After providing this answer to a question in the Senate, Sinanan stated that in March, Cabinet gave the Port Authority the approval, “to initiate the process for the charter of a vessel for three years.” He said this process should be completed by the end of May and the Authority will also, “ begin the process for the purchase of a new built cargo vessel to ensure that the inter-island cargo ferry needs are not jeopardised in this manner in the future.” Sinanan said the ministry was advised by letter dated March 28 by Inter- Continental Shipping Ltd that the Galicia was being removed from local service. He said the ministry received that letter on March 31.

Sinanan said in discussions with the charter last December and in January, the duration of the contract for the Galicia was changed from 18 months to five years.

“The Government was not willing to enter into any five-year contract until we recognise the need for the cargo vessel that will service the Tobago route in a very efficient and cost effective manner,” Sinanan declared. The minister dismissed claims from Opposition Senator Wade Mark that former Port Authority chairman Christine Sahadeo attempted to block the renewal of the Galicia’s contract.

“ I have no information of the former chairperson of the port blocking any agreement with anybody,” Sinanan said. In March, Sahadeo and other members of the Port Authority’s board resigned.

At that time, Sinanan said, ““We have appointed a new board. The entire board had resigned. They were not fired. There is no crisis.” Sinanan and Attorney General Faris Al Rawi said there was no issue of dissent between board members. Al Rawi said the resignation of the other board members was appropriate, “lest there could have been perceived to have been something by way off stand-off.”

Khan, who resumed duties after almost three months off the job due to illness, told the Senate yesterday during the debate on the bill to provide for Trinidad and Tobago’s membership to the Andean Development Corporation that he intends to meet with BP, Perenco, Petrotrin and BHP.

Declaring “all is not doom and gloom in the national economy,” Khan said with the energy sector and diversification, the economy will be revived.

Responding to Opposition Senator Wade Mark that Government was raiding the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) and were “reckless borrowers”, he said, other leading oil producing countries in the Middle East “were dipping into their HSF for fiscal support because their economic situation is similar to ours.” He said, “ Our withdrawal as a percentage of GDP is, probably, still the lowest of these countries.” If hard times hits, and there is a reduction in salaries, or someone was out of job for six months, he said, people will go into their savings because they have expenditures to meet.

In withdrawing from the HSF, Khan said, “We wouldn’t waste it.

Obviously we would have to gingerly take out from it to keep the country afloat and please the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.” On the revenue side, he said, Government is hoping to get rid of deficit budgeting by 2020 by increasing revenue to bridge the gap, decrease expenditure to manageable levels, and find ways through diversification and increased production in the energy sector to fund the deficit. “We have been doing all three simultaneously,” he said.

For example, he said, Government dropped the average $60 billion expenditure profile the People’s Partnership government had in place from 2010 to 2015 to $52 billion in the 2016 – 2017 budget.

Apart from energy revenue dropping from $19 billion in 2013 to $1.7 billion in 2016, and oil production dipping to 70,00 barrels a day from 277,000 in 1977, Khan said, the previous government’s fiscal incentives offered, such as allowing companies to write off 100 percent of their capital expenditure in year one had significant negative impact on revenue stream. “That was so ridiculous. Very few countries in the world would offer to write off the capital in one year,” he said.

In 2016, BP, which had been paying billions of dollars in tax revenue, no longer paid the same, he said, “Because of that fiscal arrangement of the UNC.” At present, the single most important issue facing this country, he said, is gas curtailment.

The oil and gas industry that includes petrochemicals, he said, was based on an abundance of gas but over the last five to seven years resources depleted faster than it was being replenished.

There was no production between 2010 to 2015 and it was due to that, he said that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley intervened.

Rowley, in six months from taking office, Khan said brokered a deal with Venezuela that former prime ministers Patrick Manning and Kamla Persad-Bissessar failed to achieve.

Last week, Rowley met with the leaders of Exxol Mobil, Shell and BP. “They don’t come bigger and more sophisticated than that,” he said noting that BP has committed US$5 billion in foreign direct investment in TT over the next five years, and Shell will be investing billions of dollars in the industry.

He has also held discussions with Exxon Mobil, which made major discoveries in Guyana.

Rowley is dealing with the Guyana issue at two levels, he said, that is at the Caricom level where he met with Guyana’s President, David Granger at last July’ Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Georgetown, and was now meeting with the Exxon Mobil, the owners of the licence to see the type synergies that could be developed with the energy sector there.

A way forward on the protection of sea turtles was also a positive outcome of the meeting.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary of the Environment, Kwesi DesVignes said the meeting was called because of public concerns over the impact of the jazz event on nesting turtles.

DesVignes said while the THA wants to encourage enterprise and entrepreneurship in Tobago, it also has a brand to protect in the Tobago Jazz Experience as well as oversee protection of the island’s ecology and environment.

“We need to ensure that at all times, we keep our environment and the sustainability of our environment at a high level, hold it in high regard, of course you know that is where we hold our competitive advantage as it regards tourism in particular,” he said.

DesVignes said what would have come out of the meeting was the way forward regarding the protection of the turtles which nest on the island’s beaches between March to September annually.

“…there has to be a set policy moving forward and today, we would have outlined a process that we all agreed to and that we can also adapt going forward for all events, not only at Turtle Beach but also beaches across Tobago as long as the environmentally friendly species (turtles) is called into question or they are being disturbed or disrupted in any way,” he said.

As for the jazz event, he said he was comfortable that the impact on nesting turtles would be minimal.

“I think that is one of the things that we have been missing… today a lot of facts would have been laid on the table. I am very comfortable that we are able to get the facts out. The event is not on the beach … a fence was erected more than a month ago in consultation with SOS Tobago so, we are comfortable that the event is not on the beach and that there are several mitigative measures being taken that would ensure that there is minimal impact,” he said.

EMA’s representative Gillian Stanisclaus said the EMA was satisfied with the measures that promoters of Tobago Beach Jazz have/are putting put in place – fencing to prevent human traffic on the beach, arrangements with SOS to have patrols, with help from the Forestry Department, lighting and sound.

SOS Tobago’s representative Tanya Clovis said she was pleased the EMA and the THA facilitated discussion on the impact on the turtles of the jazz event.

“We are actually looking forward to this process being repeated for all events on Turtle Beach going forward. Everyone who expressed concerns about this event, we appreciate their concern and we also recognise that there are a lot of events that cause a great deal of concern to us as well as to the general public during the nesting season at Turtle Beach,” Clovis said.

“Research has suggested that there is a strong link between delinquency in the early years and later acts of criminality.

Therefore, it is our responsibility to address the root causes of the issues which affect these young people because these problems could only fester if not addressed cooperatively by all sectors of the criminal justice system, and include an appropriate role for the business sector,community leaders, teachers and parents,” she said.

She was speaking yesterday at the Opening Session of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Technical Working Group on Preventing Crime by Focusing on At-Risk Youth and Vulnerable Populations, Banquet and Conference Centre MovieTowne, Port-of- Spain.

Jacobs said this country has benefitted from several different initiatives aimed at addressing the problem of at-risk youth and vulnerable populations within local communities.

One such initiative is the Juvenile Court Project (JCP) which is currently being implemented by the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“Currently, our criminal justice system is based largely on the punitive approach, and for children caught in the system, this approach fails to deter them from a life of crime. The JCP therefore aims to strengthen the capacity of the Judiciary to deal with matters relating to children using a rehabilitative, restorative and less retributive approach,” she said.

She explained there were three components of the JCP, which include, the Children Court, Peer Resolution and Public Education and Communications.

“The successful implementation of these three areas is expected to address the deficiencies in the current juvenile justice system and hopefully stem the increased rate of recidivism by children for serious crimes,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said research shows young offenders who receive appropriate interventions will not continue to behave as criminals into adulthood.

“Taking this into consideration, the Ministry of National Security is committed to supporting this and other projects that emphasise the implementation of rehabilitative and restorative approaches for children who may come into contact with the criminal justice system,” she said.

Noting the calls for the restoration of the death penalty, he said fixing the system needs to be done in a calm, objective, evidence-driven way and it is in the national interest as well as the international reputational interest of any country in the world which wants to fast track capital punishment to make sure that this is done in an evidence- driven way.

Pritchard was speaking with journalists during a news conference at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Maraval after a day of talks with “key actors” on the death penalty. He said he would “prefer to see an informed debate before any fast-tracking or changes in the law takes place and to see what is the latest data and statistical and academic analysis globally so that at least any changes or any fast-tracking is done in an informed way.” He said he was impressed with the calibre of the people in the local criminal justice system as well as with the politicians he had met. He said there were some very able public servants and he believed that the majority of them would like to see any change in the law be an evidence- driven one and any debate be an informed debate and not “a rush to judgement, a rush to headlines and a fast-tracking of a process without due process and without evidence.” Asked if he has stressed to the Government the danger of using the death penalty as a quick fix, Pritchard said he had done so but, the Government officials responded that it was the law of the land “but I think they also are conscious that any change in Government policy or fast-tracking of existing legislation would be more carefully and considerably received if those recipients internationally and in-country were to see that the Government had provided an imperical evidence base to that amendment to a law or a change to the law, to going round the law, if you can go around the law, whatever it might be. And I think it is important to listen to retired justices and chief justices and senior judges in this country and to listen to academics.” He said while he was visiting from another country, if he were a citizen of this country, he would be pressing for an objective review which would try and understand what people are really thinking as opposed to what they think they are thinking based on data from 2011. He said that in addition to that review the Government should try and have an informed debate based on the best evidence and academic studies available.

British High Commissioner, Tim Stew, said that in tackling the backlog in the criminal justice system, a number of legislative measures needed to be put in place but this needed to be done as a package.

For one thing, he observed there is no plea bargaining in the system and said there was no reason why someone facing the death penalty would plead guilty and why their attorney would advise them to do so. He added that the mandatory nature of the death penalty also slows down the course of justice because if there were alternative forms of sentencing, perhaps having to do with the length of time the guilty person would spend in prison if that period was appropriate to the nature of the crime, would encourage plea bargaining and this would inevitably shorten the length of court cases and speed up justice. However, he said he would not advocate any one measure as the solution to the country’s problems but what was needed was a package of measures and a programme of work which he said was already being developed with help from the United Kingdom to make the changes and speed up justice in Trinidad and Tobago.

Smith said yesterday’s donation of boxing equipment is part of the Government’s grassroots initiative and their goal to help young people of Trinidad and Tobago.

Smith said, “It is part of my DNA, it is part of this new Government’s DNA, to work with the grassroots, work with the young people. “I have said from day one and this (boxing) board has bought into the idea of ensuring that our greatest resource are the young people of this country and the young people in this room.” Smith told the young boxers to listen to their elders and encouraged the fathers to play an instrumental part of their children’s lives. “Young people, listen to your coaches, listen to your parents, all the fathers that are involved with the kids, continue doing that. We need more fathers involved in their lives.” Chairman of the Trinidad Boxing Board of Control, Dr Barry Ishmael, said the board is following the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs advice to spend wisely. Dr Ishmael said, “Even in these difficult times we have to be able to do more with less, that is the example that our Minister has set for us, that is the example that the Ministry has set for us.” Dr Ishmael explained that the idea of donating boxing equipment to boxing gyms throughout the country was developed last year.

“This present initiative that the board is running came out of a strategic vision developed after our stakeholder meeting last year, and also came out of the Minister’s guidance on April 18 2016, when the board was appointed.

The Minister said to the board he wants us to get into the communities, he wants us to make a difference in the communities.”

In their semi-final match last week, St James trounced Bishop Anstey ‘A’ team 17-0, courtesy of a trio of tries from Pateia Paul and a conversion from Jade Husbands.

And, in the other semi, Bishop Anstey ‘B’ squad brushed aside Providence Girls Catholic School 17-5, with Journee Cunningham scoring two tries and Arisa Romany one, coupled with a conversion.

Sumiyah Maule got the lone try for Providence Girls.

The race over the extended 1250 metres triop is for horses ratd 70-55 and will be the seventh on the day’s eight-race programme with a total purse of $36,550.

Included in the field are noted speedsters Hail The Chief, Goliath’s Boy and Blue Oracle.

Turfites will have a chance at winning $32,328.14 on the Hi5 single winner bonus.

And the single winner bonus onthe Superfecta has ballooned to a whopping $98,018.79.

Saturday’s eight-race programme is timed to get underway at 1 pm.

Meanwhile, top jockey Brian Boodramsingh will miss the day and further with a suspected broken collar bone, the result of his fall off Infidelity at last week’s Friday Lime card.

The John O’Brientrained daughter of Gold Market/Great Ora broke her right fore leg during the race, bringing down Boodramsingh (B) and was later euthanised.

Sagicor, in a press release yesterday, said it views this event as a chance for personal rejuvenation for participants, while providing an opportunity to support the Down Syndrome Family Network and The Dyslexia Association of Trinidad and Tobago.

Corporate Communications Manager of Sagicor, Marlene Chin, is inviting citizens to register and take part “to have fun, while contributing to two worthy charities by being part of the Sagicor Phoenix Walk Run.” Cathryn Kelshall of The Dyslexia Association said her organisation was grateful to be a beneficiary of the 2017 edition of the Phoenix Walk Run.

“We’re pleased to be one of the chosen charities selected by Sagicor.

Dyslexia affects many children and adults in the country. The more awareness we can bring to the cause will help in understanding and awareness of the specific methods for teaching dyslexics that are offered by the Association,” she said.

Lisa Ghany of the Down Syndrome Family Network, echoing the sentiments of Kelshall, said associations such as hers rely on long-term relationships like the one with Sagicor to support their growth and development.

A special feature of this year’s race is the Sub-20 category where elite runners will vie for the title of fastest person around the Savannah. It is expected that several persons will complete the course in under 20 minutes.

Race participants can look forward to tassa, a rhythm section and other fun surprises along the Savannah lap. Participants will receive a medal, a t-shirt and a water bottle. Race registration is $70 and will be exclusively online at raceroster.com and will close on April 20.

West B were crowned champions with 147 points, ahead of Central A (139 points) and Central B (107 points).

East A were fourth with 97 points, followed by West A (77 points), East B (42 points), North B (37 points) and North A (31 points). Some of the schools that participated were Diamond Vale Government, Diego Martin Government, Petit Valley Boys, Maraval RC, Dunross Preparatory, Mucurapo Girls and Mucurapo Boys.

Minister of Education Anthony Garcia praised all those involved in the Rotary Games at the opening ceremony.

“It is significant that these games have reached the milestone of 29 years. It shows commitment, dedication by all those who are responsible including our teachers, our parents, our organisers and most of all the sponsors,” he said.

Garcia encouraged the young athletes to aim high.

“Remember these games can serve as an incubator for our students, our budding athletes. Because I am sure in the not too distant future, some of you will be able to aspire to the heights of Hasely Crawford and Keshorn Walcott, and you will be bringing home gold medals from the Olympics and other major games.”

HONOUR ROLL: Victor Ludorum Under-9 – Savian Adams (10 pts)

Victrix Ludorum Under-9 – Naima Julius (10 pts)

Victor Ludorum Under-11 – Makaelan Woods (15 pts)

Victrix Ludorum Under-11 – Fatima Springer (15 pts)

Victor Ludorum Under-13 – Kyrell Thomas (11 pts)

Victrix Ludorum Under-13 – Janika Jordan (12 pts)

Victor Ludorum Under-15 – Jorvan Westfield, Cyrill Summer (10 pts)

Victrix Ludorum Under-15 – Karissa Kirton (10 pts)

March Past:

1. Sacred Heart Girls RC

2. Mucurapo Boys RC

3. Four Roads Government