Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan is adamant that leaders of Carnival bands should not be compensated by the Government if next year’s mas is cancelled because of the Ebola virus. Dr Khan, who is leading T&T’s offensive against the deadly disease, which has not reached this country, said the State will not pay bandleaders one black cent. T&T, he said, is preparing to manage and destroy the virus if it should reach our shores. 

Khan described claims for millions of dollars by the PSA president Watson Duke as greedy and unpatriotic.

Q: Dr Khan, why is the Government waiting for the last minute to say whether or not Carnival 2015 would be postponed, and aren’t you concerned about the cost factor in terms of compensation to the bandleaders?
A: This is something that the Government cannot make a rash decision about, especially something that is happening in several areas around the world. Granted it has the capacity to spread, but the international agencies are doing their best to stop and decrease any spread.

Nigeria has not had another Ebola patient for the past 48 days and hence will be considered Ebola-free very soon. Other countries are also in a process of containment, granted that one case arrived in the US and two people became infected who have not died, and another one is in Spain, etc. These things are showing the rest of the world the mechanisms and approaches for containment and management.

 Some people, Dr Khan, are querying why should the Government feel obligated to pay bandleaders compensation if Carnival is postponed next year, when their presentations are profit-making enterprises. Why should the burden be placed on taxpayers to pay these people handsome sums?
Clevon (resolutely), I believe they should not be given one black cent from the Government. I also believe that those who stage Soca Monarch and chutney competitions should not get one black cent, either. The promoters of these shows do so with the intention of making some kind of profit, even though they do play a great role in promoting the culture of our twin-island State.

So the State should not fork out any so-called compensation package for the bandleaders?
That is my personal view, that the  Government has no obligation to give any bandleader any money. Life is about risks. Being involved in some aspects of our Carnival myself, these people do make lots of profit doing so. Tell me something, Clevon, when last have you heard of any Carnival bandleader donating part of their takings to charitable causes such as the Children’s Life Fund?

I am not saying some of them do not think about the less fortunate, but I cannot remember any of them doing that. So why should taxpayers contribute to their personal enrichment?

Dr Khan, aren’t you concerned about the possible backlash if Carnival, chutney soca, and the rest of these shows are cancelled or postponed and the Government does not dole out compensatory funds?
I do not see any backlash if they are not compensated. Just like any other business venture, they have to suffer their losses and perhaps smile when they make their profits. And remember, I said this is my personal opinion. 

Another thing I want to say is that most bandleaders over the years have been developing their all-inclusive pattern of masquerade bands and in the process, destroying the small vendors on the road as they were not making the kind of profit they made before the advent of the all-inclusive bands.

In effect, you are saying the small vendors have been taking a financial beating over the years while the bandleaders smile all the way to the bank?
Yes. Why shouldn’t they feel the pinch like the vendors, especially when their profits are being affected by an act of God?

Even though you are not in favour, do you think the Government would compensate them simply because they want taxpayers’ money “freeco style”?
At the end of the day, I cannot answer for the Government and as I said, that is my personal opinion. I don’t want to go anymore into it as I believe strongly about people being responsible for their actions.

Minister Khan, do you think that there is perhaps an unnecessary degree of panic in T&T judging from the comments of certain people like the Duke of Abercromby?
Who is that?

Watson Duke, the president of the PSA, headquartered on Abercromby Street, who is asking for millions of dollars for employees in the public health sector should they have to work with Ebola patients.
Oh, you mean that fellow? He wants money and other things…And as far as I know, Ebola has not even reached here as yet…which is not to say we think it is coming for certain. That is unfair. I don’t like that kind of demand, asking for millions of dollars. While we are trying to protect workers and every other citizen, it is very disheartening to see somebody demanding tons of taxpayers’ money upfront. That is heartless, if I could call it by its correct name.

The proper thing to do is to hold discussions with the Government or whoever else, but you don’t wake up one morning and pick up the newspaper only to read where somebody catching some kind of “vaps,” making unconscionable demands on the public purse. You don’t try to dig out people eyes for your own interest, based on fear worldwide.

Only selfish and greedy people do that...
Yes. And we have to be more patriotic to the cause of saving our population because if this thing is left unchecked, it may have serious effects where mankind is concerned. If you give every worker $10 million, you are squeezing the Government.
It is sad to know that somebody will take this international disaster and try to capitalise on it.

But aren’t the doctors making similar noises like the Duke of Abercromby?
If doctors make that kind of representation, they try to make it for different heads of departments. I will not consider it, I know that doctors should know better. They will get compensation but not ridiculous compensation. 

Dr Khan, how far has the Government reached in preparing for any onslaught or arrival of the Ebola scourge? 
We are prepared to a minimal extent, and we are aiming for maximum preparedness based on international assistance and education, so that is a process which will continue. In Texas they thought they were prepared, but we learnt from their mistakes. Also, we have been learning from international people. Percentage-wise, one does not look at that you have to be prepared when something comes.

Mr Minister, international experts and our own experts have said that Ebola is not airborne yet; there is also a considerable body of opinion claiming it is transmitted in that manner. What’s your reaction?
We are learning about the Ebola virus every day. The most recent hypothesis says that it could be possibly airborne; however that has not yet been conclusively confirmed or ascertained. Cabinet has appointed a group called the Ebola Prevention and Response Team, and the Ministry of Health also has an Ebola management team. Together they will come up with whatever is necessary to face this challenge head-on.

Like US President Obama has done, is T&T looking to appoint an Ebola czar?
I won’t call it an Ebola czar. Right now, I am in charge of leading this initiative, but we have Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Colin Furlonge as my person in charge. In other words, different name.

Finally, Dr Khan, is there any reason why citizens should be unduly alarmed over the Ebola virus on our shores?
What I would say is just hope that it never comes to our shores and if it does, we have to be able to contain it, manage it and destroy it.

T&T is still not ready for an Ebola outbreak. Dr Varma Deyalsingh, treasurer of the T&T Medical Board and secretary of the Psychiatric Association, said while the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) 12-bed capacity and Caura Hospital’s 48-bed capacity announced by Health Minister Fuad Khan to quarantine people with Ebola was a good start, it was not enough. Better containment of the virus, more equipment, and the training of staff are also required, he said. 

Deyalsingh said the health sector’s state of readiness against the deadly virus can be gauged by asking any random patient in the emergency department of any hospital how long they had to wait for treatment. 

Speaking to the Sunday Guardian in a telephone interview on Friday, Deyalsingh said an Ebola patient has to get up to 20 units of blood per day to save his life, “and we can’t even get two units of blood to do normal procedures that we have planned, such as elective surgery, much less cope with an influx of Ebola patients. “In T&T we lack the human and infrastructural resources to deal with Ebola. “We have to look at our Carnival, the celebrations, crowds present ideal conditions for Ebola to spread. 

“The virus is just a plane ride away from reaching T&T, one person can come here and destroy the whole if he is a viral bomb. Deyalsingh said there was a consensus among doctors, and the majority of them have said that Carnival should be postponed. He said, however, that while there was public education on Ebola, the Government was sending mixed messages—don’t stop the Carnival on one hand and warning about the dangers of Ebola on the other.

‘It’s like a predatory, molecular shark’

Deyalsingh described Ebola as a predatory, molecular shark. “It has motive, invades a cell and uses the cell’s genetic material to replicate itself, eventually infecting and consuming the whole person who will be teeming with the virus just waiting to spread further.” Deyalsingh said an eye dropper of blood can contain approximately 100 million particles of the virus. 

He said Ebola was like influenza in that “it can take down a lot of humans.” For the majority of cases Ebola was a virtual death sentence, from the moment the virus entered the bloodstream, for 70 per cent of cases, the war was lost. He said the damage done by Ebola in ten days took HIV ten years to accomplish.

Thermal cameras to detect Ebola give false sense of security

Deyalsingh said thermal cameras used to detect Ebola can give a false sense of security as they can register false positives. He said elevated temperature readings can be caused by another viral illness, such as Chikungunya, dengue fever, chicken pox and measles. Deyalsingh said a person taking Panadol can suppress the symptoms of a fever and pass the initial scan or Ebola test.

Ebola treatment and decontamination procedures

• He said Caura and Mt Hope hospitals’ plan for people on T&T’s Ebola watch list was to monitor them for fever. Deyalsingh said the incubation period for Ebola was 21 days and in that time they may not show any symptoms. 
• He said proper medical protocols called for isolation, contact tracing, and to ensure that health care personnel did not become the vectors for the virus.
• Deyalsingh said infectious patients are put in an isolation room, and health workers have to put on protective gear before entering the room. On leaving the room their protective gear is burned.
• Deyalsingh said patients are put in negative-pressure rooms that isolate air so it can’t circulate through the building, the same precautions taken for tuberculosis.
• He said the second stage was decontamination under UV lights, but sometimes particles from the protective gear can escape and cause infection. Deyalsingh said the health care workers may be fatigued and make a mistake during the decontamination process and infect themselves.
• He recommended that masks and disposable gloves be worn by staff at points of entry—airline personnel and immigration personnel handling passports and documents are at risk.
• Deyalsingh also recommended keeping a distance of three feet away from suspect individuals, bowing instead of shaking hands, and be aware of people with a fever.
• He said Government’s policy for people on the Ebola watch list to travel to health centres to be checked twice a day to see if they developed a fever was not a good idea. Deyalsingh said it was better to keep those people at home and to send a medical team to monitor them, rather than running the risk of infecting the population while travelling.
• He said incineration was the best method to dispose of contaminated waste material.
• Deyalsingh said the proper disposal of bodies with Ebola was cremation but this may present a dilemna in T&T, as some religions such as the Islamic fate do not cremate their dead.
• He said the danger with the Ebola virus was its viral amplification jumping from animal species to man. According to Deyalsingh, Ebola has been trying to jump out from its animal hosts and into humankind for a while now.
• Deyalsingh said there was the danger of animals such as rats coming in contact with infected, buried bodies. Scientists do not have enough data at present on whether this can be spread further.
• He said pet dogs of people who died of Ebola were also killed as a precaution.
• Deyalsingh said if the virus reaches T&T it must be contained at the quarantine centres. In the worse case scenario of an Ebola outbreak and Mt Hope and Caura hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, the remote island of Chacachacare, once used as a leper colony from 1922 to 1984, was an excellent option to quarantine people with the virus.

Dr Laquis: Use Clorox to wipe equipment
Meanwhile, in an interview with Sunday Guardian columnist Ira Mathur, Dr George Laquis, the former chairman of the T&T Cancer Society agrees with Cabinet’s position that anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Nigeria, or anyone who has been there in the past six weeks, will not be allowed entry into T&T.

“The Government is absolutely right in stopping these people from entering T&T. We don’t have cases of Ebola. The trick here is to make sure we don’t get any at all,” he added. “All it takes is one handshake with someone with a cut (it can be passed through sweat and other bodily fluids). The number grows from two to four to 16. By Christmas, as many as a million people may die from Ebola.”

Dr Laquis, however, is cynical about claims that the Government is setting up an Ebola isolation unit at Caura Hospital to the tune of millions of dollars, and the plan to spend millions to procure protective equipment for medical professionals to treat citizens who may contract the virus. “Poorer Caricom governments such as St Vincent recognise that their only defence is to block people from coming into the country,” he said.

“But we are talking big, of an isolation centre. We all know, we all—including the politicians—talk a good story. We are a spin-master nation, but we don’t take it or ourselves or anyone else seriously. We don’t deliver. We are not serious. We don’t keep our word. It may never happen.” Dr Laquis said people should use Clorox to protect themselves if in a situation close to the virus. “Clorox. Some gyms in the US have a crew wiping equipment with Clorox every hour. 

“We should be doing that in Trinidad. Ebola is passed on by sweat and can get into a mucous membrane or open skin.”

‘Nurses will not be left exposed’
T&T Registered Nurses Association president Gwendolyn Loobie-Snaggs said the chief nursing officer on the Ministry of Health’s core team will ensure that nurses are given the proper training. They will also make available protective gear and equipment required for the management of Ebola patients. Loobie-Snaggs said nurses will not be left exposed, and all due care and attention will be paid to those who volunteer their services to care for Ebola patients.

Heerah: More protective equipment coming
Executive Director of the National Operations Centre (NOC) Garvin Heerah, meanwhile, said there were hazmat suits (hazardous materials suits) in the country but was unable to say how much. He said the Ministry of Health will be bringing in specialised equipment including PPEs (Personal protective equipment) very shortly to treat with the institutional management of any Ebola patient. 

Heerah said the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management will also be procuring PPEs for first responders such as the police, fire service and the Defense Force. 

UWI forum on Carnival 2015 and Ebola tomorrow
The Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (Salises) is hosting a forum on Carnival 2015 and Ebola, tomorrow at 10 am, the Salises Conference Centre, the UWI, St Augustine. Specialist medical personnel from the UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences will also be present to contribute to the discussion and to answer questions.

Panelists carded for the event are Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan, Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz, National Carnival Bands Association of T&T president David Lopez, Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation president Lutalo Masimba (Brother Resistance) and Dr Jo-Anne Tull, lecturer in Carnival Studies, Department of Creative and Festival Arts, UWI. The session will be chaired by Roy McCree, fellow, Salises,

ebola facts
Deyalsingh said Ebola and its precursor, the Marburg virus, with similar symptoms such as headache, fever and internal bleeding, originated near Kitum cave, Mount Elgon in Kenya, where many different species of animals frequented. He said the cave also bordered Uganda, one of the first epicentres for Aids. He said the US army also kept strains of the Marburg virus for its “hot agents” or germ warfare research.

The Banwari archeological site is not yet a world heritage site and its potential to become one is in jeopardy with “unchecked and undermanaged development initiatives.” Speaking from Paris where she is attending the meeting of the biannual Unesco executive board, heritage educator Dr Kris Rampersad said misinformation was being bandied about concerning T&T’s world heritage status. “No one, on any side, has taken the time to check the information being presented,” she said.

Rampersad, who is a Unesco-Commonwealth trained heritage facilitator and the Unesco focal point for World Heritage in T&T, told the Sunday Guardian it was unfortunate the issue is being politicised and has become something of the rope in the tug of war between the State and the Highway Re-route Movement.

“That prevents the consensus building and nation building that occurs around a country’s preparation for world heritage status. I remain flabbergasted that with the significance and potential of heritage as a core growth sector as the alternative to petroleum and our best bet for diversification, that these most valuable timeless assets and heritage, in general, remain so low on the national action agenda,” she said.

Rampersad has been blogging about what she calls “The Other Magnificent Seven of south Trinidad/South America and the Global South” and has written to President Anthony Carmona and Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar (goo.gl/Um7YkU) asking them to take the lead in securing these assets which hold enormous value for T&T’s economic diversification, its knowledge economy, and its place in our global civilisation (www.kris-rampersad-blogspot.com).

In her latest Demokrissy blog post, The Politics of Disempowerment, Rampersad noted that while she has received encouragement and agreement by various sectors, some key custodians and line agencies of heritage have gone mum because the elements in focus are in the districts earmarked for the controversial highway extension, also the home districts of the President and the Prime Minister, and they do not want to get embroiled in what may be interpreted as the hype around the highway. 

“Trustee organisations and officials just don’t want to get embroiled, so it’s a case of fiddling while Rome burns.”  That has also been the fate of a change.org petition (goo.gl/tNAwm6) in circulation on the issue, said the outspoken Rampersad, who is also an author and independent multimedia journalist.

“The fact is that neither the site, nor any of the several unique invaluable heritage elements of south Trinidad are secured in world heritage terms so as to facilitate them acquiring world heritage status as they are. “Banwari is not a world heritage site as is being claimed. It is on a tentative list which is a list that includes items states submit that they intend to prepare for such status.

“The concept being promoted of the site—the half-acre plot of where the skeleton remains were found—is itself erroneous, as a heritage site involves broader association of factors. We have not yet done the investigations nor groundwork that will consolidate the scope and value, though my preliminary independent research suggests that it is just the tip of the iceberg of more fundamental discoveries that could substantially revise how this region’s evolution and migration among others have been viewed.”

Rampersad said heritage was not a footnote in national development. “It is likely to be the lifeline to which we would have to turn in the next two decades when the oil dries up.

National Security Minister Gary Griffith says they have seen “a direct link between criminal activity and illegal immigrants.” Griffith linked the illegal immigrants to illegal drugs and the growing gang activities in T&T. A release from Griffith’s ministry on Tuesday stated there are 110,000 illegal immigrants from 16 countries in T&T. On Friday, Griffith said the figure could be far more. Guyanese and Jamaicans make up the largest numbers.

He also said employers should encourage those who have overstayed their time to regularise their status if they consider them an asset to their businesses. “If that is not done, there is going to be some housecleaning in this country with illegal immigrants.” Griffith said some of the illegal immigrants try to utilise the resources of the State through education, healthcare, employment and housing. 

“That is where it becomes a burden to the State.” Immigrants would overstay their time by going outside of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) six-month period, while others make false claims to immigration officers, Griffith said. “The CSME is not one where you can enter a country and remain indefinitely.”

Bartlett: They demand more than our own people when it comes to health
Daphne Bartlett, president of the San Fernando Business Association, said outsiders flock to T&T because of our high minimum wage and good standard of living. “Some nationals from outside would also come in as criminals. I am not saying the Jamaicans are criminals but when they overstay their time, they become a burden on the State. I do CDAP prescriptions for people who are not Trinidadians.”

She said although patients have to show their IDs at pharmacies before collecting their medication, the doctors at the public hospitals do not deny non-nationals healthcare and prescriptions. “I have seen people who are non-nationals demand more than our own people when it comes to healthcare.”

Aboud: T&T presenting itself as a spoilt brat
President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (Doma) Gregory Aboud, meanwhile, said T&T has presented itself as a “spoilt brat of the West Indies, living high on oil and gas revenues, and lavishing its citizens with all sorts of extraneous giveaways without considering its long-term effects and poor work ethics.” The giveaway programme, Aboud said, has left a huge vacuum in our workforce.

Aboud said while the association supports Griffith’s call to clamp down on illegal immigrants, Doma is urging the Government to consider offering legal immigration status to Caribbean nationals who are seeking employment, willing to work, and contribute to the country’s economic development. “Trinidad is experiencing a chronic shortage of people who are willing to work, not a chronic shortage of labour.

“The fact of the matter is, it is extremely difficult to compete with work programmes, where people report to work at 7 am and leave at 9 am.”

As part of the UK Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee's activities in promoting the understanding of Magna Carta in the Commonwealth Caribbean, renowned Trinidadian philatelist and numismatist Albert Sydney has drafted several stamp designs for Caribbean governments to consider. 

Committee chairman Prof Sir Robert Worcester said he was in Trinidad to hold talks with a popular calypsonian on promoting the principles, awareness and understanding of Magna Carta via calypso, as different genres of music such as rock were used in different parts of the world to highlight the committee's activities.

Worcester was speaking to the Sunday Guardian yesterday morning at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain. Later in the evening, he was the guest speaker at the launch of the Commonwealth Caribbean lecture and seminar series at The University of the West Indies (UWI) Learning Resource Centre, St Augustine. 

UWI St Augustine has been awarded a grant by the committee to support the work of the university in promoting the understanding of Magna Carta in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Worcester said England will commemorate Magna Carta with a collection of minted coins and printed stamps for the event in June 2015.  His lecture ranged from freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, stature in society, gender, race, colour and sexual orientation.

Worcester said the first clause of the 1215 Magna Carta stated the English church shall be free and proclaimed religious liberty. He said that findings showed that the majority of people in T&T said that all religions should be taught in schools. Worcester said the Magna Carta was England’s greatest export as it affected the lives of nearly two billion people in over a hundred countries throughout the world, and influenced constitutional thinking.

He said basic principles where they didn’t exist had led to the loss of liberties, human rights and even genocide taking place yesterday, today and sadly, tomorrow. Dr Hamid Ghany, senior lecturer in Political Science and co-ordinator of the Constitutional Affairs and Parliamentary Studies Unit (Capsu) of UWI's Faculty of Social Sciences,  said he was very honoured to be involved with the project.

Trinidad was the first stop in the lecture series in promoting the understanding of Magna Carta in the Commonwealth Caribbean and will include Barbados, Cave Hill campus, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Jamaica, Mona and Western Jamaica campuses), St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Ultimate Group, parent company of mas bands Tribe and Bliss, on Friday won the inaugural Emerging Entrepreneur Award at the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce tenth Annual Champions of Business Dinner and Awards Ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, Dock Road, Port-of-Spain.
The company, headed by Dean Ackin, which also offers production services through its Ultimate Events Company, beat out Trini Trolley Ltd, Everything Slight Pepper and Scorch Ltd for the coveted prize.
The category was one of two new features of the ceremony formerly known as the Business Hall of Fame and was rebranded to capture young entrepreneurs, while preserving its legacy of paying homage to trail blazers in the world of business. 
A positive consequence of the chamber’s new recognition format was that Ultimate Group would now be written into the annals of history. But the company would not be alone.   
Internationally Known…T&T Owned was another novel category introduced at the Champions of Business presentation which was won by Sacha Cosmetics.
Turning to the Hall of Fame inductees, the chamber bestowed the honour onto Michael Mansoor, chairman of the Dr Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence, and Raymond Dieffenthaller (posthumously).
Moonilal Lalchan, president of the chamber, described the Champions of Business presentation as a new and enhanced version of the original Business Hall of Fame, which was introduced back in 2005 to fulfil a need to acknowledge the tremendous contribution of the business sector to this country’s development.
The ceremony, he said, quickly established itself and in the succeeding years, 23 stalwarts of commerce were inducted.
“This year, however, the chamber’s board took the mandate one step further. The chamber considered the scope of this signature event and realised that currently our forum did not give recognition to our pioneering medium-sized members who have successfully broken into the international market, or the passionate entrepreneurs who are challenging established norms and making a difference in the industries in which they operate. So was born the Champions of Business,” Lalchan said.
He said: “All over the world today, the face of business is changing as innovation pushes the envelope of what has perhaps been the mainstream for the last few decades. 
“Business today is borderless thanks to the technological revolution. Technology today, far from being at odds with the creative mind, can now work in tandem with it to support and expand the reach of the human imagination. 
This can be seen in the new wave of entrepreneurship, which is sweeping the globe and driving not only economic, but social prosperity in the most unexpected ways.”

India can learn how to celebrate Divali from T&T, as evidenced by the majestic presentations at Divali Nagar, says Indian High Commissioner Shri Gauri Shankar Gupta. In his address at Divali Nagar on Friday night, Gupta said, “The people of India can emulate you with your presentations of singing, dancing and music, all of which are phenomenal. “The Divali Nagar is symbolic of Indo-Trinidad culture, and this initiative is worthy of applaud from all of us. 

“It is also the culture of Indo-Caribbean culture.” Gupta said after 147 years, the Indian Diaspora has been able to fully preserve the religious and cultural practices brought from India. The Indian populace was sourced principally from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the period 1845 to 1917, and they came here to enhance the agricultural capacity of the then colony of Trinidad. Approximately 148,000 East Indians crossed the Kala Pani to come here.

Gupta pointed out that the celebration of Divali has its origins in the Hindu scriptural text, the Ramayana, when Lord Rama returned to the City of Ajodhya after 14 years in exile, and the residents lighted deyas to celebrate his return home. “The message of Divali espouses good over evil, prosperity, equality, peace and  love,” he noted.

Government moved, yesterday, to save the life of pro-highway hunger striker Ravi Maharaj who collapsed outside the Office the Prime Minister, St Clair, yesterday after five days without food or water. Maharaj was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for treatment. In a statement issued shortly after the incident, Communication Minister Vasant Bharath said the government was appealing to Maharaj to end his hunger-strike and preserve his health and wellbeing.

Maharaj took no-pay leave from his IT job at the Housing Ministry to start the hunger strike last Wednesday in counter-protest to Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, who entered his 33rd day yesterday without food and water, apart from two bags of IV fluids which he received last Sunday. Kublalsingh, the leader of the Highway Reroute Movement, is opposing government’s decision to run an extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway through the Oropouche Lagoon between Debe to Mon Desir.

Unlike Kublalsingh, who sits on a chair under a tent, for half-day, with supporters, Maharaj sits on a sheet on the pavement in sun and rain for 12 hours alone. Bharath, in his statement, said that government was “committed to doing everything within its power to ensure that the project proceeds to the benefit of many thousands of families.”

“We have made a similar appeal to Dr Kublalsingh and while we accept that he is a grown man who has made a personal decision, we take with a great degree of seriousness the fact that Ravi has his entire life ahead of him, yet he is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater national good.” Maharaj collapsed around 11 am, eyewitnesses at the OPM said, and was taken, unconscious, to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Details of his medical condition were not released up to press time.

Maharaj began the fast to support of the government’s construction of the Debe to Mon Desir leg of the highway or at least until Kublalsingh calls it quits. Echoing the doubts of many, he has been questioning whether Kublalsingh is on a real hunger strike and said he wanted to see how long someone could really go without food and water. Kublalsingh started his second hunger strike 33 days ago to protest the highway passing from Debe to Mon Desir. 

Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said for someone who had not been eating or drinking water for so long, Kublalsingh’s vital organs did not appear to be failing and asked him to disclose his medical records. Kublalsingh’s doctor, Dr Asante Van West-Charles-Le Blanc, said earlier she was withdrawing her services because he was on the verge of death.

The former university lecturer reportedly collapsed while on a trip to Maracas beach last Sunday and was taken to St Clair Medical where he was given about 15 hours of drips and vitamins.

Kublalsingh responds
Contacted yesterday about Maharaj’s collapse, Kublalsingh said he was putting the blame squarely on the government. “They sent him to create a distraction but they are pulling him out because they realise their plan is failing. This abuse of a spirited young man is another misstep on the part of the government.”

Kublalsingh continued to insist that preparing physically and psychologically for the hunger strike in advance, discipline, a strong connection with the spirit, salt-water baths, breathing in moisture and taking a little sunlight had him alive to date. He said he used small amounts of energy and also practiced deep meditation. “I refurbish myself (this way) when I feel I am passing out. When I go to the edge, I use these techniques.”

He admitted, however, the hunger strike was not strictly without food and water, referring to the 15 hours of drips and vitamins he received at St Clair Medical Centre. “That kept me going for seven days. So it’s not that I was completely without food and water,” he said, indicating drips were like liquid food. Responding to critics who called his fast a farce, he said: “You need to be master of the techniques on how to survive without traditional food supplies and water.

“Most importantly, you must have a strong principle to keep you on the hunger strike. I can’t assess to what extent he (Maharaj) did.” Disclosing where he got his discipline training from, Kublalsingh, a former university lecturer, added, “I was trained in the British army as a second lieutenant. “In those courses, I learnt how to survive with the barest means away from civilisation.”

nidco to supply more info to jcc
The National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco), the project managers for the $7.8b Solomon Hochoy Extension highway to Point Fortin, will submit a detailed report to the Joint Consultative Council for the construction industry (JCC) outlining what action it has taken in relation to the recommendations of Armstrong Report on the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the highway. A statement from the state-owned company follows a meeting with JCC on Friday.

“Nidco has given due consideration to the recommendations made by the Armstrong Committee and has implemented several of the measures suggested, all of which will be outlined in the report to the JCC next Friday,” the release said. The company stated that since it received the Armstrong Report in March 2013, it delivered a detailed response to the JCC outlining those recommendations it deemed had merit and those it disagreed with, and the reasons for its objections. 

“This is expected to lead to a process of continued dialogue between Nidco and the JCC in the best interest of the project,” Donna M Brodber, Nidco senior planning officer said.

Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah is calling for the media to launch an investigation into the financiers of the recent spate of pro-highway ads. Abdulah was speaking at a press conference held by members of the Highway Reroute Movement (HRM) at the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) headquarters Paramount Building, Circular Road San Fernando, yesterday. 

“We want the media to investigate who is paying for these ads, under the fictious name ‘Citizens for the Highway,’” he said. Abdulah said the ads were personal attacks on HRM leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and were aimed at distracting the population from the real issues. “The ads are personal attacks on Dr Kublalsingh, they do not address the fundamental issues,” he said. “When government resorts to personal attacks, it means they  cannot answer to the real issue at hand.”

Abdulah said there was a culture in T&T which allowed government to distract the population. “The HRM and civil groups are not opposed to the Point Fortin highway, we want the highway built,” said Abdulah. Vishal Boodhai, a member of the HRM, renewed the movement’s call for mediation and accused the government of demonising Kublalsingh’s name. “The movement reiterates the call for mediation,” he said. 

A woman was killed instantly as she bent over to pick up her handbag along the Solomon Hochoy Highway. Marisa Rambharose, 42, was crossing the northbound lane of the highway to get to her Springvalle, Claxton Bay, home around 8.30 pm on Saturday.
She was struck by the mirror of one car and her handbag fell. As she bent over to pick it up another car slammed into her dragging her body metres away, an eyewitness said.

Rambharose, a domestic worker, who lived alongside the southbound lane of the highway, was returning home after visiting her daughter in Marabella. The Guardian visited the woman’s home yesterday, but the house was empty. Neighbours said Rambharose with her two sons, ages seven and 18. Neighbour Roger Danglade said he was sitting on his front porch with a pair of binoculars when the accident happened. 

“She was already crossing. I saw one car hit her and swerve but the second car slam straight into her as she bend to pick up her bag. “That car dragged her quite down there,” he said, pointing to the spot where Rambharose’s body ended up. “I really sorry she ended up like that, she was really trying her best to give the two boys everything she could.” 

He said her seven-year-old son, who was at another neighbour’s home awaiting his mother’s return, saw his mother’s body and belongings scattered along the highway. “When everyone came out to see, he left the neighbour’s house, went and stood inside their gate. When I come back from the road, he ask me ‘Uncle Abu, who is that? What going on there?’” Danglade said he could not bear to tell the child, but the boy already knew. 

“I tell him, I can’t tell you that now son, but he say ‘Don’t worry, I know is mommy get bounce down, look she bag in the road,’” he said. “Only when I said yes, then he hug me up and start to cry.” The little boy pleaded with Danglade not to tell his older brother, who according to relatives is disabled, as he was afraid of how his brother would react. Speaking with the Guardian via phone yesterday, Rambharose’s sister Sarah Harrilal Singh said the family is considering requesting counselling for the child. 

“Right now we just trying to talk to him and help as best as we could.” Singh said she will keep both boys until further notice, as their father died about two years ago. She described her sister as a jolly, friendly person who could always keep a crowd entertained.

The body of a 23-year-old man who went missing after venturing out to fish on rocks at L’Anse Fourmi, Tobago, on Saturday was recovered yesterday. The discovery was made by Coast Guard officers shortly after 1.30 pm on Sunday off waters of Bloody Bay. Lawrence Kerr went missing on Saturday after he left his L’Anse Fourmi home around 6 am that day to go on a fishing expedition with friends. 

Kerr was fishing on the rocks when a wave knocked him over and he disappeared. An extensive search was carried out by the Coast Guard, the Tobago Emergency Management Agency Dive Team and villagers on Saturday but was abandoned at nightfall. The search resumed at 6 am yesterday. Kerr, was a clerical officer at the Division of Settlements and Labour.

Acting Cpl Joseph of the Charlotteville Police Station is continuing investigations. The Meteorological Services at Crown Point has advised that Tobago will be experiencing rough seas and is urging people to be careful out at sea.

President's Medal winner Soleil Baldeosingh says she is more than ready to give back to her country and the world once she completes her studies. The 18-year-old, who graduated from the St Augustine Girls’ High School (SAGHS) last week was humble as she spoke to the Guardian last week.

“Initially I wasn't sure how I felt about this award because it was completely unexpected. But now, I understand that this is something incredibly outstanding that I should feel proud of not because it recognises my hard work but because it puts me in a position to inspire people.” Baldeosingh said she thought about medal winners of previous years, especially Nadimah Mohammed who also attended SAGHS. She said she felt admiration and said their success influenced her.

“I hope that I can have a similar impact on people in my school and other schools as well.” A Chaguanas resident, who spends a lot of time at the beach in Toco, Baldeosingh felt it was important for her to find a career helping people. She said she wanted to study either law in England or international studies in Canada. “I am very much interested, obsessed even, with global affairs and everything that is happening in our world today from Isis to Ebola.” 

 “I hope to get a job with the UN and I hope that I can meet people from everywhere in the world to broaden my perspective of the world as I know it. As cliché and trite as it sounds, I genuinely want to help make a difference.  “I particularly want to go to countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, regardless of Ebola and help stem the tide of insidious crimes that propagate freely.” She said her parents had a hard time believing that she had won but were still very proud.

“They have expressed that this is just the beginning and that I have to continue working hard. They are keeping me humble and grounded through everything.” As for her initial reaction, Baldeosingh said she was shocked. “This is not something that happens to me. Really and truly I don't think anyone thinks that they are going to win the president's medal. I am beyond grateful because I know that there are people who worked incredibly hard and are incredibly brilliant and did not end up in this position. 

“It has given me a superfluity of motivation going forward. I hope that it propels me to work even harder and accomplish even more.” Though Baldeosingh says she now feels a greater pressure to accomplish more, she said, this pressure was self-imposed.

“I never really felt such pressure before because during my high school career, no one, not even myself ever placed pressure on me to achieve anything. Now I feel as though people are expecting things from me which is not necessarily bad because it motivates me to work even harder.”

KINGSTON—The Portia Simpson Miller-led administration has been threatened with a lawsuit after Gerald Perreira, a Guyanese Muslim leader, was barred from entering the country to attend the 19th anniversary celebration of the Million-Man March. Perreira said while on his way to Jamaica on Friday to participate in the celebration, headed by Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, he was ordered off a flight in Antigua and Barbuda and told that  Jamaican authorities had refused him permission to land.

Perreira, who is the chairman of the Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG) says he plans to lodge a complaint with the Guyanese government and will seek redress in the form of legal action against the Jamaican government. He added that being barred from entering Jamaica is a breach of his right to freedom of movement as a Caricom national. 

Perreira has also accused the United States of pressuring Jamaica to prevent certain persons from entering for the 19th anniversary celebration of the Million Man March. He is the second Caribbean national to have been denied entry to Jamaica for the event. Last week, Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of Jamaat al Muslimeen was also denied entry into Jamaica and deported back to T&T.

Bakr was refused leave to enter Jamaica due to national security concerns. At a press conference on Friday, Bakr said he intended to take legal action and called on local authorities to investigate his case.

CMC

A quantity of cocaine and marijuana have been recovered after police and coast guard intercepted a pirogue at La Tinta Bay, Chacachacare Island on Friday.

One man was arrested while another escaped, police said. According to reports, Coast Guard Special Naval Unit officers along with police officers chased a pirogue on Friday until it ran aground on the island. A bag containing five packets of cocaine weighing 5.5 kilogrammes and ten packets of marijuana weighing five kilogrammes was seized.

The cocaine has an estimated street value of $2,200,000.00, while the marijuana is worth $67,500.00. The driver and the drugs were handed over to the Organised Crime, Firearms and Narcotic Bureau.

Last Tuesday Coast Guard officers arrested six Venezuelans and seized 27 packets of marijuana near Maracas Bay. Coast Guard reports are that around 11.15 pm the fishing boat was spotted off Maracas Bay. The men were arrested and taken to Staubles Bay where they were handed over to the police. The drugs weighed 17 kg with an estimated street value of $170,000.

My name is Eric Julien and I met my Bajan wife on the Internet.

I lived in La Brea all my life, up until when I moved to Barbados in 2012. I had a good reason for moving: getting married to a Bajan in 2010! It was a bit tricky in the beginning, all the hurdles, which I’m still jumping through. But I like the place and am trying to make it work.

I’m a Seventh Day Adventist. I think I’m both religious and spiritual. I accept Seventh Day doctrine. I take what I believe on faith.

I met Kim online. I saw her profile [on Carib Singles Web site] and, by her statements, she seemed to be a no-nonsense kind of person. I had to come up with a witty opening. So I said, “Greetings, Positive Person.” She went for that, big time.

Going to meet Kim in Barbados was a big first for me because it was the first time EVER on an aircraft in my 41 years of living! Which I achieved thanks to the US embassy in Port-of-Spain. They refused my application for a visa: I was divorced, didn’t own a house or car. They felt, if they let me in, I would be hiding in Brooklyn all now. People might think that half of Trinidad is in Brooklyn but half my own siblings are really there. I’m the third of four and the two eldest have lived in America for the last 26 years.
 It wasn’t frightening to go on a plane for the first time as a grown man. It was more of a childlike excitement. When the plane started taxiing and turned to takeoff, it was, and still is, for me, one of the most exciting moments in life. The night before I leave on a flight, it’s hard to sleep, I’m looking forward to it so much!

Kim came to Grantley Adams airport to pick me up. Walking out there and seeing her for the first time is something I will never forget. I knew, from that moment, “Yeah… This is THE ONE.” She took me to Miami Beach, one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever seen, to take in the sunset. The whole thing of being in the presence of this person in that setting.

We had our first quarrel the day I was to leave, after about six days. It was over a phone call I took, trying to show restraint with the person on the other end of the line, [she] felt I was being secretive. But it was really somebody wanting to get up in my business that I didn’t want to put on the wadjang behaviour.

We got married in 2010 in Barbados at a hotel that’s now closed down. But I don’t think of that as a bad omen, just an economic fact of life on an island where the whole tourism product fluctuates.
 
One of the things that made me fall for Barbados was a Sunday trip we took to Speightstown. From the time I drove through there, I saw, in my mind, a movie happening. It just had that look. And that is something that has been in me since: I must do something visually with that. I will make a movie out of that, somehow.

I miss my friends from Trinidad. Maybe it’s because of the community I grew up in but all those guys are like my parents’ other children. Everybody call my parents “Mom” and “Dad.” A lot of them belong to the same religion as myself.

You don’t look over your shoulder all the time in Barbados. But I never felt any fear in moving around Trinidad. I don’t drive so there were a lot of times I will have to travel at nighttime with my big bag of videography equipment. From Maraval to Port-of-Spain to La Brea. When people in Barbados say somewhere is “too far,” I just laugh.

The best part of meeting my wife online was the whole idea of being able to connect with somebody who I never-ever met in life and in a whole other country to the one I grew up in. Prior to that, the furthest off of Trinidad I had been was Tobago; and that was by boat.

A Trini is a friendly, laidback person who just enjoys life.

I am still largely connected to T&T. It will always be a part of me, because the larger portion of my life was spent there.

Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com

The Customs and Excise Division of the Ministry of Finance has acquired a Multi-Mode Threat Detector machine to improve its ability to detect contraband items, including narcotics and explosives, which are smuggled into the country.

Acknowledging that border control and security globally had become more sophisticated over the years, Finance Minister Larry Howai said, “Gone are the days when customs officers could simply eyeball arriving passengers to determine potential risks. Not only have passengers intent on nefarious deeds become highly adept at sneaking contraband into and out of our country, the sheer numbers of people entering and leaving T&T have made such simple profiling impractical.” 

Howai was speaking at the handing over ceremony of the equipment at Customs House, in Port-of-Spain on Friday. Howai said authorities needed to step up border control practices in commensurate fashion, hence the introduction of the 21st-century methods which he said were currently being deployed at all ports.

Howai said the detectors were only one of government’s approaches to increasing border security. He said 50 new officers were being trained, and allocations in this year’s budget will be put towards acquiring more sniffer dogs for the airports and training handlers.

Improved measures at the sea ports include additional container scanners. A new scanner donated by the People’s Republic of China is already in operation at the Port of Port-of-Spain, and Howai is optimistic that two which were recently bought from the US will be fully operational by the end of November.

Two additional machines are expected to arrive in the country next month, and with the help of US Customs, who are assisting in training local officers, these machines are expected to be functioning by the end of the year. US Customs and Border Patrol attaché to T&T Robert L Gross said these machines were very effective, and they were primarily used in the US, in explosives detection.

Gross said a group of T&T customs officers had just returned from Miami, where they had received seaport training, and that another group would soon be trained in handling containerised cargo and vehicle searches. He said the introduction of fibre-optic scopes and density meters would also be part of the training.

Some $.5 billion in crude oil and the survival of T&T’s economy are behind Petrotrin’s determination to berth a tanker coming from Ebola-stricken west Africa, even though it is now in a standoff with employees who are refusing to do it. Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali confirmed the situation yesterday, telling the T&T Guardian: “I know there are some people, including Petrotrin employees, who are refusing to work. “But we will have to find a way to berth the vessel. If it doesn’t berth, the refinery will have to shut down.  “Petrotrin depends on imported crude oil to operate. If Petrotrin doesn’t operate there will be no fuel for the country.” 

Petrotrin workers have refused to berth the tanker, Overseas Yellowstone, which arrived at Pointe-a-Pierre last Friday with $.5 billion worth of crude oil from Gabon, west Africa. Gabon is not on the list of countries whose citizens have been banned from entering T&T but it borders Guinea, Cameroon and Congo. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan announced last week that anyone coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Nigeria would be denied entry to the country. 

The highly contagious Ebola virus continues its spread in west Africa and the rising death toll is now over 4,500. Cases have also been reported in the US and Spain. Hassanali said yesterday that the Health Ministry gave a certificate of clearance to Overseas Yellowstone last Friday but workers were still refusing to berth it. Workers have to go out in tug boats and pull the vessel into the Pointe-a-Pierre port. He said the tanker took the crude oil cargo ten miles off the coast of Gabon and the crew members did not go onshore. Further, Hassanali noted, the crew had been aboard the vessel for 62 days. The Ebola virus has a 21-day incubation period.

Contacted yesterday, Khan confirmed that medical personnel from his ministry had gone aboard the Yellowstone and cleared it of Ebola last week. “It’s Ebola free,” Khan told the T&T Guardian yesterday. “The vessel was also given a clean bill of health based on its history, where it came from. “It came from west Africa but never reached shore. Its crew members are people from different parts of the world,” he noted. Khan said Petrotrin workers were refusing to go on board the ship to offload it but they have no reason to act in that manner. “The ministry and its doctors take their jobs seriously. If they are using Ebola for their union problems, it’s the country that will suffer,” he said.

Crew already taken off ship
The presence of the tanker has also thrown workers at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate into a state of panic.  A source claimed after the Health Ministry cleared the tanker last Friday, six crew members were taken off and transported to Piarco Airport. “We don’t know if these crew members were changing shift, or what,” the source said. 

The source claimed that after Petrotrin workers refused to berth the vessel, Petrotrin got Point Lisas tug boat workers to bring six crew members ashore. “The Government is banning people coming from West Africa into the island on airlines but they are being allowed to come in at the sea ports,” the source added. A Plipdeco official yesterday denied the tanker was berthed at this port, saying the vessel is out at sea on its way to Pointe-a-Pierre and Point Lisas does not service oil tankers.

Another United Kingdom-registered cargo vessel, Ocean Discovery, was initially prevented last week from docking at the Chaguaramas port. The vessel stopped at two ports in Africa before arriving in Trinidad but after Health Ministry officials checked the crew they were allowed to dock.

Roget: No protocol in Place
Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget said yesterday Petrotrin workers were within their rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act to refuse to berth the Overseas Yellowstone, since the company had no health protocol in place to protect the workers and the country from Ebola. “Petrotrin has not secured this port where a lot of international ships berth. Also, we don’t know which personnel crew members had contact with along their journey. Petrotrin is putting workers and the country at risk,” he said.

Roget also confirmed that crew members from Overseas Yellowstone were taken off the ship and expressed concern about that. “We don’t know who these people are and where they were taken,” he said. He added that the union got information that Petrotrin was trying to get Plipdeco workers to berth and offload the tanker. He said the union did not trust Petrotrin and was calling on the Health Ministry to intervene in the matter. “We want a committee set up to develop protocols to protect workers,” Roger said.

Also contacted on the matter yesterday, National Security Minister Gary Griffith told the T&T Guardian to pass on all Ebola reports to a recently set up committee being overseen by the National Operations Centre. Griffith said every five minutes someone called him to report some Ebola threat. “Someone even called to report something about a pair of sneakers coming from west Africa.”
President Anthony Carmona has signed an official order declaring the Ebola virus a dangerous threat to public health. The order gives state officials the authority to take required action to stem the disease.

About the Ship: Overseas Yellowstone, registered in the Marshall Islands in the northern Pacific, stopped at several ports on the way to its Pointe-a-Pierre destination, the last being Cartagena, Colombia. An online site showed the tanker anchored yesterday in the Gulf of Paria in T&T and gave its destination as Pointe-a-Pierre.

Whether Carnival 2015 is cancelled or not depends on the exponential rise in Ebola over the next month says Health Minister Fuad Khan. He was speaking at a forum on Carnival 2015 and Ebola at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Sciences (SALISES), University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, yesterday.

Saying his ministry had not taken any suggestions to Cabinet to cancel Carnival, Khan said both the Ministry of Health and the National Security Ministry continued to monitor the spread of the virus.
Most of the panellists at the forum, including Trinbago Unified Calypsonian Organisation president Lutalo Masimba (Brother Resistance), president of PanTrinbago Keith Diaz, president of the National Carnival Bandleaders Association David Lopez and lecturer in Carnival Studies Dr. Jo-Anne Tull felt cancelling the national festival was an unnecessary decision at this point.

Diaz added that the NCBA had a database of mas players, both local and foreign, and was willing to work with ministries to provide necessary information, while Masimba said calypsonians were ready and willing to assist in any educational campaigns on the virus. “I am not saying the business of Carnival is more important than health or the public welfare but if we are serious about Ebola, Carnival is next February and the Ebola outbreak is happening now,” said Masimba.

However, Khan challenged the panellists and the audience to ask themselves if they would cancel Carnival if over the next month the cases of Ebola increased to 10,000 cases a week.
“If Ebola is not contained if it enters the country we are looking at a 50 per cent decrease in population,” Khan said. Khan responded to remarks made by other panellists that the country and citizens would feel financial losses if Carnival was cancelled. “We can’t look at it and say we will lose $4.5 billion but we must look at it in the public interest because the $4.5 million that we may lose, if we have it (Carnival) no matter what we may lose our population.”
 
He said it was not just a matter of stopping Carnival. “I love Carnival but as Minister of Health I have to watch the whole worldwide scenario. Khan said the ministry was looking at increasing activity in blood bank, one case would take about 27 pints of blood to maintain. He said the Ministry of Health also did not have enough isolation chambers. He added: “What is going on worldwide is the development of process and procedures looking at a very infectious and new disease. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that there is a possibility if left unchecked the virus could infect 10,000 a week. “That is what we are facing in this country and the Ministry of Health is working on watching the international exponential rise of Ebola.”

Khan said while he could understand the economics of self and could understand the economics of nationalism, there were people who looked after themselves and people who look after the national interest. “There are going to be arguments on both sides of the fence on what is going to happen in February. “Are we going to stop the Carnival, yes or no? It all depends on what the exponential rise of Ebola is going to be like in the next month or so,” he added.

A meeting will be held next Wednesday involving the authorities and all Carnival stakeholders to discuss whether Carnival should be cancelled because of the Ebola threat and a recommendation will later be made to Cabinet. This was conveyed to reporters yesterday by Brig Anthony Phillips-Spencer, head of the National Ebola Prevention, Information and Response team (NEPIR) after its first meeting with representatives from various sectors, including security, military, fire and prison services, airport, Immigration Health, Tobago House of Assembly, ODPM, the National Carnival Commission, private and public-sector agencies. 

NEPIR adopted its mission to integrate and co-ordinate all efforts to be pursued with all available capabilities to prevent Ebola spread and protect all in T&T. This includes responding and recovery aspects should any spread occur. Phillips-Spencer said the Carnival issue was considered at yesterday’s meeting in terms of NEPIR’s responsibilities. 

NCC was represented by NCC chief executive officer Allison Demas. He said his team was given information that required that a full submission be made on the issue in subsequent discussions with all stakeholders.  Spencer said that consultation would be held on October 29. He said his team would share its recommendations on the issue with Cabinet based on intelligent advice. The meeting will be held the day before the weekly Cabinet meeting. How Carnival will be handled will be the prototype for how NEPIR will determine how to handle other major gatherings, including those related to Christmas, sporting and cultural events. ”Carnival will be our yardstick to determine our capability on all of this,” he added.
After the meeting, NCC sources said at yesterday’s meeting the NCC proposed a meeting between the authorities and all Carnival stakeholders and civil society groups at the Queen’s Park Savannah on October 29.
They had noted Carnival is held in 54 regions in Trinidad and also in Tobago and there should be some caution on the issue since it was a significant contributor to the economy, from ground and air transport, restaurants and hotels, mas itself, and even banks which gave loans for costumes. They underscored Carnival is a “serious business.”
At the press conference, Phillips-Spencer said the team had several legislative proposals on the Ebola issue, including improving the advanced passenger information system as a priority. He detailed NEPIR’s plan. 
Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) head, Dr James Hospedales,  said the Ebola threat was significant since it was the largest outbreak ever. 
He said while Nigeria and Senegal have been downgraded by the World Health Organisation, the situation continued in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea and the Congo.
Hospedales said while likelihood of someone among Caribbean islands or T&T getting Ebola was low, the impact it could have was catastrophic and all capabilites must therefore be strengthened.
Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation representative Yitades Gebre who commended the Government’s efforts on the issue, said the presence of the NEPIR team demonstrated T&T would be able to address the issue in an organised manner
Saying Ebola was a “no risk” situation for T&T, Gebre said each Ebola case could have as many as 75 contacts.
He said PAHO/WHO advised restricted movement of people from affected states but he felt as long as people did not have symptoms, they should not be banned.
Civil Aviation director Ramesh Lutchmedial said airlines worldwide were alerted by yesterday of T&T’s travel ban on  Ebola-affected states and protocols would be finalised by the end of the week for steps to be taken in the event of a plane-borne Ebola case landing in T&T.
Office of Disaster Preparedness Management’s Dr Stephen Ramroop said the ODPM was handling training, including  practising scenarios of Ebola entry via air, sea or land, and training people who would handle cases in the use of protective gear. 
That particularly involves police, who will have to issue the quarantine order for a case. Ambulances are already prepared and the ODPM has “iso-pods” for patient transfer.
The Tobago House of Assembly’s Allan Stewart detailed Tobago’s activities. 
Ahead for discussion is movement of people between both islands, transport of possible Tobago cases to the Caura quarantine unit and whether Tobago can self-support in the issue.
Phillips-Spencer said the team’s framework included points made by WHO’s checklist for Ebola prevention. 
He said an integral requirement for the effort was that it required broad dialogue and not public-sector involvement alone.
“There’s no room for hit-and-miss in this and we don’t want reactionary measures after a case occurs,” he added.

NEPIR’s job
• Prevention: Monitoring Ebola and designing/building capabilities to scout outside T&T on risk of threats that could challenge T&T.
• Robust screening plan.
• Surveillance at borders/communities on what could emerge.
• Making full testing capability available in T&T and at international/regional levels from PAHO/WHO, Carpha.
• Information strategies and public community engagement to prepare public to ensure measures to prevent Ebola or respond/recover from any spread.
• Response on swift, effective containment, involving effective rapid response from various first responders  (ambulance, fire, police, Defence Force, Coast Guard for sea-entry cases).
• Strong tracing capability to follow contacts any case may have had to halt spread.
• Extensive aggressive infection control and readiness to manage a possible case, including its removal to containment and protection of first responders/health workers involved.
• Case management relating to the proposed Caura quarantine centre and treatment centres.
• Managing burials.

Three policemen have been granted bail, totalling $300,000, on allegations of armed robbery, kidnapping, assault and drug possession. PC Ainsley Gay of the Southern Division Task Force and Special Reserve Policemen (SRP) Avinash Hajarie, 25, and Jeremy Tenia, 27, of the Princes Town Praedial Larceny Squad, appeared yesterday in the San Fernando Magistrate’s  Court, which was packed with police who came to support them. 

Gay, 29, was charged with armed robbery and the SRPs were jointly charged with two counts of misbehaviour in public office, stemming from allegations of kidnapping and assault. Prosecutor Cleyon Seedan told Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardinez-Ragoonanan the files have to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for a State attorney to be appointed. The charge against Gay, who has five years’ service, is that on October 15, armed with a gun, he robbed Rodney Tannis at Orchid Gardens, Pleasantville, of $2,800. It is further alleged that on the same day at the Marabella Police Station three grammes of marijuana and 0.1 gramme of cocaine were found in his possession. The charges were laid by Cpl David Simon of the Professional Standards Bureau.
The magistrate expressed concern about the manner in which a justice of the peace granted bail to Gay at the San Fernando Police Station on Sunday. 

Noting bail was granted to him separately on each charge amounting to $100,000, as opposed to one bail to cover all charge, she said:  “Let’s say he absconded on one charge. What are we going to do? I really have a problem when a JP proceeds to give bail in this manner. I am not saying it can’t be done but it has to be better.” Apart from that, she said, the property used to secure Gay’s bail had two owners. “I want to know how one person could take bail when two people own the property,” she said. The bailor was not in court. The magistrate granted defence attorney Cedric Neptune’s request for the matter to be adjourned today for those issues to be sorted out. 

Hajaree, who has two years’ service, and Tenia, who has one year service, were jointly charged with two counts of misbehaviour in public office. The charges are that on September 14 at Debe they assaulted Basraj Toolsie, occasioning him actual bodily harm and falsely imprisoned him and took him away against his will. Those charges were laid by Cpl Joefield of the Professional Standards Bureau. They were each granted $100,000 bail to cover both charges by a justice of the peace at the station on Sunday.  Hajaree was represented by attorneys El Farouk Hosein and Dane Halls and Tenia was represented by Neptune. The magistrate approved their bail and adjourned the case to February 24.