The winners of the award were announced on Wednesday night at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Port-of-Spain.

Viviana Prado-Nunez from Puerto Rico took the top prize and CA $10,000 (about TT $50,000) for her self-published book The Art of White Roses, Hosein placed second and won CA $7,000 (about TT $35,000) for his manuscript The Beast of Kukuyo and fellow Trinidadian Lisa Allen-Agostini placed third and won CA $5,000 (about TT $25,000) for her manuscript Waiting on the Bus.

Hosein, speaking yesterday during a telephone interview, said that while the monetary prize is very lucrative the “real prize” is that each winner will have a publisher for their manuscript and an initial run of 2,500 copies.

“Even if they had that alone and no money that would be great,” he added.

His manuscript, The Beast of Kukuyo, is a mystery set in a rural Indian community in Trinidad in 1992. When a student in a Standard Five class disappears one of their classmates sets out to discover what happened. Hosein said that he was unsure if his work would be published noting the length of his story and the deficit in Caribbean publishers.

He added that he was not sure foreign publishers would have been interested.

Hosein said he was glad there were two Trinidadian finalists this year and expressed hope that young adult writing, and writing in general, would be fostered and invested in a little more.

He explained that he started writing young adult content because of a lack of young readers.

“We have to have more of these out there not just to stimulate readers but writers.”

In a brief press release issued by the Judiciary’s Court Protocol and Information Unit, CJ Archie first said that Ayers-Caesar was selected for elevation after a “robust” selection process by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) which he heads.

However, he added, Ayers-Caesar “failed to manage the transition from the magistracy to the High Court in a way which ensured that undue hardship was not placed on stakeholders.” CJ Archie added that Ayers-Caesar departed from “established practice” where successful candidates ensured they fulfilled all outstanding professional obligations before advising the Commission of their availability to be appointed to the High Court. Archie claimed neither he nor the JLSC were made aware of the “full extent” of Ayers-Caesar’s obligations to the lower courts before President Anthony Carmona fixed the date of her swearing-in as a judge.

Archie in the release said he was “fortified” by Ayers-Caesar’s renewed commitment to place her duty and responsibility to the administration of justice ahead of personal interest as he noted her willingness to attend to matters pending in the magistrates courts which she would have presided over prior to her elevation.

Within these circumstances, the release added, the JLSC met and agreed to restore Ayers-Caesar to the magisterial bench. Archie urged members of the legal profession and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system to continue to render the suppport needed to ensure efficient disposition of matters in the criminal justice system.

(See Page 10A)

Presiding over the trial of Bryan “Soldier Barry” Barrington is Justice Eleanor Donaldson- Honeywell in the Port of Spain High Court.

Barrington, a former member of the Defence Force, is seeking compensation for what he claims were a wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and breach of his constitutional rights.

He was among 13 people arrested separately during the 2011 State of Emergency in connection with the assassination plot.

All were eventually released without being charged.

Attorney Abdel Ashraph represents Barrington while Coreen Findley and Rachel Thurab appear for the Attorney General.

On November 21, 2011, while at his Partap Trace, South Oropouche home, Barrington was arrested by “approximately 15 masked police officers,” according to his statement of case filed in the High Court on October 23, last year.

Barrington said he was “not informed of the reason for his arrest.” He was taken to the Marabella Police Station for 30 minutes and then to the Woodbrook Police Station where he was detained for six days.

He was then transferred to the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca where he was “interrogated by several police officers.” He was moved to the Immigration Detention Centre in Aripo the day after.

On December 6, 2011, Barrington was eventually released “without having been told the reason” for his detention.

It is the State’s contention that Barrington’s arrest and detention were legal under the provisions of the Emergency Powers Regulations (EPR) 2011 which were in force at the time of his detention.

At the preliminary stages of the lawsuit, the attorney general did not file a defence to the claim and instead applied to have Barrington’s lawsuit struck out stating it was an “abuse of process.” This was dismissed by Donaldson-Honeywell.

Earlier this month, Justice Vasheist Kokaram awarded suspected gang leader Anton “Boombay” Boney $70,000 in compensation for his unlawful detention for the period November 30, 2011 to December 5, 2011.

Boney was one of the 13 arrested. Kokaram held that while the initial detention of Boney was reasonable, his continued detention was illegal.

He also warned against arbitrary detention of people even during a declared State of Emergency

and that means rain, hopefully.

According to officials at the Meteorological Office at Piarco, the heat wave would continue until about Saturday evening. It is expected that there would be some rain which would affect south first.

Yesterday, chairman of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Romney Thomas announced that the authority was implementing its 2017 water supply and conservation plan aimed at managing its water resources. He said the reservoirs were maintaining just above half of its containment of water.

Thomas said WASA has been monitoring the impact of the dry season and has been implementing strategies as necessary.

He said over the years there have been drier and more intense dry seasons while the wet seasons have not yielded the normal levels of rainfall. Thomas said so far for April, there has been an average of 76 percent rainfall in all four of WASA’s reservoirs.

However, while he noted the levels at this time were favourable, he said the dry season was having a significant impact on several of WASA’s surface water resources.

This, he said, is resulting in an overall loss in production of about 25 million gallons per day.

To counteract this effect, production has been increased at the Point Lisas desalination plant by about two million gallons daily.

Production was also increased at the Caroni and Hollis water treatment plants and Hillsborough by about 11.3 million gallons per day.

Thomas said the deficit, 27 percent, occurred due to reduced production at Courland, Kings Bay and Hillsborough West water treatment plants which were producing five, 40 and 35 percent of capacity respectively.

While there are water restrictions in Tobago, none has been imposed in Trinidad.

Police said Shaquille Farrell was shot once in the head at about 8 pm on Wednesday. According to residents, gunshots were heard in the area and on checking, they found Farrell bleeding on the ground. The body was viewed by a District Medical Officer and removed to the Forensic Science Centre.

Residents told Newsday that Farrell sold sweets and cigarettes in Port-of-Spain and was well-known. Yesterday at the Centre, Farrell’s grandparents Elsie and Standford Moses viewed his body before an autopsy was carried out.

A distraught Elsie said, “He use to throw javelin and play football.

His mother left when he was a baby. I used to hold him with one hand and it was I who christened him when he was seven. He wasn’t a rude fella. When he leave home, I tell him don’t go down by Nelson Street…

they will kill you and I asked him to listen to my advice.

Both grandparents claimed they did not know if Farrell was involved in any criminal activity and revealed that his father Kevin Moses and uncle Akido Moses, were murdered some years ago. Farrell’s death was the 37th murder for April and the 165th for the year. No arrest has been made.

S&P, Moody’s and Fitch are collectively known as “the Big Three” credit rating agencies in the world. Imbert said this country was given a negative outlook by Moody’s in 2014, 2015. He explained that when this is done, that agency does evaluations on an annual basis, while for countries with a stable outlook, the ratings are not done so frequently.

He said Moody’s changed TT’s outlook from negative to stable, but gave it “a downgrade to the lowest levels of investment grade.” Moody’s suggested that Government reduce expenditure by more than $10 billion per year, he said.

Reiterating that TT had suffered a severe loss of income since 2014, Imbert said, “The country’s income up to a couple years ago was $57 billion per year; it is now $37 billion.” He said Government is using strategies such as reducing expenditure, one-off sales of assets, encouraging foreign investment in the energy sector and withdrawals from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund to close this $20 billion gap.

Imbert said S&P also upgraded the outlook from “negative” to “stable”, and while it changed the long-term investment grade from A- to BBB+, this is still a high investment- grade rating.

With S&P, Moody’s and Fitch controlling 50, 35 and 15 per cent of world ratings respectively, Imbert said he was advised,”We should also pursue ratings from Fitch.” He said this would mean that: “We have the three largest and most reputable credit agencies in the world rating TT, so there is more balanced perspective on our ratings.” Imbert added that some people believed the rating given by Moody’s was unreasonable compared to that given by S&P.

The committee has held over 20 meetings the last being on Tuesday.

Sources revealed that an initial audit has so far revealed while there are 7,500 police officers on record, only 4,500 are on active duty, with the rest on sick leave, vacation leave, suspension, study leave and other types of leave.

The committee has already provided Rowley and Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon with a status report on its work.

The Terms of Reference of the committee are to help improve the police service by examining if the existing manpower is adequate in both quantity and quality, to serve the country’s public safety and national security requirements.

The committee was also given authority to look at municipal police, estate constables, special reserve police and even private security firms to see the extent to which they could be of assistance, so that they could assist in partnering with the police. This could be achieved through legislative reform.

A lot of ground has been covered, sources said, and the team has entered the data collection stage. Committee members have been having regular consultations with Security Minister Dillon. At the end of the audit, the committee is expected to submit its report to the Prime Minister which would include whatever recommendations deemed necessary to improve the service.

Contacted yesterday for comment on the status of the Manpower Audit being carried out, Chairman Deosaran said, “neither myself nor the committee will be prepared to speak publicly on the work in progress.” Newsday understands Deosaran will be visiting Aruba next to address a Caribbean Commissioners of Police conference in which the main theme will be dealing with organised crime.

The Members of the committee are Ag DCP Harold Phillip, ACP Erla Christopher, retired Permanent Secretary Jacqueline Wilson, attorney Allan Meiguel, security management consultant Dr Levi Guy-Obiakor Ag ASP Anand Ramesar.

The CNG Vehicle Management System (CVMS), launched on April 25 at the Hyatt Regency, Portof- Spain, will require installation of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag near to the CNG filling port on your natural gas vehicle.

Then, once the CNG nozzle is brought within a few centimetres of the CNG filling port on your vehicle, electronic verification takes place. If the vehicle’s CNG system is valid; the CNG kit and tank was inspected and if need be, tested, according to the manufacturer’s requirements, the dispensing of CNG will take place. If not, or if the system has been tampered with, CNG will be denied.

NGC CNG President Curtis Mohammed, said the RFID tag will cost between TT $250 and $300. Phase One of the CVMS will see the CVMS installed on the more than 150 CNG vehicles that belong to the National Gas Company (NGC) Group.

After installation, the CVMS on these vehicles will be tested over a three-month period before Phase Two begins – national implementation.

Mohammed assured that “even when this system is implemented nationally, existing CNG users will have a grace period to get their vehicles compliant.” What’s the benefit of the CVMS? Mohammed said it would enforce compliance for CNG kit installations and periodic re-inspections, because without an up-to-date inspection, your vehicle “will simply be denied CNG at all NGC CNG stations.” In addition, the system “can conceivably evolve to offer cashless transactions, promotional offers, fleet management and integration with other fuel types.”

While some may dream of rerunning that election, it is far more productive to watch how the American polity’s system of checks and balances kick in to properly restrain presidential power, even at a time when both houses of Congress are also under Republican control.

Trump is by no means the first US President to face a rude awakening to the limits of presidential authority, much of which he has sought to display in grand flourishes of his pen signing presidential orders but which in reality are far more difficult to materialise.

While one cannot undo the fact that the conservative bloc in America elected their toughtalking candidate, the reality now is that many of his policies are being sensibly moderated by other actors. His plans to tighten immigration by executive order have been curbed by the US law courts.

Further, he recently had to postpone his plans to build a Mexico border wall as its US$20 billion cost could have caused a financial “shutdown” of the US Government, although he vowed that it is still on the cards.

He has apparently reversed his decision to remove the US from NATO. Rather than the US engage in a trade war with China, the latter has been co-opted as a key ally to rein in North Korea.

Another strange reversal occurred when, despite hints of closeness between him and Russian leader Vladmir Putin including possible electoral influence, Trump defied Russia by having the US military bomb the Syria military after they had used poisonous gas on civilians.

Certainly, the dropping of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), known as “the mother of all bombs,” on the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan was meant to send a message on the world stage on US military resolve, Domestically, in the US certain “causes” simply have enough of a life of their own that they cannot now be curbed by anything any president says.

For example, while Trump was to restart coal extraction and has signalled approval for the controversial Stage 4 of the XL Keystone Pipeline to take Canadian oil to the Gulf of Mexico, various types of renewable energy seem to be set on a trajectory towards a bright future unlikely to be thrown off course, whether or not Trump is personally convinced of the veracity of man-made climate change.

All in all, by now it will have sunk in to President Trump of just how difficult is the job of being the proverbial leader of the free world, a phrase itself worthy of scrutiny, and just how ill-prepared he was to take office and in fact how unaware he would have been of the scope of the responsibilities of the occupant of that office.

Trump was never elected for his intellect or for his experience in governance but for being perceived as a stand-up guy and a go-getter such as in the persona that he projected into living rooms globally in his weekly reality TV show, The Apprentice.

Given all that has happened in his first 100 days, which he first accepted as a worthy measure and then reversed on that as being ridiculous, Trump must consider himself lucky that he is not easily “fired” – a term made famous as he exercised power on that television show. Meantime most will be saying of his milestone tomorrow: What a hundred!

Both rejected Opposition claims that the tax was unconstitutional; criminals were posing as property valuators; people are in imminent danger of losing their homes and public servants sabotaged plans by the People’s Partnership (PP) government to repeal the Property Tax Act, which is on this country’s law books since 2009.

“I know people don’t like property tax. I and all vex with mehself because I have to pay,” Imbert told reporters. “I don’t like it but this country is in a very difficult position and we need everybody to contribute to the revenues of the country.” Reiterating the country has found itself facing a $20 billion gap in financing, which started under the PP, Imbert said, “Things are tough. We have to look for alternative sources of financing.” Saying Government will do all it can to make it, “as easy as possible for people,” Imbert said the Property Tax Act allows for persons in an impoverished condition to apply for a deferral. “I am looking at that to see whether we should convert that deferral into a complete waiver,” he stated. On concerns about a $500 penalty if documents are not submitted to the Ministry by May 22, Imbert said, “The Minister of Finance is not going to fine anybody. Neither is the Commissioner of Valuations.” He explained the current exercise which requests property owners to file a return of their properties, “flows from the Valuation of Land Act and not the Property Tax Act. He explained these documents are used by his ministry’s Valuations Division to put a final assessment on the rental, a notice is then sent to property owners informing them of this and their requirement to pay property tax which is three percent of the assessed rental value.

Imbert said this was stage one of the process and “we are a long way away” from valuators coming to people’s properties. He explained that persons whose properties are already in the system only need to submit copies of a utility bill which provides their address and an old land and building tax receipt, which would have their assessment number.

Agreeing with Young about misinformation and fear being spread by the Opposition about property tax, Imbert said the latest allegation came from St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar about public servants sabotaging the PP’s efforts to repeal the Property Tax Act. “That is a lie!” he declared. He said the facts are, “the PP brought legislation to the Parliament to repeal the Property Tax Act and it lapsed.” Imbert said close examination of that legislation showed it was,” ten times more draconian than they claimed the Property Tax was.”