I visited the UTC’s head office in Portof- Spain and met 11 other people with the same complaint — no three-month statement.

The public needs to know what is going on.

GEORGA COLEMAN Diego Martin

Cedeno, who had 18 years service in the Police Service, last worked as at the Caroni KP Unit.

He died instantly in a vehicular accident along the Solomon Hochoy Highway near Claxton Bay on Monday morning.

According to police reports at about 11.45 am, Cedeno of Hercules Village in Point Fortin was driving a black Kia SUV which crashed into an iron guard rail near the Macaulay Flyover in Claxton Bay.

Three of Cedeno’s female relatives were also passengers in the vehicle. The women who are Canadian nationals are still listed in critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Cedeno had recently moved to Hercules Village in Point Fortin with his wife, Carline, and three children – one of them a threemonth- old boy, Kaydon.

Carline told Newsday that before her husband left home on Saturday morning for work he kissed the children goodbye and she also warned him to drive safely and be careful on the roads.

Yesterday she told Newsday that the family is still struggling to come to terms with Cedeno’s death.

Carline said that the funeral service would take place at the Revival Time Assembly in San Fernando.

On Wednesday was no different.

The beach that spans the Clifton Hill Beach Resort was not as populated as it usually is during the day on Ash Wednesday.

According to a vendor who has been selling different kinds of chow on the beach for some years, the low numbers stem from the January shooting of Garvin Phillip, 41, who was shot in his leg during an altercation on the beach.

Despite the video of the incident being shared extensively via social media sites, police investigations were hampered by witnesses who claimed to have not seen what happened.

Still, a few young people and tourists were seen playing football and bathing, three families mounted tents for a cookout, and vendors set up stalls in hope of more people showing up after work.

Prince Clint Mendez, 35, of Corinth Hill, Ste Madeleine, near San Fernando, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Brambhanan Dubay in the San Fernando Magistrates Court to the having ten grammes of marijuana during J’Ouvert celebrations on Monday.

He was arrested at Lord Street, San Fernando.

Police prosecutor Sgt Denzil Alexander related to the court that Mendez was standing on the road when police officers on patrol observed that he was acting suspiciously.

Upon searching him they discovered he had a clear plastic bag in one of his pockets which contained the marijuana. Mendez was arrested and taken to the Marabella Police Station where he was charged. Attorney Ainsley Lucky, who represented him, told Dubay that Mendez is the son of the late Mighty Duke (Kelvin Pope) and he was “caught-up” like everyone else in the euphoria of the Carnival season.

The Mighty Duke was a four-time calypso monarch and is from Point Fortin. Mendez, the attorney said, had one previous conviction for marijuana in 2008.

Dubay ordered him to pay the fine in 30 days or serve nine months in jail.

This submission was made to a magistrate yesterday in defence of a man who works at a Roman Catholic church, but who was charged with possession of marijuana.

Agin Gaskin, 43, of Corinth Hill, Ste Madeleine, near San Fernando, appeared before Magistrate Brambhanan Dubay in the San Fernando Magistrates Court before whom he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Prosecutor Sgt Denzil Alexander told Dubay that it was at about 8.05am on Monday during J’Ouvert celebrations in San Fernando when police officers saw Gaskin in a crowd. He was holding a cigarette which, Dubay heard, was of unusual length. The officers became suspicious and arrested Gaskin. Upon examining the cigarette they saw it contained marijuana.

It weighed one gramme.

Pleading on behalf of Gaskin, attorney Ainsley Lucky told Dubay that Gaskin works at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church on Harris Promenade, and he certainly regretted the crime he had committed.

Dubay ordered Gaskin to pay a fine of $750 in 30 days or serve four months in jail.

The bill is designed to amend the Marriage Act, the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, the Hindu Marriage Act, the Orisa Marriage Act and the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act, to establish 18 years as the legal age for marriage in TT.

The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage in the House (25 votes) and in the Senate (19 votes). The Senate passed the bill with amendments on January 17. The question now is whether the Opposition will support the amended bill or not. Government has 23 MPs in the House and needs at least two of the 18 Opposition MPs to vote in support of the legislation. This year’s Calypso Monarch Dr Hollis Liverpool (Chalkdust) won the title at Sunday’s Dimanche Gras show at the Queen’s Park Savannah, singing about the controversial issue of child marriage.

Also scheduled for debate in the House today is the long awaited Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The new public procurement legislation is expected to take effect from March 31.

Before debate begins on either of these bills, there are six papers to be laid in the House.

Top of the list is a nomination by President Anthony Carmona for former head of the Coast Guard, Commodore Anthony Franklin, to be appointed a member of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

Imbert has questions on foreign exchange and Caribbean Airlines to answer from Naparima MP Rodney Charles and Chaguanas East MP Fazal Karim, respectively.

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon has a question from Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe, regarding the manpower audit being conducted the Police Service.

At a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s on January 4, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said former PSC chairman Professor Ramesh Deosaran will chair the committee that will undertake the audit.

The Prime Minister said at that time, the committee has been mandated to submit its report to Cabinet by March 31. Before the House sits on Friday, the JSC on Human Rights, Equality and Diversity is scheduled to hold a public hearing at Tower D from 10.30 am, to discuss the issue of human rights of remandees at the Remand Yard Prison with Deosaran and representatives of Vision on Mission and the National Security Ministry. This committee is chaired by Community Development, Culture and the Arts Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly.

Other members include Housing Minister Randall Mitchell, Opposition Senator Rodger Samuel and Independent Senator Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir.

Pastor Sharran Ballosingh of the Southern Revival Church at Chinese Village, La Brea, believes the church was broken into sometime between 5.30pm on Sunday and 2pm on Monday.

Ballosingh said after the usual Sunday service, church members were moving back and forth between the church and Station Beach up until 5.30 pm in preparation for a day of fellowship that was held on Monday. On the way back from enjoying a day at the beach as a church family, Ballosingh noticed something was amiss.

“I saw one of the windows was open, so I told one of the members to go and close it.

When the member went to close it, he noticed a board that covered a hole in one of our walls was missing. He didn’t think anything of it at the time, so he told a brother to fix it the next day. It is when that member went on Tuesday to fix the board that they looked inside and saw what happened.” The office was turned inside out with files strewn about, boxes smashed in and, most uniquely, leftover paint from Christmas redecorating was poured all over the desktop computer.

“It looked as if they were really angry, perhaps because they didn’t find the kind of money they were looking for.” A set of keys were also found on the ground outside the office door, but the keys were not church keys. “People are saying sometimes one key works on more than one lock, so they probably tried to break in that way at first.” Only $600 in petty cash was stolen. The filing cabinets, however, were smashed in and a laptop, speakers, and cameras, together valued approximately $17,500, were stolen.

The size of the haul, she said, indicated that it most likely was the work of more than one person.

Ballosingh said her congregation, which is comprised of about 100 people, has been in the community for 27 years. It was founded by her husband, Mark Ballosingh, who left her in charge of the church ten years ago in order to set up a second branch in another community.

“We are very concerned, because this is the third time we’ve been robbed.

The first time, a man in a mask pushed our secretary around and broke her glasses. She was very traumatised. The church has a lot of families and we have programmes to help people in the community, so it is very disappointing that this would happen to us.” Asked if the incident would affect the running of the church, Ballosingh said it would affect it in practical ways as the laptop and cameras were used heavily in their services and the weekly programmes, but she has not lost hope. “If I let this affect the running of the church, the people will get fearful.

We are concerned but if I show fear and close down services it will affect the church and the families. It would take some time before we can start putting things back in place, but we will continue to do what we have to do because that is the work of the church.” Ballosingh was set to hold a meeting yesterday afternoon to prepare for a crusade the church would be hosting in the community next week.

La Brea police are investigating.

Newsday also understands that on March 10, Government ministers will meet with their counterpart secretaries in the Assembly. The Magdalena Grand Hotel could be the venue for the Cabinet meeting and subsequent meetings between government ministers and THA secretaries. Some of the issues expected to be discussed in the meetings on March 10 include security, finance, tourism and agriculture.

After the PNM won the September 7, 2015 General Elections, Rowley told Newsday an arrangement was made for Cabinet to meet at least twice a year in Tobago.

The Prime Minister explained the rationale behind this was to foster closer ties between Central Government and the THA. Cabinet holds its first weekly meeting after Carnival, yesterday at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

In an interview yesterday, Lee said nominations for all positions within the 41 constituency executives had opened on Wednesday with nomination forms available at the party’s Couva headquarters.

Nominations will close on March 10 with the elections being held on April 2 and April 9 respectively.

“The elections are open to all UNC members,” Lee said.

“These elections are the constituency executive elections in the 41 constituencies so for example Siparia, Pointe – a – Pierre, C haguanas East, Chaguanas West, you have to be a UNC member to be eligible to put yourself up as a nominee for any particular post, from chairman, vice chairman, secretary, treasurer, party organiser within the constituency.” Lee said this is regular internal elections for the constituencies and later this year, there is supposed to be the national executive elections and all positions would be open from chairman go down with the exception of the political leader.

The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 23 in the name of Finance Minister Colm Imbert.

During a post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s on February 16, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi listed this bill amongst other pieces of legislation which would be laid in Parliament.

Al-Rawi said the former People’s Partnership government had tried to access funding through the Corporation but did not put the necessary legislative mechanisms in place to do this.

Clause Three of the bill states that Government could borrow money from the Corporation for the purpose of financing or promoting social and economic development in TT.

Clause Five allows for a copy of the loan agreement between the Corporation and the Government to be laid in Parliament.

Payments to the Corporation would be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

Established in 1970, the Corporation has the mission of stimulating sustainable development and regional integration by financing projects in the public and private sectors, and providing technical cooperation and other specialised services in Latin America.

The Corporation currently consists of 18 member countries from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe along with 14 private banks.

The authorized capital of the Corporation is US$10 billion.