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Terence cool  8) where will you be all staying?

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Terrence, Tobago real nice spent a few days in Bon Accord in August as part of my two week vacation.  I ended up visiting Store Bay, Nylon Pool and Bucco Reef which I haven't seen in a long while, nice to get back and see those spots again.  

Kidnapping / Elections / Help Us! Caribbean / Tobago & Trinidad

More promises...$22m to fight hunger says Manning
By Yvonne Webb

Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the PNM bandwagon rolled into Point Fortin on Saturday night, promising a new bag full of goodies. In addition to a plan for building an aluminum smelter plant in the region, the PNM political leader promised better wages for contract construction workers and a $22.8 million package to fight hunger under the SHARE programme. Speaking on a platform at the Hi-Lo car park in support of the candidates for Point Fortin and La Brea, Larry Achong and Hedwige Bereaux, Manning responded to the cries of construction workers on the Atlantic LNG plant who embarked on a three-day protest last week for better wages and conditions of employment, saying substandard wages would be a thing of the past as they negotiate a new contract for the construction of Trains IV. Under SHARE Manning promised to increase the number of people to benefit from the programme from 8,000 to15,000. He also proposed to increase the cost of the food hampers for the SHARE recipients from $150 to $200 and extend the time from three to six months. Manning said he had considered reintroducing food stamps but decided against it.

Addressing a large gathering of PNM supporters and sympathisers, Manning noted that the country was set to embark on another major industrialisation, which would see the inherent wealth and benefits spreading to depressed communities like Point Fortin. Manning noted that one of the painful consequences of the oil price crash of 1983, from which this country is still adjusting, was the strengthening of business organisations and the weakening of the trade union movement in oil exporting countries.  What emerged as a result was high unemployment and contract labour for these plants in exchange for substandard wages. “As part of our negotiations for the establishment and construction of Train IV, we are going to put into these negotiations, labour arrangements, not only for hiring and firing labour, but arrangements for paying salaries that reflect the fact that these projects are of a shorter duration and consequently should attract salaries at a significantly higher level,” Manning said.

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Yep, Tobago is great. Store Bay has a real buzz about it and of course there are those boat trips. The great thing is you can also go off to some amazing  quiet beaches as well. Will be staying in Lowlands, not far from the Hilton Hotel.
I am off line now for a few days, catch you next week, regards.

Us Elections Kidnapping

Great Terence, hope to see ya when you come back. Have a great trip

Kidnapping / Elections / Help Us!

Reform forum ‘walks the talk’ through PoS
By Orion Ganase

The Constitution Reform Forum (CRF) took to the streets of Port of Spain yesterday to press for constitutional reform, as it staged a walk from Whitehall to Woodford Square. Dennis Pantin, one of the core members of CRF, said, after months of talking about reform, the forum decided to “walk the talk” in order to publicly highlight the need for change.  A group of about 80 persons made their way slowly around the Queen’s Park Savannah yesterday afternoon and down Frederick Street, chanting, “We shall overcome,” and waving placards calling for “Expanded Senate”, “Party Finance Regulations” and “Empowered Local Government”.  David Abdulah, another core member of the organisation, said that after surveying communities, the organisation has discerned what people want in terms of governance and has developed a citizens’ agenda which addresses five specific proposals.

These are:
• Laws for public disclosure on funding for electoral parties.
• Increased power and funding for local government agencies.
• Local Government elections on a non-party basis.
• An enlarged Senate to include independent representatives nominated by civil society
• A Civic Society Oversight Committee on the EBC.

Among those who participated in the walk were Natuc president Robert Giuseppi, who said constitutional reform was necessary for the nation to progress, accusing politicians of following “the dictates of international funding institutions” and neglecting the issues of development.  Environmentalist Eden Shand voiced the opinion that the first-past-the-post electoral system was “inappropriate for a country like Trinidad”. Using a “winner take all” system in a society that was divided into two almost equal halves resulted in large sectors of the community being rendered “stateless”, Shand argued.

Kidnapping / Elections / Us - Page 5

PNM to promote ‘good race relations’
By PHOOLO DANNY-MAHARAJ
South Bureau

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning has challenged the United National Congress (UNC) to tell the nation how it plans to ensure equity in the conduct of social affairs if the party returns to government. Addressing supporters at Basseterre Village, Moruga, on Monday night, Manning threw out the challenge after listing the PNM Government’s various social programmes aimed at alleviating poverty, assisting adolescent mothers, and uniting people through culture. Also attending the public meeting were Education Minister Hazel Manning, who spoke on the PNM platform for the first time in this campaign, Ortoire/Mayaro candidate Franklyn Khan, PNM general secretary Martin Joseph, and Laventille East/Morvant candidate Fitzgerald Hinds.  Supporters remained in place, with party flags raised, even as rain poured down on them.

Manning said a new PNM government would re-introduce the Centre of Ethnic Studies and the roundtable discussion on race relations. The roundtable group would include three organisations representative of Africans and three of East Indians, he said, and would be used as a clearing house for racial problems in the hope of reducing the extreme level of rhetoric that sometimes comes from leaders. “We will also encourage the development of non-governmental organisations to promote good race relations based on culture,” said Manning. Hazel Manning, meanwhile, appealed to PNM supporters to ensure that their children used the services of the Education Ministry to gain a better education and eventually lift themselves from the abyss of poverty. On the $1,000 book grant for secondary school students, she said: “Make sure your children get the books, use the books, go to school and do well. “If you do that, your children can pass CXC and do A-Levels and, at the end of the day, your children can take you from one level of living to a quality level of living.” Criticising the UNC for doing “almost nothing” in education, Hazel Manning said out of a US$200 million IDB loan, the UNC used just eight per cent for education.

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Parties should unite to form Budget now
by Orion Ganase

The two major political parties should get together and formulate a tentative budget in the event of another 18-18 tie in the October 7 general election.

This suggestion is being made by the Trinidad and Tobago Economics Association. Association president Dr Ronald Ramkissoon said such a move would allay the fears of the international and national business community that economic activity would come to a standstill in the event of a deadlock.

Also, formulating the budget before the election would ensure that if one party won by a slim majority, the budget would still reflect the economic policies of both parties, he said.

The association hosted a pre-budget seminar yesterday at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters at Westmoorings.

Ramkissoon said the next budget would be designed against the back-drop of weak regional and global economies and the anticipation of a major oil and natural gas boom.

“Our economy is far too rich for so many of its citizens to be so poor,” said Ramkissoon, who added that the increased output from the boom, if used correctly, would increase national revenue and could result in a higher standard of living and reduced national poverty.

Dr Dhaneshyar Mahabir, senior economist at UWI, said in the event of an oil and gas boom reminiscent of the ’70s the Government should embark on revenue enhancing programmes to increase spending on social welfare programmes and savings.

Mahabir pointed to national health care, pension fund reform, a food stamp programme, a schoolbook programme and single mother aid as social welfare programmes worthy of additional government revenue.

Mahabir also stressed the importance of the oil stabilisation fund and said that if the government was able to save and invest revenue earned from the upcoming boom it would demonstrate that lessons had been learnt from the mistakes of the past.

Nicole Lawrence, partner at Ernst and Young, suggested that income and corporation taxes, which account for $5 billion of government’s annual revenue, could be reduced in order to stimulate economic activity.

Lawrence said several persons were currently operating outside the tax net, and that government revenue could be maintained even if taxes were lowered by extending the tax net to include those persons that were unregistered.

Lawrence also spoke of the importance of the oil stabilisation fund, pointing to a similar fund in Norway which yielded US$20 billion in 1999 and is expected to yield US$121 billion by 2005.

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce, David O’Brien, also spoke about the virtue of the oil stabilisation fund and addressed five key areas of expenditure for the upcoming budget.

The first was increased expenditure on education with an increased emphasis placed on tertiary education. O’Brien described the fact that only seven per cent of the population received tertiary education as “shameful”.

Secondly, O’Brien said a healthy labour force was key to economic development and therefore it was essential to upgrade the nation’s hospitals and health centres and remove Value Added Tax on items such as vitamins, pace makers and hearing aids.

Thirdly, O’Brien stressed the importance of the maintenance of roads, schools, and all public assets. Also of major importance, O’Brien said, was an increase in expenditure to eliminate crime, to improve police facilities and to properly reintegrate prisoners into society.

O’Brien also said that direct taxes should be reduced.