A community nurse at the Queen’s Park Counselling Centre and Clinic, Port-of-Spain, says T&T is not ready to deal with the Ebola virus despite assurances from Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan.
In an interview, Jason Augustus said the medical fraternity was panicked about the possible spread of Ebola. He said although an Ebola response unit had been set up, the Government had not yet organised staff for the containment units at the Caura District Hospital and the Piarco International Airport. 

A four-bed isolation unit at Caura was announced at a post-Cabinet media briefing two weeks ago but Augustus said it was still unclear who would be stationed at the centres. “I have been speaking to nurses and many of them are saying that there is no team in place as yet to handle this situation. The protocols are still being established and finding the staff to actually work there will be the most challenging thing that Government will have to do,” Augustus predicted. 

In the meantime, he said nurses and other health care workers were being educated about the spread of Ebola and how easily it could be spread. Asked whether a special incinerator had been set up to deal with Ebola-related waste, Augustus said no. On concerns over whether Ebola-contaminated clothes and other waste could be transported for incineration or disposed of in the same area, Augustus said the existing hospital incinerator could be used and ruled out possible dangers from transporting hazardous waste. “We are trained in this field and we believe that transporting the waste will not present a  problem once proper procedures are followed,” Augustus said. 
Yes to $10m insurance

Augustus commended the proposal made by PSA president Watson Duke that the State should put in place a $10 million insurance policy for health care workers who might be exposed to Ebola.
“If we have to deal with an Ebola patient, we have to be kept in isolation. It means we will have to stay away from our families for more than 21 days. We will be unable to engage in public transportation. “Our pets may be put to sleep as has happened with the Chile nurse who contacted the disease. We may die if proper procedures are not followed,” Augustus said. He added that additional compensation was warranted and anyone who thought otherwise was not being fair to health care workers.

After being beaten and forced to watch his fiancée and employees hogtied by gunmen, Point Fortin businessman Rajendra Bisram was shoved into his own pickup and carted away. For most of Wednesday night and yesterday, the national security helicopter circled the areas near his Maharaj Trace, Cap-de-Ville, hardware store and home but up to late yesterday, he could not be found. 
Even more troubling for police and his family was that his abductors had not yet demanded a ransom. 

The investigating party, including ASP Jagroop, Sgt Corrie, Sgt Jones and Cpl Prince, is exploring several leads but said they could not reveal them. They reported that around 10 pm Wednesday, Bisram was in the hardware with his fiancée Daniella Williams, an employee and a technician, when a gunman, wearing a jersey concealing his face, ran out from behind a forklift and ordered them lie on the floor. Bisram’s son, Kareem, said they were installing an electrical panel for a generator when they were ambushed by the gunman, who kicked his father. 

Four other men then came up from the river bank behind the building, took them into the apartment on the same compound and tied them together with straps. They then ordered Bisram to hand over the keys to his black Toyota Hilux Vigo, forced him into the back seat and drove off. Kareem said: “They took him and we don’t know where they went from here. “We have not received any information or calls about him. We were never robbed before but earlier in my years, I was almost kidnapped. “About four or five years ago, I was walking down the street when a car came in and they tried to stick me up but I ran.” 

He said he did not know if his previous experience was related to his father’s kidnapping and said no threats were made against his father’s life and no one knew the reason behind the kidnapping. “My family is real devastated right now. My grandmother almost caught a heart attack. “We are now setting up this business, trying to manufacture and sell hardware stuff. We have been doing business two-and-a-half to three years now and this is all he used to do,” he added.

National Security Minister Gary Griffith said T&T did not provide any information that led to Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr being detained and denied entry to Jamaica on Wednesday. He was speaking at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. He said the first time he heard about the matter was when T&T’s High Commissioner in Kingston Dr Iva Gloudon contacted him.

He noted the decision by the Jamaican authorities should be respected and not questioned. He said if Jamaica felt anyone was a security threat to the country it could rightly deny entry. He said Abu Bakr’s detention was not any act of retaliation by Jamaica against similar action taken recently by T&T against 13 Jamaican nationals who attempted to enter T&T but were deported. Griffith said the T&T Government was moving to address the high incidence of illegal immigrants in the country.

Bakr returned home shortly after 6 am yesterday on a private flight. He was detained in Kingston shortly after he arrived on Wednesday afternoon to attend Sunday’s Million Man March at the National Arena, being hosted by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The authorities in Jamaica said Abu Bakr, who led an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the T&T Government in July 1990, was a security threat. And in a statement issued by the Muslimeen yesterday, Bakr described his arrest and detention as an “abuse” and after an investigation was complete “appropriate action will be taken in accordance.” He also wants the T&T authorities to intervene “to clear up this matter.”

Bark's Version of Events
Bakr said he, one of his wives and son boarded a Caribbean Airlines flight from Piarco to Norman Manley Airport, Jamaica, for a six-day visit to his daughter, who is studying medicine at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. The release also said he had been invited to the 19th anniversary of the Million Man March in Kingston. 

When they arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport,  Jamaican immigration officials denied them entry, saying they were all threats to national security, it added. After deliberations, Bakr’s wife and son were allowed into Jamaica but he was told he would be deported, it stated.  “Bakr refused to leave,” said the release, “stating he wanted clear information on how he could be perceived as a threat to Jamaica.” The release said Abu Bakr was in good health and strong spirits.

Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan yesterday challenged hunger-striker Dr Wayne Kublalsingh to prove him wrong about his health. Khan had said over the weekend  Kublalsingh, who has been on a hunger strike for almost a month, had no signs of imminent organ failure. 

Yesterday Khan dared Kublalsingh to prove him wrong and said Kublalsingh, the leader of the Highway Re-Route Movement, should produce the results of his blood test done at St Clair Medical Centre. “I would like Dr Kublalsingh or anyone in his family to make the blood results public and prove me wrong,” he said. 

Khan said he would also like Kublalsingh’s doctor to “show me where, in the reference of the medical literature, somebody’s organs are failing and the blood results are normal.”

RC Archbishop Joseph Harris yesterday reiterated his call for mediation, saying this would ultimately create a better society. “The possibility with mediation has always existed but it is up to the people to come to a consensus and a conclusion to find common ground and to move on. “I have said repeatedly I am not a politician, I am a theologian and I come to this issue from a theological point of view. “In a situation of conflict we have to seek ways of defusing the conflict and bringing people together,” Harris added.

Saying God wanted harmony for the world, Harris said mediation was part of seeking that harmony. “I am a religious leader and I have to promote harmony. I am not taking any sides and I have not been visiting anybody because I do not want to appear as if I am taking sides,” Harris added. President of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) Harrypersad Maharaj, when contacted, directed the T&T Guardian to Harris and Anglican Bishop Claude Berkley, saying they were the ones who had called for mediation. He said the IRO would be issuing a full-page advertisement on Sunday about the HRM’s cause.

Dear World

In just over six months, Ebola has managed to bring my country to a standstill. We have lost over 2,000 Liberians. Some are children struck down in the prime of their youth. Some were fathers, mothers, brothers or best friends. Many were brave health workers that risked their lives to save others, or simply offer victims comfort in their final moments.

There is no coincidence Ebola has taken hold in three fragile states – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - all battling to overcome the effects of interconnected wars. In Liberia, our civil war ended only eleven years ago. It destroyed our public infrastructure, crushed our economy and led to an exodus of educated professionals. A country that had some 3,000 qualified doctors at the start of the war was dependent by its end on barely three dozen. In the last few years, Liberia was bouncing back. We realized there was a long way to go, but the future was looking bright.

Now Ebola threatens to erase that hard work. Our economy was set to be larger and stronger this year, offering more jobs to Liberians and raising living standards. Ebola is not just a health crisis – across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed.

The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced and without the preparedness to confront such a challenge. This would have been the case whether the confrontation was with Ebola, another infectious disease, or a natural disaster.

But one thing is clear. This is a fight in which the whole world has a stake. This disease respects no borders. The damage it is causing in West Africa, whether in public health, the economy or within communities – is already reverberating throughout the region and across the world.

The international reaction to this crisis was initially inconsistent and lacking in clear direction or urgency. Now finally, the world has woken up. The community of nations has realized they cannot simply pull up the drawbridge and wish this situation away.

This fight requires a commitment from every nation that has the capacity to help – whether that is with emergency funds, medical supplies or clinical expertise.

I have every faith in our resilience as Liberians, and our capacity as global citizens, to face down this disease, beat it and rebuild. History has shown that when a people are at their darkest hour, humanity has an enviable ability to act with bravery, compassion and selflessness for the benefit of those most in need.

From governments to international organisations, financial institutions to NGOs, politicians to ordinary people on the street in any corner of the world, we all have a stake in the battle against Ebola. It is the duty of all of us, as global citizens, to send a message that we will not leave millions of West Africans to fend for themselves against an enemy that they do not know, and against whom they have little defence.

The time for talking or theorizing is over. Only concerted action will save my country, and our neighbours, from experiencing another national tragedy. The words of Henrik Ibsen have never been truer: “A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed.”

Yours sincerely,

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Source: AllAfrica.com

Amid concerns about the spread of Ebola to the Caribbean, there is the growing fear that the virus could enter the region through its sea ports, via cruise ships.

Belize yesterday refused entry to a cruise ship carrying an unnamed Texas hospital worker who may have handled Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s specimen. Two nurses who cared for Duncan tested positive for Ebola. The Belize Coast Guard did not let the vessel or any of its thousands of passengers into port.

“The Government of Belize was contacted today by officers of the U.S. government and made aware of a cruise ship passenger considered of very low risk for Ebola,” the government of Belize said Thursday in a statement. “Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, the government of Belize decided not to facilitate a U.S. request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Phillip Goldson International Airport.”

The government further said yesterday that it is no longer issuing visas to travellers from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the West African countries with confirmed cases of the Ebola virus.

Belizean Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse yesterday said that, under a new immigration protocol, visitors from those countries could no longer enter Belize.

Mexico also blanks ship
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital healthworker in question and a partner boarded the ship October 12 in Galveston, Texas, before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the requirement for active monitoring, the State Department said in a statement.

“It has been 19 days since the passenger may have processed” Duncan’s fluid samples, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement yesterday morning. “The cruise line has actively supported CDC’s efforts to speak with the individual, whom the cruise ship’s medical doctor has monitored and confirmed was in good health. Following this examination, the hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin.”

Authorities had earlier said the health worker was “quarantined”.

The Carnival cruise ship was also denied entry into Mexico, according to a Carnival spokeswoman. The ship yesterday headed back to the United States after Mexican authorities failed to grant it permission to dock off the coast of Cozumel.

A Mexican port authority official said the ship was denied clearance to avoid any possible risk from Ebola. 

“It is the first time that this has happened, and it was decided the ship should not dock as a preventative measure against Ebola,” Erce Barron, port authority director in Quintana Roo, told Reuters.

The Carnival Magic had been waiting off the Mexican coast since yesterday morning for its scheduled port visit. Mexican authorities still hadn’t given clearance by noon, so the ship continued to its home port of Galveston, Texas, where it is due back tomorrow.

The health worker, a lab supervisor who has not been named, has shown no symptoms of the disease but remains on board and in voluntary isolation, according to Carnival. 

“We greatly regret that this situation, which was completely beyond our control, precluded the ship from making its scheduled visit to Cozumel and the resulting disappointment it has caused our guests,” read a statement from Carnival.

The Carnival Magic is operated by Carnival Corp unit Carnival Cruise Lines.—Sources: Reuters, National Post

Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan says Government is not budging on its decision to quarantine all T&T nationals returning from Ebola-stricken regions of west Africa for a period of 21 days. And although he admitted they could not say just how many people this could affect, given that there were fears the virus could even spread in the United States, Khan said they would make the room at medical institutions across the country to ensure they could accommodate those people once they returned home.

“We will have to find space,” Khan told the T&T Guardian as he answered questions on whether the lone isolation unit at the Caura Hospital would be enough to undergo the quarantine exercise if there was an overwhelming response. Khan announced the quarantine on Thursday in tandem with a ban on entry to all travellers coming from west African regions, such as Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Yesterday, however, Khan said the Government may review the ban on Nigeria, which had been able to contain the virus, as more information cane to hand on the virus. He said the decision to ban Nigeria was taken by Cabinet. Asked why Nigeria was banned when it had successfully contained the Ebola spread, Khan said Nigeria was on the St Lucian watch list and T&T followed suit. 

He agreed that many T&T nationals were employed in the Nigerian energy sector but could not give any figures. “This is being compiled by the Energy Ministry,” Khan said when asked whether adequate research had been done to ascertain how many nationals would be affected. Khan said  the T&T Government would work closely with the World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation before making future decisions on altering the travel ban.

“The WHO has made some pronouncements on Nigeria, so we will be reviewing our decision,” Khan promised. 

Nigeria safe — ambassador
Nigerian High Commissioner to T&T Musa John Jen says his country has been safe from Ebola infections for the past six weeks. He made the comment yesterday in response to Health Minister Fuad Khan’s decision to ban nationals of his country from entering T&T due to Ebola concerns. The WHO says Nigeria will be declared Ebola-free as long as no new cases are detected before Monday.

In a radio interview yesterday, John Jen, who will be returning to Nigeria this weekend after resigning from his post to contest a governorship in his country, said he would not have returned if Ebola was not under control. “I am heading to Nigeria with my family this weekend. If there is a threat, especially Ebola, I would be the last person to carry my family after six years and some months in Trinidad,” John Jen said.

He said there was now a system in Nigeria where contact details and other information was taken from travellers at every port of entry into the country. John Jen said during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China in 2002, that country had put systems in place to track and control any spread of the virus. He suggested T&T should employ similar measures.

Crew members on board the MV Ocean Discovery, which arrived in Chaguaramas on Thursday from Ebola-raved west Africa, have been cleared to come ashore by doctors attached to the Health Ministry. This was the word from Health Minister Fuad Khan last night as he tried to allay fears by fishermen in the region and members of the public that there are no vessels in T&T territorial waters carrying Ebola-infected crew members.

“The doctors have decided that they are eligible to enter the country because they have already spent more than 21 days since they left Africa,” Khan said. Chaguaramas fishermen were yesterday suspicious of the crew members aboard the ship, which arrived here after two stops at ports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Ghana. “We not going near there. Them people have Ebola, we don’t want to die,” one fisherman at a depot near the Crews Inn marina said. 

When a news team from the T&T Guardian visited the area seeking to charter a fishing boat to have a closer look at the ship, only one of the dozen fishermen present was willing to take the job offer. Even then, as soon as the vessel came into sight on the boat trip, he quickly expressed strong reservations about going further. “Allyuh really want to go so near to it? I ent feel that make sense,” he said.  

He reluctantly agreed after reporters explained that the virus could only be transmitted through bodily fluids. When the boat approached closer, seven crew members were seen walking around the ship’s upper deck. Although it was difficult to communicate because of the distance and size difference between the ship and the fisherman’s pirogue, the crew members, who said they were from Scotland, said they had recently visited Africa. 

With a broad smile, a bareback crew member flexed his biceps and shouted across the water that he was not infected with Ebola. Before reporters could ask the purpose of their visit and if the crew was planning to come ashore, Port Authority personnel patrolling in the area intervened to say the mission should be immediately abandoned.  

The T&T Government’s decision to impose a ban on nationals of Nigeria and other west African countries because of the Ebola outbreak could damage its oil and gas relationship with that part of the world, Anthony Paul, managing director at Association of Caribbean Energy Specialists (ACES), warned yesterday. Paul, a senior consultant in the local energy sector, said the decision would affect an already volatile relationship between the governments.

“We have not managed the relationship well at the government-to-government level. If you looked at what happened in Ghana, there was a deal that was supposed to be signed and it did not come off for all kinds of reasons,” he said in reaction to Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan’s announcement on Thursday that people coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Nigeria would be denied entry to T&T due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

He added: “West Africa is suffering and to add more suffering does not help. I went to Liberia about two years ago and I was working on a project there. In July, I was working on a Liberian project with Liberians in the United States. Part of my proposal was for them to come to Trinidad. Now they cannot. 

“All businesses with Africa are being affected but the worst hit is energy as that is the biggest relationship T&T has with Africa now.” 

T&T nationals affected too
Paul said there were also dozens of T&T nationals working in Nigeria and their livelihood could be affected. “I was in Nigeria and Ghana not too long ago. I was also in South Africa recently and they pulled me aside and asked if I was in west Africa. 

“There are many Trinis working in west Africa, in areas like Nigeria and Liberia, in oil and gas. Some actually live in Nigeria and rotate in and out of Africa every four weeks or so. My company is doing a project with a Nigerian group and we had a meeting in London two weeks ago with them,” Paul said.

He said he was recently involved in getting an opportunity for 60 Nigerian students to come here to study at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and the measures taken by the Government would affect that arrangement “Everything was put in place then, put on hold in July and August, because of the Ebola outbreak. That means millions of dollars that must be spent on hotel and accommodation because these students are being held up in Nigeria. 

“It is the state government in that part of Nigeria that will have to pay for that. There are also 90 Nigerian students going to Tobago because of this programme. The Barbadians have put in place protocols to allow them to come in. What worries me about the T&T response is it is just a broad brush,” he added. He said Nigeria had been Ebola free for more than 42 days so the measures taken by the Government “do not seem to make sense.”

“If you are a Liberian living in the United States and you have not been to Liberia in ten years, then you still are not allowed into T&T. “What worries me is the lack of protocols. I am all for managing the country’s economy and its health and prevention but you cannot do it to people who have no cause to be excluded. We need to do it but in a more targeted way,” Paul added.

Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove has cancelled its planned visit to Nigeria because of issues with Boko Haram and the growing threat of Ebola. Yesterday the band’s manager, Errol Skerritt, confirmed that development. Skerritt said: “As the reigning National Panorama champion Phase II was nominated to return to Abuja, Nigeria’s second city. Last year, we went there at mid-November, our visit coinciding with that state’s carnival. I imagine that this year it would have been the same time.”

But Skerritt said when the Boko Haram atrocities began the T&T High Commission in Nigeria warned the band that the situation was volatile and it should no longer come and since then the tour had seemed unlikely. Boko Haram is a militant Islamic extremist group which has been labelled a terrorist organisation by the US and which abducted over 200 schoolgirls in April. The recent outbreak of Ebola in west Africa created another problem.

Skerritt said: “When Ebola emerged, though it started off in west Africa, it didn’t get to Nigeria initially. “When you mix the Boko Haram and Ebola factors together, it has been an imperative that this tour will not come off. “Initially, there was talk of an alternative tour somewhere else in Nigeria but the sponsor—Chrome Group Company—physically located in Abuja. I knew they would not be interested in an alternative part of Nigeria.”

He also expressed concern about the possible cancellation of Carnival 2015 because of the threat of Ebola. He said: “At this time of the year we are usually going through the process of ordering instruments. Right now Boogsie (the band’s arranger and composer, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe) has about ten songs to pick one; the last one is usually the best one. Just yesterday, Thursday, he made a new one and was saying it sounds like ‘the one.’

“We also have to contend with the talk making the rounds that Carnival will be cancelled next year. We don’t want to spend too much money up front and then there is no Carnival. We have to be mindful that the lead-up time to Carnival is short, so we are walking a very thin line as far as preparations are concerned.” 

Amid concerns about the spread of Ebola to the Caribbean, there is the growing fear that the virus could enter the region through its sea ports, via cruise ships. Belize yesterday refused entry to a cruise ship carrying an unnamed Texas hospital worker who may have handled Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s specimen. Two nurses who cared for Duncan tested positive for Ebola. The Belize Coast Guard did not let the vessel or any of its thousands of passengers into port.

“The government of Belize was contacted today by officers of the US Government and made aware of a cruise ship passenger considered of very low risk for Ebola,” the government of Belize said on Thursday in a statement. “Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, the Government of Belize decided not to facilitate a US request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Phillip Goldson International Airport.”

The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital employee and a partner boarded the ship on October 12 in Galveston, Texas, before the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention updated the requirement for active monitoring, the State Department said in a statement. “It has been 19 days since the passenger may have processed” Duncan’s fluid samples, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement yesterday. 

“The cruise line has actively supported CDC’s efforts to speak with the individual, whom the cruise ship’s medical doctor has monitored and confirmed was in good health. Following this examination, the hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin.” Authorities had earlier said the health worker was “quarantined.” The Carnival cruise ship was also denied entry into Mexico, according to a Carnival spokeswoman. 

The ship yesterday headed back to the US after Mexican authorities failed to grant it permission to dock off the coast of Cozumel. A Mexican port authority official said the ship was denied clearance to avoid any possible risk from Ebola. The Carnival Magic had been waiting off the Mexican coast since yesterday morning for its scheduled port visit. Mexican authorities still had not given clearance by noon, so the ship continued to its home port of Galveston, Texas.

The health worker, a lab supervisor who has not been named, has shown no symptoms of the disease but remains on board and in voluntary isolation, according to Carnival. “We greatly regret that this situation, which was completely beyond our control, precluded the ship from making its scheduled visit to Cozumel and the resulting disappointment it has caused our guests,” read a statement from Carnival. The Carnival Magic is run by Carnival Corp unit Carnival Cruise Lines.

        — Reuters, National Post

Members of the Joint Consultative Council of the construction industry (JCC) yesterday walked out of a meeting with National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) chairman Carson Charles before it began. 

Shortly after 2 pm yesterday, members of the media arrived at Nidco on Melbourne Street, Port-of-Spain, in response to an invitation from Charles to witness the opening statements of the meeting on the Armstrong Report on the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Solomon Hochoy highway to Point Fortin. When JCC members arrived at the conference, however, they expressed surprise at the media presence and JCC president Afra Raymond left the room, along with several members.

Raymond was heard saying the group had not been invited for the purpose of talking to the media. He spoke to Nidco staff and urged other members of the JCC to leave the conference room. The group walked to another room in the building to have a closed-door meeting among themselves while Charles addressed the media. “It is a misunderstanding,” Charles said, adding that Nidco could not force the JCC to do anything. 

“We will meet with them anyway. We are going to have a nice long chat this evening but with respect to the media, they don’t wish to have that before the meeting,” he said. Charles admitted that it was a protocol issue and the JCC had not been told the media would be present. He said he felt there would be no problem with the meeting itself which continued despite the confusion. “They just prefer to talk in private,” he said. 

Charles said the JCC had asked for the meeting to discuss what Nidco had done with the Armstrong Report and to follow up on issues listed in the report. He denied Nidco had ever had a problem with former Senator James Armstrong heading the committee, which reviewed the disputed Debe to Mon Desir section of the highway. 

He said while he had no problem with the committee itself, it was inaccurate to say it was independent, as Armstrong and the other professionals on the committee had been selected by the JCC. Asked why, if there were problems with the constitution of the committee, the Government had agreed to pay for it, Charles said Government contributed to the payment but did not fund the entire project. 

He said the Government was asked to contribute by the JCC and agreed to give approximately $800,000, while the JCC funded approximately $400,000. Charles said the Armstrong Report had been considered and said he would discuss that with the JCC then issue a statement.

Grand Bazaar mall, Valsayn, was shut down yesterday after a fire broke out at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant. Three other businesses—Off Rodeo, Girls 2–7 and Mark of Style stores—suffered smoke and water damage, a statement from ANSA McAL’s Group Corporate Communications Department said. There was no report of injury, it added.

The fire began at 11.05 am in the kitchen of Ruby Tuesday on the upper level of a building facing the Uriah Butler Highway. The fire started in the grill and after attempts to extinguish it failed, the Fire Services were called in. Speaking with the media at Grand Bazaar yesterday, Anthony Salloum, general manager of the mall, congratulated the staff and security officers for their swift action, adding he was hoping the rest of the shopping complex would return to normal. 

He was not sure of the cost of the damage or repair, but said if the building was to be demolished and re-built it would take eight months to a year to complete. One tenant told the media she was disappointed in the Fire Services, which responded within 15 minutes after receiving the call. She said had the proper equipment been used, probably there would have been less damage.

Some tenants said they were frustrated that they were not allowed to remove some of the goods in their stores in an attempt to minimise loss. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. ANSA McAL, which owns the mall, said it regretted the inconvenience caused to its customers and tenants by the incident. “We expect to be fully operational as soon as security and safety clearance are given by the authorities,” the statement added.

Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr says he was denied entry to Jamaica on Wednesday because the Jamaicans were angry over T&T’s decision to deny entry to 13 of its citizens recently. Abu Bakr spoke during a news conference at his mosque at Mucurapo Road, Port-of-Spain. He also denied that he was a security threat to Jamaica. “What threat am I to Jamaica? I mean, really?” he asked. 

Bakr denied he was on an Interpol watch list, recalling he was freed by the Privy Council of charges laid after the 1990 attempted coup. The Privy Council ruled in 1992 that the amnesty under which the insurrectionists were freed was invalid but it would be improper to rearrest and try them.

Abu Bakr said he thought Jamaicans had taken him for Isis leader Bakr al-Baghdadi but he maintained he was “Abu Bakr al-Trinidadi.” Noting that Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan will be leading a Million Man march in Kingston tomorrow, Abu Bakr said: “I must be more dangerous than Farrakhan.”

Attempting a Jamaican accent, he said he was told by “a high official” that “the Jamaican authorities and Government are pissed off. Boy, last week them (T&T) hold some Jamaicans (and) send them back home and them no give them no phone call, no food to eat, them make them sleep on the floor and more than that, them murder a Jamaican youthman in Trinidad and make him kneel down on the ground and shoot him and Jamaicans are pissed off with that.”

Bakr said he spoke to the unnamed official who ordered that he was to be denied entry to Jamaica. He said the official responded: “Boss, where you now come from?” Bakr said he said Trinidad and the official replied: “Then you understand where it come from. You understand that this direction come from your own country.”

Bakr said he was told about Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs Minister, AJ Nicholson, advising his T&T’s Gary Griffith to shut up and not muddy the waters on the issue of immigration between the two countries and the official told him to try and understand the existing atmosphere.  

No Caricom after this’
Bakr also insisted that Caricom must answer questions on the free movement of nationals from the region and said the matter may be taken to the Caribbean Court of Justice.  When he was finished, he said, there would not be any Caricom and he was holding the governments of T&T and Jamaica responsible for his detention.

Nevertheless, he was confident the T&T Government would resolve the matter and there  should be a diplomatic solution to the immigration dispute between the two Caribbean nations. Griffith said on Thursday there was no truth to claims that the T&T Government had given information to the Jamaicans about Abu Bakr’s visit. He also said Bakr’s being denied entry was not an act of retaliation by the Jamaicans after 13 of its citizens were denied entry here and deported.

Bakr criticised the Prime Minister’s failure to give financial support to his school at Mucurapo Road, saying he would not turn away any of the Jamaicans and children from other regional states who are being educated there. 

Private flight home
Bakr said he was denied a telephone call and it was not until High Commissioner to Kingston Dr Iva Gloudon intervened that he was able to leave the island at 3 am on Thursday on a private jet to Piarco. He said the flight was very comfortable and he felt like a prime minister while being flown home. The flight cost an estimated $250,000. Griffith denied the T&T Government paid for it.

Bakr refused to return home in an economy seat on a scheduled flight, he said, because he had a Caribbean Airlines ticket for a first-class seat. He said he was put in a holding bay while awaiting the private jet in Kingston and was accompanied by two members of the Jamaica Defence Force, one police officer and an immigration officer on his return flight.

The Arima Borough Corporation is complaining about inadequate funding to combat the chikungunya virus. In a press release yesterday the corporation said despite warnings from the Ministry of Health regarding the seriousness of the disease resources have been inadequate from the Ministry of Local Government. “The Arima Borough Corporation is being inundated by calls for spraying and treating with a higher than usual mosquito infestation while reports of the incidence of the chikungunya virus has increased.

“This corporation, like several other PNM-controlled regional corporations, has had its request for greater budgetary resources denied and does not either have the resources or the equipment to undertake the spraying or preventative measures which the burgesses are demanding in wake of the outbreak of the virus,” the statement said. In response to the complaint, Local Government Minister Marlene Coudray said yesterday she could not understand why the corporation would issue such a release.

She said there was a recent meeting in which all mayors attended during which she told the corporations to submit proposals regarding funding for ChikV. “I really do not understand on what basis would they now come and issue such a release. We spoke about the proposal and to date I have not received it. So I really do not have time for that. “There is another meeting coming up next week and I am hoping the corporation would attend,” Coudray said.

Arima Mayor George Hadeed said he was not sure whether the corporation had been asked to submit a proposal at that meeting as he had reached the meeting a bit late. “But if there was a proposal I will work on it immediately and I will ensure that it would be sent as soon as possible. What the minister told us is to use the monies from our unspent balances but this takes a very long time to access,” he added.

He also encouraged burgesses to do their part and clean their surroundings and not wait on the corporation to do so.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has admitted that the Ebola virus was the greatest threat facing the people of T&T. She said so during Thursday’s Divali dinner at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. 

The Prime Minister noted that while citizens have been distracted by the objections to major infrastructure projects, such as the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin, which appeared to have mesmerised so many and attract premium media coverage, the greatest threat which faced the nation was the Ebola virus.

She told guests of decisions taken earlier by her Cabinet to deal with the Ebola virus, which included the banning with immediate effect of all visitors from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She said Vice-Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Anthony Phillips-Spencer is to chair the Ebola Prevention and Response Team to be established to manage all aspects of the Ebola virus in the country.

It will also include representatives of the Maritime Services Division, Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Airports Authority, National Operations Centre, the Port Authority of T&T, Point Lisas Industrial Development Corporation, all established trade unions and the private sector. She said a Port Health Committee also would be formed. 
Its objectives are:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
• Sensitisation of front-line personnel at T&T’s major points of Ebola. 
• Strengthening public health emergency preparedness at ports of entry.
• Creating standard operating procedures (SOP), testing via table top and drill exercises.
• Strengthening surveillance methods, 
 
According to Persad-Bissessar all major hospitals, district health facilities and certain health centres have been identified as designated triage areas for suspected person with Ebola.  She also said Cabinet had agreed to the allocation of a five-acre parcel of land within the acreage of the Sugar Heritage Village and Museum, to the National Ramleela Council of Trinidad and Tobago. 

She said the land would be used to establish a Ramleela Heritage and Festival Village. Persad-Bissessar said the Ramleela Heritage and Festival Village arose out of a need for the preservation, propagation and development of the Ramleela Festival. 

Many individuals in the local cricket fraternity are sad and disappointed that the West Indies team took the decision to end its tour of India after the fourth One-Day International because of salary disputes between the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The disagreement stemmed from the recently signed Collective Bargaining Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding agreement between WIPA and the WICB on September 18, 2014.

The West Indies One-Day (ODI) team led by Dwayne Bravo threatened to strike on the eve of the first ODI (October 8) as the players were unhappy with the new salary arrangement put forward by WIPA president Wavell Hinds. Bravo, in a letter to Hinds on October 3, said the he (Hinds) inaccurately stated the players got a 300 per cent increase in match fees, when the truth is the players are receiving 90 per cent less than what previously existed in the overall fees. This was one of many concerns the players had with the agreement.

In a phone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, former West Indies opener Bryan Davis said it was a sad day for West Indies and he did not agree with the move by the West Indies players. Davis said: “I feel very sad, very disappointed, my heart is suffering. It is a lack of courtesy, integrity to the hosts. I can’t believe anybody can be so unfair to the game of cricket.” Davis believes West Indies should have played the rest of the tour and returned to the Caribbean resolve the situation with WIPA and the WICB, saying it is unfair to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). 
The former West Indian player said the senior players must be held accountable.

The West Indies were scheduled to stay in India until November 19 to play one more ODI, one T20 and three Test matches. West Indies have played the lower ranked teams in world cricket recently, including Bangladesh in the Caribbean, and Davis said that this tour would have been a good measuring tape to see how the team was progressing. Nine cricket tours have been abandoned in the past, but this is the first time a tour was abandoned due to players’ actions. In the past tours were abandoned because of war, political upheaval or bad weather. The last abandoned tour was in 2010/2011 when the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka was stopped due to rainy weather. 

T&T Cricket Board (T&TCB) executive members Lalman Kowlessar and Patrick Rampersad in separate interviews both disagreed with the decision by the players to abandon the tour. Kowlessar stated: “It is definitely embarrassing, it is an unfortunate situation. The players should have thought of the West Indies.” Kowlessar added that if there was more dialogue between WIPA, WICB and the players the situation could have been prevented. “When we (West Indies) lose games we are hurt; this will bring more hurt.” Rampersad said: “I can’t agree with calling off the tour. It should be sorted out between WIPA and the players.” The Merry Boys Cricket Club president added that the West Indies was starting to progress nicely but the team had now taken a step back. “West Indies are carded to tour South Africa at the end of the year, another top team, but this set back may affect this tour according to Rampersad. “This will impact on this tour (South Africa) as well.” WICB president Dave Cameron has chosen not to step in and talk to the players, making it clear that the WICB will only engage with WIPA.

As a gift to the Hindu community for Divali, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar last night announced a 20 per cent discount on flour, rice and oil. Speaking at the annual Divali celebrations at her Penal constituency office, Persad-Bissessar said the discount will take effect from Tuesday until Divali, which will be celebrated on Thursday. 

The PM said similar to what was done on other occasions and in keeping with this Government’s goal to make food more affordable, the following National Flour Mills products will be discounted. The products include: 
•Ibis all-purpose flour (2 kg and 10 kg)
•Hibiscus all-purpose flour (2 kg and 10 kg)
•Lotus all-purpose, whole wheat, bakers and cake flour (2 kg and 10 kg)
•Five Roses all-purpose flour (2 kg and 10 kg)
•Lotus soya bean oil (all sizes–500ml, 900ml, 1.5 L, 3L, 5L and 17.25L)
•Lotus rice (all sizes)
•Cuisine all-purpose flour (2 kg)
•Club select all-purpose flour (10 kg)

‘Be Ebola vigilant at ports of entry’
Meanwhile, as the nation faces the threat of Ebola, the PM called on all those who guard the nation’s ports of entry to be vigilant, as one case of Ebola will be disastrous for T&T. “We must be vigilant more than ever. We must be our brother’s keeper. We must not allow Ebola to enter our country. While we may say that this disease has a remote chance of coming here, we must not let our guard down. 

“Those persons who stand guard at our borders and ports of entry must remain vigilant. The world has stood up and is coming together to fight this disease. Let us be part of that team that is focused on keeping Ebola away from our shores.

“Many among us would say that today Trinidad and Tobago and the global community are plagued by grave darkness. And that darkness is taking many forms —the darkness of terrorism, disease, abuse, injustice, inequality, poverty and hunger, natural disasters, and the negative effects of climate change. The PM noted the darkness right here in T&T. “We have the darkness of crime, and in particular the murders. We now have a new darkness—Ebola, which is threatening the world.”

PM calls on Maharaj to end hunger strike
The PM also called on highway supporter Ravi Balgobin Maharaj to end his fast. Maharaj continues his fast to counter the hunger strike by environmental activist  Dr Wayne Kublalsingh. “I call upon Ravi Maharaj, I do believe he is indeed truly fasting, I call upon him to end his hunger strike for your life is more important.” She told him to put his faith in the rule of the law and God Almighty. 

“According to the rule of law, construction of the highway will proceed and we will all benefit from the highway.”

Months after the Life Sport programme has been shut down, caterers, coaches, co-ordinators and participants of the programme are still being owed $20 million. But National Security Minister Gary Griffith who said, “Life Sport is dead,” indicated that his ministry will not pay a cent unless his permanent secretary (PS) can verify the legitimacy of invoices and services rendered by those who were affiliated with the programme.

A document leaked to the Sunday Guardian showed that of the $20 million, caterers who provided meals to participants in January, February and July are owed $6,860,370—the largest sum. The document gave a breakdown of the programme’s cost which amounted to $11,948,436.96, while the arrears stood at $8,651,231.90. Under programme costs, the document showed a list of people who are owed up to July 2014. They are:
• Participants’ stipends—$3,088,500
• Caterers—$3,200,000
• Co-ordinators—$1,110,000
• Coaches—$853,200
• Life skills—$500,000
• Staff at Youth Training Centre—$69,900
• Life Sport Committee—$31,875
• Life Sport operation expenses—$1,200,000
• Salaries—$690,386.96
• Staff contract obligation up to September 2014—$243,000
• Upgrade selected centres February 2014—$961,875.

The document also revealed that the “maintain and upgrade” bill for the life centres in December 2013, January and February 2014, was $2,522,256. Cleaning and janitorial services in January and February 2014 stood at $1,757,250. Kim Engineering was also listed to be paid $344,000.

Meanwhile, an additional $367,355.90 was invoiced, in advance, for special upgrade of the centres for October 2014, even though in July Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the termination of the programme in the wake of damning findings of a government-ordered audit which unearthed evidence of fraud and theft, and linked individuals in criminal activity.

Griffith said he has no intention of paying state funds to anyone who does not have proper documentation. “People have been coming in large numbers with claims of certain things. Unless I can get justification that the actual product was delivered, my PS will not be cutting cheques for imaginary projects and imaginary people for things that were never delivered or at exorbitant costs.”

Griffith said Sport Minister Dr Rupert Griffith can confirm that people had been making demands with no contract in hand. He said while many of the claims might be legitimate, “money will not be handed out freely; I will go through everything with a fine tooth comb when it reaches my desk.” In the coming weeks, Griffith said he plans to meet with the Sport Minister to discuss the revamping of the programme.

“The concept of the programme was never questioned, it was the end result.” Griffith said the ministry may work in tandem with sporting teams to act as role models to participants of the new programme. 

Former director threatens legal action
Meanwhile, former programme director of Life Sport, Cornelius Price has threatened to take legal action against the Ministry of Sport for failing to pay him his salary for the last three months. Price collected a monthly salary of $25,000. Price, whose contract ended in September, said he is owed $75,000 as the ministry was refusing to pay him his renumeration for the months of July, August and September.

“October is coming to an end and I am yet to be paid. I have since consulted with my attorney on this matter.” Sunday Guardian was reliably told that six workers whose contracts ended in September are also awaiting payments estimated at $300,000. On Friday, the Sport Minister refused to comment on the matter. He said matters involving Life Sport should be directed to the National Security Minister.