The Prime Minister pivoted the argument to close Caroni Green on the points that the company was competing with the private sector and was making a loss.

One wonders if the Prime Minister will take the same logic and apply it to CNMG, which also competes with private media houses and operates at a loss and costs taxpayers millions of dollars annually.

Similarly, Caribbean Airlines Ltd, Petrotrin, the Public Transport Service Corporation, National Petroleum and several other State companies cost taxpayers millions and compete unsuccessfully with the private sector. Or does the Prime Minister’s economic logic only apply to the agriculture sector, located primarily in the areas where the Opposition support is strong? In his post-Cabinet briefing, Rowley made several allegations about the operations of Caroni Green which were simply false.

And if those statements were the basis for the decision to close Caroni Green then clearly the decision was a bad one.

From the onset it was clear the Prime Minister did not know about Caroni Green when he called it a pepper company competing with the private sector.

Caroni Green has been involved in the development of several crops including papaya, plantain etc. It has been facilitating import substitution of peppers successfully, creating a cadre of small entrepreneurs who can have a reliable supply of peppers and have a sustainable business.

Rowley stated that Caroni Green costs the taxpayers money annually, with operating costs being $6 million and revenue only $700,000. The start-up costs included land and road development as well as repayment to a foreign investor as a result of government reneging on a substantial investment in the agricultural sector.

In fact, when Caroni Green was started in 2014, a seed capital was advanced to the company via an EU grant. Since then no money has been given to the company by the Government. In fact, in 2016 Caroni Green showed a profit.

The Prime Minister asserted that only a handful of workers will be affected (aka lose their jobs) but in fact there will be close to 100 people (20 administative staff and 80 daily-paid labourers) on the breadline as a result of this decision.

When Rowley served as Minister of Agriculture his tenure was distinguished with the closure of many institutions of that ministry.

Now as Prime Minister the closedown approach is being applied at a national level.

Devant Maharaj via email

(b) At the post-Cabinet news conference, Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe (a Tobagonian) suddenly announces the closing of the Tourism Development Company and the opening of two companies to market Trinidad and Tobago separately, although there is already a Department of Tourism in the Tobago House of Assembly. That must cause overlap and double-cost.

© Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley (a Tobagonian) hosts a function to honour Orville London (a Tobagonian) on his retirement from politics, and announces him as high commissioner to the United Kingdom and other countries (nothing wrong with that, payback time for long service).

But it is reported that in his acceptance speech London stated, “Any situation where he is high commissioner to UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden etc you talking Tobago tourism.” I hope that was not a “Freudian slip” because he is going as high commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago. He had better learn that fast, or he is off on the wrong foot — especially as his line minister, Dennis Moses, is also a Tobagonian.

Very interesting.

R Patino via email

On Monday, students staged a noisy protest demonstration after reports surfaced that enrolment at the south campus would begin from September while another stated that the start-up date would be in January 2018.

However, UWI St Augustine campus president Professor Brian Copeland told students that no date has been set for the start-up of classes at the Penal/Debe campus.

In a media release yesterday, PDCC president Shiva Roopnarine stated that the relocation of the law faculty, while not an easy move, has to be undertaken as quickly as possible.

“The Penal Debe Chamber of Commerce has been clamouring to have the south campus open and is pleased with the proposed date for classes to begin,” Roopnarine stated.

He said the challenges facing students from south and central Trinidad were well known including high rental apartments and the daily traffic congestion for those students who did not wish to stay on campus.

“Students from central and south will now have the luxury of commuting daily to campus against the run of traffic.

From Chaguanas to the campus, driving within the speed limit should take about 25 minutes,” he stated, adding, “the relocation is not going to be easy but it must happen swiftly.” However, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, in a media statement, voiced his objection to the relocation saying this “will have both immediate and future consequences that will injure the student body and the general population.” Maharaj said an immediate consequence was placing the faculty away from its existing “resource base” at the Hugh Wooding Law School with its library resources.

“The point made by the students about academic isolation cannot be answered if the faculty is put in a location which does not allow for meaningful cross faculty collaboration,” he said.

Maharaj noted that no law faculty could “properly develop” without the “full and closer knit support of sister faculties in arts and the social sciences.” “I call on the University and the government to reconsider this short-sighted attempt by the last government to gain short-term political advantages at the expense of the national community.” However, Roopnarine offered a contrasting view saying the university’s south campus continued to be the “pride and joy” of south Trinidad with many investment opportunities being created in and around the campus.

“Businesses, not only from Penal / Debe but also national franchises invested hoping that the campus would have already been open. Entrepreneurs have taken loans at local banking establishments and developed lands and apartments in anticipation of a return. At a time where the economy is stagnant, many investors are grateful for the imminent opening of the campus,” he said.

Roopnarine stated that accommodations to house students could have been similar to those of St Augustine had the university “sent clear messages to the business community and was consulting with us on the needs of the campus.” “It is the belief of the chamber that Penal / Debe and by extension San Fernando will be able to accommodate the housing needs of the campus.

The campus should advise the public and state how many students will be enrolled and seeking accommodation.”

He spoke at a news conference yesterday at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Port-of- Spain, with Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh.

Karim justified the need for the Debe campus by saying 40 secondary schools lie in south Trinidad, from Couva to Cedros to Rio Claro to Guayaguarare, even as the St Augustine campus, with 19,000 students, has reached its full capacity.

The Debe campus was intended to have branches of the UWI, Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS), Roytec and Arthur Lok Jack School, he said.

“The Penal/Debe Campus was not to replace any faculty at the St Augustine Campus but to supplement and complement.” Asked if the political momentum still exists to complete the Debe campus, Karim said the PP government had provided $500 million to build it but a lack of activity some 20 months later suggests the momentum is not there.

Saying there is no reason to discontinue this construction, he said the facility is just 81 percent complete.

“I want to join my colleagues in calling for this campus to be completed.” .

He said the Council for Legal Education, which regulates the training for new entrants to the legal profession, had requested the former PP government to expand the HWLS.

Karim said the Debe campus would facilitate law students who would otherwise have to travel to England to study, including those with non-UWI LLB degress not selected for HWLS to do vocational training.

Mikhail Singh, chief executive officer and managing director of HelloPost TT said this is an online greeting card provider where they do customised and personalised greeting cards. They also offer flowers, confectionery, wines, spir- its, gift certificates for restaurants and spas which are delivered on that special day.

“A grandmother who lives abroad can send a ‘Sweet 16’ birthday card and a gift certificate for a spa day,” Singh said.

“Or a man who is busy at office and wants to send a card to (his significant other) for her birthday, can come online, say ‘I love you baby’ and send her a certificate for anything he knows she may like. Even someone who works offshore and has a best friend who is getting married, they can do an engagement card with a bottle of champagne and dinner for two. It’s that easy.” Singh was speaking at the formal launch of the company on Monday night at One Woodbrook Place, Port-of-Spain.

Singh said part of their thrust as entrepreneurs is that they are responding to the call that the Government has been making for online shopping.

Last year, Government had placed a levy of seven percent on online purchases of goods and services through the internet from retail companies resident overseas that are not subject to taxation in this country.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said online purchases were now a significant area of foreign exchange demand, which was putting a strain on reserves since credit card transactions were settled almost immediately.

“We are now engaging our local sector to have local content available to our grassroot population. We are trying to increase foreign exchange by marketing towards the TT diaspora and New York, Miami and Toronto as well. We are trying to take an approach to be more holistic and put forward a new business and a new marketing strategy,” Singh told the Newsday.

Singh said he had also recognised that not everyone has access to a credit card and is working with OnLine Solutions to facilitate their customers.

“A teenager wants to buy his mother a gift for Mother’s Day, it’s kind of messed up to use mom’s credit card to buy her a gift. This way we would allow you to buy a top up in the same way you would top up your phone, and you can use that on the site as well.

I think it’s going to be a big seller as well.

“We think that this is something that people will respond to because it is convenient, it’s comfortable and everyone likes personalisation.

They like gifts with their own name on it.”

Residents, a report said, called in the police just before midnight when they couldn’t sleep. The event, Aerobic Rave Burnout was held at Yard Vybz at Fanny Village, Point Fortin.

According to a police report, at about 11.10 am, EMA officers received information of an event taking place in Fanny Village and upon arrival heard loud amplified sounds emanating from beyond the property’s boundary lines. The report further said a sound pressure level (SPL) measurement was taken and the promoter was found to be in breach of the noise pollution rules.

Officers also observed that there was no proper placement of music speakers which were found to be facing the homes of the residents.

The promoter was ordered to end the event. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, one senior officer urged affected residents to continue to notify EMA officers whenever persons in their neighborhood are in breach noise pollution rules.

In a release issued to media on Monday, the UWI Socialist Student Conference through its coordinator Am?lcar Sanatan, and its public relations officer, Shalinee Bahadur, called on the ministry to honour Derek Walcott’s legacy by empowering the youth in arts.

Walcott, one of the region’s few Nobel laureates, died on March 17 in St Lucia and he was the founder of the TTW.

The release said, “Derek Walcott was the most distinguished poet and playwright the Caribbean has produced. He is internationally recognised as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T.S. Elliot Prize for Poetry in 2011. He, however, spent a significant part of his professional life in the Caribbean – in Jamaica as a student, in Trinidad as an artist and residence in his native homeland, St. Lucia. In 1959 he was a founding director of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. We call on the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts to honour the legacy of Derek Walcott by empowering the youth in arts.”

Sinnette’s issues surrounded the judging of her calypso in the wrong category, and generally how TUCO’s business is being run.

She feels, as a calypsonian she and her fellow artistes are being short-changed by the executive, especially if they are not part of the calypso tents operated by TUCO.

Sinnette said on Monday, because of the inaction by TUCO, her lawyer is now on the verge of taking the necessary action to right the wrong where being judged in the wrong category is concerned.

“It is TUCO’s fault that I wasn’t given the opportunity to vie for the Political Monarch and to go further in the Calypso Monarch competition,” she said.

In the meantime, time is running out for this Government to turn things around.

Unless this administration starts acting immediately, the remaining credit facilities that are available for restructuring may be eroded.

Additionally, the willingness of business to enter agreements with the administration may be diminished as they consider the possibility of a change in government in the next general election.

It is critical that this administration starts the following action immediately: * Embark on a policy of community management that incorporates community policing, electronic surveillance and structured community police patrols.

* Aggressively restructure the tourism package to include preserving historic buildings and dwellings like the remaining gingerbread houses in Port-of-Spain through a policy of preserving heritage sites including Chaguaramas. Upgrade hike trails, rivers, beaches, campsites, caves and other natural places of interest to international standards. Lease Chacachacare for private development and improve transportation to the island through a network of bridges and a causeway from Portof- Spain through Chaguaramas to the rest of the islands.

Allow for Tobago to manage its tourism package.

Structure Carnival and the steel pan industry into a public/ private partnership aimed at international marketing of the instrument.

* Start large-scale cultivation and processing of agricultural products through a public/private partnership that maximises the use of the Caroni lands.

* Survey and map all the lands throughout TT and designate areas for agriculture, building development, industry, waste disposal, cemeteries, water retention and other uses in a structured manner.

* Restructure State enterprises for efficiency and profitability.

* Upgrade our transportation infrastructure through a new network of roads and a public/private partnership arrangement that incorporates a rail system, buses and the ferry services.

* Restructure government services to be more customer friendly and accessible.

* Embark on a new longterm economic model that seeks to utilise the limited balance of our energy products for manufacturing, reduce our food bill through subsidised agriculture, increase our income from tourism by 500 percent, and encourage investment through attractive tax incentives.

These are just some of the activities that should engage the attention of the Government now.

We have declining income, our educated and talented personnel are leaving our shores, our communities are becoming too unsafe to attract investments, and our policies are unattractive to foreign investors.

We need to change things around. We can do this together.

Steve Alvarez via email

Parking is horrendous because the parking lot is uneven, frequently flooded and parking spaces are severely limited due to construction work taking place on one end.

This causes a massive traffic jam for beachgoers that extends up to at least 5 pm on a Sunday.

The traffic frees up once you are clear of the parking lot entrance.

Yet hundreds of people still descend on the beach on a weekend.

I was most embarrassed on Sunday when my family from abroad decided to make a rest room stop at 5.15 pm before leaving the beach, only to be told in a very rude tone that the restrooms close at 5 pm.

So visitors, I guess you need to make sure you do your “business” before 5 pm or face the dire consequences of a long drive home before you can get relief.

Oh and by the way, make sure you don’t get into difficulties in the water after 5 pm because it is my understanding the lifeguards are no longer on duty after that time.

When will we take tourism seriously? Only when all of the oil dollars dry up? But don’t worry, we are Trinis and we jamming still.

Arlene Stephen via email