Port-of-Spain – The government of Trinidad and Tobago is continuing its attempts to diversify the economy with members of the Economic Development Board receiving their instru- ments of appointment from Mary King, Minister of Planning, Economic and Social Restructuring and Gender Affairs last week.
The board, which will be led by former Caribbean Commu- nications Network chairman and former government minister Kenneth Gordon, will play an advisory and implementation role in the management of the economy.
The members of the board will be expected to contribute to the process of economic diversification, strengthening the pub- lic-private sector participation in local economic activity and bringing fresh ideas and novel perspectives to the current eco- nomic circumstances.
In her welcome address to the new board members, King said the country had to plan for a future where "we do not find any more gas and oil and we run out of petroleum resources in the next 15 years".
She said Trinidad and Tobago is currently behind the rest of the world in productivity and innovation and that closing this gap is central to the diversification process.
"Our current productivity is way below the rest of the world with which we have to compete and we are falling behind steadi- ly. Our business systems do not encourage investment. Hence to be competitive we cannot simply become better at what we are doing now, though our Innovation Council is charged with do- ing that among other things," King said,
"We have to make large leaps in developing innovative prod- ucts. We cannot do this in every area, hence we have to choose our areas carefully and invest in knowledge acquisition and cre- ation to produce an export range that is not simply incremen- tally productive but game changing."
The other members of the board are Dr Sonja Teelucksingh, Bruce McKenzie and Ayegoro Ome. A representative from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning, Economic and Social Restructuring and Gender Affairs will also be ap- pointed.

Port-of-Spain - Although there are a growing number of women holding leadership positions in the Commonwealth, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar believes the focus should move beyond merely increasing participation by women.
She made the comments in London on Sunday as she addressed a banquet of the Royal Commonwealth Society marking the commemoration of Commonwealth Day.
She said, "I wish to stress that greater emphasis is very much needed throughout the world on the issue of including women and girls at all levels of decision making. This is a crucial step if we are to ensure that the needs of women and girls are properly met, and it is also an important step in helping to empower women young and old.
"I acknowledge the growing recognition of women's participation in leadership across the Commonwealth, yet representation of women must go beyond the numbers to include factors of qualitative leadership and effective representation of women's concerns and gender responsive commitments."
Persad-Bissessar added, "Training of women leaders should produce women leaders who will be able to develop accountability measures such as gender audits to monitor and evaluate efforts taken to increase women's empowerment."
Persad-Bissessar, Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth, said the theme of this year's celebration "Women as Agents of Change", was a "truly happy coincidence", as it is being celebrated when, for the first time, a woman is at the helm of the organisation. "It is truly a fitting theme as we embark on a new decade of this millennium, where we have three women at the apex of this august organisation, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth, myself as chairperson of the Commonwealth and the incoming chairperson, the Honourable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia."
Persad-Bissessar called on the 54 independent member states of the Commonwealth to work towards changing the fortunes of women for the benefit of all.

Port-of-Spain - Senior citizens can soon expect an improvement in the type of treatment given to them at public health institutions and pharmacies across the country, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the South West Regional Health Authority Anil Gosine said last week. Gosine said the elderly can look forward to having the assistance of trained customer service representatives whenever they visit public health care centres.
He gave the assurance at the close of an "Age Friendly Facilities" workshop. It was facilitated by experts from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus Centre for Aging in Jamaica and from Case Western University in the United States.
Gosine said the workshop was in keeping with the Ministry of Health's mandate to improve the quality of health care for all categories of patients of which emphasis is being placed on the elderly.
"Apart from emergency cases and children, the elderly would be assisted by customer service representatives and given preference at the public health institutions and pharmacies," he said.
The aim of the "Age-Friendly" primary health care project was to sensitise and educate public health care providers about specific needs of their older clients, Gosine stated. He said there will be facilities provided for the elderly who will be given priority at all institutions.
Gosine said with births not high as before, the aging population is growing larger and with persons living longer, there is a need for action in three major areas including change in attitude toward the elderly, education and training of health care providers so they can in turn assess and treat conditions which afflict mainly older persons and empowering all citizens particularly the elderly, to remain healthy.
He also said physical access must be made easier and more available for older persons who have mobility, vision or hearing impairments.
Among the 29 participants at the workshop held at the training room of the Human Resources Building on Lewis Street in San Fernando last week, were delegates from St Lucia and Grenada, local doctors, staff members from various regional health authorities and representatives of the Diabetes Association. Facilitators were Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer and Dr Elizabeth Madigan.

Port-of-Spain - It happened almost overnight. A contractor moved into a vacant lot at Chitarr Trace, Mohess Road, Debe, and began clearing land to erect a cell tower. But with no prior consultation and fears of possible health concerns, residents got together and staged a protest demanding immediate termination of the project.
For two days last week, villagers gathered at the vacant site, saying they would not allow a cell tower to be erected near their homes because of health concerns.
President of the Chitarr Trace Village Council, Ramhit Bhimsingh, said the telecommunications company had no respect for the people of Penal and Debe.
"They came into our village and began this project almost overnight... They never had the courtesy to speak to us about it," he said. "We checked with the Environmental Management Authority, the Town and Country Planning and the Penal Debe Regional Corporation and no permissions were granted for this," Bhimsingh said.
He added that the contractor who was clearing the land later packed up his equipment and left, but an official from the telecommunications company said the project would go on.
Villager Sam Ramphal warned that residents would waste no time in breaking down the tower if it was erected. "We will not jeopardise our safety," he declared.
Secretary of the Mohess Road and Environment Community Council, Andrew Chitawan, and Welfare Officer Angela Chitawan joined the protest, saying they would work assiduously to protect the health and safety of residents.
Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Premchand Sookoo confirmed last week that the corporation had not given permission to erect a cell tower. As the councillor for the area, Sookoo said more than 500 residents would be affected if it was erected. He said company officials contacted him requesting a meeting, but he invited them to also meet with the village representatives. Sookoo said there were several sites between Chitarr Trace and Monkey Town better suited for erection of the cell tower.

Last Saturday evening, Dr. Kumar Mahabir received a Distinguished Alumni Award for his contribution to Anthropology in the Caribbean.
The award was presented by The University of the West Indies (UWI) Alumni Association (Trinidad and Tobago Chapter) in commemoration of the campus's 50th anniversary.
Mahabir was among a group of 50 alumni selected from more than 20,000 graduates across a time-line of 50 years.
Mahabir is an Assistant Professor in the School of Cognition, Learning and Education at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He received his BA (1980) and M.Phil. (1989) degrees in Literatures in English from UWI, St Augustine Campus. He obtained his Ph.D. (1997) in Anthropology from the University of Florida. As a doctoral student, he won a Florida Caribbean Institute Award, an A. Curtis Wilgus Fellowship, and an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellowship.
Mahabir is the author of eight (8) books including two national bestsellers Caribbean East Indian Recipes and Medicinal and Edible Plants used by East Indians of Trinidad and Tobago. He has also published several articles in scholarly journals including the New West Indian Guide, Caribbean Studies, Florida Journal of Anthropology, Toronto South Asian Review, and Caribbean Medical Journal.
Among those who received awards with Mahabir were prominent personalities such as Mr. Justice Ivor Archie, Mr David Dulal-Whiteway, Mr. Rodney Jagai, Dr. Hollis Liverpool, Ms. Sandra Marchack, Mr. Jwala Rambarran, Mr. Ewart Williams and Dr. Lise Winer.
Addressing the alumni and guests were Prof. Clement Sankat, Pro Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal of UWI, St. Augustine; Mr. Mark Regis, President of UWI Alumni Association, Trinidad and Tobago Chapter; and His Excellency Professor George Maxwell Richards, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Awards ceremony was held in the newly-built 400-seat Engineering Auditorium (Lecture Theatre 1) on the campus.

Port-of-Spain - Concerns over the ethnic composition of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service have been ongoing since last year.
Correspondence among Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs, attorney Israel Khan, SC, and Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed were exchanged outlining the concerns of ethnic imbalance within the Police Service.
Up to his removal from office on Monday, Mohammed faced a barrage of criticism following statements he made during a Joint Select Committee hearing in Parliament two Fridays ago. During his appearance before the JSC, Mohammed said there was an ethnic imbalance within the Police Service, especially at the executive level, and noted he planned on addressing the matter.
His statements have been condemned at several levels in society, and drawn criticism from many, including Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, who has called for Mohammed's removal.
Mohammed held a meeting with President George Maxwell Richards last Friday. On Monday Richards issue a statement indicating that Mohammed had been removed from the role.
However, in a letter dated August 23, 2010, and addressed to Gibbs and Mohammed, Khan said, like "hundreds of thousands of citizens", it was his opinion "that the Police Service ought to reflect cosmopolitan Trinidad and Tobago".
"I am sure that if you take a head count of the Police Service you will see that it is lopsided in that more than 90 percent of its members are of African origin," Khan wrote. Khan added that, in this day and age, "every effort should be made to include citizens of East Indian origin into the Police Service in order to reflect that in this country every creed and race finds an equal place".
Admitting he did not know the reasons why the service has a limited number of East Indians, Khan said reasons such as "East Indians do not usually apply to become members of the Police Service. Or are they being discriminated against in favour of African applicants. Or maybe, they do not meet the criteria for selection," should be investigated.
Khan said it was incumbent upon the PSC to conduct an enquiry/research in order to ascertain "why the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is lopsided in favour of African membership".
In responding to Khan's claims then, Gibbs wrote to Mohammed saying that 6,219 personnel make up the service. Of the 6,000-plus in the service, 1,917 are of East Indian descent, which represents 30.82 percent of the total manpower, Gibbs wrote.
Gibbs further said that Khan's analysis of the service having a suggested ratio of 90 percent African was incorrect.
He said records from the service illustrated that approximately 61.71 percent of the police officers are Africans and 7.46 percent are of mixed ancestral heritage. The statistics further gave a breakdown of the ethnic composition of divisions, branches and units.
As of December 2010, Africans accounted for ten Assistant Commissioners of Police, 15 Senior Superintendents, 21 Superintendents, 33 acting superintendents, 108 inspectors, 303 sergeants, 488 corporals and 2,860 constables.
The East Indian composition included ten Superintendents, ten acting superintendents, 42 inspectors, 158 sergeants, 377 corporals and 1,320 constables. The statistics further revealed there are no East Indians in the ranks of ACP and Senior Superintendent.
A third category – mixed – accounted for 464 officers. In this category, five are senior superintendents, four superintendents, four acting superintendents, six inspectors, 20 sergeants, 100 corporals and 325 constables.