Dr Rohit Doon disclosed this while addressing a training seminar for medical practictioners on the National Strategy for Gestational Diabetes Screening: Health in pregnancy TT at Trinidad Hilton, St Ann’s. Doon said that estimate was provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“A large proportion of this burden is due to diabetes, $3.5 billion and hypertension $3.2 billion and cancer about $2 billion.

More than half of the total burden is due to productivity losses related to diabetes, hypertension and cancer mortality and morbidity.” He said diabetes and hypertension prevention intervention can reap huge benefits as a 50 percent reduction through sustained prevention interventions can result in estimated savings of $2 billion annually. “Therefore the ministry has completed and attained Cabinet approval for a five-year national strategic plan for prevention and control of NCDs (Noncommunicable Diseases). First strategic objective is multi sectoral policies and partnership for prevention and control so here we wish to build and promote multi sectoral action with relevant sectors of the government and society including integration into development and economic agendas.

“NCDs risk factors and protective factors, we wish to prevent prevalence of NCDs risk factors and strengthen protective factors with emphasis on children and adolescents. And vulnerable population using evidence based held promotions strategies policy instruments including regulation monitoring and voluntary measures to address the social and economic environmental determinants of health.” Doon said the coverage of the health system’s response to the NCDs and the risk factors need to be improved to create equitable and universal access to quality care with emphasis on primary health care and strengthened self care. He also said that the capacity for research needs to be strengthened.

“These strategies therefore reflect an appreciation of the fact that there is an link between society and the public’s health that fundamentally influences each other. Health is therefore an input for and a benefit of development.

Consequently public health can be defined as the essence and art of promotion health, controlling and preventing disease, prolonging life through the organised efforts of society,” he said.

The officer, who has about 20 years’ service, was liming near Woodstock Bar, located at Indian Walk in Moruga at about 2 am on Saturday when the incident occurred.

A police report stated that he observed two men, later identified as Rodriguez and his brother, Saran Albert Thomas, 29, striking his car, a Lancer, which was parked a short distance away.

The report added that the off-duty officer approached the men and enquired their reason for doing it.

A verbal clash followed by a physical altercation ensued during which the brothers began beating the officer.

The police report further stated that fearful for his life, the officer in a bid to defend himself opened fire at the men using his service revolver.

Both Rodriguez and Thomas, of Fifth Company in Moruga, were rushed to the Princes Town Area Hospital and later transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital.

Rodriguez, who worked as a lorry loader at the San Fernando City Corporation, died at the hospital shortly after arrival.

His brother, however, remained warded in a stable condition with a gunshot wound to the hand.

First responders, a party of officers from Princes Town, among them PCs Mohammed and Brown, visited the scene and retrieved the firearm from the corporal whom they took to the station.

Relatives of the brother are however claiming that Rodriguez was running away when the off-duty officer opened fire.

An autopsy is expected to be performed today at Forensic Sciences Centre at St James.

Officers of the Princes Town Police Station and the Homicide Bureau (Region III) are investigating.

The DPP spent close to four hours perusing the police file before giving the instructions yesterday afternoon.

The couple is expected to appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate this morning charged with the offence. The DPP yesterday ordered that two other persons, a 24-year-old man of Sea Lots and another 34-year-old who were also detained in connection with the murder to be released.

The two other suspects were detained on Wednesday and Thursday last.

The Carenage mother of a onemonth- old who was charged jointly with the main suspect was detained on Wednesday last hours before the body of WPC Joseph was fished out between the estuary of the Caroni River and the Gulf of Paria. Police went to the DPP yesterday only with circumstantial evidence because they did not get any confession statements.

The main suspect was detained on March 10, one day after WPC Joseph was reported missing. He was taken to the Riverside Plaza office of the Homicide Bureau where he continued to deny any involvement in the murder of the WPC.

On Thursday, the main suspect went before a High Court judge to seek a writ of habeas corpus to have him released but the judge gave the police until today to lay any charge or release the suspect.

On Thursday last, two fishermen were trawling for shrimp and fished out the WPC Joseph’s body whose decomposing body was in a bag and attached to the bag was a rope and three concrete blocks. When the body was viewed by a District Medical Officer the killers tied a rope around the neck of the officer in which two foundation blocks were attached as well as an iron anchor. Her hands were tied behind her back with rope and a stone placed in her hands while the right side of her face was bashed in and disfigured.

An autopsy revealed the death was inconclusive however, it is believed that the WPC was smothered. A party of officers led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Harrikrishen Baldeo along with Region One Homicide officers carried out extensive investigations and detained six people during the enquiry. Two of the six were released on Friday last and other two released yesterday. A joint team of officers from the Portof- Spain CID led by Snr Supt Boxhill, ASP Ajith Persad and others along with Inter-Agency Task Force officers under the supervision of Senior Supt Simboonath Rajkumar also assisted in searches along with Coast Guard officers and the Defence Force.

Yesterday, residents of Sea Lots said they were relieved that persons have been charged with the murder of the WPC and that their lives can now return to normal. The two boat men who were released yesterday did not return to their Sea Lots home but instead went to homes of relatives to rest and relax after their brief incarceration.

The funeral of the WPC is expected to tentatively take place this Friday.

Yesterday Assistant Commissioner of Police Hackshaw thanked members of the Police Service, the Coast Guard, the Defence Force and even members of the public who assisted the police in bringing closure to this probe.

“My child should not have had to apologise to anyone but she did it anyway. That is not right. She is the victim here. The principal made her apologise to two girls. The two girls also apologised to her and one admitted to hitting her two cuffs. But, what I saw in the video, it was more than two cuffs my daughter got,” said the child’s distraught mother.

She is the mother of Form Two pupil of the Mayaro Secondary School, who was severely beaten by female schoolmates. The family lives at La Brea Village, Guayaguayare.

A video of the incident is circulating on social media and shows a motionless female student being dragged out of a concrete drain and placed on the pavement after she was pummelled by a group of students.

The Education Ministry in a media release confirmed that four female students – one in Form One and three others in Form Two – were placed on seven-days suspension by the school’s principal “pending further investigations”.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia together with a team of officials from the Ministry will be visiting the school this morning.

“There is the possibility that my daughter may suffer brain damage.

We have to pay $1,800 to do a head scan privately and we do not have the money to do that. She is forgetting things and is complaining about headaches. She is not in a right frame of mind,” said the mother of five.

She also called for the attackers to be expelled from school so that they do not repeat such actions on anyone.

The mother, a housewife, explained that during the day on Tuesday, female students were ‘provoking’ her daughter in a classroom by using derogatory terms to describe her. One of the attackers walked into her daughter’s class saying she will “deal with her home-time”.

The mother related that her daughter told her that a male teacher who saw the confrontation when he entered the classroom suggested that they “take it outside and deal with it when school over”.

“He never asked about the nature of the conversation or gave her advice like to take it to the principal’s office. It could have been resolved in school. When school was over, she remained by guards’ booth for a while until the place cleared. She walked down the hill, not knowing they were waiting for her,” the mother added.

Outnumbered, a group of female students began to beat and kick the student during which she fell to the pavement and lost consciousness. A group of students cheered while the girl was being beaten. A taxi driver and a man believed to be a priest were passing and saw the commotion.

They transported the unconscious girl to the Mayaro District Health Facility where she was discharged at about 8 pm on Tuesday.

The following day, the mother and injured daughter went to the school where they met with the principal and social workers. The mothers of two of the attackers were also present and suggested that as parents they must “keep talking to our children”.

“She tried to avoid any confrontation by waiting for the children to go home. My child got her licks and did not raise her hands to hit anyone. We understand that this (provocation) has been happening for a while but she never told us because she said she was not taking them on,” the mother said.

She noted that officials from the Ministry are yet to contact her or even offer counselling services, which the mother believes is necessary to all the schoolgirls involved in the incident.

“Something has to be done. I think they all need counselling.

My daughter needs to open herself to people around her, like myself and close relative. No one from the Ministry contacted us and my daughter does not want to return to school so we are seeking a transfer,” the mother told Newsday.

To add to their troubles, the mother said that officers of the Mayaro Police Station refused to take a report of the incident although she visited the station four times since it occurred. She said police told her that if her daughter is feeling unwell, they cannot obtain a statement from her.

“I will have to go to another station to lodge a report if this continues I may also have to seek legal action. She keeps crying and she does not want what happened to her, happen to someone else. She even asked me why we keep going back to the station if they are not doing anything,” the mother said.

The incident has also placed a financial strain on the family as the child’s father, the sole breadwinner of the home, is a taxi driver and for the past week he has had to take time off to transport his daughter back and forth.

Over the past few weeks, three students, Dario Persad, 14, of the San Fernando West Secondary school lost his memory after he was knocked unconscious by another student, while 9-year-old Tristan Khan of the Mayaro Government primary suffered a broken right arm after he was beaten by a bully and Ehsan Hosein, 8, of Carapichaima ASJA Primary sustained a broken left arm after he too was beaten. In the past few weeks, there had been several reports of complaints about bullying amongst students both at the primary and secondary school level.

On February 1, Tristan Khan, nine, of Mayaro Government Primary dislocated and broken his right hand. It is alleged a classmate cuffed, kicked, and stomped upon him during recess.

Dario Persad, 14, a student of San Fernando West Secondary School, suffered memory loss after a fellow student repeatedly punched him and slammed his head against a wall on February 7 in a classroom.On March 7, Ehsan Hosein, eight, of the ASJA Primary School in Carapichaima suffered a broken arm after a student allegedly pushed him to the ground while playing at school.

“Power plus transparency”, Elder said. At the opening of the law term, last year, Chief Justice Ivor Archie made a call for abolition of the jury system. This did not sit well with several attorneys, including Elder, who threatened to burn her robes if the jury system was abolished.

The highly contentious Miscellaneous Provisions (Trial by Judge Alone) Bill, 2017, is being hotly debated in Parliament. Clause 6(1) of this Bill gives an accused person who appears before a judge in the High Court a choice. He can have a judge alone trial, or trial before a judge and jury. He can choose whether he wants a judge alone to decide his guilt or innocence. So, would it be judge verdict or jury verdict? Clause 6(1) provides: “Every person committed for trial shall be tried on an indictment and, subject to the provisions of this Act, shall be tried by a Judge and jury unless he elects to be tried by a Judge alone.” However, Elder said that once the jurisdiction of judges was expanded and they were empowered to decide whether an accused person was guilty or not guilty, they should be obligated to declare their assets.

“I say this with full knowledge of the High Court judgment of the then Honourable Madame Justice Judith Jones in which she ruled that the Integrity in Public Life legislation which made judges and magistrates subject to the Integrity Commission was unconstitutional. As a result of this judgment, judges and magistrates are not required to declare their assets with the Integrity Commissio,” Elder said.

In the Court of Appeal Judgment number 30 of 2008, the obligations of persons subjected to the Integrity in Public Life Act stated: “Persons who are subject to the jurisdiction of the Integrity Commission (the Commission) have onerous duties and responsibilities placed upon them. For instance, they are required to file exhaustive and detailed annual financial returns with the Commission in respect of themselves, their spouses and dependent children. Breaches of the provisions of the Integrity Act can be visited by severe penalties. By way of illustration, failing (a) to file the required returns, (b) to give information required by the Commission or (c) to attend an inquiry or (d) the giving of a false declaration are criminal offences punishable on summary conviction by a fine of $250,000.00 and imprisonment for ten years.

Individuals who are caught by the Integrity Act are also subject to a stringent code of conduct and to a thorough investigation by the Commission.” Elder said she was not casting any apsresions on the integrity of any judges, and did not doubt that they ensured the independence of the judiciary was maintained.

She said mandating judges to declare their assets served a dual purpose. First, she said, it protected judges against allegations that they accepted a bribe to determine the case in a particular manner, and secondly, it generated public confidence in the justice system by allaying fears that a judge alone verdict was as a result of corruption.

Elder said trust was not automatically bestowed on a person because of his/her status. She added that the mere donning of the judicial robe did not instill confidence in members of the public that the wearer of such a garment was not prejudiced, and had no human frailties which could influence his decision. Elder said the public must have confidence in the integrity of the justice system.

Of course, this is not as simple as it appears. We must acknowledge that to bridge a fiscal gap of US$16 billion is difficult especially if a country’s debt to GDP ratio is already over 60 percent. While saying that selling assets to fund a recurrent budget gap is a bad idea we need to acknowledge the arguments of the government.

The Minister of Finance in his budget statement indicated that a turnaround in the economy is expected later this year based mainly on the improvement in the fortunes of the energy sector.

First off, the coming on stream of the Juniper field will increase the output of the sector.

Second the increase in oil prices over US50 a barrel would have gone a long way to improving energy sector revenues. Third, later this year the 100 percent write-off of investment in the year they were made would no longer be in effect and this should improve energy sector revenues.

It must be admitted that the Juniper fields may be inadequate to fully replace lost output from aging fields. Secondly, we have seen a movement in the price of oil from US$54 a barrel in February to US48 in March of this year. This newspaper last week ran an article on March 16 in which it identified factors accounting for a possible dampening effect on oil prices going forward. The general idea conveyed was that the probability for lower oil prices were more than even.

Against this backdrop one wonders if the gamble by the Government for withdrawing from the HSF and borrowing from the local and international markets would prove to be a bad decision. This is difficult we all must admit. The government has indicated that too dramatic a cut in expenditure could stall the economy which is why they kept the cuts to seven percent.

There are two issues that arise from the March 17 press announcement.

First the HSF board needs to be complimented on achieving a growth between May 2016 (first withdrawal) and March 2017, of US$274 Million which is a five percent increase.

This we must note is not reflective of the current interest rate environment or reflective of the yield from high rated bonds. The question that arises is, has there been any rebalancing of the HSF portfolio to permit the investment in riskier assets? Has there been a change in the investment policy of the HSF to allow for a change in the asset allocation? The rating agencies had asked for a plan for effective debt management of which use of the HSF was to be outlined. Has this been done? Is there need for further fiscal consolidation? Certainly, the contraction in 2016 was more than in 2015.

Where is our stabilisation plan? If after 2017 energy prices and output does not allow revenues to recover and close or eliminate the fiscal gap what is our plan going forward? Should we consider restructuring the HSF to allow increases in the fund from alternate sources? Surely, this latest withdrawal demands answers to these questions since it is no lucky dip.

The vast majority of calypsoes, in my view, signify pathetic lyrics and an absence of creativity. However, I would support the calysonian’s freedom to compose, sing and disseminate his/her products provided there is some minimal observance of accepted norms of taste and restraint However, some would vehemently disagree with me and proclaim that the calypsonian is an artist and thus should be free to express himself or herself without any constraint or inhibition lest we subject the practitioner to a form of censorship.

In other words, the calypsonian is placed on a social pedestal and is deemed to have unfettered licence in free speech which is not available to the rest of us mortals.

The question therefore that must be confronted is whether calypsonians are exempt or ought to be from any societal, normative or moral constraint on their freedom of expression in the name of art and culture, such as it is.

My own position is that there are normative boundaries which ought not to be breached if artistic expression is not to be merely regarded as boorish, distasteful and offensive.

Art should also be uplifting and inspiring.

I am also of the view that all of us including calypsonians should be sensitive to the fact that we are a diverse society with legitimate differing ethnic, cultural and religious interests, traditions and perspectives, however uncomfortable it may be to some to acknowledge.

Thus far, we have managed a tolerable level of harmony and understanding which ought not to be jeopardised in the name of entertainment merely because it is fashionable in some quarters to caustically deride, ridicule and condemn what may be perceived as anachronistic beliefs and positions. Even if they are so perceived, are we justified in using the most disparaging and demeaning language of vilification? If such a prescription requires calypsonians to express themselves with a certain degree of self-censorship in the larger societal interest, then so be it.

After all, self-censorship is not alien to the vast majority of calypsonians when an Afro-Trinidadian- dominated administration is in office.

It is in this context that I refer to Chalkdust’s winning calypso at the Dimanche Gras show, Learn from Arithmetic and the award of the handsome prize money of $700,000.

Many have commented on the vulgarity incorporated in the calypso.

Ralph Maraj, himself a drama artiste, actor and playwright, stated that the calypso was “pathetic, a questionable, tasteless and tuneless rendition (which) descended into the cesspit of ugliest smut” (Express 5/3/17).

He made reference to a Newsday editorial which had concluded that Chalkdust’s calypso was “a thinly veiled personal attack…blatantly one-sided, attacking one race, one member of the Hindu community.” Dr Fuad Khan, MP for Barataria/ San Juan, is not known to be a prude, is an organiser of Carnival events, represents an ethnically diverse constituency and has demonstrated time and again his independence of thought. He has insisted that Chalkdust “must apologise to the population for his ‘vulgar and reprehensible behaviour’ both on and off stage.” He lamented that “a song describing the lubrication of a copybook with margarine for sexual depravities would secure him his ninth win in the competition” (Express 6/3/17).

One Horace Desormeaux from Maraval, in a letter to the Newsday (10/3/17) headlined “The bad and the ugly of Carnival,” would surmise that “The expressions in the winning calypso were in very bad taste and shameful.” Can we say that all the negative and condemnatory views quoted above are misguided, misinformed, misconceived and mischievous? * To be continued

Newsday learnt that at about 6 am on Saturday, the off-duty officer went to a house occupied by the 51-year-old mother and her two children. He began threatening to burn down the house with the occupants inside. Police said that he took up a red container which contained a flammable substance and began to douse furniture and other household items.

However, he subsequently left without setting the house ablaze and the mother lodged a report at the South Oropouche Police Station.

Police said that a “chair was well soaked” and that he had worked at the Siparia CID “for many years” as a detective.

The officer retired from the TTPS about three years ago, and returned as an SRP.

An arrest is yet to be made and Woman Cpl Narine-Singh is investigating.

According to reports, the prisoner, who is serving life for the murder of a doctor was found with several packets of marijuana during a routine search by prison officers shortly after midday.

Yesterday he was expected to be taken from his cell to the Arouca Police Station to be charged with the offence and is expected to appear before an Arima Magistrate today.

The three bandits who alighted from the maxi taxi after carrying out the crime were confronted by police officers which ended in a shoot out.

The three men escaped by running through a track at Mt Dor Road.

According to reports the victims were in the maxi heading east along the PBR at about 11.50 pm when they were held up by three men posing as passengers.

The victims were robbed of a quantity of cash, cell phones and jewellery, however, as the bandits were exiting the maxi in the vicinity of Mt Dor Road, PCs Edwards and Chootoo who were on mobile patrol saw the men running away and began pursuing them.

The bandits reportedly fired at the police who returned fire, however, the suspects escaped.

An All Points Bulletin was sent out for officers to be on the lookout for the suspects at the nation’s hospital.

However up until yesterday none of the men were found.