement, because they were limping along during the last years of working.

Because this is a very hot and humid country, the toll exacted on people every day, makes the point that retirement age should not be increased. In fact a case may well be made to lower the retirement age.

RONALD BHOLA via email

At the Brothers Recreation ground, Mukesh Boodoosingh (129) and Ravindra Rampersad (105 not out) hit centuries as their team rattled up 283 for one in their 20 overs against Southern Edge.

Replying, Southern Edge were bundled out for 51 with Adrian Koylass taking five wickets for three runs.

Meanwhile, Starwars demolished Settlement Sports by a massive 56 runs in thieir game.

Starwars got 32 runs from Wyndell Sigh and 23 from Deenish Boodoo in a 59-run second wicket partnership.

Josh Raamjeawan claimed three wickets for 29 runs to stem the flow of runs and restrict Starwars to only 145 for nine.

Settlement Sports made a dismal start in reply, losing their first three wickets with only seven runs on the board.

But Shivanand Siewrattan hit a brave 40 and with Darrion Kalloo (19), carried the score to a challenging 66 for four.

Wyndell Singh continued his good allround form, however, taking three wickets for 11 runs and with Noel Poliah (three for 18), ripped out the final six Settlement Sports wickets for a paltry 24 runs to see their innings ending on 90.

Here are summarised scores: SPO ILERS 143 – Avalon Cuffy 30, Decon Samaroo 33, Glen Chatoor 5/35 vs LINKS XI 132/7 – Ravindra Sewnaring 33, Avalon Cuffy 3/22. SPO ILERS won by 11 runs.

STARWARS 81/8 – Evin Harry 46,Varma Ramkissoon 3/5 vs METRO NOMES 82/0 – Andre Brown 38, Geno Balram 32.

METRONOMES won by 10 wickets.

STARWARS 140 – Justin Gangoo 36, Shannon Seebo 28, Anthony Gangoo 2/15 vs D & D LEGENDS 141/5 – Anand Sookram 30, Ricky Seuchan 38, Krishna Ramdath 4/3. D & D LEGENDs won by five wickets.

VALLEY LINE 114/8 – Neal Samaroo 28, A.Mohammed 23, A.Brown 3/14, V. Ramkissoon 2/14 vs METRO NOMES 115/4 – A. Brown 44, K.Jagessar 26.

METRONOMES won by six wickets.

SOUTHERN EDGE 146 /9 – Kyle Gookool 42, Kareem Mohammed 27, Darrion Durgadeen 3/27. Adrian Mohammed 2/11 vs UPR ISING UTD 111/9 – Jefferson Foster 20, D.Singh 30.

SOUTHERN EDGE won by 35 runs.

BROTHERS UTD 108/7 – Christin Seepersad 3/33 vs SPO ILERS 109/6 – Ravinoop Rampersad 41, Joseph Williams 2/19. SPO ILERS won by four wickets LINX ELEVEN 159/7 –Damion Samuel 57, Satesh Mahase 2, Vashish Ramlakhan 2/17, Chandraban Sookerammy 2/17.

vs NEW SETT LEMENT 92 – V.

Dunhill 19, D. Harricharan 2/8.

LINX ELEVEN won by 68 runs.

STARWARS 113- Evin Harry33, Deenish Boodoo 34, Brandon Jagmohan 5/7 vs CAVALIERS 119/9 – Brandon Jagmohan 30, Evin Harry 4/29. CAVALIERS won by one wicket.

SPOILERS 283/1 – Mukesh Boodoosingh 129, Ravindra Rampersad 105 not out vs SOUTHERN EDGE 51 – Adrian Koylass 5/3, Delon Samaroo 2/16.

SPOILERS won by 252 runs.

LINKS XI 104/9 – Hollister Pajotte 28, V.Ramroop 4/16 vs METRO NOMES 107/1 – Andrea Brown 57, Keegan Jagessar 28. METRO NOMES won by nine wickets.

SPOILERS 168/8 – Avalon Cuffy46, Lex Tom 31, Rajesh Singh 3/28 vs UPR ISING 67 – Adrian Koylass 4/11. SPO ILERS won by 102 runs.

NEW SETT LEMENT 155/7 – Stephen Rojan 62, S.Redhaed 2/21 vs D & D LEGENDS 156/7 – R.Singh 73, A.Ramsawak72, Shivavanad Siewsaran 3/25. D & D Auto Legends won by three wickets.

CAVALIERS 153 – S.Ragbir- 45 runs, and J.Swift – 32 runs with Stephen Rojan 4 for 31 vs NEW SETT LEMENT 155/5 – Janathan Everseley 37, Stephen Rojan 31 runs, S.Ragbir 3/16. NEW SETTLEMENT won by five wickets.

VALLEY LINE 103 – W.Mohammed 26 runs, Josh Ramjeawan 3/10 vs NEW SETT LEMENT 104/4 – Kiran Harripersad 42, M.Bernard 2/22. NEW SETTLEMENT won by six wickets.

“It is a comedy of errors all around,” Khan said. “The entire JLSC including the Chief Justice should resign or, in the alternative, there should be a public enquiry.

The President should set up a Commission of Enquiry to investigate this fiasco.” He said he has known Ayers-Caesar to be of impeccable character and the statement of the Chief Justice on behalf of the commission was “self-serving” and an attempt to destroy Ayers-Caesar’s good name and character.

Khan said Archie implied that Ayers-Caesar was “dishonest” by withholding information from him about her slate of part-heard matters; was irresponsible for failing to complete all her matters and was “inept” in that she could not handle the transition from the magistrates court to the high court.

“She is the sacrificial lamb in this scenario and she should not sacrifice her good name and character to save the chief justice or the JLSC.

The chief justice has demonstrated, by his machination to offer lame excuses for his high-handedness, an irresponsible and “don’t care” attitude that he will do everything to protect his image as a clean chief justice. I call upon Marcia Ayers-Caesar to protect her good name and integrity and speak out on this matter.” Khan also called upon the other members of the commission to say what happened.

Sources said yesterday several senior attorneys are in the process of formulating a statement calling for Archie’s resignation as head of the Judiciary and the JLSC. They say even if Ayers-Caesar was not forthcoming on the number of partheard matters before her, Archie as head of the magistracy should have known of the case load before his chief magistrate.

Some attorneys, however, are of the opinion that Ayers-Caesar can return to the bench to complete the matters she left outstanding at the time of her appointment as a judge.

Khan disagrees.

Another senior counsel Martin Daly also weighed in on the controversy.

“The JLSC was careless in the first place not to do its own due diligence into what cases the chief magistrate had pending,” he said.

“The assurance the Commission gave that rigorous processes had been followed, was a hollow assurance.” Daly said reappointing Ayers-Caesar to the magisterial bench will bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

“They have put themselves in an untenable position.”

(SEE PAGE 7A)

He and those who follow him blindly are clearly the ones suffering from, according to him, “post-colonial mentality syndrome.” Roget must see that it’s called globalisation, defined as the process by which businesses or other organisations develop international influence or start operating in an international scale.

Any country driven by a government with vision embraces globalisation in order to create sustainable growth and development for the betterment of the country and its people.

We have seen evidence of globalisation over the years with the introduction of visionary companies in various sectors such as automotive and transport, food and beverage, consulting, energy and gas, computer hardware and services.

These include Toyota Motor Corp, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, KFC, Nestle, PriceSmart, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, BP, Halliburton, Xerox Corp, and IBM, to name a few.

These organisations boost the economy by creating jobs at all levels and also partner with local suppliers and manufacturers for the supply of goods and services.

I wonder if Roget or any relative or associate has ever patronised or worked in any of the above companies or whether they boycott them because “massa day done?” So Roget, if BP can “take their rig and go,” should all foreign-based companies do the same? Will you be providing jobs for all, or only demanding them?

VASHTI BOWLAH

Joseph had patrons in stitches with his jokes about everyday living in Trinidad and Tobago.

Calypsonian Brother Alpha (Alpha John) continued in the humourous vein with crafty songs, Wrong Funeral and Ah Jump.

Sexy Suzie (Natasha Nurse) followed with Headmaster and How to Keep Your Man, and she too had patrons rolling with laughter.

Kid Kalalloo (Julien Hunte) and Myron B (Myron Bruce) brought down the curtains on the first half of the show.

Hamidullah (Hamidullah Waheed) opened the second half of the show, and was followed by Brother Ebony (Fitzroy Joseph) and Johnny King (Johnson King).

This was revealed by TATT’s deputy chair- man Dr Kim Mallalieu on Thursday.

She was speaking at the opening of a twoday workshop titled Exploring Innovation in Transactions and Financing in the Caribbean II, at the Parliament Building, Port-of-Spain.

Mallalieu said after the first workshop was held, it generated considerable interest in exploring how transactions and financing can be improved in the region.

“A level of interest shown at that workshop led to the hosting of this follow-on event,” Mallalieu said.

“While electronic payment has been growing in popularity around the world, slowly but surely, Caribbean entrepreneurs, the traditional business community, regulators, governments, government agencies, and other regional leaders are recognising the benefits of more richly and more deeply leveraging information and communications technology (ICT) in finance.

“The first phase of the initiative will facilitate free WiFi at specific public locations such as hospitals, libraries and transportation hubs.

As services become increasingly affordable and accessible, demand for value added services such as mobile money would increase.” She said since the last workshop, tangible strides have been made towards the reality of digital financial services in the region, yet the success in digital finance is inextricably linked to a number of enabling factors including, but not limited to, a healthy vibrant telecommunication sector with considerable investment in infrastructure, as well as high penetration rates and affordable access.

“In the case of TT, the telecommunication and broadcasting sectors grew from $3.3 billion in revenue in 2006 to an estimated $5.51 billion in 2016.

During this period mobile and internet services experienced double-digit growth.

Mobile voice subscriptions rose from 1.5 million subscribers in 2006 to 2.2 million in 2016.

The demand for fixed internet services increased from 82,000 in 2006 to an estimated 255,000 in 2016.” She noted the increase in mobile internet subscriptions was 10,000 in 2007 to 707,000 in 2016 with approximately 63 percent of mobile service subscriptions using mobile internet.

Moses said this region was the highest in the world of abuse.

The Office of the Prime Minister– Gender and Child Affairs launched it’s “Break The Silence” programme at City Gate where students displayed paintings on buses to show child abuse.

Moses said many children were abused and abandoned in the region.

“We are among the highest in the world for child abuse and we are trying to create awareness for this,” he said.

Acting Cpl Lioea Duncan of the Child Protection Unit (CPU), said they depended on the public to inform them about child abuse.

He also stated that there was a thin line between discipline and abuse.

He said the unit was dedicated to protecting children in this country.

“We try to get people to be aware because there are certain things that are abusive that people take for granted based on history because a lot of families are closeted so we ask teachers, friends, anyone who suspects abuse, report it.

“Sometimes reports are unfounded because there is a thin line between abuse and discipline, however, to err on the side of caution, report it, let us investigate.

Children who are supposed to be in school and they are not, that is a form of abuse,” Duncan said.

He said parents still had the right to discipline their child, but it depended on the manner and the severity of the punishment.

“We want to ask people to keep talking to their children. Sometimes children try to tell us things and we don’t listen. We don’t pay attention. We hear them, but pay no attention. We have to look at changes in behaviour of our children to note if something is happening,” he said.

Duncan said the CPU was a dedicated unit and anyone under 18 was protected by them.

“We have nothing else to do..

no accidents or murders. Don’t be afraid to come in. There is a unit in every division. We have a lot of hard working officers who are working under extreme conditions and we are still getting the job done. We are not afraid of the work,” Duncan said.

At yesterday’s launch, chairman of the Public Transportation Services Corporation (PTSC), Edwin Gooding said there were nine buses with paintings by students that carried a message of hope.

United Nations Children’s Fund representative, Patrick Knight, said this was a multipronged approach to protect children against sexual abuse.

He said 47 per cent of girls and a third of adolescent boys admitted that their first sexual experience was forced.

Knight said

The court heard that on September 4, at SS Erin Road, Debe police constable Ramcahran was on mobile patrol in a marked vehicle when he stopped a vehicle driven by Manki. The court heard that the policeman detected the smell of alcohol on Manki’s breath. The accused man confessed to the police that he had a few drinks. A field sobriety test was conducted, reading 63 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml per breath.

Another test was done which read 67 micrograms. The court heard that before the officer conducted the second test, Manki told him he was willing to pay him.

Diop heard the accused man went into his pocket and took out $4,800 and gave it to the officer.

On the charge of drunk driving, Manki was fined $4,000 or in default will serve nine months hard labour. On the charge of bribing a police officer, he was fined $5,000 or in default nine months. He was given two months to pay the fines.

Imbert said the issues to be dealt with include whether the property tax is a new tax; how the system differs from the one used prior to 2009; processes for valuation and property tax assessment; what is the annual rental value and how is it calculated; what is the annual taxable value; do all properties in TT have a rental value; who is responsible for the valuation of the property; how often will a valuation be conducted on properties and explanation of the relevant provisions of the Valuation of Land Act and the Property Tax Act.

Imbert was unable to provide a cost for this ini tiative but promised to do so if the Opposition posed the question correctly to him. However, he added, “I am certain that the returns would be at least 100 times the cost.” Later in the sitting, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal questioned whether 238 new jobs were created through the employment of people at valuators for the property tax.

Moonilal also scoffed at Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s comment that squatters would have to pay property tax.

“How much revenue do you expect to get from squatters?” he asked.